Rams, Eagles have offenses in high gear
Pair of NFC division leaders score 51 points in Week 9 blowouts
The 40 things we learned from Week 9 of the NFL season.
1. In a sign of things to come, the Los Angeles Rams scored Sunday’s first touchdown on an 8-yard pass from quarterback Jared Goff to tight end Tyler Higbee against the New York Giants. But that was hardly the Rams’ most entertaining play of the first half. That would be the 52-yard screen-pass TD from Goff to wide receiver Robert Woods — which came on third-and-33. According to Pro Football Reference, no team had converted a third down of more than 30 yards in the 21st century.
2. The Rams rolled 51-17 and have now scored 40 or more points three times this season. In eight games, they have posted 263 points, already surpassing their total of 224 from all of 2016.
3. The Denver Broncos made a notable move last week by switching quarterbacks from turnover-prone Trevor Siemian to Brock Osweiler. Didn’t make much of a difference Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, as Osweiler was intercepted twice.
4. The Broncos did manage a field goal on their opening drive, the first time they’d scored on their initial possession since Week 2.
5. Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz deserves to be the MVP front-runner, especially after becoming the first player since Andrew Luck in 2013 to throw three first-half touchdown passes against the vaunted Broncos defense.
6. Wentz leads the NFL with 23 touchdown passes, and he was pulled from Sunday’s game with more than eight minutes remaining.
7. Trade analysis I: RB Jay Ajayi averaged a season-best 9.6 yards per carry (eight rushes, 77 yards) and scored on a
46-yard touchdown run in his Eagles debut. Philadelphia gained 419 yards against the top-ranked Denver defense, which hadn’t allowed more than 276 in a game this season before Sunday.
8. Trade analysis II: Entering Sunday, the Miami Dolphins had averaged the fewest yards and points this season
with Ajayi’s services. They shouldn’t miss him that much.
9. Denver had allowed 21 points per game over its first seven contests. The fact the Eagles torched the Broncos for
51 should be as concerning — if not more so — than their quarterback woes.
10. As if we needed more reminders of the Tom Coughlin influence in Jacksonville, the Jaguars benched star rookie running back Leonard Fournette for a violation of team rules, including missing the team photo. That’s sending a message that even the best players will not be coddled.
11. By the way, Chris Ivory and T.J. Yeldon combined for 110 rushing yards in Fournette’s absence, helping the Jaguars to a 23-7 win against the Cincinnati Bengals.
12. Trade analysis III: New Jaguars DT Marcell Dareus didn’t fill up the stat sheet — his three tackles tied for third on the team in Sunday’s win — but he did help limit Cincinnati to just 148 yards and those seven points.
13. Trade analysis IV: The Bengals still have backup quarterback AJ McCarron. Maybe they should have played him. Andy Dalton is now 9-14-1 since the beginning of last season.
14. Both the Bengals and the Jaguars had to play more than half the game without one of their best players after Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green and Jacksonville cornerback Jalen Ramsey were ejected for fighting. Replays clearly showed Green throwing punches, so he can expect a fine this week.
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans should also expect a fine — maybe even a suspension — for his role in a sideline altercation with New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Evans leveled Lattimore with a blindside hit from behind and then appeared to throw punches. Evans was not tossed, even after a long discussion among the officials, in a situation that clearly warranted an ejection.
16. Life without Deshaun Watson, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Thursday’s practice, looks pretty grim for the Houston Texans. They lost 20-14 at home to the Indianapolis Colts with Texans quarterback Tom Savage completing just 19 of 44 passes for 219 yards.
17. Savage did connect on the first touchdown pass of his career Sunday, a
34-yarder to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. He had several chances to win the game in the final seconds, but his final two passes fell incomplete in the end zone, and he was strip-sacked on the final play. (Which makes us ask again: Why did coach Bill O’Brien want Savage, and not Watson, to be Houston’s starter on opening day?)
18. Savage now has one touchdown pass in 149 career attempts. Watson threw for 19 touchdowns in his first 204 throws.
19. Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, 44, managed eight points Sunday, giving him sole possession of second place on the league’s all-time scoring list with
2,442. He needs 103 more to displace Hall of Famer Morten Andersen for first place.
20. A snapshot of everything that’s wrong with the Atlanta Falcons offense: All-pro wide receiver Julio Jones, wide open in the end zone, dropping a deep TD pass from QB Matt Ryan on fourth down in the fourth quarter of the 20-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers. “I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity,” Jones said. “I just missed it. No excuses or anything like that. I just missed it.”
21. Are the Panthers finally figuring out how to best use rookie RB Christian McCaffrey? He had a career-high 66 rushing yards against the Falcons after totaling 117 in his first eight games.
22. Trade analysis V: How much do the Buffalo Bills need WR Kelvin Benjamin? Welp, he was inactive during Thursday night’s loss to the New York Jets, though QB Tyrod Taylor still passed for two TDs and a season-high
285 yards with the receivers who were already in Buffalo. 23. Trade analysis VI: How much did the Panthers — many seemed shocked when Benjamin was traded Tuesday — miss their former No. 1 re-
ceiver? Welp, they had a season-low 129 net passing yards Sunday.
24. Trade analysis VII: FWIW, the Benjamin deal seems like one that should work out for all parties. The 6-5,
245-pounder should provide a needed red-zone threat for the Bills, who’ve gotten only seven TDs from their wideouts. Carolina, meanwhile, now has more opportunities to integrate McCaffrey and fellow rookie Curtis Samuel while it awaits the seemingly imminent return of TE Greg Olsen to its arsenal.
25. Still, the Saints continue to look like the best team in the NFC South. With the defense dominant over the last month — the Bucs managed just 10 points and 200 yards Sunday — and New Orleans RBs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara combining for 231 total yards and two TDs, QB Drew Brees isn’t under nearly as much pressure.
26. Trade analysis VIII: And in one of those moves that worked out for everyone, while Ingram and Kamara were piling up the yards in New Orleans, former Saints RB Adrian Peterson had his second 100-yard effort in three appearances with the Arizona Cardinals. Peterson amassed 159 yards on career-high
37 carries in a 20-10 defeat of the San Francisco 49ers.
27. What a disaster of a season for the Buccaneers, who fall to 2-6 and have no bye week after having to take Week 1 off because of Hurricane Irma. And QB Jameis Winston’s shoulder continues to be an issue — he spent the second half on the sideline Sunday after taking another hit.
28. Any lingering questions about the health of Tennessee Titans QB Marcus Mariota, who suffered a hamstring injury a month ago, should be answered after watching him hurdle a Baltimore Ravens defender on a scramble Sunday.
29. The Ravens lost 23-20 in Nash- ville, but QB Joe Flacco passed for a pair of scores and a season-high 261 yards after being knocked out by that ugly hit from Miami LB Kiko Alonso in Baltimore’s previous game.
30. Count the New England Patriots among the biggest winners of Week 9. Not only did Tom Brady get to spend his Halloween bye week dressed up as avocado toast, the Pats emerged as suddenly alone in first place in the AFC East thanks to the Jets’ upset of Buffalo.
31. The Giants’ 34-point loss to the Rams was their worst since they were beaten 38-0 at Carolina in 2013.
32. Before Tony Romo called his first Dallas Cowboys game for CBS on Sunday, the team honored its former quarterback’s return to AT&T Stadium with a pregame tribute video and a banner behind the end zone that read “Welcome home 9.” Romo remarked to broadcast partner Jim Nantz: “I wasn’t prepared for that. That was pretty emotional.”
33. Romo brought interesting insight to the telecast, including discussing the unique way the sun shines through the windows during late-afternoon games at the stadium. Several times, he referred to his former teammates by their first names.
34. Preventing the bomb is usually the right way to defend against a Hail Mary. But teams playing the Kansas City Chiefs will need to rethink that strategy after Tyreek Hill’s 57-yard touchdown at the end of the first half against Dallas. Hill caught a short pass from QB Alex Smith as the final second ticked off the clock and weaved his way past Cowboys defenders for one of the most exciting plays of the year.
35. Travis Kelce, with an assistant from several Chiefs teammates, won the award for Sunday’s best touchdown celebration with a simulated potato sack race. 36. However, the Chiefs couldn’t overcome the Cowboys. Smith threw his first interception of the season, tying Hill for the team lead, in a 28-17 defeat.
37. Dallas RB Ezekiel Elliott practiced just once last week as his suspension was reinstated and then once again put on hold Friday. But who needs practice? Elliott rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown and now has six scores in the last three weeks. 38. Trade analysis IX: If the 49ers don’t allow new QB Jimmy Garoppolo onto the field, they’re in serious danger of the second 0-16 season in league history.
39. Trade analysis X: What happened to that high-powered offense the Seattle Seahawks showed last week in scoring 41 points against the Houston Texans? Seattle’s offense — with newly acquired LT Duane Brown — was shut out for more than 48 minutes against the Redskins on Sunday before Russell Wilson’s touchdown pass to TE Luke Willson.
40. Rough day for Seahawks K Blair Walsh, who missed all three field goal attempts wide left against Washington. Seattle lost 17-14.