NFL Takeaways – Week 9

If I’m unfamiliar, it’s only because you don’t know me. But I do lurk in other corners of the RazzballNFL world. Fear not, the mighty Jefferson is taking care of other business for the next two weeks, but he’ll be back later in the week to perform his usual dazzling tricks with our Slot vs. Wide tools, always free for all of us.

For the time being, pull up a chair and let me tell some tales about 2025 NFL Week 9.

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Quarterbacks

Many things begin with splendor, and few things in the NFL are more glamorous than the quarterback position.

• Player: Joe Flacco, Cincinnati
• Game: Chicago
• Stats: 31 of 47, 470 yards, 4 TDs, 2 Int

Late-stage Joe Flacco on a good offense just makes the NFL a better place, and there is no more fun team right now than the Cincinnati Bengals. Well, maybe not for Bengals fans, but they can’t blame Joe for that. This sequence may be perfect: down 27-41 with 2:50 left in the game from the Bears’ 5, Flacco throws an interception at the Bears’ 4 that LB Tremaine Edwards takes 96 yards to the house! Game over! Uh, not so fast, on review, Edmunds is down by contact at the Bears’ 4. Next, Bears 3-and-out, punt to the Bengals’ 43, 2:15 left. Next, 4-play Bengals drive culminates with a 23-yard TD from Flacco to TE Noah Fant, 2-pointer from Flacco to WR Tee Higgins, 35-41, 1:43 left. Next, onside kick only goes 9 yards but hits Bears’ DE Daniel Hardy’s right foot in the scrum, recovered by Bengals’ LB Oren Burks. 6 plays later, Flacco hits WR Andre Iosivas for a 9-yard TD, extra point good, 42-41 Bengals, 0:54 left. The fact that the Bengals lost the game on one of the worst tackle attempts I’ve ever seen, by Bengals S Jordan Battle on Bears TE Colston Loveland, allowing Loveland to go 58 yards for the winning points, does nothing to dim the light that is Flacco. He did all this with a sprained throwing shoulder. The lady in the 3rd row behind the Bengals bench had a fantasy-relevant game. The NFL simply does not get more beautiful than this. Sadly, we will be Flaccoless in Week 10 as the Bengals have their bye.

• Player: Sam Darnold, Seattle
• Game: at Washington
• Stats: 21 of 24, 330 yards, 4 TD, 1 Int

So my buddy texts me Saturday night asking me, “Darnold or Dart?” Knowing full well that a. the Seahawks current receiving corps is WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a rookie WR who has never had more than 4 targets in a game (aka Tory Horton), 2 good but under-utilized TEs (AJ Barner and Elijah Arroyo), and two practice squad WRs called up the day before (Cody White and Ricky White, unrelated, I swear), b. Darnold is attempting about 26 passes per game, and c. I would be going to a party for the game at his family’s house, and he would be in charge of what I ate, I engaged in a conversation with him, and we jointly decided on Darnold without me filling him in on the details I just shared with you. Moving along, my anxiety rose when Dart had a very good game. At this point, my observation that Darnold can win in a plus matchup against a team with its own receiving issues and a weaker defense better pay off, or I fear for my dinner. After Darnold completed his first 17 attempts for 282 yards and 4 TDs in the first half, I breathed a sigh of relief. Darnold and OC Klint Kubiak balanced run and pass, JSN got his, Horton got his 4 targets with two hitting paydirt, one of the two PS rookies, I’m sure his name was White, went down the right sideline 60 yards for a TD after Commanders S Quan Martin attempted one of those no-arm tackles I love so much, and Arroyo got his first NFL TD, a 26-yarder on a one play drive after Washington fumbled a kickoff. Darnold looked as in control in the pocket as I’ve seen him; Washington did bring pressure but never got home for a sack. The Seahawks head home for a meeting with the Cardinals in Week 10.

• Player: Geno Smith, Las Vegas
• Game: Jacksonville
• Stats: 29 of 39, 284 yards, 4 TDs, 1 Int, 9 rushing yards

One of the reasons I liked Darnold was that I saw what a bad offense could do to the Commanders. Going into Sunday, Geno Smith had one transcendent fantasy game in 2025, against Washington. Now it’s two. And this is a game that had a 9-6 score entering the 4th quarter. TE Brock Bowers stepped right out of 2024 to give this moribund offense an instant boost, snagging 3 of Smith’s 4 TDs. More on Bowers later. Once the game reached the 4th quarter, Smith led Raiders’ drives that answered Jaguars’ TDs, and he did the same in overtime. Unfortunately, the 2-point pass to win the game was blocked by Jags’ NT DaVon Hamilton. I am fully behind the decision to go for the win regardless of the result. The Raiders have a short week before facing the Broncos in Denver on Thursday.

On the Jacksonville side, Trevor Lawrence was reportedly very sick leading up to the game and had no passing TDs, but had 2 rushing TDs, including the winner in overtime. Next up is a tough divisional matchup in Houston with the Texans. Jacksonville won the first matchup at home, 17-10.

The Colts’ Daniel Jones had a rough game on Sunday that must have reminded him of old times in MetLife Stadium, as the Steelers sacked him 5 times and pressured him into 5 turnovers to end a four-game Colts’ winning streak. He had a rushing TD and a passing TD, but needed 50 pass attempts to reach 342 air yards. The Colts host the Falcons in Week 10 in the international game in Germany.

I consider myself fortunate to have seen the entire careers and rivalry of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. To have that level of entertainment less than five years later is fortunate. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen renewed their growing rivalry in Week 9, with Allen and the Bills getting the upper hand this time, 28-21. Allen had 273 air yards passing and 19 yards rushing with 3 total TDs. Mahomes had the worst completion percentage in a game of his career, 44%, his first time below 50%. In Week 10, the Bills have a rematch with the Dolphins in Miami; Buffalo won the first meeting 31-21. The Chiefs have their bye.

 

Running Backs

An important, if undervalued, position.

• Player: Kyle Monangai, Chicago
• Game: Cincinnati
• Stats: 26 carries, 176 rushing yards, 3 receptions, 22 receiving yards

We got plenty of questions regarding starting Kyle Monangai on our show Sunday morning. I think our answers were affirmative. The opportunity was too good to pass up. I can’t speak for my cohosts, but this performance was beyond my imagination. The day started slowly as Monangai had 3 carries for 8 yards on the Bears’ first drive, but he had 7 carries for 46 yards on the Bears’ next drive, and we were off. Without DE Trey Hendrickson and LB Logan Wilson, the Bengals did not have many answers for the Bears’ offense. Monangai had runs of 13, 18, and a 39-yard beauty: after a missed FG gave the Bears the ball at their 44 with the score 34-27 and 5:53 left in the game, on the next play Monangai took a Caleb Williams pitch around right end and avoided another poor tackling attempt by Battle for 39 yards to the Bengals’ 17, setting up DJ Moore’s 17-yard TD run to make it 41-27. The 22 receiving yards came on two 11-yard plays on the Bears’ first drive of the second half. The Bears return to Soldier Field to play the Giants in Week 10. Monangai gives the team the luxury of resting Swift another week if they like, and I’m not making comparisons, but Christian McCaffrey just put up 173 scrimmage yards and 2 TDs on New York.

• Player: Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco
• Game: at New York Giants
• Stats: 28 carries, 106 rushing yards, 1 TD, 5 receptions, 67 receiving yards, 1 TD

Speaking of whom, CMC had a vintage game on Sunday against one of the more fantasy-friendly defenses for RBs. I’m sure this performance will move the Giants up that list, but to be fair, the 49ers needed 39 rushes to accrue 159 yards. McCaffrey’s biggest play came on 2nd and 9 from the SF 41 with 7:03 left in the game: after a 1-yard McCaffrey run on first down, the Giants stacked the box with nine players; QB Mac Jones threw to McCaffrey to the right just beyond the line of scrimmage as Giants CB Korie Black decided to double-cover TE George Kittle and left McCaffrey wide open; CMC went untouched until he reached the Giants 25, finally being brought down at the New York 20 for a 39-yard gain. The 49ers return to Levi’s Stadium for the Week 10 rematch with the Rams; the 49ers won a 26-23 OT thriller at SoFi Stadium in Week 5.

• Player: Rico Dowdle, Carolina
• Game: at Green Bay
• Stats: 25 carries, 130 rushing yards, 2 TD, 2 receptions, 11 receiving yards

The Packers came into the Week 9 game allowing just over 70 rushing yards/game and had allowed 2 rushing TDs for the season. The Panthers did not care about that. They used a run-heavy script, only dropping back 21 times, and tough defense to score the upset at Lambeau. Dowdle proved to be the important part of their offensive plan. After a 3-and-out and a 15-play drive ended with a Bryce Young interception on their first 2 possessions, Dowdle took the first play of Carolina’s third possession for his biggest play of the day, a 29-yard run: from the Panthers’ 24 with 7:41 left until halftime, Dowdle took a pitch from Young to the right through a well-blocked hole to the Green Bay 47. 9 plays later, he scored the Panthers’ first points of the game on a 5-yard run. On the 15-play drive, Carolina showed their hand by giving Dowdle the ball 8 times. His second TD, from 1 yard out with 2:12 left in the 3rd quarter, gave Carolina a 13-6 lead, but in a rare mistake, his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved the point after try to the Packers’ 37, and K Ryan Fitzgerald missed from 47. On the game-winning drive, Dowdle had a 19-yard run to set up the winning FG from 49 yards. The Panthers head home for the first of two games within their division, and will meet the Saints in Week 10 before heading to Atlanta. At 5-4, they find themselves well in the playoff hunt.

In a game QB Matthew Stafford dropped back 34 times and threw for 282 air yards and 4 TDs, the Rams still managed to run the ball 43 times. Kyren Williams handled 25 of those, running for 114 yards and a TD. Oddly, the Rams RBs were left out of the passing game. An opponent that puts up more resistance than the Saints did should cure that: the Rams head to Levi’s Stadium for the Week 10 rematch with the 49ers.

Derrick Henry ran through a forgiving Dolphins run defense with 19 carries for 119 yards in the Ravens’ 28-6 win on Thursday night. He only had one chance from in close to add to his 6 TDs on the season, but after getting tackled just short of the goal line on a 6-yard run, he was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on the next play. The Ravens are having issues with run blocking, and that could cap Henry’s upside. The Ravens head to Minneapolis for their Week 10 game with the Vikings.

Apparently, Jonathan Taylor is not entirely bust-proof, understandable as the Steelers allowed the 3rd fewest PPR points to RBs coming into the Week 9 game. It didn’t hurt the Steelers’ cause that the Colts turned the ball over 6 times and played from behind from 4:22 before halftime on. Taylor only touched the ball 16 times for 57 scrimmage yards. The Colts head to Berlin, DE, for the international tilt against the Falcons in Week 10.

 

Receivers

The wave of the now.

• Player: Brock Bowers, Las Vegas
• Game: Jacksonville
• Stats: 12 receptions, 13 targets, 132 receiving yards, 3 TDs, 1 rush, 6 rushing yards

The Jaguars were allowing the 12th most PPR points to TEs coming into Week 9, but that ranking took a beating in Bowers’ first game action since Week 4 on September 28. It’s the first time he looked himself since hurting his knee in the Raiders’ Week 1 game. Of Geno Smith’s 38 targets, 13 went to Bowers, and for good measure, another 7 went to TE Michael Mayer. Using my arithmetic skills, that adds up to a lot. His 12 receptions on Sunday are a career high for a game, and considering that he had 4 career TDs coming into the game, 3 TDs are also a career high for a game. Bowers accounted for the Raiders’ only first-half points when he scored on a 7-yard grab to complete a 13-play, 95-yard drive with 0:35 left in the 1st half. He also drew a 12-yard DPI and had a 21-yard catch on the drive, and the officials didn’t believe his ridiculous one-handed grab in the end zone with CB Greg Newsome draped all over him, ruling he came down out of bounds. Replay rectified the error. Sadly, K Daniel Carlson missed the XP that would prove consequential later in the game. Bowers’ second TD came right after the 2:00 warning in regulation from the Jags’ 27 when Smith found him inside the 20 on a slant and he went untouched until he was close enough to the end zone for it not to make a difference, giving the Raiders their last lead at 23-20. His final catch and score came with 0:16 left in OT from 2 yards out as he crossed the end zone, escaping S Andrew Wingard, providing the Raiders’ final points. There will be no further questions accepted on whether we should start Bowers in fantasy. The Raiders are off to Denver for their Week 10 Thursday night game.

• Player: Drake London, Atlanta
• Game: at New England
• Stats: 9 receptions, 14 targets, 118 yards, 3 TDs

Drake London is also a player I regularly field questions on for starting. The answer is “yes.” London showed how important he is to the Atlanta offense with his Week 8 absence. Week 9 was his fourth straight game with double-digit targets and his fifth in the 2025 season. He’s also had 100+ yards receiving and 1 TD or more in three of his last four games. QB Michael Penix took advantage of London’s 6’4” and 215 lb. frame to throw jump balls over 5’8” CB Marcus Jones for London’s first two TDs. In the 4th quarter, down 17-24 on the Patriots’ 8 with 4:44 left, Penix threw a ball over CB Carlton Davis that London leaped and speared with his left hand to close the score to 23-24. To keep with a theme, those would be the last points for the Falcons as K Younghoe Romo missed the PAT wide to the right. London also had his longest play of the day on that drive when Penix threw the ball up the left side and London went up and over CB Christian Gonzalez for a 40-yard gain. The loss drops Atlanta to 3-5, and they head to Berlin to face a Colts team also trying to get back on track in Week 10.

• Player: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Game: at Washington
• Stats: 8 receptions, 9 targets, 129 receiving yards

It seems unfair that JSN was not invited to Darnold’s TD party, but his 129 yards lead all receivers for Week 9, pending the Monday night game. He has 79 out of the Seahawks’ 207 targets for the season, which, using my considerable skills at long division, seems patently insane. Seattle’s first drive was 12 plays and 90 yards, and JSN had 3 catches for 38 yards and also accounted for 10 more by drawing a DPI on Commanders’ CB Marshon Lattimore. On Seattle’s 7-play, 60-yard second drive, he had 2 more receptions for 24 yards. Washington fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and it can be excused that JSN was excluded from the 1-play drive that followed, a 26-yard TD to Elijah Arroyo. JSN had a 22-yard reception that was his contribution to the 4-play, 60-yard drive that was Seattle’s fourth straight with a TD. JSN’s 7th catch of the 1st half came with 0:13 left, a 26-yard beauty delivered perfectly by Darnold over CB Jonathan Jones, setting up K Jason Myers’ 41-yard FG as the clock expired. JSN’s line for the 1st half: 7/7/119/0. He contributed to both 2nd half scoring drives, drawing a 28-yard DPI on Jones and catching a 10-yard pass, setting up Seattle inside the Commanders’ red zone at the 18. JSN currently leads all WRs with 948 receiving yards on the season. The Seahawks head home for a divisional rematch with the Cardinals, whom they beat 23-20 in Week 4 in Glendale.

It’s possible Flacco just got tired of peppering WR Ja’Marr Chase with targets. Chase’s targets dropped from 42 in the previous 2 games to 8 on Sunday, and Tee Higgins out-targeted Chase for the first time this season with 9 targets. Higgins turned those into 7 receptions for 121 yards and 2 TDs, all highs for the 2025 season. The Bengals have a Week 10 bye.

Bears TE Colston Loveland took advantage of a great matchup to set career highs in targets, receptions, yards, and TDs with a 7/6/118/2 line. LMFAO at reporters that call what Bengals S Jordan Battle did that caromed Loveland into the open field on Loveland’s way to a game-winning 58-yard TD a “tackle;” I was taught that a tackle involved using the arms. Cole Kmet left with a concussion after playing only 21 snaps. Loveland also had a 5-yard TD on the Bears’ first drive of the 2nd half.

I’m not really important, but I’d love someone to explain how Bears’ WR Rome Odunze came out of the chaos with a 3/0/0/0 line. He was targeted twice in the Bears’ first 5 plays – oddly, Kmet delivered one of the passes – then disappeared. His third and final target came on Chicago’s first drive of the 2nd half from the Cincy 3. There’s been no injury reported. We’ll see if Odunze is found in time for the Bears’ Week 10 game against the Giants at Soldier Field.

 

Bye Week Update

• Week 10 byes: Cincinnati, Dallas, Kansas City, Tennessee. So, 3 teams and the Titans. To quote Jeff, “Adjust your lineups accordingly.”

 

Red Zone TD Scoring

 

• Top 5: Philadelphia – 85.0%, Washington – 73.3%, Seattle – 70.4%, Kansas City – 70.3%, Indianapolis – 70.0%
• Bottom 5: Houston – 36.4%, New Orleans – 41.7%, Tennessee – 43.8%, Las Vegas – 45.5%, New York Giants, Los Angeles Chargers, Tampa Bay – 50.0% (tied)

 

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