Week Nine of the NFL season should be the best week yet.
Look at all the good games this week.
We have the Los Angeles Rams at the New Orleans Saints, pitting the top-two teams in my Power Rankings.
We have Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady for just the second time in their careers. The two best quarterbacks in the game go head-to-head when the Green Bay Packers face the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass.
Then we have the always-fun Steelers-Ravens game, this one in Baltimore after the Ravens beat the Steelers earlier this year in Pittsburgh. l can't wait to see the Atlanta Falcons offense against the Washington Redskins defense and Russell Wilson against Philip Rivers.
It shapes up as a heck of a week.
The Rams stay at the top spot here after narrowly beating the Packers this past Sunday when a Ty Montgomery fumble cheated us out of a chance to see Aaron Rodgers with the ball down two and in his two-minute offense with a chance to win.
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Los Angeles held on to stay undefeated, but the trip to New Orleans this week will be even tougher. The Saints are right behind them in the NFC with six straight victories after losing their opener to the Bucs. The Saints have improved on defense since that debacle against the Bucs. They've impressed winning road games at Baltimore and at Minnesota the past two weeks.
The Saints-Rams game matches the two best play-callers in the NFL in Sean McVay and Sean Payton. It should be an offensive feast.
The winner will have the top spot in the league at the halfway point, and also have the inside track to being the top seed in the NFC playoffs.
It's the highlight game of a good NFL weekend. Let's hope it lives up to the hype.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | The sign of good teams is that they find a way to win games when they don't play as well as expected. The Rams did that last week to stay undefeated. | -- | 10-7-0 |
| 2 |  | That was an impressive road victory against the Vikings. The defense is making strides by the week. | -- | 9-8-0 |
| 3 |  | It wasn't pretty against the Bills, but they found a way. They have to be better against Green Bay. | -- | 4-13-0 |
| 4 |  | They continue to put up big numbers on offense and the pass rush is getting better. They do need to run it better. | -- | 11-6-0 |
| 5 |  | They come off the bye with an interesting game against the Seahawks, who are playing well. The continued improvement on defense will decide how far they go. | -- | 5-12-0 |
| 6 |  | They came out of their bye with an impressive division victory over the Browns. Now comes a tough road one against the rival Ravens. | 1 | 10-7-0 |
| 7 |  | Their defense might be good enough to carry them to a division title. That defense will be tested against the Falcons this week. | 2 | 4-13-0 |
| 8 |  | That was an impressive victory against the Ravens. They are getting better on offense by the week. | 2 | 2-15-0 |
| 9 |  | They did not look good in the second half of their loss to the Saints Sunday night. That's a bad home loss. | 1 | 7-10-0 |
| 10 |  | What happened against the Panthers? That defense didn't look good and now here come the Steelers. | 4 | 13-4-0 |
| 11 |  | They come off a tough loss to the Rams on the road and now have to go to New England to play the Patriots. That's brutal. | -- | 9-8-0 |
| 12 |  | It wasn't pretty against the Bucs, especially on defense, but they found a way. They head to the bye in the playoff mix. | -- | 9-8-0 |
| 13 |  | Five straight victories have put this team atop the AFC South. But losing Will Fuller for the season will hurt when they come off their bye. | -- | 10-7-0 |
| 14 |  | At 4-3, they are one of the surprise teams of the league. Russell Wilson is playing great football. | 5 | 9-8-0 |
| 15 |  | They are in first place in the division with a winnable road game at Buffalo this week. The defense impressed against the Jets. | 1 | 7-10-0 |
| 16 |  | They head to their bye with a 4-4 record. They have issues, but they are fixable. | 1 | 11-6-0 |
| 17 |  | They come off their bye with a tough game against the Redskins. That will be a big challenge for their offense. | 4 | 7-10-0 |
| 18 |  | At 3-5, the schedule is soft the rest of the way. Can Andrew Luck carry them to a playoff berth? | 8 | 9-8-0 |
| 19 |  | That was a bad showing against the Seahawks at home. The defense let them down. | 5 | 12-5-0 |
| 20 |  | The defense is awful right now, which is why some wonder if changes need to be made. They play a winnable home game against the Jets. | 5 | 11-6-0 |
| 21 |  | They come out of their bye with a Monday night game against the Titans. It will be Amari Cooper's first game with the Cowboys since they traded to get him. | 3 | 12-5-0 |
| 22 |  | At 3-5, they should say goodbye to any chances of winning the division. The wild-card hopes are barely alive. | 2 | 8-9-0 |
| 23 |  | It's the right move to go back to Ryan Fitzpatrick. Now the question is this: What happens to Jameis Winston? | 1 | 9-8-0 |
| 24 |  | They've lost four straight games and their season is going bad quickly. They head to their bye in search of answers. | 1 | 9-8-0 |
| 25 |  | They come off their bye with a Monday night game against the Cowboys. At 3-4, they are in second place in their division, which says a lot about the division. | 1 | 6-11-0 |
| 26 |  | The good news is they have their quarterback of the future, no matter how Sam Darnold is playing weekly. The bad news is they aren't very good right now. | 1 | 7-10-0 |
| 27 |  | They fired Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley, which means Gregg Williams is the interim head coach. Is that a good thing for Baker Mayfield? | -- | 11-6-0 |
| 28 |  | They are just too limited on offense right now, no matter who plays quarterback. It's too bad it's that way since the defense has been solid. | -- | 11-6-0 |
| 29 |  | That was an impressive fourth quarter for Josh Rosen last week. It's something to build upon. | 3 | 4-13-0 |
| 30 |  | This is a lost season that went bad when Jimmy Garoppolo was lost for the season. Now it's just about building to the future. | 1 | 12-5-0 |
| 31 |  | This season is over and they are playing for the future. The defense is putrid. | 1 | 8-9-0 |
| 32 |  | They head to the bye with a big question hanging over this team: When do they sit Eli Manning? | 1 | 6-11-0 |
