The NFL Roundup Week 9 - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

(David Richard/Associated Press)

Another week of football has come to a close and now that the dust has settled, this is a weekend of football that was downright brutal. So many teams left their hearts on the field this weekend, and well, that's simply amazing. It feels as though that this year, so many more squads flat out understand, that every game truly counts and to be a champion, you have to give it your all. It made for some stunning upsets, some hard fought victories and some fascinating stories and here is what we learned from Week 9 in the NFL.

The Dallas Cowboys are the team to beat in the NFC.
Sure this team has a quarterback controversy brewing in the wings, but right now...that's something that Dallas is giving little thought to at the moment for one simple reason, they just keep on winning. It doesn't matter what their opponents throw at them, they find ways to wear down defenses and make big plays and well, as the season rolls on, it's inherently obvious now that they are the team to beat in the NFC. No other squad has shown this kind of resilience on the field and while it may be too early to call them a Super Bowl bound team, don't be shocked to see them lock up a high seed in the playoffs and go far in the tournament as well because the run and pass formula they are using right now is downright devastating and as long as they stick wth that, they'll keep that win streak alive.

Was Travis Kelce's ejection a sign of things to come?
I won't sit here and pretend that NFL Referees are perfect in the slightest. They are human, they make mistakes, sometimes ugly ones and yes, I am a firm believer that the NFL should make them full time employees. But while we usually move on from their mistakes and chalk it up to human error, something interesting is happening this year. Flags are flying and players no longer seem happy about it, and over the past couple of weeks criticism of officiating seems to be everywhere, and well, for those who missed it...a call by an official on Sunday at the Chiefs game got under TE Travis Kelce's skin and he uh...threw his towel at the ref in protest and was promptly ejected. Clearly the bad blood the players harbor toward the refs is boiling over with a move like that and well...is this something we are going to see more of? Hopefully not, because being angry like that on the field could eventually cost a team the game if an important enough player is ejected, but don't be surprised if we see a few more players challenge the refs in wild fashion. Either way, clearly frustration with officiating is at an all time high and I certainly hope the league does something soon to improve the quality of officiating on the field. 

The time has come for the 49ers to make a coaching change. 
As the old saying goes, hindsight is 20/20, unless of course you work in the National Football League where your mistakes can come back to haunt you every single day, as is the case in San Francisco where Trent Baalke is reminded of the fact that he could have gone another direction at Head Coach earlier this year. Chip Kelly was brought in over seasoned veteran Mike Shanahan to lead a new era for the 49ers and the end result of that choice has been an outright disaster. It doesn't matter who is at quarterback, the offense remains anemic and the defense is an outright joke. Which means, it's time for Trent to suck it up, and own his mistake, and promptly relieve Chip of his coaching duties...and start over again in the offseason. I know that sounds harsh, but let's be honest. Chip Kelly is not a good NFL football coach, everyone has his playbook figured out and even after being removed from personnel decisions to just coach, the end result is still bad. So for the sake of the fans everywhere, just part ways. 

The Denver Broncos offense, is in dire need of leadership.
Yes, the Broncos blew it on Sunday night. Yes, the run game is nonexistent. Yes, the defense could have played better. But despite all of those issues, there is one thing of great concern that caught my attention during this game; Denver has zero leadership on the field when the offense has the ball. That was what made a Peyton Manning offense effective, even when he was not because he would find a way to bring the best out of his teammates at just the right time, and while it's great that Trevor Siemian is captain cool on the field, he is not a 'field general', which sometimes a quarterback has to be in order to lead his team to victory. While it may be impossible to expect Siemian to bring that extra intensity to the field, it's not impossible to have someone on the offense become that leader and well, someone has to, otherwise the anemic performance they suffered on Sunday...will continue for the rest of the season.

The Seattle Seahawks shook off their rust in impressive fashion.
As it turns out, the Monday night game turned out to be the must see game of the week because holy cow, this old fashioned shootout between Buffalo and Seattle was simply magnificent. This was about two teams fighting to get back on track, but let's be honest, it mattered more to Seattle. The loss to New Orleans and the tie with Arizona has weighed heavy on their heads and made their game play rusty and cautious. But clearly they had enough of playing it safe and went for broke last night, hanging with the Bills all night long and well, when the dust settled, it was great to see this team come together for a team win at last. Of course questions will still remain as to whether or not the Seahawks can continue to be a tough team on the field, but if they continue to play like they did last night...those doubts will quickly be put to rest.

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