NFL Week 10 – 32 Thoughts

Week 10 and the Jets have their 2nd win????   Let’s take a spin around the league to see what other miracles have happened.

Arizona Cardinals:  The Cardinals suffered a huge loss by losing Carson Palmer for the season with a freak knee injury.  However, the team rallied behind back up quarterback Drew Stanton and a smothering defense which produced 21 points after Palmer’s injury.  Defensive Stats:  The Cardinals defense has 14 interceptions this year which had netted to a plus 12 turnover ratio.

Atlanta Falcons:  Nothing cures a five game losing streak like playing the Buccaneers.

Baltimore Ravens:  Barely beating the Titans at home is nothing to be impressed about.  The Ravens are a gaudy 3-0 at home this year playing against teams with losing records.  It’s those pesky teams that have winning records that the Ravens can’t seem to handle.

Buffalo Bills:  In a game dominated, both offensively and defensively by the Bills, three costly fumbles gave the Chiefs all the opportunity they needed to pull out the win.  The “Sammy Effect”:  The Bills are 0-4 in games where Sammy Watkins has 30 yards of fewer.

Carolina Panthers:  Not being able to protect the quarterback and turning the ball over is every possible fashion is not a formula for success.  Cam Newton….AWFUL.

Chicago Bears:  There is nothing that the Bears did right on Sunday Night and had 55 points thrown up on their defense thanks to the Packers.  Ugly Fact:  In their last 11 games, the Bears have given up 50 points or more 3 times…in the previous 759 games, the Bears gave up 50 points or more only three times total.  Ugly Fact#2:  The Bears are the first NFL team since the 1923 Rochester Jefferson to give up 50 points in back to back games.

Cincinnati Bengals:  Since starting the season 3-0, the Bengals have gone 2-3-1.  Getting blown out by the Browns at home snapped a 14 game home winning streak.

Cleveland Browns:  This is not a misprint:  The Browns are in sole possession of first place in the AFC North…..WOW!  Unbelievable Stat:  The Brown snapped a 17 game road losing streak against division opponents.

Dallas Cowboys:  Playing with an ailing back, Tony Romo threw three touchdowns (two to Dez Bryant) and muscled by the mistake prone Jaguars.  Quick Stat:  Sunday’s game was the first that the Cowboys won this season when DeMarco Murray did not have at least 24 rushing attempts (19 attempts for 100 yards).

Denver Broncos:  How does Peyton Manning bounce back from his worst regular season loss as a Bronco, by beating the snot out of the winless Raiders.  Shockingly, the Broncos actually pulled Manning out of the game, after he threw 5 touchdowns, instead of letting him run up the score like he usually does.

Detroit Lions:  After jumping out to a 10-0 lead in first quarter, Matthew Strafford engineered a late 4^th quarter touchdown drive that put the Lions ahead with only :29 seconds left in the game.  Game Notes:  The Lions have won their last three games by scoring winning drives with two minutes or less left in the game..

Green Bay Packers:   Aaron Rogers day was done for the day early in the 3^rd Quarter….of course he had already thrown for 315 yards and six touchdowns by then.   Game Note:  The Packers decision to move Clay Matthews seems like a stroke of genius to bolster the run defense that was ranked dead last in the league.

Houston Texans:  Having lost 5 of the last 7, the Texans have a week off to prepare for the Ryan Mallet era.

Indianapolis Colts:  Winners of 5 of their last 6, the Colts have the week off to prepare for New England.

Jacksonville Jaguars:  The Jaguars are halfway through their four year commitment to play in London….Not sure how much more the folks on the other side of the pond can take seeing them every year.

Kansas City Chiefs:  The Chiefs struggled passing the ball for most of day but Alex Smith came up with a huge rushing touchdown midway through the fourth quarter that put Kansas City ahead for good.  Weird Stat:  The Chiefs have had no receiving touchdowns from any of their wide receivers in the last eight games.

Miami Dolphins:  The vaunted Dolphins defense was shredded by the Lions late in the fourth quarter and ended the Dolphins’ win streak, while simultaneously popping the latest parade balloon, at three games.  Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Bills just became even more critical and the road will not get any easier since the Dolphins lost the services of LT Branden Albert for the season.

Minnesota Vikings:  At the very least, the Vikings went into their bye week on a winning streak.

New England Patriots:  The Patriots take a 5 game winning streak into the bye week and hope to continue their winning ways next week at Indianapolis.

New Orleans Saints: The Saints rallied back from a 21-10 halftime deficit and almost avoided overtime until Rob Ryan’s defense surrendered a long pass play that set up the 49ers to take it into overtime and eventually get the win.  Game Note:  Sunday’s loss was the first home loss of the season and the first home loss since 2012.

New York Giants:  The Giants seemed poised to sneak out a win against Seattle until Eli Manning and the Giants defense imploded late in the 3^rd Quarter.

New York Jets:   Hard to speculate how the Jets season could have turned out if Rex Ryan started Michael Vick over Geno Smith right from the beginning of the season.  However, for few hours on Sunday, the Jets actually looked like they were an NFL team instead of some reject Division III Community College program.  Crazy Stat:  The Jets entered Sunday’s game with three turnovers all season long….the Jets forced 4 turnovers against Pittsburgh.

Oakland Raiders:  Not really fair to the Raiders to face Peyton Manning after the Broncos were blown out on national TV.  The Raiders were out gained 353 yards to 192 yards.

Philadelphia Eagles:  Chip Kelly has to be genius to figure out a way to make Mark Sanchez look serviceable…It seems anyone not named “Ryan Tannehill” can look good in a Chip Kelly style offense.  However it was the Eagles defense that destroyed Cam Newton and company on Monday Night.

Pittsburgh Steelers:  The Steelers have lost to the two of the three worst teams in the NFL:  Tampa Bay and Jets…not to mention barely beat the third team (Jacksonville).  With how bad the Titans are, they should feel pretty good about their chances next week against the Steelers.

St Louis Rams:  The Ram had a solid three quarters of play but were smothered in the fourth quarter surrendering a long touchdown pass and two defensive touchdowns.

San Diego Chargers:  The Chargers have a week to think about how to get back to looking like the team that started the season 5-1 instead of the one that has been 0-3 in recent weeks.

San Francisco 49ers: A season saving win on Sunday for the 49ers who sent the game into Overtime with :44 seconds left in the game.  Game Stat:  Pass protection continues to be an issue for San Francisco who gave up 4 sacks on Sunday.

Seattle Seahawks:  A suffocating Defense and a running game that racked up 350 yards on 45 carries wore out the Giants.  The Seahawks have won three in a row and head to KC for a showdown with the Chiefs.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  Tampa Bay kept it close for most of the game until the Bucs realized that Lovie Smith was there coach.  When Josh McCown is the best short term solution over Mike Glennon, you know your franchise is in trouble.

Tennessee Titans:  The Titans defense played well against a unimpressive Baltimore team but could not do anything offensively after taking a 7-0 lead.  Free Fall:  The Titans have lost 7 of their last 8.  However, they do play the Steelers next week so there is hope in winning another game.

Washington Redskins:  Another week that RG3 doesn’t play….Luckily for him, it’s because of the bye week and not another injury.