Who’s beating the two Super Bowl favourites halfway through the NFL season? NFL Week 9 preview

There are two rampaging favourites to make the Super Bowl: halfway through the NFL season, can anyone stop them?

Following a wild week of NFL that delivered an epic Hail Mary, a National Tight End day to remember (17 TE TDs!) along with a huge AFC upset that came after a quarterback change, much of the discourse this week has been not just around injuries and trades, but also QB switches, with plenty of movement in QB ranks across the league.

Jameis Winston’s superb showing for Cleveland last week in the Browns last-minute over the Ravens came as a relief for Browns fans after suffering through the DeShaun Watson experience, while Carolina were forced to start previously benched former No. 1 pick Bryce Young in place of Andy Dalton, and will ride with him again this week.

We’ve agreed in principle on a trade to acquire WR Diontae Johnson from the Carolina Panthers, pending the passing of a physical. pic.twitter.com/iMtdskuEBz

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 29, 2024

Elsewhere, Malik Willis will fill in for Jordan Love once again after the Packers QB1 suffered a groin injury, Derek Carr looks set to return for a New Orleans Saints team that has suddenly lost six games in a row, and the Colts have moved from the wayward Anthony Richardson to veteran Joe Flacco in order to try to goose their playoff chances.

But there’s also been plenty of news for the Jets and Texans ahead of this week’s Thursday night showdown: 2-6 New York is coming off a horror loss to the Patriots, while the 6-2 Texans are reeling from the news that wide receiver Stefon Diggs will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, adding to the pain felt by the team already missing WR1 Nico Collins.

The loss to the Browns last week also seemingly prompted the Ravens to trade for Carolina’s Diontae Johnson and the November 5 NFL trade deadline will likely offer up some other interesting names moving cities.

Meanwhile, all is well in Kansas City, who remain the NFL’s only unbeaten team at 7-0, having already made their trades, picking up Deandre Hopkins and Josh Uche last week, and in the NFC, the league’s best offence belongs to the ominous looking Detroit Lions after they put up 52 – making it 31+ points in each of their last four games – on the stingiest defence in the NFL.

The pair look to be the teams to beat at the halfway mark, with KC’s offence improving (now up to ninth in points per game at 24.7) to match its fifth-ranked defence (17.6 conceded per week), while Detroit’s much-maligned defence is only ranked eighth in surrendering 19.1 points a game, but it still has room to improve to keep up with its NFL-leading offence (33.4 points per game).

Only the Vikings and Bills are both ranked top 9 in both.

Which is why the Chiefs are the favourite to come out of the AFC, and Detroit the favourite to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX, and for the moment, easily look like the best two teams in the NFL.

After a wild Week 8 that saw offences once again get off the leash – 14 of the 16 games featured a team scoring over 25 points – favourites have dropped a little, now winners in 53.8% of games for the season to date, while total point overs rose to 53.7% for the year, up from 51.

Week 9 delivers a varied slate that has only the Steelers and Niners on byes, so Jaymz Clements from NFL Straya previews Week 9 of the 2024 NFL season above, breaking down all the games for the weekend ahead, pointing out that this week has plenty for NFL fans to sink their teeth into.

As for the Aussie NFL players, Philly’s Jordan Mailiata remains on IR and will miss at least the next three weeks with his hamstring, Baltimore’s Daniel Faalele is improving while the punters – Mitch Wishnowsky, Michael Dickson, Matthew Hayball and Tory Taylor – have all had solid runs, especially Taylor who did a great job for the Bears last week with 6 punts.

Either way, Aussie NFL fans have a terrific Week 9 slate to dig into, so watch the NFL Straya breakdown above to see who should win and why.

Can Kansas City remain unbeaten against the team that embarrassed them in Super Bowl LV?

Will Joe Flacco repay the Colts faith against the Vikings on Sunday Night Football?

Does Doug Pederson keep his job as if the Jags lose to his old team in Philly?

Will Dallas, Cincy and the Jets keep their seasons on life support with must-win games?

Find out with NFL Straya’s NFL Week 9 preview and in the breakdown above.

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NFL WEEK 9 SCHEDULE

FRIDAY 11.15am AEDT 

Houston @ NY Jets

MONDAY 5am AEDT

NE Patriots @ Tennessee

New Orleans @ Carolina

Denver @ Baltimore

LV Raiders @ Cincinnati

LA Chargers @ Cleveland

Miami @ Buffalo

Washington @ NY Giants

Dallas @ Atlanta

MONDAY 8.05am AEDT

Chicago @ Arizona

Jacksonville @ Philly

MONDAY 8.25am AEDT

LA Rams @ Seattle

Detroit @ Green Bay

MONDAY 12.20pm AEDT

Indy @ Minnesota

TUESDAY 12.20pm AEDT

Tampa Bay @ Kansas City

Byes: Pittsburgh, San Francisco

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Originally published as Who’s beating the two Super Bowl favourites halfway through the NFL season? NFL Week 9 preview