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Rams save their season. Plus, your NFL Week 8 preview 🏈

Jim Reineking   Paste BN

This is the Paste BN Sports NFL newsletter, 4th and Monday. If this newsletter isn't already getting conveniently delivered to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

NFL Week 8 is here ...

➤ About last night: Los Angeles Rams 30, Minnesota Vikings 20 — The Rams are back! Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua returned for the Rams (3-4), who might have saved their season by beating a Vikings team that now has lost twice over five days after a 5-0 start. The win puts the Rams right back in the thick of the NFC West race.

➤ Game of the week: Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders — We're 🤞 this gets to be the highly anticipated showdown between the top two picks in the 2024 NFL draft. Jayden Daniels' playing status still is unknown after he suffered a rib injury last week. The player picked ahead of Daniels at No. 1, Caleb Williams, has come on strong of late after a slow start to his rookie season and has the Bears (4-2) — who are coming off their bye week — riding a three-game winning streak. If both Williams and Daniels start on Sunday, it would mark the sixth time in NFL history that the top two selections in the NFL draft meet as starting quarterbacks in their rookie seasons. If Daniels is a no-go, Williams will face another former No. 2 overall pick, Marcus Mariota, who helped the NFC East-leading Commanders (5-2) drop a 40-burger on the Carolina Panthers with Daniels sidelined.

➤ Sneaky-good game of the week: Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Sole possession of first place in the NFC South is on the line Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. The last time these two teams met, for "Thursday Night Football" three weeks ago, it was one of the best games of the season.

➤ Dreadful game of the week: New York Jets at New England Patriots — The only thing keeping the disappointing Jets (2-5) out of the AFC East cellar are the dreadful Patriots (1-6), who spoiled many a survivor pool in Week 1 and proceeded to lose six straight (only two of those losses were one-score games, so they're not even keeping games close). Many people for many years were waiting for the days when the Patriots would be bad. Well, we're here. At least Drake Maye has looked good in his first two starts, throwing for 200-plus yards in each game and five touchdowns. Aaron Rodgers, meanwhile, will be the scapegoat if the Jets' season continues on its current trajectory.

➤ Game I'm mildly interested in, and not just because I have Marvin Harrison Jr. on my fantasy team: Arizona Cardinals at Miami Dolphins — The Dolphins (2-4) have gone 1-3 since Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion during a "Thursday Night Football" game against the Buffalo Bills in Week 2. He could return and give a preseason playoff favorite a big boost. The Cardinals (3-4) got a big win last week on "Monday Night Football" against the Los Angeles Chargers and find themselves just a game out of first in the surprisingly mediocre NFC West.

➤ Just going to rank some games I'm interested in watching without giving any context:

  1. Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers
  2. Buffalo Bills at Seattle Seahawks
  3. Philadelphia Eagles at Cincinnati Bengals
  4. Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans
  5. Green Bay Packers at Jacksonville Jaguars

🚨 Public service announcement 🚨 If you're still alive in Paste BN Sports' survivor pool (there are only 62 of 10,357 entries still alive, so well done!), please make sure to make your Week 8 pick!

📸: Fans, mascots, cheerleaders and celebrities at NFL games

NFL Week 8: Pigskin prognostications, betting tips, rankings

➤ Week 8 picks: This is where Paste BN Sports' panel of experts has provided fans with the great public service of making prognostications for every game this weekend, both straight up and against the spread.

➤ Bold predictions: Which teams and players could surprise the most in Week 8?

➤ NFL Week 8 betting odds: Which teams are favored this week?

➤ Best bets for Week 8: Lorenzo Reyes is back with his favorite NFL bets for Week 8, including why he likes lines involving the Packers and Ravens this weekend.

➤ Power rankings: See how all 32 teams stack up after six weeks of play. Three NFC North teams are sitting in the top five.

NFL news, notes and analysis

➤ Ranking backup QB situations: A solid backup quarterback only seems like a luxury until the starter goes down. So we ranked all 32 NFL teams on their No. 2 options and beyond.

➤ 5 teams that should be sellers at the trade deadline: The NFL world will have its own decision day – albeit with much lower stakes than the election. You can probably guess some of the teams that could be looking to offload players at the trade deadline.

➤ DeAndre Hopkins trade grades: Who won this week's big deal between the reigning Super Bowl champions and Titans?

➤ 'Taylor Swift' play leads to rookie's first touchdown: The pop star's NFL relevance extends beyond Travis Kelce and the Chiefs, as the Commanders scored a TD on a call named after the singer.

➤ Lions receiver says suspension was a 'complete surprise': Detroit Lions receiver Jameson Williams says he was blindsided by his suspension. On Thursday, the NFL announced that Williams has been suspended two games without pay for violating the NFL's Performance-Enhancing Substances (PES) policy.

➤ Eli Manning, Marshawn Lynch advance in Hall of Fame selection process: Manning and Lynch are among eight first-year eligible modern-era players to reach the next round of selection for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

Fantasy football: Rankings, start 'em/sit 'em and other lineup needs

Week 7 in the NFL was a particularly painful one, with 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk suffering a season-ending knee injury, 49ers WR Deebo Samuel getting hospitalized, Seahawks WR DK Metcalf suffering a knee injury, Buccaneers WR Mike Evans injuring his hamstring and Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin — the league leader in receptions — now likely out for the season following a severe ankle injury. All of these injuries make it imperative to carefully assess your lineup and consider possible waiver wire pickups. On the bright side, there are no teams on a bye week during Week 8.

➤ Fantasy rankings for Week 8: For your convenience, these position-by-position rankings were updated for this week's games.

➤ Start 'em ⬆ and sit 'em ⬇ for Week 8: Here is where we list eight players to start, and eight to sit, this weekend. Find out why you should sit Nick Chubb, but start Kareem Hunt.

➤ Start 'em 📈/sit 'em 📉 by position: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | Kickers | Defenses/special teams

➤ Waiver wire: These are the players to consider adding to your roster.

➤ Risers and fallers: Find out why QB Jordan Love, RBs De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert, and Deebo Samuel Sr. and Jauan Jennings are looking up, and QB Patrick Mahomes, RB Alvin Kamara and WR Malik Nabers are trending down.

➤ Fantasy injury report: There are some key fantasy football players on the injury report for Week 8. Here's what we know about their status. 🩹

➤ Fantasy trade value charts: These charts have been updated for Week 8 and can be used as your very own fantasy football trade analyzer in standard, half-PPR (point per reception), and full PPR leagues. 📊

Week 8 NFL schedule

(All times Eastern)

Thursday

Sunday

Monday

📅: Complete 2024 NFL schedule

From the YouTube algorithm

This is where we reprise some NFL lore and recall a classic, memorable game from yesteryear that featured Week 8 opponents.

Let's turn the timeline back to three decades ago when the Dallas Cowboys actually appeared in Super Bowls.

Between the 1992 and 1995 seasons, the Cowboys appeared in (and won) three Super Bowls. They haven't been back since. That is mind-blowing when you consider that 12 other NFC teams have appeared in the Super Bowl in the seasons since the Cowboys' last Super Sunday appearance.

To get to two of those Super Bowls, the Cowboys had to go through the San Francisco 49ers, an opponent Dallas has faced a record-tying nine times in the playoffs. The biggest of the 1990s clashes took place in the 1992 NFC championship game, a changing-of-the-guard showdown won by the Cowboys at Candlestick Park.

The Cowboys, of course, went on to defeat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl 27, the third of four consecutive Super Bowl defeats suffered by Buffalo.

📸: NFL teams wearing alternate or throwback uniforms

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