Preview Week 8 2008 NFL Regular Season

The Baltimore Ravens and the Oakland Raiders halted their respective three-game losing streaks last weekend. Now each club will be looking to improve their positioning in their tightly bunched division races.

The Ravens and Raiders look to make it two wins in a row Sunday when they meet at M&T Bank Stadium.

Baltimore Ravens (3-3) opened the season with back-to-back victories for the first time since starting 4-0 in 2006, but was unable to continue that success and went on to lose three straight - a stretch capped by a miserable 31-3 defeat at Indianapolis in Week 5, during which it allowed 334 yards. Ravens defense - which has held opponents to a league-low 257.0 yards per game - had another rough performance when it surrendered a season-high 359 yards last Sunday, but the team managed to come away with a 27-13 victory at Miami.

Baltimore has won three of its four meetings with Oakland. The teams haven’t played since the Ravens’ 28-6 home victory Sept. 17, 2006.

Arizona Cardinals look to win their third straight game and get off to their best start in 32 years on Sunday when they visit the Carolina Panthers, who are tied atop the NFC South. Arizona (4-2) franchise has been a member of the NFL since 1920, but its recent history hasn’t been pretty. Arizona Cardinals, who won their only championship while playing in Chicago in 1947, have not been to the playoffs since 1998—their first trip since 1982.

Arizona’s offense might have a big piece return Sunday, as standout receiver Anquan Boldin could be back.

Panthers have been led by a defense that is third in the NFL in scoring (14.9 points per game), third in total defense (286.3 yards per game) and held the high-powered Saints to a season low in scoring.

Delhomme and Warner are both off to solid seasons this year. Delhomme is 10th in the NFL with 1,533 passing yards, while Warner is third in passing yards (1,708) and tied for fifth in touchdowns (12).

Dallas Cowboys will again be without Tony Romo Sunday when they try to get their season back on track against the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Texas Stadium.

Coming off a 13-win season, Dallas (4-3) had high expectations for 2008. It opened with wins over Cleveland, Philadelphia and Green Bay, but has since lost three of four.

After an impressive 27-3 win over division rival Carolina in Week 6, Tampa Bay defeated Seattle 20-10 last Sunday night.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a 402-176 advantage over the Seahawks in total yards, and limited Seattle to seven first downs.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Warrick Dunn, who has rushed for 226 yards in his last three games, left last week’s win with a back injury, but Gruden said he expects him to play against the Cowboys.

Washington Redskins look to improve to 6-2 for the first time in eight years when they visit the winless Detroit Lions on Sunday. After a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, Washington went on a four-game win streak, defeating New Orleans and Arizona before notching impressive road victories over NFC East rivals Dallas and Philadelphia.

However, the run was snapped Oct. 12 with a 19-17 home loss to St. Louis, which had lost its first four contests.

Detroit Lions are in the midst of their longest winless start since they opened 0-12 in 2001, but have reason to believe they’re headed in the right direction.
After losing their first four games by an average of 20.3 points, their last two defeats have come down to the final possession. Detroit fell 12-10 at Minnesota on a last-second field goal Oct. 12, and outscored Houston 11-0 in the fourth quarter before its rally fell short in a 28-21 road defeat last Sunday.

Detroit Lions won consecutive games against Washington in 1999 and 2000, but the Redskins have taken the last two meetings to improve to 18-2 against the Lions since the start of the 1968 season. Campbell was 23-for-29 for 248 yards and two touchdowns and Portis ran 18 times for 72 yards in Washington’s 34-3 rout last Oct. 7.

Washington Redskins hope to continue their dominance of the Lions for first-year coach Jim Zorn, an assistant with Detroit from 1999-00

Buffalo Bills’ best start in 13 years has the team atop the AFC East, but they haven’t proven yet that they’re the division’s best. In their first game against an AFC East rival, the Bills look to improve to 6-1 Sunday as they visit the last-place Miami Dolphins.

Buffalo has won five of its first six games for the first time since 1995, and is in position to open 6-1 for the first time since 1993, when the team made the last of four straight trips to the Super Bowl. Buffalo is one game ahead of five-time defending division champion New England.

Miami Dolphins recent struggles have overshadowed the strong play of Chad Pennington, who went 24-for-35 for a season-high 295 yards, a touchdown and an interception last weekend. He ranks fourth in the NFL with a 68.6 completion percentage, and his 108.8 passer rating since Sept. 21 leads all quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts in that span.

Pennington hopes to help Miami end its recent struggles against Buffalo. The Dolphins have lost seven of the last eight meetings in the series, including four straight. Edwards threw a career-high four touchdown passes as the Bills cruised to a 38-17 victory the last time these teams met, Dec. 9 at Buffalo.

New England Patriots seek to follow up a convincing victory Sunday when they host the revitalized Rams, who look for their third consecutive upset under new coach Jim Haslett.

New England (4-2) had been struggling on offense ever since losing Tom Brady to a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of its opener, scoring fewer than 20 points in four of its first five games. However, the Patriots busted out Monday night in a 41-7 rout of Denver as Matt Cassel was an efficient 18-of-24 for 185 yards and a career-high three touchdowns—two of them to Randy Moss.
Rams (2-4) looked like a historically bad team under coach Scott Linehan in the season’s first four weeks, losing all of their games by 17 points or more. Since replacing Linehan with Haslett during the bye week, though, St. Louis has pulled off a pair of shocking upsets of NFC East contenders.

After eking out a 19-17 win at Washington on Oct. 12, the Rams dominated Dallas in a 34-14 victory last Sunday.

This is the first visit to Gillette Stadium for the Rams, who were 3-1 in the old Foxboro Stadium.

New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers each had high expectations heading into this season, but both teams are playing sub-.500 football. New Orleans and San Diego both look to bounce back from discouraging losses and avoid the distractions of playing overseas when they meet at Wembley Stadium.
Neither the Saints (3-4) nor the Chargers (3-4) have managed to get in rhythm this year, but New Orleans’ season may have taken a turn for the worst last Sunday as Bush sustained cartilage damage in his knee in a 30-7 loss to Carolina.

Brett Favre will extend his record streak of consecutive starts to 260 games on Sunday.

The Kansas City Chiefs would simply like their quarterback to stay on the field. A troubled Chiefs team featuring a third-string quarterback, an inactive starting running back and the second-worst rated defense in the league must deal with Favre and the New York Jets on Sunday at Giants Stadium. .
After losing their top two quarterbacks to injury last Sunday, the Chiefs will send out third-stringer Tyler Thigpen for his second career start.
In his first start since suffering a shoulder injury in Week 1 at New England, Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle completed 9 of 10 passes for 63 yards before sustaining ACL and MCL injuries to his left knee in the first half of Sunday’s 34-10 loss to Tennessee.

Fourth-stringer Ingle Martin will back up Thigpen on Sunday after being inactive all season. Martin appeared briefly in one game for Green Bay in 2006, but has never thrown a pass in the NFL. The Chiefs hold a 15-16-1 edge in the all-time series between these original AFL franchises. Favre faced Kansas City four times while a member of the Packers, losing three of those starts.

A pair of teams coming off byes will face off Sunday in Philadelphia, Atlanta Falcons will try for their third straight victory while the hometown Philadelphia Eagles look to climb back into the NFC East race.

Eagles are 9-0 following a bye, they also should be aided by a healthier roster, as both Westbrook and wide receiver Kevin Curtis, who hasn’t played this season due to sports hernia surgery, hope to return Sunday.

Philadelphia hopes its tenacious pass rush is also on display. The Eagles are tied for second in the NFL with 21 sacks, including 14 in three home games, and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson doesn’t figure to hold anything back against Ryan.

Cincinnati Bengals head to Reliant Stadium looking for their fourth consecutive victory over the Houston Texans. With a 38-10 loss to Pittsburgh last week, Cincinnati (0-7) remained winless through seven games for the fifth time since 1991. No other team has experienced that kind of futility more than twice in that span.

Bengals will be playing their first game without rookie linebacker Keith Rivers, selected ninth overall from Southern California. He was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday with a broken jaw suffered after a hit from the Steelers’ Hines Ward. Rivers was second on the team in tackles and had one interception.

Houston Texans (2-4) is in last place in its division, but will try to take advantage of its second straight winless opponent and win its third straight after an 0-4 start. Last Sunday, the Texans jumped out to an early three-touchdown lead before holding on for a 28-21 victory over Detroit.

Cleveland Browns will head to Jacksonville on Sunday for the first time since 2002 to face the rejuvenated Jacksonville Jaguars.

Cleveland (2-4) has the second-worst offense in the NFL (263.8 yards per game), and the Browns totaled just 236 yards in a 14-11 loss at Washington on Sunday. Winslow, their Pro Bowl tight end, had just two catches for 17 yards in his return to the field after sitting out the team’s 35-14 win over the New York Giants a week earlier with an undisclosed injury.

Jacksonville (3-3) couldn’t get anything going offensively in an 0-2 start, but has looked much better in winning three of its last four games. The Jaguars came through with perhaps their best win of the season before their bye, piling up a season-high 416 yards in a 24-17 win at Denver.

Cleveland (2-4) played easily its best game that same weekend, racking up 454 yards in a 35-14 thrashing of the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants on Oct. 13. But the Browns, who had been held to under 210 yards of offense in each of their first three losses, struggled again to maintain their offensive consistency in Washington.

The Jaguars lead the all-time series 8-2, but those two losses have come in the Browns’ last two visits to Jacksonville, in 2001 and 2002.

New York Giants travel to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in a matchup of 5-1 teams Sunday.

New York’s Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw combined to run for 118 yards last week.

Ben Roethlisberger, the 11th pick in the 2004 draft, got the best of Manning, the top choice that year, on Dec. 18, 2004. The Steelers quarterback recorded his first career 300-yard game, throwing for 316 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in Pittsburgh’s 33-30 win at Giants Stadium.

Pittsburgh, first in the league in total defense (228.3 yards per game) and pass defense (158.7), is coming off a 38-10 rout of woeful Cincinnati last week. The Steelers held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing for the fifth time this season, surrendered a season-low 128 passing yards and forced a turnover for the fifth time in six games.

Pittsburgh has other injury problems, as cornerback Bryant McFadden will miss the next month with a broken right arm. Safety Troy Polamalu suffered the seventh concussion of his career on the same play during which McFadden was hurt, but he hasn’t been ruled out against New York.

San Francisco 49ers host Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in a match up of NFC West rivals looking for their first wins in more than a month.

The 49ers (2-5) fired coach Mike Nolan on Tuesday after he went 18-37 in nearly 3 1/2 seasons at the helm to post the worst winning percentage (.327) of any San Francisco coach that made it through more than one season with the team.
San Francisco was limited to 253 total yards in a 29-17 loss to the New York Giants last Sunday, and have turned the ball over three times in each loss during a four-game skid. They have 17 total turnovers in their five losses, compared to one in two victories.

Part of the problem is the absence of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who has missed the last two games with a bulging disk in his back that’s pressing on a nerve that runs down to his hyperextended right knee, weakening the joint. There’s a chance he returns on Sunday. Hasselbeck was 18-for-36 for 189 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions in the Seahawks’ 33-30 overtime loss to the 49ers on Sept. 14. San Francisco kicker Joe Nedney won the game with a 40-yard field goal.

Tennessee Titans aim to extend their unbeaten run as they match up against the visiting Indianapolis Colts, winners of five straight division titles.

Tennessee (6-0) rolled to a 34-10 victory at Kansas City last Sunday, stretching its NFL-best winning streak to nine games dating to last season. It is the Titans’ lengthiest winning streak since reeling off a franchise-record 11 straight from Oct. 17, 1993-Jan. 2, 1994, when the team was the Houston Oilers.

Indianapolis lost 34-14 at Green Bay last Sunday. Dominic Rhodes was a bright spot, rushing 20 times for 73 yards and both Colts touchdowns.

The Colts committed a season-high 12 penalties - tied for their most since 2005 - for 110 yards. They have been whistled for 46 infractions - third-most in the AFC - after being one of the least-penalized clubs during the first six years of coach Tony Dungy’s tenure.

Colts, who are also yielding 153.5 yards per game versus the run, could struggle to contain a Titans ground game that ranks fourth in the NFL with 154.5 ypg.