Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoyed a diversely interesting weekend of football. Here’s what I took away from Week 8 in the NFL and Week 9 of college football…

$.01--As the NFL hits the (almost) halfway point of the season, we’re seeing the top teams separate a little from the pack. Week 8 certainly provided some of that in the NFC.

The Eagles remain the NFL’s only unbeaten team. Their rollicking 35-13 win over in-state rival Pittsburgh demonstrated a complete team victory for Philadelphia. Offense, defense, special teams all checked their requisite boxes. This is a very good team that sure seems like it has staying power atop the league. It’s rare to see a team so polished, so capable of winning in so many different ways. That’s the Eagles.

Minnesota improved to 6-1 and they did it in a very Vikings way. For the fifth time this season, rookie head coach Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings sounded the “skol” victory chant in a one-score game. The Vikings survived an incredible game from Arizona WR DeAndre Hopkins and a couple of late opportunities from the Cardinals, snuffing them out with fourth-quarter takeaways and sacks. The Vikings don’t do it with the overwhelming manner the Eagles do, but Minnesota plays consistently smart football. When their offensive triplets--QB Kirk Cousins, WR Justin Jefferson, RB Dalvin Cook--all play well, this is a team that can beat anyone, anywhere. Just not by a lot…

After that, the NFC picture got a little cloudier in Week 8. The Giants lost to the Seahawks, a fantastic stick-to-your-guns win for Geno Smith, Pete Carroll and Seattle. Dallas walloped Chicago, adding a defensive touchdown in a 49-29 blowout. New York and Dallas are 6-2, while Seattle is 5-3. Those are the only teams over .500. Atlanta somehow leads the NFC South at 4-4 but only because of a colossally stupid play by Panthers WR D.J. Moore. Carolina should have won when Moore caught a Hail Mary to tie the game on the last play, but he took off his helmet and earned an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The 15 yards pushed the conversion back farther than kicker Eddy Pineiro could handle, and instead of a walk-off win, the bumbling Panthers stumbled into an overtime loss.

In the AFC, Buffalo remains the team with the bullseye, and they wear it comfortably. The Bills stampeded what’s left of the Packers on Sunday Night Football to improve to 6-1. It wasn’t a great night from MVP candidate Josh Allen, but Buffalo so thoroughly outclassed Green Bay that he didn’t need to be great to get his team the win. Tennessee staked its claim to the No. 2 spot with an uneasy 17-10 win over Houston behind a backup QB. Idle Kansas City is the only other claimant. Cincinnati could get there with a convincing win on Monday night in Cleveland, but that’s no given.

It’s the giant cluster of teams in the 3-to-5-win range that makes this NFL season so fascinating. It’s laying out perfectly for the league, having both widespread parity and clearly defined front-runners in each conference for fans to root for--or against. That makes for great, natural drama every Sunday.

$.02--That sound you heard on Friday morning was everyone furiously, gleefully typing epitaphs for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After their mistake-plagued, sloppy effort in Thursday night’s 27-22 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, it was an easy sell to editors and fans across the country.

The focus is on Brady, who had never lost three games in a row in his entire career until now. And Brady was not good, make no mistake about it; his missed a throw to a wide-open Mike Evans in the back of the end zone is a throw I’m not sure Brady has ever missed before. The 46-year-old Brady is definitely looking his age. The arm isn’t quite there. The connection with the receivers isn’t quite there either.

But Brady is far from the only problem in Tampa Bay. Baltimore ran for 231 yards Thursday night. Way too many of those yards came too easily. The Ravens line absolutely dominated the Buccaneers front, and the LBs behind that line (looks at Devin White) were hopelessly, softly ineffectively. This is largely the same defense that drove Tampa to the Super Bowl title two seasons ago--and that’s part of the problem.

There is a balance between continuity and adding talent. The Bucs have erred on the wrong side, relying on aging players or guys who had fluky spikes at opportune times instead of upgrading some spots and building young depth to push the veterans. Not only did Brady get old, the entire team’s culture did too. New head coach Todd Bowles, an insider, is not someone who wishes to rock the boat, not even when the pirate ship is taking on water from cannonballs in all directions.

The Bucs are at a critical juncture, and so is Brady. Tampa Bay has two games before its bye, home dates with the Rams and Seahawks. Earning nothing worse than a split out of those matchups is imperative. Sure, the way the NFC South is trending, an 8-9 record could very well win it. But these Buccaneers have much bigger goals in their sights than squeaking into the postseason and getting hammered by 20 points in Minnesota or New York. If they don’t right the ship quickly, even that will be but merely a mirage.

$.03--Almost six months ago to the day, Malik Willis was the Tennessee Titans’ third-round pick. The exciting but erratic quarterback from Liberty was frequently projected to go as high as No. 2 overall by several national draft outlets, but his draft-day drop made Willis a huge story for unfortunate reasons.

On Sunday, six months and one day after the Titans selected Wilis in the late third round, the rookie got the nod as Tennessee’s starting quarterback. Longtime starter Ryan Tannehill was ruled out late in the week with an ankle injury and an illness, and Willis jumped into the starting role against the Houston Texans.

The Titans prevailed, 17-10, though it was a game that instantly refutes the concept of a QB Win. Willis threw 10 passes, completing six. He netted 55 passing yards and threw an interception, one that spotlighted one of the biggest knocks on Willis in the draft process--throwing the ball too late. The Titans smartly didn’t ask their greenhorn to go out and win the game for them, and Willis didn’t lose it for Mike Vrabel’s Tennessee team either.

Granted not every rookie QB has the luxury of handing the ball to Derrick Henry. Or facing the defensively challenged Texans in their first start, for that matter. Henry, as he does every time he sees Battle Red on the field, destroyed the Houston defense for 219 yards on 32 carries, scoring both TDs in the 17-10 Titans win. Backup RB Dontrell Hilliard tacked on 83 more rushing yards on just eight carries. That was more than enough to help Willis and the offense run away from a Texans offense that mustered just 10 first downs all afternoon.

This is why many of us liked Willis landing in Tennessee. It’s a friendly offensive scheme backed with a dominant running back and supported by a defense that is growing into something nasty-good. Willis’ first start did little to assuage the doubts about his abilities, but it also showed the likable young QB can be part of a successful game plan already. That’s something to work with in Nashville.

$.04--Willis wasn’t the only precocious QB in the AFC South to make his first start on Sunday. Sam Ehlinger debuted as the new starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts in their Week 8 home game against the Washington Commanders.

Ehlinger did not play poorly, but his Colts still came up short at home. More pertinent for the Colts, Ehlinger looked like a guy who can play out the rest of the season and keep Indianapolis in playoff contention in the absurdly middle-heavy AFC. At worst, the 2021 sixth-rounder from Texas proved to be an upgrade over the rotting pinata that was Matt Ryan.

I’ve only watched the game in fits and spurts, but I like a lot of what I saw from Ehlinger. His best throw of the day, a downfield laser between defenders, hit Michael Pittman in perfect stride. Pittman dropped what should have been a huge gain, if not a game-winning TD. Ehlinger showed the ability to move out of harm’s way and deliver accurate throws to the right receiver. Again, he wasn’t perfect but he was good enough to inspire hope. And at 3-4-1, hope is important for the banged-up Colts.

If Washington played outside the NFC East, there would be a lot more hope for the Commanders. Their 4-4 record would have them in first place in the NFC South and prime contention in the West. Being .500 has Washington in last place in the East and playing the conference’s two best teams (Minnesota, Philadelphia) in the next two weeks. Plucky Taylor Heinicke and underappreciated superstar Terry McLaurin are good enough to keep the Commanders relevant, especially if the defense can continue to get off the field on third downs so well; only Tennessee is better at stopping opposing offenses on third downs.

$.05--I don’t typically watch much of the pregame shows but happenstance led me to a wonderful roundtable on ESPN moderated by Adam Schefter. It featured current head coaches Kyle Shanahan (SF), Sean McVay (LAR) and Matt LaFleur (GB) discussing their time together as assistant coaches on the 2013 Washington team under Kyle’s dad, Mike.

It was an open, fascinating glimpse into the minds of three offensive-minded head coaches who also are clearly still good friends a decade later even though they coach rival NFC playoff teams. Kyle Shanahan was the coordinator, LaFleur the QBs coach, and McVay a tight ends coach. There were two portions of the free-ranging discussion that fascinated me.

First was the concept of how to build an offensive system around a different type of quarterback than was traditional for that group, Robert Griffin III. RG3 was a rookie in 2012, the No. 2 overall pick in that draft, and led Washington to a playoff berth. His ability to run and throw on the move outside the pocket was a dynamic that the trio of widely respected offensive masterminds toyed with and struggled with. The talk about installing the offense and whether to deploy Griffin in a pistol or a standard shotgun formation was a great peek behind the curtain at what goes on in coach’s meetings.

That discussion led to the second point that really hit home, a very candid talk by Kyle Shanahan about the struggles of working for his dad. Mike Shanahan is a notoriously prickly person, especially when things aren’t going well. Kyle is a different sort of personality. The clash between the outwardly intense Mike and a more calm demeanor with Kyle led to some serious conflict over football matters. Those things bled into their off-field relationship as father and son, with Kyle relating a story about a family vacation to Mexico where the two weren’t on speaking terms because of what happened in Washington. It was a great reminder that these are real human beings in these jobs, something I think we all gloss over too readily, too willingly.

That was one heck of a team, one worthy of a deeper oral history or documentary. Also on that 2013 Washington staff were former TB and ATL head coach Raheem Morris and MIA head coach Mike McDaniel. Five future NFL head coaches as assistants under a HOF-worthy head coach…and that team went 3-13.

$.06--It’s not time to panic, but it’s time to start asking some difficult questions about Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Sunday morning began with a lot of the same old from the Jaguars and Lawrence. Playing in their second home in London, the Jaguars blew a winnable game against a bad opponent that didn’t play well, losing 21-17 to the largely inept Broncos. And Lawrence played a bigger role in Jacksonville losing the game than he did putting them in position to win.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft threw two inexcusable interceptions, each at critical junctures. One was a terrible decision in the red zone, the other an underthrown, late delivery on the final Jaguars drive that sealed the loss.

This is just not an acceptable throw for someone with as much acclaim as Lawrence had when entering the league:

And maybe that’s some of the issue for Lawrence and the 2-6 Jaguars. This is midway through his second season. Lawrence has thrown 21 TDs and 21 INTs and too many of them are of the “oh no” variety like the two on Sunday. Granted he’s had suboptimal coaching with the Urban Meyer fiasco, a terrible way to enter the NFL. But everything we saw at Clemson, all the pre-draft hype that was nearly unanimous, it just isn’t manifesting in the NFL after a season and a half.

One of my pre-draft questions about Lawrence was if he’d be like Andrew Luck, a fantastic collegiate QB but one who never really got appreciably better in the NFL. Luck was largely the same QB when he retired from the Colts as he was when he began his senior season at Stanford, a fully-developed end product. That was a great product, no doubt about it, but never quite the generational talent so many expected. Lawrence might be another finished product, but he’s not been close to Luck. The Jaguars around him are part of that lack of accomplishment too, but they’re too talented to be 2-6 against the schedule they’ve played.

$.07--Saturday was rivalry day for a lot of college football programs. One of those turned especially ugly.

Michigan routed Michigan State, 29-7, in the Big House in a game that was not nearly as competitive as the score would indicate. The Wolverines held the visiting Spartans to under 50 yards in the second half and shook off a sluggish start to seize the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

Alas, the hostilities did not end on the field. Michigan Stadium has a peculiar layout where both teams depart the field through the same narrow tunnel, and that led to some hooliganism after the game. Two Michigan players were assaulted by several Spartans in the tunnel, incidents captured on video. It’s an inexcusable lack of control and discipline from Mel Tucker’s team, something that will not help their image in the Mitten State or nationally whatsoever.

Police are investigating the incident, as are the Big Ten Conference and officials from both schools. Late Sunday night, Michigan State suspended four players who were prominent in the post-game assault. Make no mistake about it, either; that is an assault worthy of criminal charges. Given the tense rivalry between the two coaches and universities, expect Michigan to push for as much criminal punishment as can be dished out.

There’s a secondary issue here, one that Michigan itself can rectify. Barring a radical redesign of a 96-year-old concrete stadium, the opposing teams will continue to be forced to enter and exit the field from the same tunnel that emerges right behind the Michigan sideline. While conflicts to this level have not happened before, hostility and conflict in the tunnel have happened several times recently. The University of Michigan can easily quell this by staggering the entrance and exits of the two teams, and also by having uniformed security in the tunnel. Allow more than a few feet between the Wolverines and their foes, more than a handful of seconds for the tunnel emergence. Leaving the field after a game is admittedly more difficult to manage logistically, but the host school bears some burden here if they want to avoid future problems.

That does not excuse what those Spartans players did on Saturday night. Not one bit. The fact the losing team responded that way reflects terribly on Coach Tucker, and no amount of punishment the Spartans mete out will erase that stain from his record. That’s one area where the college game (rightly) differs from the NFL. These are impressionable young men under more control from their coaches, and the Michigan State coaches failed to guide their student-athletes in the right way.

$.08--NFL quickies

--Miami managed to win in Detroit despite committing 12 pre-snap penalties. Many were declined, including two separate instances when the Lions declined two separate Dolphins infractions on the same play. Credit Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill, who set the Super Bowl-era record for most receiving yards by a duo in the first eight games with 1,688. Both topped 100 in Sunday’s 31-27 comeback win.

--Just when you thought it was safe to be excited about the Jets, Week 8 provided a brutal bitchslap of reality. Zach Wilson was awful in New York’s 22-17 loss to New England, throwing three interceptions that were all just dreadful decisions. Their young defense continues to play well, but Sunday was a reminder that bad quarterbacking trumps good defense almost every time.

--This fell between the cracks, but speedy wide receiver Will Fuller has filed his retirement paperwork at 28. Fuller might have been the fastest player in the NFL in between his numerous injuries. He missed at least five games every season after his 2016 rookie campaign, a year where he led the NFL in drops. Fuller worked hard at improving his catching ability but he never got better at staying on the field.

--From the “today I learned” files, courtesy of the very good Football Zebras account on Twitter:

--Don’t be this guy:

I understand the emotions though. The Raiders should be a lot better than they are, and Sunday's lifeless 24-0 loss to a Saints team that was 2-5 is a reminder that you need to be careful what you wish for. Landing Josh McDaniels as the head coach seemed great at the time, but now everyone remembers why Denver couldn’t wait to get rid of him a decade ago.

$.09--College/Draft quickies

--In a game with many NFL talent evaluators paying close attention, Hendon Hooker and the Tennessee Volunteers smoked Will Levis and the Kentucky Wildcats. Hooker threw three TDs and made it look easy in the Vols’ 44-6 win, showing many traits that appeal to the NFL: strong arm, decisive and accurate anticipatory throws, smart risk avoidance.

Levis, well…none of that applied to the Wildcats QB. Levis threw 3 INTs and looked outmatched by Tennessee’s packages of pressure and coverage. One analyst I respect compared Levis to Jets QB Zach Wilson and I can’t unsee the similarities anymore. That’s not a positive for Levis.

--Reason No. 6,147 that preseason rankings are absolutely pointless garbage that should be banished from any meaningful significance:

--The initial CFP standings start this week. I’ll reiterate what I say every year: IGNORE THEM. They’re absolutely pointless, designed to do nothing more than steal your attention to something that does not matter. Alabama in 5th? TCU getting dissed? Give it a few weeks and let the games play out.

--It’s not often that a top-10 team this late in the season gets beat by 48 points, but this isn’t your typical season. Kansas State destroyed No. 9 Oklahoma State 48-0. The Cowboys have given up 124 points in three weeks, losing two of three.

--Ohio State surged late to beat Penn State, 44-31, but don’t let the score fool you. The Buckeyes scored four TDs in the 4th quarter to edge their way to a win in Happy Valley. This was not QB C.J. Stroud’s best audition tape for draft purposes, though he did finish incredibly well. Pressure got to Stroud early in the game and his response was not what was hoped. At least he got it together late, and rebounding from a poor start is an invaluable NFL trait. Ask Matthew Stafford about that…

$.10--My “day job”, as most long-time readers know, is covering the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns for USA TODAY’s Wire network. In my six years as a managing editor there, I also spent three seasons covering the Houston Texans.

After Sunday’s games, the three teams of my deep NFL focus have a combined record of 4-16-1. They’re three of the worst five teams in the league. For the Lions and Texans, that’s nothing new in the last few seasons. The Browns have been there most of my adult life, and I just turned 50.

In short, I’m exposed to a dangerous level of bad football and losing. Year after year, it seldom changes. I’m a Lions fan, a (very proud) Cleveland native and belong to a family that roots for the Texans from our time living in Houston when the J.J. Watt era of (relative) success took flight. I watch every play of every game of all three teams, often more than once for professional purposes.

It’s not easy to resist the temptation to walk into Lake Michigan with cinder block shoes, the feeling that invariably hits most every Sunday evening. Emotionally draining, even as unbiased and professional as I try to remain, doesn’t begin to describe the toll all the losing and negativity takes on me. I don’t sleep well during the season, especially this season. My diet and physical condition have pretty much gone to depths not seen since the winless years I covered in Detroit and Cleveland. This has become an incredibly difficult job. Irrationally angry fans vent and plead, and I’m often the frontline that absorbs it. (sidenote--it’s stupefying how many people think I can implement change despite not being employed by the team)

This is the part of the “dream job” they don’t warn you about in college. It’s every sports reporter’s dream to cover a champion. Fifth-grade me fantasized about being in the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room when they hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy for winning the NBA Championship. I even wrote that down when my teacher (hi Gloria Oravec!) asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Nobody gets into sports journalism to spend years covering losing teams.

I didn’t get to cover those champion 2016 Cavs--still my No. 1 sporting passion even after all the lean years. I did get to spend days savoring the Browns’ playoff victory in Pittsburgh in 2020, and that was fantastic. Beyond that, loss after loss and soul-sucking loss.

People ask, how do I handle it? Why do you not find something more rewarding and enjoyable to do, like transporting port-a-potties or scraping roadkill off freeways?

And that leads me to the best advice I can give anyone who wants to write about or talk about sports for a living. Compartmentalize! Learn to separate the personal from the professional. Don’t get too high or low with the team. Find ways to leave the fan disappointment from bleeding into personal disappointment.

It’s a very real struggle. I like to think I’m a pretty mentally strong person, but damn if these teams don’t test that strength a whole lot more than I wish. I have ways I unplug and unwind, from shooting hundreds of free throws to obsessively cleaning the bathrooms. I go to concerts or watch my kids play sports (see last week’s tenth cent). When the weather cooperates, I kayak or run on the beach. I desperately cherish those things. If you want to do this job, you absolutely have to find your places to go, both literally and metaphorically.

Sometimes I write for cathartic purposes too. Thanks for the therapy session. I needed that…