Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!I think it’s safe to say that yesterday was the craziest day of the NFL season so far. The Bengals offense pulled off a miracle comeback from 14 points down in the final two minutes against the Bears only to watch their defense blow the game. The Panthers went into Green Bay and shocked the Packers. Daniel Jones turned into a pumpkin and Cam Little set an NFL record by hitting a 68-yard field goal. As if that’s not crazy enough, things could even crazier over the next 24 hours because the trade deadline is coming tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET. The trade deadline used to be the first Tuesday after Week 8, but the owners, who clearly forgot to look at any sort of calendar, decided to move the deadline to the Tuesday after Week 9, which means the trade deadline now falls on Election Day. I vote for a new trade deadline. There will be a lot going on between now and 4 p.m. ET tomorrow when the deadline hits, and we’ll be tracking it all in our live blog here, so be sure to check it out. In the meantime, though, there’s plenty of chaos for us to cover today, so let’s get to the rundown.
1. NFL Week 9 grades: Bills, Panthers and Steelers come away with an ‘A’Welcome to my favorite part of the Monday newsletter, which is where I hand out grades for all 32 teams. Actually, this week, I didn’t grade all 32 teams because there were FOUR teams on a bye, and then we have two teams playing tonight, so you’re only getting 26 grades. Anyway, here are the grades from three notable games that were played Sunday:Steelers 27-20 over Colts (full recap)Colts takeaway: It took nine weeks, but the clock finally struck midnight on Daniel Jones. The Colts QB, who had been playing nearly perfect football this year, gave this game away with five turnovers, including two in the fourth quarter. The Steelers ended up getting 17 points off those turnovers and that was the difference in the game. The Colts’ offensive line got overwhelmed by a Steelers defense that sacked Jones five times while also shutting down Jonathan Taylor. No one expected the Colts to go 16-1, so the big question here is whether Jones has finally turned into a pumpkin or if this performance was just an anomaly. It will be interesting to see how Jones bounces back from his worst game of the season. Grade: C-Steelers takeaway: After a surprisingly bad start to the season, the Steelers defense finally showed what it’s capable of by absolutely shutting down the best offense in the NFL. The Steelers bottled up Jonathan Taylor, holding the NFL’s leading rusher to just 45 yards. That forced the Colts to put the game in the hands of Daniel Jones and the Steelers took advantage of that by beating up on the Indianapolis QB. The Steelers forced Jones into five turnovers while also sacking him five times, including a clutch strip-sack by Alex Highsmith in the fourth quarter (T.J. Watt also had a key strip-sack). If the Steelers defense plays like this the rest of the season, this team is capable of beating anyone in the NFL. Grade: APanthers 16-13 over Packers (full recap)Panthers takeaway: If you have a strong running game and a good defense, you can win games late in the season and the Panthers definitely have both. Rico Dowdle continues to look like the most underrated signing of the 2025 season. The Panthers running back put the offense on his back and carried Carolina with 130 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, the Panthers didn’t totally shut down the Packers, but they came up with a big play whenever they needed one, including an interception and a fourth-down stop in the second half. It might be time to start taking the Panthers seriously. Grade: APackers takeaway: When you can run on the Packers, you can beat them and Carolina was able to run on Green Bay. The Packers had no answer for Rico Dowdle, who averaged 5.2 yards per carry on his way to rushing for 130 yards. The bigger problem for the Packers is that the offense kept up coming up short in key moments. Savion Williams lost a fumble in Panthers territory and Jordan Love threw an interception in the second half that set up a short TD drive for Carolina. Brandon McManus also missed another field goal, and that’s starting to become an issue for Green Bay. Every time you think the Packers might be one of the best teams in the NFC, they go out and lose a game like this, and right now, it’s tough to say who the real Packers are. Grade: CBills 28-21 over Chiefs (full recap)Chiefs takeaway: Patrick Mahomes has been so clutch in his career that it’s always a shock when he fails, but that’s what happened in Buffalo. The Bills defense harassed Mahomes for four straight quarters and the Chiefs quarterback struggled to hit his open receivers. In the second half, Mahomes completed just 8 of 19 passes. If there’s any upside to this loss for Kansas City, it’s this: Mahomes was bad and the defense gave up more than 400 yards, but the Chiefs still ALMOST won. The last three times that the Chiefs lost a regular-season game to Buffalo, it ended up spurring them to a Super Bowl appearance, so no one should be shocked if that once again happens this year. Grade: B-Bills takeaway: For the fifth straight year, the Bills beat the Chiefs in the regular season, and this time, they did it by playing nearly perfectly on both sides of the ball. That started with Josh Allen, who completed an eye-popping 88.5% of his passes for 273 yards and a TD. Allen got plenty of help from James Cook, who blasted through the Chiefs defense for 114 yards on the ground. The big story here, though, was how the defense handled Patrick Mahomes. Joey Bosa had a monster game, leading a Bills defense that sacked Mahomes three times. The constant pressure kept Mahomes, who completed just 44.1% of his passes, off his game. Beating the Chiefs hasn’t translated into any sort of postseason success over the past four years, but this Bills team looks determined to change that. Grade: A-As for the other 20 grades we handed out in Week 9, you can check those out by clicking here.
2. NFL Week 9 winners and losers: Patrick Mahomes makes a rare appearance on the losers list
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You can’t have a week of NFL action without having winners and losers, so we have some winners and losers. Cody Benjamin came up with this week’s list, and we’re going to check out his losers, starting with a guy who we almost never see on any loser list: Patrick Mahomes. LOSERSPatrick Mahomes. Not a lot went No. 15’s way at Highmark Stadium. We all know the Kansas City Chiefs star has the Buffalo Bills’ number when it counts; he’s a perfect 4-0 against Josh Allen and Co. in the playoffs. But Sunday was a different story as Allen led a fifth straight regular-season victory over K.C. Sean McDermott’s defensive front hit Mahomes more than a dozen times, sacking him thrice, and the secondary did its part, too, with Maxwell Hairston snagging a game-sealing pick.Jordan Love. Just as Mike Tomlin’s Steelers rediscovered their grit, the man who shredded them in Week 8 went the other direction on Sunday. Love’s calling card is uncorking one of the NFL’s prettiest deep balls, but he slung it upwards for the sake of slinging it against the Panthers, seemingly “chasing the big play,” as Packers coach Matt LaFleur later put it. As a result, the Panthers had an easy pick against the star quarterback and could’ve easily had another, riding another big day from Rico Dowdle to a surprise 16-13 upset.Bengals coach Zac taylor. Taylor isn’t directly in charge of the Bengals’ defense, but how can you not face intense scrutiny when you’re the head coach of a team that’s now given up 500+ yards in three games this year, and lost back-to-back contests in which your emergency quarterback, Joe Flacco, helped put 38+ points on the board? This is now two years running where even Joe Burrow’s availability — or any kind of prolific points-scoring — means almost nothing, because the “D” is so consistently soft and/or devoid of talent. 3. Overreactions from Week 9: Are the Packers frauds?
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Everyone on the internet loves to overreact to things, and that’s especially true when we’re talking about the the NFL. With that in mind, Tyler Sullivan decided to take a look at several things that happened in Week 9 to decide if we’re all overreacting.
Statement: The Packers aren’t a serious contender in the NFC. Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. The Packers were on the losing end of yet another surprising upset. Back in Week 3, they fell on the road to the Cleveland Browns and then tied the Dallas Cowboys the following week. Now, they are losing to the Panthers at Lambeau Field? Given those questionable outings, it’s fair to wonder if their ceiling truly includes hoisting a Lombardi Trophy in 2025. That said, I don’t believe we’ve reached that point. This team plays with its food a bit and seems to play down to its competition at times, but this is still a championship-caliber roster.Statement: Josh Allen has drawn even with Patrick Mahomes. Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. The Bills quarterback had as many incompletions (three) as he did total touchdowns. The win moves him to 5-5 all-time against Mahomes while no other signal-caller has more than three victories against the Chiefs’ quarterback. Does this mean Allen suddenly has the edge over his main rival now that they’re even? Not yet. Allen is 5-1 against Mahomes in the regular season. When these two go toe-to-toe in the playoffs, Mahomes has come out victorious in all four instances. Until Allen gets the better of Mahomes when it matters most, he’ll still be looking up to him in this legendary rivalry despite the overall lockstep record.Statement: Matthew Stafford is putting together an MVP season. Overreaction or reality: Reality. Stafford has quietly put himself firmly in the MVP race. The Rams quarterback has logged back-to-back games with four or more passing touchdowns and has 21 this season through eight starts, which exceeds his output from all of last season (20 in 16 starts). Over the last five games, Stafford has thrown for 16 scores compared to zero interceptions. … On top of the prolific touchdown numbers, Stafford has the Rams in the playoff picture, fighting for first place in the NFC West. If they take command of the division, it’ll only further cement his case.
4. Crazy stats from Week 9: Cam Little hits the longest field goal in NFL history, Bengals defense hits rock bottomEvery Sunday night, I get an email from our research department here at CBS Sports, and every Sunday, that email always includes some wild stats about the games that were just played. With that in mind, here are 14 crazy stats from Week 9: Jaguars kicker makes NFL history. Cam Little set the record for longest field goal in NFL history with a 68-yarder just before halftime of Jacksonville’s 30-29 win over the Raiders. Little broke a record that had been held by Justin Tucker, who hit a 66-yarder in 2021. Little also hit a 70-yarder in the preseason, but preseason kicks don’t count in the NFL record book. Christian McCaffrey makes NFL history. The 49ers running back had both a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown against the Giants, marking the 16th time in his NFL career that he’s pulled that off. That moves him past Marshall Faulk, who did it 15 times, for the most such performances by any player in league history. Bengals can’t catch a break. With their 47-42 loss to the Bears, the Bengals became the second team in NFL history to lose two straight games despite scoring at least 38 points in each game. The only other team to experience this same pain was the 1966 Giants. NFL teams are 59-8-1 when scoring at least 38 points over the last two seasons. The Bengals are 1-4 while the rest of the league is 58-4-1Bengals defense hits rock bottom. The Bengals have allowed at least 27 points and 350 yards of offense in eight straight games, which is the longest single-season streak in NFL history. The Bengals defense has now surrendered at least 500 yards in three games this year while the other 31 teams have combined to do that just twice. Joe Flacco is not over the hill. With 470 yards passing against the Bears, Flacco set the NFL record for most passing yards by a QB over the age of 40. Flacco topped the old mark of 447, which had been set by Tom Brady when he played for the Patriots back in 2017.Home sweet home. With a TD catch against the Bears, Tee Higgins now has a scoring reception in nine straight home games, which is tied with Jerry Rice for the longest streak in NFL history. The only longer streak came from Randy Moss, who once did it in 10 straight games. Caleb Williams makes NFL history. With his performance against the Bengals, Williams became the first player in NFL history with at least 275 yards passing, 50 yards rushing and 20 yards receiving in a single game (Williams finished with 280 yards passing, 53 yards rushing and 22 yards receiving). Williams also became the first starting QB with at least two catches in a single game since 1953 when Baltimore Colts QB George Taliaferro pulled off the same feat. Bears rookies go off. During Chicago’s win over Cincinnati, Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai rushed for 176 yards while rookie tight end Colston Loveland finished with 118 yards receiving (Loveland caught the game-winning 58-yard TD with just 17 seconds left). This marked the first time in NFL history that a team had a rookie rush for at least 175 yards and another rookie go over 100 yards receiving in the same game.Jaxson Dart is officially a dual-threat QB. The Giants rookie threw two TD passes and adding a rushing TD, marking the fourth straight game where he’s had at least one passing TD and one rushing TD. That’s the longest streak by a rookie in NFL history and one off the all-time record of five games that’s held by both Kyler Murray and Justin Fields. Brock Bowers goes off. The Raiders tight end returned to the field after being out for more than a month and he made an instant impact with 12 catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns. With those numbers, Bowers became the first tight end since Shannon Sharpe in 1996 to record at least 12 receptions with, 125 yards or more and three touchdowns. Colts can’t win in Pittsburgh. With their 27-20 win over the Colts, the Steelers are now 17-2 all time against the Colts at home. Their winning .895 winning percentage is the highest in NFL history for a team against a single opponent at home (minimum of 15 games played). Patrick Mahomes finally has an off day. The Chiefs QB completed just 44.1% of his passes against Buffalo, marking the FIRST TIME in his career that he’s completed less than 50% of his passes in a game. That’s one time in 121 career starts. J.J. McCarthy is already making NFL history. In his first game since Week 2, McCarthy threw two TD passes and rushed for another score in a 27-24 win over the Lions. That makes McCarthy the first player in NFL history with at least two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown in two of their first three career games. Sam Darnold plays a perfect half. Sam Darnold had a perfect first half against the Commanders, going 16 of 16 for 284 yards and four touchdowns in the first two quarters of Seattle’s 38-14 win. Darnold is the only QB over the past 35 years to complete 100% of his passes for at least 250 yards passing and four passing touchdowns in a single half. If you see any other fun facts, feel free to tweet them at me. 5. Monday night preview: Picks and best bets for Cardinals at CowboysThere’s a going to be a lot on the line tonight and that’s because the loser of this game can probably go ahead and pack it in for the season. With Cowboys sitting at 3-4-1 and the Cardinals at 2-5, tonight is basically going to be a last-gasp effort for each team to keep their season alive. The Cardinals will be going into the game with Jacoby Brissett as their starting QB for the third time this season. Kyler Murray is dealing with a foot injury and he’s been listed as questionable, so there’s apparently a chance he could play, but ESPN has reported that Brissett will definitely be the starter.
So can Brissett lead the Cardinals to an upset win?Here’s one reason why each team should be feeling confident going into the game:Why the Cardinals can win: If you can field an offense, you have a chance to beat the Cowboys. Heading into Week 9, the Cowboys have given up the second-most yards per game (404.6) and second-most points per game (31.3) and third-most passing yards per game. If the Cardinals play smart football, they should be able to move the ball. And don’t underestimate Jacoby Brissett, who’s averaging 299.5 yards passing per game in his two starts. With players like Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Zay Jones, the Cardinals have the ammo to keep up in a shootout and they have a muWhy the Cowboys can win: The magic number for Dallas this season has been 30 points. The Cowboys are 3-0-1 this season when they top that mark, but they’re 0-4 when they don’t. Getting to that number won’t be easy against a Cardinals defense that has only surrendered 30 points or more in one game this season. Of course, if anyone can do it, it’s Dak Prescott. The Cowboys QB has been nearly perfect at home this year: He’s averaging 314.7 yards per game at home while throwing eight touchdown passes compared to just one interception. The Cowboys offense has been unstoppable at AT&T Stadium this year and if that’s the case once again tonight, Dallas should be able to pull out the win. You can get a full preview of the game from Jared Dubin by clicking here. If you’re thinking about betting on the game, here are a couple of props (via BetMGM). ONE RUSHING PROP I LIKE: Dak Prescott OVER 6.5 yards rushing (-115): Prescott isn’t exactly known for his ability to rush, but this is such a low number, I have to take the over. Not to mention, he’s gone over 6.5 yards in three of his past four games, including Week 8, when he ran for 31 yards in a loss to the Broncos. ONE KICKING PROP I LIKE TONIGHT: Brandon Aubrey OVER 8.5 points (-140): If Brandon Aubrey is kicking in a game, I’m almost always going to take his over, especially at home. The Cowboys have played three home games this year and in those three games, Aubrey has averaged 12.7 points per game. When you add that to the fact that opposing kickers are averaging 8.7 points against the Cardinals in Arizona’s last three games, that makes be feel pretty good about betting the over here. If you’re wondering how my props are doing this year, I’m 20-18 (8-9 on kicker props and 12-9 on all other props).And now, it’s time for some picks. PICKS FOR ‘MNF’My pick: Cowboys 38-27 over CardinalsDubin’s pick: Cowboys 30-23 over CardinalsPrisco’s pick: Cowboys 35-30 over Cardinals
Over on our CBSSports.com picks page, we’re not all riding the Cowboys this week because we’ve got two experts taking the Cardinals to pull off the upset. 6. Extra points: Jayden Daniels suffers severe elbow injury
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It was a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. Jayden Daniels out indefinitely after suffering serious injury. The Commanders QB dislocated his left elbow during the fourth quarter of Washington’s 38-14 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday night. With the score 38-7, Daniels probably shouldn’t have even been in the game, but he was, and now, the Commanders likely just lost him for a substantial amount of time. Daniels is expected to undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury. If you want more details on his status, we’ve got that here. Eagles make their third trade in five days. The Eagles wanted to add some pass-rushing help and they did that on Monday by making a deal for Miami’s Jaelen Phillips. The Eagles will be sending a 2026 third-round pick to make the deal happen (Full details here). Over the past five days, the Eagles have also acquired CB Jaire Alexander (in a trade with the Ravens) and CB Michael Carter II in a deal with the Jets. If there’s one NFL general manager you can always count on to make a deal, it’s Howie Roseman. At 6-2, the Eagles are tied for the best record in the NFC and Roseman is doing everything he can to help get his team back to the Super Bowl for the second straight year. Falcons accuse Patriots of cheating. Falcons coach Raheem Morris claims the Patriots were simulating Atlanta’s snap count on a key in the fourth quarter of New England’s 24-23 win on Sunday. If they were, then they should have been penalized 15 yards for a “disconcerting signal.” I broke down the controversy and you can check out all the details here. Tucker Kraft likely out for the season. The Packers offense took a brutal hit on Sunday with the loss of Tucker Kraft. The tight end is expected to miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL against the Panthers. Kraft is leading the team in both receiving yards (489) and receiving touchdowns (6), but won’t be back on the field again this year. You can read more about his injury here. 49ers defense hit with another injury. The 49ers have already lost Fred Warner and Nick Bosa for the year, and now, they’ve been hit with another injury. The team is fearing that first-round pick Mykel Williams suffered a torn ACL on Sunday. If that’s the case, then the rookie will be out of the rest of the season. We have the latest on Williams here.
2025-11-03 17:57:24
