It was a wild crazy NFL Week 9! Some teams established their dominance while other teams showed that they’re not ready for prime time. See below for thoughts on every single one of this past week’s NFL games on our week 9 recap.
Editor’s Note: Check out our NFL Week 10 Picks by Matt Ross and the Week 10 Betting Preview DS Williamson
NFL Betting – Regular Season Week 9 Recap
Atlanta Falcons 43, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28
Matt Ryan is playing as well as anybody in the NFL not named Tom Brady. It’s going to be hard to top Mr. Brady if he ends up not throwing a single interception this season. Ryan completed 25 of 34 for 344 yards. He threw 4 TDs.
Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston threw for 261 yards and 3 TDs. But, that’s the issue, isn’t it? If you have no defense, like Tampa Bay, you must outscore your opponents. It’s tough for any team to outscore Atlanta.
Dallas Cowboys 35, Cleveland Browns 10
The Browns are in a rebuilding year. Everybody knows that. I believe the total number of games for the Browns winning this season was 3. That’s looking like a solid under bet right about now. Sure, Dallas got to beat up on Cleveland. But the Cowboys won their seventh straight game in Week 9.
QB Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott are having a wonderful time playing behind the best offensive line in the NFL. Dallas is for real even if they showed it against the worst team in the NFL this past Sunday.
Pittsburgh Steelers 14, Baltimore Ravens 21
Wow. I didn’t see this coming. Big Ben suited up for the Steelers. But it didn’t matter. The key takeaway from this game was how the Ravens switched things up after Pittsburgh decided to shut down Baltimore’s rushing attack.
Joe Flacco ended up targeting Mike Wallace 9 times. Wallace caught 4 passes for 146 yards. He scored a TD. Flacco’s numbers weren’t great. They got the job done. Now, the Ravens get somewhat of a breather in Week 10. They face Cleveland on Thursday night.
New York Jets 23, Miami Dolphins 27
We should have seen this one coming, right? I think I chose Miami in my Week 9 preview. If I didn’t, my apologies. The Jets are just a bad team. There’s not a whole lot to write about J-E-T-S anymore. The season is over. The problem that NYJ has is stopping the passing attack.
Miami coach Adam Gase knew this. What’s truly sad for NYJ fans is that the Jets were supposed to be strong against the rush. That didn’t happen. Jay Ajayi carried the ball 24 times for 111 yards. He scored a TD. Ajayi also caught 3 passes for 19 yards. Miami has won 3 straight.
Jacksonville 14, Kansas City Chiefs 19
It wasn’t pretty but Kansas City beat Jacksonville for their fifth straight win. The Chiefs are loaded this season. The defense has started to assert itself as one of the top units in the NFL. Jacksonville has some weapons on offense. KC beating the Jags the way that they did is a sign that the Chiefs are serious. I think KC should be the favorite to win the AFC West after this win.
Philadelphia Eagles 23, New York Giants 28
What I can write about the Giants is that they desperately held on for the win in this game. What I can write about Philly is that all 4 of their losses have been on the road this season. Once again, the Eagles could win a game, they lost in overtime to Dallas in Week 8, but they couldn’t get it done.
Hey, Carson Wentz is a rookie. He plays like one at times. I’m still not a believer in the New York Giants. I also think that Philadelphia gets back on the winning track in Week 10 in a pick game against Atlanta.
Detroit Lions 22, Minnesota Vikings 16
The Vikings have lost 3 games in a row. Minnesota’s defense is still playing well. The offense is in shambles. There’s nothing there. Sam Bradford is a decent QB but the offensive line is so bad that by the time Bradford gets through his second read, he must get rid of the ball.
There aren’t any running backs to take pressure off Bradford. Detroit played okay. I believe that the Lions’ win had a lot more to do with what’s going on with Minnesota than Detroit stepping it up.
New Orleans Saints 41, San Francisco 49’ers 23
Don’t look now but Drew Brees and Sean Payton are only a game behind the Atlanta Falcons for first place in the NFC South. Without a doubt, New Orleans is looking more and more like one of the better teams in the NFC.
The Saints have won 4 out of their last 5 games. They’ve been a blessing against the spread this season. Even though New Orleans is 4-4 straight up, the Saints are 6-2 ATS.
Carolina Panthers 13, Los Angeles Rams 10
The big takeaway from this game is how Carolina couldn’t shut the door on the Los Angeles Rams. The Panthers’ defense played much better against L.A. than it has in recent games. Still, Los Angeles had a chance to get to within 3 points in the fourth quarter. L.A. has a terrible offense. We all know this.
Why Cam and Carolina’s offense couldn’t take advantage of a Rams’ defense that isn’t all that great is beyond me. I think it’s too late for the Panthers to make a run to the playoffs.
Tennessee Titans 35, San Diego Chargers 43
Marcus Mariota accounted for 3 turnovers in this game: 2 interceptions and a fumble. From what I saw, Tennessee kept fighting. The Titans are only 2 games behind Houston. Houston should flub enough times from now until the end of the regular season for Tennessee to possibly win the AFC South. San Diego looked great. Along with Kansas City, I think that San Diego is one of the better teams in the AFC West. Yes, better than Oakland.
Indianapolis Colts 31, Green Bay Packers 26
Man, Green Bay has turned into a terrible football team. The Packers are at 4-4. That’s correct. The Green Bay Packers have the same record as the New Orleans Saints who opened the season losing their first 3 games. Does anybody want to win the NFC North? Green Bay didn’t play like it does. Facing one of the worst defenses in the NFL, the Packers spotted the Colts a 24 to 13 lead.
QB Aaron Rodgers was off all day. Green Bay’s D picked off Andrew Luck twice and the Packers still couldn’t beat the Colts as a -7 favorite at Lambeau. That’s just crazy. I don’t think Green Bay has enough heart to win the NFC North. They could win the division by default although the Lions play with much more heart and are a half a game ahead of Green Bay in the standings.
Denver Broncos 20, Oakland Raiders 30
Oakland won this game via its rushing attack. The problem that Denver’s defense has starts with the front 7. The back 4 are excellent. No quarterback in the NFL is going to have great success against Denver’s secondary. Why worry? Any team in the NFL, including the Oakland Raiders, can rush against the Broncos’ front 7.
The Raiders rushed for 218 yards. RB Latavius Murray scored 3 TDs. He rushed for 114 yards from only 20 carries. That’s nuts! Things don’t get any easier for the Broncos’ defense this Sunday. The Saints average close to 110 rushing yards per game. New Orleans rushed for 248 yards against San Francisco. If you have a fantasy football team, you had better play Mark Ingram in Week 10. He could pull a Murray on the Broncos’ front 7.
Buffalo Bills 25, Seattle Seahawks 31
The Bills should have had a chip shot field goal at the end of the first half. If the refs had made the right call, Seattle corner Richard Sherman took out Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter, the Bills would have cut Seattle’s lead to 8 points. Who knows what would have happened in the second half?
The refs screwed that one up. In any case, Seattle gets the win. Don’t start anointing the Seahawks as the team to beat in the NFC. Seattle’s offensive line is still a mess. The Seahawks’ defense doesn’t appear nearly as tough as it has in the past. Seattle’s a long way from winning the NFC.