Hey everyone, I’m Zach Pereles. Nice to meet y’all! Starting today, I’ll be the one delivering all the sports news and stories you need to know: who did what and why, what went down last night and what it means going forward.
A little about me: I’m from Virginia and grew up a D.C. sports fans, and I attended Northwestern University. So, it’s been a rough fall on the football front … to say the least. Shout out to the Washington Football Team’s bye week this week — can’t lose if you don’t play. I’ve had plenty of experiences as a fan, some good (thanks, 2018 Capitals, 2019 UVA basketball and 2019 Nationals) and some bad (OK, a lot of bad ones), so I can promise to make you smile through the big wins and to be a virtual shoulder to cry on after the bad losses.
Now onto the news. Week 9 of the NFL season marks the halfway point, and it was an absolute dandy. Sorry in advance if the Bills cost you in your survivor pool.
Good morning to everyone, but especially to…
This past week, two 4-4 AFC teams both parted ways with their most recognizable player. As such, Sunday served as a huge barometer of how the rest of the season may go for both teams. After all, losing a franchise icon like the Broncos did with Von Miller and going though a messy breakup like the Browns did with Odell Beckham Jr. can’t be easy.
Would the Broncos and Browns be able to respond? The answer was “yes.” An emphatic yes. An all-caps YES. How does double-digit-wins-on-the-road YES sound?
Let’s start with the Browns, who went to Cincinnati and dominated. Nick Chubb churned his way to 137 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries. Baker Mayfield threw two touchdowns, and the defense picked off Joe Burrow twice.
Here’s what our NFL insider Jason La Canfora said about the win:
- La Canfora: “More than anything else, it allows Mayfield to relax, it further emboldens (head coach Kevin) Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry and their imprint on this franchise’s turnaround, and it closes the chapter on the OBJ experiment – one that began before their arrival – with am emphatic victory that might be a springboard for more narrative-changing play to come.”
Meanwhile, the Broncos traveled to Dallas with an 0-4 record against teams with a winning record this season. It was their first game without Miller on the roster since 2010. The Cowboys, meanwhile, had Dak Prescott returning and had won six straight. Seems like we all knew how this one would go, right?
Wrong.
The Broncos led by as much as 30 in a game that ended 30-16. Denver — down multiple starters on both sides of the ball — ran over, around and through the Cowboys defense for 190 yards. Meanwhile, the defense held Prescott to a 48.7% completion percentage, which tied his worst ever in a home game. Jonathon Cooper did his best Von Miller impression, racking up a pair of sacks, the first of his career.
La Canfora didn’t mince words:
- La Canfora: “The Broncos out-physicalled the Cowboys. Straight up. Maybe Dak Prescott should have taken another week off to further heal up, because this was the worst the Cowboys offense has looked in a long time, and full marks to the Broncos for making it happen. Denver had nearly 100 rushing yards in the first half alone, bottled up the Dallas run game, manhandled the Cowboys’ array of receivers, and held the ball for 41:12(!).”
The Browns and Broncos’ wins are testaments to the players and coaching staffs of both teams. This week was full of emotion, frustration and distraction, all of which could have carried over to Sunday easily. None of it did. Not even close.
Honorable mention
- From 2018 to 2020, Lamar Jackson was 1-7 as a starter (including playoffs) when his team trailed by double digits. This year he’s 3-1 in those situations, including an entertaining 34-31 overtime triumph over the the Vikings on Sunday. Jackson recorded his 10th career regular-season game with 100 or more rushing yards, tying Michael Vick for most ever by a quarterback. A couple of inconvenient reminders for the Bengals, Browns and Steelers: Jackson is only 24 years old.
And not quite such a good morning for…
Josh Allen (the Bills quarterback, not the Jaguars defensive end tackling him in the photo below).
The Bills lost to the Jaguars, 9-6. I repeat:
THE BILLS LOST TO THE JAGUARS, 9-6.
This is a real score in a real game that happened between one of the NFL’s supposed best teams and one of the NFL’s worst teams. The Jaguars closed as 15.5-point home underdogs at Caesars Sportsbook. There have only been six larger upsets since 1990. That’s not a great look for the Bills, who are supposed to be Super Bowl contenders.
Last week, the Bills were tied 3-3 with the lowly Dolphins at halftime before eventually pulling away. That was just a minor blip — a poor half. But now, we really must wonder what’s going on with the Bills, and, more specifically, what is going on with Josh Allen?
Bills fans, avert your eyes. On Sunday, Josh Allen…
- Took four sacks, his most in a loss since 2019
- Had three turnovers for the first time since 2019
That’s bad news, because 2020 was Josh Allen’s breakout year. And Sunday looked a lot like pre-breakout Josh Allen, as NFL expert John Breech noted in his Week 9 grades.
- Breech: “This game was an offensive disaster for the Bills, who simply couldn’t do anything right on that side of the ball on Sunday. Josh Allen looked like he time-traveled and let the 2018 version of himself play in Jacksonville. … This might go down as the most embarrassing loss by any team in 2021.”
It could just be another blip. Buffalo fans better hope so. Meanwhile, The Battle For The Name Josh Allen ended with an unlikely victor. Josh Allen, the Jaguars’ outstanding edge rusher, stole the show against the Bills’ Josh Allen. He became just the second Jaguar ever to have an interception, a sack and a fumble recovery in a single game. The other was Tony Brackens in 1999. Now go impress all your friends with that one, and tell them who sent ya.
Not-so-honorable mention:
- Dak Prescott threw a couple of touchdown passes late against the Broncos to help his stat line look ok, but make no mistake: this was a complete dud. Through three quarters, he had just 79 passing yards. I think it’s worth chalking this one up to just a weird game. It’s one we’ll look back on in a couple of months and wonder “what happened?” — but it certainly warrants a not-so-honorable mention. Here;s more on the Cowboys from our NFL expert Patrik Walker
Titans‘ group effort, Rams‘ sloppiness lead to Sunday Night shocker 😳
When it was announced a week ago that Derrick Henry would miss the rest of the season, the immediate question was “Can the Titans survive this?”
The answer is yes. Listen, no one will “replace” Derrick Henry. No one can really come close. But the best way to minimize the impact of the injury is to get lots of people to step up, not just whoever assumes the running back role. On Sunday night, that’s just what the Titans got as they stunned the Rams in Los Angeles, 28-16.
Here’s a list of just a few of the many players who stepped up:
- Jeffery Simmons, the uber-talented first-round pick from 2019, had three sacks. He had 2.5 all season entering the night. The Titans pressured Matthew Stafford all night.
- Kevin Byard had a pick-six, his fifth interception of the season. Only Trevon Diggs has more this season.
- Adrian Peterson pounded in the game-sealing touchdown less than a week after signing with the team.
- Ryan Tannehill bounced back from an opening-drive interception and had two touchdowns: one through the air and one on the ground.
Meanwhile the Rams were all out of sorts. There were blown assignments aplenty by the offensive line, missed throws by Matthew Stafford and penalties. SO. MANY. PENALTIES. 12 for 115 yards, to be exact. Those 115 yards were the most ever by a Sean McVay-coached team. Yikes.
Patrick Mahomes isn’t fully back, but showed up when the Chiefs needed him 🏈
When the NFL schedule came out back in May, Packers vs. Chiefs in Week 9 looked like a potential game of the year. Instead, we got 20 points combined, a rough first career start from Jordan Love and a still-frustrated Patrick Mahomes.
While the Chiefs’ offense is still a far cry from what we’ve seen the last few years, it was just enough for a 13-7 win. Facing third-and-10 with under two minutes to go, vintage Mahomes did appear.
Here’s more from our NFL expert Cody Benjamin:
- Benjamin: “Mahomes, meanwhile, was erratic once again, barely avoiding another pick while trying desperately to play conservative ball, but he connected on a few important off-script shots late in the contest to seal the win.”
As for the Packers, if they hadn’t had two kicks blocked, we might have been talking about a second straight gritty road win. Instead, they’ll be hoping that Aaron Rodgers can be back sooner rather than later. Because Rodgers is unvaccinated, he can’t even practice until Saturday at the earliest.
Kyle Larson wins 2021 NASCAR Cup Series 🏆
Kyle Larson capped off an outstanding season with his first career Cup Series championship, holding off Martin Truex Jr. Sunday in Phoenix for his 10th win of the season.
The title comes roughly a year-and-a-half after Larson uttered a racial slur during an iRacing event that was held while the NASCAR season was on pause during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Larson was suspended indefinitely and lost all of his sponsors. He was eventually re-instated, and a year later finds himself atop the sport.
On Sunday, Larson gave credit to his crew after the victory, saying he couldn’t have succeeded without them:
- Larson: “There were so many points in this race where I did not think that we were gonna win. And without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing right here. They are the true winners of this race, they are the true champions. I’m just blessed to be a part of this group.”
Best thing I saw on the Internet 😂
Have you ever gone to a sporting event and the seats weren’t quite what you envisioned? Well, don’t complain about it to Ronika Stone and Anna Love, the girlfriend and mom, respectively, of Packers QB Jordan Love.
They were in the very last row of Arrowhead Stadium. Like, you know when you’re on a plane and your descent begins, and you can slowly start to see more and more things — forests, then buildings, then cars — appear? Stone and Love probably felt that way.
Anna Love has never missed one of Jordan’s games, even when he was redshirting as a freshman at Utah State, so she certainly wasn’t going to miss this one… even if her son looked like a tiny speck all the way down on the field. And credit Stone, who smiled through it all as her boyfriend made his first NFL start.
