Week 8 on the NFL schedule is almost in the books (we still have Monday Night Football to go), and the best performances deserve to be recognized by our MMQB staff. Even if you’re feeling down because your team didn’t win, maybe one of your favorite players or coaches gets awarded a game ball by our staff.
Here are this week’s standouts:
Mitch Goldich: Tony Pollard, RB, Cowboys. The Ezekiel Elliott vs. Tony Pollard debate has been raging for some time now, and I don’t need to pour any more gasoline on the fire. But in the first game Zeke has missed this season, the No. 2 man on Dallas’s RB depth chart thrived. He racked up 131 yards on just 14 carries, taking three of them into the end zone. The Cowboys romped over the Bears 49–29, scoring touchdowns on their first drives and never looking back. We know how many playmakers are on this team’s defense, so it has to be heartening for them to see the offense come alive really for the first time all season. The Cowboys had not topped 25 points in a game all season. (Yes, we know the offense was piloted by Cooper Rush instead of Dak Prescott for many of those games.) So a running game like this can help Prescott get back into a rhythm (look how efficient he was Sunday), as Dallas looks to hang in a tough NFC East.
