Cowboys go from bad to worse, and what else we’re learning in Week 9

FOX Sports’ NFL experts provide the biggest takeaways from every Sunday game in Week 8 and what they mean for each team going forward.

Cowboys: Things have gone from bad to worse for the Cowboys. There were the disciplinary issues of Ezekiel Elliott that kept him from boarding the flight to Atlanta on top of the injuries to Micah Parsons and DaRon Bland. They were already going into a must-win game hobbled and on Sunday, that injury list just now includes Dak Prescott, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury, and CeeDee Lamb, who banged up his right shoulder. And there goes the Cowboys’ entire offense basically just in time to get Philadelphia next week. The vibes are bad. The injuries are bad. This is quickly becoming a totally lost season for the now 3-5 Cowboys. 

Falcons: Atlanta is pulling away from the NFC South pack on the shoulders of Kirk Cousins, who threw for three touchdowns against the Cowboys. He picked apart an ailing Dallas defense and looked firmly in control of his new team. Who knew Cousins, who suffered his Achilles injury weeks later than Aaron Rodgers last season, would return to form much quicker (and better) than the guy the Jets went all-in on? The Falcons have a lot of versatility offensively, and their defense under Raheem Morris is doing enough, despite not being able to get pressure to save their lives. That will have to improve as the season goes on if the Falcons want to have any sort of postseason viability, but for now, Cousins has this team rolling. — Carmen Vitali

Commanders: The addition of a mobile QB like Jayden Daniels has really sparked the Washington rushing attack, which has surprisingly become one of the best in the NFL. And it’s not all Daniels, nor is it all Brian Robinson, who missed the game on Sunday with a hamstring injury. With Austin Ekeler (11 carries, 42 yards), the Commanders rolled over the Giants for 151 rushing yards. Yes, having Daniels as a serious threat to run keeps the defense off balance. But don’t overlook the strong play of the Washington offensive line, which was supposed to be a glaring weakness this season. Instead, it’s becoming a strength. 

Giants: It’s time for the Giants to bench quarterback Daniel Jones. Their offensive mess isn’t all his fault, but at this point, he’s not helping them out. And since he clearly has no future with the team anymore, they may as well give backup Drew Lock a look. Head coach Brian Daboll briefly made that switch a week ago in search of a “spark.” Now it’s time to give Lock a full week of prep and see if he can jolt the offense next week in Germany against the Carolina Panthers. It’s the perfect soft spot, right before the bye week. Jones (20-of-26, 174 yards) wasn’t terrible. He did throw two touchdown passes. But one was basically in garbage time and those were his first in four games. The passing game has no energy. The Giants’ season is over. It’s time to move on. — Ralph Vacchiano
 

Patriots: Drake Maye has it, folks. He’s definitely franchise-quarterback material. He showed flashes in his first three starts, but what he did Sunday confirms it — even though it came in an overtime loss in which he had three giveaways. His five-yard, game-tying touchdown pass at the end of regulation while getting taken down was his first big-time moment in the NFL. And he’s a legitimate dual-threat quarterback, too. He had a career-high 95 rushing yards on seven carries Sunday. The No. 3 overall pick is not as physically imposing as Josh Allen, and certainly not as elusive or slippery as Lamar Jackson, but he moves his 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame well — well enough to where it makes sense for there to be more designed runs in the playbook for him. If he continues to develop as New England hopes, he’ll be a handful for defensive coordinators in the years to come. 

Titans: This Titans season still isn’t going anywhere, but their defense may have just taken the first step to becoming great. The unit had a season-high three takeaways in its 20-17 victory. Tennessee had just three on the year entering Sunday, one of the few things holding it back. The Titans’ 52-14 loss last week aside (a loss in which special teams was a primary culprit), Tennessee has been respectable in points allowed and a top-three team in yards allowed. The issue has been taking the ball away and delivering big stops in big moments. If they start doing that consistently, the Titans are suddenly a much more competitive team down the stretch, regardless of how the offense looks — even if playing deep into January still seems unreasonable. — Ben Arthur

Raiders: Is there an NFL team with less talent at quarterback and running back than Las Vegas? The three-headed monster of Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder has combined for eight touchdown passes in nine games, and there might be less talent in the run game, which never offset the free-agent loss of Josh Jacobs. The Raiders should not trade a rare elite pass-rusher like Maxx Crosby, but short of him and rookie tight end Brock Bowers, they’d do well to jettison spare parts to get draft picks where they can. Receiver Jakobi Meyers? Linebacker Robert Spillane? Tackler Kolton Miller? Take what you can get. After a 2-2 start, this is five straight losses, and any spark they had from Antonio Pierce hasn’t been seen in a while. 

Bengals: You didn’t write off the Bengals at 1-4, did you? Cincinnati has now won three of four, and Joe Burrow is looking like vintage Joe Burrow, throwing for five touchdowns in Sunday’s win over the Raiders. The Bengals’ four wins are against the Panthers, Giants, Browns and Raiders — not exactly Murderers’ Row — but they’re now 4-5 and very much in playoff contention. Chase Brown had his best game of the season, rushing for 120 yards, and the defense is rounding into form as well, albeit against lesser opponents. Getting a win Thursday night at Baltimore would be huge to validate their midseason turnaround, but even with a loss there, don’t count these Bengals out of the wild-card chase. — Greg Auman

Broncos: Their defense might get them to the playoffs, but Bo Nix looks like the reason they’ll lose in the first round. This loss to the Ravens was a reminder of that. The Denver defense had a truly putrid day against Lamar Jackson, which can’t happen. The Broncos’ recipe for success revolves around defensive dominance. Sure, Lamar is special. But it’s not like the Ravens boast the only dominant QB in the AFC. Lamar, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes — there’s no beating any of them without an outstanding defense and an impressive starting quarterback. To Nix’s credit, he has progressed after throwing four interceptions in the first two weeks. Against the Ravens, he threw his first pick since then. But this is the worst the Ravens have been in years, and Nix looked a bit like a Mac Jones or a Kenny Pickett. Unless we see a huge leap in Nix’s development, he’s limiting the Broncos’ upside. 

Ravens: Let’s talk about GM Eric DeCosta, who should be in the conversation for Executive of the Year. The defense isn’t a masterpiece, but the offense is incredible. DeCosta elected to bring in veteran Derrick Henry, who has delivered on the hype. Henry is a reminder that running backs matter. He makes Baltimore unbeatable when it has a lead. DeCosta also made the tough decision to swap out a handful of offensive line starters, and the unit has figured out how to make things work. But that has enabled the team to keep adding skill players. Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman are a serviceable pass-catching group when paired with tight ends Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews. But DeCosta didn’t settle for serviceable at wideout. After seeing last week that the receiver room could be a fatal flaw, DeCosta traded for Diontae Johnson, who might be the kind of piece that tips the scale in the AFC Championship. — Henry McKenna

Dolphins: There was a lot of hope that the return of Tua Tagovailoa would ignite the dormant Miami offense, but what the Dolphins really need is the return of Tyreek Hill. Yes, he’s playing, and yes he had four catches for 80 yards on Sunday, but he’s not the big-play, explosive threat that he was last season when he was the best receiver in football. This was Hill’s second game with 80 yards or more all season long. He hasn’t topped 100 since opening day. He averaged 106 yards per game last season. This season he’s averaging 56. The Dolphins offense is built on speed and big, explosive plays, and they still have that capability. But Hill was their leader in those departments. They need to get him going to have any shot in the second half. 

Bills: It’s going to be hard to vote against Josh Allen for MVP if he keeps playing like he did on Sunday with a relatively unimpressive core of receivers. It wasn’t a huge game, but he went 25-of-39 for 235 yards by spreading the ball around to eight players while his top receiver, Amari Cooper, sat out with an injury. Allen did throw an interception to go with his three touchdown passes, but it was only his second of the year. He won’t get a lot of praise for his overall performance, but look at his supporting cast. He’s the one who keeps getting them in position to win games, and they are absolutely running away with the AFC East. — Ralph Vacchiano

Saints: Is this the end for Dennis Allen? Seven straight losses, the latest to a one-win team that hasn’t shown much life all season — does that do the trick? For a team that has mortgaged future cap to try to win now for years, this might be the time to look ahead for once. The trade deadline is Tuesday, and it’s hard to think of the Saints as anything but sellers. Their cap situation makes some players hard to deal, but if you can actually shed salary instead of just pushing cap hits down the road, that’s a path to eventual cap health. For one, corner Marshon Lattimore might have played his last game. Sunday’s loss spoiled a great game from Alvin Kamara, who matched his career high with 155 rushing yards, but there wasn’t much else in the Saints’ favor. This is a pivotal next few days.

Panthers: For Carolina fans, this is what you’ve been waiting to see from Bryce Young for a year and a half. Nothing amazing, but a solid, all-around game and a great drive to win a tight ballgame in front of the home fans. A third-and-10 conversion to rookie Xavier Legette, then a pass-interference penalty to set up Chuba Hubbard’s go-ahead touchdown. The Panthers have had so little to cheer about in the past year or two, but this was a division win to celebrate. And as wild as it is to say, they might not be the worst team in the NFC South this season. Just the same, if they can get a pick for Hubbard or Jadeveon Clowney or (it’s hard to say this with a straight face) Miles Sanders, they’re better off with picks moving forward. — Greg Auman

Chargers: Who says the Bolts are a running team? For the third straight game, Justin Herbert threw for at least 279 passing yards and dialed up explosive plays in the passing game. On Sunday in an emphatic road win over the Browns, he threw for two touchdowns and completed 13 passes in a row at one point. Along with Herbert’s big numbers, the Chargers played opportunistically on defense, forcing three Jameis Winston interceptions. At 5-3, L.A. looks like a team that could make some noise in the postseason. 

Browns: A week after a big win over Baltimore, Cleveland returned to looking like a broken and undisciplined team that could be making vacation plans in a few weeks. Jameis Winson, who threw for 334 yards in last week’s win over the Ravens, came back down to earth in a humbling loss to the Chargers. He had the three picks, took six sacks — he was under duress most of the game from a pass rush led by Tuli Tuipulotu and Khalil Mack — and had a 50.5 QB rating. But it was what else the Browns did that was more concerning: They gave up two long touchdowns due to busted coverages in the secondary, allowed a long punt return and had a field goal blocked. All that makes last week seem like an aberration for Cleveland. — Eric D. Williams 

The following writers contributed to this story: Ben Arthur (@benyarthur); Greg Auman (@gregauman); Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis); Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams); Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano); Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV)

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