It was a week of confirming things we mostly knew. The San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots dominated the competition and stayed undefeated and the red-hot New Orleans Saints, as expected, got even better with the return of quarterback Drew Brees. Week 8 also saw Adam Vinatieri rise to the occasion and Eddy Pineiro fail to do the same.

Heres what we learned:

Tevin Coleman made an excellent decision in free agency. A 26-year-old running back, Coleman was an unstoppable force in San Franciscos 51-13 win over Carolina, piling up 118 yards from scrimmage and scoring four touchdowns. He anchored the offense while San Franciscos defense embarrassed the Panthers, helping the 49ers prove they could beat a good team after weeks of beating up mostly on the N.F.L.s also-rans. San Francisco is 7-0, while Colemans former team, the Atlanta Falcons, lost at home to Seattle, dropping to 1-7. The Falcons Super Bowl appearance three seasons ago seems like ancient history.

The Patriots defense can win a game in a span of three plays. Leading 3-0 in the first quarter, New Englands Donta Hightower returned a Nick Chubb fumble 26 yards for a touchdown. On Clevelands next offensive play, Chubb lost a fumble yet again. After the Browns defense forced a punt, Baker Mayfield threw an interception on first down, setting the Patriots up for an easy touchdown. The three consecutive turnovers helped lead to a 17-0 deficit in the first quarter of a 27-13 game. First- and second-year starting quarterbacks dropped to 1-38 in regular season games in Foxborough since 2001.

Sundays Top Performers

Fans of defense may have been averting their eyes, but a matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Giants provided two of the five best quarterback performances of the week, with Stafford hanging on to win what ended up being a close game against the rookie Daniel Jones.

David Montgomery finally had the breakout game people had been expecting, Nick Chubb got over his early fumbles to have a strong game against New England and Christian McCaffrey complemented his rushing performance with another 38 yards as a receiver. But none of them could match Colemans four-touchdown day (three rushing, one receiving).

If the idea of the N.F.L.s London Games is to get people in Europe excited about American football, a double-reverse flea flicker that results in a 65-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp seems like it could do the trick. That was just one of many outstanding plays from Kupp, with Jared Goff joking after the game about how they thought about trying to get the young receiver to 300 yards.

*Except when it takes more.

Texans 27, Raiders 24 That was a lot closer of a game than Houston would have preferred, but provided Deshaun Watsons eye doesnt result in him missing time, the Texans should be able to withstand the loss of J.J. Watt.

49ers 51, Panthers 13 Coming into this week, San Francisco had only beaten one team with a winning record and even in that game they made a 3-2 team fall to 3-3. A blowout win against a team that was previously 4-2 and on a four-game winning streak, should quiet any remaining doubters.

Patriots 27, Browns 13 After Clevelands surge of three turnovers in a span of three plays helped lead to a 17-0 deficit, all but assuring the Browns fate, Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb and the rest of the Cleveland offense outscored the Patriots by 13-10.

Packers 31, Chiefs 24 A wildly entertaining game in which Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay just barely held off Matt Moore and Kansas City was a letdown after last weeks blowout, but it made for an exciting Sunday night.

Saints 31, Cardinals 9 Teddy Bridgewater isnt the only capable backup in New Orleans: Latavius Murray filled in for the injured Alvin Kamara and the veteran runner had 157 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

Chargers 17, Bears 16 Coach Matt Nagy wanted it made clear that he did not regret letting time run ahead of Eddy Pineiros failed game-winning field goal try, rather than going for a touchdown. Zero thought of throwing the football, zero thought of running the football, Nagy said. You understand me? Thats exactly what it was. Its as simple as that.

Rams 24, Bengals 10 Los Angeles has a two-game winning streak no need to pay attention to who they beat, move along and they can thank Cooper Kupp, who had a career day with 220 receiving yards.

Eagles 31, Bills 13 Either Philadelphia is way better than anyone realized or Buffalo is nowhere near as good as it seemed during its 5-1 start.

Titans 27, Buccaneers 23 Ryan Tannehill was fantastic yet again and Tennessee won its second straight game with quite a bit of help from Jameis Winston, who threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.

Jaguars 29, Jets 15 Sam Darnold has thrown seven interceptions over his last two games.

Seahawks 27, Falcons 20 Matt Schaub passed for 460 yards in place of the injured Matt Ryan but Atlanta was down 24-0 at halftime and only closed the gap because Seattle took the second half off.

Lions 31, Giants 26 It was a fourth consecutive loss for Daniel Jones, but it was hard to pin this one on the Giants rookie quarterback who threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns.

Colts 15, Broncos 13 Adam Vinatieris huge day for Indianapolis was partially enabled by Denvers anemic offense. Joe Flacco showed his frustration with the Broncos conservative approach afterward. I just look at it like were now a 2-6 football team and were like afraid to go for it in a two-minute drill, you know? he said during his postgame news conference. Who cares if you give the ball back with a minute 40 seconds left? Theyve obviously got the field goal any way.

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What We Learned in N.F.L. Week 8 - The New York Times