NFL Week 9 Takeaways: C.J. Stroud leads OROY race with latest heroics for Texans

It’s common that when the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks are both quarterbacks, they draw comparisons often. There was no shortage of that when Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud went back-to-back in the 2023 NFL Draft.

But when it comes to deciding which rookie quarterback is making an impact, especially since the two just faced off last week, it’s hard to look past what Stroud is doing for the Houston Texans.

The AFC South is still a less than glamorous division, but the Texans now sit at 4-4, already beating their win total from 2022 and equalling their win totals from 2020 and 2021.

What was the latest spectacle that Stroud put on? Leading the Texans to a comeback victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, breaking the single-game league record for most passing yards by a rookie in the process.

Stroud broke the record previously set by Andrew Luck in 2012 with a 433-yard performance against the Miami Dolphins, throwing for 470 yards and five touchdowns in the win.

The former Ohio State quarterback set the record on the Texans’ final drive of the game, with a six-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 15-yard touchdown by Tank Dell to secure the win.

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Through eight games, Stroud has a 62 per cent completion rate, throwing for 2,270 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and just one interception.

At this rate, the Offensive Rookie of the Year race is Stroud’s to lose.

Here’s a collection of other takeaways from around the league.

Dolphins still yet to beat top teams after narrow loss to Chiefs in Germany

“I feel like this is football’s new rivalry,” were the words of Tyreek Hill after the Dolphins fell 21-14 to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday morning as they played in Frankfurt, Germany as part of the NFL International Series.

Miami’s losses this season are now to the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles and the Chiefs, all very good football teams and will all be making appearances in the post-season. But to be elite, you have to beat the elite, and the Dolphins seem to be one play away from doing so on more than one occasion.

Two of the best teams in the league, both going into the game at 6-2, but only one could come out victorious, and luckily for the Super Bowl-defending Chiefs, they happened to come out on top.

Hill had said the game was fun, and that he enjoyed himself, but the scoreboard was a less than ideal result for the Dolphins.

Against the Chiefs, on third down with the game on the line, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had eyes on receiver Cedrick Wilson, but instead of converting for the first down and extended the drive to at least tie the game, the ball bounced off the turf and the Dolphins headed home with their third loss of the season.

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The Dolphins shot themselves in the foot multiple times in the game, like a botched snap for a fumble on fourth down, another fumble on a crucial play at the 37-yard line by Hill against his former team, holding penalties and other setbacks that saw Miami trail 21-0 early.

While the Dolphins found momentum to get back two scores, their efforts weren’t enough to beat a top contender, which will be a problem that needs to be solved looking to the playoffs.

Josh Dobbs leads Vikings to unlikely upset, but injuries continue to plague

When Kirk Cousins tore his right Achilles tendon against the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings quickly needed to put someone under centre to find a way to continue to compete this season. The Vikings already had rookie Jaren Hall, and on Tuesday, signed veteran Josh Dobbs from the Arizona Cardinals.

The Vikings have lost multiple players to injury, both short and long-term, including star wide receiver Justin Jefferson, fellow receiver KJ Osborn, and just minutes into Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, Hall tossed out just six throws before exiting with a concussion.

A member of the Vikings for less than a week – not to mention the team being the seventh different NFL squad he has been a part of in the league – Dobbs was thrown into the game, with the Vikings underdogs against Atlanta.

Dobbs went on to throw for 158 yards and two touchdown passes, and ran in a touchdown, leading the Vikings in rushing with 66 yards, helping them rally late to upset the Falcons 31-28.

Atlanta didn’t trail all game until the fourth quarter when Greg Joseph hit a 31-yard field goal for a three-point lead, but a Tyler Allgeier five-yard rush gave the Falcons a four-point lead with just over two minutes to play.

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But Dobbs led the Vikings to victory with less than 30 seconds left to play, finding Brandon Powell for a six-yard touchdown capping off an 11-play, 75-yard game-winning drive that included a 22-yard scramble to convert a 4th-and-7.

The Vikings now sit over .500, and Dobbs was deservedly given the game ball for leading the team to a win.

It’s still Taysom time as he makes history against Bears

On a day where records were broken, others were made, and the New Orleans Saints’ tight end/quarterback fusion that is Taysom Hill made sure his name was added to the history books as well.

Doing something no player has done in over 66 years, Hill found himself making history with a two-yard touchdown reception in a 24-17 win over the Chicago Bears.

With the score, Hill became the first player since Frank Gifford in 1957 to have at least 10 career touchdown receptions, rushes and touchdown passes. Gifford finished his career with 14 touchdown passes, 34 touchdown runs and 43 touchdown receptions. 

Hill now has 11 career touchdown passes, 26 touchdown runs and 10 touchdown receptions, including a three-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson that ended up being the game-winning score.

The Mac Jones woes continue

Those following the New England Patriots have been seemingly over quarterback Mac Jones for quite a while, and his latest costly mistake against the Washington Commanders just adds to the list of why many want someone else under centre.

Now sitting at 2-7, the Patriots had every opportunity to beat the Commanders as they took a lead just before halftime, and extended it coming out of the half to lead by seven points.

But 10 unanswered points from the Commanders saw the Patriots trail by three in the third quarter. While neither team was able to find the end zone in the fourth quarter, the Patriots had the ball with 35 seconds left.

With no timeouts on 2nd-and-8, Jones aimed for JuJu Smith-Schuster, but the ball was instead intercepted by safety Jartavius Martin at the Commanders’ 33 yard-line which sealed the game and handed New England a loss for the seventh time in nine games.

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Jones now has nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns this season, throwing 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions, with a QBR of 42.9. Not that the Patriots were expecting a post-season run this year, but the fifth loss in six games is less than ideal.

Post-McDaniels era looking up for Raiders

The Raiders were looking to play a new tune against the Giants after general manager Dave Ziegler, coach Josh McDaniels and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi were all fired.

Interim coach Antonio Pierce, who Davante Adams already said he would run through a wall for, brought out the best in the Raiders as they defeated the New York Giants 30-6 on Sunday.

Las Vegas’ defence stole the show, recording 73 total tackles, eight sacks, and nine quarterback hits, grabbing two interceptions off of Tommy DeVito and sacking him six times after he came on for an injured Daniel Jones.

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Maxx Crosby led the team with three sacks, but also made history in multiple ways, marking his third career game with 3.0+ sacks, tied for the fourth most in the NFL since 2019, and the fourth most in Raiders history, tied for the second most among players in their first five seasons.

Crosby is the first Raiders defender with at least 8.5 sacks through nine games of a single season since 1999, and has 77 career tackles for loss, passing Jared Allen, DeMarcus Ware and T.J. Watt for the fifth most in NFL history since 1999 among players in their first 75 career games.

Offensively, Josh Jacobs rushed for a season-high 98 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns, and rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell made his regular-season home debut completing 16 of 25 passes for 209 yards without an interception.

Overall, a full team win is just what the Raiders needed, and Pierce delivered.

Is there any hope for the Arizona Cardinals?

Losing Kyler Murray to a torn ACL was certainly not in the plans for the Cardinals, and while his return to the team inches closer, the days without him aren’t getting any less painful.

The Cardinals are just 1-8 after nine weeks under rookie head coach Jonathan Gannon, and Arizona didn’t put up a single point against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Every time they looked to have a drive that would get them anywhere near the red zone, the play was halted, likely by an interception thrown by Clayton Tune.

A fifth-round pick out of Houston, Tune was named the starter ahead of Week 9, but he completed just 11 of 20 attempts and the Cardinals finished with 58 total yards, the lowest Arizona has tallied since 1955.

Tune also threw two interceptions in the loss, and at halftime, the Cardinals had 35 penalty yards, more than their 31 offensive yards. Arizona punted nine times out of 14 drives, and failed to cross the Cleveland 40-yard line all game.

Finishing with the worst QBR of the season with 1.6, Tune’s first start against a tough Browns defence was a performance to forget, and the Cardinals will look to just hang on until Murray returns to the lineup.

Eagles claw way to be only 8-1 team after nail-biter against Cowboys

The Philadelphia Eagles continue to be one of the best teams in football, but they haven’t made some of their wins easy on themselves, which was certainly the case against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Trailing 17-14 at the half, the Eagles scored 14 unanswered points thanks to DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, but the Cowboys found the end zone in the fourth quarter as Dak Prescott connected with Jalen Tolbert for seven yards to cut the lead to five.

The Eagles had a chance to secure their win with 1:17 on the clock, but instead ran the ball three straight times to burn the Cowboys’ timeouts, almost turning the ball over on third down thanks to a fumble at the handoff.

After an Eagles punt, Dallas needed to go 85 yards in 45 seconds with no timeouts, and managed to make it the Eagles’ six-yard line thanks to penalties on the Eagles, but Josh Sweat got the sack on Dak Prescott to knock him back to the 22-yard line.

Jalen Hurts played through an injured left knee to throw for 207 yards and two touchdowns – and ran for a tush push score, of course – but the Eagles continued to let the Cowboys back in as Prescott threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns.

While shaky in the first half, the Eagles defence came up when needed most to prevent a game-winning drive, and it became very apparent that the NFC this season likely runs through Philly.

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