NFL Winners and Losers: Off-field incidents and low-quality football define Week 9


Week 9 included some strange things on the football field. A linebacker named Josh Allen played the best game of his life. He sacked, intercepted and tackled a quarterback named Josh Allen, who played the worst game of his life. Elsewhere, the Denver Broncos gained a first down by punting the ball into the other team. Sadly, however, the most important things this week occurred away from the field. 

Loser: Organizational Dysfunction

Several weeks ago, I wrote that the Las Vegas Raiders — the NFL’s standard bearer for chaos and confusing management — were outplaying their more conventionally well-run competitors. At the time, I was right; the Raiders were 2-0 after defeating the Ravens and the Steelers, two teams that are often considered among the NFL’s best. Now? Well, the Raiders are still winning games. They’re 5-3. However, a slew of recent off-field issues will haunt the franchise.

The first unexpected exit occurred when a Wall Street Journal investigation unearthed a trove of homophobic emails sent by Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden. The team quickly fired him. Another crack in the Raiders’ roster emerged Monday as cornerback Damon Arnette, who the Raiders selected with the 19th pick in the 2020 draft, posted a video of himself brandishing firearms and threatening another person’s life. In response, the Raiders released him. General Manager Mike Mayock called it a “very painful decision,” but reinforced that the behavior “was unacceptable, contrary to our values and … not how we will conduct ourselves in this community.”

Warning flags littered Arnette’s career prior to his release. Mayock admitted that “there was significant concern” about Arnette’s behavior during college “and most of the teams around the league were very aware of it.” Arnette validated those concerns last year when he crashed four rental cars in a single month. Now he’s done with the Raiders for good, and while the organization cannot be held entirely responsible for Arnette’s actions, they should treat his failure as a reminder that some character concerns never dissipate.

Between the incidents involving Gruden and Arnette, the team also dealt with an accident involving wide reciever Henry Ruggs III. He was arrested on DUI charges after he was involved in a car accident which resulted in a death.The police also found a loaded gun in his car. The Raiders immediately released Ruggs III, who faces up to 46 years in prison and will never play football again.

 The Raiders now bear a trend and reputation of concerning behavior. That might be unfair: For the incident involving Ruggs III, the team cannot be held solely responsible for their choices. He is an adult who knew better than to break a simple and commonly known law. He made a horrible decision and will spend the rest of his life paying for it.

Still, his actions and the other incidents will stick with the Raiders, who are missing a coach and two impact players as a result of organizational dysfunction and now have more important things to worry about than just football games.

Winner: Bad Football

A strange thing about football is that bad football makes for wonderful television. No one wants to watch a bad basketball game or two lackluster soccer teams play. Yet, in football, there’s something fabulous and perversely entertaining about terrible interceptions, hideous quarterback play and defenses that can’t decide if they’re playing zone or man coverage.

The NFL knows this, which is why it schedules games between awful, absolutely-no-good teams, such as the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants or the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans for primetime coverage every Thursday night.

Bad football reached its peak Sunday. The NFL gave us the Texans vs. the Miami Dolphins — a matchup between two teams so bad that it’s shocking they didn’t play on Thursday — and it was beautiful. Entering the weekend, no game this season had involved more than six combined turnovers. No game last season accounted for more than seven. The Texans and Dolphins delivered nine.

The highlights are comical. On one interception, Tyrod Taylor made the inexplicable decision to lob the ball in bounds on a throwaway. On another play, he was sacked by … nobody. He just slipped, I guess. The Dolphins also provided a ridiculous interception. At one point, quarterback Jacoby Brisset launched the ball straight into the hands of a Texans defender.

The Dolphins won the game but did absolutely nothing to earn it. They just made fewer mistakes than the Texans. Hopefully, the NFL takes note and schedules the two teams for Thursday Night Football next year. 

Mac Dilatush is a freshman providing commentary on NFL happenings week to week. His column, “NFL Winners and Losers,” runs every other Thursday.