Another week of NFL motion is near to within the books. Week 9 has supplied quite a lot of drama, from the Chiefs edging the Dolphins in Germany and the Ravens smoking the Seahawks to the Giants and Vikings dropping quarterbacks to harm all over again.
Which gamers, coaches and groups had been the real winners and losers of the newest spherical of showdowns? Here’s a glance.
Winner: Ravens
It’s almost definitely time to begin speaking about this crew like one in every of, if no longer the, best possible within the NFL. After Sunday’s 37-3 drubbing of the Seahawks, Baltimore simply leads the league in level differential (+115) regardless of up to now shedding a couple of winnable video games in opposition to the Colts and Steelers. Lamar Jackson is finishing passes at the next price than near to any QB. And the protection, all the time feisty, is on some other degree completely, keeping 4 other groups to below double-digit issues.
Loser: Seahawks
It’s no longer simply that they had been embarrassed by way of the Ravens. It’s that they’d an actual probability to make noise within the NFC West with the Cardinals, Rams and 49ers all slipping lately. More regarding, they seem to have a valid factor below heart: 2022 breakout Geno Smith has now thrown no less than one interception in 4 immediately video games, and he is as much as 13 in his ultimate 15.
Can we factor the Offensive Rookie of the Year award but? The Texans’ first-rounder has been unusually poised all yr, however he rebounded from a slower couple of weeks on Sunday by way of completely torching the Buccaneers’ secondary to the track of a report 470 passing yards and 5 touchdowns. And a few of his best possible stuff got here when it mattered maximum, past due in a shootout. Playing on a “rebuilding” Houston squad, Stroud is remarkably as much as 14 TDs and only one pick out thru 8 video games. That’s a QB proper there.
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Loser: Bill Belichick
Have the Patriots hit all-time low but? Each week looks like a brand new argument for that. This time, the most often disciplined New England squad used to be anything else however, permitting psychological miscues and premature consequences to exacerbate some other middling day for Mac Jones and the passing assault. The Commanders don’t seem to be to be taken that significantly, and but Sam Howell and Co. were given the activity achieved in crunch time, underscoring simply how unthreatening the Pats have develop into in Belichick’s twenty fourth season at the sidelines.
Five days after arriving by means of business from the Cardinals, who significantly began him in Week 1 simply two weeks after obtaining him from the Browns, Dobbs used to be unbelievably resilient because the Vikings’ QB off the bench. Called upon after simply six throws from rookie Jaren Hall, whose concussion robbed him of a complete recreation to fill in for Kirk Cousins, Dobbs scored thrice and led Minnesota in speeding as a play-extender and play-maker. He’s the largest explanation why this scrappy membership is 5-4 going into the iciness.
This child’s had a good looking season for an explosive crew. That cannot be denied. But it is time we commence being attentive to those matchups with authentic contenders. It’s no longer not anything that Miami has but to overcome a crew with a profitable report this yr, and in each and every of the Dolphins’ 3 losses — in opposition to the Bills, Eagles and now Chiefs — he is given the ball away. His ultimate two performs in opposition to Kansas City, with the entirety at the line, had been expensive hiccups that might harm Miami’s playoff seeding down the road.
Winner: Eagles
All they do is win. Not each and every recreation has been easy crusing for the reigning NFC champions, and for somewhat there on Sunday in opposition to Dallas, it appeared as though Jalen Hurts’ hobbled knee would possibly in fact require him to come back out of the sport. Instead, he delivered, and so did Philly’s protection down the stretch, spoiling an in a different way cast day for Dak Prescott and preserving the Birds simply atop the NFC East standings at 8-1. The Eagles at the moment are 23-3 of their ultimate 26 video games, together with playoffs.