Panthers 37 Packers 29
Roles have been reversed, and now Carolina is the favorite to rep the NFC in the Super Bowl, not the Packers with their hobbled receiving corps.
Carolina got a three TD passing game from Cam Newton to go with his rushing TD as they improved to 8-0. Green Bay has lost two in a row, and they sit at 6-2.
Newton played one of his best games of the year as his team used an aggressive passing attack to get to a big lead early, leading 37-14 at one point. Cam did have a late INT that helped Green Bay have a chance at the end.
Rodgers, who was rocked all game long with 14 hits by the Panthers defense, failed to find a wide open Randall Cobb on fourth down near the end of the game. A TD and two point conversion would have tied it up, but it was not to be.
Carolina is unlikely to finish 16-0 of course. This is the NFL after all and even an easy schedule the next eight weeks won’t allow for a perfect regular season.
Eye-Poppin Stat: Five sacks on Rodgers.
Fantasy Carnage: Either QB in this one.
Chargers 19 Bears 22
Chicago survived a multitude of mistakes and a missing Matt Forte to come back and rip a win away from San Diego on Monday Night Football. Jay Cutler made up for two turnovers earlier in the game with his late game pass to Zach Miller to take the lead with just over three minutes left in the game.
Cutler became the Bears’ all time touchdown leader as a passer as his team moved to 3-5 on the year. The Bears scored 15 points in the fourth and showed once again they are not a doormat, with many of their losses being tight games.
The Chargers were simply unable to hold the lead on another night of their home game looking like a road trip as their fans fade away knowing the team will be on the move to L.A. soon. Rivers was without Keenan Allen of course and had to spread the ball around to make up for his big play wideout being out of the mix. Danny Woodhead carried the load as a runner and receiver in this one.
Eye-Popping Stat: Alshon Jeffery’s ten catches for 151.
Fantasy Carnage: Stack of Cutler and Jeffery in DFS.
Broncos 24 Colts 27
Denver fell from perfection with an unexpected loss to Indianapolis, but this is the NFL. Teams don’t go undefeated, and any club has a chance to upset another on a given Sunday.
Andrew Luck had good numbers in a game that wasn’t a comeback effort on his part unlike most of the year for him. He had 252 yards and two touchdowns. His receivers were able to outplay Denver’s vaunted secondary and the Colts defense picked off Manning as he tried to mount a comeback with a late drive.
Aqib Talib will miss Denver’s next game for his eye poke on Dwayne Allen during the game.
Eye-Popping Stat: Just 35 rushing yards for Denver.
Fantasy Carnage: Luck was good for standard play and for a tight end pick Owen Daniels finally had a decent fantasy outing.
Steelers 38 Raiders 35
The Raiders don’t play boring games. It seems every week they are putting up major points whether they win or not. They were edged by Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown, who dominated the Raiders secondary with 17 catches and 284 yards receiving. Brown failed to get a TD however.
The Raiders secondary is shaky at best despite Charles Woodson having a Pro Bowl type year. Even Woodson gave up big plays in this contest.
The Steelers finished the game without Ben Roethlisberger, who will miss more time with a foot injury that happened in the fourth quarter. DeAngelo Williams carried the weight of the team with 170 yards rushing in place of Le’Veon Bell, who is out for the remainder of the 2015 season.
The Raiders’ Latavius Murray sustained a concussion and is day to day with that protocol.
Eye-Popping Stat: Five fumbles by the Raiders, losing three.
Fantasy Carnage: Williams was the top back in standard play.
Bills 33 Miami 17
The Dolphins have sunk back down to pre interim coach hype levels with another bad loss in the division. The Bills crushed Miami, making the Phins 0 – 4 in the AFC East. They have been outscored 137-52 in those division losses. Dan Campbell best be ready to coach some more tight ends in 2016.
Sammy Watkins destroyed Miami’s secondary with 168 yards and two scores. He was helped by Tyrod Taylor’s return from injury.
The Bills running game blew up as well. Both Karlos Williams and Shady McCoy went over the century mark.
Eye-Popping Stat: Tyrod needed just 12 passing attempts to do damage along with the rushing game. He was 11 / 12.
Fantasy Carnage: Either Bills running back racked points.
Vikings 21 Rams 18
Adrian Peterson got the best of the superback matchup as he out-gained Todd Gurley by about 35 yards, but both runners did find the end zone.
This game was a defensive struggle that went to overtime to decide the winner. The Rams got a field goal with 12 seconds left in regulation to tie it up, and then Minnesota’s Blair Walsh knocked in a 40 yard FG in overtime to end the game.
Teddy Bridgewater was slap knocked out in this game and didn’t return afterward. Vikings’ head coach Mike Zimmer went Steve Smith and called out the Rams’ coaching staff for what he called a dirty play. Looked fine to me as it was a glancing blow that happened to catch Bridgewater as he was sliding.
The Vikings are tied with Green Bay for the lead in their division.
Eye-Popping Stat: Nick Foles mediocre 18/31 performance that averaged just 5.1 yards per throw.
Fantasy Carnage: Not much to choose from here, but Greg Zuerlein was good if you needed a kicker.
49ers 17 Falcons 16
Giants 32 Bucs 18
NY got Jason Pierre-Paul back from his hand injury to help shore up their weak defense. JPP appears to be mostly healthy as he played about 75% of the snaps.
The Bucs couldn’t stay in the game as they shot themselves in the foot repeatedly with three turnovers. Winston had another decent game and has avoided interceptions dating back to week four. This game was closer than the final score with the Giants getting a late TD.
Eli had back to back picks as he continues to be up and down. His favorite receiver ODB was targeted 17 times and hauled in nine balls but no TD catches.
Is Victor Cruz ever coming back?
NY is atop the dismal NFC East.
Eye-Popping Stat: 19 targets for Mike Evans and only eight catches.
Fantasy Carnage: Slim pickins….NY’s kicker or Winston.
Patriots 27 Redskins 10
This was another dominant game by New England, who led by 24 until a garbage time TD by Washington. Dion Lewis left the game with a knee injury and will miss the rest of the season. LeGarrette Blount carried the load with 129 yards rushing, and Brandon Bolden was added to the mix as well.
Tom Brady will be the MVP unless everything comes off the tracks in the second half of 2015. The Pats are now 8-0 and the class of the NFL.
Eye-Popping Stat: Brady had more passing attempts (39) than the Skins had rushing yards!
Fantasy Carnage: Blount was a decent play considering he is not a factor in the passing game.
Jets 28 Jaguars 23
This was a sloppy game by NY that would have ended in a loss to most teams. Lucky for Jets fans they were playing Jacksonville. The Jets defense has been a letdown the past few weeks, and Chris Ivory didn’t produce much this week except on the fantasy boards with two short rushing TDs.
Ivory is averaging 1.5 yards per carry the past three games.
As for Jacksonville, they lose another one despite racking up over 480 yards of total offense. Both the Allens averaged over 20 yards per catch for the Jags! However, Bortles threw two picks, and the team had two fumbles that certainly hurt them in the end.
Ryan Fitzpatrick managed a good game despite playing with a bad thumb.
Eye-Popping Stat: Hurns and Robinson racking 240 yards receiving in the loss.
Fantasy Carnage: Either Allen for the Jags at wideout.
Titans 34 Saints 28
Marcus Mariota can play the pro game, and New Orleans is no better than we thought weeks ago.
The Titans got an interim head coaching bump in this game and got the win in overtime. Mariota did get lucky with a couple tipped balls to tight end Delanie Walker, but lucky > good sometimes.
The keys to this win for Tennessee were shutting down Drew Brees in the second half and also protecting their own QB. Mariota was getting killed under the coaching of Ken Whisenhunt, and if interim coach Mike Mularkey can keep their QB1 safer, the Titans just might rack up a few more wins during part two of the NFL regular season.
This game ended on a walk off touchdown in overtime as the Titans never gave the Saints offense a chance in the extra period.
Eye Popping Stat: Zero sacks on Marcus Mariota.
Fantasy Carnage: Mariota was a huge bargain on DraftKings along with Delanie Walker.
Cowboys 27 Eagles 33
Another overtime game in week nine. Another loss for the Romoless Cowboys.
Could Tony Romo win the MVP award for players that didn’t play most of the year?
Matt Cassel was fine in this game, but it just wasn’t enough to get the win. Dez Bryant was back to his dominant ways in his second game back from the injured list. He had a nice TD grab over a couple of defenders and averaged 20 yards on five catches.
The Eagles got a big game from DeMarco Murray, who tallied over 150 yards total. Sam Bradford had a respectable game as well, but this Eagles team doesn’t win without big games from their backfield.
Dallas hopes to get Tony Romo back in a couple of weeks as they sit on their 2-6 record right now. It would take a miracle run to make the playoffs at that point, but they are in a weak division so who knows.
Eye-Popping Stat: Three TD passes and only one INT for Matt Cassel.
Fantasy Carnage: DeMarco Murray was good for DFS or standard leagues.