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We could very well end up remembering Week 9 as the Sunday of separation in the NFC, a week in which a series of contending teams have emerged as legitimate threats to advance in a deep and dangerous trust. The afternoon's mark match between the Saints and Rams in New Orleans. Drew Brees and Co. have convincingly defeated the last unbeaten NFL team.
You can find out more about the The Saints' own statement wins hereBut now, let's look at the second group of NFC candidates that has intensified and made some statements about its interest in arguing this week.
Minnesota Vikings
The situationAfter a brutal defeat by the Saints, Minnesota hosted the Lions in a crucial division match, while trying to get the star players back on both sides of the ball.
How did they manage it?: The Vikings ran well, went pretty well and offended the Detroit attack for the 24-9 win.
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Greater strength: A talent-packed defense that has struggled in the first half of the season and now looks set to take flight at the end of the road thanks to the return of Everson Griffen. Danielle Hunter has been exceptional in recent weeks. The Vikings also have a week off at the right time. The Vikings are perhaps the most complete team in the NFL when they play well on both sides of the ball and they showed it on Sunday.
Greater weaknessMinnesota's offensive line is not up to scratch, but hopefully the race will improve after Dalvin Cook, who has accumulated more than 100 yards in 14 hits, including a nice 70-yard run. It is not out of the question to expect that he will be healthy after departure.
At 5-3-1, Minnesota will take a break and then play a series of games. Three of the next four games are on the road, including 11th in Chicago, 13th in New England and 14th in Seattle. . Respite at home? Week 12 against a team of Packers who could play for his life in the playoffs. This stretch could decide the season, but sweeping the Bears would put them in shape.
Carolina Panthers
The situation: Major stain for the Panthers, who crushed the Ravens last week and stayed at home against a dubious Buccaneers team with a terrific defense and a lively offensive during his quarter-quarter change of the season. The Panthers have the Steelers on the road next Thursday too, so it was also a place of choice.
How did they manage it?: The Panthers came out and crushed the Bucs early before finally staying at 42-28 and going 6-2.
The greatest strengths: Right now, it's Cam Newton. The top ranked player completes 75% of his pbades for the second straight week, for a 19-over-25 performance with 247 yards and two touchdowns. He has what Greg Olsen rightly called the Newton's best weapon group had since the close ended arrived in Carolina.
Greater weakness: Oddly enough, the defense has been a problem for the Panthers, although they are starting to get in shape. The Tampa attack is legitimate and scores points – Carolina must generate more pressure in front if she wants to hang out with teams like the Saints and Rams.
Caroline has four five of his games on the road, including this Thursday in Pittsburgh. After that, they receive the saints twice in three weeks.
Chicago Bears
The situation: Mitchell Trubisky scoring 10 points and going to play in the top 10 defensemen on the road in a game that the Bears had to win to keep pace in the division and to do without Khalil Mack in defense.
How did they manage it?: The Bears dropped a 40-burger on the Bills and have never been close to not winning or not to cover.
Greater strength: Mack, who made Vic Fangio's defense one of the best in the NFL. The Bears' preoccupation with this defense, which has been extremely good this season, is depth. But they forced Nathan Peterman to spend 49 times (!) Sunday, which is obviously not an ideal recipe for success. The defense scored twice in the first period, which would have been enough to win alone.
Greater weakness: Trubisky, who still has his moments when he looks completely off and starts running. Perhaps he can continue to grow with the seasons. This game may not be an ideal way to watch Trubisky: it's on the road, against a dangerous defense, in a situation where the Bears wanted to accumulate points and get out of Dodge.
The Bears have just won 2-2 against AFC East (you take that even though it should have been 3-1) and now have three consecutive division games, Lions and Vikings visiting Soldier Field. A long series of three games, but they have the chance to catch the Lions a little injured twice in three games.
Atlanta Falcons
The situation: Off the Bye, go to a dangerous Washington defense, needing a win to reach .500 and keep the hope of a running series run.
How did they manage it?The Falcons went to the top on the Redskins, with Matt Ryan rushing for 350 yards and four TDs.
Greater strength: Ryan, who is on a better pace than his MVP season at this stage. Atlanta will have to win at the attack because his defense has suffered too much injury to really be the dominant unit we thought we could do this season. Thanks to Dan Quinn for not giving up when things flew south. Atlanta is now back in the playoff race.
Greater weakness: This defense can give points to explosive teams, and everyone in the south of the NFC is extremely explosive. The Redskins do not seem to be very explosive.
The Falcons must win the next two weeks (Browns, Cowboys), as the Saints, Ravens, Packers and Panthers remain on schedule.
We are not talking here about Washington (lost), Philly (goodbye) or Dallas (Monday night), but it's obvious that these three teams also deserve our attention.
Ring the horn
The millennial generation will not remember it, but in the early 2000s, the explosion of receivers throughout the diva created this incredible series of touchdown celebrations. Terrell Owens and my lad, Chad Ochocinco, were the leaders of the madness on the ground, but many other recipients got involved. The culmination of the NFL crackdown at the celebrations may well have been the Saints receiver, Joe Horn, who hid a cell phone in the goal post and pulled it out after scoring a touchdown. It was a shooting moment that nobody would ever look at would forget.
Current Saints receiver Michael Thomas celebrated on Sunday a celebration to pay homage to Horn, putting a flip phone to the old school in the goal post and shooting him after pbading 200 yards on a 72-yard touchdown this gave the Saints a 10-point lead.
Discover the combo of celebrations here:
Thomas has apparently put a ton of work into this celebration.
Michael Thomas decided this morning to celebrate cell phones. These phones were in both padding of goal posts. I did not want to say what time he or someone should arrive at the Dome to pitch the phones. He went to a "liquor store" to find a rocking phone.
– Larry Holder (@LarryHolder) November 5, 2018
But Troy Aikman rebuked him aggressively, which cost the Saints 15 yards in a critical match. You can argue that it was not the smartest move in the world at the time, but it was really fun, and the Saints won anyway. Expect a fine and be happy not to have to worry about it this week.
Frightened coaching
The Broncos have entered Sunday in the favorites at home and need a win to keep the hopes of the AFC wild card alive. They left Sunday a team of 3 to 6 that could have been broken after Brandon McManus missed a potential goal of 51 yards. Do not block everything on McManus' leg – Vance Joseph deserves a lot of criticism for being scared off by a coach in the final minutes of the game.
Denver recovered the ball 14 with 3 minutes and 40 seconds in advance. Not the ideal situation, but enough time for Case Keenum to move the ball and score a touchdown or make their way within McManus's reach. For some reason, the Broncos waited until the fourth part of the training to strengthen their attack without a hitch. They played six games, got a first goal and advanced the ball to their own 40-yard line while taking the score at 1:40.
The Broncos finally crossed the midfield with 40 seconds to go in the match, after getting up against a goal of 25 and turning a pair of fourths. In other words, it was an extremely inefficient use of the clock.
It's getting worse. After a 18-yard pbad between Keenum and Emmanuel Sanders in fourth and eighth place for shooting inside the Broncos field, Joseph used his second timeout in 43 seconds. The credit is due to Keenum: he managed a colossal pbad while the Texans were under pressure and Sanders was doubled.
via the NFL game
But Keenum also looked confused after the game – he was throwing the attack to the ball and Joseph was trapping the time. The delay is ok if you want to be aggressive and try to earn more yards. The peak is however better if you try to get closer.
Keenum then completed a five-yard pbad to Jeff Heuremann … and the Broncos left 30 seconds behind their time before pbading Philip Lindsay in the middle for a 1 minute loss and a final save with three seconds to do. This game call makes the waiting time even more weird. It's almost as if Joseph was petrified, that his team could not stop the stopwatch late and refused to use the timeout to save time instead of just stopping for the last one match.
Venezuelan was already at the center of the defense against DVOA and the Broncos did not run very well. Still, Joseph made a hurry call just before the two-minute warning at the end of the match (they did not have a first) and then ran the ball over the last game before attempting the kick. What he should have done is let Keenum throw in both places.
"We were in the area and time was running out, so we want to go to center for B-Mac," said Joseph after the match. "Our line was on the 35th, we were there, so it was time to kick the ball."
McManus is a good kicker and the air is lean in Denver, which facilitates long kicks. But – and this should not be a novelty for professional coaches – it's easier to score a goal on the pitch the closer you are to the goal zone.
McManus had also kicked 62 yards and the wind was extremely windy throughout the match. No longer having distance and just kicking was just silly. Bill O-Brien seemed to think so too, although he later denied having said what amateur readers thought they had done.
Are there any readers able to decipher what Bill O. Brien says after the failure of Joseph Vance's glaze attempt and that Texans get 3 points before half? pic.twitter.com/MzvoHmz5Kj
– Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) November 5, 2018
Joseph also scored points in his first half when he attempted the 62-yard free-kick with McManus. After the failure, the Texans had an excellent position on the field and managed to score their own goal. That would be the difference in the game.
"McManus has been really good for us, and halfway is on me," said Joseph after the match. "I was trying to become greedy there and get three more points."
His mismanagement of the clock could cost him his job tomorrow.
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