The ninth Sunday of the 2014 NFL season gave us a whole heck of a lot to think about. From the San Francisco 49ers literally dropping the ball against a last-place St. Louis Rams team to Ben Roethlisberger tossing the same ball for six scores in Pittsburgh’s blowout win over Baltimore, we learned some important things about some of the most interesting teams in the league.
This doesn’t even take into account another amazing performance by Tom Brady in what was a 16th matchup with future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.
Heck, even the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns made statements on the first full day of November action around the NFL.
Here are 10 takeaways from Sunday’s Week 9 NFL action.
1. ‘Tom Terrific” and the Patriots are Playing Terrific Football
Horrible headline aside, the New England Patriots are playing some darn good football right now. Tom Brady completed 33-of-53 passes for 333 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in an impressive 43-21 home win over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. He connected on 16 completions with players outside of wide receivers. That just goes to show you how he can make the most of a bad situation.
On an afternoon when the running game was struggling (25 attempts for 66 yards), Brady found a way to beat a pretty good Broncos defense in less-than-stellar conditions. Including Sunday’s win, he has now tallied 18 touchdowns compared to two interceptions during the Patriots current five-game winning streak. More importantly, New England is now one half game ahead of the Broncos with a head-to-head win in the AFC. It goes without saying that Bill Belichick’s team immediately becomes conference favorites should they earn home-field throughout the playoffs.
2. 49ers May be on the Verge of a Meltdown
Following an absolutely dreadful performance against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, the 49ers are now 4-4 on the season and three games behind the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West. Horrendous officiating aside, Jim Harbaugh’s squad had no business winning a game that it eventually lost 13-10 following a controversial call on a Colin Kaepernick quarterback sneak with two seconds remaining.
In what has been a theme for the 49ers this season, they continually shot themselves in the foot with dumb mistake after dumb mistake. The 49ers committed nine more penalties, which is yet another indication that one of the more disciplined teams over the past few seasons has become incredibly undisciplined under Harbaugh and Co. As it relates to on-field performance, Colin Kaepernick was sacked eight times by a team that came into the game with six sacks in seven games. And at the end of the day, the 49ers are now much closer to last place than first heading into Week 10.
If Harbaugh cannot get this ship righted soon, the 49ers could very well find themselves completely out of the NFC playoff race within the next couple weeks. With road games coming up against the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants, there is a decent chance this team could be under .500 heading into late November. If this scenario plays out, there will be even more talk of Harbaugh’s future with the 49ers being short lived.
3. New Teams Join the AFC Playoff Conversation
The Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills are all 5-3 in the season and firmly in the playoff conversation heading into Week 10. As to where Buffalo was on a bye this week, both Miami and Cleveland made statements on Sunday.
Led by yet another tremendous performance by young signal caller Ryan Tannehill, Miami completely destroyed a suddenly fledgling San Diego Chargers team by the score of 37-0. Tannehill put up 335 total yards with three scores, while finding 10 different receivers throughout the day. Equally as impressive, he was hit just one time and pretty much had a clean pocket throughout the game.
Defensively, the Dolphins got to Philip Rivers for three interceptions and held the Chargers offense to 3-of-11 on third down conversions. It’s this type of performance, especially from the likes of Brent Grimes and Cameron Wake, that leads me to believe the Dolphins defense is for real and will play a major role in the team’s success moving forward. At 5-3 on the season, Miami joins a bunch of other AFC contenders with the same record. And with games coming up against three very competitive teams (Detroit, Buffalo and Denver), the Dolphins can make a major statement before December comes calling.
While Cleveland was nowhere near as impressive as the Dolphins, it still earned a hard-fought win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. It was mainly the defense that came to play here. Outside of two Mike Evans’ touchdowns, the Browns secondary came to play. They held Mike Glennon to nearly 50 percent passing and intercepted the young quarterback twice on the day. There is some concern over the recent play of Brian Hoyer, who threw two interceptions on Sunday, under center. He needs to up his game if the Browns are going to remain in contention for a playoff spot. As it is, the 2014 version of the Browns is the quickest team in franchise history to five wins since Bill Belichick was manning the sidelines in 1994.
4. Tony Romo May be one of the League’s Most Valuable
If you took much from the Arizona Cardinals win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, you’re simply reading too much into it. Did anyone really envision a scenario where Dallas would be able to defeat the NFC West-leading Cardinals with Brandon Weeden under center?
If so, I have a bridge for sale in Africa. Simply put, Weeden isn’t anywhere near a starter-caliber quarterback, and it showed in great detail on Sunday.
Weeden completed 18-of-33 passes for less than 200 yards with two interceptions and a garbage time touchdown. One of those two interceptions ended what looked like a promising Cowboys’ drive in the red zone. Dez Bryant recorded two receptions on 10 targets, while Terrance Williams caught just two of the seven passes thrown in his direction. This all led to a scenario where the Cardinals were able to stack the box against DeMarco Murray, who finished with under 100 yards for the first time this season.
Take a look at the game tape here, and you will notice just how important Romo is to the success of the Cowboys team. Their offense took a major step back with him sidelined, much like what we saw with Aaron Rodgers out of action for an extended period of time in Green Bay last season. The good news here is that Romo anticipates that he will be able to play next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
5. Moral Victories aren’t Real
The Oakland Raiders actually made a game of it against the defending champions on the road at CenturyLink on Sunday. A game that Oakland found itself as 13.5-point underdogs finished with the still winless team down by just seven points against the Seattle Seahawks. And to be perfectly honest, the game was much closer than that.
Marshawn Lynch carried an otherwise lackluster Seahawks offense with 143 total yards and two scores. Meanwhile, Russell Wilson stuggled throughout the game. Outside of a well-designed 39-yard screen pass to Lynch, Wilson put up just 140 yards against a defense that played pretty good football throughout the game. While Derek Carr showed some signs of being a rookie, he hung in there to lead the Raiders to two third quarter touchdown-scoring drives to put them back in the game heading into the fourth.
It was a pretty solid performance from a Raiders team that seems to be much more competitive since Tony Sparano replaced Dennis Allen as head coach. With that said, the Raiders are now 0-8 on the season and face a tremendously tough schedule moving forward. As the odds-on favorites to “earn” the top overall pick, the Raiders simply need to find a way to end what is now a 14-game losing streak.
6. Cardinals on the Verge of Running Away with the NFC West
Now two games ahead of the Seattle Seahawks and an incredible three games ahead of the San Francisco 49ers, it appears that Bruce Arians and Co. may very well be on the verge of running away with what many considered to be the toughest division in football heading into the year.
While it wasn’t an incredibly impressive overall performance against the Dallas Cowboys and their backup quarterback Brandon Weeden, Arizona found a way to hold off a first-place team on the road. That in and of itself should tell us what we need to know about a team that is now 14-3 in its last 17 regular season games. And despite having three games left on the schedule against Seattle and San Francisco, the Cardinals look to be the class of the NFC West…if not the entire NFL.
7. Eagles Will Have to Win with Mark Sanchez
So this is happening.
Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback Nick Foles left Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans with what is now confirmed to be a broken collarbone. He’s set to have an MRI on Monday, but common logic suggests that Foles will be out for at least a month.
Enter into the equation Mark Sanchez, who led the Eagles to a win against Houston after replacing Foles under center. And while he did throw a couple interceptions, Sanchez looked pretty good in his first live-game action since 2012. He completed 15-of-22 passes for 202 yards with two touchdowns and those two aforementioned interceptions. Finding a way to connect with breakout star Jeremy Maclin throughout the afternoon, Sanchez was able to lead the Eagles offense up and down the field on a consistent basis against a good Texans team.
Now that Sanchez is expected to start for at least the next month, opposing defenses will be able to prepare for him instead of Foles. That makes a major difference in the grand scheme of things, especially considering Philadelphia has somewhat difficult games against the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys in the next three weeks.
8. Robert Griffin III isn’t Saving the Redskins
RGIII might not have played bad football in his first game action since Week 2, but he didn’t really do anything to stand out from the other quarterbacks who have seen the field for Washington this season. He did put up 275 yards and completed 18-of-28 passes. And while those stats are rather good, the Redskins did have a stretch of five drives that saw them put up a total of seven yards. That’s just not acceptable in the NFL today.
Speaking off something that’s not acceptable, Washington lost to a previously three-win Minnesota Vikings team that’s starting a rookie quarterback and is without its future Hall of Fame running back. This coming on the heels of Colt McCoy leading the team to two impressive wins. And now at 3-6, the Redskins can kiss any thoughts of a playoff spot goodbye.
9. San Diego Chargers Just Aren’t Right
Anytime you get shutout in the NFL, it’s not a good thing. Now factor into the equation that the shutout took place in what ended up being a third consecutive loss, and the Chargers could very well be hitting the panic button right now. Nothing (and I mean nothing) went right for Philip Rivers and Co. on Sunday. He threw three interceptions, consistently missed his targets throughout the afternoon and seemed to look more like the quarterback from 2011 than what we have seen since the start of last season.
More so than nearly every other team in the NFL, San Diego relies a great deal on Rivers. If he’s not performing at an All-Pro level, the team is in serious trouble. Unfortunately for the Chargers, they are now on the outside looking in when it comes to a playoff spot. They do have a pretty easy two-game stretch against the St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders following a Week 10 bye. That’s when the Chargers will have to get things fixed prior to an incredibly tough final five games of the season.
10. The AFC North Promises to be Exciting in the Stretch Run
With all four teams now over .500 on the season and the Baltimore Ravens (5-4) in last place, the AFC North is going to be the division to watch heading into the stretch run. The Cincinnati Bengals continue to lead the division, but it appears that both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns are making a strong push during the middle part of the season.
It might be too early to look forward to Week 17, but that could very well be the culmination of what promises to be a drama-filled remainder of the season for this division. Cleveland will travel to Baltimore while the Bengals will head to Pittsburgh for their season finale. Who honestly doesn’t expect one of those two games to be for the division? With that said, If Roethlisberger continues to put up six-plus touchdowns like he has in each of the last two weeks, the Steelers may be the team to come out of this incredibly tough division. His recent play is beyond anything we have seen from the future Hall of Famer in what has been a great career.
Photo: MiamiDolphins.com