The 3 NFL games you can’t afford to miss in Week 9
The first real test for the New England Patriots and the potential return of Patrick Mahomes highlight the games that you need to watch as we enter Week 9.
Congratulations football fans, you made it to November. TV audiences often refer to November as sweeps month, where shows put together their best efforts to attract viewers, and the NFL is no exception.
With sweeps officially kicking off this week, the NFL has made sure to schedule plenty of marquee matchups, beginning with a very important showdown at Arrowhead Stadium.
Minnesota Vikings (6-2) at Kansas City Chiefs (5-3)
This showdown is massive for both teams, and the Chiefs are hoping to get Patrick Mahomes back for this one. Mahomes sat out of Sunday night’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, but he is ahead of schedule from a dislocated kneecap and appears ready to come back this weekend.
The Chiefs will need Mahomes, but their run defense will need to step up with Vikings’ running back Dalvin Cook coming to town. Cook leads the league in rushing and gashed the Redskins for 98 yards last Thursday, so keeping him in check will be a tall order for a Kansas City defense that got run over by Aaron Jones last week.
Chicago Bears (3-4) at Philadelphia Eagles (4-4)
These two teams both were in need of a win last week, but only the Eagles were able to emerge victorious. Philadelphia pulled off a nice victory, rolling into Buffalo and circling the wagons to blow out a 5-1 Bills team by a 31-13 final to stabilize their season.
The Bears were not as lucky, falling to the Chargers at home when kicker Eddy Pineiro missed a potential game winner at the gun. Coach Matt Nagy implemented some questionable strategy there, kneeling instead of trying to run another play and move the ball closer for his kicker, and that choice has the Bears in desperation mode entering Philadelphia this week.
New England Patriots (8-0) at Baltimore Ravens (5-2)
Everyone knows how good the Patriots are, and they continued their dominance with an easy win over the Browns in Week 8. The critics who argue that the Patriots haven’t played anyone good will finally get their wish this week when New England heads to Baltimore for a massive Sunday night showdown with the Ravens.
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Baltimore got the week off after rolling to an impressive win in Seattle two weeks ago, so John Harbaugh’s troops got an extra week to prepare for this massive game. That could be huge for second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson, who will undoubtedly have a few things he’s never seen before tossed his way by Bill Belichick’s stalwart defense.