A look back at Week 9 of the NFL season as underdogs reigned supreme

The NFL season has officially hit the halfway pole, and what we know now is that the more you think you know, the less you actually know.

Clash of the Titans and Rams

What we were certain that we knew before the Sunday night game between the Titans and Rams is that without Derrick Henry, Tennessee would be in trouble when taking on the well-oiled machine that is the Los Angeles offense.

The question going in: Which of the Titans' other offensive players would step up and fill the void left by Henry?

The answer: none of them. It was the Titans' defense that came to play on Sunday. In the first eight weeks of the season, the Rams gave up four sacks. On Sunday, Matthew Stafford was sacked five times and intercepted twice, and despite less than 200 yards of total offense on the night, the Titans won easily, 28-16.

The Titans are now 7-2 and they sit atop the AFC playoff picture. However, they are still the fourth favorite to win the AFC, listed at 6-1 at top online sportsbooks, BetUS. The Rams, also 7-2, have dropped into second place in the NFC West. Bettors still love the Rams, listed at 4-1 to win the NFC.

Arizona, this Week's Best Team

What we thought we knew before kickoff in Santa Clara on Sunday was that as good as the Cardinals are, without both Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins, they would struggle against the resurgent 49ers.

Nevermind.

What we did not account for was Colt McCoy, who stepped in for Murray and completed 85 percent of his passes for 249 yards and a touchdown. And up stepped James Conner, who rushed for 96 yards, caught passes for another 77 yards, and scored three touchdowns.

The Arizona defense - now without J.J. Watt - held the 49ers to just 39 yards rushing and forced three turnovers.

The loss the week before to Green Bay on the final play of the game definitely seems like the outlier for this team. Arizona, without its two biggest stars, improved to 8-1 on the season and re-established itself as the team to beat in the NFC.

NFL betting odds certainly support their continued winning ways, posting them as double digit favorites (-10) this Sunday hosting the Carolina Panthers.

What Happened in Dallas?

We were actually all pretty convinced just a week ago that the Cowboys were the best team in the NFC. Without their best player, Dak Prescott, they went into Minnesota and pulled off a very impressive team win. No Dak, no problem, when you have the previously unknown Cooper Rush.

So surely with Dak back under center and the Cowboys returning home to face the Broncos, we'd see even more dominance from Dallas.

Nobody knows anything.

Instead of the Cowboys continuing their six-game winning streak by beating a Broncos team that just waved the white flag by trading away their biggest defensive star, it was Denver doing the dominating. Don't be confused by the 30-16 final score. This game wasn't nearly that close.

Javonte Williams rushed for 111 yards, Melvin Gordon added another 80, and Teddy Bridgewater was cool and efficient, throwing for 249 yards and a touchdown.

On the other side, Prescott completed less than 50 percent of his passes and had an interception. The two-headed rushing monster of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard combined for 62 yards. Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb combined for just 60 yards receiving.

This was not a normal loss for a team thinking about a Super Bowl trip. This was a thorough beating.

(The Other) Josh Allen Stars in Jacksonville

With the porous Jaguars defense as his opponent, it was expected that QB Josh Allen would star in the Bills-Jags game on Sunday. We all know that Jacksonville is perhaps the very worst team in the AFC, and the Bills are one of the very best. The only question was how big would Allen’s numbers get?

Answer — big, if we're talking about the outside linebacker for the Jaguars.

Allen, of the Buffalo Bills, threw two interceptions and led the highest-scoring offense in the NFL to just a pair of field goals. Allen, of the Jacksonville Jaguars, sacked the other Allen (the first name-on-name sack in NFL history), intercepted a pass, and recovered a fumble.

The Bills went into Sunday as the biggest favorite of the day, at 15.5 points. The 9-6, Jacksonville victory is the seventh biggest upset victory since 1990.

Buffalo is now 5-3 and just one-half game ahead of the Patriots in the AFC East. Trevor Lawrence wasn’t good, throwing for just 118 yards, but he now has two wins in his NFL career.

The Bills "crashed" in NFL division odds after their loss — from a nosebleed -2500 before the Jacksonville disaster to a more palatable -700, ahead of the New England Patriots at +400.