There were a handful of upsets in Week 9, but a number of underdogs did their damage against the spread. Even without picking the final two games of the week, Toast dominated with a 9-3 mark through Sunday afternoon. None of us would be able to catch him, but here are the results for Week 9 and updated overall records:
| Nick | Nick ATS | Nick – O/U | Christen | Vanger ATS | Toast ATS |
| 10-4 | 8-6 | 9-5 | 11-3 | 7-7 | 9-3 |
| Previous Total | Previous Total | Previous Total | Previous Total | Previous Total | Previous Total |
| 83-35-1 | 67-51-2 | 26-40-3 | 71-47-1 | 6-8 | 6-8 |
| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| 93-39-1 | 75-57-2 | 35-45-3 | 84-50-1 | 13-15 | 15-11 |
The Steelers stayed undefeated, narrowly escaping with a 24-19 win over the Cowboys and surviving a Ben Roethlisberger injury scare in the process. Kansas City remained firmly on their tails with a win over the Panthers who welcomed back Christian McCaffrey after a long layoff. Sadly for Carolina, McCaffrey suffered a shoulder injury that will put him back on the sidelines for at least one game.
Buffalo reasserted themselves into the conversation as one of the best teams in the league with a huge win over the Seahawks who were arguably at the top of the NFC. The Ravens are another one of the teams fighting to stay in that conversation and they made sure to get back on track with a win over the Colts. I figured Philip Rivers would underperform and throw a couple of picks, but he surprised me and only threw the one. However, he didn’t throw a touchdown and got posterized on a fumble that Baltimore returned for a TD. Tennessee took advantage of the Colts’ loss, snapping a two-game skid and seizing the lead in the AFC South with a win over the Bears. The Titans’ defense looked good but the Bears’ offense hasn’t been great, so it was a bit of a mixed bad.
The Raiders and Dolphins both improved to 5-3 with important positioning victories in the AFC playoff picture as Las Vegas held on against a late Chargers push and Miami snagged a road win over the dynamic Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. Both Vegas and Miami appear to have found their stride while this was most certainly a disappointing loss for the Cards who were in a position to take the lead in the NFC West with a win.
There were a number of low-profile games and the Vikings seem to be finding their groove outside the spotlight as underdogs. Dalvin Cook has cemented himself as the premier running back in the league and Minnesota road another one of his monster days to victory over the Lions. The Giants parlayed momentum from their game against the Buccaneers into a big division win over Washington. Sadly, WSH QB Kyle Allen went down with a nasty leg injury which wasn’t as bad, but not too dissimilar from teammate Alex Smith’s injury a few years ago. Neither team is out of the hunt in the dismal NFC East. In the AFC South, the Texans narrowly escaped with a win over the Jags. However, Jacksonville may have found something in rookie QB Jake Luton who had a good debut and seemed to click with DJ Chark right away. With their win over the Broncos, the Falcons are starting to round into form heading into their Week 10 bye. They’ve won two in a row and three of the last four, but their playoff hopes are slim as they still have to face New Orleans and Tampa Bay twice each on the other side of the break.
Speaking of Tampa and New Orleans, I got some serious schadenfreude from watching the Bucs get whipped all game on Sunday. Ever since the Antonio Brown announcement, I’ve been hearing all the experts anointing TB as the uncrowned champs. I have a friend who’s been in my ear about the Bucs ever since Brady got there and the static buzzing only intensified when the Brown signing happened. Despite trying to caution against hubris, the hype train continued to gain momentum and I loved every second of watching it derail in the national spotlight on Sunday Night Football. The Bucs haven’t played well in any of their spotlight games and barely beat the Giants with substantial assistance from the refs just last week, so I wasn’t buying in. However, I did expect them to make a game of it but the Saints weren’t buying into the hype either. Tampa is talented and Tom Brady won’t let them be bad. I still expect them to be a problem for any team in the NFC come playoff time but boy was that a nice reminder that you have to earn it on the field, not in the media.
Closing out the week on Monday Night Football, the New England patriots stopped their four-game skid with a narrow win over the Jets. Cam Newton played one of his better games this season, going 27/35 for 274-yds passing and a pair of rushing TDs, but he still hasn’t thrown a TD pass for 18-straight quarters dating back to the first half of the Raiders game back on Sept. 27th. Yes, the Covid hiccup and impromptu bye week were mixed in there, but it’s been over a month since he’s recorded a TD through the air. The newly found chemistry with Jakobi Meyers is a positive sign, but Newton is going to need to be better if the Pats want to have any chance.
The Colts and Titans get things started in Week 10 with a pivotal AFC South matchup on Thursday Night Football.
The Steelers stay on the throne for now with the Chiefs hanging onto the #2 spot. Saints and Bills climb while the Seahawks and Bucs slide. Here are the updated Sheist Power Rankings heading into Week 10:
| 1. Steelers 8-0 (1=) |
| 2. Chiefs 8-1 (2=) |
| 3. Bills 7-2 (5⬆) |
| 4. Saints 6-2 (8⬆) |
| 5. Packers 6-2 (10⬆) |
| 6. Ravens 6-2 (6=) |
| 7. Titans 6-2 (9⬆) |
| 8. Seahawks 6-2 (3⬇) |
| 9. Buccaneers 6-3 (4⬇) |
| 10. Dolphins 5-3 (16⬆) |
| 11. Cardinals 5-3 (7⬇) |
| 12. Rams 5-3 (12=) |
| 13. Colts 5-3 (11⬇) |
| 14. Raiders 5-3 (17⬆) |
| 15. Browns 5-3 (14⬇) |
| 16. Bears 5-4 (13⬇) |
| 17. 49ers 4-5 (15⬇) |
| 18. Lions 3-5 (18=) |
| 19. Eagles 3-4-1 (19=) |
| 20. Broncos 3-5 (20=) |
| 21. Vikings 3-5 (22⬆) |
| 22. Falcons 3-6 (27⬆) |
| 23. Panthers 3-6 (23⬇) |
| 24. Patriots 3-5 (25⬆) |
| 25. Bengals 2-5-1 (23⬇) |
| 26. Texans 2-6 (29⬆) |
| 27. Chargers 2-6 (24⬇) |
| 28. Giants 2-7 (30⬆) |
| 29. Cowboys 2-7 (28⬇) |
| 30. Washington 2-6 (26⬇) |
| 31. Jaguars 1-7 (31=) |
| 32. Jets 0-9 (32=) |