Best And Worst Of NFL Week NIne

A lot has gone down during week nine of the National Football League season that has a few scratching their heads. There are three unbeaten teams still standing: the Carolina Panthers (who may be the beasts of the NFC at the moment), the New England Patriots and the Cincinnati Bengals. Both the Titans and Steelers won in crazy shootout games (Pittsburgh also saw Big Ben get hurt again). Indianapolis went out and took down their former hero, ending Denver's unbeaten season. Upsets, bad coaching decisions, record setting performances, player injuries (see Big Ben again) and a few low scoring games are the highlights from week nine. So now, here's some of the best and worst from week nine in the NFL.

Best:
Antonio Brown, Wide Receiver Pittsburgh Steelers
This guy has been the best receiver in the NFL the past couple of seasons, but what he did on Sunday was almost otherworldly. Brown caught a franchise-record 17 passes for 284 yards (ninth most in NFL history). What makes this even more amazing is that Brown did it without Ben Rothlisberger, who left the game with an injury (Big Ben can't seem to be able to stay healthy this year). When you catch 17 passes it means your having yourself a good day. Add on the 284 yards, it means you were playing at another level. Brown caught 116 more yards then the next top receiver performance this week (Sammy Watkins of the Buffalo Bills had 168 receiving yards against Miami). Yeah if that's not a dominating performance than I don't know what is.

Worst:
Dan Quinn, Head Coach Atlanta Falcons
Lets face facts the Falcons have gone back to their old ways and are starting to really suck again. You know its a bad day when you lose to the San Francisco 49ers who have Blaine Gabbrett as starting QB. But his loss really has to sting because of the bad play calling by coach Dan Quinn. How can you not go for it on fourth down with under three minutes left and down four points. If you fail, you can still hope for a defensive stop with time left on the clock. That’s what the Falcons had to hope for anyway after kicking a useless field goal. Atlanta needed a damn touchdown and instead they kick the field goal and lose by one point. Atlanta is now on a two game losing streak and they have made bad decisions in both those losses.

Best:
Marcus Mariota, Quarterback Tennessee Titans
I think we just caught a glimpse of what the Titans wanted when they drafted him. Mariota stayed cool under pressure in the 34-28 overtime win by the Titans over the Saints. Mariota went 28 of 39 for 371 yards and 4 touchdowns. He didn't throw a pick and no Saints defender laid a hand on him for the sack. What sealed the game was the five-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to Anthony Fasano in overtime that clinched the win for the Titans. The funny thing is this marks only the second win for the season for Tennessee, and in both of the Titans wins, Mariota has thrown for four touchdowns in each game. So memo to the Titans, let this guy throw a little more. If he gets multiple touchdowns, your team has a chance to win.

Worst:
Eddie Lacy, Running Back Green Bay Packers
Something has to be wrong with Eddie Lacy this season. Here's a guy who accounted for 3,001 yards from scrimmage in his first 31 NFL games. Now, Lacy looks like he is a shell of himself this season. Case and point, Sunday in the Packers loss to the Panthers and his five rushes for 10 yards and a critical fumble, a day that is totaly un-Lacy like. Based on his performances, it looks like the Packers may have to go with James Starks. Clearly the better option at this point, Starks had 10 rushes for 39 yards and took over the Lacy receiving role with six catches for 83 yards and a 29-yard TD catch that helped give the Packers a chance to pull off an improbable comeback before falling short. Lacy now has only 308 rushing yards at the midpoint of the season, more than 500 yards off his rushing average his first two seasons. Its sad numbers for one of the top running backs in all of football

Best:
DeAngelo Williams, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
As much of an impact that Antonio Brown had in the Steelers 38-35 win over the Raiders, thew same can be said for DeAngelo Williams. Williams rushed 27 times for 170 yards and two scores. Those yards were 41 more than the next leading rusher in the NFL last week, LeGarrette Blount of the Patriots. Overall, the two players combined for 48 touches and 531 total yards. That’s not a typo. Brown and Williams accounted for almost 90 percent of Pittsburgh’s 591 yards. No pair of players has gained more yards in a single game since at least 1960.

Worst:
Todd Gurley, Running Back St. Louis Rams
He had a decent day, finishing with 24 carries for 89 yards. It was the first time in the last five weeks that he failed to reach 100 yards in a game. Don't get me wrong, those are solid numbers, but its a little disappointment when you consider what he's done the last few weeks. Adrian Peterson outshined the rookie as AP racked up 125 yards in the Vikings’ win over the Rams.

Best:
Buffalo Bills Running Game
Big win last week for the Bills. They got a win over a division rival in Miami, a strong 33-17 victory. They slowly worked Tyrod Taylor back into the mix, throwing the ball only 12 times. What good would a passing game do when Buffalo had a running game going. The Bills rushed for 266 yards as a team. This includes 100-yard games from both LeSean McCoy (16 carries for 112 yards) and rookie Karlos Williams (9 carries for 100 yards). The pair also scored three times. McCoy scampered 48 yards for a touchdown in the first half, while Williams found the end zone from 11 yards out in the first half and from 38 in the fourth quarter. Sunday marked the first time the Bills had two 100-yard rushers in a game since 2007.

Worst:
Denver Bronco's Unbeaten Season
Colts got payback against their former QB at home, as the Colts ended Denver's unbeaten season with a 27-24 victory, dropping the Bronco record to 8-1. Coincidentally enough, both Luck and Peyton Manning completed 21 of 36 passes for two touchdowns. Luck passed for 252 yards (to Manning’s 281) but the scale tipper as for who performed better was Manning’s two awful interceptions compared to Luck’s big fat zero. Indy's defense made the plays better than that of the Broncos, who coming into the week had the top overall defense in football. At for Manning, he’ll have to wait until next game to gain those piddly three yards he needed to break Brett Favre’s all-time passing record of 71,838.

Best:
Cam Newton, Quarterback Carolina Panthers
Newton had himself a pretty good day on Sunday, going 15 of 30 for 297 yards 3 touchdowns and threw one pick. He also put pedal to the medal and tallied 57 rushing yards along with a rushing touchdown. That rushing score for Newton was his 38th in his career, tying Kordell Stewart for second place on the all-time list for quarterbacks. His dynamic performance helped keep the Panthers an undefeated team for the year. Carolina is taking giant steps forward as a franchise, and with this guy leading the charge, its going to be a bright future in Carolina.

Worst:
Colin Kapernick, Quarterback San Francisco 49ers
You almost have to feel bad for the guy. He didn't take a snap Sunday, while Blaine Gabbert took all the snaps in the 17-16 49ers win. The fact that Gabbert had a good day, pretty much means that this guy's future in San Francisco my be almost done. Kaepernick clearly is the superior athlete of the two of them, and his critics have bemoaned the fact that he doesn’t use them enough. Gabbert’s Week 9 rushing total surpassed any that Kaepernick compiled in his past four starts. Lets face facts Gabbert had out played Kapernick, who looks like he might not get another start this year at this rate.