A pun-heavy dose of football highlighted an entertaining Week 9 around the league. The New England Patriots are no longer undefeated, losing some of their foothold as tops in the AFC, while Lamar Jackson showed the Sunday night crowd that he is definitely elite-footed. Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry were given cleat-based directives for bringing too much attention to their feet. And Tyreek Hill held a quick-footed masterclass for his teammate, Damien Williams.
The Bears’ first-half offense was historically abysmal, netting only nine yards—that’s 27 feet of sluggish frustration. And yes, the Dolphins took steps to disprove those who believe they are a shoo-in for next year’s No. 1 pick—while also showering first-year head coach, Brian Flores, with Gatorade.
Coach Flores looks…thrilled?
Through all of it—the puns, runs, passes, Spys, and Cover 2s—there were also some substantial efforts up front from the offensive lines. The Seahawks, Carolina Panthers, and the Buffalo Bills were solid (the Bills’ 2019 O-line even receiving some recognition on twitter). and deserve mentioning.
But these were the top 5 offensive line performances that I saw from Week 9.
5. Los Angeles Chargers
Ironically, it’s challenging to place this Chargers team. They’ve looked confused against Denver, out-of-sorts, too, against Tennessee and even Pittsburgh. And yes, the confines at Carson is an away game due to the visiting team’s fan bases flocking to SoCal for a little sunshine, or they’re already a transplant.
Yet, on Sunday, the Chargers looked like a machine…that was in a rage. Phillip Rivers was an accurate 21-of-28 for 294 yards, which allowed openings for the running attack. The combo of Gordon/Ekeler helped lead the team to a total of 159 yards on 38 carries, plus two touchdowns.
The O-line was impressive. They held up with the pass protection, only needing to pick up Rivers twice after a sack. And they executed and stuck to the schemes well enough to see Melvin Gordon have one of his best games since returning from the holdout.
Sure, the Packers don’t necessarily have the strongest defense (16th overall Team D), but that’s still a hard-earned effort by LAC—especially considering they went up against one of the NFL’s hottest teams that was rolling on a four-game winning streak.
Dan Feeney, Sam Tevi, Trenton Scott, Russell Okung, Scott Quessenberry, and Michael Schofield: Home field or not, way to make the advantage yours!
4. Houston Texans
For as much as the Texans offensive line has been questioned in the past, the 2019 front has been playing rather well. Week 9 was another example, with an overlooked effort that helped defeat the Jaguars (pronounced: jAg-YOO-wAH) over in London and re-snag the top spot in the AFC South.
Deshaun Watson, of course, creates havoc on his own, reading the defense and doing “what he does.” But the O-line kept him off the ground—only sacked once—while diffusing a lot of the Jags’ pressure. The Texans QB ended the day 22-of-28 for 201 yards passing and two touchdowns. He added 37 yards on the ground and, along with Carlos Hyde’s 160-yard day on 19 carries, helped win the time of possession game—against a Jaguars’ defense ranked in the top half of the league in opponent’s average time per drive.
Zach Fulton, Nick Martin, Tytus Howard, Max Scharping, and a dash of Roderick Johnson and Chris Clark: A job well done, gents!
3. San Francisco 49ers
The only undefeated team left in the NFL, the 49ers have been recognized as a defensive juggernaut this season, with the offense getting more of the “Way not to lose that game” than anything. But Halloween night was a different story.
While the defense had to really battle and struggle, the offense—led by Mr. Jimmy Garoppolo—did not. He picked apart the Cardinals’ defense—something that should be expected against lower-ranked squads (like Arizona’s)—with a big help coming via newly acquired Emmanuel Sanders. Garoppolo finished the day 28-of-37 for 317 yards and four touchdowns. He was sacked once, and the pocket-pressure moments faced the entire game could be counted on one hand. (The above picture shows some of the effective lanes and pockets created by the 49ers’ line.)
Complemented by a running game that had 101 yards total, the 49ers’ offense stayed on the field almost 10 minutes longer than the Cardinals’ O. Talk about the best defense being the offense, you know?
Weston Richburg, Laken Tomlinson, Michael Person, Daniel Brunskill, and Justin Skule: In this case…it was certainly a “treat!”
2. Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens knocked off the New England Patriots, ending the possibility of an undefeated season in Foxboro. Following the game, the different types of thoughts that were blasted into the social media Take-O-Sphere ranged from applause to denial to lessons learned. None of that, mind you, undermines the fact that the Ravens executed an impressive offensive attack against the Patriots.
Most impressive though, on a big-time platform—with Al, Cris, the works!—Lamar Jackson showed that he is a quarterback capable of hurting defenses in multiple ways: Arm. Legs. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Etc.
A bulk of the credit goes to Jackson, without question; his running ability and the incredible vision he has when reading the defense—those split-second cuts—are uniquely Lamar. But don’t skip out on the job by the Ravens’ O-line, which had some solid abilities on display, too:
The Ravens ended the game with 210 yards rushing and three touchdowns. They held the ball for 37:01. That type of clock-eating, against a Patriots defense that is tops in the league for not allowing opponents to keep a drive moving, is eye-opening. More so! It was practically a Snickers commercial, guys.
Orlando Brown, Ronnie Stanley, Marshal Yanda, Matt Skura, and Bradley Bozeman: Strong effort—you dug in against the Belichick family tree of defensive mastery and came out victorious. That’s not a common occurrence.
1. Oakland Raiders
The Raiders were away from the Coliseum for so long that the last game they played there involved a baseball diamond, and Central Michigan University didn’t have anyone enrolled by the name of Antonio Brown.
The Raiders’ midseason homecoming didn’t disappoint, either.
Derek Carr was 21-of-31 for 289 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked once, and only Trey Flowers was able to get a couple hits on the Raiders QB. The running game, led by Josh Jacobs’ continued excellence (28 carries for 120 yards and two touchdowns), was key to keeping the ball away from a hot-handed Matthew Stafford, who threw for over 400 yards with three TDs.
The game came down to the wire, with final plays by the Lions that could have quickly gone in favor of Matt Patricia and crew. But that wouldn’t have watered-down the effort by the Raiders’ offensive line—which was impressive enough, at times, that ex-players were championing for one John Thomas Ralph Augustine James Facenda to voiceover such eloquent and poetic movements:
Most impressive? The Raiders’ O-line battled the Lions with a limited group, already without center Rodney Hudson, and now compounded with the loss of Trent Brown on the opening drive.
Gabe Jackson, Richie Incognito, David Sharpe, Andre James, and Kolton Miller: Stand up from down in front; you guys are the Week 9 Champions of the Choppy Steps.
