3 winners and 3 losers from the NFL early slate in Week 9

There's never a shortage of stories on an NFL Sunday, and the early slate of games in Week 9 provided us with endless moments, but glorious and... whatever the opposite of glorious is. From surprise comebacks to

Winner: Kirk Cousins MVP Odds

Mr. Atlanta is on a roll right now. After a lukewarm start to his Falcons tenure, Kirk Cousins is cooking. He's thrown seven touchdowns in his past two games, leading the Falcons to five wins in their past six outings. Suddenly hottest team in the NFL, the A is starting to believe that this team is capable of a real postseason run.

Put some respect on Kirk's name. He's certainly not the MVP frontrunner at the moment — Josh Allen probably still holds that label — but if Atlanta keeps winning, Kirk will make his way up the odds list for the award.

Players are literally standing on their heads because they're so excited to be playing with Kirk Cousins.

Loser: Jameis Winston Belivers

That storyline didn't last very long. A week after Jameis Winston heroically led the Browns to a win against division rival Baltimore, it felt like the Browns season had new life. Maybe not "playoff hopeful" life, but at least "it doesn't hurt to watch this team" life. Well, it hurts to watch this team again.

Winston followed his four-touchdown performance with a three-interception performance in a 27-10 loss to the Chargers, so Cleveland has gotten the full Jameis Winston experience in just two weeks.

Now 2-7, Cleveland doesn't have anywhere else to turn this year except the NFL Draft. It might be a fire sale in Cleveland in the next two days before the deadline as the team tries to gather draft picks.

Cam Ward looked really good this weekend, Browns fans!

Winner: Every player on the Cincinnati Bengals

After a blowout win against the Las Vegas Raiders, everyone on the Bengals can probably exhale because they likely won't be traded before Tuesday's trade deadline.

Now 4-5, the Bengals are within shouting distance of the first-place Steelers and have a huge matchup with the Ravens looming this Thursday.

Joe Burrow tried to keep the Bengals season alive by himself on Sunday, throwing five touchdown passes for Cincy, and potentially saving a few of his teammates from being traded in the next 48 hours. Very thoughtful of him.

Loser: Jerry Jones

Jerry Jones is not having fun this year — according to himself — and a loss to the Falcons on Sunday, dropping his Dallas Cowboys to 3-5, will not help that.

Dak Prescott leaving the game with a hamstring injury especially won't help that. The Dallas quarterback left Sunday's game with a hamstring injury and didn't return, leaving Cooper Rush to take over the Cowboys offense.

There simply isn't much good news for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys right now, and NFL fans everywhere are terribly upset about that.

Winner: Bryce Young

Literally a winner, for just the third time as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Bryce Young might not be the guy in Carolina, but he deserves major props for leading the Panthers to a win against New Orleans on Sunday even when his receivers were literally giving balls away even when they were perfectly thrown.

Young led a game-winning drive with just over two minutes left, then Carolina's defense stuffed the Saints offense around midfield to secure the win. Maybe an early-season benching is what Young needed to lock in and become the quarterback he's capable of being. Overreaction? Probably. Unless...

Loser: Broncos Fans

Mostly because they were forced to watch their team lose 41-10 as Lamar Jackson ran around and did whatever he wanted to against the Denver defense.

After two straight wins, the Broncos came into this game a shocking 5-3 and feeling pretty good about themselves. Playing Baltimore can ruin a team's spirit pretty quickly, though.

Bo Nix has been a nice surprise for the Broncos this year, who were picked to be one of the worst teams in football. Even after today's blowout loss, things are going much better through nine weeks than anyone predicted. But a 41-10 loss doesn't feel good no matter how well the season has been going before it.