NFL Takeaways: Week 9
Photo courtesy of USA Today
Remember that stuff you thought you knew about the NFL season?
Turns out, you don’t know anything!
But let’s discuss what slapped us in the face this week.
Colts defeat Jets 45-30
A dominant performance from Carson Wentz.
One that surely will not fool people into believing he’s back before he lets them down with costly turnovers or holding the ball too long to get sacked.
Browns defeat Bengals 41-16
The Bengals stomped on a very good Ravens team two weeks ago, and followed that up with losing to the Jets and getting destroyed by the Browns.
That’s rough.
Broncos defeat Cowboys 30-16
I legitimately heard someone say the Cowboys have a quarterback controversy with Cooper Rush and Dak Prescott.
I’m not sure if he was kidding or not.
I hope he was.
Dolphins defeat Texans 17-9
This was a football game that people actually watched with their eyeballs.
Falcons defeat Saints 27-25
The Falcons will always find ways to surprise you.
Blowing a lead to their biggest rival? That’s not surprising at all.
So they up the shock value by actually coming back and WINNING!
They even threw in a needless fumble that would have cost them the game for good measure.
Giants defeat Raiders 23-16
The past few weeks have been very hard for the Raiders.
They cut both 2020 first round picks due to off the field incidents, and also lost to the Giants.
Good on the Raiders for doing the right thing and releasing Ruggs and Arnette for what they did, but still a tough few weeks.
Patriots defeat Panthers 24-6
Guys, I’m starting to think Sam Darnold might just be a bad quarterback.
Jaguars defeat Bills 9-6
A few days ago, The Athletic posted that MVP betting odds had Josh Allen as the favorite over Kyler Murray, and I didn’t really understand that.
After Allen’s performance on Sunday against the Jags, I don’t think Allen will be behind Murray much longer.
And Kyler didn’t even play on Sunday…
Ravens defeat Vikings 34-31
Another Vikings collapse and another game the Ravens very easily could have lost before somehow pulling out a victory.
A tale of both team’s seasons.
Chargers defeat Eagles 27-24
A very good bounce back game for the Chargers after a few brutal losses.
They still aren’t flawless, but hell neither is any other AFC team.
Chiefs defeat Packers 13-7
Mahomes played poorly and the Packers still couldn’t win.
If only they had a quarterback wasn’t a selfish narcissist who lied about being vaccinated, injects horse medicine and takes medical advice from a podcaster who commentates UFC fights.
Alas, no such QB exists…
Cardinals defeat 49ers 31-17
If you told me a team was missing their starting quarterback and best receiver on the road, I would assume they are going to lose.
But man, the Cardinals are REALLY good, and Kyle Shannahan continues to prove why being a great coordinator does not automatically mean you will be a great head coach.
Titans defeat Rams 28-16
For whatever reason nobody chose to believe the Titans were actually a good team this year.
It always seemed weird to me. Even more so now.
Steelers defeat Bears 29-27
Here’s what I’ll say about this game.
The Bears have their future quarterback. Justin Fields needs a better offensive line and probably a better coach, but he’s the guy.
And I’ll just remind everyone that NFL teams somehow thought Zach Wilson was better so. Whatever.
As for the Steelers, I don’t believe they are automatically being favored, or that the league specifically wants them to win. That’s a dumb conspiracy considering a league like the NFL doesn’t need to worry about big or small markets in the playoffs. People will watch.
What I will say though, is that they are getting lucky when it comes to officiating.
The Steelers greatly benefit from gained EPA from penalties per game, and while some of that may just be the fact that they are well coached and disciplined, it’s much more likely that they’re just flat out lucky.
