Your complete guide to NFL Week 9 🏈

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Welcome to Week 9. After this weekend’s pro football games we’ll be halfway through the 2025 regular season. Can you believe it? Let’s enjoy the action while we can!

Before discussing the weekend’s biggest matchups, we’ve huddled up some essentials for you to intercept:

• Week 9 picks from USA TODAY Sports’ NFL experts
• Need fantasy football advice? We have you covered
• NFL vodcasts: Fantasy insights, injury updates, more
• Point spreads for every Week 9 game

➤ On tap for Thursday night: Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins — Both of these squads are coming off Week 8 wins that halted losing streaks (three games for the Dolphins, four for the Ravens). Lamar Jackson is set to return after missing the Ravens’ past three games. Tua Tagovailoa looked like a competent quarterback last week – throwing for four touchdowns after tossing a combined six interceptions in the two prior games. Maybe this one will be entertaining (let’s hope so, there won’t be a World Series game to turn to if things get ugly).

➤ Game of the week: Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills — The Chiefs (5-3) enter this rematch of last season’s AFC championship game on a real heater, riding a three-game winning streak and having won their last two by a combined score of 59-7. The Bills (5-2) came off their bye week and ended a two-game skid with a decisive win over the Carolina Panthers. In a twist, the teams enter Week 9 sitting in second (Bills) and third place (Chiefs) in their respective divisions. The Bills have been good against the Chiefs in regular-season games (winning the Past four), but the Chiefs own the Bills in the playoffs (winning the past four postseason meetings).

➤ Sneaky-good game of the week: Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers — The Colts (7-1) have been the season’s biggest surprise. The Steelers (4-3) are coming off a gut punch of a defeat in front of a national-television audience against the Green Bay Packers. Still, with the Colts on the road against an expected AFC playoff contender, this feels like a ‘prove it’ game for quarterback Daniel Jones, running back Jonathan Taylor and the rest of their horseshoe-helmeted heroes.

➤ Dud of the week: Jacksonville Jaguars at Las Vegas Raiders — Both of these teams are coming off their bye weeks, so you might have forgotten about how bad it went for both squads the last time we saw them play football. The Jaguars (4-3) got humbled in their home away from home in London by the Los Angeles Rams, while the Raiders (2-5) were thoroughly embarrassed by the Kansas City Chiefs. This is one of just three games in the late Sunday afternoon window, so hopefully these two teams provide enough entertainment for the folks at the RedZone channel to check in.

TNF BETTING LOCK

Lamar Jackson 250+ passing yards (+135). The Ravens are in must-win mode and we’re expecting Jackson to return from a hamstring injury highly motivated to deliver wins for a team with very limited margin for error. The Dolphins might key in on Derrick Henry and stopping the Ravens’ run game – Miami did a spectacular job of containing the Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson (9 carries, 25 yards) last week. This could open up the passing game for Jackson and the Ravens’ receiving corps.

*Odds per BetMGM (as of publication)

ONE BOLD PREDICTION

➤ The New England Patriots are going to win the AFC East. This would have been insane to suggest a month ago, but then the Patriots went into Orchard Park, New York, and upset the mighty Buffalo Bills on ‘Sunday Night Football.’ Four weeks later, the Patriots have kept up the good vibes under the guidance of head coach Mike Vrabel and are riding a five-game winning streak. Second-year quarterback Drake Maye has been so good that my colleague Chris Bumbaca wants to rename a section of the Monday edition of this newsletter, ‘The Drake Maye corner.’

As far as the AFC East race, New England enters Week 9 with a half-game lead in the division. While the Bills must host a Kansas City Chiefs team that has found its groove, the Patriots host the underwhelming Atlanta Falcons. Circle Dec. 14 on your calendars … that’s when the Patriots host the Bills in Foxborough.

HOT READS

The best NFL reads from USA TODAY and our Sports Network:

In Nate Davis’ latest power rankings, the Chiefs held firm at No. 1 but there’s a shake-up after that.

The NFL playoff picture … if the season ended today (which, thankfully, it does not!).

The NFL’s trade deadline expires at 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 4, and here are the needs for all 32 teams.

• One perfect NFL trade idea for five Super Bowl contenders

A unique blend of pressures ended Carson Wentz’s season in a tear-soaked display of pain. It’s hard to feel good about what we saw, from anyone, Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz writes.

It finally happened. The Saints (1-7) have benched Spencer Rattler – who owns a hideous 1-13 record as a starter – in favor of 26-year-old rookie quarterback Tyler Shough (pronounced ‘shuck’).

Aidan Hutchinson is getting paid (well, more than he had been previously). The standout edge rusher agreed to a four-year, $180 million contract extension with the Detroit Lions. He’s the fourth pass rusher to break into the $40 million-per-year compensation level this year, joining the Green Bay Packers’ Micah Parsons, Pittsburgh Steelers’ T.J. Watt and Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett.

FANTASY ESSENTIALS

After a Week 8 in which there were six teams on a bye week, we’re down to four teams off in Week 9. That’s still plenty enough to throw a possible monkey wrench into your fantasy football lineup. So pay attention …

Week 9 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Quarterbacks | Running backs | Wide receivers | Tight ends

NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS TO WATCH

Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, OTs, Utah (vs. Cincinnati, Saturday at 10:15 p.m. ET on ESPN) — You’ll have to stay up late to catch two of the top offensive tackle prospects in college football. Both Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz and Ayrton Ostly have Fano and Lomu projected as first-round picks in their respective mock drafts. This is a big showcase for the Utes, as 7-1 Cincinnati comes to Salt Lake City for this Big 12 showdown. Draftniks will be keeping close tabs on how Fano and Lomu perform.

ON THIS DAY IN NFL HISTORY

Nine years ago today, on Oct. 30, 2016, the Oakland Raiders had quite a day in a 30-24 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.

The Raiders, as they are wont to do, committed a lot of penalties … an NFL-record 23 flags that accounted for 200 yards. The Raiders managed to overcome the plethora of infractions, thanks to quarterback Derek Carr, who threw for a franchise single-game record 513 yards, including a 41-yard game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Seth Roberts with 1:45 remaining in overtime.

The Raiders finished the 2016 season with a 12-4 record, earning a wild-card playoff spot. They were eliminated in the opening round by the Houston Texans, 27-14, but Carr was injured and replaced by Connor Cook. This was Cook’s final NFL start. The Raiders have made just one playoff appearance since (2021).

As for Carr, he owns four of the top six passing yardage games in Raiders history. Check out this list:

1. Derek Carr: 513 yards (Oct. 30, 2016)
2. Derek Carr: 437 yards (Sept. 30, 2018)
3. Derek Carr: 435 yards (Sept. 13, 2021)
4. Cotton Davidson: 427 yards (Oct. 25, 1964)
5. Jeff Hostetler: 424 yards (Oct. 31, 1993)
6. Derek Carr: 417 yards (Oct. 19, 2017)

If you enjoy reading 4th and Monday , encourage your football fan friends to subscribe . Follow the writer of this newsletter on social media @jimreineking and drop a line if you want to talk some football .