NFL: Five Week 9 Thoughts

 What a week of football once again! Whenever it's the Steelers bye week I always have such a relaxing time enjoying the games. With basketball in full swing too, I've barely had time to watch anything other than sports! I can't complain. Lets get into week 9:

Josh Allen Owns The Dolphins

You knew it was going to happen too. I feel bad for Dolphins fans really, they went from Tom Brady to Josh Allen owning their division without a chance to even catch their breath first. The Dolphins played well in this one, Tua got going early and they jumped out to a lead going into the half. The second half was a back and fourth affair, both teams traded chances marching down the field and scoring. Then came the final few minutes, my favorite part of football is: "oh did they score too early?" The answer is yes. Down 27-20 with time dwindling, the Dolphins executed a masterful drive to score a touchdown with a minute and 38 seconds left on the clock. Josh Allen is one of if not the best QB in the world, a minute 38 is all he needed. The Bills ensuing drive got off to a terrible start, then they got bailed out by a huge penalty on the defense. They still couldn't manage to get the ball inside the 40 yard line, but opted to try a 64 yard field goal attempt. Tyler Bass, who had missed an extra point earlier in the game, nailed the kick, the Bills win and the Dolphins season is now all but over. 

For some reason I love to hate the Dolphins, I felt like last year they were blessed with an easy schedule and their games against good teams seemed to always be losses. This one though has to hurt, they played well enough to win. Josh Allen has now moved to 12-2 against the Dolphins in his career, absolutely owning that team. Side note: in my research I found the most wins by a QB against any team is Tom Brady who was 33-3 all time against the Bills. 33-3. That is diabolical. I am happy that Bills fans get to enjoy something at least close to that kind of dominance after being kicked in the teeth for decades. 

CJ Stroud Has Joined Us On Earth

I think I was a bit too high on CJ coming into the season. Long time enjoyers of this blog will remember I had him as a top 5 QB for 2024. That clearly hasn't been the case now through 9 games for the Texans. To be fair to the young QB, both Nico Collins and Stephon Diggs are out of the lineup with injuries, 2 very important weapons to that team. Still, going 11/30 in a loss to the New York Football Jets is embarrassing for the Stroud truthers. A part of me just wanted to see the Texans be the team that could go toe to toe with the Chiefs so that I didn't have to rely on the Ravens to save us from impending doom, but they have shown their youth this season for sure. Jets looked better though! Davante Adams seems to have opened up the field for Garrett Wilson and Aaron Rodgers is doing a great job spreading the ball around. They have a big hole to climb out of sitting at 3-6 right now, but crazier things have been done. The Texans will have a tough task at hand trying to bounce back against the surging Lions, who I think have looked like the best team in football. I still believe in you CJ, a big second half is incoming. 

Come on Saints

What losing to the Panthers does to a mf. The Saints lost to the Panthers on a Bryce Young game winning drive, something that should never be said in 2024. Pretty crazy to remember that the Saints started 2-0 with Derrick Carr looking like an MVP candidate. They have obviously now regressed dramatically losing 7 straight including this one to their division rival. On the bright side, Bryce Young showed some actual signs of being a serviceable QB? He wasn't perfect, but lead a comeback drive close to the 2 minute mark and did just enough to squeeze out a win. The tank battle for the number 1 overall pick has now got more interesting with the Saints and Panthers duking it out at the bottom. 

The Saints fired their coach Dennis Allen after the game, a true mark of what losing to the Panthers does to a mf. Any time a coach gets fired mid season I thank my lucky stars that 7 year old me decided to be a Steelers fan. Organizational stability is hard to come by in the NFL, the Saints have been in flux for years now and will try again with someone new. 

KC Can't Keep Getting Away with This

Are the Chiefs the least impressive 8-0 team of all time? I always think back to that famous and hilarious Reddit post that said if you regress all of Mahomes' stats to average, he becomes an average QB. This season he has been straight up average, and it hasn't mattered. This wasn't the story for this game though, Mahomes' new weapon DeAndre Hopkins looks right at home in KC and is a perfect target for Pat. Mahomes had a crazy play where he dropped a deep ball into double coverage right on the hands of Hopkins, a little more or less on that ball and it's probably picked off. He added 3 TDs and 291 yards in the victory and looked every bit like Patrick Mahomes as we'd all expect. Baker and the Bucs fought admirably missing practically all of their weapons on offense, but these OT games typically come down to the coin toss, especially with talent like Pat Mahomes on the other side. 

The league should be terrified. Mahomes has had a slow start to the year by his standards and the Chiefs are still 8-0. This is a team that simply knows how to win games. When the lights get bright in the playoffs, there's still no other QB in the league I want in any matchup, and he now has a legit #1 receiver in Hopkins.  It really does look like we're staring down the face of a dynasty, we can only hope a hero emerges to save us from such a fate. 

Go Lions

The Lions are slowly becoming my favorite NFC team. Every time they win I go and check their stats and they have been outgained by almost 200 yards, but Goff has like 1 incompletion and the Lions win by 30. Against the Packers it was a little less dramatic on the score front, but pretty much exactly that script. Overall this season, the Lions are 22nd in yards allowed on defense, and 5th in points allowed. Bend don't break is being executed perfectly in Detroit. Jarred Goff is mastering the short pass with Amon-Ra St. Brown emerging as probably the best slot receiver in football. The two headed monster at running back with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery has been electric all year and the Lions just keep finding ways to win. Sitting at 7-1, they may not be your most conventional contender, but they have been loads of fun to watch and a dream come true for fans of statistical anomalies like me. I know Christian McCaffrey is set to come back next week for the 49ers and teams like the Eagles are finding their stride, but I am officially throwing my weight behind Detroit to come out of the NFC. The Lions Steelers 10-6 Superbowl is going to hit like crack. 

Great week! Next week my Steelers go to Washington to take on my new fav QB in Jayden Daniels. I always lock in and watch the entire Steelers game, so I am thrilled to be able to take in his dominance. Raptors are ruining my sleep schedule this week playing in the West Coast, but they are so fun so expect some more Raps content coming up! Go Steelers.