The New Orleans Saints got a road win, and Philip Rivers dropped out of every MVP conversation in the country. Tony Romo is hurt, Nick Foles is hurt, and Robert Griffin III couldn’t even beat the Minnesota Vikings. Here’s the whole of Week 9 in the NFL:
New Orleans Saints 28 at Carolina Panthers 10: That’s right, the Saints won a road game for the first time in their last eight trips. It was an impressive win too, but then again being Cam Newton isn’t really that difficult anymore it seems. Newton had a horrible game, finishing with only 151 yards and an interception. The Saints defense looked fantastic. The real MVP of this game was Mark Ingram. With Ingram back on the field, the Saints are finally seeing some production from their run game.
San Diego Chargers 0 at Miami Dolphins 37: HAHAHA. HA. How did this even happen? Ryan Tannehill looked like the MVP candidate, not Philip Rivers. Rivers finished with 138 yards, three interceptions, and a lost fumble. The Chargers defense really didn’t do much either.
Jacksonville Jaguars 23 at Cincinnati Bengals 33: The Jaguars as a whole looked like a decent team. Blake Bortles wasn’t horrible, Allen Hurns looked terrific, and Toby Gerhart did well when he was asked to. Unfortunately for the Jags, the Bengals offense was too much to handle with A.J. Green back on the field. Jeremy Hill also filling in well for Giovani Bernard, rushing for 154 yards and two touchdowns.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17 at Cleveland Browns 22: The Browns seem to be slowing reverting to their usual bad selves. Really, Tampa Bay could have won this game. They had 30 more yards of offense than the Browns, but they also had a few costly mistakes which ended up costing them this game. Brian Hoyer’s 300 yards looks good, but his two interceptions were very costly. Mike Glennon did even worse though. In fact, he did so bad that the Bucs are benching him next week. That takes a lot.
Washington Redskins 26 at Minnesota Vikings 29: I don’t usually bet on games, but when I found out RGIII was starting I put my money on Minnesota. Griffin just isn’t good enough to be starting for this team. That being said, Griffin didn’t do terrible (although the Vikings aren’t exactly known for their defense). With 251 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, Griffin actually almost pulled off the victory. Most importantly, Griffin finished the game without having to be carted off the field.
Philadelphia Eagles 31 at Houston Texans 21: Nick Foles is injured, and the Texans are finally going to move past Ryan Fitzpatrick. It’s very sad when Mark Sanchez comes into the game and outplays you, but that’s what happened to Fitzpatrick in this one. Sanchez actually did better than Foles was doing, finishing with 202 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, he had two interceptions as well; but what did you expect?
New York Jets 10 at Kansas City Chiefs 24: Michael Vick got hurt. Big surprise there. Nothing can go right for the Jets this season. Vick was doing all right, but Matt Simms replaced him and could barely complete a pass. To be fair, Vick wouldn’t have been able to lead the team to a victory either. Kansas City is a vastly unrated team this season, and their defense has been holding up a lot better than it was earlier this season. In fact, the Jets couldn’t score a single point in the second half.
Arizona Cardinals 28 at Dallas Cowboys 17: The Cowboys have now dropped two in a row. Brandon Weeden did a horrible job, but Romo wouldn’t have done much better against the Cardinals outstanding defense. Why? DeMarco Murray was held to under 100 yards for the first time this season. With only 79 yards on 19 carries, Murray was unable to open up the passing game like he usually does. The only thing Romo would have done better would be actually connecting with Dez Bryant, something Weeden couldn’t do until the 4th quarter in garbage time.
St. Louis Rams 13 at San Francisco 49ers 10: Still not sure how, but the Rams always turn into Super Bowl Champions when it’s time to play the 49ers. The Rams defense was absolutely phenomenal in this game. The Niners really should have been able to win this game, but Colin Kaepernick fumbled inches from the goal line on the final play of the game. Anquan Boldin was really the only star for San Fran, totaling 93 yards and the one touchdown. The Rams could have scored much more, but Austin Davis didn’t really help out the defense.
Denver Broncos 21 at New England Patriots 43: If the Broncos want to make it back to the Super Bowl, they’ll need to get home field advantage. No one showed up except for Peyton Manning, but it’s hard to do much when your team drops basically everything they could. The Broncos receivers didn’t want to win, and the defense certainly didn’t want to win. At one point Manning was forging a comeback, and his pass hit Wes Welker in the chest, bounced up, and got intercepted. That sums up what Manning had to try and work with.
Oakland Raiders 24 at Seattle Seahawks 30: Well, here’s yet more proof that the Seahawks are not the Champions of last season. To beat the Raiders by six at home? Pathetic. It’s amazing to think that the Raiders actually would have won this game if D.J. Hayden hadn’t dropped an easy pick-six. As usual, Russell Wilson had to rely on his defense for everything. Wilson managed only 179 yards. That’s it. Against the Raiders.
Baltimore Ravens 23 at Pittsburgh Steelers 43: Apparently the Steelers traded for Peyton Manning recently, because Ben Roethlisberger has never shown this sort of ability before. Big Ben now has 12 touchdowns over the past two games, an NFL record. The Steelers had to win this game through the air, because LeGarrette Blount and Le’Veon Bell weren’t able to do much of anything on the ground. The Ravens did all they could, but Roethlisberger is just too much for any team to handle right now. Look out, New York.
Indianapolis Colts 40 at New York Giants 24: The Giants defense was fantastic in the first half (minus a horribly officiated series that ended in an unset defense giving Andrew Luck the easiest touchdown he’ll ever have). In the second half, however, they gave up after seeing the offense was incapable of anything. Biggest takeaway from this game is that Luck is vastly overrated this season. The only reason Luck’s numbers are so high is because the Colts are forcing him to throw on practically every down. Luck is going to shatter Matthew Stafford’s attempts record.