NFL midseason grades; NFL, college QB Power Rankings; more UEFA Champions League surprises

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🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to …

OUR NFL MIDSEASON WINNERS

With the NFL’s 17-game, 18-week schedule, Week 9 actually marks the midway point of the season — 138 of the season’s 272 games have been played so far — and as Week 10 gets underway tonight with an enticing Bengals-Ravens matchup, let’s take a look at what’s happened so far.

We’ll start with Jeff Kerr’s midterm grades for every team. Eight squads earned a grade in the “A” range, and three ascended to “A+” territory.

• Lions — “They are the best team in the NFC and the Chiefs‘ biggest threat to a three-peat. They are first in the NFL in points per game, finding ways to score in all three phases of the game.”
• Chiefs — “The Chiefs just appear inevitable at this point.”
• Commanders — “The Commanders have the No. 1 offense in points and yards per possession, thanks to the consistent passing of Jayden Daniels and his ability to open things up in the run game.”

Five teams earned an “F.” Yikes.

Moving from teams to individuals, Pete Prisco released his midseason All-Pro team, with Baltimore’s excellent Lamar Jackson-Derrick Henry duo leading the way.

• Prisco: “Jackson is such a different thrower of the football than he has been in the past. He looks so much calmer doing it, which speaks to his command of the offense. He has 20 touchdown passes and two interceptions … When [the Ravens] signed Henry this offseason, I really wasn’t sure if he would be the same back he was in his prime. He is that and a lot more.”

We also have in-depth team grades for the Cowboys, Patriots and Steelers.

Here’s more:

• Playoff picture and SportsLine playoff projections
• Draft order
• One thing we’ve learned about each team
• Answering biggest questions
• Hot seat rankings
• Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year candidates
• Grading young quarterbacks

👍 Honorable mentions

• The Warriors topped the Celtics, continuing their really strong start to the season. But there was a silver lining for Boston.
• Micah Parsons is optimistic he’ll return this weekend against the Eagles.
• As it turns out, new Steelers linebacker Preston Smith had requested a trade from the Packers.
• Bryce Young will keep starting for the Panthers.
• The Ravens are debuting new helmets tonight, and the Texans have new uniforms and helmets for “Sunday Night Football.”
• Ryan Kalkbrenner had one of the most incredible stat lines you’ll ever see. 
• The John Calipari era at No. 16 Arkansas began with a win over Lipscomb.
• Here’s how Boise State can earn a CFP first-round bye.
• Michigan is loading up big money in an attempt to flip top 2025 quarterback Bryce Underwood.
• Mookie Betts could return to the infield.
• Willson Contreras is moving to first base.
• Get ready for these excellent in-season men’s college basketball tournaments.
• Here’s what super-agent Scott Boras has to say about free agents Juan Soto, Alex Bregman and more.
• Cole Leinart, a 2026 quarterback recruit and the son of Matt Leinart, committed to SMU.

😕 And not such a good morning for …

THE NFL TRADES THAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED

The NFL trade deadline is in the rearview, and we had all day Wednesday to discuss the aftermath.

Now, we can focus on the deals that didn’t happen … but should have. Josh Edwards saw seven moves that would have spiced things up and made sense, including …

• Edwards: “Dolphins DT Calais Campbell to the 49ers — San Francisco has always valued length along the defensive line and few compare to Campbell. There is familiarity between the two teams considering Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel came over from the Bay Area. The 38-year-old is playing on the final year of his contract, but has 2.0 sacks and one forced fumble to his name this season. Javon Hargrave is likely done for the season and Javon Kinlaw is now in the Big Apple. The 49ers are relying on two interior defenders who were not on the roster last season.”

There was speculation some very, very big names would change teams, but Joel Corry explained why that didn’t come to fruition.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

• Trevor Lawrence is dealing with a shoulder injury and is uncertain for this weekend’s game against the Vikings.
• Mike Williams detailed what went wrong between him and Aaron Rodgers.
• Andrew Berry was noncommittal on Deshaun Watson‘s future with the Browns.
• Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider are unlikely to be ready for Opening Day 2025.
• Villanova opened its third season under Kyle Neptune.
• Ace Bailey is dealing with an unspecified injury.

🏈 NFL, College Football QB Power Rankings: Aaron Rodgers on the rise … finally

Let’s not overreact to one game, but a week ago, Aaron Rodgers finally, finally, looked like the guy who arrived to so much fanfare last offseason. After a scoreless first half that looked like things could be completely falling apart for New York, the Jets scored three second-half touchdowns against a strong Texans defense, with Rodgers connecting with Garrett Wilson for two touchdowns and old pal Davante Adams for the winner.

I’m not 100% sold Rodgers is “back” — he’s 40 and won’t ever return to the peak of his powers — or has even put his early-season struggles behind him, but it was as good as he’s looked with Gang Green. As such, Rodgers jumped eight spots from 28th to 20th in Cody Benjamin’s NFL QB Power Rankings, the largest jump of the week. Heading in the other direction, Caleb Williams fell seven spots from 17th to 24th.

Over in the college ranks, the top three — Dillon Gabriel, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders — were all among the top names last week, but there are plenty of newcomers behind them, including a debutant at No. 6.

• Fornelli: “6. Kevin Jennings, SMU — Jennings’ best performance of the season may have come Saturday night against then-undefeated Pitt. Jennings threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns to help the Mustangs crush the Panthers, 48-25. … While not starting the first three games hurts some of his statistics, he still ranks 15th nationally in passing efficiency. That’s not bad for a guy who was seen as a ‘running QB’ coming into the season.”

⚽ UEFA Champions League Matchday 4 takeaways, Team of the Week

UEFA Champions League Matchday 4 came to a close Wednesday, and just like Tuesday, there was plenty of unexpected drama.

Perhaps the headline is Arsenal falling 1-0 to Inter as the cross-happy Gunners were held scoreless again. But the most drama — and the most worry — belongs to PSG, which lost at the death 2-1 to Atletico Madrid.

Angel Correa‘s last-second goal means Les Parisiens have one win, one draw and two losses through four Champions League games, and that puts them outside the top 24 teams that advance to the next stage. Luis Enrique has his work cut out for him, Jonathan Johnson writes.

• Johnson: “Where PSG go next from here is anyone’s guess with Bayern Munich and Red Bull Salzburg on the road next up in Europe before anyone next visits the French capital and having lost to Arsenal and Atleti while being held by PSV Eindhoven puts the Ligue 1 kings in a weak position. … Paris are now teetering on the brink of an embarrassing elimination in the League Phase which was previously unthinkable regardless of a tricky-looking fixture list when the draw was first made which still includes Manchester City at home.”

We talked yesterday about Liverpool‘s impressive performance, and the Reds put three players — Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones — on Pardeep Cattry’s Champions League Team of the Week. (Also making the team was a USMNT striker!)

So after a wild, entertaining two days, the top five of Chuck Booth’s Power Rankings looks like this:

1. Liverpool (previous: 2)
2. Barcelona (3)
3. Inter (7)
4. Manchester City (1)
5. Arsenal (5)

📺 What we’re watching Thursday

🏀 Timberwolves at Bulls, 8 p.m. on NBA TV
🏈 App State at Coastal Carolina, 8 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Bengals at Ravens, 8:15 p.m. on Prime Video