The NFL Roundup 2018: Week 10 – What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

​You can always tell this time of year, which teams are taking their season seriously by how they handle their business come game time and judging from this weekend’s slate of games, there are some serious contenders getting the last of their kinks worked out before the playoffs. It’s why we saw some serious surprises over the past few days of football and really, it’s best we get right down to discussing all of those twists and turns, so without further ado, let’s reflect upon what we learned from Week 10 in the NFL.
 
The Carolina Panthers once again proved, they are not a tough team, mentally.
A year ago, I spoke a lot to the fact that the Panthers didn’t play well when a team stood up to them and socked them in the mouth and honestly, I thought it was something they got over in 2018 since they were looking so much better in tougher games. But what do you know? The same whiny and fussy Panthers are still there, they just needed an embarrassing first quarter against the Steelers to bring out the worst in them. Because once the score was getting out of hand, Carolina got a little chippy with the Steelers, and they looked lost and confused and afraid to execute on plays and they even made the game a little dirty with that nasty hit to Big Ben and well, this is just a shame. Because until this team grows up and learns how to handle adversity, more embarrassing moments like this will happen and I hope they keep happening so the Panthers can wise up and snap out of it.
 
The New England Patriots are a shell of their former selves.
Normally when you think about the Patriots, domination is the word that comes to mind. You know they’re going to put up points in a game and tick a lot of people off by winning big, but 2018 has provided us with a wildly different New England team. Gone is the air of domination, thanks to a thin and sloppy receiving corps and their defense is nothing special either and well, teams are starting to take advantage of their mediocrity since the Titans were the one to dominate the Pats on Sunday by getting to Brady and shutting down his routes and if New England can’t find a way to scheme a little better when it comes to their deficiencies, expect more losses to come their way as the season winds down.
 
The New Orleans Saints are scary good right now.
I honestly thought that Sunday’s Saints/Bengals game was going to be a solid and modest scoring fiesta between a pair of gunslingers. However, I was horribly wrong about that, because the Saints just straight up unleashed their special brand of fury on the Bengals, dropping fifty points in their laps without even breaking a sweat and well, it’s a little scary, when it comes to how good New Orleans is right now, at least for the NFC. Because at this point in time, they seem downright unstoppable, and their win over the Rams sent their confidence into the stratosphere and I won’t be shocked in the slightest if they continue to play at a high level like this as they work to secure the number one seed in the NFC.
 
There may be hope for the Cleveland Browns after all.
At this point, it’s obvious that barring some kind of football miracle, the 2018 season has more or less come to an end for the Cleveland Browns, and we should be focusing on the teams that will be playing in the postseason. But who doesn’t love a feel-good story and well, Sunday’s Cleveland/Atlanta game qualifies as that since the Browns actually looked good on Sunday. The defense was solid, Mayfield was on fire and they locked up a solid win over the Falcons and well, that definitely should give Cleveland fans hope for the future. Because if John Dorsey selects the right coach, one that can bring about more performances similar to this one, then the Browns may be a contender sooner than anyone expected.
 
The kicking game continues to be a nightmare in the NFL.
Earlier this year, I made mention of the fact that kicking was suddenly a sloppy venture in the NFL since PAT’s and Field Goals were being missed left and right and well, I thought eventually, as kickers got into a rhythm as the season rolled on, that things would get better when it comes to this aspect of the game. Oh, how wrong I was. Because this weekend, I watched Cody Parkey, the kicker for the Chicago Bears, miss…everything and Chandler Catanzaro (Tampa Bay’s kicker) missed a pair of Field Goals as well and honestly. I just don’t get it. I don’t want to call the position easy, because it is not, but man, I expected better from the kickers this year and at this point, I haven’t a clue how this gets fixed but I do hope the league figures out how to get kickers back in line because this is just ugly to watch at the pro level.  

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