NY Times wrap-up on Week 9 (except for Monday's Cowboys/Giants game). I had to laugh at the writer's one-sentence summary on the Dolphins' win!
What We Learned in NFL Week 9
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens shocked the Patriots, the Chiefs beat Minnesota, and Denver’s Brandon Allen (who?) beat Cleveland. In a wild week, even the Dolphins won.
NY Times by Benjamin Hoffman Nov. 4, 2019
(edited by Lethe200)
Here’s what we learned:
Being a kicker in 2019 is the pits. A week after hitting a game-winning 51-yard field goal, Adam Vinatieri of the Colts missed an extra-point and shanked a potential go-ahead kick from 43 yards with less than two minutes remaining in his team’s loss. Seattle’s Jason Myers missed two field goals, including a potential game-winner at the end of regulation (only to be bailed out by his offense in overtime). Tennessee’s Ryan Succop went 0 for 3 on field goal attempts, including one from 44 yards that effectively sealed the loss to Carolina. After going 44 for 58 on Sunday, the league’s kickers are connecting on just 79.8 percent of field goal attempts for the year. If that number holds, it would be the first season since 2003 that the league dropped below 80 percent. Accuracy peaked in 2013 at 86.5 percent.
One* Sentence About Sunday’s Games (*except when it takes more):
Ravens 37, Patriots 20: A 17-0 lead shrunk to 17-13, and while the story of this game was certainly Baltimore’s offense, Marlon Humphrey’s 70-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the third quarter, which pushed the lead up to 24-13, gave the Ravens the boost they needed to hang on for a victory.
What we learned: NE’s highly-touted defense had absolutely no answer for the Ravens. The Patriots had been bandied about as an all-time defense despite not having beaten a team of consequence during an 8-0 start to the season. When asked to slow down Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram II and the Ravens, NE wilted, losing by 37-20 in prime time.
Texans 26, Jaguars 3: Gardner Minshew picked a terrible time to have his worst game of the season, as his four turnovers in a loss will make it a lot easier to hand the ball back to Nick Foles after Jacksonville’s bye week.
Chiefs 26, Vikings 23: KC was expected to increase its focus on the run while the team waited for Patrick Mahomes to return, but the Chiefs had just 56 rushing yards on Sunday outside of Damien Williams’s outrageous 91-yard touchdown.
What we learned:. The Chiefs have held strong since QB Mahomes went down with a knee injury in Week 7. Back-up Matt Moore was great in relief in that win over Denver, played well in a loss to Green Bay last week, and he beat Minnesota this week. It was Moore’s first win since Dec. 24, 2016, and just his third since the 2011 season. Taking advantage of Reid’s system and KC’s tremendous skill players, Moore has been incredible: 659 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. The Chiefs are in first place in the AFC West.
Chargers 26, Packers 11: Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers have combined for 741 passing touchdowns in their long careers, but they had just one between them in this game, which was decided by kickers* and the Chargers’ running game.
* Chargers kicker Michael Badgley personally contributed 14 pts.
Seahawks 40, Buccaneers 34: It felt like Seattle got away with a win when it should have lost. But Russell Wilson had 378 passing yards and five touchdowns, and Chris Carson had 106 rushing yards against the NFL’s best run defense, so maybe the Seahawks can just be happy about an emotional win at home.
What we learned: Turnovers haunt Jameis Winston. The Buccaneers quarterback got away with an awful pass in the first half, as Breshad Perriman raced forward to snag a batted ball out of the air for a shocking touchdown. That, along with several other huge plays on both sides of the ball, had Winston and Tampa Bay leading by 21-7 late in the second quarter. But Seattle, thanks to a nearly flawless day from Russell Wilson, chipped away at that lead, and in the fourth quarter, Winston paid for his good fortune in the first half by having the ball jarred free from his hand on a sack, resulting in a vital turnover. Seattle went ahead six plays later, and won in overtime.
Panthers 30, Titans 20: Kyle Allen may have been knocked down several pegs in last week’s loss to SF, but with this win he improved to 5-1 as a starter this season and may hold onto the job depending on how Cam Newton’s upcoming medical evaluations shake out.
Raiders 31, Lions 24: The Raiders appeared to do Detroit a huge favor in the game’s closing moments, as they had to call a timeout with 8 seconds left to get their defense set, which, in turn, gave the Lions, who had no timeouts remaining, a better chance to set up a play. But Oakland’s defense proceeded to shut down Matthew Stafford’s options, making him force a pass attempt to Logan Thomas that fell incomplete, effectively ending the game.
Eagles 22, Bears 14: Finishing a game with just 164 yards of offense is fairly awful, but it took a fairly solid second half for Chicago to get there, as the Bears had just 9 in the first half.
Bills 24, Redskins 9: In a rare meeting of two of the NFL’s top-ten career rushing leaders, Adrian Peterson (No. 6 on the career list) had a much better day than Frank Gore (No. 4). Devin Singletary, who trails each of those players by more than 13,500 career rushing yards, led Buffalo to an easy win.
Broncos 24, Browns 19: Denver’s Brandon Allen had not played in a competitive game since the Liberty Bowl in 2016, but he became the latest quarterback to find a way to beat Cleveland. In what may have been an NFL first, three quarterbacks with the same last name (Brandon, Kyle and Josh Allen) all won games on the same day.
Steelers 26, Colts 24: Brian Hoyer threw three touchdown passes in relief of the injured Jacoby Brissett, but his pick-six in the second quarter played a large role in a close loss by Indianapolis.
Dolphins 26, Jets 18: Ryan Fitzpatrick had a nice day, but you have to consider the context.
What we learned: The Tank Bowl has lost its luster. It was hard not to look ahead to the Dolphins’ matchup with the Bengals in Week 16, when it seemed that both hapless teams would enter that game with 0-14 records. The Jets, eager to prove that there are more than two terrible teams in the NFL, ruined everything by losing in Miami. Not only did the Dolphins’ win put Cincinnati — which is on a bye week — in strong position to secure the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft, but it knocked Miami out of last place in the A.F.C. East by way of a tiebreaker with the Jets. Some teams can’t even tank right.