Game Balls and Penalty Flags- Week 9

Every team has now played half the season and only the Green Bay Packers have set themselves in front of the pack. We will talk more about this in the midseason report coming out on Thursday. For now, here are this week's game balls and penalty flags.

GAME BALLS

NY Jets Defense: I don't have proof, but I am pretty sure Rex Ryan sat in on the Buffalo Bills offensive meetings this week. It clearly looked like the Jets knew exactly what the Bills were running. WRs could not get open and Ryan Fitzpatrick was flustered all day.

Houston RBs: Arian Foster racked up 124 yards and a touchdown, while his backup Bet Tate added another 115 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Its the second time in three weeks two Texans rushers have each gained a 100 yards in a game.

Julio Jones, WR Atlanta: Seemed like Matt Ryan and Julio were playing down by the school yard as Jones returned for his first game since week 5 hauling in two touchdowns on 131 yards including an impressive diving 50 yard TD. He also added 33 yards on two end arounds as well.

Miami Dolphins: If you are 0-7 going into a game against a team on a hot streak and completely take them behind the woodshed, the whole team gets the game ball. The 'fins have moved out of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes and are now in the Matt Barkley sweepstakes.

Patrick Peterson, CB Arizona: Rookie Patrick Peterson returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown in overtime to give the Arizona Cardinals a stunning 19-13 victory over the Rams to snap a six game losing streak. Peterson juked and bounced off tacklers for his third punt return TD of the season.

Eli Manning, QB NY Giants: Manning marched the Giants down 80 yards in eight plays and hit Jake Ballard for a one yard TD with 15 seconds left as the Giants a upended the New England Patriots basically repeating the comeback victory from the 2008 Super Bowl.

Joe Flacco, QB Baltimore: Flacco found rookie Torrey Smith for a 26 yard TD with eight seconds to go capping a 92 yard drive on the road against division rival Pittsburgh 23-20. Flacco finished with 298 yards passing and Baltimore swept the season series from the rival Steelers (6-3) for the first time since 2006.

PENALTY FLAGS

Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles blew a fourth-quarter lead for the fourth time this season. The pre-season Super Bowl contender and alleged Dream Team is now 3-5 and probably already out of the playoff hunt.

Oakland Raiders: The silver and black blew a 10 point lead and were out scored 31-7 in the second half giving up big play after big play. Not a good start for the Carson Palmer era.