Week 9’s NFL All-Stars

By Rhys Knott

Week 9 in the NFL was the very definition of a mixed bag. There were three of the best games of the 2023 season and eight absolute snooze-fests. The good news is that made for some unusual players making the Week 9’s All-Star team.

 

Week 9’s All-Star Quarterback

Embed from Getty Images

C.J Stroud, he’s quickly approaching a Joe Burrow level of taking the NFL by storm. But unlike Joe Cool he was the second overall pick in the draft. Stroud isn’t just having a good season for a rookie; he’s having a record-breaking season. He has a better completion percentage than Matt Stafford and DeShaun Watson (who is earning about $35 million more than Stroud this season). And he’s thrown for more yards than Derek Carr (who earns $21 million more than him this year) and Lamar Jackson who’s touted as this season’s MVP! 

This week Stroud absolutely vapourised the Buccaneers defense. Stroud threw 42 passes and completed 30 of them. He averaged 15.6 yards per completion! He also threw five touchdowns and ran the ball for another 10 yards. 

Week 9’s All-Star Running Back

Continuing the rookie theme, Baltimore Raven Keaton Mitchell in at running back. Keaton’s dad Anthony played in the NFL for six seasons from 2000 to 2005. He was a defensive back for the Ravens, Jaguars and the Bengals.  

Keaton obviously learned from watching his dad, he learned that playing on offense is far more glamourous. Mithell didn’t even start the game (he’s yet to start, that’s probably going to change). In his first nine carries as a professional he averaged 15.53 yards per carry as he notched up 138 yards and scored a touchdown. It wasn’t a perfect game for hm though, only his only catch he lost four yards. But we’ll let him off since he gained 134 yards from scrimmage despite only playing 14 snaps! 

Week 9’s All-Star Wide Receivers

CeeDee Lamb, demonstrated exactly how frustrating the Mike McCarthy version of the Cowboys are. Lamb racked up 191 receiving yards on his own, that’s more than the eight teams managed this week! But the Cowboys still lost. 

Noah Brown did his part for receivers based in Texas too. He hauled in six catches for 153 yards as the Buccaneers seemed to forget the 6-foot 2-inch Brown existed. He caught all of his six targets, one of which was a touchdown. 

Amari Cooper, if the Browns play the Cardinals every week, they might be ok. Cooper caught all five of his targets and averaged 27.8 yards per catch. His 139 yards is his most since signing in Cleveland and his most since 2021! 

Week 9's All-star tight end

Dalton Schultz. Now, he did fumble the ball to set some nerves jangling in Houston, but the Texans battled back for the win. Schultz caught 10 of his 11 targets for 130 yards. That was the first 100+ yard game of his career and 42 more yards than he’d ever recorded in a single game. 

Week 9's d/st

It’s the Browns, you just don’t shut out teams in the NFL. Of course, when the opposition are starting a rookie quarterback who is really the third choice it makes life slightly easier, but the Browns defense is the real deal. Jim Schwartz’s men sacked poor Clayton Tune seven times and intercepted two of the passes he threw. They also forced Tune to fumble and only allowed him to complete 55% of the 20 passes he threw. 

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

5/5