Week 9 of the NFL season is in the books, and a handful of the more notable NFC teams — the Cowboys, Giants, and 49ers — had byes. We do have one rather big obituary this week, the Green Bay Packers.
Obituary
Packers (3-6): There might be some hesitancy in killing off the Packers after only nine games on the premise that they have Aaron Rodgers and might eventually figure some things out. Nope. On the field this team sucks. Off the field they're a dysfunctional mess. They've lost five straight games, and on Sunday they only scored 9 points against the worst defense in the NFL. I've seen enough. They're done.
Every week Aaron Rodgers puts blame on his teammates, and in every ensuing game he doesn't play well. On Sunday, he was traaaasssshhh. Pick No. 1:
What could he be screaming about there? Lol.
Pick No. 2:
- MORE ON THE EAGLES
- Post Flight: Eagles remain the NFL's lone undefeated team
- Report: Colts fire head coach and former Eagles OC Frank Reich
- John McMullen: Eagles equipped to handle Philly spotlight after Phillies, Union losses
Of course, if you'll recall, Rodgers recently said that players who are making mistakes should be benched. Quarterbacks that encourage younger players to be better — or work behind the scenes with them to help them correct their mistakes — are leaders. Guys that go on the Pat McAfee Show and blame teammates for losses are losers. There's a case to be made that Rodgers is the most talented quarterback ever. The fact that he only has one Super Bowl win, a long time ago no less, despite being surrounded by very good rosters, is beginning to make a lot more sense.
In addition to the awful loss in Detroit, the Packers also suffered some major injuries. Rashan Gary tore an ACL, and a bunch of other starters were in walking boots and/or on crutches after the game:
Those guys must feel like the injured soldiers in Platoon who get to go home because they're wounded.
And by the way, the Packers' next three opponents are the Cowboys, Titans, and Eagles, a trio of rare good teams in the NFL this season. The Packers' season may not yet have hit rock bottom.
Graveyard
Hierarchy
12) Cardinals (3-6): The Cardinals' panic trade for Robbie Anderson a few weeks ago is aging badly. In three games, Anderson has 1 catch for -4 yards on 7 targets. On Sunday, he had this drop on 3rd and 4 near the end of the first half.
Next play:
That's the kind of sequence that can cost games, and the Cardinals have had those types of moments all season. They're only still alive because the NFC West is not the division many thought it would be.
Last week: 13
11) Saints (3-6): It's beginning to make more sense why Alvin Kamara was rumored to be available for trade at the deadline.
Kamara made the Pro Bowl in each of his first five seasons in the NFL, including (laughably) in 2021 when he carried 240 times for 898 yards (3.7 YPC), and 4 TDs, with 47 catches for 439 yards (9.3 YPC) and 5 TDs.
In 2022, Kamara hasn't looked the same, like he is going down more easily than he has in the past. And sure enough, here are Kamara's broken tackle numbers over his career, via pro-football-reference.com (they only go back to 2018):
| Alvin Kamara | Touches | Broken tackles | Touches per broken tackle |
| 2018 | 275 | 28 | 9.8 |
| 2019 | 252 | 39 | 6.5 |
| 2020 | 270 | 35 | 7.7 |
| 2021 | 287 | 25 | 11.5 |
| 2022 | 140 | 9 | 15.6 |
He's breaking a tackle once every 15.6 touches. He's not the same guy that he was over the first half decade of his career.
Last week: 12
10) Rams (3-5): Cooper Kupp on Sunday against the Buccaneers: 9 targets, 8 receptions, 127 yards, 1 TD.
The rest of the Rams' targets in the passing game: 17 targets, 5 catches, 38 yards, 0 TD.
Once the Bucs got Kupp under control, the Rams had no other answers. Here were their fourth quarter drives:
- 3 plays, -1 yard, punt
- 3 plays, -7 yards (all three plays lost yardage), punt
- 3 plays, 6 yards, punt
- 1 play (2 if you count a false start), bunch of laterals, end of game
Four drives, zero first downs, total time of possession: 4:02. Their offense sucks.
Last week: 7
9) Falcons (4-5): The Falcons and Chargers have probably given away more winnable games than any other teams in NFL history. If this play from Sunday doesn't sum up these organizations to a T, I don't know what would.
Last week: 9
8) Commanders (4-5): The Commanders had a streak of three straight very ugly wins over the Bears, Packers, and Colts heading into Sunday, and they almost picked up a fourth, thanks to the back judge.
Last week: 8
7) Buccaneers (4-5): Of all the human emotions, I think relief is way up there.
Last week: 11
6) 49ers (4-4): The 49ers don't play a true road game again until the weekend before Christmas.
•Week 10: Chargers
•Week 11: Cardinals (in Mexico)
•Week 12: Saints
•Week 13: Dolphins
•Week 14: Buccaneers
They should be healthy coming out of their bye, and they're lucky the NFC sucks so badly that they would have a wildcard berth if the season ended today. Still, I believe this is the Eagles' biggest playoff threat because of YAC monsters like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle, coupled with the Eagles' tackling concerns.
Bold prediction: The Niners will not only overtake the Seahawks for the NFC West title, they will also land the No. 2 seed over the Vikings.
Last week: 6
5) Giants (6-2): Who ya got?
2022 NFL Head Coach of the Year
Last week: 5
4) Seahawks (6-3): Kenneth Walker's game log since he became the Seahawks' full-time starter:
| Kenneth Walker | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Cardinals | 21 | 97 | 4.6 | 1 |
| Chargers | 23 | 167 | 7.3 | 2 |
| Giants | 18 | 51 | 2.8 | 1 |
| Cardinals | 26 | 109 | 4.2 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 88 | 424 | 4.8 | 6 |
On Sunday against the Cardinals, Walker got a lot of carries and a lot of tough yards. I don't know that this running style will allow him to have a long career, but for now he's a beast.
If there was one team that I had dead wrong this season, it's Seattle. I thought that they had an outside chance of picking first in the 2023 NFL Draft. Instead they're in the driver's seat in a division that many thought was stacked before the start of the season.
Last week: 4
3) Cowboys (6-2): If you omit when the Cowboys and Eagles play each other, the Cowboys actually have an easier schedule than the Eagles the rest of the season, by the tiniest of fractions.
| Cowboys | Eagles |
| At Packers (3-6) | Commanders (4-5) |
| At Vikings (7-1) | At Colts (3-5-1) |
| Giants (6-2) | Packers (3-6) |
| Colts (3-5-1) | Titans (5-3) |
| Texans (1-6-1) | At Giants (6-2) |
| At Jaguars (3-6) | At Bears (3-6) |
| At Titans (5-3) | Saints (3-6) |
| At Commanders (4-5) | Giants (6-2) |
| TOTAL: 32-34-2 (0.485) | TOTAL: 33-35-1 (0.486) |
Of course, if you include when the Eagles and Cowboys play each other, the Cowboys' schedule is harder.
Last week: 3
2) Vikings (7-1): Speaking of strength of schedules, the Vikings have only beaten one team with a winning record, and that was the Tua-less Dolphins. Six of their seven wins have been by one score or less, and those were against a lot of bad teams. Credit them for finding a way to win those games when they have lost them in the past, but the string of easy opponents is over. Their next four games:
- Week 10: At Bills (6-2)
- Week 11: Cowboys (6-2)
- Week 12: Patri*ts (5-4)
- Week 13: Jets (6-3)
Last week: 2
1) Eagles (8-0): As a follow-up to the NFL's stat leaderboards being littered with Eagles (as we showed on Monday), if the season ended today (it doesn't), double-digit Eagles players would have very strong cases for Pro Bowl and/or All Pro consideration: QB Jalen Hurts, WR A.J. Brown, TE Dallas Goedert, C Jason Kelce, RT Lane Johnson, LB Haason Reddick, DT Javon Hargrave, CB Darius Slay, CB James Bradberry, and S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
Last week: 1
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