2026 NFL season, Week 9: What We Learned from Sunday's games

The 2026 NFL season Week 9 action featured several notable performances and statistics across Sunday games. According to The New York Times, Kenneth Walker recorded two touchdowns for the Chiefs, and Jaylen Waddle suffered an injury. Additional insights from NFL.com highlighted performances during the Sunday slate, including statistics involving Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase. According to NFL Research, Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase connected for their 19th touchdown of at least 40 yards in Sunday's win. This performance tied them with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice for the third-most touchdowns of 40 yards or more by any quarterback-receiver duo since 1980. The only duos with more in that category are Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison with 21 touchdowns and Steve Young and Jerry Rice with 20 touchdowns, as reported by NFL.com. Furthermore, NFL.com noted that the first-quarter touchdown between Burrow and Chase marked the 58th score by the duo overall, including playoffs. This milestone passed Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss for the second-most scores by any quarterback-receiver duo before age 30, trailing only Dan Marino and Mark Clayton, who recorded 68 touchdowns. According to Next Gen Stats Insight via NFL Pro on NFL.com, Joe Burrow was pressured on nine of 32 dropbacks against the Falcons, which amounts to 28.1 percent. When kept clean, Burrow completed 20 of 23 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns. His time to pressure was recorded at 3.26 seconds, which NFL.com stated was the longest of his career, while the Falcons defense registered just one quick pressure during the game.