Week 9 of the NFL season approaches. It's shaping up to be a good one, as a pretty entertaining season continued on that pace in Week 8.
In one of the bigger surprises of the season the Patriots appear to be all the way back after spending several years in the cellar of the AFC. Drake Maye led his team to a complete beat down of the Browns—not the most significant achievement in light of Cleveland's struggles across the board this year but not at all a given based on recent seasons in New England. In the same division, the Dolphins stopped a potentially mortal slide down the standings with a big win over the Falcons in a game where Kirk Cousins did nothing to up his trade value. The Bears' momentum came to a crashing halt against a Ravens team missing Lamar Jackson (who returns on Thursday Night Football this week) and Jordan Love led the Packers to a road win over Aaron Rodgers's Steelers.
