NFL Week 10 Recap: Clash of the Titans

On October 6, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens asked us, "Wanna see us have an epic, high scoring battle?"

A month later, on November 7, the two teams asked us, "Wanna see us do it again?"

The Bengals and Ravens' second meeting (which kicked off Week 10) was every bit as explosive, nail biting, and delicious for Fantasy Football owners as we all expected. The Bengals looked like they were going to steal it. Joe Burrow was on a tear. Ja'Marr Chase was giving Fantasy owners ecstatic fits, while those who had to play against him were tearing their hair out. However, the Ravens fought back, with Lamar Jackson leading the way with another monster game, and the result saw the Ravens win it, 35-34, and that was because Cincy, for some ungodly reason, decided to go for two after getting the touchdown, instead of playing it safe, kicking the extra point, and giving us the overtime this game richly deserved, just like the first meeting gave us that fifth quarter.

When the dust settled after 69 points were scored, many Bengals fans wanted Zac Taylor, the team's head coach, fired. Something's definitely up. The duo of Burrow & Chase (sounds like a law firm) has been tearing it up all year. The numbers have been delicious!!! Yet, somehow, this team is 4-6. How is this possible? When your QB and WR1 are dominating like that, you should be in first place in a sweet position, not barely ahead of the Browns. Something is definitely wrong, and all of the fingers are being pointed at Taylor. The Bengals have gone backwards since their wild run to Super Bowl LVI three years ago. If the team is not careful, they could miss the playoffs for the second straight year. Luckily, 4-6 is pretty easy to come back from.

They had this! Dammit, they had this! The field goal was set up! The Denver Broncos were going to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead! Blocked. The kick was blocked. We all screamed in agony when that kick was blocked. The immortal words of Jesse Pinkman were embedded in all of our souls. THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!!!! Somehow, in some form or fashion, the Chiefs are still undefeated. They should be 5-4, as this game is another one that Kansas City should have lost. Yet the Chiefs will be hailed as this great championship team who won a close game instead of what they really are: a group of frauds who have a horseshoe up their rear ends. And here's the worst part: they head to Buffalo next. Either KC wins and this continues, or Buffalo wins, and their fans won't shut the hell up until January, when they lose to that same team yet again.

The Pittsburgh Steelers had their one of their biggest tests this season, as they were on the road in DC against the red hot Washington Commanders. This was another epic clash between a pair of high level teams, with the Commanders being a surprise while the Steelers have been playing well with Russell Wilson at QB. It had been back and forth, but when the Steelers needed a clutch, go ahead touchdown, they got it. The Commanders still had a chance but after failing to convert, they still had time to stop Pitt and get the ball back. Unfortunately, a 4th and 1 play saw Washington fall for the oldest trick in the book, and they jumped offsides to give the Steelers the game clinching first down. Steelers improve to 7-2, and next week, they face the Ravens. Giddy up!

We were treated to the last international game of the season, which saw the Carolina Panthers win, 20-17, over the New York Giants in overtime in Munich, Germany. The Panthers won back-to-back games for the first time since 2022, while the Giants, well, at least they're on pace for a good draft pick. The San Francisco 49ers barely edged the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Christian McCaffrey's season debut, the Buffalo Bills picked up a big win in Indy, and the Minnesota Vikings barely defeated a Jaguars team who had Trevor Lawrence out. The Chicago Bears found themselves embarrassed by the New England Patriots, but the ultimate shocker was the Atlanta Falcons. They lost 20-17 to a New Orleans Saints team who lost seven straight and had a new coach. Even worse, Younghoe Koo, the closest thing to Justin Tucker in this league? He was missing field goals left and right. Yikes.

How ironic that the sun rose and shined on AT&T Stadium, especially since the Dallas Cowboys' season hit perpetual darkness. The official news broke regarding Dak Prescott: season ending hamstring surgery. Three wins entering this matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, and with Dak out for the year? Yeah, forget it. At least Micah Parsons is back, right? All that did was ensure that the Cowboys lost by 28 instead of 40. Philly won 34-6, and took over first place in the NFC East, while the Cowboys, well, it's just a mess. Elsewhere in the late window, the Arizona Cardinals tap-danced all over the New York Jets, and the Los Angeles Chargers continued to surge as they defeated the Tennessee Titans soundly.

You had one job, Texans! As a Packers fan going into our bye week, I surveyed the situation regarding the two teams ahead of us: the Vikings and Lions. I conceded the Vikings/Jags game; I wasn't going to get more gray hairs than the few I already have (and I won't turn 40 for another four months) literally begging a dying Jags team to win without Lawrence. So that left this game on Sunday Night Football: Lions/Texans. Texans are good and strong, and they can beat the Lions. In fact, they were doing a good job of it. Texans led by 16, and they intercepted Jared Goff five times! Yet in spite of this, Houston stopped scoring in the second half, and Goff brushed off whatever cobwebs he had and led them to a pair of touchdowns, and to FG range to tie it up. Houston still had a chance; they got to FG range, but Ka'imi Fairbairn missed from 58 yards. Jake Bates didn't miss, but he almost did, and the Lions won in comeback fashion to improve to 8-1.

Fun fact: before that game, the Lions had never won under Dan Campbell when they were down by double digits at the half. Oh man. Yeah, these are not the same Lions, and the Texans have now lost three of four. With Houston's loss, no one from the AFC South won this week.

Week 10 came to an end at SoFi Stadium, where the Los Angeles Rams hosted the Miami Dolphins in a game I expected the Rams to win. It would have been nice if they had found the end zone, though. Against a heavily maligned Dolphins defense, and in front of a who's who in LA sports (Aaron Donald, LeBron James, and now three-time World Series Champion Mookie Betts), all the Rams could muster was field goals--five of them. This was because their penchant for failing to score TDs despite being in the red zone (the opposing 20 yard line) came back to bite them in the ass, and the Dolphins capitalized and escaped with a 23-15 win.

So Week 10 is over, and while the season is progressing, we are still not quite at that stage yet. You know the stage I'm talking about; when the playoff talks intensify. That's the time I usually give the weekly playoff picture reports. That's still about two weeks away. Even so, things are shaping up in the overall standings, and it should be interesting to see what happens in the next two weeks.

Week 11 kicks off with a huge NFC East battle between the Washington Commanders and the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football. On Sunday Night Football, the Los Angeles Chargers will host the Cincinnati Bengals, and Monday Night Football will feature the Houston Texans and the Dallas Cowboys in a Lone Star State clash.

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