NFL: Week Nine Review

Early Sunday Games

Atlanta def. Washington 31-17. Clinton Portis was concussed late in the first quarter and did not return. Bring on another week of speculation and second-guessing in Washington. News today that the Browns are sounding out Mike Holmgren. Maybe the Skins should be calling up Mike Shanahan to do the same. Things are not going to get any better in Washington while an in-too-deep Jim Zorn is still in charge.

Arizona def. Chicago 41-21. Kurt Warner threw 5 TDs. Jay Cutler threw three, all to his TE Greg Olsen for Olsen's first ever multiple-TD game. After a terrible effort last week, when people were suggesting that he was too old for the gig, Warner comes back in a vintage way. Chicago seem to be a team with no exact idea of what they want to be doing offensively. They were impotent for most of the game today.

Cincinnati def. Baltimore 17-7. The Bengals continue their impressive run with a victory over a team who were impressive themselves last week. The Ravens seem to be hot-and-cold. This was their week to be cold. The Bengals are the story of 2009, in my opinion. The Ravens drop to 4-4 in a competitive division. It'll be a long road back for the Ravens.

Indianapolis def. Houston 20-17. A hard-fought game, but the type that the Colts like to play. They ground out the victory on the back of yet another 300-yard game from Peyton Manning. If he isn't league MVP this year, they need to fire the people who vote on such awards. You'd have to have the Colts as AFC favourites. Who'd have thought there'd be a real possibility of a Cincinnati vs. Indianapolis AFC Title Game? Not me!! As for the Texans, well, they show that they're really not far away from being competitive enough to beat the big teams in the league.

Jacksonville def. Kansas City 24-21. The Jags nearly, oh so very nearly, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when they allowed the Chiefs to score 15 in the last quarter. Matt Cassell gets better every week, but there simply aren't enough weapons on offense to enable him to do much more. It's sad to see an obviously talented QB waste away at a 1-7 football team. The same could be said for Mike Vrabel on defense. KC is not the send-off a possible HOF'er should have been given. The Jags can't be taken seriously when they can barely beat a woeful 1-7 team.

New England def. Miami 27-17. The Wildcat wasn't so wild today. Tom Brady threw for 332 yards and a solitary TD, which was about a 100 yards and a score better than Miami. As teams learn to choke up their Wildcat looks, the Dolphins are going to need a QB who can jam the ball in on a regular basis and get results in the end zone. At the moment, Chad Henne isn't doing that for the 'Phins. Unfortunately, he's probably their best option at QB right now. The Patriots are in an interesting place at 6-2, but not with a real signature win this year. The tilt against the Colts should start to show us just how good the Pats are.

Tampa Bay def. Green Bay 38-28. Yes! You did indeed read this correctly. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in their ugly throwback uniforms, finally have a win. It seems that there will be no winless teams in the NFL this year. The Packers must've had a brain fart on D in the last quarter, because they let the Bucs score 21 points. Rookie QB Josh Freeman threw for 2005 and 3 TDs, but it was a blocked punt attempt on special teams returned 31 yards for a score by ever-reliable Ronde Barber and a 35-yard INT return for a TD by Tanard Jackson with 00:35 to go that sealed the win. Aaron Rodgers threw for 266 and 2 TDs. But those three interceptions didn't help!

Late Sunday Games

San Diego def. NY Giants 21-20. New York football is going off the rails quicker than you can say 'Eli Manning interception!'. The Jets and Giants started out well, showing some promise. The Jets quickly took a nosedive. The Giants are doing so rapidly, too. On this occasion, they did everything they needed to do to win the football game. They were dominant in every facet of the game, except the one that really matters - the scoreboard. Eli Manning was sharp. The receivers, led by Steve Smith and Kevin Boss, had good days. The defense only gave up 21 points and shut down LT (22 yards on 12 carries) and the running game.

On the flip side, Phillip Rivers threw 2 INTs and the Chargers defense gave up more than 100 yards on the ground yet again. Still, Rivers came up with a clutch TD toss late, to snatch the game from the hands of the Giants. Where to for the Giants from here? They're running into one of the toughest schedules in the league and will likely lose the lead of the NFC East and another loss puts them on the outer as far as a Wild Card berth goes.

Seattle def. Detroit 32-20. In this battle of NFC cellar dwellers, the Seahawks rode Matt Hasselbeck and their defense, who capitalised on some mistakes from Matthew Stafford, to a 12 point win. Not much of the run game to be seen in this one. Hasselbeck threw the ball 51 times, and Stafford 42. Seattle rise to 3-5 and the Lions sink back to 1-7, fighting for mediocrity with Tampa, Kansas City and others. It's probably fair to say that there wasn't a heck of a lot of interest in this contest outside of Michigan and Washington State.

New Orleans def. Carolina 30-20. Well, the Saints escape with another W. They are fast becoming the Iowa Hawkeyes of the NFL. Drew Brees wasn't spectacular, and the defense let Carolina skip out to a 14-3 lead, thanks to some monster runs from DeAngelo Williams. He was over 100 yards before the first half came to a close. The problem is that the Panthers couldn't capitalise and close out the game. Teams should know that if the door is a little ajar for the Saints, their quick-strike offense is going to slam it open pretty quick. They did enough to win, but that's all. The Panthers fall to 3-5 and will no doubt be subjected to more questions about the future of coach John Fox and QB Jake Delhomme.

Tennessee def. San Francisco 34-27. Wow, after Vince Young was inserted into the Titans line-up, they've looked like a completely different team. Of course, their efforts over the past two weeks have been helped by monster days from RB Chris Johnson. He's the best player on the roster and showed it today with a 184-yard, 2 TD display. Former #1 draft pick Alex Smith is back to his old tricks. He threw 3 INTs along with 2 TDs and didn't look like the same QB who came off the bench two weeks earlier to engineer a San Francisco comeback. So there's probably now going to be a quarterback controversy in San Francisco. It's like shuffling the deck chairs on Titanic, though. The 49ers need to reassess and think about drafting a QB better suited to their offense in the 2010 draft. Chances are, they'll have a fairly high pick to work with.