The NFL kicked off November in Week 9 and it featured arguably the biggest International Series matchup since its inception. The Chiefs beat the Dolphins in Frankfurt, holding off a second-half comeback to remain in first in the AFC standings and clinch the critical tiebreaker over Miami. The Dolphins continue to struggle against the best teams in the league and have questions to answer as they head into their bye.
Sunday will close with a huge Bills-Bengals game in Cincinnati on Sunday Night Football, but in the meantime, we’ve had some big results in the early slate as the league works through Week 9. The biggest AFC game of the day opened the morning in Frankfurt as the Chiefs beat the Dolphins 21-14. Kansas City jumped on top 21-0 in the first half, but Miami came to life in the second half to make things interesting.
The Ravens got one of the bigger wins of the 1 p.m. window, crushing the Seahawks at home. It’s the second time in three weeks the Ravens have crushed a first-place team from the NFC North. That moved the 49ers back into first place in the NFC West due to their head-to-head win over Seattle.
The wildest game of the early slate saw the Vikings beat the Falcons in an absolutely wild game. Vikings QB Jaren Hall was knocked out of the game and Joshua Dobbs came on in relief. It was a back-and-forth affair that went entirely off the rails before Dobbs found Brandon Powell with 20 seconds left to secure the huge road win. The Falcons loss moved the Saints into first place in the NFC South and the Vikings into a wild card berth for now.
UPDATE: OK, C.J. Stroud and the Texans get credit for the wildest game of the early slate. They went back-and-forth with the Bucs and Stroud won it with a wild final drive, moving 75 yards in 40 seconds to score the game-winning touchdown with six seconds left in the game.
4 p.m. window update — The Colts and Panthers opened the late window and Indianapolis got a key win. They beat the Panthers 27-13 to improve to 4-5. They are only in 11th place in the AFC, but they are only 1.5 games back of the last playoff berth. The Raiders beat the Giants in the late window to move into a tie with the Colts and keep their wild card hopes alive in the post-Josh McDaniels era. The Eagles wrapped up the late slate with a 28-23 win over the Cowboys to get a critical leg up in the NFC East race.
The NFL heads toward a Week 10 slate that includes two big matchups of teams over .500. The Browns travel to face the Ravens in a key divisional matchup while the 49ers travel to face the Jaguars in a potentially fun inter-conference showdown. The week opens with a matchup featuring key draft pick implications as the Bears host the Panthers on Thursday Night Football.
Here’s a look at what the playoff picture looks like as the NFL works its way through Sunday and Monday toward Week 10.
AFC playoff picture
1. Kansas City Chiefs, 7-2
2. Baltimore Ravens, 7-2
3. Jacksonville Jaguars, 6-2
4. Miami Dolphins, 6-3
5. Pittsburgh Steelers, 5-3
6. Cleveland Browns, 5-3
7. Cincinnati Bengals, 5-3
8. Buffalo Bills, 5-4
9. Houston Texans, 4-4
10. Los Angeles Chargers, 4-4
11. New York Jets, 4-4
12. Indianapolis Colts, 4-5
13. Las Vegas Raiders, 4-5
14. Tennessee Titans, 3-5
15. Denver Broncos, 3-5
16. New England Patriots, 2-7
NFC playoff picture
1. Philadelphia Eagles, 8-1
2. Detroit Lions, 6-2
3. San Francisco 49ers, 5-3
4. New Orleans Saints, 5-4
5. Seattle Seahawks, 5-3
6. Dallas Cowboys, 5-3
7. Minnesota Vikings, 5-4
8. Washington Commanders, 4-5
9. Atlanta Falcons, 4-5
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 3-5
11. Green Bay Packers, 3-5
12. Los Angeles Rams, 3-6
13. New York Giants, 2-7
14. Chicago Bears, 2-7
15. Carolina Panthers, 1-7
16. Arizona Cardinals, 1-8