Week nine featured a lot of bad coaching, awful quarterback play, and no well-played games. The favorites won straight up, except for the New Orleans Saints, and there were many clusterfuck games with questionable decisions and poor execution.
28% of the NFL is either 2-6 or 2-7, which is unusual but not unprecedented. Teams like New England, Miami, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Carolina, New Orleans, and the New York Giants are all struggling, with only Miami possibly being sneaky good. The rest are terrible, and their poor performance is likely to continue.
The Cowboys' season is a year from hell due to a lack of running backs, injuries, bad coaching, and poor quarterback play. Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn are thriving elsewhere, and Tony Pollard, who had soft 1,000 yards last year, is now second in the AFC in rushing. The team is also three wins behind most teams they need to catch, making their playoff chances slim.
The Eagles-Jaguars game was poorly coached and played, with Nick Sirianni trying to out-dumb Doug Pederson. The game featured multiple failed fourth-down attempts, over three on two-point conversions, and a 22-point lead blown by the Eagles. Trevor Lawrence was also terrible, making the game a comedy of errors.
Tom Brady's performance as an announcer is underwhelming because he seems over-prepared, hyper-tense, and not genuine. He doesn't provide the natural analysis and quarterback perspective that fans expect, and his overly excited demeanor feels forced. His lack of genuine insights and poor chemistry with his co-announcers make his commentary less engaging.
The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss an interesting 'SNF' face-off between Joe Flacco and Sam Darnold, Patriots-Titans, the Saints' loss to the Panthers, and Cowboys-Falcons (1:29), before hitting Jaguars-Eagles, Packers-Lions, Rams-Seahawks, Cardinals-Bears, and the still mystifying NFC West (22:14). Next, they talk Chargers-Browns, Dolphins-Bills, and some miscellaneous NFL observations (45:41) before guessing the lines for NFL Week 10 (59:50), and closing the show with Parent Corner (1:28:16).
Host: Bill Simmons
Guest: Cousin Sal
Producer: Kyle Crichton
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