Take number one: When your quarterback tosses five picks on the road against a team that won its division last year (and will probably win it again this year), you're down sixteen points at halftime, but come back to win because your kicker (who was in the equivalent of the pro football minor league last spring) burns the uprights not once but twice, it just might be your year. We need to get our heads around the idea one of the few teams never to have made a Super Bowl, much less win one, might change both of those things this year. Great win, Detroit.
Take number two: I have written about how Kansas City's secret sauce is its scouting and drafting. Consider that they have *three* future Hall of Famers on their roster who they drafted out of college (and traded away a fourth a few years ago for a haul of picks) on top of other key contributors like Creed Humphrey, Isaiah Pacheco, Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, and Rashee Rice (pre injury) and you understand why someone most of us have never heard of (Leo Chanel) steps up at the end of a game they should have lost, blocks a field goal and saves their undefeated season going into the game of the year at Buffalo next weekend.
Take number three: Maybe we should not have been surprised that the rap on a quarterback prospect coming out of college was that he was inaccurate and did not perform well if his offensive line was leaky would struggle with accuracy in the pros when his line could not protect him. People forget that in limited preseason action, Caleb Williams was a 50% passer. A couple of good games against bad teams led people to believe Williams had "figured things out" but he has regressed back to the hold-the-ball-too-long, is-not-reading-defenses rookie he was for the first few games earlier this season. Twenty three drives since losing to the Commanders have resulted in precisely zero touchdowns and since their bye, they have scored twenty-seven points in three games. In retrospect, the Bears should have traded up from the ninth pick and taken a bookend offensive lineman (of which three were available) instead of another wide receiver when their offense already had plenty of weapons.
Take number four: When you live on the east coast and don't shell out money for the Red Zone, west coast teams sometimes slip below your radar. This year, the Chargers, Cardinals, and Broncos have all quietly put together solid seasons. I saw the Cardinals for the first time yesterday because local CBS forced me to watch the Jets play them and it was not even a contest. Great example of a *team* that does not have a lot of household names or big contracts, absolutely dog walking another "team" with plenty of big names but zero identity. The Cardinals are a bit of a knock off Ravens team on offense. They bully you in the trenches with a great run game and have a dual threat at quarterback who it is almost impossible to scheme for. Their defense is full of no names put get after the ball and have not given up a touchdown in the last three games. Not too shabby.
Take number five: Is it too soon to look at the off season coaching carousel? The Jets and Saints have already fired their head coaches and barring massive turnarounds, the Jaguars, Bears, Cowboys, and maybe the Browns, Raiders, and Giants will all be moving on from their head coaches too. These are not terrible rosters but to a team, the culture, the vibes, the whatever-you-want-to-call-it just is not there.
Take number six: In addition to the coaching carousel, if we're being real, most of the playoff intrigue is already gone, and it is only week ten. In the AFC, the Chiefs, Bills, Texans, Steelers, Ravens, and Chargers are somewhere between mortal locks and very good chances, leaving that seventh spot (currently occupied by the Broncos) open. In the NFC, the Eagles, Commanders, Vikings, Lions, Packers, Falcons, are in that same position, leaving the three teams in the NFC West probably needing to win the division to get in.
Take number seven: Ten weeks in, you just know who the bad teams are. You do. Congratulations Carolina, you won two straight, but you're still awful. Ditto the Saints. You won one for your interim coach who was so nervous before the game he clogged the toilet in the coach's bathroom. Start your off season scouting at the top of the draft, G-Men, Cowboys, Raiders, and Browns.
Take number eight: Football can be a cruel sport. A guy like Baker Mayfield, who takes A JOURNEY from first overall pick to cast off *from Carolina* only to rehab himself in L.A. and then find his groove in Tampa, is leading a team playing without their two top wide receivers and they scrap and claw and fight only to lose three straight by one score to superior competition. You deserve a better fate, six.
Take number nine: Speaking of cruel, my hometown Commandos (again, HATE Commanders name) showed why it is a game of inches. A few inches short on a fourth down to keep a drive alive to win the game. A few inches too far when the Steelers go to a hard count that gets us penalized for offsides and a game the R-words should have won ends up as a loss with a quick turnaround up to Philly for a Thursday night game against maybe the hottest team in the league right now. Woke up Sunday 7-2, may wake up Friday 7-4 and no longer leading the division. Tough stuff.
Take number ten: I have nothing to say about the Cowboys play on the field. It's awful, but what I do have something to say is how stupid do you have to be to spend a billion dollars on a stadium and miss a glaring (pun intended) design flaw that results in blinding sunlight shining through the glass on one side of the stadium for an hour plus making it almost impossible to run your offense and why, for the love of god, did you not construct some sort of louver system that could block it out?
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