Both the San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams, who play one another this weekend at Candlestick, were off in Week 9. This means that the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco's two closest competitors in the division were the only teams in the NFC West to play this week.
Seattle managed to pickup a half of game and go over .500, while Arizona lost its fifth consecutive game and dropped under the .500 plateau for the first time this season.
Green Bay Packers 31, Arizona Cardinals 17
I don't think anyone was really surprised by the outcome of this game. Green Bay was coming off four consecutive victories after a stunning Week 5 loss to the Colts in Indianapolis. Aaron Rodgers picked up where he had left off in previous weeks by throwing four more touchdowns in the two score victory. Rodgers has now thrown 22 touchdowns in his last six games. Meanwhile, Randall Cobb and James Jones picked up the slack left by the injured Greg Jennings by combining for three touchdown catches.
Meanwhile, John Skelton did move the ball against a vastly improved Packers' defense. Arizona gained 340 total yards as the backup quarterback tallied just his third career 300-yard passing game. Arizona did keep it close for the most part in the initial half, but two consecutive Green Bay touchdowns pretty much broke the game open at the half, 21-7.
Following a Mason Crosby field goal to open up scoring in the second half, Arizona tallied 10 consecutive points and pulled the game to within one score. It wasn't to be. Rodgers hit Tom Crabtree on a short slant, the fullback then took the ball 72 yards for a touchdown, ending the scoring at 31-17 Green Bay.
Arizona is now 4-5 and 2.5 games behind San Francisco in the NFC West. It has been exposed as nothing more than a fraud and will likely maintain its status as a second class citizen behind the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks for the remainder of the season.
Top Fantasy Performers
Aaron Rodgers (GB): 14/30, 218 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Randall Cobb (GB): Three receptions, 37 yards and two touchdowns.
Larry Fitzgerald (ARI): Six receptions, 74 yards and one touchdown.
John Skelton (ARI): 23/46, 306 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
James Jones (GB): Four receptions, 61 yards and one touchdown
LaRod Stephens-Howling (ARI): 17 rushes, 51 yards and one touchdown.
Seattle Seahawks 30, Minnesota Vikings 20
Once again, Seattle showed that it is a completely different team at home in the Pacific Northwest than it is on the road. Russell Wilson threw three touchdown passes as the Seahawks defense held Christian Ponder to under 70 passing yards. With that in mind, Seattle's rush defense was absolutely destroyed by Adrian Peterson, who went for 182 yards on just 17 rushes. Seattle has now given up an average of 167 rushing yards per game over the course of its last three outings after holding opponents to under 100 in each of its first six games.
While this wasn an impressive performance for Seattle, it really needs to start winning consistently on the road in order to contend in the NFC West, let alone a wildcard berth. That might sound like a broken record, but it simply needs to be stated over and over again until it happens.
Minnesota, on the other hand, is in a tough situation. It is now 5-4 and in third place in the NFC North, just a half of game ahead of Detroit for the cellar in the division. More importantly, Ponder just continues to regress as a quarterback. He has now thrown eight interceptions in the last five games after not throwing a single pick in the first four games. Minnesota also has the toughest remaining schedule in the NFL. It has to go up against both the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions twice more as well as the Houston Texans.
Top Fantasy Performers
Adrian Peterson (MIN): 17 rushes, 182 yards and two touchdowns.
Russell Wilson (SEA): 16/23, 173 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Marshawn Lynch (SEA): 26 rushes, 124 yards, two receptions, 26 yards and one touchdown.
Golden Tate (SEA): Four receptions, 28 yards and two touchdowns.