2018-19 NFL (Weeks 9 & 10)

Week 9
Games I watched (some of):
Raiders 3-34 Niners
Dang, Raiders made NFL debut of 4th string QB Nick Mullens a memorable one. That dude was great! Raiders D is just awful, Derek Carr looks utterly lost out there, the Raiders don't do anything well, Gruden's return is reminding me a lot of Hue Jackson's exit. The Raiders have future considerations, the Niners are just killing tim til they get their franchise QB back next year. 

Falcons 38-24 Redskins
A little surprised to see the Falcons looking so comfortable on grass, especially the defense, but they kept making plays. The Redskins are an up/down team and they were down today, still hanging around in the East but I still expect the Eagles to take the division.

Rams 35-45 Saints
Fun game! Back and forth, Saints fumbled, felt that was gonna make all the difference, Rams miss on the fake FG (uhh, I thought he got it, not sure why he got such an unfriendly spot), and suddenly its NO's game all over again. The Rams made a game of it in the 2nd half, but Saints stole it late like always. Homefield could make all the difference if/when these teams meet in the playoffs.

Packers 17-31 Pats
Loved the Pats going high tempo early, thought they'd do a little more of that (it was successful). Dug the way the Packers hung around, though. Close game til the Packers had a 4th quarter fumble and that was all the Pats needed to pull ahead. Pats are good but not great, Packers can be good but are mostly mediocre.


Results (surprising):
Steelers 24-17 Ravens
I should not have been surprised but I really thought the Ravens would move the ball on the Steeler D. The Steelers have moments on D and that offense can always get hot but I'm not sold on this Steelers squad, I think the Chiefs and Chargers (and Colts, maybe Pats) can beat them.


Other results (not surprising):
Bills 9-41 Bears
Trubisky has a habit of piling up numbers on sloppy teams. Bills D is solid, but the O-line (still!) is the ongoing problem.

Chiefs 37-21 Browns
The Chiefs scoring points, the Browns not keeping up (but scoring some because the Chiefs D is pretty sorry), yeah, totally predictable, one of those games that was exactly what you thought was gonna happen.

Jets 6-13 Dolphins
Dolphins are better than the Jets, division teams are either the hardest or the easiest, this was one of those easiest games. With the Ravens and Bengals mailing it in, feels like the Dolphins could hang around the playoff race but I figure the Chargers and Titans/Texans snag the wild cards. The Jets suck.

Lions 9-24 Vikings
I still believe the Vikings are one of the best teams in the NFC and could be ready to stun the Rams or Saints or Eagles in the post-season. The Lions kinda seem like they're getting better but not really...which is what the Lions have kinda always been, right?

Bucs 28-42 Panthers
Bucs can score...but rarely more than the other team. The Panthers are really good when they put their minds to it, gonna be a tough out in the playoffs.

Texans 19-17 Broncos
Still not sure about the Texans, at their best they look pretty good but still not scary. But a W at Denver is another nice win for them. The Broncos are in a tail spin, that D is still good enough to play spoiler but they're out of the playoff hunt.

Chargers 25-17 Seahawks
I definitely underestimated the Chargers, they just keep chugging along, look like they can beat anybody on any given Sunday, I'm skeptical of them in the post-season, but they look well on their way to getting there--finishing ahead of the Chiefs is still on the table. I've been way more impressed with the Seahawks, too, great QB and good coach can keep a team alive, I reckon.

Titans 28-14 Cowboys
The Titans are on the high side of mediocre, the Cowboys on the lower. This result seemed about right to me.


Week 10

Games I watched (some of):
Panthers 21-52 Steelers
This game was already ridiculously out of hand before I turned it on, but this score wasn't that shocking. When the Panthers don't got it, they pack it in quick; when the Steelers are feeling it, they can run it up on anyone. So that's what happened.

Saints 51-14 Bengals
I was impressed with the Saints. You see that score and you'd probably assume there were defensive plays and special teams and turnovers, etc., but not really; the Saints just scored every time they touched the ball, their offense was absolutely flawless.

Pats 10-34 Titans
Titans came out ready to play, jumped on the Pats early and kept them discombobulated (think we've seen the secret to beating the Pats, right? Score early), and looked good doing it. Titans are a pretty-good team and the Pats have regular missteps, the sheer dominance was eye-opening but the result isn't that shocking.

Cowboys 27-20 Eagles
Just kept waiting for the Eagles to step up and take the W but they did not. The Cowboys looked pretty good on both sides, why don't they look like that more often? I still think the Eagles win the division but time is running out.


Results (surprising):
Bills 41-10 Jets
Jets suck, man. Yup, even worse than the Bills. Buffalo's problem is having no QB behind no O-line, otherwise they're pretty good; the Jets problem is they don't know how to win, so you can't really even tell what the problem is (I kinda like the rookie QB actually, I don't think he's the problem).

Giants 27-23 Niners
Ehh, this wasn't that shocking, except that I thought the Niners would relish the chance to play a crappy offense in a primetime game and they blew their shot at a good W; that said, neither of these teams need to win, so Niners probably did better by fumbling the W away. Even when they win, the Giants are still doing it wrong.


Other results (not so surprising):
Lions 22-34 Bears
The Bears are getting better, the Lions are standing still.

Falcons 16-28 Browns
The Falcons looked good on the road against the Redskins, but against the revitalized Browns, they never got their offense going. Hue Jackson is gone, long live the new Hue.

Jags 26-29 Colts
This looks right to me. The Colts are about a FG better than the Jags, even though the Jags have looked pretty awful for the last month or so.

Cards 14-26 Chiefs
Seems like the Chiefs kinda took the week over and still easily beat the Cards.

Redskins 16-3 Bucs
This sounds right to me. The Bucs can score on anyone, the Redskins can lose to anyone, so of course the Redskins would easily shut down the Bucs on the road.

Chargers 20-6 Raiders
Yup, the predictable game of the week.

Dolphins 12-31 Packers
The Dolphins are not built for the road and certainly not for mid-Autumn Wisconsin, the Packers needed a W like this to kick start them for the rest of the season, they're still in the playoff hunt. The Dolphins are, too. (But I'm not seeing it for either team)

Seahawks 31-36 Rams
The Rams are better but the Seahawks gave them a good game. I'm more impressed with the Seahawks than I expected going into this season. The Rams are still the best in the league but it feels liker they've overheated and may go limping into the post-season.