My best friend, who is an avid Miami Dolphins fan, gave me an on site weather report from Frankfurt Germany this morning where his team is meeting the Kansas City Chiefs. “It’s ridiculously cold and the stadium has a cover but the sides are all open and it’s freezing in here.”

The weather at all the outdoor National Football League venues in the United States are consistently better. No rain in the forecast at any of the outdoor game sites and mild conditions … nothing that should affect the play on the field.

As we reach the midpoint of the 2023 regular season there are no undefeated and no winless teams in the league. The extremes find the Philadelphia Eagles at the top of the heap with only one loss in eight games and the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals at the bottom of the league with one win each.

Six of the best teams square off today beginning with that contest in Germany where a pair of division leaders, the Dolphins and Chiefs, meet. The Dolphins are atop the AFC East Division with six wins and lead the Buffalo Bills by one game. In the AFC West, the Chiefs own a commanding lead with their six wins over a trio of teams with losing records, namely the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos.

While two of the top AFC teams battle in Germany, two of the best NFC teams do battle in Philadelphia where the Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys. Philadelphia has the better record and looks worthy of repeating as NFC Champions, the Cowboys have a motivational edge in today’s game based on the standings.

Philadelphia comes into action with a 1½ game lead over the second place Cowboys, and a spike in performance to avoid falling further behind is more common than the team looking to extend their division edge over a squad with comparable talent.

A third matchup between elite teams will take place in Cincinnati where the Bengals host the Buffalo Bills tonight. Both the Bengals and Bills have suffered three losses this season, that is as many as the Bills lost all of last season and only one less than the Bengals suffered in 2022. The Bengals trail the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North Division and the Bills are chasing the Miami Dolphins in the AFC East.

Before these two teams kickoff tonight, the Bills will know whether they have a chance to catch Miami based on their result this morning from Germany, and the Bengals will know whether they can pull closer to the division leading Ravens.

The public doesn’t think the Bengals can close on the Ravens today, Baltimore is their most popular play of the week. The three most bet games by the public in Week Nine are the Ravens (-6½) over the Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns (-13) over Arizona Cardinals, and Philadelphia Eagles (-3) over Dallas Cowboys.

The Qoxhi Week Nine selections are now posted on this site, and if a Bullet Play develops in the final hour leading up to the 10:00 a.m. kickoffs, that game will be added to the list of recommendations by 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.