Must watch games in Week 9: Dallas - Falcons, Broncos - Ravens, Lions-Packers, Rams - Seahawks, Colts - Vikings
We are a week away from the midway point of the season and so far there is a clear favorites in each conference. The rest of the league is up for grabs.
The end of Week 9 marks the halfway point of the season. We have seen the Kansas City Chiefs go undefeated in their three-peat bid, the Minnesota Vikings rise and fall and the Detroit Lions turn themselves into the kings of the jungle in the NFC. They are featured in this week’s game of the week from Green Bay as they take on the Packers in an NFC North showdown. The Minnesota Vikings have a big one on Sunday night, but before that Dallas will try and turn their season around in Atlanta and the Ravens will try to rebound against the Bo Nix led Denver Broncos.
These are the must see match ups heading into Week 9.
Dallas Cowboys @ Atlanta Falcons Sunday November 1st at 1:00 p.m. ET
The Cowboys are in crisis. There is no way around it. They are under .500 and quickly losing ground in the NFC East. Their defense is banged up. Their offense hasn’t looked this bad since before Dak got to town. Worst of all they get crushed at home. Luckily for them their Week 8 game is in Atlanta, but they may not be such good news considering the kind of football the Falcons are playing. Kirk Cousins and the Falcons bounced back from a shocking home loss in Seattle with a massive win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to take control of the NFC South. Cousins has found his rhythm in the Peach State. The only problem for the Falcons is their home record. They are 2-3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and will have to turn that around against the Cowboys on Sunday.
Denver Broncos @ Baltimore Ravens Sunday November 1st at 1:00 p.m. ET
Just how good are the 5-3 Denver Broncos? Rookie QB Bo Nix and the offense have been impressive to start the season, and have won five of their first eight games. They are hanging around with the elite teams in the AFC, but their only real quality win came against the Bucs back in Week 3. The rest of their wins came against teams with 2 wins or less coming into this week. That won’t be the case against the Baltimore Ravens who will be looking for blood following their loss in Cleveland that snapped their five game win streak. Lamar Jackson is playing at an MVP level, but when the Ravens struggle is when they fail to get Derrick Henry involved in the run game for all 60 minutes. They will be looking to ride their star RB back into the win column and forget about that slip up in Cleveland.
Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers Sunday November 1st at 4:25 p.m. ET
The game of the week. Without a question. The Lions were tabbed as one of the best if not the best teams in the NFC coming into the season and they have played like it so far. They get everyone’s best shot every week, and if you need any proof of that, just look at their opponents record the week after they play the Lions. None of them have been able to win a game after playing the Lions. The Packers won’t be worried about the game after they play Detroit, they are solely focused on the division leading Lions from Lambeau on Sunday afternoon. Green Bay is coming off of a narrow win over the Jags in which Malik Willis had to replace Jordan Love who suffered a groin strain. He has been listed as day-to-day, but if he can’t play that would obviously dilute the match up between two of the top teams in the NFC.
LA Rams @ Seattle Seahawks Sunday November 1st at 4:25 p.m. ET
The Rams look like they are back. Is it too late? That’s too be determined, but Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings showed us just how good the offense can be with everyone at full strength. Both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua came back for the Week 7 win, and it not only opened up the passing game. Kyler Williams had more space to run the ball, and the offensive line was able to pass protect with a defense that had to respect both the pass and the run. Not many QBs are more effective when they have time to get through their progressions than Matt Stafford and he showed that against the Vikings on Tuesday. Seattle host the NFC West battle on Sunday, and that might be the worst news they could asked for. They have been really bad at home. They have lost their last three games at Lumen Field and four of their last five overall after breezing through a cupcake schedule to start the season. Seattle need to turn things around in a hurry, but need DK Metcalf back on the field. He’s day to day after suffering a knee injury in the game against the Falcons two weeks ago.
Indianapolis Colts @ Minnesota Vikings, Sunday November 1st at 8:20 p.m. ET
The Indianapolis made a statement with their announcement on Tuesday afternoon stating Joe Flacco would start on Sunday night in Minnesota. The decision shows they want to win now, and they are not concerned about nurturing their second year quarterback, Anthony Richardson, who has been a disappointment to this point of his young career. The Colts aren’t a bad team. Their four losses have come by a combined 12 points, and if you have veteran QB under center he might steer you into the win column at least on some of those games. The Vikings are looking to avoid a midseason implosion after a perfect 5-0 start to the season. They played the Lions close in Week 6, but then got manhandled by the two win Rams in LA. The Vikings were on cloud nine after five weeks, but the Colts could send them spiraling into a midseason storm that will be hard to survive. We questioned how this team would respond after a loss and so far it hasn’t been pretty. Sunday night will be a chance for them to call for calm, or sound the panic alarm.