The bad news is that scoring is down this year. The good news is that close games are up.
Per the NFL, the league has had a record number of games decided by six points or less (55) or eight points or less (71) through the first eight weeks of any season.
In Week Eight, 10 of the 14 games played were one-score contests at some point in the fourth quarter. So far, 94 games have fit the description, another record.
With one game to go in Week Eight, those records could each be pushed one game higher.
Although a few teams are gathering at the extremes of good and bad, most of the league is bunched together. And from that cluster of teams that make up the vast majority of the pack, one or two serious threats to win it all can emerge.