Week 9 Game Notes

Here are some interesting nuggets from each of Sunday's Week 9 games:

Giants 23, Football Team 20

Despite winning the turnover battle 5-0, the Giants needed key defensive stops late in order to secure the win.
Daniel Jones’ career record is 4-0 vs. Washington in his career. He is 1-17 vs. everyone else. (per CBS Sports Twitter)

Titans 24, Bears 17

The Bears had just two first downs on offense in the first half
Bears LB Barkevious Mingo had the most rushing yards for Chicago in the first half (off a fake punt)
With 26 rush yards on 13 carries, Derrick Henry was held to fewer than 30 rush yards in a first half for the first time in the past three seasons (min. 10 carries)

Vikings 34, Lions 20

Until last week, the Lions hadn’t had a blocked punt since 2007. They have two in the last two weeks.
The Vikings only had 6 takeaways in their first seven games and had 3 interceptions Sunday.

Chiefs 33, Panthers 31

Christian McCaffrey scored his first TD since Week 2 on the first drive against Kansas City.
McCaffrey has 16 receiving TDs in his career, which is the most by any RB since 2017 (per NFL Research)
McCaffrey’s 15 games with 100-plus scrimmage yards is the most in the NFL since 2019, despite missing six games this season (per NFL Research)
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes became the fastest player to reach 100 passing touchdowns.
The Panthers are 2-5 in games decided by less than 10 points this season (per Fox)

Texans 27, Jaguars 25

Jaguars QB Josh Luton became the ninth QB in NFL history to have 300-plus yards and a TD in his NFL debut
Luton’s second pass of his career was a 73-yard TD pass to D.J. Chark
This was the first game since 2000 to have both teams score an offensive touchdown in the first 90 seconds (per ProFootballReference)

Ravens 24 Colts 10

No Colts RB had fumbled this season before Jonathan Taylor’s fumble was returned for a TD that tied this game at 7. With the fumble, Baltimore extended its streak to 21 straight games with at oleast one takeaway, the longest active streak in the league (per CBS)
The Ravens’ 12 defensive TDs since 2018 are the most in the NFL (CBS)
Marcus Peters recorded his 30th interception in his 85th career game. The last two players to reach 30 INTs in their first 85 games were Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Ed Reed (NFL Research)
Lamar has been sacked 20 times this season; he was sacked 23 times all of last season (per CBS)

Bills 44, Seahawks 34

The Seahawks lead the league in first-quarter points/game, but had zero in the first quarter against the Bills.
Since Sean McDermott became the head coach of the Bills in 2017, Buffalo is 23-1 when leading at the half.
The last time the Bills were in first place in the AFC East this late in the season was 1996
The 2020 Bills became the 13th team in NFL history to record 20-plus first downs in each of their first nine games. The last two teams to do this made the Super Bowl (2018 Rams, 2017 Patriots). Buffalo last did it in 1992, and they made the Super Bowl that year (per Warren Sharp)

Falcons 34, Broncos 27

Olamide Zaccheaus had a 51-yard TD receptions that gave Atlanta a 10-0 lead. Zaccheaus has two career touchdowns and they’ve gone for a combined 144 yards (FootballPerspective)
Zaccheaus’ TD catch had a 20.2% chance of completion for Matt Ryan, his most improbable completion over the last three years (per Next Gen Stats)

Raiders 31, Chargers 26

Justin Herbert's 50-yard pass to Tyron Johnson had a completion probability of just 17.6%, the most improbable completion of Herbert's young career.
K.J. Hill fumbled a punt leading to a Raiders FG in the fourth quarter that put Las Vegas up by five. Per Football Outsiders, here are the Chargers’ special teams rankings the past four years:
2020: 32nd
2019: 32nd
2018: 25th
The 2-6 Chargers losses have yet to lose a game by more than seven points. Their six losses are by an average of four points.

Steelers 24, Cowboys 19

Ezekiel Elliott still hasn’t had a 100-yard rushing game this season
The Cowboys haven’t finished last in the NFL in scoring defense since 1960 (their first season of existence). Dallas is currently last in scoring defense, allowing more than 30 points per game.
Ben Roethlisberger has 7-game winning streaks in three different decades
The Cowboys’ last 4 passing TDs have been thrown by four different QBs
Dallas has five red-zone giveaways this season, most in the NFL
The AFC North is 6-0-1 against the NFC East this season, with 16 takeaways to 4 giveaways

Dolphins 34, Cardinals 31

For the second straight week, the Dolphins recorded a defensive fumble return for a touchdown. It’s the first time the Dolphins have done this in consecutive games since 2000
The Dolphins have forced a turnover in 14 straight games dating back to last year (per NFL Network)
Emmanuel Ogbah recorded his seventh sack of the season and second straight game with a forced fumble. He has five straight games with at least one sack – the first Dolphins player to do this since Cameron Wake
Xavien Howard was called for 3 DPIs while covering DeAndre Hopkins

Saints 38, Buccaneers 3

With the win, the Saints went from a wild card spot to the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Before leaving with an injury, Saints CB Marson Lattimore had covered Mike Evans on 68% of his routes run. This was the fourth time in seven games against Evans that Lattimore did not give up a catch (Next Gen Stats)
Before the Bucs kicked a late FG, here’s what they did against the Saints defense:
3-and-out
3-and-out
3-and-out
3-and-out
interception (tipped pass at LOS)
turnover on downs
interception (AB ran wrong route)
turnover on downs
interception (possibly worst throw of Brady’s career)
Drew Brees on throws of 10-plus air yards: 7 of 8 for over 100 Yards, a TD and a perfect passer rating
According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the third time in 30 years that 12 different players caught a ball in a game for one team.
Drew Brees is now 5-2 all-time against Tom Brady
Brady had a 40.4 passer rating, the third-worst game of his career. (per Next Gen Stats and Pro-Football-Reference)
The Bucs set an NFL record for fewest rushing attempts in a game with 5 and one of those was Blaine Gabbert’s kneel-down to end the game (per Ben Volin tweet & Al Michael’s game broadcast)
The Saints defense and pass rush has really been helped by a healthy Marcus Davenport