NFL Week 9 Winners and Losers, From Josh Allen to Josh Allen

• Week 9 was the wildest week of the NFL season yet.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars shocked the Buffalo Bills thanks to a dominant performance from Josh Allen.
• Meanwhile, Tom Brady won the week despite not leaving his couch.

Week 9 of the NFL season was full of surprises.

In a duel of Josh Allens in Jacksonville, the Jaguars came away with an unbelievable upset. The Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos both shook off the loss of superstar players to come up with impressive wins. And somehow, Tom Brady found a way to win even on his bye week.

Take a look below at the winners and losers of Week 9 of the NFL season.

WINNER: Josh Allen (Jacksonville Jaguars)

In the most shocking result in a week full of shocking results, the Jacksonville Jaguars upset the Buffalo Bills with a 9-6 victory.

The star of the show was Jaguars defensive end Josh Allen, who finished the game with eight total tackles, including a sack, a fumble recovery, and an interception against the Bills quarterback that shares his name.

—SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 7, 2021

With the win, the Jaguars completed the seventh-largest upset since 1990 after closing as 15.5-point underdogs. Josh Allen got the better of Josh Allen on Sunday, and Josh Allen paid the price.

LOSER: Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills)

See above.

WINNER: Baker Mayfield with something to prove

The Cleveland Browns went through a messy public breakup with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. last week. The vibes were bad. But few players in the NFL love to prove their doubters wrong more than Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield and the Browns were electric against the Bengals, trouncing Cincinnati 41-16. Mayfield finished the day with 218 yards and two touchdowns, including this deep strike to Donovan Peoples-Jones.

—Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 7, 2021

No-dell? No problem.

LOSER: Sam Darnold

When he was with the Jets, Sam Darnold infamously said he was “seeing ghosts” during an atrocious game against Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.

Darnold, now with the Panthers, had the chance for redemption on Sunday. Instead, the ghosts came back.

—New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 7, 2021

The Panthers lost 24-6, with Darnold completing less than 50% of his passes and throwing zero touchdowns against three interceptions.

Making matters worse, head coach Matt Rhule seemed to leave the door open for the team to make a switch to backup P.J. Walker during his post-game press conference.

“We can’t have a quarterback throwing the ball up in the air,” Rhule said. He knows that. I know that. Whether we have to get with the coaches and figure out is it the coaching, is it him, what is it? We just can’t keep doing this.”

WINNER: Denver Broncos

The Broncos have been up and down all season, but Sunday was a decidedly up day for Denver, upsetting the Cowboys in Dallas as 10-point underdogs.

After trading away defensive leader Von Miller earlier in the week, Denver held the Cowboys scoreless for the first three quarters and jumped out to a 30-0 lead before Dallas put their first points on the board. The Broncos even got a little help thanks to a quirk in the rulebook that allowed them to turn a blocked punt into a first down.

—NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) November 7, 2021

Despite already suffering a four-game losing streak in the young season, the Broncos are 5-4 and undoubtedly still alive in the AFC playoff hunt.

LOSER: Kyle Shanahan

 

AP Photo/David Banks

The San Francisco 49ers faced a Cardinals team that was down its MVP-candidate quarterback in Kyler Murray and top receiver in DeAndre Hopkins. In a divisional game in the talented NFC West, the 49ers needed to take care of business at home.

Instead, head coach Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers got stomped by Colt McCoy. Sixty minutes of completely uninspired football later, the Cardinals had run the 49ers out of the building, 31-17.

WINNER: Colt McCoy

In his 11th NFL season, having spent most of his career as a backup, Colt McCoy made it clear why he’s made more than $20 million as a professional football player despite only making 31 career starts.

McCoy completed 22 of his 26 passes, taking what the 49ers defense gave him and leading the Cardinals to a victory that was never in doubt.

—Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 8, 2021

Keep shootin’ Tex.

LOSER: Aaron Rodgers

The Green Bay Packers were atrocious without Aaron Rodgers running the show, and Rodgers has no one to blame but himself. After Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19, the Packers were left to give Jordan Love his first NFL start.

Green Bay lost 13-7 and almost certainly would have won with Rodgers under center. It’s a loss that could loom large for Rodgers and the Packers.

With only one postseason bye up for grabs in the NFC, if the Packers miss out on the top spot in the conference at the end of the year, this will be an easy game to look back at and wonder what could have been.

LOSER: Jordan Love’s family

Jordan Love’s mother and girlfriend were in attendance at his NFL debut, but apparently the Chiefs weren’t allowed to let quality seats go into the hands of the visiting team.

—Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) November 7, 2021

Hopefully, when Love finally gets to start back home at Lambeau Field, his family can get some better seats.

WINNER: Tom Brady

 

AP Photo/Justin Rex

The rest of the NFL’s best quarterbacks spent Week 9 stepping on rakes so hard that Tom Brady jumped to being the co-favorite for MVP without taking a snap.

Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, and Matthew Stafford all suffered embarrassing losses. The Cardinals won without Kyler Murray. And Aaron Rodgers isn’t going to win an award that’s voted on by the media after lying to the media.

From the comfort of his couch, Brady jumped into pole position in the MVP race. Even when he’s not playing, Tom Brady is still the GOAT.