Jarrett Bell

USA TODAY Sports

Awards, observations and a quick review of Week 9 in the NFL….

Stud of the week: Jimmy Graham. The most thrilling Monday Night Football game of the season may have been marred by officiating blunders (see below), but nothing can be taken away from the remarkable performance by the Seahawks tight end, who caught 8 passes for 103 yards and two TDs to provide the much-needed sizzle to his team’s gritty effort. The second TD, an 18-yarder, goes down as one of the best catches all season, as Graham hauled in Russell Wilson’s dime with one hand while a defensive back was draped on his back. Another highlight came with an open-field hurdle of a would-be tackler to add yards after catch. Sure, there were players with bigger numbers, but Graham’s performance was also so significant for a team that is struggling on offense (33 rushing yards, 2.8 per carry) and undermanned on defense (Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor out with injuries). The Seahawks needed someone to pick up the slack. Done.

Defensive player of the week: Thomas Davis. It’s fitting that in such a defensive struggle at the Coliseum – which included some more rough stuff inflicted on Cam Newton – there was no better defender on the field than the versatile Panthers linebacker. He was all over the place. In addition to logging a game-high 11 tackles, Davis produced the game’s only turnover with a pick, while also forcing a fumble, deflecting a pass and registering a quarterback hit. Davis has come up big in both of the consecutive wins for the defending NFC champs (3-5). Given their history under Ron Rivera of starting slow then getting hot, it’s too early to count out Carolina.

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Special teamer of the week: Matt Prater. The perfect kicker to play a role in the late-game magic that the Lions have produced repeatedly this season. Not only did Prater nail the 58-yard field goal to force overtime as the clock expired in the fourth quarter at Minnesota, he also connected on two other treys, including a 53-yarder. During his career, Prater is now a perfect 23-of-23 on game-tying or game-winning field goals in the fourth quarter or overtime, including four-for-four in cases this season. In the clutch, Prater is pure money.

Rookie of the week: Dak Prescott. Another week, another historical footprint for the Cowboys quarterback, who had his highest-rated game of the season (141.8) during the romp at Cleveland, when he completed 74% of his passes (21 of 27) for 247 yards with 3 TDs and zero picks. It was Prescott’s sixth game with a pass efficiency rating of at least 100, and he’s the first rookie since the 1970 merger to achieve that in his first eight games – another detail attached to Dallas’ seven-game winning streak.

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Unsung heroes: Donald Penn, Kelechi Osemele and Rodney Hudson. They represent the left side of a Raiders O-line that dominated the Broncos during the huge statement victory on Sunday night. Led by Latavius Murray (20 rushes, 114 yards, 3 TDs), Oakland rushed for 218 yards (5.1 yards per carry) to pave the way to a serious changing of the guard in the AFC West. The late Gene Upshaw and the retired Art Shell – who anchored the left side of the line during the Raiders glory days in the 1970s and early ‘80s – would be so proud.

This week’s genius: Adam Gase. The Dolphins have a three-game winning streak under their rookie coach, getting the best of the Jets on Sunday. Running back Jay Ajayi – whose back-to-back 200-yard games changed the narrative after his early-season benching -- again had a crucial role with 111 rushing yards and a TD. But Miami also needed a 96-yard kick-return TD from Kenyon Drake and some late-game run-stuffing from Ndamukong Suh in order to win. It was a good team win, and an indication of how the team didn’t tune out the rookie coach during a 1-3 start. Miami (4-4) is obviously trending in the right direction.

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Boneheaded blunder: Referee Walt Anderson’s crew fueled the most controversial officiating sequence in Week 9, which cost the Bills just before halftime at Seattle on Monday night. Even if you buy the decision not to assess a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Richard Sherman after he plowed into Bills kicker Dan Carpenter on a field goal attempt that was blown dead because the cornerback was blatantly offsides – I don’t buy it, and neither does NFL officiating chief Dean Blandino – there was no excuse for the officials not re-starting the 25-second play clock before an ensuing attempt. Instead, the officials let the clock run while they switched out to the K-ball, which led to a delay-of-game penalty that forced Carpenter to kick again five yards deeper … an attempt that he missed. The two blunders became even more apparent as they changed strategy late in the second half, when the Bills could have been positioned for a game-tying field goal rather needing a TD.

How ya like me now? Melvin Gordon didn’t score a single touchdown as a first-round rookie for the Chargers last season, but in his sophomore season he’s pretty much embodied a human touchdown machine. Gordon hit the end zone again during Sunday’s win against the Titans on a 1-yard burst that marked his NFL-high 11th TD of the season. More impressively, Gordon rushed for a career-high 190 yards during a 32-carry workhorse effort.

Did you notice? The Eagles – who got four consecutive incompletions from Carson Wentz after setting up first-and-10 at the New York 17-yard line with less than 2 minutes to play at MetLife – are having a season like the Giants had last season in the manner in which they’ve blown opportunities to win the close ones. After starting 3-0, Philadelphia has lost four of its past five games by a total of 19 points.

Stat’s the fact: For all of the theories about the NFL’s sagging TV ratings, one constant remains: Close games. Through Week 9, there were 99 games that were within one score in the fourth quarter – the most-such games through nine weeks in NFL history. Four teams – Washington, Baltimore, the New York Giants and of course, the cardiac Lions – have had all of their games this season played under such conditions.

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