NFL.com analysts provide bold predictions -- spanning everything from team-based takes to fantasy forecasts -- for Week 9 of the 2026 season.
NOTE: All statistics come courtesy of Next Gen Stats, unless otherwise noted.
Justin Jefferson lays waste to Bills (again)
Averaging a career-low 55.8 receiving yards per game this season, Jefferson has grown increasingly frustrated with his role in Minnesota's offense. But Monday night's opponent harkens back to a game when the receiver was at the peak of his powers. Halfway through his 2022 Offensive Player of the Year campaign, Jefferson eviscerated Buffalo with 10 receptions for 193 yards and a touchdown, making one of the most absurd catches in memory on a late, fourth-and-18 heave from Kirk Cousins. Most importantly, he carried the Vikings to an upset win over the Bills. I think history repeats itself in the 27-year-old's second career game against Buffalo. Carson Wentz is starting for the Vikes in place of the injured Kyler Murray, and the veteran quarterback knows where his bread is buttered. In his five starts last season, Wentz targeted Jefferson 50 times. He force-feeds the wideout once again in this prime-time affair, and Jefferson posts 150+ receiving yards for the first time since the 2023 season, lifting Minnesota to a massive bounce-back win.
RB breaks own franchise record in final game with team
With the trade deadline looming on Nov. 10 and Jonathan Taylor’s name swirling around the league, this week’s matchup with the Cowboys could be the last time the three-time Pro Bowl running back plays for the Colts. Dallas enters Week 9 with the worst rushing defense in the NFL, allowing 152.8 ground yards per game. If this is the last time Taylor totes the rock with the horseshoe on his helmet, what better way to go out than rushing for at least 254 yards and breaking his own franchise record of 253 set in January of 2021?
Jordan Love states MVP case in New England
No other quarterback has been forced to carry an offense this season like Love has. Green Bay’s average of 60.6 rush yards per game currently stands as the lowest figure by any team in a season since the 1970 merger. Yet, I still don’t see Love’s name mentioned among the leading MVP candidates in 2026. That starts to change with a masterful performance on the road against the reigning AFC champion Patriots in the prime late-window matchup of Sunday. The league leader with 2,246 passing yards entering Week 9, Love throws for 300+ yards and three touchdowns against a top-10 defense, departing Foxborough with well-deserved respect on his name.
Rookie RB runs circles around Panthers' defense
There's a new RB1 in Denver. Fourth-round rookie Jonah Coleman has taken the reins for the Broncos -- pun intended -- and is poised for a huge day against the Panthers. Let's call it 150 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns to finish as a top-tier RB1 in fantasy and lead Denver to a road win.
Brandon Aubrey sets new kicking standard in shootout
Giddy up and get ready for Cowboys and Colts -- oh my. This one surely isn’t atop the marquee for Sunday’s Week 9 slate, but it will be a shootout with Dak Prescott and Daniel Jones leading the way. Jones and Prescott, longtime NFC East adversaries, will battle back and forth, taking advantage of porous defenses as they each throw for 350+ yards and multiple touchdowns. However, that won’t be what this game is remembered for when all is said and done. No, that will be the Long Leg of the West. Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey, taking comfort in the domed confines of Lucas Oil Stadium, will make good on a 70-yard field goal, setting a new standard for longest FG in history by surpassing Cam Little’s previous record (68 yards, set last season).
Last-second field goal lifts Commanders to upset win over Rams
Rookie kicker Drew Stevens seals a second straight win for the Commanders, hitting a 55-yard field goal at the end of regulation to beat the favored Rams. The victory keeps Washington squarely in a wide-open NFC East race.
Bengals and Falcons make international history in Madrid
This season, audiences in London and Rio de Janeiro have been treated to two of the six highest-scoring international games in NFL history. But it'll be the Spaniards who have the most fun, bearing witness to the first-ever game with 70+ points outside of the United States. With no shortage of star power in this Cincinnati-Atlanta contest, each team eclipses 35 points -- which just happened to the Bengals in Week 8 -- in the highest-scoring international game ever.
Cardinals get encore performances from two seasoned vets
Gardner Minshew and Tyler Allgeier had big-time performances last week in Arizona's comeback win at Dallas, and they'll show out again Sunday. In a roadie at Seattle this time, Minshew throws for three touchdowns with no INTs and Allgeier rushes for another 100 yards against the league's top overall defense.
