What We Learned in NFL Week 9: The Dominant Ravens, Josh Dobbs' Heroics, and the McDaniels Question

What We Learned in NFL Week 9: The Dominant Ravens, Josh Dobbs' Heroics, and the McDaniels Question 

Debate among yourselves if you buy the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions as true Super Bowl contenders, but they each sat at 5-2 and atop their respective divisions when they arrived in Baltimore — Detroit in Week 7; Seattle in Week 9. The Baltimore Ravens absolutely demolished them both.

On Sunday, it was a 37-3 romp over the Seahawks in what was supposed to be the marquee matchup of the NFL’s early afternoon slate. Instead, that game was teetering on the brink of a blowout at halftime and turned into a full-scale runaway by the third quarter. Seattle’s offense — which, admittedly, hasn’t been as impressive during the past four weeks as it was to begin this season — mustered all of 151 yards. It had six first downs, one fewer than the number of Ravens' scoring drives.

“It’s great,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “Because as a coach, it’s fulfilling because all the things you work on, all the things the guys work on, you see it transfer onto the field in a game. That’s what you’re excited about because they have success — the guys have success doing things that you want.

“But you also understand that it’s one win. You don’t get credit for more than one win, no matter what the score is. Our job is to stack wins.”

The Ravens are looking pretty good on that front too, having run off four consecutive victories to stand atop a highly competitive AFC North.

One of the other contenders in that division, the Cleveland Browns, bounced back after last week’s loss to those same Seahawks. The big story there was the return of quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had thrown just five passes since Sept. 24 while battling a shoulder injury.

Watson did enough to secure an easy win, but his performance hardly rivaled what new Minnesota Vikings QB Josh Dobbs pulled off in Atlanta or what emerging Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite C.J. Stroud did in a thriller in Houston.

And two of the NFL’s elite teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, scored signature wins to bookend the day — the Chiefs in a Sunday morning ET kick in Germany; the Eagles in a hard-fought victory seen by about 95 percent of the NFL’s national TV audience.

Is Baltimore the NFL’s team to beat?

“We got guys who are hungry on our team,” quarterback Lamar Jackson offered as an explanation for why the Ravens are clicking right now.

Their offense has looked like an absolute juggernaut the past two games at home — those wins against Detroit and now Seattle, with a 31-24 victory at Arizona in between. Jackson did put two fumbles on the deck (and lost one), and receiver Odell Beckham Jr. coughed up another turnover before halftime, but that was about it for the hiccups.

The Ravens’ offense rolled to a season-high 515 yards, including 138 yards rushing on just nine carries by running back Keaton Mitchell and nine grabs for 80 yards from tight end Mark Andrews. Running back Gus Edwards scored twice; Beckham had 56 yards and a TD; tight end Isaiah Likely made four receptions, running back Justice Hill had 40 yards rushing. The list of playmakers just goes on and on, and that’s without even mentioning rookie receiver Zay Flowers, who’s been outstanding but mustered just 11 yards receiving Sunday.

How does a defense stop this group when it’s on? That question is enough of a headache for the opposition, but the Ravens also entered Week 9 with the NFL’s top defense. This team is rolling — and could put a vise grip on the AFC North with back-to-back home games against Cleveland and Cincinnati coming up.

Josh Dobbs, magician

With 52 seconds left and the Vikings down by 4 points, Dobbs dropped to throw on fourth-and-7 and felt almost immediate blindside pressure from Atlanta edge rusher Bud Dupree. Had Dupree finished that sack and clinched an Atlanta win, Dobbs — acquired by Minnesota on Halloween and pressed into duty Sunday when rookie QB Jaren Hall suffered a concussion — would have received well-deserved pats on the back for a job well done.

Instead, the journeyman with 10 career starts and one career win pulled this out of his hat:

Three plays later, Dobbs hit Brandon Powell for what would be the game-winner of a remarkable 31-28 Vikings victory.

Dobbs, an Arizona Cardinal to start the week, finished 20-of-30 for 158 yards and two passing TDs plus 66 yards rushing and another score. His last-minute, fourth-down escape arguably wasn’t even his best scramble of the day — he pulled a Houdini act late in the second quarter to set up a critical Vikings TD.

All this after Dobbs opened his relief appearance by taking a sack for a safety and then fumbling deep in Minnesota territory, leading to an Atlanta field goal (a miserable FG by the Falcons, for what it’s worth, given that Atlanta started on the Minnesota 1.) It was, in short, one of the most impressive and resilient performances — by Dobbs and the Vikings — you’ll ever see, given the circumstances.

The Texans are a lot of fun

It might be time to talk about Houston’s DeMeco Ryans as a Coach of the Year candidate. His quarterback, Stroud, is already threatening to run away with the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Stroud’s line Sunday in a wild 39-37 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 30-of-42 for 470 yards (a single-game rookie record) and five touchdowns, the last of which he delivered to Tank Dell (another dazzling 2023 draft pick) with six seconds left — and just 40 seconds after the Bucs had gone ahead.

This Texans team is far from perfect, as evidenced by last week’s loss to the previously winless Carolina Panthers. But Stroud is playing like the absolute truth under center, and he’s surrounded by a talented young crop of weapons. Four Texans (Noah Brown, Nico Collins, Dalton Schultz and Dell) caught TD passes Sunday, with Dell hauling in two and all but Collins topping 100 yards receiving.

Houston even got a key, fourth-quarter field goal from backup running back Dare Ogunbowale, who was pressed into emergency duty following an injury to primary kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn. (The Texans tried three consecutive two-point conversions after Fairbairn’s injury, converting one.)

Don’t look now, but Houston is suddenly a 4-4 team and just one game back in the AFC wild-card race. Ryans and Stroud are working miracles.

Get ready for Dallas-Philadelphia Round 2 (and 3?)

Don’t answer this if you’re a Cowboys fan, but … how much fun was that?

Even with QB Jalen Hurts banged up, the Eagles held off their rivals for a 28-23 win that gave them control of the NFC East at the season’s midpoint. However, Dallas was within a whisker — multiple times — of flipping the result (or at least sending this game to overtime): Tight end Luke Schoonmaker was ruled down at the two-inch line on what initially appeared to be a touchdown; QB Dak Prescott narrowly stepped out of bounds on a two-point conversion; Philadelphia somehow recovered a fumble

 in the final minute caused by running back D’Andre Swift and receiver A.J. Brown colliding in the backfield.

Then, on the game’s final possession, Dallas advanced to the Philadelphia 6 before sticking it in reverse via a false start, sack and delay of game. Prescott’s final pass, from way back at the 27, was a completion to receiver CeeDee Lamb that came up just a couple of yards short of the end zone.

The Lions, Seahawks, or San Francisco 49ers (if they can get themselves together) might put up an argument, but the Cowboys and Eagles still look like the NFC’s leading contenders. They’ll line it up again on Dec. 10, in Dallas, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if there’s a playoff rematch down the road, too.

Deshaun Watson returns

Watson was healthy enough to play Sunday, and the Browns were wise to let him dip a toe in the water against an Arizona team that’s sprinting toward a two- or three-win season. The upcoming schedule for Cleveland: at Baltimore, Pittsburgh, at Denver (and its resurgent pass rush).

So, it was important to ease Watson back into things, and the Browns definitely didn’t push much early. Watson did connect with receiver Amari Cooper on a 59-yard pass late in the first quarter, but his air yards per attempt — even with that throw to Cooper that traveled about 45 yards before hitting the receiver’s hands — sat around 5.0 near halftime. It landed at 7.0 for the game (still Watson’s lowest of the year), but there were signs of better moments ahead.

Take, for instance, this beauty to Cooper in the fourth quarter:

“I’m not 100 percent,” Watson admitted after the game. “I just came (back) from an injury. … I missed a couple of throws that I want, that I know I can make. Just gotta keep striving, striving to get better each and every opportunity that I get.”

The Browns have the defense and run game to hang in every week, against any opponent. Whether they can be more than just a scrappy, middle-of-the-road, wild-card contender likely hinges on Watson’s ability to be the best QB version of himself. He hasn’t been yet, but perhaps Sunday — and the second half, in particular — will be a start.

Defense wins championships?

While some of you may still have been sleeping Sunday morning (kudos on not having young kids, Daylight Savings is a menace), the Dolphins and Chiefs held a potential AFC title-game preview in Germany. It went right down to the wire, too, with Kansas City holding on for a 21-14 win after Miami botched a fourth-and-10 snap late.

But it was hardly the offensive showcase many would have expected from these two teams, with these coaches (Mike McDaniel and Andy Reid) and these quarterbacks (Tua Tagovailoa and Patrick Mahomes). Both QBs finished with season-low passing totals: 193 from Tagovailoa, 185 from Mahomes — 71 of which came on the game’s opening drive.

Miami even managed to all but take away Travis Kelce, who finished with three receptions for just 14 yards. Reid admitted afterward that he “didn’t get him the ball enough.”

Still, for all the understandable hype that the Mahomes-Kelce-Reid machine generates, a game like this one actually might go further in proving why the defending champs could go back-to-back. Miami entered Week 9 with the league’s most prolific (33.9 points and 453.3 yards per game) and explosive (7.3 yards per play) offense, by wide margins. Sunday, despite playing catch-up all game, Tagovailoa and company mustered 292 yards of offense on 5.0 yards per play.

That’s the third consecutive week Miami has been below 5.5 yards per play, by the way, and McDaniel’s club still has not beaten a team with a winning record. “If you want the narrative to change,” McDaniel said of criticism that the Dolphins can’t beat quality teams, “then change the narrative.”

Increasingly, though, this Chiefs defense looks legit — certainly Super Bowl quality, assuming the offense can be even an average version of itself from here. Kansas City ranked sixth in defensive EPA prior to Week 9 and will climb after Sunday’s performance.

Maybe Josh McDaniels was the problem…

In its first game after firing McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler, the Las Vegas Raiders pummeled a New York Giants team that is semi-unofficially playing for next year — especially after Daniel Jones injured his knee. Raiders receiver Davante Adams (four catches for 34 yards) still isn’t being fed enough, but the Raiders scored the first 27 points nonetheless Sunday en route to a 30-6 win.

For all that’s gone wrong for them this season/decade, the Raiders (4-5) still have life this season. They’ll welcome in the New York Jets next Sunday night, with a shot to get to .500.

Conversely, are the Giants really this bad? “Yes” is the easy answer, apparently, between last week’s epic meltdown against the Jets and this no-show. But, man, that is a bad situation. New York has scored more than 16 points just once this season, in a Week 2 win against Arizona.