GILLETTE STADIUM (Foxborough, Mass.) \u2014 Anytime Jordan Love dropped back, it felt like Gillette Stadium held its breath, waiting for the Packers QB to deliver disappointment. And he did. Over and over. It started in the first quarter when his defense delivered a turnover, with New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throwing a pick. And it really never stopped in Green Bay’s dominant 45-27 win, with Love making high-difficulty throws at a clip that was unlike anything I\u2019d seen from him \u2014 or any signal-caller \u2014 in 2026. Meanwhile, if you\u2019re watching closely, you can tell exactly which two teams are competing for the AFC\u2019s No. 1 seed. You can see that the Rams are shaping up into a Super Bowl team, even in an ugly loss. And you can see who should get traded (and who should not get traded) before the deadline on Tuesday. Let\u2019s dive into all of that \u2014 and more. Welcome to Sound Smart, where I take you beyond what\u2019s obvious. Let\u2019s go below the surface. Let\u2019s spin it forward, dive deeper, think outside the box and read between the lines. If I do my job, you\u2019ll be fluent in the NFL’s Week 9 action. Just moments after Jordan lofted a deep ball downfield to Christian Watson for a touchdown, the Packers QB stood under center in hopes of converting a 2-point conversion. He\u2019d scored 40 points. Why stop there? So Love dropped back \u2014 but then took it himself, carrying the ball into the end zone for the 2-pointer. It was a microcosm of the game. Utter dominance by Love. As the QB left the field, you could hear fans chanting “MVP.” At this time last year, the stadium echoed with MVP chants for Drake Maye. At this time 10 years ago, it echoed for Tom Brady. But on Sunday afternoon, the chants in New England were for Love. “It’s awesome. It’s definitely a very cool feeling to be able to hear fans chanting that. That’s all I can say, man,” Love said when I asked during a postgame presser. That\u2019s all!? “Eventually, there’s not going to be any question,” Watson told me when I asked if Love is getting enough MVP chatter. “He’s going to continue to do his thing, and he’s going to get all the recognition he deserves.” Before the season, I wrote that Jordan Love was underrated \u2014\u00a0perhaps the most underrated QB in the NFL. But I felt that he\u2019d finally started getting the recognition he deserved. Now I\u2019m wondering if he\u2019s underrated again, if only because he is starting to look like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Like the MVP. And that\u2019s a crowded space, with Caleb Williams, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. But after the way Love put the ball into tight windows \u2014 40 yards downfield \u2014 how could you argue that Love isn\u2019t one of the NFL\u2019s best passers? He finished this game 23-of-29 for 372 yards and three passing touchdowns. He had a 153.2 passer rating, 12.8 yards per attempt, a 79.8% completion percentage and a completion percentage over expected of 21.8%. He did that despite 13 pressures (39.4% of dropbacks). He may have taken three sacks, but against pressure, he was 6-of-9 for 153 yards. “Flowing \u2014 that’s what it feels like. It feels like you’re in that flow state and just finding ways to get guys the ball,” Love said. I asked if this was the best game he\u2019s ever played. “Man, it’s definitely up there,” he said during the postgame press conference. He even contributed on the ground, with a rushing touchdown (to go with the 2-point-conversion carry). But man, some of these throws. They were just awesome. And this Patriots defense isn\u2019t a bunch of scrubs. Going into this week, they were top 10 in points allowed per game and yards allowed per game. Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez \u2014 arguably the league\u2019s best cornerback \u2014 was in coverage for 10 catches for 187 yards, per Next Gen Stats. “We just put ourselves in the best position to exploit \u2014 to stay away from their strengths as much as we could,” Watson told me postgame. But \u2026 it sure looked like they were throwing at Gonzalez, who was one of the Patriots\u2019 perceived strengths. Watson just smiled and nodded. Somehow, this offense left yards on the table. For example, Love hit tight end Tucker Kraft on the hands on a seam route. Kraft couldn\u2019t haul the ball in, but the pass fell right into place \u2014 over the tight end\u2019s shoulder. And if he caught it, he was probably running free for\u00a0another\u00a0touchdown. But there\u2019s no need to be greedy. The numbers were gaudy enough. And if you caught the performance, you\u2019ll know what I\u2019m talking about. This was unlike anything we\u2019ve seen in terms of difficulty and downfield throwing. This was a masterpiece. Don\u2019t believe what you see in the box score. All those passing yards and all those touchdowns cannot excuse what Drake Maye did in the first half: three interceptions. The Patriots didn\u2019t stand a chance in the second half, and Maye\u2019s “good” numbers \u2014 21-for-38 for 299 yards and three touchdowns \u2014 were nothing more than garbage-time production. He was bad. He was so bad, in fact, that he completely took his team out of the game, particularly when Love caught fire. This could\u2019ve been a duel between two of the league\u2019s top quarterbacks. Instead, it was an absolute rout, with Love showing he has ascended into the Tier 1 of QB play. But Maye? He\u2019s falling out of Tier 2, which includes Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud and Jared Goff. “You can’t put the team in the hole straight off the bat, first possession, first half,” Maye said. “I feel like in the times we had chances to get back into the game. I messed them up.” And that\u2019s because of his likeness to Sam Darnold. Now, I want to be clear: Maye is a better quarterback than Darnold. When Maye is at his best, he really is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. When Maye plays like he played against the Packers, he shows how far he has to go to\u00a0stay among the elite. His mental lapses are so severe that his team has to be perfect to overcome them. On Sunday night, the Bears were able to overcome their star QB’s mistakes. Caleb Williams threw four interceptions \u2014 constantly shooting his team in the foot \u2014 but the defense, with two interceptions and four sacks, kept the team in the game. And Williams was lucky he was playing the Buccaneers (and not the Packers), because Tampa gave the Bears the breathing room to win it. Chicago hit a game-winning field goal to bail out Williams. The Patriots couldn\u2019t do the same favor for Maye, who had another of his off days. That\u2019s when he looks like Darnold. They\u2019re both good QBs whose mistakes become major impediments to victory. And unlike the Bears and Seahawks, who have found ways to overcome Darnold\u2019s catastrophic games, the Patriots don\u2019t know how to get past Maye\u2019s worst days. It\u2019s ironic that Tom Brady was in the stadium to watch this game \u2014 calling his first Patriots home game since joining FOX Sports \u2014 because Brady trained Patriots fans to appreciate consistency. Brady learned \u2014 at a young age \u2014 that it\u2019s important to avoid the low-lows of quarterbacking before chasing the high-highs. It\u2019s the low-lows that kill a team\u2019s shot at winning. The current Patriots QB has yet to learn it. With all that talent, Maye can\u2019t help himself. But that makes him unreliable \u2014 and sometimes it even makes him a liability. You know the meme where two Spidermans are pointing at each other? Hey, that\u2019s me. Well, that\u2019s how the Jaguars must have felt watching the Bengals beat the Falcons in Barcelona. Both Jacksonville and Cincinnati have defenses that are trending upward and might be getting better \u2014 the Jaguars acquired Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates III from Atlanta early Monday. More importantly, both teams are offensive juggernauts with two of the best QBs in the NFL. And when it comes to the AFC hunt, both teams benefit from two of the easiest schedules in the NFL. They\u2019re good. Their opponents are bad. They\u2019re going to duke it out for the No. 1 seed. It feels inevitable. And if you think back to Week 4, you might remember these teams saw each other and the Jaguars won, 22-17 \u2014 despite Joe Burrow throwing for 428 yards. That\u2019s a consequential game, giving Jacksonville the advantage for the top seed. So the Bengals would have to be\u00a0that much better against their weak schedule. I\u2019m guessing that Bills and Broncos fans are wondering what the heck I have against them. The Bills will be dangerous in the playoffs. No doubt about it. But their defense (and general sloppiness) makes me think they\u2019re going to drop some games, particularly with a challenging schedule ahead. And forgive me, Broncos fans, but I don\u2019t trust Bo Nix. Burrow and Trevor Lawrence have been among the best passers in the NFL. The Bengals don\u2019t quite have a running game like the Jaguars, who have seen Bhayshul Tuten emerge with efficient production that has made him an advanced statistics darling. But of course, Cincinnati has been unstoppable in the passing game with Tee Higgins and Ja\u2019Marr Chase. Defensively, the edge goes slightly to the Jags. But I think the Bengals’ defense has gotten better every week, with the offseason trade for star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence looking better each week. I feel pretty darn good about one of these two teams taking the top seed in the AFC, even if they both have a sub-20% chance, per Next Gen Stats. You know who the Rams remind me of? Patrick Mahomes\u2019 Chiefs. And Tom Brady\u2019s Patriots. Now, those two QBs (and organizations) have a longer run of sustained excellence. But much like those organizations, the Rams entered this season with a target on their back the size of California. The “Super Team” hype worked against the Rams in two ways: 1) Everyone wanted to crush the supposed Super Team, and 2) They weren\u2019t actually\u00a0that good. In fact, the Rams have been pretty mediocre \u2014 in every metric except special teams, where they\u2019ve been one of the worst units in the NFL. After Week 9, they rank 13th in points scored per game (23.8) and eighth in points allowed per game (20.1). They have some of the most recognizable names on either side of the ball, from QB Matthew Stafford to receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett. They have some of the best football players on the planet \u2014 and that includes (lesser-known players like) cornerback Trent McDuffie and edge Byron Young. And then, obviously, coach Sean McVay is one of the faces of the NFL. That has actually worked against them \u2014 for now. Because the thing about “the target” is that teams can\u2019t keep it up all year. The Rams are 5-4, which doesn\u2019t scream Super Team anymore. I don\u2019t think teams are worried about bringing the Rams back to earth, because that has already happened. And while the Rams were not a Super Team to start the year, I believe they are going to surge in the second half of the year \u2014\u00a0like the Chiefs and (Tom Brady) Patriots did during their Super Bowl runs. You don\u2019t have all year to figure your identity out, but you do have a grace period, which the best teams use to experiment and feel out their limits. That can make for ugly football. That can generate losses. But as Bill Belichick used to say:\u00a0You know what kind of team you are when Thanksgiving rolls around. We\u2019re almost there. The Rams won ugly against the Commanders on Sunday, but they have a healthy Garrett, Donald and Young on the defensive line. They have a healthy Stafford, and Davante Adams should be back soon. One concerning note is Nacua, who will have an MRI on his right knee on Monday. Basically everyone picked the Rams to make and\/or win the Super Bowl. And basically everyone got scared and backed off that prediction. Well, I\u2019m here to remind you: It\u2019s gonna happen. They have the makings of a team that\u2019s going to get hot in the playoffs. Just when you forget about them, they\u2019re gonna be one of the NFL\u2019s best teams. With the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, here are the big names who should stay or go. Trade Him: If someone feels generous enough to give the Colts assets for a player they\u2019re going to part ways with this offseason, then \u2026 why not? The Colts would take a cap hit for trading Jones, which gives them a little leverage to make the Vikings (or anyone else who\u2019s interested) give up a reasonable return. Indy is selling for a rebuild. Jones isn\u2019t going to be a part of that and, given the incentives in his contract, he probably wants to go to a contender where he can cash in on bonuses (on top of simply wanting to not be on one of the league\u2019s worst teams). Keep Him: He\u2019ll turn 28 in January, which isn\u2019t so bad for a running back these days. Derrick Henry might be a freak of nature, but he\u2019s 32, which provides an optimistic runway for Taylor. The Colts are probably going to draft a young QB to play right away. Taylor is the perfect complement to a rookie QB, because he’s been able to produce despite years of tumultuous circumstances. I know that a Taylor trade would be the exciting splash that we all crave at the deadline. But it\u2019s actually not smart for the Colts to move someone as reliable as Taylor, who will make life easier for whoever plays QB for them next year. Trade Him: There might not be a player who has more “he has something” plays \u2014 without actually ever developing into a reliable threat. Downs’ potential is enticing. His production isn\u2019t. That\u2019s why he\u2019s on the market for a fourth-rounder, per reports. And that makes all the sense in the world. It\u2019s not like they Colts would be saying good riddance, but Downs simply hasn\u2019t panned out. They can wish him good luck and let him be on his way to Kansas City \u2014 or wherever else. Keep Him: Look at the Kayshon Boutte situation with the Patriots and the Texans. New England ditched Boutte before the season in a trade with Houston \u2014 in part because Boutte wanted out \u2014 and now the Patriots could really use an outside receiver who Drake Maye trusts. So you look at that situation and apply it to Jacksonville. As I mentioned earlier, I expect the Jaguars to compete for the AFC title. I don\u2019t expect the Jaguars to be healthy all year long. So if Parker Washington or Jakobi Meyers got hurt, then I could easily see the Jaguars regret having traded BTJ. And I could see it stinging even more if BTJ goes off with the Chiefs. Trade Him: The Eagles should keep selling. They\u2019re not a good football team right now, but I trust GM Howie Roseman to do a timely rebuild. That means continuing to stock up on draft assets \u2014 while selling on older starters like Baun. I would throw guard Landon Dickerson into the mix here, too. I probably would hold onto tight end Dallas Goedert, given how trusty he can be for a QB. And rookie TE Eli Stowers has\u00a0not shown signs of development. Keep Him: The NFC East is winnable, and Dallas is definitely the most talented team. The Cowboys just have to stop beating themselves. It\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but it\u2019s painfully true. It\u2019s not a high bar for most, but it\u2019s one the Cowboys can\u2019t seem to clear. It would be detrimental for the Cowboys to trade Pickens. He\u2019s a good player. Ryan Flournoy got his chance to audition for WR2 against the Colts, and it wasn\u2019t reassuring. Keep Pickens. Try to make the playoffs. And heck, if he plays well down the stretch, the Cowboys could re-sign him and do for Dak Prescott what the Bengals have done for Joe Burrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GILLETTE STADIUM (Foxborough, Mass.) \u2014 Anytime Jordan Love dropped back, it felt like Gillette Stadium held its breath, waiting for the Packers QB to deliver disappointment. And he did. Over and over. It started in the first quarter when his defense delivered a turnover, with New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throwing a pick. And<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}