Five talking points from Week Nine

So many things are surreal within the current landscape of the NFL but yet one thing remains consistent and that is that the Philadelphia Eagles keep on winning to extend their record to 8-0.

Despite this, many of us still saw the Buffalo Bills as the league’s best all-round team and had them penned in for a Super Bowl place before a ball had been snapped back in August. Sunday’s shock defeat to the New York Jets however has placed a small air of doubt over whether the Bills will finally get over the hump or not.

Also, with Brady and Rodgers struggling for consistent form, Matt Ryan’s benching in favour of Sam Ehlinger and the rise of Geno Smith from out of nowhere, even the quarterback position looks unrecognisable from a year ago.

The unpredictability of sport is what makes it so wonderful and entertaining as well as frustrating and this season has so far been all of this and so much more already. With that, here are my five talking points from Week Nine:

1. Vikings marching on in the NFC

Kevin O’Connell was one of the more low-key off season hirings and so far he has quietly gone about his business, leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 7-1 start with the team currently on a six game winning streak.

Sunday’s 20-17 victory over the Washington Commanders was the kind of win that the better teams in the league can grind out, even when they are not playing well. Which then begs the question, just how good are the Vikings and how far can they go this year?

For years the Vikings have felt like a team unable to reach their full potential on a consistent basis, this year though they lead the NFC North by 4.5 games and are in second place in the NFC playoff race.

Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins finished 22-of-40 for 265 yards with two touchdowns and an interception upon his return to Washington and appears to be enjoying life under his new head coach.

However, while the Vikings offence struggled to show signs of life during the game’s middle two quarters, Minnesota’s defence kept the game in reach. They were able to pressure Heinicke on 29% of his dropbacks, sacking him three times and picking him off once.

This is a team playing complimentary football when it matters the most and credit has to be given to O’Connell and his coaching staff. On Monday the head coach said “we don’t always win with style, but when you’re able to win football games and consistently win close games by winning in the fourth quarter, that matters.”

This was a statement win. Not in the sense that it alerts the other teams in the league to your presence, more that this team is not going to fade away like it has in years past.

You like that!!!

2. The 100,000 marker

A 15-yard pass to running back Leonard Fournette in the second quarter was yet another history-maker for the legend that is Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.

During last season (his 22nd) Brady became the first QB to throw 600 touchdown passes and on Sunday he became the first NFL quarterback to eclipse 100,000 career passing yards in the regular season and postseason combined. For those curious to know, that equates to 56.8 miles!

It took the 45-year-old 23 seasons and 10 Super Bowl appearances to reach this milestone, making it seem nearly impossible for another football player to get anywhere near. The next closest quarterback with the most career passing yards is former Saints quarterback Drew Brees who completed 85,724 yards.

During Sunday’s international fixture against the Seattle Seahawks, the league’s first in Germany, Brady could add two more records to his already enormous list. He will become the first QB to start (and possibly win) a game in four different countries including the United States, Mexico and England.

If Brady’s past three international games are any indication, the Seahawks could be in trouble. Not only is Brady 3-0 in international games, but he’s also thrown for at least 300 yards in each of his previous three trips abroad. If he can achieve another 258 more, Brady will also overtake Blake Bortles’ record for the most career passing yards outside of the US.

If Brady comes anywhere near those numbers, the Buccaneers, who are favoured by 2.5 points, might be able to escape Germany with a win, something the Tampa Bay franchise has been unable to do in their last three international games.

3. Monday’s Saturday hiring

A day after one of the Indianapolis Colts worst offensive performances in recent memory during their 23-3 defeat to the New England Patriots, the team fired fifth-year head coach Frank Reich.

The firing did not come as too much of a surprise but his interim replacement certainly was. The Colts named Jeff Saturday, a six-time Pro-Bowl centre who played 13 seasons for the Colts and is currently an ESPN analyst, whose only experience as a head coach was for the Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula, Georgia, for three seasons.

It would appear as though Saturday’s best qualification for the job is that he is close friends with team owner Jim Irsay. That doesn’t bother Irsay though “I’m glad he doesn’t have any NFL experience,” Irsay said on Monday night. “I’m glad he hasn’t learned the fear that’s in this league. Because it’s tough for all our coaches. They’re afraid.”

Not only is this hiring a slap in the face to all of the dedicated and qualified coaches throughout the NFL and college leagues. To the guys who have moved their families all across the US in search of an opportunity, who have slept in their cars or on office floors just to try and get ahead.

But at a time when the league couldn’t afford more of a spotlight shining on it, it also made a mockery of the Rooney Rule, one that was created in order to diversify the hiring process.

I understand that this is only a temporary gig for Saturday and these swipes from the media are nothing personal towards him, to be fair, he’s done nothing wrong here. But we should consider what eight games as an interim head coach could have done for the career of just one guy who is considered an up and coming head coach.

As for how this could go for Colts from a footballing perspective, Zak Keefer of The Athletic perhaps put it the most succinctly “this hiring feels bold at best and reckless at worst.”

4. Fields looking like the new Lamar

In Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, Bears quarterback Justin Fields looked unstoppable on the ground and produced one of the most effective ground games from any QB that has come before.

Fields ran for 178 yards against the Dolphins, setting an NFL record for most rushing yards by a QB in a regular season game. (Michael Vick had 173 in the 2002 game in which he scored an iconic walk-off, 46-yard game-winner in overtime; Colin Kaepernick had 181 rushing yards in a playoff game in 2013.) Fields’ best play of the day came on his 61-yard scramble for a touchdown, weaving through numerous defenders hopelessly falling at his feet.

So dominant was his performance that Miami’s head coach, Mike McDaniel, simply asked him to stop. Hey, it was as good as anything else he had tried up to that point.

Fields looked broken a few weeks ago—but he’s a 6-foot-3, 228-pounder who can run a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and was praised for his hyper-accuracy as a college QB. Now that the team knows how to handle him, Fields has turned a corner—and as the Dolphins found out Sunday, it’s hard to stop him once he turns a corner.

Fields had an excellent all round game, throwing for three touchdowns – including one absolute beauty of a slot fade to Darnell Mooney – and zero interceptions.

The addition of Chase Claypool generated two catches from six targets for 13 yards and sure, he’s new to the offence for now but it does underline the point that Fields, much like Lamar, will need to be surrounded with better talent come the beginning of next season should their respective teams wish to go all the way.

5. What has happened to Aaron Rodgers?

Sunday should have been a get-right game for the Packers. They were playing the Detroit Lions, who entered Sunday ranked dead last in the NFL in points allowed and yards per play allowed. If any part of Vintage Aaron Rodgers were still there, he would’ve ripped these Lions apart—you know, like he does every other year.

What actually happened was that Rodgers threw three interceptions for the first time since 2017. Something I never thought I’d see from the guy that has probably been my favourite QB to watch over the past decade.

The Packers ran 32 plays for 206 yards on their three first-half drives (plus a kneel-down) and inexplicably came away without a point to show for it. Zero! But how?

The answer, Rodgers simply isn’t throwing the ball as well as he has in the recent past. Rodgers’s “on-target” throw rate is at a four-year low, while his “bad throw” rate is the lowest it’s been throughout that time. That suggests that Rodgers is generally getting the ball to his receivers, but he’s not putting it on the money.

Making matters worse, Rodgers doesn’t seem to trust his receivers to make plays for him. He’s not even trying to push the ball downfield—and as a result, the passing game consists almost entirely of quick throws to the flat and slants thrown underneath.

Green Bay head coach, Matt LeFleur, has shaped his offence to Aaron Rodgers’ liking, although we should be asking questions about whether General Manager, Brian Gutekunst, got the memo when it came to recruiting new players. Perhaps it is now time for LeFleur to try things a different way and that should begin with running more play action from under centre.

Rodgers still has two months to show signs that he can hang around with the new kids on the block, with the Josh Allens and Patrick Mahomes of the league. But time is quickly running out not only for this season but turning 39 years old in December, possibly on his career also.