Every week in the NFL season brings a host of new questions … and answers some old ones, too. Let’s run down what we learned in Week 9 … and what we’ll be wondering about in Week 10 and beyond.
ASKED: Can Drake Maye lead the Patriots … eventually?
Look, say what you will about Tom Brady’s tenure in New England — six Super Bowl rings, all-time GOAT, yadda yadda — the man could never scramble like this:
That’s Drake Maye giving himself enough time to make and eat an entire sandwich in the backfield while his receivers scramble to get separation from the Tennessee secondary. And it worked! The Patriots managed to force overtime with a zeroes-on-the-clock touchdown. That’s a noteworthy and heady performance from a rookie in just his fifth NFL game.
Of course, he followed that up by slinging a deep ball into double coverage to kill the Patriots’ hopes in overtime, but hey … baby steps. Maye’s numbers on the day weren’t spectacular — 206 yards and two INTs in addition to that touchdown — but the presence of mind he displayed on that do-or-die final regulation play ought to give Patriots fans at least a touch of hope. There’s not much else out there. New England has already lost seven games, a dubious mark they only reached once in the Brady/Belichick era, during Brady’s second year as a starter. But with a reliable quarterback, all things are possible … and Maye laid down the start of a solid foundation on Sunday.
ANSWERED: The Cowboys are cashed
Beating up on Dallas for being overrated at this point is like complaining that the Christmas season starts too early … it doesn’t matter what any of us (or all of us) say, the inevitable keeps happening. Also inevitable: Dallas’ face-plant, extending that Years Since A Super Bowl clock by another season. Sunday, in what could and should have been at least a competitive game against the Falcons, Dallas looked lost and overmatched. You don’t turn over the ball on downs four different times if you’re adequately prepared, motivated and coached.
Things aren’t looking good for Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys coaching staff right about now. When you’ve got the most expensive player in NFL history on your roster, you ought to be known for more than just taking up prime broadcast windows. (Still four more this season!) Dallas has games upcoming against Philadelphia, Houston and Washington, meaning the 3-5 Cowboys could be at eight losses by the time of their Thanksgiving game against the Giants. Talk about a matchup that’ll make you pitch your turkey.
ASKED: Seriously, what the hell is up with the Bengals?
In successive weeks, Cincinnati has gotten blown out by Philadelphia and absolutely waxed Las Vegas. The talent spread between the Eagles and Raiders is not 37 points, so what’s the story with the Bengals? Are they a good team with occasional bad stretches, or a bad team that rises to the occasion every so often? I’d lean to the latter, with Joe Burrow a reliable delivery system to a rotating series of guest stars — this week, it was Chase Brown (120 yards rushing) and Mike Gesicki (100 yards receiving, two touchdowns).
Cincinnati has won three of its last four and seems like a team that’s figuring things out. Still, the Bengals have as nasty of a prove-it stretch as anyone in the NFL over the next three games: at Baltimore, at the Chargers, vs. Pittsburgh. At 4-5, their season isn’t yet done, but it could be before November’s out.
ANSWERED: Jameis Winston is not the answer in Cleveland
When you’re down deep in a hole, you’ll grasp onto anything that looks like a rope, even if it’s dental floss. That’s where Cleveland is right now in the post-Deshaun Watson phase of the season. When you’re looking to Jameis Winston for salvation, well, strap in … you’re going for a ride. Sometimes it’s exhilarating, like last week’s upset win over Baltimore, and sometimes it’s a slowly-unfolding nightmare, like Sunday’s loss to the Chargers.
Winston has a phenomenal talent for completing passes, but unfortunately a significant number of those completions go to the other team. He threw three interceptions on Sunday against the Chargers, bringing his career total into the triple digits. Fortunately for Cleveland, the Chargers punted on each of the three successive possessions; unfortunately for Cleveland, the Chargers still won 27-10. Oh, and there’s this: Winston still has a long way to go before he catches Brett Favre’s career record of 336 interceptions. But with a little grit and a little gumption, Winston will get there.
ASKED: Did the Washington Hail Mary break the Bears?
Rebounding from a devastating, possibly season-altering defeat isn’t easy, but still, you’d like to see a better effort than the Chicago Bears put forth on Sunday against Arizona. Once again, the Bears allowed a brutal last-second touchdown, in this case off a 53-yard run from Emeri Demercado in the final ticks of the first half. That touchdown put Arizona up 21-9 at halftime, and Chicago would not score again.
Hail Mary goat (not GOAT) Tyrique Stevenson sat out early in Sunday’s game, but the Bears coaches were still very much present, and that’s enough to make many Chicago fans wonder whether this team’s headed in anything close to the right direction. A gift awaits this week — the New England Patriots — before three straight crucial division games against Green Bay, Minnesota and Detroit. If Chicago wants to shrug off the lingering effects of Jayden Daniels, now would be the time.
ANSWERED: The Philadelphia Eagles have gotten their act together
This time last year, Philadelphia was deep in the midst of a 10-1 run to start the season, looking a whole lot like a team ready to make noise in the playoffs. The Eagles finished the season on a 1-5 skid and vanished quickly from the scene. This year’s model has shaken off early injuries to post a four-game winning streak that would have the 6-2 Eagles atop the NFC East were it not for the 7-2 Commanders.
Now, they’ve got a healthy roster capable of winning games, and a running back capable of doing … whatever the hell this was:
And also a wide receiver capable of this madness:
Granted, that four-win streak has come against the Browns, Giants, Bengals and Jaguars, not exactly a playoff-bound quartet. And Nick Sirianni continues to make some questionable coaching decisions that will, in fact, come back to bite Philly. But for the moment, the Eagles appear to have shaken off the ghosts of 2023.
ASKED: Bryce Young or 2025 QB1?
We’re a long way out from the 2025 NFL draft, but not so far out that we can’t start predicting who will be in the hunt for the top seed. At the moment, the New England Patriots have the “lead,” but they seem fairly set at QB with Maye. Near the top of the heap: the Carolina Panthers, who will have to reckon with whether to take a quarterback — say, Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward or Quinn Ewers — with their first pick, or stick with Bryce Young.
Just kidding! Of course the Panthers are going to take a quarterback. Young is a meal sent back to the kitchen; you can try to gussy it up and send it back out there, but you probably just need to start over. Young might get a few more starts to see if he can build a resume for elsewhere, but his window for being the man in Carolina has closed and is getting painted shut.
ANSWERED: Fine, Arizona isn’t terrible
It’s remarkable how the NFL schedule always seems to set up so that no team has to go very long without facing a put-up-or-shut-up game. In the crab pot that is the NFC West, Arizona has somehow managed to climb to the top thanks to a three-game winning streak and early-season defeats of the Rams and an injury-ridden San Francisco. Now, the Cardinals get Seattle in two of the next four weeks, and just like that, the forgotten Cardinals might just be running the show in the division. Sunday’s walloping of the Bears was a necessary data point; Chicago, for all its faults, is still a potentially dangerous team, and the Cardinals locked down the Bears, 29-9. We’re still not sold on a Kyler Murray-led offense, but the Cardinals are doing the best thing possible in a crowded NFC playoff field — win the dang division and you can skip any wild-card drama entirely.