Sunday was a rough day for the "ain't played nobody" crowd. The 49ers, finally facing a stout defense and impressive Panthers team, manhandled Carolina in Week 8 to firmly establish themselves as the best team in the NFC. San Francisco is undefeated through seven games now and its 51-13 beatdown of the Panthers was Kyle Shanahan's most impressive work to date. 

This was just the second meeting of two teams with a winning record in Levi's Stadium since it opened; there's been a long run of bad football in San Francisco. To see the physical way the 49ers took care of business, both in the run game and on defense, was a revelation. Shanahan ate Ron Rivera's lunch, consistently scheming up wide open running lanes for Tevin Coleman, who finished the game with 11 carries for 105 yards and three touchdowns.

He used a whole host of pre-snap motion and read-option play fakes to get Coleman a one-cut lane for the team's second touchdown of the first quarter.

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via NFL Broadcast

A wild Week 8 is almost in the books and there's a lot to go over. Fortunately Will Brinson, John Breech, Ryan Wilson and Sean Wagner-McGough are here to break everything down on the latest episode of the Pick Six Podcast. Listen to the full show below and be sure to subscribe right here for daily NFL goodness.

An interception of Kyle Allen on the Panthers' next possession set up the 49ers with good field position and they promptly utilized a beautiful head/eye fake to one side of the field by Jimmy Garoppolo to set up a screen to Coleman that left the running back walking into the end zone untouched.

Carolina was largely sloppy -- it finished with nine penalties for 70 yards, including a major mistake from Allen to throw a screen pass directly into the waiting arms of rookie Nick Bosa. Bosa, by the way, is the very early leader in the clubhouse for Defensive Rookie of the Year. One could argue -- as Richard Sherman did on Sunday afternoon -- that the younger Bosa should be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year.

Sherman isn't wrong. Nick finished with three sacks and an interception, just the third rookie in NFL history to do so, joining Julius Peppers in 2002 and Kevin Williams in 2003. Nick and his older brother Joey Bosa, who had a field day for the Chargers against the Bears, became just the second pair of brothers to record a pair of sacks each on the same day. 

Nick is now up to seven sacks through seven games. He could easily challenge the Jevon Kearse rookie record of 14.5 at this pace, especially with Arizona and Kyler Murray (sacked 26 times in eight games) coming up twice in the next three weeks. 

Even the biggest 49ers supporters had to have some questions about whether the 49ers were a sustainable operation or whether some of the success was predicated on the schedule. This was a litmus test and they passed it with flying colors. The 49ers +130 point differential keeps San Francisco in a class with just them and New England. They look like a complete team with the upside to get even better quarterback play from Jimmy G. 

The coaching is great, the defensive line is stout, the offensive line should get healthy and the run game features a deep stable of quality backs in Matt Breida, Coleman and Raheem Mostert. They bolstered the receiving corps with Emmanuel Sanders. A Jimmy G vs. Tom Brady Super Bowl is very much on the table. 

Factory of Sadness

The Cleveland Browns are 2-5, meaning they now have a worse record than they did through eight weeks in 2018 (2-5-1) under Hue Jackson. It's comparable, of course, but that's kind of the point: the Browns in no way have looked better under Freddie Kitchens through eight games than they did under Hue Jackson last season. If anything, they look the same. 

It's a sloppy team killing itself with penalties and bad coaching decisions week after week. Against New England, it served as a reminder that this franchise once fired Bill Belichick, who picked up the 300th win of his coaching career on Sunday in the 27-13 cruise control victory in the rain. 

The Browns averaged more yards per play (5.3) than the Patriots (4.8), had essentially the same number of yards (310 to 318 for New England) and first downs (15 to 19) and held the Patriots to 31 percent third-down conversion and 33 percent red zone efficiency and still lost by two touchdowns. 

It was a perfect juxtaposition between a dynastic team led by the greatest coach of all time and the latest edition of the Browns disaster and all you needed to see were the respective sidelines to realize it.

In case that wasn't enough, Kitchens also offered plenty in the way of in-game mistakes as well. At one point the Browns turned the ball over on three consecutive offensive plays. That's borderline impossible to do, but they found a way. Nick Chubb fumbled the ball on a run play that resulted in a scoop/score by Dont'a Hightower. On the next play from scrimmage, Chubb ripped off a 44-yard run down to the Patriots' red zone but got Peanut Punched by Jonathan Jones. Then on the next play from scrimmage after that, Baker Mayfield threw an interception on a shovel pass. 

These mistakes led to 14 Patriots points, the difference in the game. The weather was bad but it's no excuse. You have to be perfect to beat the Patriots and the Browns were not that. 

Two major coaching miscues also stood out Sunday, the first coming on a pass interference 

"Usually when you get that open, there's a pick," Tony Romo remarked before adding, "I would not throw the challenge flag." Jim Nantz pointed out that, "Yeah, almost no one's winning that pass interference challenge any longer." Both NFL on CBS announcers expressed some, ahem, surprise that Kitchens would throw the flag. 

"Good luck winning this one," Nantz said as the game went to commercial. Kitchens' logic for the challenge after the game was essentially "hit and hope."

"Well, I thought you had to throw it there, it was such a big play in the game. You've got a very big one yard, is the way the rule is read. You know, very lenient with the one-yard rule," Kitchens said. "From the ball, not from their alignment. So, just put it on them, and see if it was a yard or not. You know, I thought that was the best opportunity. It was big play in the game, a big conversion. So, if it had been a yard, it would have been good. It was a little more than a yard, we weren't good."

In a 14-point game, Kitchens wasted a challenge down 14 in the fourth quarter and cost himself a timeout. It still wasn't as egregious as the move he pulled off later. On 4th and 11 with just more than six minutes remaining, the Browns trailing 27-10 and the ball on their own 24-yard line, Kitchens sent his punt unit out to take a false start on purpose. Then he sent the offense back out on 4th and 16 to go for it. 

Everyone was extremely confused about the move. It was even more stunning when Tracy Wolfson reported "the rumor" on the Browns sideline was Kitchens took the penalty in order to save a timeout. Kitchens confirmed as much after the game. 

"I didn't want to use the timeout and I wanted to go for it. We had half of our guys running off, half of our guys running on and I wasn't giving up right then by punting the ball to them," Kitchens said. "The only chance that we had was to convert for a [first] down and then we didn't. The defense's job is to go out there and stop them and they did, so it gave us a chance. I was still trying to win the game."

Whew. Not good. The Browns committed a ton of penalties, made a ton of mistakes and looked, generally, like the polar opposite of the Patriots on the field and on the sideline. 

Deshaun is a Magician

The phrase flying blind gets thrown around a lot, but in the case of Deshaun Watson, he actually lived that life on Sunday against the Raiders. A week after seeing a would-be touchdown blown dead while he was in the grasp of a defender, Watson pulled off more magic in the Texans critical Week 8 win. 

Watson was almost swallowed up by the Raiders pass rush, somehow escaped, got KICKED IN THE EYE, and threw a touchdown while basically blind.

As Watson later explained, it wasn't kind of blind. He couldn't see what or who he was throwing to. It's incredible, really.

Jon Gruden compared Watson to Michael Jordan after the game, echoing the comments of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney before Watson was drafted. It sounded a little crazy when Dabo made the claim. It feels very appropriate right now.

Watson might need a Jordanian effort this season with the way things are going for Houston. J.J. Watt is done for the season now after reportedly tearing a pec and going straight to the hospital. Watt confirmed he tore his pec on a tackle for loss Sunday and will miss the rest of the season. 

It's a huge blow for a defense that is already banged up. The secondary was down to three corners on Sunday and Whitney Mercilus, after starting out gangbusters, has slowed down in terms of defensive production. 

Quick mea culpa while we're talking Texans defense: I pointed out that Gareon Conley got burnt on a Tyrell Williams touchdown play less than a week after the Raiders traded Conley to the Texans in what was appropriately termed "the most disrespectful trade ever" by NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal. They traded a cornerback to the team they were playing that very week. Conley came back later in the game and actually tossed it in my face and Jon Gruden's face: he knocked the ball out of Williams' hands on the final Raiders offensive play of the game. 

Williams would have had a first down and the Raiders would have been in position to tie the game or potentially even win. Instead, Gruden decided to punt on 4th and 16 and never saw the ball again. Good on Conley for getting his revenge. 

Bears going backward

Anyone who questioned the Bears' 2019 prospects did so largely on the notion of the defense taking a step back. But all of those projections were couched with the admission that Mitchell Trubisky and the offense could make a leap this year. That has not been the case and 2018 COY Matt Nagy bears some blame as the season begins to go down in flames. 

Nagy and the Bears had the Chargers on the ropes most of the day Sunday and took a commanding 16-7 lead after rookie David Montgomery -- finally unleashed! -- plunged into the end zone with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Then everyone clamped up, including Nagy. Especially Nagy. 

The Chargers countered with a field goal to close out the third quarter before Trubisky set them up for another potential score with a horrific interception. 

The Chargers bailed the Bears out by missing the ensuing field goal attempt at the end of the drive, but the Bears insisted on keeping them in the game as Trubisky promptly fumbled on the next possession to give Los Angeles the ball again, this time on the Bears 26-yard line. Philip Rivers, who looked mostly bad in this game, hit Austin Ekeler for a touchdown and suddenly the Chargers were leading a game they had no business even being in. 

Chicago got one more chance, receiving the ball with 1:33 left and only trailing by a point. The Bears promptly flew down the field, with Trubisky hitting Taylor Gabriel for 22 yards to get into Chargers territory. A nine-yard throw to Allen Robinson got the Bears to the Chargers' 43-yard line, within field goal range, but just barely. At this point, Nagy seemed to grow unusually comfortable with where his team stood both in terms of the drive and the game. 

The Chargers were firing off timeouts and Nagy was comfortable standing pat. Considering the Bears had a eight-month Bachelor-style tryout to find a kicker this offseason, maybe trying to get as close as possible would be the wise move. Nagy appeared to be bailed out by a Trubisky scramble down the field for 11 yards to the Chargers 21-yard line, giving the Bears multiple opportunities to run the ball and try to get well within Eddy Pineiro's range.

Instead, with more than 40 seconds on the clock, he had Trubisky take a knee. You know what happens next: Pinero missed a 41-yard field that went right to left, crossing in front of the goal posts. It would have been good from five yards closer. But the Bears settled and lost.

Nagy's approach to explaining this decision after the game was stunning. He sounded dismissive of questions about trying to get closer -- he claimed he was worried about a fumble and didn't want to lose yards. 

You know what loses yards? TAKING A KNEE. This wasn't some second-guess situation. It was very obvious in the moment the Bears were making a mistake. I understand not passing the ball. You don't trust Trubisky to make a throw in that spot and you'll be killed if he throws a pick. But taking a knee instead of running Montgomery up the middle or even going play action and bootlegging Trubisky out? The Bears were running the ball incredibly effectively all day long. The goal should have been to get as much yardage as possible and maximize Pinero's ability to make a field goal. 

That Nagy would let this happen is bad enough. Dismissively handling the media after the loss is downright embarrassing for the second-year coach. 

Ghostbusters Troll Job of the Week

Give the Jaguars credit for complete and utter lack of giving an eff when it comes to hurting Sam Darnold's feelings. Jacksonville spent the entire day Sunday capitalizing on Darnold "seeing ghosts" against the Patriots on Monday night.

First, they dressed up their mascot as a ghost.

Multiple Jaguars players apparently spent the entire day mocking Darnold for the ghost thing. And the Jags even blasted the "Ghostbusters" theme song over the loudspeaker while showing Darnold highlights.

Officiating Disaster of the Week

Every week in the NFL features a different scenario in which some NFL official impacts the outcome of a game by virtue of a call for or against a team. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the wrong end of the stick this week, as another early whistle may have cost them a victory.

We saw this with the Saints and Rams in New Orleans' only loss of the year, with an early whistle costing Cameron Jordan a touchdown. This time around it was Tampa defender Andrew Adams who scooped a fumble on a fake field goal by the Titans -- Tennessee's punter/holder Brett Kern was absolutely ROCKED trying to run for a first down -- but had the play blown dead to cost the Bucs a touchdown.

It truly was inexplicable that the refs would blow the whistle. 

Speaking Monday, Bruce Arians was understandably miffed.

"Everybody but one guy saw the ball out and blew a quick whistle. My biggest thing is, referees aren't held accountable," Arians explained. "Coaches get fired, general managers get fired and players get cut. Referees aren't held accountable and it's a shame."

The tough part here is this was clearly going to be a touchdown for the Buccaneers. You can't change that on review, obviously, but there was little doubt that Andrews was scoring after Devin White rocked the ball free. He had the ball and was moving before the lone whistle. This is a game flipper and a season flipper. The Buccaneers win the game and they're 3-4, reasonably within range of the NFC wild card. Lose and you're 2-5 and just staring way up the standings. The Titans at 3-5 would be in big trouble in the AFC South; at 4-4 they're right there in the hunt. 

I'm not sure what the solution is outside of asking refs to swallow their whistles. That also brings replay requirements into consideration (there would need to be sufficient evidence that the call should be overturned if there was no whistle, etc.) but it's tough to face if you're an NFL team who may have just seen its season go up in flames over a blown whistle.