What we learned in NFL Week 10: The Vikings’ positive trajectory, the Patriots’ fall and more

Never in the 103-year history of the NFL have five games on the same Sunday been decided by game-winning field goals.

But it happened this week, when the Cardinals, Browns, Lions, Texans and Seahawks all won on field goals at the buzzer. Notably, 10 of the 13 games in Week 10 were decided by one score or less, and nearly 70 percent of games so far this season have been within eight points.

In other news, the Josh Dobbs story adds a new chapter. The Steelers keep winning, the Packers keep losing. Dan Campbell’s Lions are 7-2. The Cowboys did what they’ve been doing for most of the season, beating a bad team and defeating the Giants 49-17, while Deshaun Watson had his best moment as Brown.

The Patriots’ mess is getting worse and serious questions are being asked about Bill Belichick’s future.

DeMeco Ryans Texans look like the real deal. And after a long, long time away, Kyler Murray is officially back – and making highlights again.

Here’s what stood out in Week 10 of the NFL:

Josh Dobbs for MVP?

A joke.

Kind of.

The Vikings are having the strangest season in football: They started 0-3, lost their franchise quarterback for the year, were without their All-Pro wideout for a month, and yet somehow managed to score five row won.

Josh Dobbs started his Sunday by showing up at US Bank Stadium and needing instructions from a stadium employee on how to get to the home locker room. (In his defense, he’d never been there before.) He ended it with his second straight win as the Vikings’ quarterback — and don’t forget, he’s been with the team for 12 days. Twelve days! Dobbs’ 312 yards and two touchdowns were enough for Minnesota’s 27-19 victory against New Orleans.

Josh Dobbs didn’t know where the Vikings locker room was 😂😅 pic.twitter.com/UiC1mgC1FW

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 12, 2023

“This is fun,” he said after the game. Hard to blame him. A surprising move at the trade deadline is paying off big time for a Minnesota team that is suddenly back in the NFC North race.

Dobbs’ seven-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was perhaps the biggest play of the game, a highlight-reel battle that he somehow turned into six points. So far, Dobbs has 426 passing yards, 110 rushing yards and no interceptions in his first two starts with the Vikings, becoming the first player in NFL history with at least 400 passing yards, 100 rushing yards and no picks in his first two games with a team.

Tight end TJ Hockenson was incredible for the Vikings, catching 11 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown. A season that felt doomed early on has suddenly found new life, with Justin Jefferson primed for a return, possibly as soon as next week. With the Broncos and Bears next, the Vikings (6-4) could very well continue winning and push the Lions (7-2) in the division race.

The Saints, meanwhile, fall to 5-5. Quarterback Derek Carr left the game with a concussion and right shoulder injury; Backup Jameis Winston came in and threw two touchdowns to pull New Orleans within a score, but two interceptions followed.

Patriots stumble to a 23-year low

Not since his first year in New England, way back in 2000, has Bill Belichick faced serious questions about his job security. Six championships and a twenty-year period of unprecedented success will make that happen.

But after Sunday’s ugly 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany — game owner Robert Kraft wasn’t shy about bragging about how much he wanted to win — you might wonder how this all turns out for one of the game’s best coaches.

Because every week it seems like it’s getting worse.

“We’re all disappointed with the season,” Belichick said somberly after the game.

And now his players are being asked about their belief in him – something that would have been unthinkable just a year ago. But Sunday’s loss dropped the Patriots to 2-8, their worst start to the season since Belichick’s first game in New England. The team is on track for its first top-five draft pick since 1994.

“I have as much confidence in Bill Belichick as I’ve ever had,” said veteran special teams executive Matthew Slater.

The results are simply not there this season. The Patriots are one of the worst teams in football. They are averaging 14.1 points per game, the second fewest in the league. They have failed to score a touchdown in three games this year, including Sunday, and Mac Jones threw an inexplicable interception in the red zone in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead. Belichick then benched Jones as backup Bailey Zappe, who threw another errant interception to seal the loss. Fitting.

It feels like the Patriots’ faith in Jones has evaporated.

Whether they feel the same way about their legendary coach remains to be seen.

‘Ice in his veins’

After playing flawless football for the better part of three quarters and leading his team by 10 points on the road against a Super Bowl contender, CJ Stroud finally broke through. The Texans’ starting quarterback threw an ill-timed, awful interception late in the fourth quarter in Cincinnati, and for a moment it looked like it would be the spark the Bengals needed for a stunning fourth-quarter rally.

On the sideline, Stroud went to his coach, DeMeco Ryans, and left him with three words.

“I have got you.”

Translation: I will make that up to you.

Ryans nodded.

“I trust you,” the coach said.

Good thing he did. Stroud was right. Even after the Texans’ 10-point lead disappeared and the raucous Paycor Stadium crowd began thinking about a comeback, the rookie was unflappable. With just 93 seconds on the clock and one timeout, Stroud coolly drove his team down the field in five plays to set up a game-winning 38-yard field goal from a kicker, Matt Ammendola, who had been on the roster for five days. .

Does not matter. Texans 30, Bengals 27.

Houston’s suddenly won four of five – their resurgence boosted by Ryans’ influence and Stroud’s meteoric rise – and the Bengals’ five-game winning streak is over.

“Ice in his veins, that’s all I can say,” said Texans cornerback Shaquil Griffin, referring to Stroud, who has now led two game-winning drives in as many weeks. “For a guy to make a mistake like that and then immediately tell his coach, ‘Give the game back to me,’ and then go out and win it? That’s a man I could compete with any day of the week.”

Through nine games, Stroud has passed for 2,626 yards, the third-most by a rookie in that span in history, trailing only Justin Herbert (2020) and Andrew Luck (2012).

The 49ers losing streak is history

Something had to happen in Jacksonville on Sunday: Two teams, each coming out of their byes, arrived on very different streaks. The Jaguars had won five straight to climb to the top of the AFC South, while the 49ers – once a perfect 5-0 – were coming off three straight losses and faced questions about quarterback Brock Purdy and a defense who suddenly didn’t look so good. that intimidating.

San Francisco put those concerns to rest on Sunday with the kind of dominant performance this team had become accustomed to in the first month of the season. This was the 49ers looking like the 49ers again, beating the Jags 34-3 and reminding everyone that they are still a top contender for the Super Bowl in February, three-game losing streak or not.

Purdy was sharp, throwing for 296 yards and three touchdowns in three-quarter work; Deebo Samuel scored a touchdown in his first game in a month, and the defense picked off Jags QB Trevor Lawrence twice. The only bad news: Christian McCaffrey’s touchdown streak ended at 17 games. It has remained the same for the longest time in the history of the competition.

Along with the Eagles, the 49ers remain a top contender in the NFC. Sunday reminded us why.

Browns put out their own fire

Sunday in Baltimore, Deshaun Watson was simply awful. In the first quarter, the Browns’ $230 million quarterback was 1-for-9 for 19 yards, a pick-six and a passer rating of 0.0. Yes. He finished the half a dismal 6-for-20 for 79 yards and no touchdowns. Yes again.

But by the end of the game, he had pulled off his best comeback of his short stint in Cleveland, leading the Browns back from a 15-point deficit to a 33-31 win against their division rivals.

Watson finished the second half 14-for-14 for 134 yards and a touchdown. And after kicker Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point that would have tied the score midway through the fourth quarter, he earned some redemption as time expired by drilling a 40-yard field goal for the victory.

“I feel a bit like an arsonist who gets to put out his own fire and then gets a pat on the back,” Hopkins said after the game.

And just like that, a muddy division becomes even muddier. It’s a costly loss for the Ravens, who led for most of the game and led 31-17 early in the fourth quarter. With Pittsburgh also winning on Sunday, the AFC’s toughest division is even more stacked. The AFC North now looks like this: Baltimore still leads 7-3, but the Steelers and Browns are only a half-game back at 6-3, and the Bengals lurk at 5-4.

Just what the Cardinals needed

Welcome back, Kyler Murray.

The Cardinals’ starter told his new coach, Jonathan Gannon, to let me drive in his first game in 335 days. Murray tore his ACL last season and made his first start of 2023.

It turned out to be memorable.

After the Falcons took a 23-22 lead with 2:33 remaining, Murray orchestrated an 11-play, 70-yard drive that culminated in a 23-yard Matt Prater field goal to win it, 25-23. Murray’s 13-yard scramble — this was vintage stuff, with the QB probably running a total of about 40 yards to avoid defenders in the backfield — and 33-yard connection with tight end Trey McBride were critical in setting up Prater’s game-winning kick .

Murray finished 19-for-32 for 249 passing yards, a rushing touchdown and an interception. Arizona has recorded its second win of the season and its six-game losing streak is over.

After starting 2-0, the Falcons have hit a wall midway through the season and have fallen to 4-5 on the year after dropping four of their last five.

(Top photo of Josh Dobbs: Adam Bettcher / Getty Images)

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