NFL Week 10 - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It was another amazing week of football in the NFL and the divide is starting to show. Teams that are heading for the playoffs are playing some of their finest football to get ready to compete for the title while teams that are seeing their season slip away are starting to make changes on their squad and tinker with the roster to see who will go and who will stay.  Either way, we are now in the home stretch and before Week 11 kicks off tonight here are the top stories from last week. 

1. The Cleveland Browns are the kings of the AFC North. Brian Hoyer has been a solid leader and a solid quarterback. The defense is doing its job and what do you know? The Browns are likely heading to the playoffs barring a disaster.  It's an impressive turn around for a team that everyone had written off at the start of the year and my kudos to them.  

2. The Raiders could go 0-16.  Yes, I'm a Denver fan.  Yes, I would love to see this happen on principle alone, but I say that they may go without a win this year simply because of how bad they are playing and it seems like there is no hope or fight left in this team.  They came out and played some solid ball against the Broncos last Sunday at the start of the game, but then mistakes were made on the C.J. Anderson touchdown and you could see the fire from the Raiders just disappear.  They may scrap with you, but once you get them down and making mistakes, that's it and there is a solid chance they may not win a game this year. 

3. Speaking of teams that have utterly lost their drive, let's talk about Chicago.  Two massive blowouts in two weeks and no one wearing a Bears helmet seems to care.  It's a nightmare in Chi-town right now.  Jay Cutler is playing the worst football of his career. The Defense looks lost and the results are embarrassing for this franchise. The fan base is livid and has every right to be.  I would honestly expect some massive housecleaning at the end of this dismal season and it's definitely warranted.  

4. The Return of Mark Sanchez.  Yes, he's back and it turns out, he is quite the efficient quarterback.  He won another game for Philadelphia and did it in impressive fashion, throwing for 332 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Considering how much we remember Mark for the "butt fumble" years ago, this is an amazing turn around and great news for Philly fans, Sanchez has given life to anemic quarterback play in this town and well...if this isn't a fluke the Eagles are going to win a lot of games.  

5. The Pittsburgh Steelers are inconsistent.  Sure, they're 6-4 but um...they lost to the Jets last week. That's a big deal since the Jets are one of the worst squads in football right now. But it speaks to the fact that Pittsburgh has no identity as a team right now.  One minute they're a white hot offense, the next, eh.  The same goes for its defense. Sure, there's a good chance they will make the playoffs, but without finding that identity and consistency, expect an early exit from this team come January.  

---