NFL Week Nine Takeaways.

NFL Week Nine Takeaways

Saints Vs Rams

The Saints announced that Former Backup Quarterback Rookie Tyler Shough will take over The Quarterbacking Duties For The Rest Of The Season After The Team benched incumbent Starter Spencer Rattler in Week 8. Rattler’s Run As The Team Starter weeks 1-8 Indicated Promise In His Growth From Last Season To Now, and Despite His Recent Struggles, This Move To The Bench For Rattler Seems To Have More To Do With The Team and Evaluation Process Than His Performance. “Spencer knows that his role…” Head Coach Kellen Moore Said To The Media Matter Of Factly. The Saints' Current Regime Didn’t Draft Rattler; They drafted Shough In The Second Round. Shough Lost The Quarterback Battle To The Younger but More NFL-seasoned Rattler. Now that NFL Reps Don’t Factor In As Much, The Team Needs To One, Know What, If Anything They Have In Shough(Wins and Losses Don’t Matter now) and Two, If Nothing, Where Did Their Evaluation Process Fall short and How Can They Improve In The Future. If Tyler Shough Looks Good, Where Do They Build Around Him, and Which Players Best Fit His Skill set? Maybe The Saints Fear Rattler Gives Them Too Great A Chance to Win, Which Would Hurt Their Odds To Pull The Number One Pick In The Draft. Matthew Stafford Stays Hot As He Strengthens His CASE for MVP 24/32, 281 Passing Yards, And Four Touchdowns. A +10.8% CPOE as The Rams Run Over The Saints 34-10.

Steelers Vs Colts

The Steelers, often criticized for having the highest-paid defense, responded to the skepticism with a strong performance, shutting down the number one offense in football and defeating the Colts 27-20. While the Colts managed to score a few cosmetic points at the end to improve their point differential, the Steelers dominated the game, forcing six turnovers from an offense featuring two MVP-caliber players.

Daniel Jones had an eventful game that perfectly encapsulated his ups and downs. He committed five turnovers—three interceptions and two fumbles—while throwing for 342 yards and one touchdown, along with another touchdown on the ground. This victory marked the Steelers' most significant win of the season, ending their losing streak.

While the Colts' offense slightly outperformed the Steelers in efficiency, averaging five yards per play compared to the Steelers' four yards per play, the Colts also out-gained the Steelers in total offense, with 373 yards to the Steelers' 243 yards. Both Shades Of Jones’s Career Popped Off Five Turnovers(Three Interceptions, Two Fumbles), With 342 Passing Yards and One Touchdown, and Another Touchdown On The Ground. The Steelers Pick Up Their Biggest Win Of The Season, Ending The Team's Game Skid. The Colts' Offense Slightly Outplayed The Steelers In Efficiency Five (5)Yards Per Play For The Colts And Four (4) Yards For The Steelers, and The Colts Out-gained The Steelers 373 To 243 On Total Offense.

Patriots Vs Falcons

The Media Has Stirred the Pot On Drake Maye’s MVP Campaign And Deservedly Given How Well He’s Performed In His Second Season. The Other Prominent Media Note, The Patriots' Easy Schedule, The Easiest So Far, and The Second Easiest To Finish According To PFF. The Falcons, with a losing Record Coming in, Make Up Part Of That Easy schedule. But They Also Feature One Of The Better Defenses Drake Maye will Face The Rest Of The Season, A Better Expected Pass, A Top Ten Secondary, and The Number One Pass Defense In Terms Of Yardage per game This Season(149). Drake Maye Has an MVP Argument, But for The Patriots To Look Like Contenders, They Need To Defeat Average Teams Like The Falcons. Unlike Many Other Young Quarterbacks, Maye doesn't get a lot of “Gimmicky” Play Calls IN The Patriots' Scheme. He creates Most Of His Yardage Through The Air, Second in incomplete air yards per Attempt Coming Into Week 9. The Falcons Responded With a touchdown To Tie The Game At The End Of the First Quarter. Michael Penix Connected With Drake London At The Goal For a Yard Touchdown To Cap Off A Five 53 Yard Drive. The Patriots and Drake Maye Author a response 12 Play 65 yard Drive, Maye’s 20 yard Completion to Austin Hooper Netted The Patriots Another Red Zone Possession, This Time Running Back Terrell Jennings Ran In a three-yard Touchdown. The Patriots Kept The Offense Running After A Falcons three-and-out. Drake Maye Gets The Patriots Into The Red zone again, A 58 Yard Connection to Pop Douglas Set Up An 11 Yard Touchdown Reception To Stefon Diggs. Maye Nearly Produced A Perfect Half, But with 32 Seconds Left In The Second Quarter, Maye Fumbles On A Sack By Falcons Rookie First Round linebacker Jalon Walker, and The Other Rookie Edge Rusher, James Pearce, Picked The Ball Up and Set The Falcons Up Inside The Ten Of The Patriots. Michael Penix Needed Two Plays And One Throw to Connect with Drake London For A Two-Yard Touchdown. Maye’s turnover Problem picked up In The Second Half. He Narrowly Avoided Another Loss Fumble To start The Third Quarter, But He Recovered The Ball. Later In The Third, On A Miscommunication With His Receiver downfield, Maye Threw A Pick To the Falcons’ safety Jessie Bates. A third-quarter field Goal Put The Patriots up 24-14, But The Turnovers Suspended The Pats' Attempts To Put This Game Away By Adding To The Lead. The Patriots Lost Less Than Five Percent Win Probability On The Pick, but They Kept The Falcons Hanging Around, and good Teams Put Bad Opponents Away. The Falcons Made The Patriots Pay. The Atlanta Offense, On The Strength Of Drake London’s Touchdown Game, nearly came back to Win In New England. London’s Third Touchdown In The Fourth Quarter Put The Falcons In Position To Tie The Game Late, But a Missed Extra Point By Kicker Parker Romo Preserved The Patriots' Lead. Despite Scoring Just Three Points In The Second Half, The Patriots Squeak Pass The Falcons 24-23. A Tale Of Two Halves for Drake Maye, who was 19/29 For 259 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, One Interception, And One Loss Fumble. On Defense, No Matter How Much The Falcons Tried To Get The Run Game Off The Ground, the Patriots Flooded The Run Lanes and held Bijan Robinson to 12 Carries For 46 Rushing Yards. Shutting down Bijan Hurt The Falcons' Ability To Stay On The Field And Keep drives Alive as Atlanta Finished 1/10 On Third Down For The Game Despite 5.3 Yards Per play. The Falcons Won The Turnover Battle But Couldn’t Sustain Drives, Exonerating New England Of Their Late Mistakes. Michael Penix Had his Moments On His Way To 22/37 For 221 Passing Yards, Three Touchdowns, No Turnovers, and A 103.5 Passer Rating. His Connection With Drake London, who finished with Nine Catches For 118 Receiving Yards, Three Touchdowns, And A Couple Of Spectacular Catches In a Losing Effort. The Falcons had a Chance Late To Take The Lead, But A Quick pressure On A Missed Time Snap Forced Michael Penix To Dirt A Ball and Pick Up an intentional Grounding Call That Killed A Late Drive. On The Ensuing drive, On Defense, the Falcons Force The Patriots to Face A 3rd and five. Drake Maye Connected With Tight end Hunter Henry, who Converted The First Down, and the Patriots held on To Win, moving to 7-2. The Falcons Drop To 3-5, Placing Them Well Outside The Playoff Picture, But Completely Done If They Could Pick Up a Few Wins Down The Stretch. The Falcons look dangerous, forcing the Patriots to -0.002 EPA per play despite allowing their first team to achieve 200 or more passing yards.

Ravens Vs Dolphins

The Ravens Have Life after Securing Their Second Win Of The Season In Week 8. The preseason Super Bowl Favorites Find A Second Wind As The Second Half Of The Season Approaches. The Ravens Final got Some Good Health This Week As MVP Quarterback Lamar Jackson Returns From Injury As The Ravens Approach A Softer Section Schedule with five games Straight Facing Team Currently Below .500. The Ravens Have To Thank The Bengals And Steelers For Leaving The Door To The Division thrown Unlocked and Now The Ravens Have A Better 45% Chance To Make The Playoffs With Two Wins. The Ravens Defense Remains A Liability, As Baltimore Doesn’t Rank Last anymore, Especially with the Cowboys Seeking The Title Of The Worst Defense So Hard, But Passing Attacks Continue To Pile Up Yardage On The Ravens. The Ravens have Forced Timely turnovers. A fourth interception helped Baltimore Pull Away From Chicago Late and Against The Dolphins, trailing 3-0 In The First Quarter. The Ravens force a Fumble Of Dolphins Wide Receiver Malik Washington, which sets the Ravens Up In Miami Territory, and Four Plays Later, Lamar Jackson Connects With Mark Andrews For A Yard Touchdown. The Ravens' First Drive Ended with a Three-and-Out Before Baltimore Took A 7-3 Lead. The Dolphins' Defense Gave Up Another Touchdown To Lamar One Drive Later After The Dolphins Miss A Field Goal. The Ravens Traveled 75 Yards In 7 Plays Before Connecting with Mark Andrews For A 20 Yard Touchdown. Two Defenders Collided On The Play, But The Defense Played strong For The Dolphins This Game, Getting Three punts Out Of The Ravens In The Second Quarter. The Dolphin Offense Played Sloppily, A lot of Bad Penalties, Like A False Start on a Fourth and one That Forced a Missed Field Goal At The End Of The First Quarter. In the Second Quarter, Dolphins Running Back Ollie Gordon Fell Down Blocking a Ravens Edge Rusher and Picked Up a 15 Yard Tripping Penalty That Erased A 36 Yard Explosive Play That would’ve Set The Dolphins In The Baltimore Red Zone, and Instead The Dolphins punted. The Ravens' Lamar Jackson registers Four Touchdowns In His Return To Football As The Ravens Move Past The First intermediate challenge Of The Season, Defeating The Dolphins 28-6. Jackson 18/23 For 204 Passing Yards, Four Touchdowns, 91.9 QBr +0.37 EPA Per Pass Play and 143.2 Passer Rating. The Ravens Averaged 5.8 Yards Per Play, a Little More Than The Dolphins(5 Yards Per Play), But Baltimore Played Lights out In The Red Zone, Going 4/4. According to "Number From The Unexpected Point," the Ravens achieved a 52.4% success rate, ranking in the 85th percentile for EPA efficiency on offense, with solid numbers across four scoring drives.The Ravens Also Had a -11.2 Turnover Advantage. The Dolphins’ defense Forced The Ravens Into Six Punts In 11 Drives For Baltimore. One Drive ended The Game, and The Rest of Baltimore Hit For Touchdowns. Derrick Henry 19 Carries For 119 Rushing Yards 6.3 Yards Per Run. The Dolphins' Offense Averaged 25.9 Yards Per Drive Compared To 27.2 Yards Per Drive, but Went 0-3 In The Red Zone and Suffered Three Turnovers. Tua 25/40 For 261 Passing Yards, One Interception, And 70.9 Passer Rating, -0.12 Total EPA, 40.9 Success Rate. The Ravens Will Have To Monitor Eating All Of This low-hanging fruit On Their Coming Schedule. With Lamar Back, A lot of “Bad” teams will Have That Itch To Knock Them Off, And If The Ravens Acclimate Themselves To Playing Bad teams, Will They Have The Sense Of ‘Urgency To Defeat’ The Tougher Foes Later On Down The Schedule? For Now, Baltimore Moves To 1-0(3-5 Overall) On Their Quest To Turn their Season Around. Reports Suggest The Dolphins Spurn Interest In Opening Up A Fire Sale On Their Roster.

Texans Vs Broncos

This Game Holds A lot Of Intrigue Despite the Voices From Your Favorite FOOTBALL—Pick Anyone—Forecasting A Rock Fight. The Texans Saved Their Season, Defeating The Niners In week 8 with Excellent But Also Surprisingly Excellent Offense. The Texans, Without Nico Collins, Played Inspired Football against A Battered Niners Defense That Averages 259.3 Passing Yards A Game. With Every Week Comes A Game To Save Their Season, and the Texans won't face A Defense Under Any Level Distressed As The Broncos Come Off shutting Down The Number One Offense, the Cowboys. The Broncos and Texans have the top two defense ranks, according to the ESPN FPI metric. The Texans rank number One In EPA Per Play Allowed, the Broncos Rank Metric. The quarterback, The Wildcards In This Contest, Both Enter Off Their Best Performance Of The season. The Broncos' Defense Plays Man Coverage 60% of coverage snaps, and Stroud Plays Far Better Against Man Than Zone. On The Other Side, the Texans allow positive EPA on both medium +0.229 Per Pass and deep +0.303 passes. However, the Texans force the Quarterback To Throw fast And Short, with 2.48 seconds To Throw and 43.8% Of Their Attempts Faced On short-range throws. Texans Broncos Live Up To The Projections, an Absolute Defensive Masterpiece For Those Who Like That Kind Of Stuff. The Broncos' Offense Overcame a Late 15-7 Deficit In A Punt-a-Thon To Take Home A Crucial Victory. The Texans' Offense Lost CJ Stroud to a concussion in The Second quarter, with the Texans up 3-0. Davis Mills Stepped Up and led the Texans in this battle of three-and-outs. The Texans' offense finished 3/17 On Third Down as the Broncos went 6/15. The Broncos Won The Sack Battle, Sacking The Texans' quarterbacks Four Times, and the Texans Won The Turnover Battle, picking Bo Nix Off and One Fumble Lost. Bo Nix Leads The Broncos On A Late Comeback, Scoring Eleven Points In The Fourth Quarter To Capture The Win. Nix 27 Yard Touchdown Connection To Rookie Running Back RJ Harvey and Two Point Conversion To Franklin Tied The Game 15-15 early In The Fourth Quarter. With Less Than A Minute To Go, Nix Joins The Broncos' Rushing Attack as Denver Drives To The Houston 16-yard Line For A Short Field Goal And The Win. The Broncos Move To 7-2, Nix Finishes 18/37, 173 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, One Interception, 68.9 Passer Rating. Another ugly Win For The Broncos, Who Maintain Control Of The AFC West ahead Of Facing The Raiders on Thursday.

Bengals Vs Bears

Holy Moly! After Joe Flacco connected with his wide receiver Andrei Iosavis late In The Fourth With Less Than a Minute To Go, I Assume The Game Won. I Started Piecing Together A Narrative About How Much This Game Symbolized The Bengals' Resilience, in a Season Where They lost their Star Quarterback, The Defense struggled (*Chuckles*), The Run Game Struggled, The Offensive Line struggled, and Everyone Wants A Trade. In a Historic Game By 40-year-old Joe Flacco, STILL probably Learning The Map In Cincinnati, Becoming The Symbol Of Bengals' Resilience This Year, the Bengals overcome Multiple turnovers And A Touchdown Deficit To Defeat the Tricky Bears Team Late. A Masterful Performance as The Bengals' Offense Made Them A Dangerous Team In The AFC. Then The Plot Twist happened, in Four Plays, Two Caleb Williams Incompletions, a 14-yard pass by Williams, and The Biggest Play Of The Bears' Season, Williams' Dart To Rookie Tight End Colston Loveland For a 58 Yard Game-breaking and game-sealing catch and Run Touchdown. The Bengals' Defense Missed 15 Tackles, and Multiple Bengals couldn’t Wrap Up Loveland, the Number Ten Pick In the 2025 draft, who was Not That Fast But Got Open On The Seam Route And Bounced Off Multiple Defenders To Run 35 More Yards downfield. Had The Bengals Stopped Him At The Catch Point, They Could’ve Forced A Long Field Goal Attempt. Instead, The Bengals' Comeback Falls Short As Joe Flacco Throws A Meaningless Interception Late. The Bears Had A lot Of Tricks up Their Sleeve as Caleb Williams, Who Earned Criticism For His Passing This Past Week, Picked Up A Touchdown Reception To Kick Off The Bears' Offense. Williams Would Pick Up Another Reception Later In The Game as the Bears' Offense Tried Everything To prevent The Stagnation they suffered The Week Prior against the Ravens. Williams Showed In The Passing game 20/34 280 Passing, three touchdowns, 114.8 passer rating, One Of the Best Of His Career. Other Bears players threw Passes Like Wide Receiver DJ Moore, who connected with Williams For The Touchdown, and Tight End Cole Kmet, as Ben Johnson Broke Out All The stops. Williams rushed for 53 and caught 22 Yards Receiving for 355 Yards Total. The Bear Rushed For 283 Yards on The Ground. Running back Kyle Monagai compiled 176 Rushing Yards, Joining The Group Of Players Who Had A Breakout Game. Colston Loveland Caught 6 Passes For 118 Receiving Yards and two Scores. I had Loveland over Warren In My Draft Ranking, and While One Game, Loveland Versus A season for Warren doesn’t Mean Much, I’m Prouder To Point out My Evaluation Of The Two Prospects Out. The Bears Hang On To Win In A Game That Shouldn’t Have Come Down To The Wire, But They Make A Play Late when They Had To Against a Porous Defense. Cincy did Everything To Lose And Win This Game. Joe Flacco 31/47 For 470 Passing Yards, Four Touchdowns, Two Interceptions 109.4 Passer Rating as Joe Flacco Enters His Prime In The Twilight Of His Career. Tee Higgins Came Down With Two Spectacular Touchdown catches, One A 44 Yard Catch And Run, The Other A Reach Across The End Zone On a Yard Catch. Jamar Chase Caught 6 Passes For 111 Receiving Yards as He Comes Out Number One In The League In Receptions After a Slow Start. The Bengals Offense Can Put Up Points, Scoring 30 Or Better In Three Straight Games, But Come Out 1/3 In That Stretch. Without Trey Hendrickson For This Game and With Him For Others, The Bengals Can’t Find Any Makers On The Defensive Side Of The Ball. The Bengals Making The Playoffs Would Make Things Interesting In The AFC, But They Won't Make It At Their Current Level of Defensive Effort.

Panthers Vs. Packers

Bryce Young Returned To The Panthers' Starting Quarterback Spot, Removing The Uncertainty and Shakiness Of Andy Dalton In The Pocket And Reintroducing The Formulaic Mediocrity Of Bryce Young. Jordan Love Earned Acclaim For His Sunday Night Performance, and the Packers don’t Look Threatened By This Panthers Team as Love Comes On. 13 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and a 70.9% completion rate, 112.9 Passer Rating, +0.42 EPA Per Attempt, 54.5% Success Rate, and Despite This, the Packers Still Run the Ball more Than Expected. Love’s Attempts Nearly 70% (146 Of 213) Of His Passes With The 9 Yard Or Less Range, which Explains Why He Doesn’t Get A lot Of Mentions In The MVP Conversation. Love ranks Sixth lowest in Aggressiveness, A Stat By Next Gen Stats that rates how Often A Quarterback attempts Tough Throws In Tight Windows, unless The Receiver Becomes Open by three yards of Separation Or Better. Love doesn’t throw The Pass and Plays A Conservative. Not Too Many Open Shots For Love Against The Panther Defense as The Packers Offense Scored Just 6 Points on Two Field Goals Through The Third Quarter. Love Completed A 51 Yard Pass To Receiver Christian Watson, but The Panthers Pressured Love Most Of The Game, and Those Short Dino and Dunk Throws Netted Love Very Little In Terms Of Points. The Panthers pulled off The Upset, Holding The Packers' Offense To Just 13 Points and scoring 16 Of Their Own In The Upset Win Over The Packers. Both These Teams Play At a Slow Pace All Game, with both teams Authoring Long drives In Plays and Time That Ended With No Points. Bryce Young, Who Threw An Interception Early In The Second To End A 15-play Drive, Lead The Panthers On A Winning Drive Late with The Game Tied. Young finished 11 of 20 for 102 passing yards, one interception, and a passer rating of 48.3. Somehow, the Panthers won. The Rico Dowdle Express Return After A Game Absence, Where He Finished Below 100 Yard Rushing. The Breakout Star Of The Panthers’ Season Total 130 Yards On 25 Carries For Two Touchdowns As The Spark to The Panthers Offense. He Left The Game Briefly In The Second Half after a Short Catch. The Packers Offense Out Gained The Packers 369 to 265 In Total Offensive Yardage, But Green Bay Couldn’t Produce Any Points, Suffered Two Turnovers, One Missed Field Goal, A Downs coming With Points On Three of Their Seven Drives. Love Outplayed Bryce Young By a Mile 26/37 273 Passing yards, Faced A lot Of Pressure and Got sacked Once. Josh Jacobs had 17 Carries For 87 Rushing Yards And One touchdown, and another 13 Through The Air. Romeo Doubs Finished With 7 Catches For 91 Receiving Yards To Lead The Receivers. The Team Lost “Top” Target Tucker Kraft To A Feared ACL Injury In The Third Quarter. I’m Not Ruling the Packers Out as Contenders, But Love Needs To Put This Team On His Back and Get Points. He Performed Better In Terms Of Air Yards with Six Passes Of 10 Yards Or Better, But He Needs To Play More Aggressive In Terms Of Making Plays. He Had One Pick And Nearly Avoided Another One In The End Zone Early In The Fourth Quarter Because He Danced around In The Backfield Waiting For Someone To Open instead Of Trying To Create A Window With His Arm. The Panthers Remain Alive In The NFC Playoff Picture. Nothing about This Team besides The Run Game Makes Sense, And Any Other Quarterback In The League Could Lead This Team Better Than Bryce Young, But They Have Five wins and Stand Over .500.

Lions Vs Vikings

The 5-2 Lions want to keep their momentum going as they come out of their bye week and head into the second half of the season. They have one foot at the top of the NFL power rankings while also trailing teams like the Eagles, Packers, and Chiefs in some weeks. The Offense Remains A Force To Reckon With, Even With Less Effectiveness In Prominent Aspects Like Third Down Conversion, As They’ve Struggled. Defenses Know When The Lions Get Behind On Downs, Goff Wants To Find His Safety Net, Amon-ra St.Brown. The Lions' Top receiver in Most Meaningful Metrics comes in Fifth In First Down Per 0.151, and the Defense Will Have Become adept at taking Him Away On Key Down. The Lions Hope To Get Receiver Jameson Williams More Involved In The Offense To Possibly Shift Attention Away From Amon-ra. The Lions signed their Former 12th Overall Pick, Williams, to a three-year extension worth $83 million, with the Expectation that he’d Evolve From The Splash Play Specialist To a More Consistent down-to-down threat. At 17 yards, Average Depth Of Target Williams Remains Mostly a Deep Threat. The Lions Need Another Outside Threat, But Another Option: Tight End Sam Laporta. One of Those Iowa Products. He’s A Reliable Option, Second On The Team In EPA Per Target and Success Rate, but Only 36 Targets On The Season. The Lions Need To Get Him Involved, and The Offense Featured La Porta Early Against The Vikings. In The Lion First Drive, all Three Of Goff’s First completions went to La Porta, who picked up Catches Of 15 Yards, 11 Yards, and a 40 Yard Catch AnD run through Multiple Vikings’ defenders For An Opening Drive Touchdown. While The Vikings Struggled Through Their Tumultuous Quarterback Situation, The Team Could Hang Their Head On A Number Defense. Now That Defense Has Turned Into a Liability Over The Pass for Three Weeks and In Points In This Game, Turn On The Clamps Later In The Second Half. The Defense Held The Offense Without Points After Detroit’s Second Touchdown. With Carson Wentz Heading To IR and JJ McCarthy Returning From Kevin O’Connell, they didn’t Have A quarterback Dilemma, and McCarthy Started The Game Strong with two Quarter Touchdowns. McCarthy Had Two Touchdowns In the First Game And None Since The Run Game For The Vikings set Up A red Zone Opportunity. The Lions Play Justin Jefferson One On One and McCarthy Hits Him On A Fade For The Score. After A Lions punt, McCarthy drove the Vikings downfield. This Time, His Arm Gets The Offense In The Red With a 31 Yard Connection to Jordan Addison. One Play Later McCarthy Connects With Former Lion and The Other Iowa Tight End Presents TJ Hockenson For a Second Touchdown and A Early 14-7 Lead. In His First Game Back, working With One Of The League’s worst offenses, McCarthy looked Sharp. He's Less Nimble Than What Some of us watched at Michigan. He can't escape Pressure With His Feet, But He Demonstrated Good Touch On His Passes. McCarthy’s Play Oscillated A Bit After The First Quarter, and The Bix Score Credits Him With an interception After A Lions’ Defender Ripped The

Ball Away From Vikings receiver Jalen Nailor with the Vikings Holding On To A 17-14 Lead. The scoreboard lay Motionless As If Concussed Until A Fumble By Lions running back David Montgomery Gave The Vikings The Ball and a Short Field. McCarthy Makes Quick Work of The Lions Defense, A 17 Yard Strike To Jordan, And McCarthy Rushes In A Nine Yard Score To Give The Vikings A 24-14 Lead, 24-17 In The Fourth Quarter. The Lions Got Jameson Williams The Ball Late on a 37 Yard Touchdown Catch, His Biggest Play Of The Game, That Cut The Vikings' Lead To Three, 27-24. JJ McCarthy, Who Played up And Down, Finished 14/25 143 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, One Interception, Five Sacks, and a Passer Rating Of 82.6. Delivered Late With A 16 Yard Strike To Jalen Nailor On Third and Five as The Vikings Complete The Upset. In Just His Third Start, McCarthy’s Play Wavered Wildly. He Struggles To Escape Pressure and Connect Down Field, But He Made Plays When Necessary as His Run Game and Defense Bolstered His Performance Just Like McCarthy At Michigan. Tough Game For The Lions On The Ground, Just 65 Yards and a Loss Fumble That Directly Led To A Vikings Touchdown. Jared Goff 25/37, 284 Passing Yards, two Touchdowns, 108.4 Passer Rating, But The Lions Offense Couldn’t Sustain Drives 5-17 On Third Down. The Lions missed an Opportunity To Take Over The Division Lead With the Packers' loss. The Vikings Stay Alive In The NFC As The Defense Found Themselves Again, and The Run Game Supported McCarthy Just Enough. I don’t Know How Many Of These Ugly Victories They Can Pull Out Late In The Season.