NFL Week 10 Recap

Week 10 NFL Recap

Indianapolis Colts over Jacksonville Jaguars

Andrew Luck led the Colts in a dominating victory over arguably the worst team in football the Blaine Gabbert led Jaguars.  The Colts won their 4^th game in a row to move to 6-3 and put themselves in prime position to get into the playoffs.  Andrew Luck is in the process of cementing himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the league and truly an elite player.  The Colts are far from an elite team but playing in a weak AFC will probably allow them to sneak into the playoffs.  The Jaguars are just plain awful, with a horrible offense, defense, and that whole situation where they don’t have Tim Tebow.

Minnesota Vikings over Detroit Lions

The Vikings won again this week moving to 6-4 after a dominating performance by Adrian Peterson.  Peterson has magically recovered from his ACL tear and returned to form as the best back in football in a shockingly short amount of time.  The Vikings are an above average team that has enough talent to compete with most teams in the NFL and should be in the thick of the playoff race.  Their season will come down to Christian Ponder as whether he will be consistent enough to lead the team to the playoffs.  My guess is no but it should be an interesting race.  The Lions seem to be a mediocre team that week to week isn’t that reliable.  Calvin Johnson had a breakout performance but overall he hasn’t been as good as last season.  The Lions are an average football team that got insanely hot offensively last season.

New Orleans Saints over Atlanta Falcons

The Saints delivered the first loss of the season to the Falcons in a game that a whole lot of people saw coming.  I don’t think most people believed that even though they were undefeated that the Falcons were the best team in all of football.  They have a great passing game and a very good pass defense but they have serious problems running the football and stopping the run.  They have a great chance at the best record in the NFC however and are without question a threat come playoff time.  The Saints won their 4^th game of the season and in many people’s minds brought themselves back into the playoff race.  I just disagree with that.  They are 4-5 in an increasingly competitive NFC where there is a possibility that it could take 11 wins to earn a Wild Card spot.  The Saints defense is just too weak for this team to have a real shot at going undefeated the rest of the season.

Cincinnati Bengals over New York Giants

The Giants got dominated by the Bengals in a game that in my mind just doesn’t make any sense.  The Bengals haven’t been that good a team all season while the Giants for the most part have been quite impressive.  However this game happened and we have to try to make sense of it.  The Bengals dominated offensively and defensively as Dalton threw all over the Giants defense and they shutdown Eli Manning.  I do believe this game is an aberration though and that the Bengals just aren’t that good, outside of AJ Green who might be the best receiver in football.  The Giants now seem to be going through the part of their schedule where they “quit” on Tom Coughlin and seem destined for failure.  Who knows where they end up but as always they are a dangerous team to keep in mind, even if they are significantly flawed. 

Baltimore Ravens over Oakland Raiders

The Ravens won their 7^th game of the season in a dominating victory over the Oakland Raiders where just about everything went right.  The Ravens were able to move the football with incredible ease while they forced the Raiders into many mistakes.  They dominated the game from beginning to end and looked like a dominant football team.  I don’t think they are going to be that good week to week, however if they are able to continue a level of play close to that level they should be all set as a franchise.  The Raiders moved to 3-6 as they continued their run into obscurity as one of the worst teams in football.  The defense is in total shambles and while the offense is often able to move the ball they haven’t shown an ability to score efficiently. 

New England Patriots over Buffalo Bills

I don’t know why I do that to myself, I went into the game knowing full well that whatever happened I should never at any point convince myself that they might win because knowing the Bills they would find a way to blow it.  What ended up happening is that I did not head my own advice and watched in agony as Bills had an opportunity to win on their final drive and then Ryan Fitzpatrick threw an interception on a miscommunication between him and TJ Graham.  They blew the game with penalties, some of which were definitely questionable, and turnovers, never a recipe for success when playing a superior team, and yet they still could have won.  They didn’t give CJ Spiller, arguably the most explosive player in the game, double digit carries for some strange reason, he leads the league in yards per carry and his average seems to be pretty consistent week to week.  Whatever, they blew the game and I’ll say it again, Chan Gailey should be fired, the team is poorly coached and it can be painful to watch the decision making at times.  Now on the Patriots side, they were lucky to escape with a victory in a game that they easily could have lost.  Their defense was a train wreck from the start and the only way they really stopped the Bills is by the Bills beating themselves with turnovers.  Their secondary is a major weakness that the acquisition of embattled corner Aqib Talib can only improve, but the question remains by how much.  The team is 6-3 though and has the AFC East race all but wrapped up so the biggest question is whether or not they will have a first round bye. 

Tennessee Titans over Miami Dolphins

Just when you think you have to teams figured out the Titans destroy the Dolphins leaving you in utter bewilderment.  The Titans seemed to me at least to be one of the worst teams in the league and it was shocking that they won as many as 3 games.  The Dolphins on the other hand were a very solid team that could play good defense and Ryan Tannehill could play decent enough to be respectable as this team competed for a playoff spot.  Then the Dolphins defense played horribly, Tannehill played worse and now who knows what to think.  The Dolphins now definitely can’t be considered a playoff threat and their run toward a spot right now would be shocking.  The Titans now probably moved themselves up from the category to one of the worst teams in football to mediocre so that’s a start.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers over San Diego Chargers

Well the Bucs won their 3^rd game in a row putting them in the middle of the NFC playoff picture as they seem to really be improving as the season goes along.  While Doug Martin understandably struggled after having his amazing performance last week, the defense and Josh Freeman helped to pick up the slack.  The defense shut down the Chargers running game and forced Rivers into a few killer mistakes.  Josh Freeman utilized his big receives to full advantage while throwing for two touchdowns.  The Bucs were a sleeping giant and they seem to really have woken up and emerged as a true threat.  The Chargers on the other hand lost again as the sad saga of Norv Turner being employed continues.  Phillip Rivers seems to have lost it as a quarterback turning into a turnover machine while the rest of the team just isn’t as talented as it used to be.  The era of the San Diego Chargers seems to truly be ending for good now. 

Denver Broncos over Carolina Panthers

Well the Broncos won their 4^th game in a row as the emerge as they slowly are building their case as the best team in the AFC and Peyton Manning makes his case for MVP.  The defense is improved over last year’s unit and the offense is now elite with the addition of Peyton.  What Peyton has done with this team is nothing short of miraculous giving that last year’s team had an expected record of 5.8-10.2 and seemed to be winning games by magic.  Peyton is one of the best ever and multiple neck surgeries will never stop that from being evident.  Also Carolina is a bad football team, Cam Newton without question has regressed, or teams have figured out how to defend him, and they just really aren’t that good.  Their GM was fired for putting money into a bad nucleus of players that incorporates a bad defense with an offense that doesn’t take advantage of the team’s strengths. 

Seattle Seahawks over New York Jets

The Seahawks continued their home supremacy with a dominating victory over the New York Jets.  The Seahawks combined a great showing out of their defense with a solid offense performance built on running the football.  They continue to stay in the NFC playoff picture and if they don’t lose a home game this season it’s going to be quite difficult for them to miss the playoffs.  The Jets on the other hand continue to be a train wreck of epic proportions.  Their defense seems to be collapsing without their superstar, Darrelle Revis and the offense just isn’t good at all as they seem to be below average at every important position.  Really at this point the upside of starting Tebow has to outweigh the downside considering this offense is already one of the worst in football without him.  Sanchez’s confidence has been shattered by this season and so they lost him for the long-term anyway, why not give Tebow a chance.

San Francisco 49ers tie St. Louis Rams

A tie! Everyone’s favorite random NFL occurrence, a game where there is no winner, so if races are close the impact of the tie is always fascinating.  For the 49ers though a tie in a game like this is far from ideal considering they are in a tough race for their division title and seeding in the NFC.  What is more worrisome though is how easily the Rams were able to move the ball on the team.  They gained over 450 yards of total offense and considering the Rams offense is far from elite that could prove problematic as the season progresses.  They still are the favorite to win the division though and though Alex Smith got injured, I can easily see them playing like last year and still winning many games.  The Rams are 3-5-1 right now and in my mind seem like as the season progresses they have some real spoiler potential.  This team has fought hard all season, only getting blown out by the Bears and Patriots and have looked like a fairly competitive football team.  Sam Bradford has played pretty well this season and we should get a good indication on how good he can be by season’s end.

Dallas Cowboys over Philadelphia Eagles

In a matchup of two dysfunctional football teams the Dallas Cowboys were able to come out victorious over the Eagles.  After Michael Vick got concussed the Eagles didn’t stop turning the ball over in costly fashion and allowed 2 defensive touchdowns on backup qb Nick Foles turnovers, to go along with a special teams’ touchdown for the Cowboys.  The Cowboys might now actually find themselves in the playoff discussion considering their schedule eases up considerably and the Giants are struggling themselves with a hard schedule coming up.  The Cowboys might be a dysfunctional mess with a bad coach and inconsistent quarterback, but they could play themselves into the playoffs if they get a little lucky.  Now the Eagles are literally just a dysfunctional mess who really need to start over with a new coach and new team philosophy.  The team is just a mess right now with no offensive consistency and at this point should just fire Andy Reid.

Houston Texans over Chicago Bears

Well this game turned into the defensive battle that everyone expected it to be.  The teams didn’t combine for 20 points scored and neither team could get even 250 yards of total offense.  The lesson from this game is that both these teams are dominant defensively and have the talent to shut down anyone.  The injury to Jay Culter unquestionably hurt the Bear’s chances this week but there is no evidence they were going to do anything offensively with him.  The Bears still look like one of the 5 best teams in football right now as I still think they have the best defense in football and easily could have won this week if a few fumbles bounced differently.  The Texans defense is an elite unit led by the dominating and ball swatting JJ Watt but really they can force any offense into a bad day.  The Texans offense put forth just enough as Arian Foster while not having a great day was able to scrape through for just enough yards to help the Texans get the victory.  This win sets up nicely for the Texans and really gives them the opportunity to wrap up the top seed in the AFC quickly and possibly with some weeks to spare at the end of the season.

Pittsburgh Steelers over Kansas City Chiefs

For a Steelers team that this season at times has looked far from elite, going to overtime against the horrific Chiefs has to be disheartening.  Especially considering their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger got injured in the game and is likely going to be missing some time.  The Steelers did move to 6-3 though in winning their 4^th game in a row but the injury to Big Ben comes at a horrible time as they play the Ravens in 2 of their next 3 games.  These should be interesting matchups as neither team this season seems to be as good as their record indicates.  Well for the Chiefs they lost again this week, but at least they can say that they competed.  Plainly though this team just isn’t that good and while they were able to lead a game for the first time this season on Sunday I am far from impressed.  They still have a horrific offense led by Matt Cassel a quarterback who seems to be entirely a creation of New England and nothing beyond that. 

Stay Hungry My Friends