Wyatt Cushman, Staff Writer |
Week Nine is in the books for this year’s NFL season and it may have given us the last sign we needed to clearly say that two teams in the NFC are above all the rest. We knew these two teams were good, and one had even been at the top of the power rankings for a few weeks, but after this weekend, after the dominating performances that we saw, there is no debating that the Rams and the Eagles are the best teams in the NFC.
On Sunday the Rams walked into MetLife Stadium to face off against the 1-7 New York Giants. The Giants haven’t been anything close to good this season, as their record represents, so it would have been no surprise to see the Rams be victorious. However, when the clock ran out on this game the final score was 51-17 in favor of the Rams, raising eyebrows around the league. This team dominated New York from the opening kickoff, and improved their record to 6-2 on the year. In this game, second year quarterback Jared Goff threw for over three hundred yards and had four touchdowns, making this the most impressive performance of his young career. What’s even more impressive is that in this game, the Rams surpassed their point total from a season ago in just the eighth game this year. The turnaround from last season to this one is remarkable, and their first year head coach Sean McVay has come in and created a new culture in L.A.
The other impressive performance from the weekend came from Philadelphia, who is now 8-1 on the year after completely tearing apart the Denver Broncos and their elite level defense. The final score of this one was 51-23, and the Eagles dominated on both sides of the football. Their defense forced two interceptions, but easily could have had three or four. Their running backs combined for four total touchdowns, including one from newly acquired running back Jay Ajayi, and their quarterback Carson Wentz threw for four touchdowns bringing his season total to 23, which is the most in the NFL through nine weeks. Much like the Rams, this season has been a complete turnaround from a season ago for the Eagles. Last year Philadelphia went 7-9 and missed the playoffs. Now they are in the perfect position to have home field advantage. They know that there is still a lot of football left to be played, as we have just started the second half of the year, but the Eagles are in a good spot and will look to keep it rolling when they take on the Cowboys in a few weeks.
It should be said that these teams have accomplished nothing yet this year and that regular season success means nothing if you don’t perform in the playoffs. Teams like the Seahawks, Vikings, Cowboys, and Saints are all still trying to chase down these teams, and it could very well happen by seasons end. For now, we know that these two are the best in the NFC — at least this past weekend they were — and it will be exciting down the stretch to see if they will hold those spots or if they will slip up, allowing another team to claim the top ranking in the NFC.
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