WINNERS
Joe Mixon
It was a career day for Mixon in Week 9, as he tallied an astonishing five touchdowns to break the Bengals’ single game franchise record. He rushed for over 150 yards on 22 carries and made four catches for 58 more. It was the kind of game that fantasy owners and Bengals fans had been waiting all year for as Mixon often plays a very large role in Cincinnati’s offence but had yet to score more than one touchdown in a week or rush for 100 yards. Now, he’ll get an extended amount of time to celebrate the performance with a bye in Week 10 before getting back to work in Pittsburgh on November 20th.
Justin Fields
Has Justin Fields officially arrived? The 2nd year quarterback has been turning heads with his performances for Chicago in the last three weeks, none more impressive than the effort in Week 9 against Miami. Even in the loss, Fields broke an NFL regular season record for running yards by a quarterback in a game with 178. The same offence that scored just 41 points in three straight losses this year has now registered 94 in the last three games, and much of that can be put on the shoulders of Fields. Although the team is yet to turn these games into wins, Fields is starting to look like the guy who Chicago always thought he could be when they drafted him 11th overall out of Ohio State in 2021.
New York Jets
People keep doubting them and they keep winning. This week, it was against Josh Allen and the heavyweight Buffalo Bills. New York’s defence was instrumental in the win on Sunday, holding Allen to less than 210 yards and zero touchdowns through the air. Sauce Gardner continues to impress in the secondary and is now leading the discussion for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award along with Seattle’s Tariq Woolen. On offence, Zach Wilson did a much better job of taking care of the ball and not trying to bite off more than he can chew in the passing game. For the Jets to continue to beat good teams, this is exactly the type of game they’ll be looking to replicate.
LOSERS
Josh McDaniels
For the third time this season, Josh McDaniels’ Raiders lost a game after leading by 17 points in only Week 9. Everything was going right for Las Vegas in the first half, as the team jumped out to a 17-0 lead that included two touchdown passes to star WR Davante Adams. Unfortunately, Adams and the rest of the offence stalled out completely in the second half, and the team was eventually beat by the 2-6 Jacksonville Jaguars. McDaniels is certainly on the hot seat right now, and a loss to brand new coach Jeff Saturday and the Indianapolis Colts this week could almost guarantee his departure at some point in the next six months.
Aaron Rodgers
After another embarrassing loss in Week 9 to the Lions, the Packers are now 3-6 with just six offensive touchdowns in the last four weeks. Although all of the blame cannot fall on Rodgers, the questions about starting Jordan Love are definitely coming from Packers fans. It makes sense, too. If the team cannot make playoffs with Rodgers at the helm anyways, why wouldn’t they get an extended look at Love and see what he’s made of? It’s not the end to the season that Rodgers or the Packers had in mind when he resigned this offseason, but it may be the one we see if Green Bay doesn’t turn things around immediately.
Sean McVay
The Rams have now lost three of their last four games and have looked terrible while doing it. On Sunday, they found themselves up 13-6 going into the fourth quarter against the Buccaneers. However, in the quarter, the team would run just ten plays for zero yards and fall in the dying seconds of the game to a Brady touchdown pass. After the defence had forced a Tampa Bay turnover on downs with less than two minutes remaining, all the Rams offence had to do was gain one first down to seal the deal. Despite their obvious issues in the running game, the team ran three times and were stopped on a third and five.
As we now know, Tampa got the ball back with 44 seconds and took advantage of Los Angeles’ soft man coverage all the way back down the field before scoring with 13 seconds left. After the game, Jalen Ramsey made his feelings known, saying the defence “should not have had to go back on the field”. Yikes!
