Blaine Gabbert's victorious return highlights a slow week for the #MizzouMade

So every one of the #MizzouMade was probably interviewed about the Mizzou protests and the Mizzou football team's participation this week. In the interests of sticking to the intent of this column, however, I will not be linking the reports on all of those. If anyone is particularly interested, you are free to throw them into the comments section.

Week 9 of NFL play saw six former Tigers on the sidelines due to their teams' byes. So no news this week on Justin Britt, Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, Mitch Morse, Markus Golden, or Sean Weatherspoon.With that out of the way....here's what did happen.

M * A * S * H Unit (and inactives)

Chase Coffman was in his usual role of healthy scratch, being inactive for the Titans upset victory of the Saints.

Jacquies Smith week 8 injury lingered and he was inactive for the Bucs.

Also injured, Shane Ray was inactive for the Broncos - but word surfaced this week that he is back to practicing. With DeMarcus Ware out 2-4 weeks, Ray would have a chance at playing time if he can get healthy.

William Moore also sat this week after suffering a groin injury a week earlier. The Falcoholic doled out midseason grades for their teams' playing units, and had this to say about Willy Mo:

William Moore has been injured (which is sadly the norm) and has mixed big plays with missed tacklse and blown coverage, making his future with the team more than a little bit cloudy.

Tidbits

Tim Barnes manned center once again for the Rams. His line only allowed one sack to QB Nick Foles, while generating a mediocre 4.4 YPC.

Andrew Gachkar continues to get playing time for the Cowboys, and notched 2 tackles including 1 TFL.

Still long snapping...Beau Brinkley!

C.J. Mosley only say 13 snaps for Miami, and failed to generate any statistics.

Sack Masters

Sheldon Richardson had 5 tackles and 0.5 sacks, along with 3 QB hits as the Jets defeated the Jags.

Undefeated Carolina showed they might be for real with a win over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers this week, and Kony Ealy continued to play well. Ealy had a tackle and a sack in the game, and drew praise from Cat Scratch Reader:

The pass rush as a whole showed up, but Kony Ealy was having his way with Bryan Bulaga. We're finally starting to see flashes of the talent that made him first round pick material. I think in a year we will all see him as a steal.

Aldon Smith's comeback tour in Oakland continues to go well so far, as he had another sack and 3 tackles. His sack was the one that drove Ben Roethlisberger from the game.

Rookies

Working under a new coach, Dorial Green-Beckham saw significantly increased playing time for the Titans, handling 68% of offensive snaps. He caught 5 passes for 77 yards in the victory.

Marcus Murphy continued in his niche role as a punt returner, but fumbled for the second consecutive week. Murphy acknowledged the need to do better with ball security if he wants to maintain his role. Murphy didn't lose his role during the game, though, handling 3 kick returns for 82 yards, and 3 punt returns for 21.

Blaine Gabbert

Much debated QB Blaine Gabbert made a triumphant return to the field in Week 9, as he led the reeling San Francisco 49ers to a 17-16 victory over the reeling Atlanta Falcons. Gabbert's numbers don't stand out particularly, but 15-25 for 185 and 8 carries for 32 yards was apparently his second best game by the numbers in his whole career, according to the intro to an all-22 look at his performance!

The last time Blaine Gabbert threw 2 TDs in a game was Nov. 4, 2012. Until today. #ATLvsSF https://t.co/dvBmnyCNP3

— NFL (@NFL) November 8, 2015

Gabbert generated a lot of talk on Niners Nation this week, with a fanpost looking a the good, bad, and ugly of his performance.

Not surprisingly, Gabbert was named the Niners starter for Week 10 this week. Here's to him continuing to defy expectations and rejuvenating his career...but if he's going to do it, it's going to be against the Legion of Boom.