NFL Winners and Losers: Ravens season still alive after unlikely assist from Tyler Huntley Frank Schwab October 27, 2025 at 12:23 AM 1 Everything looked positive for the Baltimore Ravens coming out of their bye.
- - NFL Winners and Losers: Ravens season still alive after unlikely assist from Tyler Huntley
Frank Schwab October 27, 2025 at 12:23 AM
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Everything looked positive for the Baltimore Ravens coming out of their bye. They supposedly had Lamar Jackson coming back, with a chance to get on a roll and jump into the AFC North race. Then suddenly the Ravens had to pivot to hoping Tyler Huntley could save them.
Jackson was ruled out Saturday with a hamstring injury, after what looks like injury report shenanigans through the week (which the NFL is investigating), and the Ravens' situation was clear: A loss at home to the Chicago Bears might have been the fatal blow to their season, no matter who the quarterback was.
Huntley had to come through. Some help from the defense, which has been a sieve all season, was necessary too.
The Ravens aren't out of the woods yet, but at least they took a step forward in a crucial 30-16 win over the Bears to improve to 2-5. The Bears were the only NFL team to score 21 points in every game this season, but the Ravens played their best defensive game of the season against Chicago. Baltimore's defense made a massive play in the fourth quarter, with Nate Wiggins intercepting Caleb Williams deep in Chicago territory. Huntley followed that up with a touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Kolar to push Baltimore's lead to 23-13. The Ravens' defense started last season slowly but improved dramatically as the season went on, and they can hope that Sunday was the first sign of that transformation this season.
Huntley got the call after Cooper Rush struggled to replace Jackson. Huntley was released by the Browns late in the preseason and had been bouncing from the Ravens' practice squad to the active roster since then. He was asked to replace a two-time NFL MVP on Sunday and keep a preseason Super Bowl hopeful's season afloat in his first start of this season.
He did his job and then some. Huntley was 17-of-22 passing for 186 yards and also rushed for 53 yards. When the Ravens needed a first down with less than four minutes to go, leading 23-16, Huntley threw a nice back-shoulder pass to DeAndre Hopkins for 14 yards to keep the Bears' offense off the field. That drive ended with Derrick Henry's second touchdown of the day.
Presumably Jackson will return soon, but after this week the Ravens' reports on Jackson probably shouldn't be believed. If Jackson returns next week, he'll do so to a team that still isn't in great shape but has a soft upcoming schedule and can still get back in the AFC North race. The Ravens are still alive this season.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers of Week 8 of the NFL season:
Jonathan Taylor, MVP candidate?: Since 2006, a non-quarterback has won NFL MVP once. That was Adrian Peterson in his 2,000-yard season, back in 2012. Great seasons since then by players like J.J. Watt, Cooper Kupp and Saquon Barkley weren't good enough to win.
That's why Taylor isn't a true MVP candidate. It will almost certainly go to a quarterback, as recent history tells us. But it's not like Taylor isn't deserving.
Taylor had another huge game for the NFL's most surprising success story, as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Tennessee Titans 38-14 to improve to 7-1. Taylor scored three touchdowns, the fourth time in Indianapolis' last six games that he has scored three times. He had 153 yards rushing and another 21 yards receiving. It's not like there was much doubt which team would win, but an 80-yard touchdown by Taylor in the second half but a stamp on the win.
JONATHAN TAYLOR 80-YARD HOUSE CALL!TENvsIND on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/6pVfiMe3kX
— NFL (@NFL) October 26, 2025
The Colts have had a remarkable start to the season. Taylor is the biggest reason. There's a lot of value in that.
Texans defense: Houston has plenty of issues on offense, but its defense is one of the NFL's best.
That group was phenomenal Sunday in a 26-15 win over the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers didn't get their first first down of the game until the final minute of the first half. Before that, they had 30 yards the entire half and a little more than five minutes of possession. For all of the 49ers' injuries, they hadn't had trouble moving the ball. The Texans just shut them down.
The Texans are 3-4, and that losing record is due mostly to their offensive issues. The offense looked surprisingly good Sunday without wideout Nico Collins, though that was likely the 49ers' defense being exposed rather than being a breakthrough for the Texans. Most weeks the Texans' offense won't have to do much. Houston isn't going to allow many points this season.
Justin Fields: It might not surprise you that Woody Johnson was wrong about something.
The New York Jets owner inexplicably ripped Fields this past week, blaming him for the Jets' 0-7 start to the season. Fields might have been benched this week but Tyrod Taylor had a knee injury that kept him out, giving Fields another chance.
The Jets have a win now, and it's due in large part to the quarterback the maligned owner criticized. Fields threw for 244 yards and a touchdown and ran for 31 yards. Breece Hall had a monster game with 133 yards and a game-winning passing touchdown to Mason Taylor in the final two minutes. The Jets' defense held on a weirdly conservative final drive by the Bengals, and they escaped with a 39-38 win. Aaron Glenn got his first win as a head coach.
Fields might start again after the Jets scored 39 points. He might have even impressed the team owner.
Saquon Barkley: The Eagles' pursuit of another championship has been lacking one key thing: Barkley's production. Barkley had 125.3 rushing yards per game last season and that was down to 52.7 yards per game this season before Sunday. The explosive plays had dried up. The Eagles' running game has been surprisingly poor.
Barkley flashed on Sunday in a 38-20 win over the New York Giants. He had a nifty 65-yard touchdown run in the first half, the type of big play that was a constant last season and nowhere to be found this season.
He had 131 total yards on 14 touches in the first half. Barkley pulled up at the end of a 28-yard run in the second half, and the Eagles will hope that injury isn't serious because seeing Barkley finally play like he did last season was very promising for them. He did not return to the game, though it was a blowout by that point and the Eagles were going to be cautious.
Spencer Rattler: Rattler probably didn't deserve to be benched on Sunday. He has played fairly well this season, though turnovers became a problem the past two weeks.
But the Saints used the 40th pick of the NFL Draft on Tyler Shough and they need to see what he can do.
The Saints' season is plummeting fast and it might be time to audition the rookie Shough. Rattler was benched in the second half of a 23-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Shough.
Shough completed 17-of-30 passes for 128 yards and never led a touchdown drive. It wasn't the type of performance that should force a permanent quarterback change. But now that the Saints tried him for an extended period they will be tempted to give him a start soon, perhaps as soon as Week 9. It's not like the Saints' season is going anywhere at 1-7 anyway.
Kirk Cousins: With the trade deadline approaching, maybe we can move on from all the speculation about Cousins going somewhere.
When Cousins' name has been brought up in speculative trade chatter, there was usually a glaring omission: Cousins' poor play last season that got him benched permanently by the Atlanta Falcons. Due to Michael Penix Jr.'s injury, Cousins had a shot to play Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, who have one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Cousins helped that defense look like the 1972 Dolphins.
Cousins and everyone else involved with the Falcons was terrible in an embarrassing 34-10 loss. Atlanta had 58 yards and two first downs in the first half at home against Miami. Cousins didn't have Drake London, who was also out with an injury, but he should have produced more against the Dolphins. He didn't, and the Falcons fell to 3-4. Also, any fantasies of trading Cousins probably vanished.
Myles Garrett: Maybe Garrett should have gone through with his trade request this offseason.
Like Joe Thomas before him, Garrett is wasting an all-time great career on the Cleveland Browns. Garrett was awesome again Sunday with five sacks and it made no difference in the outcome. The Browns got blown out by the New England Patriots 32-13.
It's not like it's a surprise. It would be nice to see Garrett play out his career with a team that could actually take advantage of having one of the best players in the NFL.
Even when Garrett signed a big extension, ending the trade request, everyone knew a great player was coming back to a losing situation. And that's what has happened. As Garrett watches Dillon Gabriel probably not be the answer — and Shedeur Sanders is unlikely to be either, if he gets his shot — he has to know the Browns are a long way from being competitive. What a shame.
Carolina Panthers' momentum: The Panthers entered Sunday winners of three in a row and they had reason to feel good. They could have legitimized that winning streak by at least being competitive against the Buffalo Bills.
That didn't happen. The Bills absolutely wrecked the Panthers. James Cook had 216 rushing yards, a season high in the NFL this year. It was the most rushing yards for a Bills back since O.J. Simpson in 1976.
The Panthers' offense, run by Andy Dalton with Bryce Young sidelined due to an ankle injury, was a comedy of errors. It was a terrible performance by a team that looked like it had hope.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' path to an NFC South title has never been clearer; there are no other good teams in that division.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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