Week 8 opened with a shutout that happened without a single completed pass and closed with a franchise looking like it might need an intervention. In a soaking Tampa afternoon, the Buccaneers beat the Falcons without ever connecting through the air, a stat line that belongs on a trivia card. A few hours later and a few states north, the Jaguars put up 42 points on the Colts behind a running back nobody was talking about in September, and Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen walked into his postgame podium knowing the next few days are going to be about a lot more than Xs and Os.
This is the Indianapolis Colts news that matters this morning: Steichen said he'll "evaluate everything," including the quarterback position, after a 42-7 loss that wasn't competitive from the opening whistle. That's not coach-speak you brush off. That's a tell.
indianapolis colts news: steichen's job and the qb question
Context matters here, and nothing about this loss happened in a vacuum. Last week the Colts traded away guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, their two most veteran players and, by every account out of the building, the two guys who held the locker room together through rough patches. Steichen reportedly worked overtime the past few days trying to refocus a team dealing with those departures plus swirling speculation about running back Jonathan Taylor's future. Whatever he did, it didn't show up on the field Sunday. The Colts played, in the words of the reporting out of Indianapolis, like a team lacking any inspiration.
Daniel Jones didn't help his own cause. He finished 19 of 28 for 144 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, the kind of line that keeps a quarterback competition alive even when a coach insists there isn't one. Steichen hasn't wavered publicly on Jones as his starter, but it's getting harder to defend the week-to-week inconsistency. When Anthony Richardson Sr. entered the game with 11:53 remaining, it wasn't just mop-up duty. It was the door cracking open on a conversation Indianapolis has been trying to avoid all season.
I don't have word yet on who the Colts play next, that detail didn't come through clean on my end, but the shape of the next few weeks is obvious: a coach fighting for his program's buy-in, a quarterback room in flux, and a locker room that just lost its steadiest voices at the worst possible moment.
jaguars rb bhayshul tuten's breakout, and the injuries that came with it
On the other sideline, Jacksonville got the performance it's been building toward since the offseason. Bhayshul Tuten ran for a career-high 104 yards and a touchdown, blowing past his previous high of 74, and added two catches for 55 yards and another score. Both of those receptions came on screen passes, a part of Jacksonville's offense that had been quietly broken all year and suddenly clicked at the exact right time.
The Jaguars let Travis Etienne Jr. walk in free agency this offseason because they believed Tuten could carry the load. Coach Liam Coen had been blunt back in the spring about needing to fix a run game that stunk down the stretch last season. Five straight games of at least 65 rushing yards built the case. Sunday closed it.
But this one might cost Jacksonville more than it gained. Nose tackle DaVon Hamilton was carted off with what looked like the most serious injury of the day, a right knee issue, while left guard Ezra Cleveland (ankle), safety Eric Murray (elbow), and defensive end Travon Walker (ribs) all left the game and didn't return. A blowout win with four players walking off banged up is a mixed bag, and the reporting out of Jacksonville suggests Hamilton's knee injury specifically could push the Jaguars toward adding defensive tackle depth before the trade deadline. The Jaguars are next up on a short week, a Thursday night trip to Baltimore, with a defensive front that took real hits in a game they didn't need to win by five scores.
tampa bay shuts out atlanta without completing a pass
I'll be honest about what I have and don't have here: the detail that jumps off the page is that Tampa Bay beat Atlanta in the rain without completing a single pass, which is about as rare a line as you'll see in a modern NFL box score. The specifics of how that offense manufactured points, I don't have the full breakdown in front of me yet, but the headline alone tells you everything about the conditions and the kind of game it was. Nothing deleted, nothing cherry-picked, just a genuinely strange afternoon in Tampa that deserves a second look once the full tape is out.
sunday's headline scores
| Game | Score | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Jaguars at Colts | 42-7 | Tuten's career day, Colts' lifeless effort |
| Bengals vs. Titans (OT) | 43-36 | Ja'Marr Chase spiked a helmet, then delivered late |
| Cardinals vs. Cowboys (OT) | 33-30 | Gardner Minshew relieved Jacoby Brissett and led the comeback |
| Steelers vs. Browns | 27-6 | Pittsburgh backed up the trash talk Cleveland started |
checked the almanac on that Cowboys result, and Dallas matched the largest blown fourth-quarter lead in franchise history Sunday. Jerry Jones said afterward it won't cost Brian Schottenheimer his job, but a record like that doesn't care who's holding the clipboard, it just gets written down.
what's next
The week isn't done. Philadelphia visits Washington tonight at 8:20 p.m. ET, and Chicago travels to Seattle Monday night at 8:20 p.m. ET, two games that'll shape how the rest of the league views the conference races before Week 9 kicks off. In Arizona, coach Mike LaFleur wouldn't commit to a starting quarterback for next week after Minshew's relief effort, which means the Cardinals have their own version of the Colts' question, just with better optics attached to it. And in Jacksonville, keep an eye on the injury report this week. A line that includes a nose tackle carted off and three other starters walking gingerly to the locker room usually means Thursday's trip to Baltimore gets harder before it gets any easier.
For Indianapolis, the real story isn't over, it's just getting started. Steichen said he'll evaluate everything. That's the kind of sentence that tends to come true.
