Week Ten of the NFL season turned out to be a week of surprises. We take a look at some items of interest from the week -
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The Titans just can't catch a break - Jake Locker was injured early in Tennessee's 29-27 loss to the previously-winless Jaguars and it turned out to be a foot injury that has ended his season. That the Titans showed real fight anyway is commendable and may still serve them well down the road this season with the Indianapolis Colts (themselves looking a bit iffy after Jeff Fisher's bludgeoning of them) coming up Thursday night; it certainly shows the Titans have built a team that can contend for playoffs and it also shows that Locker is developing into a genuine threat as a quarterback - it reminds me of Matthew Stafford's rough first two seasons as a starter in Detroit.
Confidence in Ryan Fitzpatrick going forward is at best iffy given poor play on his part so far (I'm a little surprised we haven't seen a rumor of a workout for Vince Young). But right now he's all they have and the galling part of his game is he's shown foolishness but also real ability. If he can finally get his game going in the right direction the Titans have a shot.
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No 0-16 this year, but Suck For Johnny lives - The Jaguars and the Bucs finally showcased that they have good players and are capable of winning; the Bucs at times looked like the 2002 squad on defense and Mike Glennon has shown promise all season. Chad Henne showed good form but is not the future for the Jaguars; that future lies with one of the hotshots who may enter the 2014 draft, with Johnny Manziel likely atop Jacksonville's (and others') draft boards and Drew Brees giving Johnny Football his endorsement.
The Suck For Johnny (or Raymond Anthony McCarron - aka AJ McCarron) Sweepstakes appeared to get bigger with a pregame report that Ben Roethlisberger wants to be traded from Pittsburgh, but that story Roethlisberger immediately shot down after Pittsburgh's win over Buffalo. Regardless, Pittsburgh's season realistically is just playing out and their collapse since losing to Tim Tebow has been striking.
Also worth noting is Minnesota's 34-27 win over the Skins; the Vikings have struggled badly on defense yet have showcased an underrated offense; the Vikes are another team a couple of tweaks away from going for the playoffs.
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The Cowboys continue to flounder with Tony Romo and Jerry Jones - The Saints were embarrassed by losing to the NY Jets, so they went to work to fix problems by crushing the Cowboys. It showed again the Saints are back and the Cowboys are going nowhere. Despite just six INTs Tony Romo has shown - again - zero growth as a quarterback, and Jerry Jones' inability to let real football people run the team continues to stifle what was once America's Team.
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The Packers remain front-running frauds - Their backup quarterback was lost so the backup's backup had to play, and now the Packers have brought back Matt Flynn, he of 2010's thriller with the Patriots and 2011's mind-blowing 45-41 shootout win over the Lions. Amid all that the Packers continue to show they're not that good - if they can jump out to a big lead over a mediocre or worse team they look like world-beaters; when they can't put a team away or they have to stage a comeback, they're toast.
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Give it up, Jay Cutler - He continues to put up volume stats and then fail to win critical games; he came up short again against the Lions. At what point will the Bears (and the league) figure out Jay Cutler sucks?
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The Seahawks - finally - take the next step - For over a decade they were the worst road team among contending squads in the league; this year the Seahawks under Pete Carroll have become and actual good road team, winning five of their six road games before their Bye. The Hawks remain an overwhelming George Halas Trophy favroite.
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The Panthers are for real - But a team that may be able to knock down the Seahawks is the Panthers; their grinder of a win over a 49ers team they've beaten eleven of eighteen career times showed their defense is legitimate.
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The Falcons now have to question Matt Ryan - A quarterback who has not taken the next step is Matt Ryan, and the Falcons' season looks over already; they may have to take a hard look at Ryan down the road because it was obvious that he'd plateaued early on in his career; whenever the playoffs arrived Ryan never showed capable of winning, even in the one game (in five tries) he actually won. Now with Atlanta's season falling part Ryan looks less like the future than the past.
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The Eagles may now be getting in gear - The Eagles under new coach Chip Kelly endured a very rough start with six road games in the first ten weeks; the irony is all five of Philly's wins so far were road wins. With Nick Foles the Eagles more and more look like they're getting in gear, and in the mess that is the 2013 NFC East they can swipe the division away.
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The Cardinals just won't stay dead - The Arizona Cardinals are 5-4 and have already defied expectations; their defense has been better than expected and the offense has produced enough to win, despite poor ball security from Carson Palmer.
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The NFC playoff race is an actual race - Shockingly, ten NFC teams are 5-5 or better and it is legitimately a nine-team battle for five playoff spots (barring a collapse of the 9-1 Seahawks for the NFC West; though 7-2 I'm not confident the Saints can put away the Panthers for the South). Contrast this with the AFC, which has largely dominated the inter-conference matchups but which has only six teams with winning records and no one at .500 - this is where last week's losses by the Titans, Chargers, and Dolphins hurt more.
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We will of course learn more as Week 11 beckons.
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