NFL Notebook Week 9: MVP race, playoff picture, awards and more
By Zach Cohen
The Jets and Browns have disappointed everyone, the NFL Playoffs and MVP race are taking shape, weekly awards and more in the NFL Notebook for Week 9.
What an exciting week for the NFL and football at large in Week 9.
All games but two were separated by single digits at some point in the fourth quarter. Every team that played in their own stadium on Sunday won. The undefeated Patriots finally lost. The winless Dolphins finally won.
Lamar Jackson silenced the critics. Baker Mayfield’s critics continued chirping. Russell Wilson took over in overtime, again. Deshaun Watson took over in London, again.
NFL Week 9 may not have featured marquee matchups that everyone had circled coming into Sunday but it was undoubtedly one that delivered plenty of excitement throughout the league. Just as importantly, the phenomenal week gave us countless things that we need to talk about in the NFL Notebook.
And I’ll discuss everything. That includes:
- An interesting look at the NFL MVP candidates
- How terrible the Jets actually are
- The Browns and the Case of the “Runaway Hype Train”
- Gardner Minshew’s future
- Another dive into all that went down in college football Week 10
- A glance at the midseason playoff picture
- Weekly awards and more
Let’s start by looking at the best of the NFL through nine weeks and which players have a path to winning the league’s MVP award.