Never in the NFL’s 103-year historical past have 5 video games been determined by game-winning area objectives on the identical Sunday.
But it occurred this week, with the Cardinals, Browns, Lions, Texans and Seahawks all profitable with area objectives on the buzzer. Notably, 10 of 13 video games in Week 10 have been determined by one rating or much less, and up to now, virtually 70 p.c of video games this season have been inside eight factors.
In different information, the Josh Dobbs story provides a brand new chapter. The Steelers maintain profitable, the Packers maintain shedding. Dan Campbell’s Lions are 7-2. The Cowboys did what they’ve executed many of the season — they routed a foul staff, beating the Giants 49-17 — whereas Deshaun Watson had his most interesting second as a Brown.
The Patriots’ mess is getting worse, and critical questions are being requested about Bill Belichick’s future.
DeMeco Ryans’ Texans appear to be they’re for actual. And after a protracted, very long time away, Kyler Murray is formally again — and making spotlight performs once more.
Here’s what stood out from the NFL’s Week 10:
Josh Dobbs for MVP?
Kidding.
Sort of.
The Vikings are having the strangest season in soccer: They began 0-3, misplaced their franchise quarterback for the yr, have been with out their All-Pro wideout for a month, and but, by some means, have received 5 in a row.
Josh Dobbs started his Sunday by displaying as much as U.S. Bank Stadium needing instructions from a stadium worker on how one can get to the house locker room. (In his protection, he’d by no means been there earlier than.) He completed it along with his second consecutive win because the Vikings’ quarterback — and, bear in mind, he’s been with the staff for all of 12 days. Twelve days! Dobbs’ 312 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns had been sufficient in Minnesota’s 27-19 victory in opposition to New Orleans.
Josh Dobbs did not know the place the Vikings dwelling locker room was 😂😅 pic.twitter.com/UiC1mgC1FW
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 12, 2023
“This is fun,” he stated after the sport. Hard accountable him. A shock transfer on the commerce deadline is paying off in a giant means for a Minnesota staff that all of a sudden is again in the NFC North race.
Dobbs’ 7-yard landing run in the second quarter may need been the sport’s largest play, a highlight-reel scramble that he by some means changed into six factors. So far, Dobbs has 426 passing yards, 110 speeding yards and no interceptions in his first two begins with the Vikings, turning into the primary participant in NFL historical past with at the very least 400 passing yards, 100 speeding yards and no picks in his first two video games with a staff.
Tight finish T.J. Hockenson was unbelievable for the Vikings, hauling in 11 passes for 134 yards and a landing. A season that felt doomed early all of a sudden has new life — with wideout Justin Jefferson primed for a return, probably as early as subsequent week. With the Broncos and Bears up subsequent, the Vikings (6-4) might very effectively simply carry on profitable and push the Lions (7-2) in the division race.
The Saints, in the meantime, fall to 5-5. Quarterback Derek Carr left the sport with a concussion and proper shoulder harm; backup Jameis Winston entered and threw two touchdowns to drag New Orleans inside a rating however two interceptions adopted.
GO DEEPER
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Patriots stumble to a 23-year low
Not since his first yr in New England, means again in 2000, has Bill Belichick confronted critical questions on his job safety. Six championships and a two-decade run of unprecedented success will do this.
But after Sunday’s ugly 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany — a recreation proprietor Robert Kraft wasn’t shy about boasting how badly he needed to win — it’s truthful to marvel how this all ends for one of many recreation’s biggest coaches.
Because each week, it feels prefer it will get worse.
“We’re all disappointed in the season,” Belichick stated glumly after the sport.
And now, his gamers are being requested about their perception in him — one thing that may have been unthinkable as not too long ago as a yr in the past. But Sunday’s loss dropped the Patriots to 2-8, their worst begin to a season since Belichick’s first in New England. The staff is on observe for its first top-five draft decide since 1994.
“I have as much faith in Bill Belichick as I’ve ever had,” stated veteran particular groups ace Matthew Slater.
The outcomes merely aren’t there this season. The Patriots are among the many worst groups in soccer. They’re averaging 14.1 factors per recreation, second-fewest in the league. They’ve failed to attain a landing in three video games this yr, together with Sunday, and Mac Jones tossed an incomprehensible red-zone interception in the fourth quarter with an opportunity to take the lead. Belichick then benched Jones for backup Bailey Zappe, who threw one other errant interception to seal the loss. Fitting.
It feels just like the Patriots’ perception in Jones has evaporated.
Whether they really feel the identical about their legendary coach stays to be seen.
Despite his a long time of success, questions proceed to mount about Bill Belichick’s future. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
‘Ice in his veins’
After enjoying mistake-free soccer for the higher a part of three quarters, his staff up 10 factors on the highway in opposition to a Super Bowl contender, C.J. Stroud lastly cracked. The Texans’ rookie quarterback threw an ill-timed, terrible interception late in the fourth quarter in Cincinnati, and for a second, it appeared prefer it was going to be the spark the Bengals wanted for a shocking fourth-quarter rally.
On the sideline, Stroud went as much as his coach, DeMeco Ryans, and left him with three phrases.
“I got you.”
Translation: I’ll make up for that.
Ryans nodded.
“I trust you,” the coach stated.
Good factor he did. Stroud was proper. Even after the Texans’ 10-point lead disappeared, and a raucous Paycor Stadium crowd began to assume comeback, the rookie was unflappable. With simply 93 seconds on the clock and one timeout, Stroud coolly drove his staff down the sector in 5 performs to arrange a 38-yard, profitable area objective from a kicker, Matt Ammendola, who had been on the roster all of 5 days.
No matter. Texans 30, Bengals 27.
Houston’s all of a sudden received 4 of 5 — their revival spurred by Ryans’ affect and Stroud’s fast ascent — and the Bengals’ five-game profitable streak is over.
“Ice in his veins, that’s all I’ll say,” stated Texans cornerback Shaquil Griffin, referring to Stroud, who’s now led two game-winning drives in as many weeks. “For a guy to make a mistake like that, then immediately tell his coach, ‘Put the game back on me,’ then go out and win it? That’s a guy I can go to battle with any day of the week.”
Through 9 video games, Stroud has handed for two,626 yards, the third-most by a rookie over that span in historical past, trailing solely Justin Herbert (2020) and Andrew Luck (2012).
49ers’ shedding streak is historical past
Something needed to give in Jacksonville on Sunday: Two groups, every coming off their bye, arrived on very completely different streaks. The Jaguars had received 5 straight, climbing to the highest of the AFC South, whereas the 49ers — as soon as an ideal 5-0 — had been coming off three consecutive losses and going through questions on quarterback Brock Purdy and a protection that all of a sudden didn’t look all that intimidating.
San Francisco silenced these considerations Sunday with the kind of dominant efficiency this staff had grown accustomed to in the primary month of the season. This was the 49ers wanting just like the 49ers once more, whipping the Jags 34-3, reminding everybody that they’re nonetheless very a lot a contender for the Super Bowl in February, three-game shedding streak or not.
Purdy was sharp, throwing for 296 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of labor; Deebo Samuel scored a landing in his first recreation in a month, and the protection picked off Jags QB Trevor Lawrence twice. The solely little bit of unhealthy information: Christian McCaffrey’s landing streak ended at 17 video games. It stays tied for the longest in league historical past.
Along with the Eagles, the 49ers stay a high contender in the NFC. Sunday reminded us why.
Deebo Samuel averaged more than eight yards per contact Sunday in his first motion since Week 6. (David Rosenblum / Icon Sportswire through Getty Images)
Browns put out their very own fireplace
For stretches Sunday in Baltimore, Deshaun Watson was merely terrible. In the primary quarter, the Browns’ $230 million quarterback was 1-for-9 for 19 yards, a pick-six and a 0.0 passer score. Yikes. He completed the half a dismal 6-for-20 for 79 yards and no touchdowns. Yikes once more.
But by recreation’s finish, he’d scripted his high comeback of his brief tenure in Cleveland, main the Browns again from a 15-point deficit and to a 33-31 win in opposition to their division rivals.
Watson completed the second half 14-for-14 for 134 yards and a landing. And after kicker Dustin Hopkins missed an additional level that may have tied the rating halfway by means of the fourth quarter, he earned a little bit of redemption as time expired by drilling a 40-yard area objective for the win.
“I feel a bit like an arsonist that gets to put out his own fire, then gets a pat on the back,” Hopkins stated after the sport.
And similar to that, a muddy division will get muddier. It’s a pricey loss for the Ravens, who had been in command for many of the recreation and led 31-17 early in the fourth quarter. With Pittsburgh additionally profitable Sunday, the AFC’s hardest division is even more bunched up. The AFC North now appears like this: Baltimore nonetheless leads at 7-3, however the Steelers and Browns are only a half a recreation again at 6-3, and the Bengals are lurking at 5-4.
Just what the Cardinals wanted
Welcome again, Kyler Murray.
The Cardinals’ starter instructed his new coach, Jonathan Gannon, to “let me ride” in his first recreation in 335 days. Murray tore his ACL final season and was making his first begin of 2023.
It proved memorable.
After the Falcons took a 23-22 lead with 2:33 left, Murray orchestrated an 11-play, 70-yard drive that culminated with a 23-yard Matt Prater area objective to win it, 25-23. Murray’s 13-yard scramble — this was classic stuff, with the QB in all probability operating about 40 yards in all in order to evade defenders in the backfield — and 33-yard reference to tight finish Trey McBride had been vital in establishing Prater’s profitable kick.
Murray completed 19-for-32 for 249 passing yards, a speeding landing and an interception. Arizona has its second win of the season, and its six-game shedding streak is over.
After beginning 2-0, the Falcons have hit a wall midseason, falling to 4-5 on the yr after dropping 4 of their final 5.
(Top picture of Josh Dobbs: Adam Bettcher / Getty Images)
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