Overreactions, Exaggerations & Just The Plain Out Truth – Week 10
Nov 18, 2021, 8:20 AM | Updated: 8:20 am
(Photo by Kelsey Grant/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kelsey Grant/Getty Images)
Week 10 is in the books and a few familiar traits and aspects are beginning to rear their heads this season.
A NFL season is long and very tedious. Week 10 showed and proved just that for some teams and players. Here’s Week 10 in review.
Overreactions
They are who we thought they were: Every year you hear the chatter around the Raiders and Chargers camps, fans and football analysts on how “this year” could be the year both teams take the next step to competing in the postseason and maybe do something special and every year in recent past both of the teams find ways to fumble the opportunities and make sure they don’t compete in January.
It’s beginning to look that latter again for these two franchises, as both team fell in week 9 and gave the possession of first place to the Kansas City Chiefs. An all too familiar gesture we have come to see in what feels like at least for a decade. Both teams sit at 5-4 heading into week 11 and both play the Chiefs again one more time.
It seems like deja vu all over again for the Raiders and Chargers, a feeling we are all too familiar.
They are who we thought they were part 2: My feelings on the Kansas City Chiefs have been a little everywhere this season, on one hand I think they aren’t that good, a pretty average team in whole with a good offense and a struggling defense.
On the other hand, I always thought they would be in the hunt for a playoff spot due to the NFL expanding the entry of teams to seven this year for the postseason and the fact they play in a division that no one would run away with. In the end, they are pretty much who most believed they would be, in first place of the AFC West and controlling their own destiny.
They play the Denver Broncos two more times, the Las Vegas Raiders who they just pushed around in two weeks and the Los Angeles Chargers who they lost too in week three in LA a week after Las Vegas. Add the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals and you can easily see a path to the postseason we all thought we would see Chiefs compete in coming to fruition.
It’s not over by a long shot and as the old saying goes “the cream rises to the top”, that seems to be the exact thing going on here for the Chiefs.
Russell Wilson’s return from injury to quick: Russell Wilson returned to action after four weeks on the injured list for a dislocated finger that required surgery and lead the Seattle Seahawks to a loss that saw the team get blanked in the scoring column.
With no points scored, the game became the first contest in Wilson’s 150 career starts he was shut out. Wilson was 20 of 40 with 161 passing yards and 2 interceptions.
I totally get that if he and the team believes he is healthy enough to play he should suit up and give it a go, he has totally earned that nod. Wilson should also be commended for returning to action quicker than first prognosticated when he suffered the injury. The reality is as much as the team needs Wilson, he may have returned a little to quick and could of maybe hampered the team this past week.
It’s tough to be completely healthy and compete in the NFL, to do so while returning from injury sooner than expected, trying to shake off the rust and do so while playing the NFC leading Green Bay Packers was a tall task, even for Wilson.
Exaggerations
Cam Newton is a starting quarterback in this league: Plain and simple, Cam Newton is a NFL quarterback. I wrote about this a few weeks ago and Cam Newton showed that this past week in very limited action.
Newton scored two touchdowns in short yardage plays and should be caught up to speed within the next few weeks on the Matt Rhule designed offense of the Carolina Panthers. Newton who was signed by the Panthers for a second time in his career due to the Panthers quarterback health concerns, has a chance to really show he belongs in the league for any doubter he may continue to have. “Ohhhhh Cam” is back, just as he should of be.
Chase Young: The season for the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year Chase Young has come to an end, as it has been reported that the Washington Football Team defensive end has a torn ACL.
Young who absolutely balled his rookie season experienced what most consider a tremendously underperformed sophomore season. There were huge expectations for Young and the D-Line of the WFT that never really took shape this year up to this point and you can believe with Young going down mid-season there will be some questions that will need to be answered.
I don’t think the young phenom has warranted all the negative talk surrounding him and his play but there may be no exaggeration that he will have to bounce back to his form of his first professional season.
Snow is here, which means home field advantages: Naw, not really! I think bad weather effects both teams, no matter where and who.
I don’t care who says what, what analysts thinks that everyone on the field won’t be effected in snow or what coach claims they are excited for a 9 degree day in December(They are probably excited because they aren’t playing, just coaching), it effects the home team just as much as the visiting team.
We hear every year how teams like the Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills or New England Patriots benefit from teams visiting their stadiums respectfully in the winter but never hear the real from players who agree with that premise. Cold is cold, don’t really matter what team is competing in it.
The Truth
Baltimore Ravens ugly season losses: The Baltimore Ravens through week 10 are 6-3 with some impressive wins; a blowout of the Los Angeles Chargers 34-6 or a week two win over the Chiefs, and some lucky wins… see footage below of the win verses the Detroit Lions.
Those register in the column of not only wins but solid building block wins, victories that can really push the morale of a team. On the flip side, the Ravens have a few head scratching losses, including this past week’s loss on Thursday Night Football to the Miami Dolphins.
Add that to the 41-17 blowout loss to the Bengals, at home and the Ravens who are leading the AFC North have just some plain out horrid defeats. Thankfully they have won enough games to warrant those as misnomers but they are bad losses no matter how you cut it.
The Arizona Cardinals need their star Kyler Murray and fast: It goes without saying, when a team losses it’s starting quarterback their level of play usually drops off a significant amount.
The Cardinals a week ago, blasted the San Francisco 49ers without the services of Murray which caught everyone by surprise; this week the Carolina Panthers made sure that didn’t happen again. They absolutely abused Colt McCoy and the Cardinals offense and went on to beat the previous 7-1 Cards.
Kyler Murray before getting injured lead the team to one loss, was and probably is still in the MVP conversation. It’s not rocket science, Murray at the helm gives this team Super Bowl asperations, while without Murray, they may be a playoff team but probably not a serious threat to win it all.
Murray should be back within the next two weeks according to reports.
A few average teams will make the Playoffs: The National Football League is known for it’s parity and this season is no different. Through week 10 of the season, eleven teams are in some variation 4-5, 5-4 or 5-5 and every single one of those teams are in the running for a playoff spot at the moment.
With 17 weeks in the season this year, we could really see an 8-9 team enter the postseason, maybe even a few. You don’t play a 8-9 season and just be pretty good and not without flaws that need to be corrected. There is plenty of season left but if parity continues, be prepared to see an average squad or two try and play their way to a championship.
Any giving Sunday: It’s the old cliché but it is the truth. Take a look around the NFL the last three weeks, there have been upsets galore. In the last 3 weeks, 14 underdogs on paper have won outright, while the Lions played themselves into a tie with the Steelers this past week, 6 of those wins came on the road. We hear the expression all the time and for good reason, as truly any given Sunday you just never know what you’re going to get in the NFL.
Teams Missing the playoffs: There are no new teams to add to the list this week as some teams got a very much needed win to stave off being added to the bottom bracket. I have my eye on a few teams leading up to week 11 though; here’s looking at you Seattle and Atlanta.
Previous – New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, Washington Football Team, Chicago Bears
New Additions – NONE
