Welcome to Part II of my Monday Morning Quarterback Post for Week 10. This post will cover the late slate on Sunday plus the Monday Night matchup. A few surprising results in these games. And possibly the return of a juggernaut.
I'm hearing more and more talk that the NFL's settlement with St. Louis is going to include an expansion team. That means another city will get an expansion teams as well since the league doesn't want to have an odd number of teams. That would be a scheduling nightmare. I wonder who else would get a team. I pray it is not London. Any team based across the sea would have an enormous disadvantage due to travel.
Since sports in general is relying more and more on television revenues in lieu of actual fan attendance it could be almost anywhere. The NFL tries to disguise it, but there sure are a lot of empty seats around the league this year in cities where the home team isn't any good.
Enough speculation, lets get into the games. The Bears, Texans, Bengals and Giants all had a bye this week. Just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. All comments are welcome.
Welcome Back
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Packers 17 Seahawks 0
This week both Green Bay and Seattle welcomed back their starting quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers returned from the covid list after missing last week’s game. Russell Wilson came back after missing three games due to a thumb injury that required surgery. One quarterback looked kind of rusty, the other looked like he never saw a football before. One look at the final score will tell you which was which.
I was watching a bit of the pre-game show before Sunday Night Football and when Mike Tirico started with this game’s highlights (both of them!) he announced the Packers fans cheered the return of Aaron Rodgers like he was surprised. What did he think they were going to boo? The only people upset by the Rodgers situation were the talking heads in the media and the people who are upset about anything covid related. Football fans didn’t care, they were glad to see him back.
Russell Wilson came back much earlier than expected. Maybe he should have waited a few more weeks. Wilson was wild, missing receivers all over the field. He certainly didn’t look anywhere near his regular form. That being said the Packers defense didn’t make things easy for him. Green Bay applied a lot of pressure, sacking Wilson three times, while still maintaining fairly good coverage.
Green Bay needed that strong performance from the defense because for three quarters their offense was off. It took that long for Aaron Rodgers to shake off the rust, once he did the Packers broke through for two 4th quarter TDs to salt away the win. Rodgers (23/37, 292 yards, 1 INT) didn’t put up regular Aaron Rodgers numbers. Rare to see a Rodgers stat line with zero TD passes.
Aaron Jones (7 rushes, 25 yards) left the game early with a knee injury so A.J. Dillon (21 rushes, 66 yards, 2 TDs) picked up the slack. The real heroes of the game were the Packers defense. It is damn hard to pitch a shutout in the NFL, no matter who you are playing. Green Bay improved to 8-2, first place in the NFC West. They head to Minnesota next week.
The good news for Seattle was their defense actually showed up. They held down Rodgers and the Packers until finally wearing down in the 4th quarter. The bad news for Seattle was Russell Wilson wasn’t healthy enough to be the returning savior they needed him to be. Wilson (20/40, 161 yards, 2 INTs) was very inaccurate with his throws, which really makes you wonder why Seattle dialed up so many passing plays. Especially with the windy weather in Green Bay. Alex Collins (10 rushes, 41 yards) did have a little bit of success with the few chances he was given.
Overall just a strange game and game plan for the Seahawks, who were shutout for the first time with Russell Wilson starting. The Seahawks dropped to 3-6, last place in the NFC West. They host the Cardinals next week and better pray that Kyler Murray still isn’t ready to return.
I Guess You Can Go Home Again
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Panthers 34 Cardinals 10
With Sam Darnold possibly done for the season, the Panthers brought back former MVP Cam Newton. Newton needs practice time so he only played in red zone packages, but his presence seemed to reinvigorate the failing Panthers. Sure the Cardinals were missing a lot of guys on offense, but their defense is healthy and they were throttled by Carolina.
Like last week Arizona was without Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins and Chase Edmonds on offense. The backups were fine against the 49ers, but this week against Carolina they showed why they are the backups. Colt McCoy (11/20, 107 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 fumble) turned the ball over twice in Arizona’s first three possessions. The Panthers used the turnovers to build a quick 17-0 lead in the 1st quarter and they never looked back.
The Panthers started P.J. Walker (22/29, 167 yards, 1 INT) at quarterback, but brought in Cam Newton to replace him near the goal line. Newton was able to score two TDs, one through the air (3/4, 8 yards, 1 TD) and one on the ground (3 rushes, 14 yards, 1 TD). Despite his limited playing time, Newton looked fired up to be back with the Panthers.
For this week at least, even more important than the return of Cam Newton for Carolina was the play of Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey returned from the injured reserve list last week, but this week he looked like his old self. Per usual McCaffrey was dominant on the ground (13 rushes, 95 yards) and in the air (10 receptions, 66 yards). If McCaffrey can stay healthy and Newton can play at even half of his former standards the Panthers offense will be something to contend with once again.
Huge win on the road for the Panthers, who desperately needed it. Carolina evened up their record at 5-5, third place in the NFC South. They host a team with No-Name next week. I’m sure current Washington and former Carolina head coach Ron Rivera never expected he was going to see Cam Newton on the other side of the field.
The Cardinals need Kyler Murray back now, they aren’t going to get very far with Colt McCoy under center. The Arizona offense was buried by the Panthers, only gaining 169 total yards. The defense was put into bad situations by turnovers and couldn’t stop the Panthers from converting them. Once Carolina got the momentum they cruised to an easy win as the Cards looked deflated.
Arizona fell to 8-2, first place in the NFC West but no longer first place in the NFC overall. They head to Seattle next week for a divisional matchup.
Who Are You Guys?
The final four games of Week 10 featured eight teams that I can’t figure out. One week they look good, even great. The next week they look like junk. Some of them are in the process of saving their season while others are letting it slip away. We’ve crossed the mid-point of the season, you’d think every team would have shown their true identity by now. Yet some are still a mystery.
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Eagles 30 Broncos 13
Who are these Philadelphia Eagles? Early in the season all they did was throw, throw, throw and had little to show for it. Now the past couple of weeks they like to run, run, run and are starting to look like a real football team. Congrats to head coach Nick Sirianni, it took him a while but he seems to have figured out a balanced offensive attack beats chuck and duck any day.
The Broncos shocked the NFL last week by totally dominating the Cowboys in Dallas. So of course in Week 10 they get their asses handed to them by the Eagles in Denver. Sheesh, way to kill the positive momentum of a big upset victory.
The Eagles started off hot, scoring 10 points in the 1st quarter. Each team put up 10 in the 2nd quarter as Philadelphia took a 20-10 lead into halftime. The 3rd quarter got a little wild. Denver took the opening kickoff and started to march downfield. The drive stalled at the Eagles 4-yard line and they settled for a field goal attempt, but the Eagles blocked it. Nice drive that resulted in zero points.
The Broncos managed to successfully kick a FG with their next possession to cut the lead to 20-13. Then they got a break when they intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass at midfield. Golden opportunity to tie the game. Denver had a 4th and one at the Eagles 23-yard line and decided to go for it. The good news was Melvin Gordon gained the yard. The bad news was he fumbled the ball and Darius Slay returned it for an 83 yard TD. The Eagles tacked on another FG in the 4th quarter and left Denver with the 30-13 win.
The Broncos came into this game with the 6th best run defense in the league. Yet the Eagles ran all over them. Led by Jordan Howard (12 rushes, 83 yards) and Boston Scott (11 rushes, 81 yards), the Eagles gained 214 yards on the ground. All that running took the pressure off of Jalen Hurts (16/23, 178 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT), who had another solid outing.
The Philadelphia defense had been getting lit up this season, but they made plays in crucial situations against Denver. The Broncos only scored one TD in five trips to the red zone. They also held Denver to 1/11 on third downs and 0/2 on fourth downs. Total team effort for the win. The Eagles improved to 4-6, second place in the NFC East. They host the Saints next week. After that five of their final six games come against teams with below .500 records. The season finale is against Dallas and that game might not mean anything to the Cowboys. As hard as it would have been to believe a few weeks ago, Philadelphia has a very clear path to making the playoffs.
I guess the Broncos dropped all their mojo in Dallas. Quarterbacks have been lighting up the Eagles secondary this year, but Teddy Bridgewater (22/36, 226 yards) didn’t look very good. The Broncos had better success on the ground as the running backs combined for 96 yards and a TD on 18 carries. Makes you wonder why they didn’t run the ball more. I guess head coach Vic Fangio assumed Bridgewater would breakout, but it didn’t happen.
The Denver defense tightened up after giving up 20 points in the first half, but by then it was too late as the offense was ineffective and gave up a TD of their own. Horrible effort by the Broncos after a win that seemed to turn their season around. Now they are heading back to the dump. The Broncos fell to 5-5, last place in the AFC West. Denver has extra time to figure out what went wrong as they have a bye next week.
Vikings 27 Chargers 20
If anyone knows if either of these teams are good or bad please let me know. It is a week to week proposition with both of them, you’re never sure which team is going to show up.
Neither offense showed up in the 1st quarter, it ended tied at 0-0. Things picked up in the 2nd quarter as the teams started trading field goals. Holding a 6-3 lead, the Vikings picked off Justin Herbert at the Chargers 31-yard line. Minnesota took advantage of the short field and scored the game’s first TD. Los Angeles responded with a TD drive of their own and Minnesota took a 13-10 lead into halftime.
The Chargers took the opening kickoff for the second half and put together a 75 yard drive that ended with Herbert TD pass. The Chargers had their first lead 17-13. If you watched the Vikings play this season at all you would assume that would have been the point of the game where they fell apart. Not this week. Late in the 3rd quarter and into the 4th Minnesota had back-to-back TD drives to retake the lead 27-17.
The Chargers retaliated with a FG to cut their deficit to seven points with 4 and half minutes left in the game. The Vikings finished it off from there by making several first downs to kill the clock and leave Los Angeles with a much needed win.
After screwing up so many late game situations this season, the Vikings finally took control of a game in the 4th quarter. Kirk Cousins (25/37, 294 yards, 2 TDs) found a connection with Justin Jefferson (9 receptions, 143 yards) that the Chargers couldn’t stop. Dalvin Cook (24 rushes, 94 yards, 1 TD) provided plenty of support on the ground.
The Minnesota defense that got torched by the Cowboys backup quarterback held the Chargers to only 171 net passing yards. That was key because the Chargers aren’t much of a running team. The Vikings improved to 4-5, second place in the NFC North. They host the Packers next week.
Through the first third of the season the Chargers looked like a contender in the AFC. Since then they have dropped three of four games, two of them at home. Justin Herbert (20/34, 195 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) was well contained by the Vikings. The Chargers rely heavily on Herbert, if he is held down the Chargers won’t win. The running back committee only gained 60 yards and a TD on 16 rushes. Per usual not much balance in the Chargers offense.
Defensively Los Angeles struggled to get the Vikings off the field, letting Minnesota hold the ball for over 36 minutes. After taking a lead the defense let the Vikings pull away. The Chargers dropped to 5-4, second place in the AFC West. They host the Steelers next week and need to start winning or this season could slip away.
Chiefs 41 Raiders 14
Patrick Mahomes has had a rough start to the 2021 season, at least by his standards, and the Chiefs have faltered with him. With a poor running attack and a weak defense the Chiefs can’t do much if Mahomes isn’t going well.
By contrast, the Raiders were able to put a number of huge off the field distractions behind them and get off to a good start. At least until their hiccup against the Giants last week. They had a great opportunity to seize control of the AFC West if they could beat the Chiefs.
All that changed in a heartbeat as Patrick Mahomes found his old form. Mahomes had a monster game and the Chiefs pulverized the Raiders. Kansas City kept their foot on the gas and ran away with the win.
The Chiefs came out firing and since their receivers were nearly always open they never stopped. Mahomes (35/50, 405 yards, 5 TDs) had a huge night with no turnovers. He had plenty of targets to choose from. Travis Kelce (8 receptions, 119 yards), Darrels Williams (9 receptions, 101 yards, 1 TD) and Tyreek Hill (7 receptions, 83 yards, 2 TDs) took turns torching the Raiders secondary.
The Chiefs punted only once. They stopped themselves more than the Raiders defense did with a muffed punt and a missed field goal attempt. Those blunders didn’t matter much as Mahomes was on fire. Kansas City improved to 6-4, first place in the AFC West. Two weeks ago they were in last. They host the Cowboys next week. Just my luck, Mahomes finds his groove right before Dallas comes to town.
Last year the Chiefs were very good and the Raiders nearly swept the season series. This year the Chiefs have been lousy and the Raiders were creamed. You blew it Las Vegas. Derek Carr (25/35, 261 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) played alright in the first half, but came back to earth in the second as the Chiefs pulled away. He got little to no help from the ground game that gained 32 yards on 11 carries.
The Raiders defense couldn’t knock the Chiefs off the field, letting them convert 12/18 3rd and 4th down conversions. Ugly performance. The Raiders fell to 5-4, third place in the AFC West. The Raiders appear to be falling into the same pattern as the previous few seasons, a solid start followed by a massively disappointing second half.
49ers 31 Rams 10
I was expecting an ass kicking on Monday Night and that is what I got. Only I thought the Rams were going to kick ass. Instead they got trampled and embarrassed for the second week in a row in primetime.
Last week the 49ers got lit up by Colt McCoy. This week they made Matthew Stafford look like Jared Goff. The Niners forced two interceptions on the Rams first two possessions and converted both turnovers into TDs to take a 14-0 lead.
The Rams managed to hold onto the ball with their third possession and scored a TD of their own. That was pretty much it for the Los Angeles offense. Their final six possessions ended with three punts, two turnovers on downs and one lonely, meaningless field goal late in the 4th quarter.
The Niners on the other hand continued doing what they had from the start: running the ball right down the Rams throat. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has been catching a lot of flak this year, and rightfully so, but he put together an excellent game plan. He went run-heavy, 44 rushes and 19 passes, to take the sting out of the Rams pass rush and keep Stafford off of the field. It worked as the Niners held a nearly two to one advantage in time of possession.
All of that running let Jimmy Garoppolo (15/19, 182 yards, 2 TDs) pick his spots and he responded with a strong game. Deebo Samuel (5 receptions, 97 yards, 1 TD) was his main beneficiary. The running attack that piled up 156 yards was led by Eli Mitchell (27 rushes, 91 yards).
The defense gave San Francisco all the momentum with those early turnovers and they never relinquished it. This was the 49ers team we expected to see this year. The Niners improved to 4-5, third place in the NFC West. They head to Jacksonville next week. Peeking ahead at their remaining schedule I see a lot of winnable games. This week’s victory was desperately needed and San Fran might still be able to save their season.
The Rams were cruising along at 7-1 before getting their teeth kicked in two weeks in a row. Matthews Stafford (26/41, 243 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) has played poorly in both losses and Los Angeles fans are starting to lose faith. He looked fine when throwing the ball to Cooper Kupp (11 receptions, 122 yards), but otherwise it was ugly. Stafford wasn’t helped by several dropped passes either.
Losing Robert Woods for the season is a big loss. We’ll see going forward if Odell Beckham can fill his shoes. I wouldn’t hold my breath. Beckham is an undisciplined route runner and Sean McVay’s offense requires precision.
The Rams running back due of Darrell Henderson and Sony Michel only got 9 carries, which they turned into 51 yards. I don’t know why they didn’t see the ball more, especially with Stafford struggling. Bad playcalling on offense for sure.
The defense looked unprepared to face the run, which is surprising since the 49ers tend to be a run first team. It was a combination of bad coaching and bad execution for the Rams this week. Los Angeles fell to 7-3, second place in the NFC West. They have a bye next week.
That's a wrap for Week 10, a week that left us with more questions than answers. Maybe Week 11 will help clear things up, but with the parity throughout the league I doubt it.
All I know is I can't wait for the Dallas/Kansas City game coming this weekend. I was dreading it before the season started, I feel better now knowing the Cowboys have a legitimate shot to win. Let's go Dallas!
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment below.