At the halfway mark of the 2025 NFL Regular Season we were treated to a big weekend of action.
The heavyweight battle between Kansas City and Buffalo was without a doubt the headline affair but that was just one part of the picture.
There were upsets aplenty, standout individual performances and some weird and wacky moments in line with the Halloween season.
Check out our five big takeaways from Week 9 in the NFL here.
1 – Lamar Provides Baltimore’s Salvation
At 2-5 most teams would have been writing off their seasons and starting to work out how they can get through the remaining few weeks.
But this Baltimore Ravens side is not like most struggling teams because how many of those sides welcomed back a two-time NFL MVP for their eighth game?
After a longer than expected absence, Lamar Jackson played for the first time since Week 3 and boy did he give the flailing Ravens some stability.
He dominated the Miami Dolphins on his return to the field and most impressively, did it with his arm more than his legs, further showing his growth as a passer.
While plenty of Ravens fans (and probably the coaching staff) would have loved to have him back a few weeks ago, Jackson looked comfortable on his return the field.
That’s why Baltimore has remained at or near the top of the AFC North betting markets even after falling several games behind the division leader.
It doesn’t get much easier for them next week with a trip to Minnesota on the cards but they have to feel good about getting their guy back.
2 – Who is on Fraud Watch
A couple of teams got off to much better than expected starts but those bubbles are surely going to burst at some point in the second half of the season.
We saw it last year with Minnesota (although that didn’t come until Week 18), but it’s fair to say there were some signs of wavering for a couple of early pacesetters.
Let’s start in Pittsburgh, where the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts and runaway offensive player of the year candidate Jonathan Taylor were expected to run over the Steelers.
Kind of hard to run over a team when you keep giving them the ball over, and over, and over again.
Turnovers or a lack thereof were a big reason why the Colts went with Daniel Jones at quarterback but he had a rough day throwing three interceptions and short circuiting a lot of Colts drives.
Then there was the 6-2 Patriots, who took on the Atlanta Falcons at Gillette Stadium and they were in position to run away with the game in the closing stages of the first half until it all unravelled for Drake Maye.
At worst they should have been able to get a field goal attempt from that drive and go into the break up 24-7, but that lead was reduced to 21-14.
Following a field goal on the opening possession of the third quarter, the Patriots did their best to let the Falcons back into it with another Maye turnover on an ugly interception as his ball control went away.
However New England did manage to hold on for the win thanks to the Falcons inability to execute an extra point.
But these regressions from the early overachievers are going to be worth watching over the next couple of weeks.
Especially in New England as they have to keep looking over their shoulder.
3 – Bills Strike the First Blow
How many recent seasons have the AFC Playoffs come down to a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills?
The correct answer is quite a few, and that is why the regular season meeting is so important because it will probably determine whose stadium they are playing at in January.
Not to mention the added importance of both teams actually having to fight for their divisions this time around so a loss would be a double blow.
It also means we could see this game pop up on Wild Card Weekend instead of the AFC Championship and if that was to occur, you know the rest of the conference would breathe a sigh of relief seeing one Super Bowl favourite knocked out on the opening weekend.
As always the focus was mostly on the two superstar quarterbacks and it was Josh Allen coming out on top in the regular season.
That kept Buffalo in touch with New England by moving their record to 6-2 while Kansas City has already lost twice as many games as they did during the 2024 regular season, dropping to 5-4.
Kansas City needed that game as much for the tiebreaker over Buffalo as they did to stick with LA and Denver in their division, but they just couldn’t get it done.
4 – Ben Johnson is Feeling Confident in his Offence
Whenever an offensive whiz like Ben Johnson gets a head coaching job, everyone has the same questions over whether he can keep his magic going while managing an entire team.
Well it sure looks like things are clicking for Johnson in Chicago as his team battled to a wild win over Cincinnati.
Granted, that doesn’t really tell the whole story about how this game unfolded because the Bears needed some late game heroics from their second year quarterback and his teammates.
They did also need some absolutely wretched tackling from the Bengals but that’s beside the point.
One of Johnson’s trademarks in Detroit was a series of creative and unconventional play calls and he is starting to dig those up in Chicago.
And they are working, which makes it even more impressive.
Wonder what he will come up with next week when they host the Giants?
5 – Gauging The Level Of Concern Over Green Bay
Green Bay might still hold a 5-2-1 record on the season, but there wasn’t a lot to like about their performance against the Carolina Panthers this week.
Leaving the uniforms out of this, the concern meter has to go up at least a little bit as they got gashed by Rico Dowdle.
Carolina’s breakout star rushed for 130 yards and two scores as the Packers front had no answers, while their offence struggled mightily.
Jordan Love did throw for 273 yards but didn’t have a touchdown pass and got picked off throwing deep into a group with three defenders.
This one also should have been a turnover but to go to the old John Madden cliché, “that’s why he plays defence.”
One loss is hardly a cause for jersey burning or selling off assets ahead of the trade deadline but a performance like that is a reminder that as good as Green Bay has looked under Matt LaFleur, that one bad game is always a week away.
Add in the ACL injury for Tucker Kraft and that’s further disruption for an offence that still seems like it is discovering its identity.