NFL Week 9: Complete Report Card For Every NFL Team
As NFL Week 9 continues, it's time to put together the report card and grade the teams on the product on the field.
Some of these grades may surprise, but getting a victory doesn't give you an automatic A. These grades are as brutally honest as I can make them, so don't expect there to be any punches pulled.
Starting with the bottom...
New England Patriots
1 of 24
Grade: F
Bill Belichick is the master of taking apart upstart teams with young quarterbacks running trick plays.
Today, Bill Belichick got sent home with a loss by his former assistant coach And he didn't just get sent home with a loss, he got beaten in a convincing fashion by a team that on paper shouldn't have even been in the game.
Dallas Cowboys
2 of 24
Grade: F
The Cowboys only scored seven points the whole game in the 45-7 loss, and it wasn't even that close.
The Cowboys looked lifeless, and Mike Jenkins has no business being out on the field with the kind of effort he's making.
Jerry Jones has no reason to keep Wade Phillips around, the team no longer cares what he has to say.
Seattle Seahawks
3 of 24
Grade: F
Matt Hasselbeck may be injured, but last time I checked, Hasselbeck didn't play on the defense. The lack of production from the offense wasn't surprising considering how good the Giant's defense is, but the Seahawks defense is just plain awful.
The Seahawks are injured, but there just didn't seem to be anything redeeming the Seahawks fans could take out of this.
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Carolina Panthers
4 of 24
Grade: D
The only reason this grade isn't an F is because an F assumes the team failed miserably in one or more areas they should have been better in.
The Panthers just aren't a very good team, so saying they failed miserably in every aspect of the game would be a good assumption going into the day.
The Panthers kept Drew Brees under 300 yards and to only two touchdowns. No Saints runner got more than 100 yards, so while it's no fun being a Panthers fan right now, at least you're not the Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo Bills
5 of 24
Grade: D+
The Bills don't get beat easy. Despite the difference in records, the Bills really look like the better team when you compare them to a team like the Panthers.
Then there are the Chicago Bears, who are kind of an enigma this year between their record and their actual on-field play. But we'll get to the Bears in a minute.
Once again the Bills stayed in the game, and once again the Bills found a way to lose. But they hung in there and kept it close. Ryan Fitzpatrick had another good day while the running game again was nowhere to be found.
The defense is what it is and the grade reflects that.
Miami Dolphins
6 of 24
Grade: C-
Losing to the Ravens is nothing to get embarrassed about, the Ravens are a good team. But when Billy Cundiff gets four field goals on the day, and you still lose by 16 points, you're doing something very wrong.
The 26-10 final score shows just how good the Ravens defense was in the second half, but it also shows just how poor the Dolphins were at making adjustments after halftime.
Detroit Lions
7 of 24
Grade: C-
The Lions are going to be a good team sometime in the very near future, they now have too much good talent for things to really be any other way.
But they're still a very young team, and that was very evident in the fourth quarter and the overtime period versus the Jets on Sunday.
Stafford's injury shouldn't have changed things all that much because the Lions have played most of the season without him and they still had Calvin Johnson catching balls and Ndamukong Suh causing havoc on the defense.
But the Lions defense made some very bad mistakes at the end of the fourth quarter, allowing the Jets to tie the game up, and then Santonio Holmes put the final nail in the coffin.
The Lions are getting better, but they're not there yet.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8 of 24
Grade: C
In a game where the division lead was on the line, the Bucs came up short. Josh Freeman threw two interceptions and LeGarrette Blount really wasn't a big factor, coming up short on fourth down at the end of the fourth quarter.
Freeman did have two touchdowns on the day, but was limited to less than 200 yards through the air.
It wasn't a blowout, and the Bucs weren't humiliated or anything, but a loss to a division rival is not a good thing on the report card.
Kansas City Chiefs
9 of 24
Grade: C
The Kansas City Chiefs played a solid game, but the cracks are starting to appear in the foundation. After spending most of the season having one of the best running games in the league, the Raiders shut it down, as Jamaal Charles got limited to 53 yards, and he was the leading rusher for the Chiefs.
Matt Cassel was good but not great, and the defense let Jason Campbell throw for 229 yards and a touchdown as well as letting Darren McFadden get another 89 yards.
Arizona Cardinals
10 of 24
Grade: C
Let's not get excited about the Cardinals for playing the Vikings into overtime. They had a special teams runback for a score and a fumble recovery and runback for a score.
Derek Anderson still is the starting quarterback, and he threw one touchdown without throwing any interceptions. But the defense still is letting too many passes through, and Adrian Peterson did his job getting 81 yards and one touchdown on the day.
The Cardinals were lucky to be in the game given how bad the offense was, but they weren't able to stay ahead, and there's another loss on the schedule.
Houston Texans
11 of 24
Grade: B-
The Texans had a great day out of all their players versus the best offense in the NFL, and if it weren't for a bad beat by Andre Johnson bobbling the ball into an interception, the Texans might have won the game.
Arian Foster had another great day with 127 rushing yards and two touchdowns, plus he ended up being the lead receiver on the day.
The Chargers are playing better and the Texans now are on a losing streak.
Indianapolis Colts
12 of 24
Grade: B-
Considering most of Peyton Manning's weapons are sitting in the hospital or on the sideline, the Colts played a very good game that ended up being a lot closer than a lot of people thought.
Austin Collie hopefully only has sustained a concussion, but Manning clearly needed his help in the second half, throwing a very uncharacteristic interception that sealed the Colt's loss.
New York Jets
13 of 24
Grade: B-
The Jets received several gifts at the end of the fourth quarter in the form of bad defensive plays by the Detroit Lions, but give credit where credit is due, Mark Sanchez threw a great pass in overtime to Santonio Holmes, and the fact he was able to get the Jets in position to tie the game at the end of regulation says something.
Still, the Jets almost lost two games in a row after going on a five-game winning streak and had to get it done in overtime to avoid the loss.
Chicago Bears
14 of 24
Grade: B
Jay Cutler had his best day in weeks as he threw for two touchdowns and zero interceptions in a 22-19 win.
The Bears did a good job of not letting the game slip away when the Bills were giving it their all to avoid going to 0-8.
The Bears did what they needed to do, but nothing impressive enough to earn a higher grade here.
Minnesota Vikings
15 of 24
Grade: B
The Vikings did it in overtime, but Brett Favre rallied the team and the Vikings did something they've had a very hard time doing lately: winning a football game.
Still, this isn't an A because the Cardinals aren't very good right now, and the reason the Vikings had to rally back was because of a special teams breakdown that allowed a touchdown and a fumble recovery by the Cardinals that went back for a touchdown.
The Vikings were able to overcome the mistakes, though, and they go the win, and that's all that counts.
Baltimore Ravens
16 of 24
Grade: A
The Ravens got it done with field goals and a good day from Joe Flacco, who threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense came on good in the second half, and the Ravens handed the Dolphins their first road loss.
But the defense in the second half was amazing, just shutting the Dolphins offense down, which is what we've come to expect but haven't seen lately from the Ravens defense.
If the defense has turned that proverbial corner back into the unbeatable, elite, unit it has been in year's past, the rest of the AFC is in a lot of trouble.
San Diego Chargers
17 of 24
Grade: A-
The Chargers are getting better each week, and the Texans are the latest victims of this turnaround.
The Chargers offensive capabilities never have been in question, and the defense is as solid as can be. But the special teams kept letting them down, and mistakes would kill the team at the end of the game.
But not anymore, this time the Chargers took advantage of the Texans mistakes and things are looking much brighter in San Diego now.
New Orleans Saints
18 of 24
Grade: A
The Saints came out and did exactly what they were supposed to do, they beat a bad team and they did it in convincing fashion.
This is a matchup that should've just been called at the half to avoid risking injury to anyone.
Oakland Raiders
19 of 24
Grade: A
Good teams find a way to win football games, and it now appears the Raiders are once again a good team.
Jason Campbell had a good day with 226 yards and one touchdown with only one pick, and Darren McFadden got another 89 yards on the ground.
It took an overtime kick to pull out the win, but the Chiefs are one of the better team's in the league so far this year, so you have to take that into account.
The Raiders officially are a team in the playoff hunt now, and they need to be taken seriously.
Philadelphia Eagles
20 of 24
Grade: A
Michael Vick and the Eagles got it done, withstanding and overcoming a Peyton Manning who still can throw despite having practically none of his usual receivers to throw to.
The Eagles knocked Austin Collie out of the game in the first half, and there's no way to predict if Collie would've made a difference in the second half, but if one were to guess, the answer would be: yes, Collie would've made a difference.
Vick was solid in his first game back since the rib injury and the Eagles hung in there, playing a good game until the final whistle.
New York Giants
21 of 24
Grade: A
Like the Saints, the Giants did what they were supposed to do on Sunday.
The Seahawks did not match up well against the Giants, mainly due to injuries, but the Giants defense has proved every week they are becoming one of the Top 5 defenses in the league.
Atlanta Falcons
22 of 24
Grade: A
The Atlanta Falcons had one heck of a fight versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they came out on top, and that mean an A.
Michael Turner had a great day, the Falcons defense had a great goal-line stand, and the Falcons now are the sole owners of first place in the NFC South.
Green Bay Packers
23 of 24
Grade: A
The Packers dominated a bad team, Clay Matthews made sure the primetime audience knew who he was, and Aaron Rodgers quietly had another great game.
The Packers have smoothed out the kinks that threatened to derail the team early in the season, and now the Packers are starting to look like a well-oiled machine.
Cleveland Browns
24 of 24
Grade: A+
Who ever thought you'd see the Browns on top of the grades list this season?
Head Coach Eric Mangini outdueled his mentor, flummoxed the Patriot's defense and Peyton Hillis ran for 184 yards and two touchdowns on the day.
The Browns defense completely neutralized Tom Brady, and if it weren't for a stupid interference penalty at the end of the game, the Patriots wouldn't have even scored 14 points.
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