NFL Best And Worst: From Christian Watson’s Heroics To The Colts’ Continued Collapse

We’re nearing the halfway point of the season, and the Colts — judging by their on-field play, not just their trades — are already looking toward next season. In Green Bay, Packers vs. Panthers turned into a WWE script — with Christian Watson as the featured star. And in a game in which Cam Ward reminded the NFL world why he was the No. 1 overall pick in 2025, the Titans gave us another small example of why they’re so bad. Here’s my breakdown of the best and worst from Week 8, focusing on specific plays, developments across the league and team performances: On the last play of the game, hoping to preserve a 28-24 comeback win over the Chiefs, the Broncos rose to the occasion. Defensive end Malcolm Roach sacked Patrick Mahomes on fourth-and-goal. It capped a great stand by Denver’s defense that put the Broncos (6-2) half a game ahead of the Chiefs (5-2) for first place in the AFC West through eight weeks. For as frustrating as the Broncos can be at times, they know how to close games. That makes them a Super Bowl contender even as they continue to work through their kinks, particularly on offense. Including Sunday, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix has 16 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter/OT. That is the most for any QB through three seasons since at least 1950, according to NFL on FOX research. Late in the third quarter and tied at 21 with the Cincinnati Bengals, facing a second-and-11 from their own 3-yard line, the Tennessee Titans dialed up a draw. Quarterback Cam Ward handed the ball to running back Tony Pollard in the end zone, where he was quickly tackled by defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II and linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. for a safety. It was a poorly executed play, to be clear. A blitzing Knight went unaccounted for up the middle. Titans center Austin Schlottmann was quickly beaten by Lawrence. So the players bear some responsibility. But it was a baffling play call by Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll given the situation. A slow-developing handoff in the shadow of your end zone late in a tight game is risky and irresponsible. To the Titans’ credit, though, Sunday was a good day for them overall, despite the loss. This is a team that just traded its best player, All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, sending it deeper into a years-long rebuild. And it responded by nearly upsetting a top contender in the Bengals at home. Tennessee scored a season-high 36 points, its most in a game since 2021. Safety Amani Hooker had three interceptions off Bengals QB Joe Burrow, who was also sacked three times by edge rusher Jacob Martin. But quarterback Cam Ward was the big story for Tennessee. The 2025 No. 1 overall pick had one of his best games as a pro, throwing for a career-high 304 yards and two touchdowns. He took a killer sack on the Titans’ last drive of regulation, but otherwise looked very comfortable and in complete control of the offense. Ward’s standing as Tennessee’s long-term quarterback has been questioned a number of times this season, but the version of him we saw Sunday was a true franchise quarterback. Now, the challenge for him is sustaining it. In Green Bay’s Thursday night victory over the Carolina Panthers, Packers wide receiver Christian Watson took a hard fall on a deep catch in the second quarter, suffering a chest injury. It forced him out of the game and into an ambulance, which took him to a local hospital. But within an hour, Watson returned in an ambulance, jumped out with his full set of pads and ran down the tunnel to rejoin his team on the sideline. It looked like a WWE scene — even to Watson. “It was super dramatic. I used to watch WWE as a kid, and it felt like I was watching WWE ‘Smackdown’ vs. ‘Raw’ or something,” he said. Watson, who’d caught six passes for 100 receiving yards before exiting the game, returned to make two more catches to help the Packers to a 27-19 victory. I’m not sure that there are larger takeaways to be drawn from this, other than 1) the NFL is peak entertainment (we knew this) and 2) NFL players are incredibly tough (we knew this too). Watson had been coughing up blood and an X-ray revealed a broken rib. He had no additional issues and was cleared to return, but returning to a football game after a hospital visit is astonishing. Just as hope came back to a Ravens season that began with Super Bowl expectations, Baltimore is now teetering. Two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, who returned Sunday against the Buffalo Bills after missing the past three games with a high ankle sprain, injured his right thumb on his first snap of the game. He was quickly ruled out, and coach Jesse Minter said afterward that Jackson will be placed on injured reserve — with him “potentially” being out for the rest of the year. This is about much more than what’s becoming a disastrous season for the Ravens, who were down to their No. 3 quarterback, undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano, before halftime. This is about Jackson and his future with the franchise. If he doesn’t play again this year, he’ll have missed 16 games over the past two seasons — nearly half the possible games. He’s dealt with minor injuries throughout his career, but health has become a pressing concern in his late 20s, when he should be in his prime as a quarterback. And that doesn’t even include the fact that Jackson’s athleticism, a key part of his game, could significantly diminish as he gets older (he turns 30 in January). If you’re the Ravens, those are all legitimate reasons to be wary of giving him another record-setting contract. So that could make extension talks murky with Jackson, who already had a tense negotiation with Baltimore ahead of his current deal, which expires after the 2027 season. He even requested a trade before eventually reaching terms on an agreement that made him, at the time, the highest-paid player in league history. It’s possible that Jackson has suited up for the Ravens for the last time. Baltimore hasn’t been very good without Jackson — most teams aren’t without their franchise QB — but another tense negotiation could lead to him being traded, giving the team a fresh start with multiple first-round picks. Given the strength of the opponent (by wins and losses), margin of victory and collective performance across all three phases, I don’t think there was a team that had a better week than the Pittsburgh Steelers, who beat the Cleveland Browns 27-6. The Broncos were in the conversation here — they limited Kenneth Walker (21 carries, 69 yards) and had a goal-line stand to beat the Chiefs, taking first place in the AFC West — but Patrick Mahomes had a ton of success throwing the ball (321 passing yards, 3 TDs) and Denver won by just four points. The Steelers, meanwhile, beat a 5-3 Browns team by three scores to supplant Cleveland for first place in the AFC North. Aaron Rodgers didn’t have a banner day (15-of-25, 172 passing yards, INT), but Pittsburgh ran for a season-high 200 yards, sacked Deshaun Watson eight times and kept Cleveland out of the end zone. The Steelers are tied for the league’s longest winning streak at four games. They haven’t been talked about as a major AFC contender, but maybe they should be. Choosing a team here wasn’t hard. The Colts are amid a fire sale — they traded two of their best players, All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson and standout defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, last week — and played like a team that has packed it in for the season. Indianapolis was blown out 42-7 in Jacksonville. The offense continues to be a disaster — the Colts have scored fewer points than they did the week prior for four consecutive games. A broken defense gave up a season-high 42 points, the second time it’s allowed 40-plus points this year. The performance added rocket fuel to the trade speculation surrounding star running back Jonathan Taylor, who should absolutely be dealt at this point. If you’re the Colts, you need to continue to stack up draft capital to make up for the abysmal deal for cornerback Sauce Gardner, who cost Indy two first-round picks last year. Could a contender that needs a star running back be desperate enough to give up a first-rounder for Taylor? I don’t know. But at the very least, Indianapolis should be able to get a second-round pick and more, similar to what the San Francisco 49ers gave up to get Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers (a second-, third-, fourth- and a fifth-round pick). Elsewhere on the roster, wide receiver Josh Downs — who has requested a trade — could net a mid-round pick. The Colts announced that quarterback Daniel Jones will remain the starter for Week 9 against the Dallas Cowboys, but you have to explore giving former first-rounder Anthony Richardson a shot at this point.