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Trending 📉 📈 after NFL’s Week 9, plus the continued decline of the Cowboys, Saints

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Of course, I won’t let you begin the week without rewatching Saquon Barkley’s best impression of Bruce Lee.

Below: Bills lead our risers, Joe Flacco’s Colts fall and we take a brief look at the NFC North. Let’s unpack a busy Sunday.

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We’ll start in Buffalo, where Josh Allen continued his MVP candidacy during a 30-27 win against the Dolphins.

His three-touchdown performance vaulted the 28-year-old higher in the Bills record books. His 184 career passing touchdowns passed Joe Ferguson (181) yesterday and now rank behind only Jim Kelly (237). Even more impressive: His 56 rushing touchdowns are behind only O.J. Simpson (57) and Thurman Thomas (65) on Buffalo’s list. Remember, this is just his seventh season.

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Of course, his stats come second to the 7-2 Bills’ Super Bowl push. Having a four-game AFC East lead over the second-place Jets (3-6) helps.

Other Week 9 risers/fallers:

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📈 Ravens firepower. The Broncos began Week 9 with the NFL’s top-ranked defense (per TruMedia’s EPA per play). But the 6-3 Ravens punched a Derrick Henry-sized hole in that unit, winning 41-10. Lamar Jackson posted his second perfect passer rating of the year, while Henry had 106 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Zay Flowers had 127 yards and two touchdowns. If this game taught us anything, it’s that no one can shut down Baltimore’s offense.

📈 7-2 Commanders. Sure, it was the Giants. But to see Jayden Daniels and company barely miss a beat without their starting running back (Brian Robinson Jr. was inactive with a hamstring injury) was impressive. Austin Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols and practice-squad call-up Chris Rodriguez Jr. combined for 114 yards rushing, enough to ice a 27-22 win in New York.

📈 Saquon Barkley. Yes, he did more than the already legendary hurdle. His 30 touches, 199 yards and two touchdowns push him further up the board for Offensive Player of the Year, and his 6-2 Eagles sit firmly in contention for the NFC crown. They’ll need him, especially if A.J. Brown’s knee injury is serious. And no, this was not a fumble.

📈 Big-name ejections. Even Tom Brady questioned the call on Lions S Brian Branch, who was ejected for this helmet-to-helmet hit:

Reminder: Targeting does not normally result in an ejection. Branch responded with double birds for the Green Bay crowd.

In Seattle, Rams WR Puka Nacua was forced to leave the game for throwing this punch in retaliation after an opponent’s push:

His ejection cost fantasy teams everywhere, but the 4-4 Rams won anyway, winning on the road against the division-rival Seahawks 26-20 in overtime.

📈 NFC’s Wild West. It’s the closest division in football! Since an 0-2 start, Sean McVay’s unit is 4-2 and back in playoff contention. The once 3-0 Seahawks now have a losing record (4-5). In Arizona, the division leader’s 1-3 start is moot after a convincing 29-9 win over Chicago to move to 5-4.

Wildest of all: The 49ers (4-4) have the division’s only positive point differential but sit third in the standings.

📈 Chargers defense. If Cleveland legend Lebron James was counting Jameis Winston’s interceptions against a team from his current city, he’d say something like “not one, not two,” but three turnovers in the 27-10 L.A. win. Winston also took six sacks, and the Bolts moved to 5-3, tying their win total for all of 2023.

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One note on the L.A. defense: They are quietly allowing an NFL-low 12.6 points per game. For context, the only season-long performance near that mark in the past 20 years is the 2006 Ravens defense (12.7). That Baltimore unit ranks as one of the best defenses in NFL history.

Two other risers: The Lions, and the odds we see a coaching change in Chicago. More on both below, but first — fallers.

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📉 “Win-now” Colts. Losing to a tough Vikings team last night is understandable. The problem is how they lost, with Joe Flacco struggling in their worst offensive performance of the year, days after benching Anthony Richardson. This tweet summarizes the vibe:

📉 Home-field advantage? With the Giants’ loss to Washington, they are now 0-5 at MetLife Stadium this season. The division-rival Cowboys are the only other winless home team (0-3), though they can blame the infamous mid-day facility tours.

📉 Cowboys. Sitting at 3-5 is alone cause for concern, but a mid-game injury to the highest-paid player in NFL history may be the bigger story in Dallas. We could see trainers examining Dak Prescott’s bloodied hand, but he was ruled out with a hamstring injury. “I felt something pull. I felt something I’ve never felt,” said Prescott post-game. Latest here.

📉 Faith in Derek Carr. The Saints 23-22 loss to the 2-7 Panthers made Carr the first quarterback in NFL history to lose to 31 different teams. (His former Raiders could be No. 32 in Week 17.) But a loss is nothing new for the Carr family:

He also threw a hospital ball, which led to another concussion for star WR Chris Olave. The Saints, who are 0-7 since Week 2, fired Dennis Allen this morning.

📉 Antonio Pierce’s staff. After a 41-24 loss to the Bengals (during which Desmond Ridder played QB), Las Vegas fired OC Luke Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg and QB coach Rich Scangarello. It’s a bye-week overhaul for the 2-7 Raiders, who rank 28th in offensive DVOA and are averaging just 18.7 points (26th) and 4.6 yards per play (29th). Full story here.

Below, we’ll look at the best division in football. First, a note from Dianna:

What Dianna’s Hearing: Detroit looks for an edge — and probably found him

The Lions have been in the market for an edge rusher ever since Aidan Hutchinson went down with a season-ending injury three weeks ago.

According to conversations with multiple sources from around the league, it seems they have their guy: Cleveland’s Za’Darius Smith. Expect to see the 32-year-old on the field when the Lions visit Houston on Sunday night.

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Of course, trade chatter across the NFL is going to heat up with Week 9 (almost entirely) in the books and the trade deadline about 30 hours away.

Back to you, Jacob.

NFC North: Detroit remains on top 

There’s only one division in which every team is above .500. It’s also the only group where all four teams have positive point differentials. Below, one note on each team in the dominant NFC North:

📈 7-1 Lions: While their defense adds reinforcements, their offense is nearly perfect. With more touchdowns (28) than incompletions (24) since Week 2, their point differential (+110) is more than double that of 7-0 KC (+50). Despite the rain, Jared Goff posted his third-straight completion percentage above 80 while winning in Green Bay 24-14. They can win anywhere.

📈 6-2 Vikings: As Alec Lewis notes in his postgame takeaways, it’s the Sam Darnold experience in Minny. The good: Darnold was 28-of-34, for 290 passing yards and three touchdowns in the win over Indy. The bad: two interceptions and a fumble. They’ll take a 6-2 record, especially with room for improvement.

📉 6-3 Packers: Jordan Love’s league-leading 10th interception was this inexcusable pick-six that looked like something we’d expect from Will Levis, not the second-highest paid player in NFL history. They’re much further behind Detroit than their 6-3 record suggests.

📉 4-4 Bears: Mike Sando’s Pick Six column explains the situation perfectly: “Chicago is a sub-average team with victories over teams that were struggling at the time: Tennessee in the opener, the Rams in Week 4, the Panthers and Jaguars thereafter.” The big question: Is Caleb Williams’ development at stake? He finished with six sacks, zero touchdowns and a 53.7 completion percentage. The offensive line and coaching staff are doing him no favors.

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(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

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