NFL experts' Week 9 takeaways: Are Rams back? Commanders make another baffling decision

Each Sunday, three of The Athletic's NFL writers react to the biggest news, plays and performances from the day's games.

We're just about halfway through the regular season and it doesn't feel like any team has separated itself as the clear-cut Super Bowl favorite. That team was supposed to be the Los Angeles Rams, who were seen as a super team back in the preseason, but they'e battling just to make the playoffs. They've started to right the ship with three straight wins, including a 20-13 victory over the Washington Commanders on Sunday. The Rams still have plenty of work to do, but it's easier to work on problems when you're winning games.

The Commanders aren't so fortunate. You'd think after a couple of high-profile blunders around game-management, Dan Quinn's team would have fixed those issues. But there Jayden Daniels was on Sunday with three seconds left and 31 yards to the end zone throwing well short of the goal line to end the game. It's fair to wonder how much longer this can go on for Quinn.

In less chaotic action, the Cincinnati Bengals put on an offensive clinic and torched the Atlanta Falcons defense early Sunday in Madrid. Joe Burrow and the receiver tandem of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins seem better than ever and will be tough to stop in the AFC.

NFL writers Mike Jones, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei share their thoughts on the fallout from Week 9.

The Rams have won three straight games and are above .500 for the first time this season. Are they starting to look like contenders or just beating bad teams?

Jones: The Rams have definitely beaten three bad teams, and Sunday's outcome was closer than it should have been. I'm not going to declare them contenders yet, because something seems off with Matthew Stafford, and contenders do better than 3-for-14 on third downs against bad defenses, and take better care of the football. The Rams still have time to work on their offensive glitches, and Myles Garrett's return is a welcomed development for their defense. Hope does remain alive for L.A., but Sean McVay's squad has plenty of work to do during the second half of the season.

Nguyen: They hit a soft part of their schedule that they absolutely had to sweep and they took care of business. The Raiders and Commanders with Jayden Daniels aren't terrible though. Their offense is missing key pieces with Davante Adams and Terrance Ferguson out, so they've shortened the playbook winning games ugly, which is the right formula. They're running the ball well and the defense looks more like we expected with Garrett back in the lineup. They need to beat the Arizona Cardinals in their rematch next week. Stafford still doesn't quite look like himself. The ceiling of this team will depend on how much closer he can look like the player that won the MVP last year.

Pompei: The Rams are back. It's true they have taken advantage of a soft stretch of schedule, and maybe they wouldn't be getting many style points if they were figure skating, but this is the NFL and they are doing what they need to do to win games. The spectacular return of Garrett bodes very well for a defense that has not played up to expectations. This remains one of the league's most gifted teams, and the Rams may have benefitted from their early stumbles by figuring out how to work around their deficiencies. The Rams are set up for a strong finish.

Speaking of the Rams-Commanders game, Washington made another baffling late-game decision, this time throwing the ball well short of the end-zone on the final play. What's going on in D.C.?

Jones: It's just more of the same for Washington. An apparent lack of urgency and situational awareness from players, and questionable decision-making from coaches. David Blough, their 31-year-old rookie offensive coordinator, who has only two previous seasons worth of experience as an assistant position coach, continues to go through growing pains as a play-caller. Quinn is a defensive-minded head coach, but he can still provide better direction in those late-game situations with time running out. He's coached long enough to know what his team needs to do to win. There's just no excuse for the mistakes being made, so it's just a matter of time before Washington hits the reset button, again.

Nguyen: We saw some teams find their way in the end zone in long-yardage situations with screens in the last couple of weeks so maybe Blough thought he could do something similar? That's all I can think of. Blough is a first-year coordinator and he's had some questionable calls. Unfortunately for Quinn, he's essentially staked his job on Blough working out. There's still some hope that the offense can get it together. The NFC East is wide open right now, but it's looking rough for the Commanders however.

Pompei: Sometimes, throwing short of the end zone isn't a bad gamble, but the Commanders have made a number of questionable game-management decisions. They're at the point where everything that doesn't work is going to be scrutinized. Whether the blame falls on coaches or Jayden Daniels really doesn't matter -- it's a bad look for the team. That play wasn't the only problem. The Commanders' offense sputtered after the first two drives, scoring only after an interception that gave them a short field. The run game was not effective, and the pass protection left much to be desired.

Is the combination of the Bengals' high-powered offense and a mediocre defense enough to make noise in the AFC playoffs?

Jones: As well as Joe Burrow is playing directing a very dangerous offense, the Bengals certainly can make a deep playoff run. Their defense isn't perfect, but it's improving. The unit definitely gives up too many yards and displays struggles on third downs. But the Bengals are top-10 in sacks, takeaways and in the red zone. This Cincinnati unit is better than the 2021-22 defense when the Bengals reached the Super Bowl, and Burrow and the offense are more explosive than that 2021-22 version of themselves as well. The AFC has some really talented teams, but the Bengals can hold their own against any of them.

Nguyen: Absolutely. After some experimenting with going under center early in the season, the Bengals are going back to who they are: a shotgun passing team with the best receiver duo in football. Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins put on a disgusting display of dominance against the Falcons secondary and the way Burrow was operating Sunday reminded me of the Peyton Manning Colts offenses with Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. The defense has enough talent to slow down opponents. Dexter Lawrence should be in the running for Defensive Player of the Year. This is a scary scary Bengals team.

Pompei: It depends how you define making noise. The Bengals can win in the postseason, but they probably can't win it all unless they play defense better than they have. They have the best passing game in the league by a considerable margin, but typically the best passing games needs help as the season gets long and the weather turns. That means more contributions from the run game, and it especially means a defense that can get opposing offenses off the field, either by forcing punts or creating takeaways. The defense can improve, however.

The Cleveland Browns lost in overtime after Shedeur Sanders matched a New Orleans Saints touchdown but failed on a two-point conversion that would have won the game. Agree with coach Todd Monken's decision to go for two and the win?

Jones: Yeah, I think they had to go for the win. Given how little time was left (1:11 in overtime), they risked giving the ball back to New Orleans with enough time for the Saints to march into field goal range and score with no time left. Monken played to win rather than to tie or lose.

Nguyen: I liked the decision. The advantage of going second in overtime is so you have more information to work with and you have control of the ending. Why give the Saints a chance at a walk-off field goal when you can end the game with 2 yards. With the way the Saints were moving the ball at the end of regulation and overtime, I would have tried to win the game with my offense as well.

Pompei: I have no problem with it. You know his players wanted to go for it, and he put the game in their hands. Maybe Monken is more open to criticism because he had a backup quarterback making the throw, but Sanders played pretty well throughout the game. It didn't work out, but it's also possible it wouldn't have worked out of he decided to kick the extra point.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.