Another week of mild weather at the seven outdoor National Football League venues today. The only chance of any rain will be in Buffalo where the Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs in the marquee game of the week.
Week Nine of the NFL season is punctuated by the return of five starting quarterbacks who missed last week or more. On Thursday night, Lamar Jackson made his return to the Baltimore Ravens backfield and keyed an easy road win over the Miami Dolphins, 28-6.
While there are four additional teams returning their season starters to the field, the San Francisco 49ers wish it was five. They will still be without Brock Purdy, who continues to recover from turf toe. In his place is Mac Jones, who has done very well in relief while leading the 49ers to wins in four of his six starts. The 49ers are in New York today to battle the Giants.
The Atlanta Falcons return Michael Penix Jr. to their lineup after he missed last week and the Falcons absorbed a lopsided loss to the Dolphins, 34-10, with Kirk Cousins in for Penix. Carolina had an equally dismal performance for Bryce Young’s replacement last week when the Buffalo Bills throttled Andy Dalton in his only start of the year, 40-9. Young will be back behind center today when the Panthers meet the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
The Minnesota Vikings will take another run at keeping J.J. McCarthy in their lineup. He missed his entire rookie season after a preseason injury and his replacement, Sam Darnold, led the Vikings to their second-best regular season ever and into the playoffs. Darnold is now in Seattle, and this year’s backup, Carson Wentz, did not have the same success as Darnold did last season while filling in for McCarthy.
Tonight, the Commanders return Jayden Daniels in hopes of reviving Washington’s season which is in dire need of a win to improve upon a 3 and 5 season mark. He will oppose Darnold, the man that led the Vikings to 14 wins last year and has guided the Seattle Seahawks to the top of the NFC West standings with wins in five of seven games.
So, five quarterbacks who started the season and missed time recently with injuries are back in action. Will that spell success for their teams like the return of Jackson did for Baltimore on Thursday night, or will some of the teams continue to struggle even with their starters back?
The featured game of the week takes place in Buffalo where the Bills will host the team most responsible for them not cracking the Super Bowl field in a streak that has now swelled to 32 years. Last season, the Bills ended the Chiefs bid for a perfect season when they downed Patrick Mahomes and company in Buffalo during Week 11 action, but the Chiefs edged the Bills in the AFC Championship Game to close the door on one more bid for Josh Allen to win the AFC.
The Chiefs are slight favorites today in this much anticipated matchup.
As for the public’s favorite plays today, they begin with the Detroit Lions (-9) over the Minnesota Vikings. Their next two most wagered games are the New England Patriots (-4½) over the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts (-3) over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As for the Qoxhi Picks rated Week Nine choices, those Sunday plays are now posted on this site and if a Bullet Play develops in the final hour leading up to today’s first kick off, that game will be added to the list of recommendations by 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.