Welcome to the Week 8 Blitz Pickup, where we review the most interesting facts, figures and notes from every NFL game each week. Just like a running back hitting a crucial chip on a blitzing linebacker, we’re going to make sure nothing gets by, all so you can make the plays you need to reach fantasy football paydirt. It’s down, it’s dirty. It’s the Week 8 Blitz Pickup!

Note: All point totals and rankings are PPR unless otherwise noted.

Check out the Blitz Pickup from previous weeks

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Week 8 Blitz Pickup: Thursday Night

Ravens 27 at Buccaneers 22

Lamar Jackson had his best passing game since Week 3 and continues to lead the league in quarterback rushing yards… Jackson has the second highest rush share among quarterbacks in the league at 32.1 percent… Gus Edwards led the team in rushing before exiting with a hamstring injury the team does not consider “serious”… Kenyan Drake saw all four of the backfield targets in the pass game and scored his first receiving touchdown of the year… Rashod Bateman aggravated his foot injury during the game and may miss several more weeks as a result… Devin Duvernay again led the team’s wideouts in fantasy scoring, but Demarcus Robinson led in targets, receptions, and yardage, including two redzone looks… Mark Andrews ( overall TE2) left the game with a shoulder injury and is considered day-to-day…

Tom Brady has attempted over 40 passes in six straight games and is now QB12 on the season… Brady has just nine touchdowns, but only one interception on the season… Brady led the league in passing yardage at the completion of Sunday’s games… Leonard Fournette again averaged less than 3.0 yards per carry… Fournette and Rachaad White each had three receptions on three targets… Fournette is fourth in running back targets… Although Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both caught six balls on 11 targets, Evans took his for 123 yards to just 75 for Godwin… Evans is averaging 14.8 yards per catch, compared to 10.25 for Godwin…

Week 8 Blitz Pickup: International Series- London

Broncos 21 at Jaguars 17

After throwing one touchdown in Week 8, Russell Wilson now has thrown six scores on the year. That’s his lowest total through seven games since 2016… Despite Melvin Gordon playing more snaps for the second week in a row, Latavius Murray received the majority of backfield touches… Gordon has averaged 12 opportunities per game over eight weeks. During this three game run with Denver, Murray is averaging over 14 opportunities per game… Courtland Sutton has just six catches for 50 yards in his last three games… Additionally, Sutton is just third on the team in targets over that stretch. Sutton still leads the team in overall targets on the year… Since making his debut in Week 6, Greg Dulcich is second on the team in targets… In his three games, Dulcich has finished as overall TE11, TE7, and TE9… The Broncos are on the bye in Week 9…

Despite just two passing scores against four interceptions in his last four games, Trevor Lawrence is the overall QB10 thanks primarily to a career-high three rushing scores in that same timeframe… In his first game without James Robinson on the roster, Travis Etienne ran 24 times for 156 yards and a score. He also caught all three of his targets… Etienne was RB7 on the week… Marvin Jones Jr. had a 20.3 percent target share last season and scored 10.6 points per game. This season, Jones’s target share has dropped to just 15.4 and he is scoring just 7.8 fantasy points per game with two scoreless games… Prior to this season, Marvin Jones Jr. had not gone scoreless in a game since 2013… Evan Engram (TE10) is scoring his most points per game (9.1) since 2019, when he finished as TE7 in points per game…

Week 8 Blitz Pickup: Sunday Early Games

Steelers 13 at Eagles 35

Kenny Pickett has 11 turnovers (eight interceptions, three fumbles) in five games, against just two passing touchdowns and two rushing scores… Najee Harris has not rushed for 100 yards in a game yet this season and has just one rushing touchdown… Harris is averaging over two fewer targets per game this season compared to 2021… Jaylen Warren is averaging 5.3 yards per carry but less than four carries per game… Chase Claypool had a 17.5 percent target share with the Steelers, but was traded to the Bears after Week 8… Despite being third in the league in targets, Diontae Johnson has not scored a touchdown in nine games dating back to last season, the longest scoreless streak of his career… The Steelers are on the bye in Week 9…

Jalen Hurts threw a career-high four touchdowns. He now has a 5:1 touchdown to interception ratio on the year… Entering 2022, Hurts’s career ratio was just under 1.7:1… Miles Sanders has not fumbled this season on 131 carries entering Week 9 and has just one fumble over the last two seasons… Sanders is averaging over five carries per game more than last season… A.J. Brown had a career-high three touchdowns, his first multi-touchdown game since Week 6 of 2020… Dallas Goedert is one of just five tight ends in the league with a target share over 20 percent…

Panthers 34 at Falcons 37 (OT)

P.J. Walker threw for a career-high 317 yards and had a career-long 20 yard rush… It was the first 300 yard passing game for the Panthers since Sam Darnold in Week 4 of last season… In two starts since the Christian McCaffrey trade, D’Onta Foreman has rushed for 118 yards in each and scored three touchdowns… Chuba Hubbard missed the game and is ruled out for Week 9 as well… D.J. Moore has two touchdowns the last two weeks and in Week 8 had his highest game yardage total since his rookie season… Moore is ninth among wideouts in target share… Terrace Marshall Jr. saw a career-high nine targets…

Marcus Mariota threw three touchdowns for the first time since 2019… Mariota (QB8) has the fewest pass attempts of any quarterback in the top-10 of fantasy scoring… Tyler Allgeier is averaging 3.9 yards per carry. Cordarrelle Patterson was averaging 5.9 prior to his injury… Patterson was designated to return to practice from IR by the Falcons on Wednesday… Drake London is seventh in target share among wide receivers… Meanwhile, Kyle Pitts is third in target share among tight ends…

Bears 29 at Cowboys 49

Justin Fields is second in quarterback rush yards and is now QB11 overall… Fields has the fewest pass attempts of any quarterback in the top-25 of fantasy scoring… David Montgomery has one more rush attempt on the season than Khalil Herbert… Herbert has 202 more rushing yards than Montgomery… Montgomery leads Herbert in snaps by roughly 50 percent… Darnell Mooney is averaging over four catches and 67 yards receiving over the last five games… Mooney is yet to score on the season…N’Keal Harry scored his first touchdown since Week 13 of 2020… Cole Kmet scored his first touchdown of the season…

Dak Prescott was QB4 on the week after throwing for two scores and rushing for another in his best game on the ground since early last season… With Ezekiel Elliott out, Tony Pollard had a career game, scoring 33.7 points en route to a RB4 finish on the week… CeeDee Lamb continues to be among the league leaders in target share, ranking third after eight weeks… KaVontae Turpin had an 11 yard rush in the game. Turpin has the third-longest kick return and second-longest punt return in the league this season… Although he didn’t score, Michael Gallup had his best receiving game of the season… Dalton Schultz likewise had his best game of the year. Schultz has yet to score on the season… Dallas is on the bye in Week 9…

Dolphins 31 at Lions 27

Tua Tagovailoa is QB7 in fantasy points per game… Tagovailoa has two of the ten highest passing yardage games this season. Josh Allen is the only other quarterback with more than one… Chase Edmonds was traded to Denver at the deadline. The Dolphins brought in Jeff Wilson Jr…. Wilson would lead the Dolphins in rush yards, yards per carry, and rushing touchdowns… Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were WR3 and WR4 on the week, respectively… It was the second time this season they’ve both been in the top-four in the same week… Hill is on pace for over 195 targets, but fewer than five touchdowns… Mike Gesicki saw all tight end targets for the Dolphins for the second week in a row…

In four games against bottom-12 fantasy defenses (in terms of fantasy points surrendered to opposing quarterbacks,) Jared Goff has averaged 17.9 fantasy points per game (QB9). In two games versus top-five defenses, he has just 17.02 total points… Goff’s opponent in Week 9, the Green Bay Packers, allow the second-fewest fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks… Jamaal Williams has scored two touchdowns in a game four times this season. He is scoreless in his other three games… In those four contests, Williams has averaged 21.8 fantasy points. In the three scoreless contests, he has averaged just over 6.6 fantasy points… D’Andre Swift is questionable… Amon-Ra St. Brown saw 10 targets for the first time since Week 2. St. Brown has not scored a touchdown since Week 2… T.J. Hockenson was traded to the Minnesota Vikings at the deadline. No current Lions’ tight end has more than six targets on the year…

Cardinals 26 at Vikings 34

Kyler Murray attempted over 40 passes for the fourth time this season. He attempted over 40 passes in just three games (all consecutively) in 2021… In three games as the starter with James Conner out, Eno Benjamin has just one game of double-digit fantasy points… Conner is questionable for Week 9… In two games since returning from suspension, DeAndre Hopkins has seen 27 targets, tied with Tyreek Hill for most in the league… Zach Ertz (TE3) is third in both targets and receptions among tight ends…

In four games without an interception this season, Kirk Cousins has thrown two touchdowns in each. In three games with at least one interception, he has thrown only one score in each… Dalvin Cook had his first 100 yard game since a 205 yard effort against Pittsburgh in Week 14 of 2021… Cook also had his best receiving game of the season with five receptions for 30 yards… Justin Jefferson has not had a receiving touchdown since catching two in Week 1, but is still WR4 overall thanks in part to being fifth among receivers in target share… Irv Smith Jr. suffered a high ankle sprain and was placed on IR… The Vikings traded for star tight end T.J. Hockenson at the deadline…

Raiders 0 at Saints 24

The Raiders were shut out for the first time since 2014… Derek Carr‘s 1.94 fantasy points was surprisingly only the third-worst game of his career… After six touchdowns in his previous three games, Josh Jacobs was (obviously) held scoreless… Davante Adams had just one reception for three yards and a rush attempt for a one-yard loss… Adams is catching just 55.9 percent of targets, almost 11 points below his career average and the lowest of any of the top-24 fantasy wide receivers… Hunter Renfrow has just one game of over 10 fantasy points this season… Darren Waller missed his third straight game and is questionable for Week 9…

Andy Dalton has nine touchdowns to four interceptions since becoming the starter in Week 4. His ratio of 2.25 in that regard is far above his career average of 1.67… Alvin Kamara had five receptions in two games with Jameis Winston at quarterback. He hasn’t had fewer than six in any game with Dalton thus far… Kamara’s 42.8 points were the most by a running back this season… Michael Thomas was placed on IR and will likely miss the remainder of the season… Rashid Shaheed caught all three of his targets for 38 yards, the first touches of his young career without scoring… Taysom Hill was held without a touchdown for only the third game this season…

Patriots 22 at Jets 17

In five games this season, Mac Jones has three touchdowns, seven interceptions and a rating of 73.13. Bailey Zappe has five scores, three picks, and a rating of 100.86 in four games… Zappe’s passer rating would rank seventh in the league… In his last four games, Rhamondre Stevenson (RB7) is averaging 22.4 fantasy points. Over that stretch, he has scored three touchdowns and caught 21 of 22 targets… With DeVante Parker missing all but one snap, Tyquan Thornton was second among the team’s wideouts in snaps for the game… Thornton saw just two targets as Jakobi Meyers saw a season-high 13… Meyers has scored in three of his last four games… Despite trailing Hunter Henry in overall targets, Jonnu Smith has led the team in tight end targets in five of his seven games this season… Henry is just TE25; Smith is TE40…

Among starting quarterbacks, only Kenny Pickett has a lower passer rating this season than Zach Wilson… Wilson (QB28) also has the lowest completion percentage among the top-40 fantasy quarterbacks… James Robinson played just 13 snaps in his Jets debut but had six opportunities… Outside of his two-score performance in Week 2, Garrett Wilson does not have a touchdown this season, but did have his second 100 yard game in Week 8… Elijah Moore returned to the lineup but saw just one target… Tyler Conklin had two scores en route to the best fantasy day of his career and a TE1 finish for the week…

Week 8 Blitz Pickup: Sunday Late Games

Giants 13 at Seahawks 27

Daniel Jones did not throw a touchdown, but has not thrown an interception since Week 3… Jones has the third-most rushing yards among quarterbacks this season… Saquon Barkley is averaging 4.8 yards per carry, the second-best mark of his career… Barkley is second in rushing yards in the league through eight weeks… Marcus Johnson again led the Giants in wide receiver snaps, but Darius Slayton led the team in receiving with five catches for 66 yards… Tanner Hudson operated as the lead tight end in Daniel Bellinger‘s absence and saw a career-high five targets… The Giants are on the bye in Week 9…

Geno Smith threw multiple touchdowns and no interceptions for the fourth game this season… Smith (QB7) has the highest completion percentage (72.7) of any quarterback in the top-40 of fantasy scoring… Kenneth Walker scored for the fourth straight game… Walker has seen just 12 targets on the season… D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett each scored a touchdown in the same game for the second time this season… Will Dissly led the Seattle tight ends in snaps by four over Noah Fant… Both Fant and Dissly saw two targets…

Titans 17 at Texans 10

Malik Willis attempted just 10 passes in his first career start… Derrick Henry had his fifth career 200 yard rushing game… Henry (RB5) is now third in rushing yardage in the league… Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was held catchless for the third time this season. He has just seven receptions this year… Geoff Swaim led the Titans’ tight ends in snaps, but was not targeted in the game…

Dameon Pierce had his least efficient rushing day of the year, but scored his first receiving touchdown… No Texans receiver has had a 100 yard receiving game on the season… Brandin Cooks has just one receiving touchdown… Brevin Jordan led the Houston tight ends in snaps and targets…

Commanders 17 at Colts 16

Taylor Heinicke finished as QB8 on the week and scored his second career rushing touchdown… Although Brian Robinson led him in carries, eight to seven, Antonio Gibson actually led the backfield in snaps… Gibson also caught all seven of his targets and had his best fantasy output of the year… With Heinicke under center the past two weeks, Terry McLaurin has had his two best fantasy scores of the season… Curtis Samuel has nine rush attempts over the past two games after not rushing the ball once since Week 3… Jahan Dotson has missed four straight games and is listed as out for Week 9… Logan Thomas returned to the lineup and led the tight ends in snaps but did not receive a target…

Sam Ehlinger did not throw a touchdown but had a passer rating of 100.09 in his first career start… Jonathan Taylor has not scored since Week 1… Taylor has been ruled out for Week 9… Nyheim Hines was traded to the Bills at the deadline… Deon Jackson led all running backs in scoring starting in Taylor’s place in Week 6… Michael Pittman Jr. has seen at least six targets in every game and is 8th in the league in targets among wide receivers… Kylen Granson leads the Colts’ tight ends in targets and receptions this season, but has not scored a touchdown… Jelani Woods has just six receptions on 10 targets, but three touchdowns…

49ers 31 at Rams 14

Jimmy Garoppolo had his most efficient game of the season, completing 84 percent of his passes and throwing for two scores and no picks… In his second game with San Francisco, Christian McCaffrey became the third player ever with a rushing, receiving, and passing touchdown in the same game… McCaffrey’s game score of 40.26 points is the second-highest for a running back this season… Brandon Aiyuk (WR13) caught six of six targets with Deebo Samuel out due to injury… George Kittle is TE8 on a points per game basis. The past three games he has finished as TE5, TE1, and TE7… The 49ers are on the bye in Week 9…

Matthew Stafford has only thrown multiple touchdowns in one game this season… Stafford had only 187 passing yards, his lowest total as a Ram, but did score his first rushing touchdown in Los Angeles… Darrell Henderson led the Rams’ backfield in snaps, but Ronnie Rivers saw 12 opportunities to just six for Henderson and five for Malcolm Brown… Cooper Kupp (WR3) scored his sixth touchdown, but injured his ankle late in the contest. He is likely to play in Week 9… Tyler Higbee‘s snap counts are down from over 90 percent to under 74 percent in the last two games, as Brycen Hopkins has seen time in two games returning from a suspension…

Week 8 Blitz Pickup: Sunday Night

Packers 17 at Bills 27

Aaron Rodgers (QB18) has thrown two touchdowns in six of eight games this season, but is averaging just 225 yards per game, well below his career average of 260… AJ Dillon has not had over 73 yards in a game this season and has not scored since Week 1… Aaron Jones had a season-high 143 yards rushing, his most since Week 2 of 2020… With Allen Lazard out, Romeo Doubs led the team’s wideouts in snaps and receiving… Samori Toure scored his first career touchdown on a 37 yard catch… Christian Watson left the game with a concussion after one catch and is questionable for Week 9… Robert Tonyan had his highest snap percentage in Week 8, but has just one score on the season…

Josh Allen had his fewest completions (13) and lowest game score (17.62) of the season, but is still the overall QB1 after Week 8… Devin Singletary is RB28 on the season, and has not scored a touchdown… The Bills traded Zack Moss to the Colts as part of a package for Nyheim Hines… Despite the plethora of weapons on the Bills, Stefon Diggs has a target share of 32.0, seventh among wideouts… Dawson Knox has scored in consecutive games…

Week 8 Blitz Pickup: Monday Night

Bengals 13 at Browns 32

Joe Burrow (QB2) has thrown at least one touchdown in every game and leads the league in passing yardage… Joe Mixon does not have a 100 yard game this season… Mixon has the lowest yards per rush average (3.3) of any running back in the top-20 of fantasy scoring… Mixon has the second-largest rush share (80 percent) of any player in the league… In Ja’Marr Chase‘s absence, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd both scored a touchdown… Boyd has scored in two straight games… Hayden Hurst is tied for sixth in redzone targets among tight ends…

Jacoby Brissett had the highest passer rating of his career (133.71) and rushed for a touchdown in the decisive win… Nick Chubb (RB3) had his fifth 100 yard game and third multiple-touchdown game of the year… Amari Cooper is WR8 on the season and has the sixth-highest target share of any wide receiver in the league… Donovan Peoples-Jones had his fifth double-digit fantasy score of the season… With David Njoku out with injury, Harrison Bryant led in tight end snaps, but no Browns’ tight end saw a target in the game… The Browns are on the bye in Week 9…

Challenge Chase!

Ever wonder how you stack up against the experts? Now’s your chance to find out! You can utilize what you learned in the Week 8 Blitz Pickup, and use teams you’ve already drafted to take me on for weekly bragging rights with Flex Fantasy. Visit https://www.flex.fan/bellyup to sign up and challenge me, as I’ll be using lineups from my own home leagues. You can play for fun, play for money, or play for both! Look for SttChaseFFB’s teams in the Flex Fantasy Arena and sign up today. I promise I won’t rub it in (much) when I win. Got something to say? Leave a comment below, follow me on Twitter @SttChaseFFB, and catch me on the Belly Up Fantasy Live podcast Sundays and Wednesdays all season long. Slàinte!