Things in the NFL can change at any moment. Look no further than the New York Jets’ 21-13 win over the Houston Texans (6-3) on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 9. The Jets (3-6) looked dead in the first half, trailing 7-0 as quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ 32 first-half passing yards were the fewest in any first half of his future Hall of Fame career (minimum 10 passes thrown). In the second half, Rodgers led three consecutive scoring drives before the end of game kneel down.
Rodgers was finally able to connect with his two best weapons in the second half, hitting on 10 of 11 throws for 147 yards and three touchdowns when targeting Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams after halftime for a perfect 158.3 passer rating, per CBS Sports Research.
What surprises could take place in Week 9? Let’s take a look at five possible happenings in the latest edition of our CBS Sports NFL bold predictions.
Packers ball-hawking defense slows down en fuego Lions offense for upset victory
The top spot in the NFC North is up for grabs in Week 9 with the 6-1 Detroit Lions squaring off against the 6-2 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Detroit is a two-and-a-half-point road favorite, and this will be decided by what their top-ranked scoring offense (33.4 points per game) can accomplish against a Packers defense that leads the league in takeaways (19), which is one more than Green Bay had all of 2023.
The Lions are on a five-game winning streak, and they are producing 38.4 points per game during the streak, which is the Lions’ most in a five-game span within a season since 1952, per CBS Sports Research. Detroit is also the only team on record since at least 1940 to have more touchdowns (25) than incompletions (20) in a five-game span within a season, per CBS Sports Research.
Lions three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jared Goff has been historic during this streak. That last statistic gives you an idea, but I’ll paint the picture: his 83% completion percentage and 146.5 passer rating are both the most in a five-game span in NFL history, minimum 100 passing attempts, a stretch that also includes Goff accounting for 13 total touchdowns (12 passing and one receiving) and only one interception. That’s outstanding.
New Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s scheme and free agency addition safety Xavier McKinney have been exactly what the other needed as he has come away with more interceptions (six, the most in the NFL) and recorded more passes defended (seven) than the amount (five) as the nearest defender in coverage this season. McKinney’s six interceptions are the most in a player’s first eight games with a team since safety Darren Sharper joined the New Orleans Saints in 2009 and had seven in his first eight games. That season, Sharper finished with a league-leading nine interceptions, and the Saints won their franchise’s only Super Bowl title. Quarterbacks have been throwing deep against him at their own peril: five of his six interceptions are on deep passes — throws of 20 or more air yards, per NFL Pro Insights.
Goff may not have the deep ball available to him in Week 9 with speed demon Jameson Williams suspended for two games for a violation of the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances (PES) policy. He is averaging 4.3 air yards per pass attempt on 32 passes without Williams on the field and 7.6 air yards per attempt on 157 passes with Williams on the field this season.
I’m betting Green Bay does just enough on defense to allow a less than 100% Jordan Love to get the Packers over the finish line to take command of first place in the NFC North.
Joe Flacco-led Colts upset Vikings, send Minnesota spiraling
Do you know who has the longest active streak of starts with multiple passing touchdowns in the entire NFL? If you guessed Indianapolis Colts quarterback Joe Flacco, who has done so in each of his last seven starts, you would be correct! Flacco is also averaging 309.1 passing yards per game as a starter since Week 13 of last season when he made his first start for the Cleveland Browns, and that figure is the most in the NFL among those with a minimum of five starts in that span, per CBS Sports Research. No other qualified quarterback is averaging at least 275 passing yards per game as a starter since the back portion of last season in that span.
The Minnesota Vikings (5-2) are off to a great start this season. Their defense has 15 takeaways this season, tied for the second-most in the NFL, and journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold is averaging career highs in completion percentage (67.2%), passing yards per attempt (8.5) and passer rating (107.2). Plus, running back Aaron Jones’ 104.0 scrimmage yards per game this season are the seventh-most in the league, and Justin Jefferson’s 646 receiving yards are the third-most in the NFL.
Despite all that the Colts are winning on Sunday as five-and-a-half-point underdogs. Indianapolis has been in every game it has played in 2024, becoming the first team in NFL history to have each of its first eight games decided by six or fewer points, per CBS Sports Research. Flacco’s magic continues as he outduels Darnold to get the Colts to a winning record of 5-4 while handing the Vikings their third loss in a row following their perfect start.
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Jameis Winston-led Browns become first team to score over 20 points vs. Chargers this season
The 4-3 Los Angeles Chargers have the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense (13.0 points per game allowed) this season under new coach Jim Harbaugh and new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. Despite playing the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Kyler Murray’s Arizona Cardinals, among others, they have allowed 20 or fewer points in all seven of their games in 2024.
However, the Jameis Winston-led Cleveland Browns will be the first NFL team to score 21 or more points on Los Angeles this season. He racked up 334 passing yards and three touchdowns on 27 of 41 passing in his first start of the season, which resulted in a 29-24 upset victory over Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens in Week 8. That performance made Winston only the fifth quarterback since at least 1950 to have at least 325 passing yards, at least three passing touchdowns and no interceptions in their first start with a team, per CBS Sports Research. Winston continues the hot start and lights up a Chargers defense in a way that it hasn’t been all year long thanks to a whimsical, gunslinger nature along with running back Nick Chubb slowly knocking the rust off from his knee injury.
Garrett fails to record sack in fifth straight game
Cleveland Browns three-time First Team All-Pro rusher Myles Garrett, the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is a monster, obviously. His 92.5 sacks since entering the league in 2017 as the first overall draft pick are the second most in the NFL during that time behind only Steelers All-Pro T.J. Watt’s 103.0, and he’s off to a decent start in 2024 with four sacks in eight games.
The problem is none of those four has come in the last three weeks against Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. It would be logical to think the second-longest sackless streak in a single season of his career could come to an end on Sunday against Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. One reason is Herbert enjoying hunting for his patented deep ball and extending plays to pass, which explains why his average time to throw is 3.07 seconds, the 11th-longest in the NFL this season.
Sadly for Garrett, he won’t capitalize on Herbert’s big-play hunting. He has increased his average air yards per attempt from 7.4 from Weeks 1-5, which ranked 15th in the NFL, to 8.2 since Week 6 after his Week 5 bye. That ranks 13th in the entire league. Garrett won’t be taking Herbert down for a sack on Sunday, and his unlikely sacks famine will live for another week.
Eagles score in the first quarter for the first time in 2024
Scoring in the first quarter for an NFL team, especially a regular playoff participant like the 5-2 Philadelphia Eagles, should be no sweat. That simply has not been the case: the Eagles have not scored in the opening quarter of all seven of their games in 2024. They are the only team in the NFL that hasn’t scored in the first quarter this season.
A primary reason for this is Philadelphia’s turnover ratio in the first quarter of negative three, which is tied for the worst in the league this season with the Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback Jalen Hurts didn’t help his squad’s efforts in this area early in the season with an NFL-high 27 giveaways from Week 1 of 2023 to Week 4 of 2024, but he has nine total touchdowns and no turnovers during Philly’s active three-game winning streak. As a unit, the Eagles haven’t turned the football over during the winning streak, making their three turnover-free games their longest streak of games without a giveaway since 1960.
Getting out of this early-quarter lull will finally occur in Week 9 against a Jacksonville Jaguars squad that allows 5.1 points per game in the first quarter for a slightly below average NFL ranking of 19th. Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown’s 19.4 yards per catch this season leads the NFL among those with at least 20 catches. Hurts will connect with Brown for an explosive play that either leads to Philly getting into the end zone or at the very least field goal position to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter for the first time in 2024.
