WEEK 8 REPORT

DEFENDING CHAMPS IMPROVE TO 6-2!

Monday Night Magic for the Predators

PHILIP RIVERS

305 passing yards, 2 TDs (48, 13)

The Predators improved to 6-2 on the season as Peyton Manning made his triumphant return from the bye week with 25-points on Monday night at home against Houston. Philip Rivers also contributed 25-points in a home win over Tennesee.

The Megatons led this game heading into Monday night, 84-58. The Predators dropped 69-points on Monday night (Manning, 25; Foster, 24; Johnson, 20) to win the game.

DREW BREES

305 passing yards, 2 TDs (16, 8)

Drew Brees was equally dangerous in Week 8 with numbers equal to Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning for 25-points. Unfortunately, the rest of the line-up failed to show up for our GAME of the WEEK.

Miles Austin (11) and Dwayne Bowe (11) were pedestrian considering what they're been up to lately. The Packers DST came up with 13-points. 

There really wasn't much more to speak of beyond the Halloween night performance of Brees, and that left the door open for the Predators to nail down the victory on Monday night with their big guns.

The Megatons remain in second place in the Extra Crispy Division at 4-4, two games behind the Cougars.

COUGARS DESTROY GAUCHOS:

148-58!

CALVIN JOHNSON

101 rec yards, 3 TDs (13, 7, 10)

The Cougars gained a game on The Megatons in the ECD and kept pace with the Predators and Spoiler in the Original Division at 6-2 after a big win over the Gauchos in Week 8. Leading the way to victory was WR Calvin Johnson who caught 3 TDs in victory over the Redskins.

Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore, and Ricky Williams combined for 53-points on 279 rushing yards and 3 TDs. Antonio Gates had 123 receiving yards and a TD for 22-points.

The Cougars put this one away quickly. They won the $10 prize wtih this week's top score.

RAMS DST - John Laurinaitis

10 PA, 3 Int, DFR, 3 SACK

The Rams DST and Jamaal Charles were the only bright spots in a dreary outing for the Gauchos in Week 8. Charles had 177 rushing yards and over 60 receiving yards in an overtime win against Buffalo.

Randy Moss came up with 0-points in his final game as a Viking. Jacoby Jones also had 0-points on Monday for Houston. The power outage killed the Gauchos, whose hopes are starting to fade fast in the Original Division.

THE SPOILER UNDRESSES THE FUZZ,

144-112!

BRANDON LLOYD

169 rec yards, 1 TD (1)

The Spoiler improved to 6-2 with a 144-112 win over the Houston Fuzz in Week 8. WRs Terrell Owens and Brandon Lloyd came up with the biggest numbers on the day for The Spoiler with 26-points on 344 receiving yards and 3 TDs.

Kyle Orton and Aaron Rodgers combined for 539 passing yards and a TD for 31-points.

JASON WITTEN (#82)

19-points (97 rec yards, TD)

The Houston Fuzz settled for decent outings from just about everyone but not a single great outing from one of them. Jason Witten was at the top of the list for production with 19-points. Carson Palmer was a close second with 18-points. He and Matt Schaub combined for 32-points on 357 passing yards and 3 TDs.

Marques Colston was good for 17-points on Halloween against Pittsburgh's weak secondary with 75 receiving yards and a TD. The Fuzz will continue to bang in the ECD hoping to break through to playoff contention before it's too late.

BACKDOOR BANDITS OWNED

Thugs Win, 140-103!

BenJarvus GREEN-ELLIS

112 rushing yards, 2 TDs (13,2)

The Parking Thugs "good" squad decided to show up once again in Week 8 and they pounded out 140-points on the way to victory over the Backdoor Bandits. The win puts the Thugs at 3-5 and 3 games behind the Cougars in the ECD.

BJ now has 5 or more TDs in his past five games. The Thugs got heavy contributions from Larry Fitzgerald (27), Mike Sims-Walker (25), and Josh Freeman (21) in victory. These normally not-so-hot players for the past 8 weeks had an awakening of sorts last Sunday.

The Thugs hope to maintain some consistency with their production in Week 9 instead of reverting to the team that can't seem to scrape together points.

DONOVAN McNABB

Controversial benching for Rex Grossman.

He's lacking the "cardiovascular endurance" and the "knowledge" of the two-minute drill says Shanahan. Not that it mattered in this game as the 37-point difference was the real problem, but the Bandits are going to have to think about McNabb from here on out.

The winning streak came to an end and now the Bandits (currently heading to the Sunday night game in Green Bay - have fun, Greg!) are at 4-4 and two games out in the Original Division.

McNabb had the hot hand with 18-points in Week 8 before his benching. Matt Cassel passed for a TD and 14-points. Darren McFadden and Danny Woodhead combined for 26-points in defeat.

GATORS & MARAUDERS TIE:

101-101

LeGARRETTE BLOUNT

As predicted, he was huge: 28-points!

In your Week 8 preview, yours truly featured Blount on the Marauders write up and what happened last Sunday in a high-scoring win over Arizona? Blount emerged as the star with 120 rushing yards and  2 TDs against the Cardinals.

Mike Bush had 18-points for Oakland. Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger combined for 435 passing yards and a TD (65). Sam Bradford's 21-point outing at home against Carolina was a slight upgrade on the bench for the DMs as opposed to "Big" Ben's 7-points on Sunday night.

And Brandon Tate's 30-point outing for New England at WR would have been a huge help over Mike Wallace (4) or Dez Bryant (8). But you have to play the most recent hot hands occasionally. Still, the points were there.

MATTHEW STAFFORD

34-points (212 passing yards, 4 TDs)

Matthew Stafford is off the shelf and looking great in his 34-point Week 8 outing against Washington. Stafford threw for 4 TDs (13, 2, 7, 10) and 223 yards against the Skins.

Maurice Jones-Drew and Cedric Benson combined for 247 rushing yards and 21-points. Greg Jennings, Reggie Wayne, and Wes Welker combined for 177 receiving yards and a TD.

Owen Daniels and/or Reggie Wayne had two chances late in the fourth quarter on Monday night to give the Gators a chance to get a 102-101 victory. Wayne missed a 3rd-down pass intended for him. Daniels had a pass on his fingertips deep in the red zone with about a minute left that he couldn't haul in. Had either one of those receptions been made, the Gators were staring at victory. Alas, it wasn't to be.

The Gators are now 2-5-1 while the Marauders are 3-4-1 to make things interesting come playoff time.

Congratulations to all winners in Week 8!