Another week of the NFL is past us. It’s just another set of games packed with action and fun results. There’s a lot to go through, so it’s always hard to pick what to talk about in this weekly article.

So, without wasting more time. Let’s break down Week 9 of the NFL, and we’re going to start with one of the best quarterback performances this year.

Jordan Love Masterclass

I mean, wow. That Jordan Love tape was just out of this world. What’s so fun about this Packers offense is that they’ve simply given up on the run game and basically told Love to go out and carry this team. Love’s done exactly that. He leads the league in passing yards this season and deep throw attempts (20+ yard downfield) with 64. He has 20 more than the next-closest quarterback, CJ Stroud of Houston.

Looking at the stats, the Packers rank 27th in how often they run the ball. It’s a straight-up deep-drop passing game that has worked for Green Bay. The other interesting part is that none of this is coming out of structure. It’s not like Love is running around the backfield and finding players wide-open. No, he is dead last in the NFL in scramble rate, having just two scrambles in the entire season. All of this is schemed up, and no one can stop it right now.

The speed of this offense jumps off the tape as well with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. Looking at Love’s numbers on pure dropbacks, he has one of the lowest time-to-throw in the league, with an average of 2.4 seconds. Not only that, but the time to pressure is one of the highest, at 2.36 seconds. This Packers offensive line isn’t giving Love any help. With the quick pressure coming in Love’s face, he is still second in the league in average depth of target with 9.71 yards per attempt. The unique arm angles Love possesses, and his ability to make any throw off his back foot, are what separate him from every other quarterback in this league.

The most interesting part about this entire offense is the route concepts they use. The majority of the deep patterns are just Watson and Golden, with no one else breaking five yards. Matt LaFleur loves to get into heavy looks from under center, then run a play-action and have both those receivers push deep. It takes a special quarterback to operate in that type of system, especially with the pressure Love faces. The Packers rank seventh in EPA per dropback on deep passes while facing pressure. They have 32 pressured dropbacks on passes that go 20+ air yards! That is easily the most in the league.

While the Packers certainly have issues, Love isn’t one of them. He’s been playing at an MVP level and is the only reason this Packers team isn’t 2-7 right now. Fun stuff going on in Green Bay.

Just how bad is Baker?

When your defense forces five turnovers, typically that means you’d win the game. Well, not for Tampa Bay.

Baker Mayfield is not playing well right now, and there’s no other way to put it. Among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks, Mayfield ranks in the bottom three in EPA per play, success rate, pass EPA, EPA per pass, and pass success percentage. There are 35 quarterbacks eligible with 100 dropbacks, so players like Tanner McKee, Jalon Daniels, and Daniel Jones have better season stats than Mayfield.

Mayfield, against the blitz, has an EPA per pass of -0.83. That’s like astronomically bad. Even before the injury, he wasn’t playing well. What should worry Tampa Bay fans isn’t that you’ve committed $55 million to Mayfield, but that this team is good. The Buccaneers have a top-three defense and a top-10 rushing offense. The passing attack has just been so lackluster; the team hasn’t looked fluid.

Watching the tape against Chicago, there were receivers open for Baker to hit. He missed a throw to Tez Johnson on an out route that should’ve been a completion, then got caught staring down an inside breaking route that Cam Lewis jumped.

It’s not like Mayfield has lost his arm strength, even though it’s not as elite as it used to be. He made a great read to Johnson for a big gain of 58 yards.

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson has to find a way to get Mayfield settled in and not have to make the big play as often. If the Buccaneers can get those numbers from bottom-five to around 20th in the league, Tampa Bay should be considered a real team. One way to do this is to lean fully into the run game with Bucky Irving.

Tampa Bay ranks 15th in 12 personnel usage and seventh in 11 personnel. Mayfield is 30th in passing attempts out of 12 personnel, having 20 on the year. The Buccaneers have started to see promising signs from rookie tight end Bauer Sharp, giving them an opportunity to lean into heavier sets.  The team has a bye week to get things sorted out, and I’d expect Tampa Bay to shift its entire offensive identity.

Giants’ defense is fun!

Let’s give Deonte Banks his flowers; he’s playing good football this season! Banks is having a career resurgence in New York; he’s fourth in passes defended with 10. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is getting the most out of the talent he’s given. The Giants run man at the third-highest rate in the league, meaning guys like Banks and Greg Newsome II are playing left out on islands. Both have risen to the occasion.

Even with season-ending injuries to Brian Burns and Tremaine Edmunds, the Giants rank third in overall success rate allowed. With Burns out, it severely impedes the pass-rushing ability of the Giants to get home. Abdul Carter is having a great year for New York, but is getting a lot of the attention from opposing offenses.

Wilson is turning up the heat as a result, blitzing at the fifth-highest rate. With those blitzes, rookie Arvell Reese has been utilized in those looks. His elite athleticism for his size stands out watching the tape, and it did against Philadelphia.

Reese had three sacks, with one coming in a sheer second as he was unblocked off the edge. Another came off a standup look over the B gap, and he cleanly beat Landon Dickerson with a rip move upfield. The twitch Reese has is so fluid and looks natural, which is why a lot of people had him highly rated in this past draft class. Not only does he look like the Terminator in the middle of the field; his technique as a standup backer is sound as well. Reese utilizes his long arms well and knows how to punch the chest of linemen working up to him. It helps him shed blocks with ease, which is why he ranks second in the NFL in solo tackles for linebackers.

The Achilles’ heel of this Giants defense is the run defense, but that shouldn’t surprise many of us. The unit has been patched together with veterans like Shelby Harris and DJ Reader. New York plays with a heavy box percentage at the second-highest rate in the NFL, but still ranks 24th in EPA per rush allowed.

It’s a fun unit to watch even with the hiccups it goes through. Something is brewing in New York, and it’s been fun to watch unfold this year.

I will keep giving the Dolphins love

Before Week 9, the Lions ranked top-five in rushing success rate. Against the Dolphins, they had their worst performance of the season, with a 32.1 percent rushing success rate. The Lions have been primarily a zone-running team this year, but it didn’t work at all against Miami. On 14 zone carries, the Lions totaled just 26 rushing yards on the day.

There wasn’t anything special Miami was doing, or intriguing run blitzes. They just matched up personnel and got to work against this Detriot team. Miami played a lot of base defense against the Lions and had a heavy box around 35 percent of the time. Neither of those stats stray too far from what this team has done all season. The best part is the sheer effort from this unit.

Whether it was Zeek Biggers, Jacob Rodriguez, Jordyn Brooks or Kenneth Grant, someone was making a play every time the Lions tried to run the ball. Not Detriot eventually got the best of Miami with play-calling from Drew Petzing in the pass game and a nice toss concept to Jahmyr Gibbs to put the game out of reach. But this Dolphins team once again rose to the occasion and put up a scrappy performance against one of the league’s better offenses.

Miami ranks eighth in EPA per rush allowed this year. Just wait until the Dolphins find their quarterback of the future and keep adding young talent to this roster. While Malik Willis has been fun, he isn’t the long-term answer for this team.

Bo Nix found a rhythm

Nix had one of his best games this season against Carolina this past week. He had an EPA per dropback of 0.17 and a success rate of 50 percent. All while the Broncos couldn’t get the run game going, totaling just 82 yards and a 33.3 percent success rate.

The Panthers fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero after the loss to Green Bay. Coming out of the bye week, Todd Wash was named the interim defensive coordinator for the rest of the season. Wash made it easy for Nix to succeed. The Panthers ran Cover 3 57.9 percent of the time, which was the third-highest for Carolina this season. Nix against Cover 3 went 17-of-22 for 161 yards.

Quarterbacks understand how to attack single-high looks with ease, and Nix did on Sunday. He had great throws outside the numbers all day and was able to attack the seams late due to the Cover 3 looks.

Nix’s overall performance didn’t blow me away due to the repeated use of screens and rollout within the Broncos offense. Can this game give Nix a string of confidence to get going? The concerning thing with Nix is that he still doesn’t attack the middle of the field much, as he ranks 24th in intermediate attempts.

With a bye week ahead, it’s a good time for the Broncos to take a step back and finally figure out what they want this offense to be. Do they want to be a heavier rushing team? Do they want to get more targets outside the numbers? Will they try to get more Dig routes on the field? It’s something the team has to figure out, but it’s good to see Nix finding some rhythm. Definitely a building block for him and Sean Payton.