NFL Week 9 Notes
November 9th, 2009 at 6:04 am by Displaced Cleveland FanThese are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. No Browns update this week. Thankfully, they weren’t playing.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into this week’s game against Green Bay as the league’s only remaining winless team (0-7). Desperate times call for desperate measures. So the Bucs made a bold move to try to turn things around.
Old school uniforms.
Call me crazy, but I like the retro uniforms we’ve seen this year. Even the creamsicle jerseys.
Rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, in his first career start, led the Bucs to a 38-28 win over the Packers. He threw for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. The win was also the first for 33 year old head coach Raheem Morris.
The loss drops Green Bay to 4-4, making their playoff chances much more difficult. They still have Dallas, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Arizona remaining on their schedule.
The Arizona Cardinals embarrassed the Bears at home, beating Chicago 41-21.
Kurt Warner threw for 261 yards and 5 touchdowns. WR Larry Fitzgerald had 9 receptions for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. Former Buckeye Beanie Wells ran for 72 yards, his best total so far this season.
The loss puts the Bears at 4-4 and possibly in worse shape than the Packers. Chicago’s remaining schedule features Philadelphia, Green Bay, Baltimore, and Minnesota (twice).
The second game of the second Vince Young era for the Titans was another win. Tennessee beat San Francisco 34-27.
While Young played well (12/19 for 172 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT), the player who should get the most credit for their offensive success is running back Chris Johnson. Yesterday he rushed for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The win gives Tennessee a 2-6 record. That’s bad news for me. I can no longer mock the Titans fans here that their team is as bad as or worse than the Browns. Unfortunately, it should be a while before I can do that again.
In the Division:
The Ravens and Bengals met in Cincinnati for a AFC North match-up. After a strong start, Baltimore lost 3 straight before last week’s win over Denver. Cincinnati has been a surprise this year and came into this week tied with Pittsburgh atop the division. The Bengals won 17-7, sweeping the season series with the Ravens.
Pittsburgh travels to Denver to face the Broncos on Monday Night Football. The Steelers need a win to stay tied for first place with Cincinnati. The Broncos will be looking to rebound after Baltimore spoiled their undefeated season with a 30-7 win last week.
Quick hits:
- The Indianapolis Colts escaped with a win over Houston to remain undefeated. Texans’ kicker Kris Brown missed a 42-yard field goal as time expired which would have forced overtime. The Colts are now 8-0.
- The New Orleans Saints, the other unbeaten team leading up to this week, had to come from behind to beat Carolina 30-20. The Panthers jumped out to a 17-3 lead, but the Saints came back and outscored Carolina 24-3 in the second half to improve to 8-0.
- For a while, the Seattle Seahawks forgot they were playing Detroit. They let the Lions jump out to a 17-0 lead. They then came to their senses and won 32-20.
- The New York Giants continue to fall. This week they lost 21-20 at home to the Chargers. They’ve now lost 4 straight games.
-dcf
Tags: Beanie Wells, Chris Johnson, Josh Freeman, Kris Brown, Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Raheem Morris, Vince Young
