Analysis
11/7/22
15 min read
What We Learned: 33 Expert Takeaways From Week 9
There were a number of surprising performances and interesting developments on Sunday in the NFL. The 33rd Team’s experts weighed in with 33 takeaways from the day’s games:
Chargers 20, Falcons 17
1. No Mike Williams, no Keenan Allen, but a gutsy, gritty win for the Chargers against an Atlanta team that's kind of surging. That offense for Atlanta and Marcus Mariota, that's tough to defend. Arthur Smith and his crew, they've done a nice job with that and have kind of a formula and an identity. We all know how difficult it is to win. They can build off of that. — Chuck Pagano
2. The Falcons, who have been playing well offensively and struggling defensively, decided to flip it at the wrong time. In a back-and-forth game in which Atlanta had an early lead, they managed to have the previous week’s defense show up in the second half, allowing Justin Herbert to do his thing. Between those struggles and Herbert rising to the pressure, the Chargers pulled off a win to keep themselves in a good position to make the playoffs. — Joe Banner
Dolphins 35, Bears 32
3. "They traded away their whole defense in Chicago in Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith. Anytime that happens, you wonder what it does to your locker room, your psyche, and the mentality of the entire team and just that side of the ball. I think it definitely had an effect on them, and they give up 35 points and lost by three." — Chuck Pagano
4. "The performance Justin Fields had today, with 178 yards rushing, no passing game, he was 17-for-28, 120 yards, that's awful in today's NFL passing game-wise, he was still able to put up 35 points. I think he's another one we have to start leaving alone, talking about his accuracy and him not being able to do this and that, and let's focus on what he can do, and just give him an opportunity. I think we give up too quickly on quarterbacks in the NFL nowadays." — Samari Rolle
5. "The Dolphins continue to find ways to win these tough, close games, whether they’re high-scoring or low-scoring. Tua Tagovailoa continues to do a pretty good job trying to silence his critics." — Joe Banner
Bengals 42, Panthers 21
6. "I don't care who you are or who you're playing, five touchdowns in the NFL? Come on, how many times has that ever been done? That's just huge. They've done a great job without Ja'Marr Chase of changing the game plan and isolating their, other than Joe Burrow, their next-best player, Joe Mixon, and let him do this thing rushing the football and receiving-wise, and they've gotten better again on the offensive line. They are at their best when they rush the football and let those linemen come off the football a bit." — Mike Martz
7. "Playoff-caliber teams can rebound after a tough loss, and that is what the Bengals did in their win against the Panthers. They showed how well they can run the ball, and when you have a quarterback like Joe Burrow, teams have to defend to much. I see them being a better team in December and January, and a tough one to beat in the playoffs." — T.J. McCreight
8. "The Panthers are clearly in the running for the first pick in the draft, which they definitely need because they are very, very far from finding a solution at quarterback." — Joe Banner
Lions 15, Packers 9
9. "I think he was very frustrated with some of his receivers. Big thing about wide receivers, there has to be that trust, quarterback's gotta trust you're going to be where your supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. When you're not, when he's not sure what they're doing, he lays the ball out there, and bad things happen. I think they're in a really, really, really ugly spot right now with those wide receivers." — Mike Martz
10. "Aaron Rodgers didn’t look comfortable and looks like he’s close to the end." — Mike Tannenbaum
11. "Really it wasn't about the receivers so much as it was about Aaron. The two picks in the end zone on the first two drives, that was more about him than it was about the guys trying to get open." — Eric Mangini
12. "The Lions started the season leaving us thinking they were going to be an offensive juggernaut with a defensive weakness, but in the last three weeks it has completely shifted. They’re struggling to score and barely scoring enough to win, but playing much better on defense. That is particularly interesting because many think Lions DC Aaron Glenn is a future head coach. He wasn’t looking like it, but seems to be improving as the season goes on, which is a characteristic you often see in quality coaches. It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep the unit moving in that direction." — Joe Banner
13. "It was hard to watch Aaron Rodgers play because he missed throws that I've never seen him miss before, that he just doesn't miss. ... To me, there's something wrong with him, he's just too good a player to miss throws like that. I don't know if he's got a shoulder injury, but he doesn't throw the ball like that. I think there's something going on with him." — Mike Martz
Jaguars 27, Raiders 20
14. "Jacksonville coming back in the second half has a lot to say about the Jaguars and the coaching job they're doing down there, and the players getting better and better. They're so different than last year, they're competing, they've got energy, enthusiasm, they're doing the little things right, and they're just getting better." — Mike Martz
15. "The Jaguars again got off to a slow start, but Doug Pederson has them playing hard even with some of their limitations, particularly on the offensive line. We keep seeing glimpses from Trevor Lawrence of what we thought we’d see from the very first play he ever appeared in the NFL. At this point we’re well into year two and still only seeing them from time to time, but today he made plays at the right moments to keep Jacksonville alive in a relatively weak division." — Joe Banner
16. "The Raiders are the biggest disappointment in the NFL. They were very aggressive in the offseason. They played very well at the end of last season. And yet they’re clearly not as good as they were. It should be impossible to make the additions they made in the offseason, play as well as they played at the end of last season, and still be struggling to beat some of the weaker teams in the league." — Joe Banner
17. "When you're blowing 17-point leads not once, not twice, but three times, you're going to have to take a step back and say, OK, what can we try defensively? I think you have to try something different, you have to light it up. You've got to change this pattern because at this point, you are chasing something that seems a little bit out of reach." — Eric Mangini
Patriots 26, Colts 3
18. "The Colts struggled to run the ball, they struggled to pass the ball, and they struggled to protect the quarterback. There are always high expectations in Indy, and the owner expects to win and gives you every resource to do so. They hoped a change at quarterback would help, but the problems seem to run deeper than just the passer. Before the season began, I thought if things were not going well, the Colts could always rely on their offensive line and the run game, but that is not working anymore, either." — T.J. McCreight
19. "Tough, tough day for the Colts, and now where do you go from here? They have to go home and see what they can get going. Hopefully, they get Jonathan Taylor back. They need to get him healthy and try to get a run game going, and not put it all on that offensive line and Sam's shoulders to have to throw the football a bunch." — Chuck Pagano
Jets 20, Bills 17
20. "While the Bills are still a Super Bowl favorite, we’re into the second week of November and they still don’t have a division win." — Mike Tannenbaum
21. "We all keep waiting for the Jets to regress, assuming that they’ve made progress but still have a year or two to go. But they keep showing up and playing hard and pulling out unexpected wins. I still think if I had to pick a Super Bowl winner today, it would be the Bills, but the Jets played hard, held them down offensively and managed to win a key game to bolster their chances of making the playoffs." — Joe Banner
22. "One of the knocks on Josh Allen early was his up-and-down play, and it looked like one of those stock charts where it was high one week and it was low the next week, and he seemed to solve that problem. This is two weeks in a row where it's been more down than up, and there's not a big enough margin for error in the AFC where you can have that many down weeks and hope to get the No. 1 seed." — Eric Mangini
23. "It's not a performance you look at and go, OK, (Zach Wilson) is a franchise quarterback, but it's the performance they needed, and it showed some growth and promise based off of what he did last week. Collectively, they're playing hard, they're aggressive, they're resilient, they're playing well on special teams. All those things are fantastic as long as they can keep the quarterback situation on the rails." — Eric Mangini
Vikings 20, Commanders 17
24. "Nobody would've said at the beginning of the year that Green Bay would be sitting there after Week 9 at 3-6 and those guys are sitting there 7-1. They've done an unbelievable job, and you see the energy and the passion and the fun that they're having, there's a lot of juice on that sideline and they've got good players. Kirk Cousins, the way he is, you're never out of it, and they're playing good defense. That is a tough Washington team and Heinicke is a scrappy guy and made some plays, but that's a hell of a win right there." — Chuck Pagano
25. "This was an unexpectedly entertaining game. Despite some significant weaknesses and falling behind by 10 points in the fourth quarter, Minnesota managed to pull out the win. The combination of late key plays by Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson was more than the Commanders could handle." — Joe Banner
26. "Kind of like what we've seen from the rest of the league, there have been a lot of close ballgames this year, maybe more than in the history of the NFL, but teams need to find a way to win close games. And if you look at the Vikings over the last two years, last year in one-score games they were 5-8. This year in those one-score games, the Vikings are 6-0. The offense is starting to find its rhythm, the addition of T.J. Hockenson is certainly going to help, especially with the guys you already knew on the offense." — Robert Smith
Seahawks 31, Cardinals 21
27. "Geno Smith is a completely different player now. He has the poise, he has the confidence, and he has the weapons on the outside and in the backfield with him for this team to do something special this year. You combine Kenneth Walker's home-run ability with a solid running game, you have a defense that's improved, and a Geno Smith who's playing lights out, certainly in the conversation for MVP, and you have a team that's not just looking to win the NFC West, not just make the playoffs, but make a deep run this year." — Robert Smith
28. "The Cardinals look out of sync and unorganized. So many mistakes, pre-snap errors, and busts. They have an offensive coach, expensive wide receiver, and $200 million-plus quarterback, and they still struggle. Did we see how the Buccaneers operated in a two-minute situation in Week 9? Wide receivers that line up quickly and in the proper spot? The Cardinals looked totally different. They are not buttoned up at all. The NFL is usually close at the end of games, and teams that win are the ones who don't make mistakes in the final few minutes. The way Arizona plays — even with good players — is hard to win." — T.J. McCreight
Buccaneers 16, Rams 13
29. "This is the Tom Brady that we've known for many years. This game, I thought he was exceptional... For the most part, he just completed the ball, moving it, and at no time did he get frustrated. He and Aaron Rodgers both in the last few weeks have shown their frustrations a little bit, and it's not a good thing, and he knows that. But he recovered really well this week. He didn't blink, this was the classic Tom Brady: 'No matter what happens, it's alright, we'll make it up, come back and get it,' and he just stayed the course." — Mike Martz
30. "The Bucs have yet to launch really, offensively. They've played pretty well at times on defense, but at times, because there's a lack of production at times on the offense, the Bucs' defense just gives up one or two explosive plays or has a lapse and gives up big chunk plays, and all of a sudden it looks like they played bad. But you look at their stats and you look at their game as a whole, they actually played well." — Ronde Barber
31. "I've seen bad offenses before, and both of these offenses looked terrible. It's frustrating to watch talented teams, or at least teams you expected to be talented contenders, play this bad. And it's been that way for both of these teams all year. I can say pretty definitively that neither one of them look like they're going to be contenders. I came into this week kind of feeling that this game between these last two Super Bowl champions was going to be a deciding factor between which one was going to give themselves a chance, stay in their division race, and which one was going to feel like the season is somewhat lost, and it definitely feels like it's lost for L.A. right now." — Ronde Barber
Chiefs 20, Titans 17
32. "It's almost good to see these kinds of games because it reinforces how competitive he is and how special he is, that he gets to that point that all these elite guys that we see, where they just say 'No, I'm not losing tonight'... It just felt like a Patrick Mahomes 'I'm not going to let this team lose tonight' game. At the end he just said 'We're not losing, I'm going to make sure that we win this game," and he put the team on his back, and it's always fun to see him raise his game, even in an early November game." — Mitchell Schwartz
33. "Somehow they had 90 plays against the Chiefs and only gave up 17 points and were in that game, and very easily could have won it if they get a bounce or two. So the coaching job by Mike Vrabel is just fantastic, and he's got those guys so prepared every week to play physical, play tough." — Mitchell Schwartz
