The 2020 NFL season has been one for the ages so far with surprise teams, rookie stars, break-out seasons for many, injuries, and of course the league’s handling and adaptation to COVID-19. Week 10 in the NFL didn’t disappoint as it was full of divisional match-ups, wild finishes, strong fantasy performances, and more. I’m Cooper O’Kelly and let’s get right into this week’s games in review.

Thursday Night

 Colts 34, Titans 17: AFC South Showdown

An inter-division game between a strong Colts defense and a Titans team led by Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill kicked off the week’s action. This Colts defense did not disappoint as they kept Derrick Henry out of the endzone all night, which is not an easy task, and the Titans offense wasn’t really able to get itself going after the 2nd Quarter. Nyheim Hines did it all for the Colts offense putting up 70 yards rushing, 45 yards receiving, and two touchdowns, and helped propel his team to a win and the division lead.

Sunday games

Buccaneers 46, Panthers 23: Brady Bounces Back

A Christian McCaffrey-less Panthers team took on the division rival Buccaneers led by Tom Brady and coach Bruce Arians. After pulling ahead to a 17-10 lead early in the second quarter, the Panthers weren’t able to hang with a star studded Buccaneers offense that scored 15 unanswered points and built on even more. Tom Brady tossed for 341 yards along with three touchdowns and a rushing touchdown, as teammate Ronald Jones had a career day rushing for 192 yards and a touchdown. This was an important “get-back” win for the Bucs here after getting embarrassed last week by the Saints.

Texans 7, Browns 10: Browns Backs Carve It Up

A Deshaun Watson versus Baker Mayfield match-up in this one as the Browns host the Texans. An extremely low-scoring affair between Cleveland and Houston, featuring a total of three points scored before the 4th and only 17 points total. Despite bleak games offensively for both teams, one thing that stood out was the rushing attack of the Browns, with both Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb rushing over 100 yards. As the recipe for easy success for the Browns this season has been, keep the ball on the ground (out of Baker’s hands) to win games. A little fantasy and betting turmoil was stirred up at the end of the game as Nick Chubb stepped out of bounds at the Texans’ 1 yard line with mere seconds to go, keeping the ball in the Browns’ possession to ice the game. Here’s hoping you didn’t need six more fantasy points from Chubb or bet on the Browns -3.5.

Football Team (formerly the Washington Redskins) 27, Lions 30: Prater’s Icy Veins

Alex Smith got his first start in 728 days following his gruesome injury in 2018 as he and the Football Team travelled to Detroit to battle Matthew Stafford and the Lions. It was a career day for Smith, who had 390 passing yards and drove his team down to kick a game-tying field goal with only 16 seconds left in regulation, all to no avail. The Lions were still able to get down and set up a 59 yard field goal for the win, which veteran kicker Matt Prater was able to knock down for his third game-winner this season. A surprisingly good game despite each teams’ losing record, this matchup featured good fantasy performances from Marvin Jones, Terry McLaurin, and Antonio Gibson.

Jaguars 20, Packers 24: A-Rod and the O

Jake Luton, the rookie QB from the Jaguars, got his second career start this week against the NFC North leading Packers. The ultra-explosive Packers offense didn’t disappoint as Aaron Rodgers went for his seventh game over 280 passing yards this season and Marquez Valdes-Scantling went bananas, but because of a weak Green Bay defense, this game was too close.  Luton fell back down to Earth and cooled down coming off his astounding NFL debut and played pretty mediocrely, but was still able to keep the Jags in the game until the very end of the game. As a so-called Super Bowl front-runner you simply can’t afford to have a game come down to the last drive against a 1-7 team, so this Packers defense needs to step up if they want to make a playoff push as they won’t be able to handle the best of the best playing like this.

Eagles 17, Giants 27: The NFC East Dumpster Fire

A matchup between two teams in the worst division in all of football, Daniel Jones and the Giants took the home win against Carson Wentz and the Eagles. Calling Carson Wentz the leader of this team may not be just, as the Philly QB threw for zero touchdowns and fumbled the ball twice, but hey, he looked good handing the ball off to Boston Scott and Miles Sanders. Daniel Jones on the other hand looked good as he passed and ran the ball effectively and took his team to the win. Despite only having 3 wins, the Eagles retain their lead of the NFC East.

Bengals 10, Steelers 36: Big Ben Torches Bengals

The red-hot Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Cincinnati Bengals this week and it turned out pretty much like how everyone expected it would. I can’t really pin any blame anywhere on the Bengals despite them having a few turnovers, since they lost simply because the Steelers are a better team in virtually every aspect. A major takeaway from this game is the strong play of Steelers QB, Ben Roethlisberger. Despite a COVID scare earlier in the week, Ben was able to throw for 333 yards and four touchdowns and lead the Steelers to 9-0 on the season.

Bills 30, Cardinals 32: Deandre Hopkins. That’s It.

A heavily anticipated game going into this week between the Bills and the Cardinals, and rightfully so, as it was probably the best game all week. Kyler Murray and Josh Allen, two young quarterbacks who are blossoming into stars before our eyes, went head to head. Josh Allen and the Bills got off to a good start and held a 23-9 lead at one point in the game, but the Cardinals came roaring back and took a 26-23 lead and brought that deep into the 4th quarter. Stefon Diggs then caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Allen to take a 4 point lead with 39 seconds left in the game. All the Bills had to do was keep the Cardinals out of the endzone for 32 seconds and they’d win the game, but of course, they did quite the opposite. Kyler Murray was able to heave up a 43 yard Hail Mary on a prayer to Deandre Hopkins, who caught the ball despite being triple covered just as the clock hit 00:00. Cardinals. Win.

Broncos 12, Raiders 37: Roaring Raiders Take the Win

The only AFC West match-up during Week 10 was underway at 3:05 as the Las Vegas Raiders hosted the Denver Broncos. A game that started out close for Denver really went off the rails starting in the 3rd quarter as the Raiders scored 20 unanswered points, and even more later on to increase their lead. Similar to the Browns, the Raiders rode the coattails of their running backs, Josh Jacobs and Devontae Booker who had 80+ yards and two touchdowns apiece. Perhaps one of the biggest surprise teams of this year, the Raiders improve to 6-3.

Seahawks 16, Rams 23: Wilson Outplayed?

A game fought by two teams hailing from an extremely close division battle in the NFC West, the Rams took on the Seahawks. Russell Wilson, a man who has been one of the front-runners for MVP all year, looked human for once, in this game, as he turned the ball over three times and didn’t have any touchdowns. The Seattle offense as a whole underperformed, only mustering one touchdown, a season low. The Rams however, looked good offensively and defensively as they were able to capitalize on turnovers and good drives. Jared Goff bounced back and the Rams’ rushing attack put up three touchdowns en route to the Rams entrance to a three-way tie for their division.

49ers 13, Saints 27: The Alvin Kamara Show

A banged-up 49ers team entered New Orleans as 10 point underdogs, and came out losing by a little more. Despite only having 15 rushing yards, Alvin Kamara played phenomenally for the Saints as he scored all three of their touchdowns and led the team in receiving. The Saints defense also played very well, forcing four turnovers and ultimately being a deciding factor in the team’s success. Despite getting the win, the Saints lost Drew Brees as the QB left the game at half-time after suffering a rib injury and is currently awaiting an MRI.

Chargers 21, Dolphins 29: A Tale Of Two Rookie QBs

The number 5 pick in this year’s draft, Tua Tagovailoa, and the Dolphins faced the number 6 pick, Justin Herbert, and the Chargers. Despite the score always being relatively close all game, the Dolphins were in control the whole game as they were never trailing. As for stats, Herbert had two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown but threw one interception while Tua had two passing touchdowns and no turnovers. While both of these QBs have very promising futures in the NFL, they were slightly overshadowed by strong running back play from Kalen Ballage for the Chargers and Salvon Ahmed for the Dolphins.

Sunday Night:

Ravens 17, Patriots 23: Lamar v. Super Cam

Late Sunday night the reigning league MVP, Lamar Jackson, and the Ravens travelled to Foxborough to take on Cam Newton (another former MVP) and the Patriots. Coming into this game the Patriots were sitting on only three wins, on track for their worst season since 2000, and looked to Cam and the offense to take them to an upset victory. Powered by a three headed rushing attack from Damien Harris, Rex Burkhead, and Cam himself, the Patriots were able to take the lead. As for the Ravens, their offense simply couldn’t get it done, turning the ball over on downs for the last drive of the game and failing to score 20+ points for the first time in 32 games. 

Monday Night:

Vikings 19, Bears 13: Atrocious Offense

An NFC North matchup between the red hot Vikings and Dalvin Cook coming off two straight wins and the struggling Bears coming off three straight losses. The game went as many Bears games have gone so far this season, a strong performance from the defense that proved to be for nothing. Though the Bears defense was able to hold Dalvin Cook, the Vikings MVP candidate running back, to one of his worst rushing performances all year and keep him out of the end zone all game, the Bears offense scored 0 points the whole second half. Despite the sub-par performance from Dalvin Cook; Kirk Cousins, Adam Thielen, and Justin Jefferson played well in this game and the Vikings are climbing the ranks in the NFC for a Wild Card spot. 

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