Week 8’s NFL All-Stars

By Rhys Knott

There were a few NFL upsets in Week 8. There was some very inclement weather and there were some surprising candidates for Week 8’s All-Stars too.

Week 8’s All-Star Quarterback

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There were two options for quarterback in Week 8’s All-Stars. It was out of Jalen Hurts or Sam Howell and Hurts is going to have plenty of chances to be the All-Star quarterback. Plus Hurts lost his fumble and Howell somehow managed to fumble the ball in a way that the Commanders could recover it.  

Howell threw for 397 yards. He did throw 52 passes though, how can you not love Eric Bienemy’s play calling? Howell also threw four touchdown passes despite being sacked and throwing an interception. He also ran for 11 yards. Howell ended the game with a passer rating of 114.0, last week it 60.5! He appears to be on an upward trajectory. 

Week 8’ All-Star Running Back

Ladies and gentleman Jahmyr Gibbs has arrived. The Lions’ rookie was given 26 rushing attempts against the Raiders. That’s nine more attempts than the Lions had previously afforded him. And unsurprisingly it turned out pretty well. Gibbs would end the game with 157 rushing yards at 5.8 yards per carry and his second rushing touchdown of the season. Gibss would also catch all five of his targets for an extra 37 yards. His 189 total yards was 63 more than his previous best, that he set in Week 7. 

Week 8’s All-Star Wide Receivers

DeAndre Hopkins would have been one of Week 8’s All-Stars in a normal week. But this week was no normal week, four pass catchers racked up more than 130 yards! 

Cowboy CeeDee Lamb ended their thrashing of the Rams with 12 catches 158 yards and two TD’s. If only Dallas could have a Bye week every second week. 

Who is the Saints most exciting receiver in 2023? You might guess Chris Olave, but you’d be wrong. Then you might think a resurgent Michael Thomas but you’d be wrong again. It’s 25 year old Rashid Shaheed has only started nine games in his season and a half in the NFL, but this week he caught all three of his targets and ended up with 153 yards and a touchdown. Either Pete Carmichael has become an offensive genius or the Colts forgot Shaheed existed. 

A.J Brown, that man again. He extended his streak of games with 127 receiving yards or more to six! Since Week 3 Brown has 831 yards. That’s more than all receivers not named “Tyreek Hill” have recorded all season! 

Week 8's All-star tight end

It’s George Kittle. The 49ers might have lost and Brock Purdy might look like a normal human when Trent Williams is injured. But Kittle still racked up the yards, 149 yards to be precise. At an average of 16.6 yards per catch. 

week 8's d/st

Well, Kayvon Thibodeaux recorded three sacks against the Jets as he continues his breakout season, but the Giants lost as Graham Gano missed two field goals at soggy Meadowlands. Houston Texan Jonathan Greenard racked up two of his own sacks, but the Texans lost too, so not exactly great defense from either of those teams! The Broncos defense only gave up 9 points, but they had big assists from the grim Colorado weather and Patrick Mahomes’ flu. 

So this week the All-Star D/ST is the Jaguars, although you could argue you don’t need much defense to stop a Matt Canada offense. Josh Allen made two sacks though and the Jags had 3 as a team. In total the Jags hit both quarterbacks the Steelers wheeled out a total of 9 times! The Jags created 3 total turnovers. Andrew Wingard and Antonio Johnson both intercepted passes and general all round megastar Foyesade Oluokon forced a fumble. And Brandon McManus scored 12 points, including two field goals over 50 yards. 

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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