Hidden Stat Line: NFL Week 8 Recap

Here's a quick list of some of our Week 8 highlights, because writing a list takes less time than writing a real introduction:

1. DK Metcalf with more snaps (and two TDs!)
2. Devin Singletary up to 68% of snaps
3. Courtland Sutton dominates, but not on the stat sheet
4. Christian Kirk looking healthy
5. Baker Mayfield lighting up the Patriots defense
6. Minshew, the Creator
7. Todd Gurley disappearing after his TD
8. Danny Amendola gobbling up targets and yards... again
9. Auden Tate: WR1 volume, WR3 production
10. I lied about No. 5
11. It's tacky to make everything in multiples of five or 10.
12. All the lists below are in multiples of five or 10.
13. Now we have a Baker's dozen.

Week 8 QB Leaders

(stats from NFL Next Gen Stats, Pro Football Focus and ESPN)

2019 QB Leaders

(stats from NFL Next Gen Stats, Pro Football Focus and ESPN)

Note: four-game minimum to qualify

Week 8 RB Leaders

(stats from RotoWire, PFF and airyards.com)

Note: 10-carry minimum to qualify for YPC after contact

2019 RB Leaders

(stats from RotoWire, PFF and airyards.com)

Note: target share and snap share only includes games the player played in. Excludes players on IR. Minimum of four games played to qualify. Minimum of 50 carries to qualify for YPC after contact.

Week 8 WR Leaders

(Stats from airyards.com)

2019 WR Leaders

(Stats from airyards.com)

Note: target share and air-yard share only include games the player played in. Excludes players on IR. Minimum of four games played to qualify.

Week 8 TE Leaders

(Stats from airyards.com and PFF)

2019 TE Leaders

(Stats from airyards.com and PFF)

Note: target share and air-yard share only include games the player played in. Excludes players on IR. Minimum of four games played to qualify.

Feedback is encouraged! Time constraints are a factor for every breakdown apart from the Thursday night game, so I'm happy to discuss anything I missed in the comments below or on Twitter (@RotowireNFL_JD).

Redskins 9 Vikings 19

Redskins

• The Redskins ran exactly 41 offensive plays for a second straight week, with Minnesota accounting for 61% of possession (36:36) in a game with 54 rush attempts, 38 completions and nine incompletions. For a point of reference, league average this season is 63.1 plays per team game.
• Dwayne Haskins had just five pass attempts and two sacks, despite playing the entire second half in place of a concussed Case Keenum.
• Haskins now has four interceptions, four sacks and 22 pass attempts in two appearances as a mid-game replacement.
• Adrian Peterson played a season-high 72% of snaps, accounting for 16 of the team's 31 touches (52%) and 103 of the 248 scrimmage yards (42%).
• Peterson has played 72%, 63% and 65% of snaps in three games with Bill Callahan as head coach, averaging 19 carries, 1.3 targets and 106.7 scrimmage yards per week. Granted, those numbers include a matchup with the trash-can Dolphins and another game played in heavy rain against the 49ers.
• Peterson played 31%, 47%, 41% and 27% of snaps in four games under Jay Gruden, averaging 10 carries, 1.3 targets and 28 scrimmage yards per game.
• Terry McLaurin played 93% of snaps, followed by Paul Richardson (77%), Trey Quinn (56%) and Kelvin Harmon (26%).
• Jeremy Sprinkle played 77% of snaps at tight end, with some guy named Hale Hentges getting 42%.
• McLaurin led the team with 23 routes on 25 QB dropbacks, followed by Richardson (22), Sprinkle (17), Quinn (17), Peterson (12), Wendell Smallwood (nine), Hentges (six) and Harmon (four), per PFF.
• McLaurin leads the NFL with 49% air-yard share in the games he's played, accounting for a gigantic portion of Washington's feeble downfield passing "attack".
• Injured running back Chris Thompson (foot) is the only other Washington player with target share above 16% (Quinn) or air-yard share above 21% (Richardson).

Vikings

• Kirk Cousins disappointed fantasy owners in finishing the night without a touchdown, but he enjoyed a fourth straight game with at least 9.9 YPA and a completion percentage above 70. His stats over the past four weeks prorate to 464 pass attempts, 5,044 yards and 40 touchdowns over 16 games. Among qualified passers this season, he's first in YPA (9.3), second in completion percentage (72.1), fourth in TD rate (6.0), 10th in QBR (61.4) and sixth in PFF grade (84.1). On the other hand, he's still just 14th in yards per game (249.6), with a season high of 36 attempts (Week 4 at Chicago).
• NFL Next Gen Stats estimates that Cousins' completion percentage is 8.2 points above expectation relative to the difficulty of his throws, ranking first in the league among qualified passer, slightly ahead of Dak Prescott (+8.1) and Russell Wilson (+7.9).
• Nice work by the Vikings drafting a Dalvin Cook doppelgänger as the backup to Dalvin Cook. The two running backs don't actually look alike without their helmets on, but it's a legit Mike Evans & Vincent Jackson situation when Cook and Alexander Mattison are in uniform.
• Cook played 71% of snaps, piling up 171 scrimmage yards on 23 carries and six targets. His 69% snap share for the season ranks seventh among running backs, but that hasn't stopped him from averaging 19.5 carries and 4.3 targets per game. He's on pace for 2,232 scrimmage yards and 18 touchdowns.
• Cook has caught 29 of 34 targets... and each of the five incompletions was a drop. His 14.7% drop rate is fourth worst in the league among qualified pass catchers, behind Noah Fant (20.8), Dion Lewis (15.8) and Michael Gallup (15.0). Last year, Cook had the 18th-worst drop rate (8.2) among 141 qualifiers.
• Cook also has struggled in pass protection, allowing the exact same number of pressures (five), hurries (three) and sacks (one) that he gave up all of last season on three times as many pass blocking snaps (26 this year, 78 last), per PFF. I doubt any of this stuff about blocking or drops is relevant for 2019, but it could become more than an anecdote in the offseason if Mattison shows improved passing-down skills. You may have noticed that the Vikings use Ameer Abdullah for 3rd-and-longs, though Cook handles the bulk of passing downs.
• Stefon Diggs played 79% of snaps and ran a route on 26 of Cousins' 30 dropbacks, followed by Bisi Johnson (74% snaps, 26 routes) and Laquon Treadwell (22% snaps, four routes), per PFF.
• Kyle Rudolph played 83% of snaps and tied for the team lead with 26 routes, while Irv Smith got 64% and 18 routes, i.e., only a small bump compared to when Adam Thielen (hamstring) was healthy. Smith played between 42% and 56% of snaps each of the previous seven weeks, running a route on 46% of QB dropbacks (which rose to 60% in Thursday's game), per PFF.
• Third-string tight end Tyler Conklin got his largest snap share (43%) of the season, with the Vikings running more plays from 13 personnel (19) than they ran from 11 personnel (13). That's a rarity, to say the least, in the modern NFL.

Eagles 31 Bills 13

Eagles

• Playing in windy, rainy conditions, Carson Wentz had his fewest pass attempts (24) in any game since his rookie season. He also matched a career high with eight carries, but three were kneel-downs and one was a QB sneak, while the other four were scrambles on designed pass plays, per PFF.
• Wentz has scrambled on pass plays 13 times through eight weeks, or 1.6 per game, which is a slight improvement from 2018 (1.5 per game) but still not close to his 2017 frequency of scrambling (2.5 per game), per PFF.
• Miles Sanders made the most of his 13 snaps prior to a shoulder injury, taking three carries for 74 yards and a touchdown, along with three catches for 44 yards on three targets (he also had a successful run on a 2-pt conversion). His final touch of the game came midway through the third quarter, at which point Jordan Howard had 10 carries and one target. Also, Sanders is fast.

• Howard finished with a 23-96-1 rushing line and 1-15-0 receiving line (two targets) on 73% of snaps, while Boston Scott had a 5-6-1 rushing line on 12% of snaps. Howard's 53 snaps were the most for any Eagles running back since Week 9 of 2016 (Darren Sproles), per Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. (Sproles has missed three straight games with a quad injury).
• Alshon Jeffery dropped down to 71% of snaps Sunday, his smallest share this season apart from the Week 2 game in which he suffered a calf injury. He nonetheless led the Eagles in targets (six), catches (four) and receiving yards (64), and he ran a route on 29 of Wentz's 31 dropbacks, per PFF.
• Nelson Agholor also ran 29 routes, followed by Zach Ertz (24), Howard (18), Mack Hollins (17) and Dallas Goedert (17).
• Goedert finished second on the team with five targets, and 75% snap share marked a fourth time in the past five weeks he's been at 69% or higher.
• Among 86 WRs with 20 or more targets this year, Hollins is 85th in yards per route (0.68) and Agholor is 79th (0.95). With DeSean Jackson (abdomen) unavailable, the Eagles have become entirely reliant on Jeffery, their tight ends and running backs, getting little to nothing from the other two WR spots.
• The Eagles registered four sacks and nine QB hits on Josh Allen, with seven different players hitting him at least once.

Bills

• Allen completed 47.1% of his passes, landing below 50% for the second time this season, though he was at 61.5% or better in each of the other five games. His 60.1% completion rate for the year is 27th among 30 qualified passers.
• Devin Singletary played 68% of snaps, with three carries for 19 yards and four catches for 30 yards and a touchdown on six targets. He did drop two passes, leaving him with three drops and nine catches for the season, per PFF.
• Frank Gore played 29% of snaps, with nine carries for 34 yards and no targets. He's carried the ball on 42.2% of his snaps this season, while he's been targeted on just 3.6%.
• T.J. Yeldon and Isaiah McKenzie were healthy scratches.
• John Brown played 92% of snaps, leading the team in targets (eight), catches (five) and receiving yards (54).
• Cole Beasley played 79% and finished second on the team with seven targets.
• Duke Williams got 66% of snaps and two targets, while Robert Foster's not-so-triumphant return to active status was marked by 13% of snaps and a lone, incomplete target.
• Tyler Kroft played 58% of snaps, finishing ahead of Dawson Knox (45%) in the second game the two tight ends have played together.
• Allen's 43 dropbacks yielded 42 routes for Brown, 38 for Beasley, 32 for Williams, 31 for Singletary, 22 for Knox and 20 for Kroft, per PFF.
• Following back-to-back down weeks, the Buffalo defense still ranks fifth in opponent completion percentage (59.9) and third in YPA (6.0), but the pass rush has been less than stellar — 22nd in sack rate (6.2), 21st in pressure rate (19.4). The Bills also are 17th in YPC allowed (4.2) and 29th in PFF's team tackling grades, so this may be a good defense, but it isn't a flawless one by any means.

Broncos 13 Colts 15

Broncos

• Joe Flacco had a classic Flacco game, completing 20 of 32 passes for 174 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. Highlights included a two-yard pass to the fullback on a 3rd-and-6 in the first quarter, setting the stage for an afternoon full of dump-offs, mixed with a few deep balls to Courtland Sutton.
• Speaking of which... Sutton officially was credited with just six targets, but there were four passes to him that didn't count because of penalties, including defensive pass interference calls for 22 and 24 yards. Despite dropping a pass and finishing with a modest 3-72-0 receiving line on six targets, Sutton was the most valuable member of Denver's offense Sunday.
• Royce Freeman's 51% snap share was his smallest since Week 3, with things slanting a bit more toward Phillip Lindsay (49%) in a game where the Broncos were either tied or leading until the final 30 seconds. Freeman had a 12-40-1 rushing line and 1-5-0 receiving line on two targets, with Lindsay adding 14-59-0 on the ground and 5-17-0 on five targets through the air.
• Last week, I discussed how Lindsay and RT Elijah Wilkinson unintentionally sabotaged the Denver offense with their horrendous pass blocking. This week, Lindsay saw just one snap as a blocker, and Wilkinson was charged with just one pressure on 29 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF. Ja'Waun James rejoined the starting lineup to replace Wilkinson at right tackle, but James only lasted a few snaps before hurting his knee again.
• Noah Fant set career highs with 82% snap share, eight targets and five catches, with a knee injury limiting Jeff Heuerman to 27% of snaps. Fant caught a pass in the back of the end zone during the second quarter, but he wasn't quite able to get his feet in.
• Sutton played 93% of snaps, followed by Fred Brown (63%), DaeSean Hamilton (62%), Diontae Spencer (10%) and Juwann Winfree (5%). None besides Sutton drew more than two targets.
• Sutton ran 34 routes on Flacco's 36 dropbacks, well ahead of Fant (27), Hamilton (25), Brown (23), Lindsay (17) and Freeman (17), per PFF.

Colts

• Jacoby Brissett was held without a rushing or passing touchdown for the first time all year, and four sacks were a season high. He also did this with the game on the line:

• Marlon Mack played 61% of snaps, with a 19-76-1 rushing line and 1-14-0 receiving line. He scored his TD from 10 yards out, which was the closest Indy came to the end zone.
• Nyheim Hines played 28% of snaps, with three catches and four carries yielding a season-high 46 scrimmage yards, i.e., he's still a mile from mainstream fantasy relevance.
• T.Y. Hilton got locked down by Broncos cornerback Chris Harris, though Hilton still led the Indy offense in snap share (94%) and targets (six).
• Zach Pascal followed his breakout game with a measly 1-6-0 line on two targets, but his 92% snap share was a career high, while the Colts made Deon Cain a healthy scratch. There's no guarantee it stays this way, but Pascal appears to be the No. 2 receiver.

• Jack Doyle played 72% of snaps, while Eric Ebron dropped down to 34%, barely ahead of Mo Alie-Cox (28%).
• Ebron has drawn no more than five and no fewer than three targets each week this year, averaging 4.1. Doyle is averaging 4.3, with just two games outside that range of 3-to-5 targets. Ebron has a 3-to-1 TD advantage, but both players have seen just two targets inside the 10-yard line.
• The Colts defense has rebounded from a poor start to the season, with Justin Houston piling up four sacks during the three-game winning streak, and Darius Leonard adding 20 tackles, a sack and an interception in two games since returning from a concussion. Starting free safety Malik Hooker was quiet Sunday in his first game back from a knee injury, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing — PFF didn't charge him with any missed tackles, and the lone target into his coverage was stopped for a four-yard loss.

Jets 15 Jaguars 29

Jets

• Sam Darnold tossed three picks and took eight sacks, bringing his two-week totals to seven and nine, respectively. His 27.4 QBR for the season is worst among 30 qualified passers.
• Le'Veon Bell played 85% of snaps, with 35 scrimmage yards from nine carries and five targets. He's fallen shy of 16 PPR points in five straight games, and hasn't topped 11.3 standard points since Week 1. Bell hurt himself Sunday with a pair of drops, albeit his first two of the season, per PFF.
• Bilal Powell took four carries on 16% of snaps, while Ty Montgomery played 10% without seeing a carry or target.
• Robby Anderson played 90% of snaps, followed by Jamison Crowder (72%), Demaryius Thomas (62%) and Vyincint Smith (41%).
• Anderson ran a route on 37 of Darnold's 38 dropbacks, per PFF, while Crowder (28), Thomas (23) and Smith (16) weren't quite full-time players.
• Ryan Griffin finished second on the team with 31 routes, playing 95% of snaps and catching each of his four targets for 66 yards and two touchdowns. He's played at least 83% of snaps every game this season, topping out at 3-28-1 prior to Week 8. It figures that he'd finally do something with all the playing time now that Chris Herndon (hamstring) seems close to a return.
• Pass distribution in three weeks since Darnold returned from mono:

Anderson: 22 targets (23%), 303 air yards (34%), 13.8 aDOT

Crowder: 19 targets (20%), 216 air yards (24%), 11.4 aDOT

Thomas: 18 targets (19%), 231 air yards (26%), 12.8 aDOT

Lev Bell: 10 targets (11%), seven air yards (1%), 0.7 aDOT

Griffin: nine targets (10%), 76 air yards (9%), 8.4 aDOT

Smith: six targets (6%), 89 air yards (10%), 14.8 aDOT

Jaguars

• Gardner Minshew broke a four-game streak completing less than 60% of his passes, jumping to 64.7% in his first career outing with three touchdowns.
• For the season, Minshew is 23rd in completion rate (61.9), 14th in TD rate (5.0), 4th in INT rate (0.8) and 12th in YPA (7.6). We see a less favorable picture from QBR (39.6, 22nd) and PFF grade (72.4, 18th), perhaps related to a favorable drop rate (3.8%, fifth-lowest) and an abundance of yards after the catch. Dede Westbrook, D.J. Chark and Chris Conley all rank among the league's top-20 WRs in YAC. According to measurements from NFL Next Gen Stats, Minshew's completion rate is 1.9 percentage points below expectation based on the difficulty of his passes. Of course, he also shows an impressive ability to create something out of nothing:

• Leonard Fournette played 79% of snaps, his first time below 84% this season.
• Ryquell Armstead had a season high 21% snap share, but three of his six carries came in the final four minutes of a 14-point game.
• Fournette rumbled for 66 yards on his first carry, adding 18 totes for 10 yards through the rest of the game. He did catch each of his seven targets for 60 yards, including a 15-yard gain on a wheel route to convert a crucial 3rd-and-10 in the fourth quarter. He received back-to-back carries from the 1-yard line later that drive, with the first seeing him robbed of a TD on an early whistle and the second going for a seven-yard loss on a pitch.
• Fournette leads the league in carries (163) and touches (198), but with just one touchdown from 1,054 scrimmage yards. He had six touchdowns and 624 yards in a vastly inferior Jacksonville offense last season. The positive TD regression is coming, I promise. This is a more extreme version of what we saw last year with Christian McCaffrey, who had one touchdowns and 667 scrimmage yards through six weeks. Fournette is no McCaffrey, but the laws of the universe demand that TDs eventually follow yardage, especially for running backs that don't lose work at the goal line.
• D.J. Chark and Chris Conley played 74% of snaps apiece, while Dede Westbrook (41%) left early after he aggravated his neck/shoulder injury. Keelan Cole got a season-high 34%, taking advantage with his second touchdown (and third catch) in the past two weeks. Marqise Lee got 29% of snaps, though he ran just seven routes, per PFF.
• Chark and Conley ran routes on 36 of Minshew's 40 dropbacks (90%), followed by Fournette (73%), Westbrook (58%), Josh Oliver (48%), Cole (43%) and Seth DeValve (40%).
• DeValve led the tight ends with 59% of overall snaps, but he mostly served as a blocker, while Oliver ran a few more routes despite playing just 39% of snaps. Ben Koyack also chipped in with 38% of snaps, and the Jags even ran nine plays with a sixth offensive lineman (Cedric Ogbuehi) serving as a "tight end".
• Chark led the team with 12 targets, pushing his season share to 23%, slightly ahead of Westbrook (21%) and safely ahead of Fournette (17%) and Conley (15%). The Jacksonville tight ends have combined for 17%, with 37 of those 43 passes going to players that now reside on IR — James O'Shaughnessy (knee) and Geoff Swaim (concussion, ankle).

Bengals 10 Rams 24 (in London)

Bengals

• Andy Dalton attempted a season-high 52 passes, bringing him to a league-high 338 through eight weeks. He's thus on pace for 676, which would be fourth most in pro football history.
• Joe Mixon played 51% of snaps, taking 17 carries for 66 yards and catching each of his four targets for 11 yards and a touchdown.
• Giovani Bernard played 40%, with three carries for 31 yards and 2-14-0 on two targets.
• Bernard leads all running backs this season with 68 pass-blocking snaps, and Mixon is tied for fifth with 46, per PFF. I'm not sure if this is an intended part of Zac Taylor's offense or an adjustment to inept blocking by the offensive line. Whatever the case, it explains why the running backs have seen so few targets in an offense that throws the ball so often.
• Auden Tate played 98% of snaps, followed by Tyler Boyd (90%), Alex Erickson (60%) and Stanley Morgan (18%) at wide receiver.
• Tyler Eifert set season highs for snap share (72%), targets (nine), catches (six) and receiving yards (74). Perhaps an audition for a trade?
• C.J. Uzomah got his largest snap share (57%) since Week 5, with the Bengals using more two-TE formations and fewer three-WR sets than usual.
• Erickson finished with six catches for 97 yards on seven targets, but he was the one losing snaps and routes to Eifert/Uzomah, finishing fourth on the team with 40 routes from Dalton's 58 dropbacks, per PFF. Erickson's mark of 0.69 routes per dropback represented a sizable drop from Weeks 6-7 (0.92), per PFF.
• Tate led the team with 56 routes, followed by Boyd (54), Eifert (45), Erickson (40), Uzomah (25), Mixon (19) and Bernard (12).
• Tate has drawn six or more targets in six straight games, averaging 4.3 catches for 64.2 yards and 0.2 touchdowns on 8.7 targets per week in that stretch.
• Tate had a last-second, garbage-time touchdown called back on review Sunday in London.
• The Cincinnati defense ranks 32nd in YPC allowed (5.1), 30th in YPA (8.8), 30th in sack rate (3.6) and 30th in pressure rate (16.0). There's a legit competition brewing between the Bengals, Dolphins and Falcons for the title of worst defense in the NFL.

Rams

• Jared Goff wasn't sacked for a second straight week and a third time in the past four games. Matchups with the Seahawks, Falcons and Bengals certainly have helped.
• I'll steal the player note i wrote on Darrell Henderson to tell the story of the Rams' backfield in this game:

Henderson took 11 carries for 49 yards and caught two of three targets for 20 yards in Sunday's 24-17 win over the Bengals.

Todd Gurley finished with fewer carries (10) and targets (zero), though he dominated playing time in the first half and also handled all the red-zone work, including a three-yard TD to give the Rams a 14-point lead with 10:14 remaining in the third quarter. The short score was Gurley's final touch of the day, with Henderson getting nine carries and two targets from that point forward. The rookie finished with 48% snap share, just a tick behind Gurley's 52%. It was interesting to see Gurley disappear from a game the Rams never led by more than 14 points — perhaps a hint at a more cautious approach to managing his workload, or else increased confidence in Henderson. 

• The Rams returned to 11 personnel on nearly every play, with Tyler Higbee getting 55% of snaps and Gerald Everett just 48% (2-15-0 on three targets 🤦)
• Robert Woods started his day with a 31-yard reception on the Rams' first snap and finished it with four carries in the fourth quarter. He finished with more carries (four) than targets (two), playing 98% of snaps.
• Cooper Kupp played 97% of snaps en route to a career-high 220 yards, putting him on pace for a 116-1,584-10 receiving line on 174 targets at the halfway point of the season. He was gifted a 65-yard touchdown on a double-reverse flea flicker when Bengals cornerback B.W. Webb slipped and fell.
• With Brandin Cooks suffering another concussion on his third play of the game, Josh Reynolds stepped in for 89% of snaps, catching three of eight targets for 73 yards and a touchdown — second to only Kupp in each major receiving category.
• The Rams defense is now fourth in YPC allowed (3.6), compared to 32nd in 2018 (5.1) and 30th in 2017 (4.7). It's also been a solid unit against the pass — 12th in YPA (7.2), 13th in sack rate (7.3) and sixth in pressure rate (26.9).

Giants 26 Lions 31

Giants

• Daniel Jones rebounded from an ugly first quarter to finish with 322 yards and four touchdowns on a season-high 41 pass attempts. He added to his long list of negative plays with three sacks and two fumbles — his eight fumbles this season are tied for second most in the league, his 8.9% sack rate is seventh highest, and his 3.2% INT rate is fifth highest. On the other hand, Jones has solid marks by rookie standards for completion percentage (62.5, 20th), and TD rate (4.6, 17th), though YPA (6.8, 24th) is less encouraging.
• Jones is 18th of 30 in QBR (53.5) and 23rd of 34 in PFF grade (65.7).
• Saquon Barkley saw 19 carries and 10 targets on 82% of snaps, while Wayne Gallman had a lone target on 18% of snaps.
• Golden Tate tied Barkley for the team lead with 10 targets, playing 93% of snaps.
• Evan Engram wasn't too far behind at 84% of snaps and seven targets, with his two-yard TD coming a few snaps after he drew a holding call to convert a 3rd-and-9 in the red zone.
• Darius Slayton played 84% of snaps, with contested-catch touchdowns from 22 and 28 yards out in the second quarter. His other three targets were incomplete, including a bad drop. The rookie has become Big Blue's deep threat, with an 18.5 aDOT on 15 targets the past few weeks.

• Cody Latimer played 45% of snaps, splitting the No. 3 role with Bennie Fowler (31%). The two combined to catch four passes for 49 yards on five targets
• Pass distribution the past two weeks with Jones, Barkley, Engram, Tate and Slayton all healthy:

Pass Distributions Weeks 7-8

Tate: 21 targets (28%), 167 air yards (29%), 8.0 aDOT

Barkley: 15 targets (20%), 35 air yards (6%), 2.3 aDOT

Engram: 12 targets (16%), 81 air yards (14%), 6.8 aDOT

Latimer: 8 targets (11%), 74 air yards (13%), 9.1 aDOT

Slayton: 7 targets (9%), 122 air yards (21%), 17.4 aDOT

Lions

• Matthew Stafford finished with season highs for completion percentage (78.1) and YPA (10.7), bouncing back for a nearly flawless afternoon after he threw an ugly interception on the opening drive. His 11.7 aDOT was the league's deepest in Week 8, bumping his season mark to 10.6 (third deepest). He's on pace for career highs in YPA (8.4) and TD rate (6.4), ranking top five league-wide in both categories. Stafford is sixth in QBR (70.0) and t-8th in PFF grade (81.3).
• Tra Carson got the start at running back and ripped off three carries for 23 yards on Detroit's first three plays of the game. He nonetheless finished with a 12-34-0 rushing line and no targets on 30% of snaps, splitting work with Ty Johnson (40%, seven carries, four targets, 38 yards), J.D. McKissic (25%, one carry, three targets, one yard) and Paul Perkins (10%, three carries, no targets, four yards).
• Marvin Jones led the Detroit pass catchers with 87% of snaps, followed by Golladay (83%), Amendola (67%), Hockenson (67%) and Jesse James (35%).
• Jones and Golladay ran 34 routes apiece on Stafford's 36 dropbacks. Amendola had 26, comfortably ahead of Hockenson (21), Johnson (15) and McKissic, per PFF.
• Amendola has finished either first or second on the team in targets in three of his four healthy games this season. A chest injury held him out of one game and limited him to less than 40% of snaps in two others. Here's the pass distribution for the four games this season with Amendola, Jones, Golladay and Hockenson all healthy (prepare to be surprised):

Pass distribution Weeks 1, 2, 7 and 8

Amendola: 33 targets (22%), 299 air yards (19%), 9.1 aDOT

Golladay: 29 targets (19%), 539 air yards (34%), 18.6 aDOT

Jones: 28 targets (18%), 316 air yards (20%), 11.3 aDOT

Hockenson: 18 targets (12%), 211 air yards (13%), 11.7 aDOT

Cardinals 9 Saints 31

Cardinals

• Kyler Murray had a season-low two carries, ending a three-game streak of double-digit rush attempts (albeit with the help of a few kneel-downs). His three sacks Sunday were his most since Week 4, and a 57.8% completion rate was his worst since Week 1.
• For the season, Murray is 18th in completion percentage (63.7), 29th in TD rate (2.4), 25th in YPA (6.8) and 23rd in sack rate (8.2), while he's No. 8 in QBR (63.1) and No. 19 in PFF grade. Rushing contributions partially explain the disparity, plus it helps that he has the ninth-best INT rate (1.4) and has fumbled only twice.
• The Cardinals were limited to 49 snaps on offense, with New Orleans controlling possession for 37:59 of the game clock.
• Chase Edmonds had seven carries for eight yards and caught two of four targets for five yards on 61% of snaps before bowing out with a hamstring injury.
• Zach Zenner handled the remaining 39% of backfield snaps, while Alfred Morris was inactive.
• Damiere Byrd led the Arizona WRs with 88% of snaps, but he drew just five targets, catching two for 18 yards. He has seven targets on 95 snaps in two games since he returned to his full-time role. For the season, his mark of 0.84 yards per route ranks 83rd among 88 WRs with 20 or more targets, per PFF. Byrd's value to the team, theoretically, comes from the threat of his speed, rather than anything that fantasy managers would care about.
• Christian Kirk returned from an ankle injury to catch eight of 11 targets for 79 yards on 86% of snaps, adding one carry for a team-high 19 rushing yards. He ran 74% of his routes from the slot, catching six of seven targets for 51 yards when he was lined up inside, per PFF.
• Larry Fitzgerald went 2-4-0 on four targets and 80% of snaps, though he was a toe-drag away from his first TD since Week 3. He hasn't reached double-digit targets or 70 yards since Week 2, and the last two weeks were especially brutal: three catches for 20 yards on seven targets.
• No. 4 receiver Trent Sherfield played 53% of snaps, while tight ends Maxx Williams and Charles Clay took 41% apiece. It wasn't a full return to the four-wide-dominant offense from September, but it was a step in that direction.
• Even with Clay adding 88 yards in Week 8, the Arizona tight ends have combined for just 20 catches, 270 yards and one TD this year.
• Zane Gonzalez is this year's version of 2018 Ka'imi Fairbairn — a solid kicker, playing in an offense that's good until it reaches the red zone, with a coach who usually makes wimpy fourth-down decisions to kick instead of going for it. The Cardinals can't possibly stay this bad in the red zone all season, but at this point it feels like a legitimate concern rather than just a small-sample fluke.

Saints

• Drew Brees attempted 43 passes in his first game back from thumb surgery, tying his Week 1 total for the most he's thrown in a game since last September. The Saints didn't stop throwing until they went up by 22 points late in the fourth quarter.
• Latavius Murray played 82% of snaps, leading the team in both carries (21) and targets (12), a.k.a. "the McCaffrey special".
• Dwayne Washington's three carries all came on the final drive in garbage time.
• Michael Thomas saw double-digit targets for a fourth straight week and caught eight or more passes for a fifth consecutive game. He's now on pace to break Marvin Harrison's single-season record of 143 catches. Thomas has caught 82% of his targets, barely declining from last year's incredible mark of 85%.

• Ted Ginn played 57% of snaps, catching both of his targets for 42 yards. No. 3 receiver Austin Carr (54%) caught one of two targets for nine yards. (Brees threw to Thomas, Murray and tight ends.)
• Josh Hill caught three of five targets for 39 yards while matching a season high with 74% snap share. Despite all the playing time, he ran routes on just 23 of Brees' 43 dropbacks, with Dan Arnold poaching 18 routes and three targets, per PFF. The Saints appear to prefer Arnold over Hill on obvious passing downs, though it's a moot point once Jared Cook (ankle) gets healthy.
• Thomas ran 42 routes, followed by Ginn (33), Murray (28), Hill (23), Carr (19), Arnold (18) and fullback Zach Line (14).
• Taysom Hill's 3-63-1 receiving line was a career best across the board.
• The Saints have given up 101 points the past six games, with 42 coming in fourth quarters when they were ahead by multiple scores.

Seahawks 27 Falcons 20

Seahawks

• Russell Wilson threw just 20 passes, matching a season low from Week 1. He's nonetheless on pace for 500 attempts, which would be 73 more than last year and his third most in any season. His week-by-week totals: 20, 35, 50, 28, 23, 33, 41, 20.
• Chris Carson dropped down to 69% of snaps, following four straight games above 75%. He still reached 20 carries for a fifth consecutive week, but he dropped his only target.
• Rashaad Penny played 30% of snaps and took eight carries for 55 yards, including gains of 17, 12 and nine during the second quarter.
• DK Metcalf caught two short touchdown passes and played a season-high 92% of snaps, catching three of five targets for 13 yards. The rookie had played 75% of snaps or fewer in four straight games before Week 8.
• David Moore also saw a season-high snap share (49%), catching one of four targets for 23 yards.
• Jaron Brown was the big loser here, with his season-low 28% snap share allowing both Metcalf and Moore to get more run.
• Luke Willson played 70% of snaps to Jacob Hollister's 36%, but the advantage in routes was much smaller: 13 for Willson, 7 for Hollister, per PFF.
• Tyler Lockett ran a route on each of Wilson's 24 dropbacks, with a 6-100-0 line on six targets bumping the uber-efficient receiver to an 85.2% catch rate and 11.4 yards per target this season. Carson is awesome, but it's truly mind-numbing that he's getting 20-plus carries every week while Lockett averages 6.8 targets.

Falcons

• Matt Schaub piled up 460 yards on 52 pass attempts but also had an interception and a lost fumble.
• Devonta Freeman had a 13-39-0 rushing line and 8-63-0 receiving line on 80% of snaps, his second-largest share this season (Ito Smith was out with a concussion both times).
• Freeman coughed up a fumble at the Seattle one-yard line early in the fourth quarter when the Falcons had cut a 24-0 deficit to 24-11 and were threatening to make it a one-score game. Freeman now has three fumbles this season, including two he's lost.
• Brian Hill made the most of his 14% snap share, taking his first carry for a 23-yard touchdown en route to a 3-29-1 rushing line (no targets).
• Calvin Ridley played 80% of snaps and caught four of seven targets for 70 yards in the first game without Mohamed Sanu. That's toward the higher range of Ridley's usual snap share, but not a huge difference from his overall 2019 rate of 72%.
• Russell Gage stepped in as the No. 3 receiver, catching seven of nine targets for 58 yards on 59% of snaps. He ran 77% of his routes from the slot, where he caught six of seven passes for 51 yards, per PFF.
• Austin Hooper, naturally, scored a one-yard TD late in the fourth quarter. He's topped 13.5 PPR points and 7.5 standard-scoring points in seven of eight games, including each of the past six weeks. Hooper is on pace for a 104-1,182-10 receiving line on 124 targets.
• Julio Jones is on pace for 100-1,424-8 on 148 targets, though he hasn't scored since Week 3. He's landed between seven and 12 targets each week this season.
• The Atlanta defense is sixth in opponent YPC (3.8) and 28th in YPA (8.5), with the worst marks in the league for sack rate (2.7) and turnover rate (2.5% of drives),

Buccaneers 23 Titans 27

Buccaneers

• Jameis Winston threw his 11th and 12 interceptions of the year, also losing two of his three fumbles for good measure. He's lost three of eight fumbles this season.
• Winston's 48.8 completion percentage was his worst in a single game since Week 14 of last year, while 7.0 YPA was his worst mark since Week 1. He also didn't get a ton of help; the Bucs were charged with four drops — one apiece for Mike Evans, Cameron Brate, Tanner Hudson and Dare Ogunbowale, per PFF.
• Ronald Jones had an 11-35-0 rushing line and 1-17-0 receiving line (four target) on 27% of snaps, with Peyton Barber adding 10-20-0 and 1-8-0 (three targets) on 35%. Passing-down back Ogunbowale (33%) lost two yards on his only carry and caught one of three targets for three yards. What a worthless backfield. What a worthless team.
• Breshad Perriman returned from a hamstring injury to play 70% of snaps, finishing without a catch on four targets. He accidentally tackled his own running back on a 3rd-and-goal play, and he screwed up his footwork along the sideline to ruin what should've been an easy two-point conversion. The first blooper may not have even been his fault, but it's more fun to pretend it was. In any case, there's at least one wide receiver better than Perriman on every practice squad in the league.

• We're now working on six straight weeks with either Evans or Godwin putting up a receiving line of 8-121-1 or better.
• With O.J. Howard (hamstring) inactive, Brate played 66% of snaps and ran a route on 36 of Winston's 52 dropbacks, per PFF. The tight end caught three of six targets for 32 yards, without any targets in the red zone (usually his specialty).

Titans

• Ryan Tannehill was efficient with limited volume for a second straight week, with three touchdowns and no turnovers on 33 pass attempts despite producing just 5.9 YPA from a 63.6% completion rate. His 9.1 aDOT through two games marks a noteworthy upgrade from Marcus Mariota (7.4).
• Derrick Henry had 16 carries for 75 yards and caught his only target for eight yards on 67% of snaps, also fumbling for the third time this year (and losing his first one).
• He's on pace for a 302-1,162-10 rushing line and 16-256-2 receiving line, staying relevant for fantasy purposes on the basis of sheer volume and short touchdowns. He hasn't reached even 18 PPR points since Week 1.
• Dion Lewis did his usual thing with no carries and one target on 33% of snaps. His 57 snaps as a pass blocker this season are third most among RBs, per PFF. He has just 17 carries and 20 targets on 199 snaps.
• A.J. Brown tied Corey Davis for the lead among Tennessee wide receivers with 62% of snaps, followed by Adam Humphries (44%) and Tajae Sharpe (37%).
• Jonnu Smith went off for 6-78-1 on seven targets and 73% of snaps, leading the team's skill-position players in each category. He avoided three tackles and earned 40 of his yards after the catch, giving him nine avoided tackles and 159 YAC on 15 catches, per PFF. I wonder if the Titans might consider using Smith instead of Delanie Walker (ankle) as their top pass-catching tight end?
• MyCole Pruitt and Anthony Firkser logged 57% of snaps apiece, with the Titans rarely using three-wide formations.
• Davis led the team with 28 routes on Tannehill's 36 dropbacks, followed by Humphries (23), Brown (21), Jonnu (18), Firkser (18), Henry (14), Sharpe (14), Lewis (10) and Pruitt (10), per PFF.

Chargers 17 Bears 16

Chargers (fired OC Ken Whisenhunt on Monday)

• Philip Rivers threw for a season-low 201 yards and had his third-worst QBR (36.9) of the year, but four of his 10 incompletions were drops, according to PFF.
• The Chargers were limited to 45 snaps and 22 minutes of possession in this game, with Chicago holding possession for 38 minutes.
• Melvin Gordon had an 8-31-1 rushing line and 2-3-0 receiving line (three targets) on 56% of snaps, with a 19-yard score representing his longest play of the season. He's handled no more than 60% of snaps and no less than 46% in four games.
• Austin Ekeler had a 3-3-0 rushing line and 2-19-1 receiving line (three targets) on 53% of snaps. He played 66% of snaps the first week Gordon returned, but then dropped down to 45 and 50% in Weeks 6-7.
• Workload averages in Gordon's four games:

Gordon: 11.0 carries, 4.0 targets, 37.3 scrimmage yards, 0.5 TDs

Ekeler: 4.0 carries, 7.8 targets, 67 scrimmage yards, 0.5 TDs

• Keenan Allen fought through a hamstring injury to lead the team with 10 targets and seven catches, but his 69% snap share was a season low.
• Mike Williams played 96% of snaps, leading the team with 69 receiving yards and tying for second with six targets. Two of the three incompletions thrown to him were drops, and the other was an interception. One of the drops came on a deep pass into the end zone for what would've been a 37-yard touchdown, though it was a tough play in tight coverage.
• Hunter Henry played 87% of snaps and also saw six targets, catching four for 47 yards and also contributing a drop.
• Andre Patton played 82% of snaps and finished without a target.
• Pass distribution the past three weeks with Allen, Williams, Henry, Ekeler and Gordon all playing:

Pass Distribution Weeks 6-8

Allen: 27 targets (24%), 380 air yards (33%), 14.1 aDOT

Henry: 23 targets (21%), 246 air yards (21%), 10.7 aDOT

Williams: 22 targets (20%), 352 air yards (30%), 16.0 aDOT

Ekeler: 15 targets (14%), 54 air yards (5%), 3.6 aDOT

Gordon: 10 targets (9%), 39 air yards (3%), 3.9 aDOT

Bears

• Mitchell Trubisky had his second-best marks this season for completion percentage (65.7) and YPA (7.2), with 253 passing yards, his most since last year's playoff loss to the Eagles. He also threw a pick and lost a fumble, with the latter setting up the Chargers for a go-ahead touchdown. Trubisky's 57.9 PFF grade was his best of the season, giving his overall grade a slight bump to 47.4 (second-to-last among qualified QBs).
• David Montgomery exploded for 27-135-1 and 4-12-0 (five targets) on a season-high 73% of snaps, with gains of 55, 14 and 10 yards representing three of his five gains of 10 or more yards this season.
• Tarik Cohen played a season-low 21% of snaps, with a 3-37-0 receiving line and four carries for nine yards.
• Allen Robinson put up 5-62-0 on seven targets, giving him at least four catches, 41 yards and seven targets each week this season. He's on pace for 105-1,202-7 on 151 targets.
• Taylor Gabriel stepped back into the No. 2 role with 74% of snaps and a 4-53-0 line on six targets, after seeing two targets and 58% the previous week.
• Anthony Miller went in the other direction, dropping from 75% of snaps and nine targets in Week 7 to 51% and three targets in Week 8.
• I can't remember who it was, but I saw someone tweet the idea of creating a fantasy league where you want the fewest points possible, but get a 20-point penalty if a player doesn't score any points at all. Anyway, Trey Burton would be returning first-round value in his format, as he now has at least one catch each week this season, without scoring a touchdown or ever going beyond 20 yards. He's seen either three or four targets in every game.

Browns 13 Patriots 27

Browns

• Baker Mayfield predictably struggled in the rain against the Pats defense, with a hideous interception and five sacks.
• Nick Chubb had an odd day on 63% of snaps, losing two fumbles but also piling up 20 carries for 131 yards and one catch for seven yards.
• Dontrell Hilliard replaced Chubb for most passing downs, taking one carry for 10 yards and four catches for 24 yards on 38% of snaps.
• There hasn't been week-to-week consistency with the decision to use a passing-down replacement for Chubb. His snap shares this season: 70%, 61%, 99%, 63%, 83%, 87%, 63%. Regardless, he's never gone lower than 16 carries, one target or 85 scrimmage yards.
• Jarvis Landry had a team-high 10 targets, followed by Odell Beckham (seven) and then Hilliard (four).
• Ricky Seals-Jones led the tight ends with 46% of snaps, but he didn't see any targets, while Demetrius Harris went for 2-33-1 on 21% of snaps, drawing a target on three of his five routes, per PFF. The TE position remains a timeshare with David Njoku (wrist) on IR.
• Antonio Callaway maintained the No. 3 WR role with 78% of snaps and a 2-11-0 line on three targets, while Rashard Higgins caught one pass for two yards (two targets) on 21% of snaps.
• Beckham ran 37 routes on Mayfield's 37 dropbacks, followed by Landry (33), Callaway (29), Seals-Jones (19), Hilliard (16) and Chubb (13).

Patriots

• Tom Brady attempted 36 passes, ending a three-game streak with more than 40. He's on pace for 4,502 yards, 26 TDs and eight interceptions on 618 passes, with his 60.0 QBR ranking 11th among qualified passers and his 84.1 PFF grade tied for sixth.
• Sony Michel had a 21-74-0 rushing line and no targets on 41% of snaps, failing to convert his one goal-line carry. He still leads the NFL with 11 carries inside the 5-yard line, one ahead of Dalvin Cook.
• James White played 41% of snaps and had a 59-yard gain to convert a 3rd-and-10 on a screen play in the third quarter, but five targets represent his fewest since Week 2 and just the second time this year he's failed to reach seven.
• Rex Burkhead returned from a neck injury with 19% of snaps, three carries and one target, perhaps taking a small chunk of work that could've gone to White.
• Mohamed Sanu played 54% of snaps in his Pats debut, tying for third on the team with five targets, including a short catch to convert a fourth down in the second quarter.
• Sanu worked as the No. 3 receiver behind Julian Edelman (96% snap share) and Phillip Dorsett (93%), with Jakobi Meyers (36%) bumping down to No. 4.
• Tight end Ben Watson got 70% of snaps, well ahead of Eric Tomlinson (45%). Matt LaCosse (knee) and Ryan Izzo (concussion) were inactive.
• Dorsett ran a route on each of Brady's 39 dropbacks, followed by Edelman (38), Sanu (26), Watson (23), White (22) and Meyers (21), per PFF.
• Not counting the game where an injury knocked him out after four snaps, Dorsett is averaging 3.5 catches for 48 yards and 0.7 TDs on 5.5 targets.
• The Patriots defense has intercepted 19 passes and allowed two passing touchdowns. The Bears were the only team with more picks (27) than pass TDs allowed (22) in 2018.

Panthers 13 49ers 51

Panthers

• Kyle Allen tossed three picks and took seven sacks, after zero and 10, respectively, through his first four starts. His 51.4 completion percentage and 4.3 YPA both were season lows, easily.
• Allen's five starts prorated to a 16-game season: 3,389 yards, 22 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 54 sacks and 19 fumbles on 509 pass attempts.
• Christian McCaffrey played a season-low 78% of snaps, getting a break in favor of Reggie Bonnafon (17%) and Jordan Scarlett (6%) once things were out of hand in the fourth quarter.
• The same goes for Greg Olsen, who also played a season-low 78% and matched a season low with two targets. He had two TD catches in the first game with Allen but hasn't found the end zone or gone over 52 yards since.
• Curtis Samuel had a team-high 11 targets on 88% of snaps, with D.J. Moore seeing nine targets on 93%.
• Jarius Wright handled his usual role as the No. 3 receiver, playing 58% of snaps.
• Pass distribution in Allen's five starts:

Pass Distribution Weeks 3-8 

Samuel: 37 targets (23%), 537 air yards (41%), 14.5 aDOT
Moore: 34 targets (21%), 362 air yards (27%), 10.6 aDOT

C-Mac: 32 targets (20%), 19 air yards (1%), 0.6 aDOT

Olsen: 22 targets (14%), 187 air yards (14%), 8.5 aDOT

Wright: 18 targets (11%), 125 air yards (9%), 6.9 aDOT

49ers

• Jimmy Garoppolo was picked off and took multiple sacks for a third straight game, but he completed a season-best 81.8% of his passes, largely relying on easy throws (5.2 aDOT).
• Tevin Coleman only needed 48% of snaps and 13 touches to reach the end zone four times, including three scores in the first half.
• Matt Breida was knocked out with an ankle injury after 12 touches (one catch) and 50 yards on 28% of snaps.
• Raheem Mostert handled garbage time with a 9-60-1 rushing line on 21% snap share.
• Emmanuel Sanders led the WRs in snap share (82%) and targets (five), catching four passes for 25 yards and a touchdown.
• Deebo Samuel was second with 70% of snaps, catching each of his three targets for 19 yards and adding 2-29-1 on the ground. He only had three carries in five games prior to Week 8.
• Kendrick Bourne got 48% of snaps, working ahead of Dante Pettis (30%) and Richie James (22%).
• Sanders ran a route on each of Garoppolo's 26 dropbacks, followed by George Kittle (24), Samuel (17), Coleman (16), Bourne (12) and Pettis (10).
• Kittle lead the team in targets (seven), catches (six) and receiving yards (86), including four catches for 59 yards in the first quarter. He had a nine-yard TD negated by an offensive interference penalty on Samuel. The tight end now has seen three touchdowns wiped out by penalties this season, while only one has actually counted.

Raiders 24 Texans 27

Raiders

• Derek Carr wasn't sacked, didn't commit any turnovers and completed 60% of his passes for 9.5 YPA. He did have some struggles on third downs, especially when throwing to Darren Waller. The Texans controlled possession for 35:53, with an 83-to-56 advantage in snaps.
• Carr is on pace for 501 pass attempts, 3,874 yards, 25 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 18 sacks and 11 fumbles. His completion percentage (72.1) and YPA (7.7) both are career highs, and his 3.5% sack rate is second best among qualified passers.
• Josh Jacobs took 15 carries for 66 yards and caught two passes for 15 yards on 55% of snaps. He hasn't gone above 68% snap share since Week 1, but he's working on a four-game streak with at least 15 carries and two receptions.
• Jalen Richard got one carry and three targets on 30% of snaps, with DeAndre Washington contributing five carries and one target on 16%. It doesn't seem like much, but it's the difference between Jacobs being a mid-range RB1 and a high-end RB2 for fantasy.
• Tyrell Williams looked healthy in his first game back from a foot injury, finishing second on the team in targets (six) and receiving yards (91), also adding a TD on 89% of snaps. He's scored exactly one touchdown in each of his five games.
• Darren Waller caught just two of eight targets for 11 yards, salvaging his day with a short touchdown. He did have a 30-yard catch wiped out by a pass interference penalty on Hunter Renfrow.
• Waller has seen no fewer than five targets in any game, and he's now on pace for 105-1,134-7 on 133 targets.
• Renfrow scored his first touchdown on a slant that he took for a 65-yard touchdown, finishing with a career-best 4-88-1 receiving line on four targets (64% of snaps).
• Trevor Davis got 46% of snaps and two targets, with Zay Jones at 39% and two targets in his Raiders debut. Jones caught both of those passes for 27 yards, while Davis had one catch for 15 yards and lost a yard on his one carry.
• Waller led the team with 28 routes, followed by Williams (26), Renfrow (19), Davis (16), Richard (14), Jacobs (11), Jones (11), Foster Moreau (7) and Washington (4), per PFF.

Texans

• Deshaun Watson's season-high 10 carries included three kneel-downs, putting his rushing line at 10-46-0 instead of 7-47-0. The 47 yards would've been a season high, and 39 pass attempts were his second most this year.
• Watson is on pace for 548 pass attempts, 4,462 yards, 32 TDs and 10 INTs, along with 90 carries for 484 yards and 10 TDs. He's also on pace for 48 sacks and 12 fumbles, but I'm sure the Texans don't mind the trade-off.
• Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde did their usual thing, with the latter getting 52% of snaps and the former at 45%. Hyde got 19 of the 22 carries, while Johnson drew five of the six targets, including a 12-yard touchdown.
• Kenny Stills filled in for Will Fuller (hamstring) with 96% of snaps, catching three of five targets for 22 yards. The five targets tied for third on the team, behind DeAndre Hopkins (11) and Darren Fells (six).
• Fells scored his fourth and fifth touchdowns, handling a season-high 90% snap share and recording his second-most yards (58) of the year.
• Keke Coutee technically was active but didn't play, allowing DeAndre Carter to handle the No. 3 job with 57% of snaps and one catch for 46 yards on three targets.
• No. 2 tight end Jordan Akins caught two of five targets for 11 yards on 52% of snaps.
• Hopkins is on pace for 120-1,234-6 on 162 targets. His aDOT for the season is 10.6, and he's tied for 33rd among WRs with just eight targets (one per game) more than 20 yards downfield, per PFF. Last year, his aDOT was 12.2 and he tied for ninth with 25 targets (1.6 per game) beyond 20 yards. The good news? He's on pace for the most receptions (120) and highest catch rate (74.1) of his career.
• Hopkins and Stills ran routes on each of Watson's 46 dropbacks, followed by Fells (34), Johnson (26), Akins (23), Carter (23) and Hyde (19).

Packers 31 Chiefs 24

Packers

• Aaron Rodgers took five sacks and got some help from a dropped interception, but he otherwise displayed peak form for a second straight week, completing 69.7% of his throws for 9.2 YPA and three touchdowns.
• Rodgers now is on pace for 566 pass attempts, 4,648 yards, 32 TDs and four INTs, plus 50 carries for 194 yards and another two TDs. He's fumbled just twice, and his 5.7% sack rate is 12th best among qualified passers.
• Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams scored two touchdowns apiece, with the former piling up 13 carries, eight targets and 226 scrimmage yards, while the latter had seven carries, three targets and just 36 yards. Jones played 64% of snaps, compared to 46% for Williams. Here are the updated averages for the six games both have been healthy:

Backfield split Weeks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8

Jones: 35.7 snaps, 13.7 carries, 4.5 targets, 96.8 scrimmage yards, 1.0 TDs

Williams: 30.7 snaps, 8.3 carries, 3.5 targets, 57.5 scrimmage yards, 0.8 TDs

• The Packers used a four-man committee at wide receiver, with Allen Lazard getting 67% of snaps, followed by Geronimo Allison (64%), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (62%) and Jake Kumerow (51%).
• Kumerow had the highlight with a sliding, 34-yard catch to convert a 3rd-and-9 on the opening drive, but that was his final catch of the game, while Lazard led the group with five receptions and five targets. MVS and Allison combined for two catches and 11 yards on five passes.
• Lazard led the team in routes for a second straight week, with 32 on Rodgers' 41 dropbacks, per PFF. Allison was second with 29, followed by MVS with 28, Graham with 21, Kumerow with 19, Jones with 17, Marcedes Lewis with 16 and Williams with 15.
• Graham has seen no fewer than three and no more than five targets in each game Davante Adams (toe) has missed.

Chiefs

• Matt Moore completed 66.7% of passes for 7.4 YPA, two touchdowns and no turnovers, with a 65.2 QBR and 73.6 PFF grade. The highlight was a lofted throw to Travis Kelce for a 29-yard touchdown, helping the Chiefs bounce back from an early 14-0 deficit.
• LeSean McCoy led the backfield in carries (nine), rushing yards (40), targets (four) and receiving yards (23), but he also lost a fumble and played just 39% of snaps, his smallest share since Week 5.
• Damien Williams emerged from his grave with 42% of snaps and a game-tying, three-yard TD run, finishing with a 7-30-1 rushing line but no targets.
• Darrel Williams had two carries and no targets on 15% of snaps, and Darwin Thompson caught one pass for a short loss on two snaps.
• The Chiefs doled out full workloads for Travis Kelce (100% of snaps), Tyreek Hill (90%), Sammy Watkins (86%) and Demarcus Robinson (64%), while Mecole Hardman caught two passes for 55 yards and a touchdown on just 15% of snaps. Hardman's 30-yard TD "catch" was about one foot away from being a handoff.

Dolphins 14 Steelers 27

Dolphins

• Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first quarter, but he finished with 190 passing yards, four sacks, two interceptions and two fumbles (one lost).
• Mark Walton played 87% of snaps, took a team-high 11 carries and finished third with six targets, but he managed just 54 scrimmage yards and lost a fumble in the fourth quarter. Kalen Ballage had three carries, one target and 19 yards on 17% of snaps, while Patrick Laird strictly played special teams.
• Allen Hurns played 33% of snaps, essentially splitting the No. 3 role with Albert Wilson (30%) and Jakeem Grant (23%).
• DeVante Parker led the team in targets (eight), catches (six) and receiving yards (59), though his snap share (78%) was a tick below Preston Williams' 88%.
• Williams has drawn at least five targets in every game, with Parker seeing no fewer than four. Williams is on pace for 62-814-2 on 117 targets, with Parker on pace for 55-784-7 on 105 targets.
• Mike Gesicki was limited to two catches for 10 yards on three targets, but 63% snap share was his largest since Week 1.

Steelers

• Mason Rudolph's 12.8 aDOT was the deepest of Week 8, moving him up to 8.6 — essentially league average — for the season. He also established new high-water marks for pass attempts (36) and yards (251), though a 55.6 completion percentage and 7.0 YPA against the Dolphins isn't exactly cause for celebration (to say the least).
• James Conner had a 23-145-1 rushing line and 3-5-0 receiving line (four targets) on 83% of snaps, but he suffered a shoulder injury late in the fourth quarter.
• Benny Snell hurt his knee, finishing with a 5-13-0 rushing line and no targets on 14% of snaps. Trey Edmunds was the last man standing in the backfield, getting a carry on Pittsburgh's final offensive snap.
• JuJu Smith-Schuster led the team with nine targets and 103 yards, though his 74% snap share matched a season low from the Week 4 blowout of Cincinnati. He's now on pace for 69-1,013-7 on 107 targets, though his numbers from Rudolph's four starts prorate a bit better: 72-1,096-12 on 108 targets.
• Vance McDonald led the Pittsburgh pass catchers with 78% of snaps, followed by JuJu (74%), James Washington (47%), Diontae Johnson (44%), Nick Vannett (42%), Johnny Holton (34%) and Donte Moncrief (19%). Essentially, it was McDonald, JuJu and Conner in full-time roles, with everyone else sharing work.
• Johnson made the most of 44% snap share, which was his smallest since Week 1. He nonetheless had a career-high 84 yards, with five catches tied for his second most and seven targets also his second most. He's caught three touchdown passes in Rudolph's four starts, averaging 4.8 catches for 60 yards and 0.8 touchdowns on 6.8 targets in those games.
• Pass Distribution from Rudolph's four starts:

Pass Distribution Weeks 3, 4, 5, 8

Smith-Schuster: 27 targets (22%), 275 air yards (29%), 10.2 aDOT

Johnson: 27 targets (22%), 279 air yards (30%), 10.3 aDOT

Washington: 18 targets (14%), 205 air yards (22%), 11.4 aDOT

Conner: 16 targets (13%), -22 air yards (-2%), -1.4 aDOT

McDonald: 9 targets (10%), 62 air yards (7%), 6.9 aDOT 

Editor's Note: Many stats that include a player's rank in a category don't account for the Monday game.