As a reminder to all, knee-jerk reactions are strictly how I felt following a game/s. These are not meant to be taken as predictions, hot takes, or any variations of the sort.
Now, let's go over our knee-jerk reactions following Week 8!
Saints are in trouble
Week 8 saw a lot more of rookie quarterback Tyler Shough after the team decided to bench Spencer Rattler during their matchup against the Buccaneers. He came in for just two passes during the team's loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3, but this was Shough's first real amount of work during the regular season.
After Rattler was getting nowhere with 136 yards and an interception on 15-of-21 passing, along with three sacks, Shough wasn't better by any stretch of the imagination.
In fact, he might've been even worse.
Shough put up fewer yards (128) on more passing attempts, going 17-30, also tossing an interception. The rookie finished the game with a 7.7 quarterback rating and a 53.2 passer rating, Rattler had a 14.3 and 66.8.
Granted, most could argue that interception wasn't Shough's fault.
And now, Saints head coach Kellen Moore officially named Shough the starter for the Week 9 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams - a team with one of the most ferocious pass rushes in the NFL.
It's undoubtedly way too early to throw the towel in on Tyler Shough. After all, he was a quarterback that I had as one of the "prove people wrong" players for the season (read that article here).
Shough was taken in the second round (40th overall) in this year's NFL Draft. Now, he'll officially be making his first start this week.
However, if Shough proves that he can't be that guy in New Orleans, then they'll be looking towards the 2026 draft for other possibilities. That's a major problem considering the QB class is widely regarded as being one of the weakest in recent memory.
Can Shough be the savior in New Orleans after a game this past week where he was anything but impressive? Or will the Saints be plagued without a franchise quarterback for seasons beyond this one? Time will only tell.
But the post-era of Drew Brees' Saints could be seeing themselves living in turmoil if things don't change quickly.
AFC finally got their get back on the NFC
This entire season has almost been defined by how much better a conference the NFC is compared to the AFC.
Heading into Week 8, the NFC had a 25-14 record against the AFC and also posted a lot better teams with better records.
Now it stands at 26-21 after the AFC went 7-1 in Week 8, with the Pittsburgh Steelers losing to the Green Bay Packers in primetime, the AFC could flip the switch on the NFC in the second half of the season.
These seven wins this past weekend weren't just beating up on the weaker teams in the NFC. There were a few upsets, including the Dolphins over the Falcons, a Lamar Jackson-less Ravens over the Bears, and the Texans over the 49ers.
Denver utterly obliterated the Cowboys and their No. 1 offence, though it's not much of an upset - same goes for the Los Angeles Chargers over the Minnesota Vikings.
In Week 9, there are only two inter-conference matchups - Falcons @ Patriots and Bears @ Bengals - as it begins to die down a bit in the coming weeks.
But why should any of this matter? Well, inter-conference matchups are a great gauge to see which teams are better than others when cross-comparing conferences come playoff time.
As it stands, the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC looks a lot tougher than it is in the AFC - which can help when it comes to preparing for their AFC opponent in the Super Bowl.
The NFC has seven teams with at least five wins on the year, while the AFC has six. Then on the AFC side, they have the league's No. 1 team in the Colts, but also have the worst division in the league in the AFC North.
That AFC North division is the only one in the entire NFL without: 1. A single team with at least five wins, 2. A single team with a positive point differential, 3. A team that has yet to score at least 180 points.
They also have the worst combined road record at 3-10.
In the AFC, six teams have two wins or fewer, while there are only three in the NFC.
Six of the top 10 offences (overall) are in the AFC, while both conferences split 5-5 on the top 10 teams in scoring on both offence and defence.
So on and so forth.
But, in the end, a lot can still change with 10 weeks left to go - any given Sunday!