5 Biggest Takeaways Week 10 in the NFL
With week 10 in the books, let’s look at the biggest takeaways from the weekend.
1. Nathan Peterman is the worst QB in the NFL
For some reason, Nathan Peterman won the starting job this year in Buffalo (Although that only lasted one half). He then got the starting job again once Josh Allen got hurt. He then remained on the roster while the Bills pulled random ex-QBs off the street. And now finally, the Bills have released him. After Matt Barkley lit it up Sunday for the Bills a week after being signed, it was clear that the problem was Nathan Peterman. The team around him wasn’t great, but his stats were still far worse than they should’ve been. Here are a few telling stats that show just how bad Nathan Peterman was: He threw more pick sixes than interceptions. He had a 3 interception game that actually raised his quarterback rating. His career QB rating would be higher if he had just spiked every career pass into the ground. Aaron Rodgers would have to throw an interception on 1240 consecutive passes in order to have the same TD to INT ratio as Peterman. The fact that he’s had a job this long is incredible.
2. The Bears control their playoff destiny
The Bears are in first place and have arguably the easiest schedule of the three potential NFC North playoff teams. They still have games against the Giants, Niners, and Lions, which should all be wins. Squeaking out just one win against either the Packers, Rams, or Vikings (who they play twice) would get them to 10 wins. The Vikings meanwhile have the Bears twice, the Packers, the Patriots, the Seahawks, the Dolphins, and the Lions. While Dolphins and Lions should be wins, Bears twice, Packers, Patriots (at Gillette) and Seahawks (in Seattle) is no cakewalk. The Bears could be a great worst to first story. But at this point, it’s totally on them. Or more specifically, their playoff hopes hinge on second year QB Mitch Trubisky.
3. Time to worry about the Patriots yet?
After getting blasted by the mediocre Titans, some people think it’s time to worry. Normally, I’d say no. However, their are now 3 teams with less losses than the Patriots right now in the AFC: Chiefs, Steelers, and Chargers. Fortunately for the Patriots, they are still the three seed since the Chargers are just a wild card team at the moment. However, what that means is that the one seed is going to be very hard for the Patriots to get. One of the huge pieces of their success over the years is that they always have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They’ve looked vulnerable on the road this year. If they don’t manage to capture that one seed, they could be in trouble.
4. Here comes Pittsburgh
Speaking of the one seed, Pittsburgh has been red hot after a miserable start to the season. They thrashed a Panthers team that was 6-2 on Thursday night. Antonio Brown continues to get more involved and James Conner is making everyone forget about Leveon Bell. Once the 4pm deadline passes on Tuesday for Leveon to report, they will be totally free of any and all distractions. They should have this division locked up. Now they are simply gunning for a first round bye. And once again, it could come down to a crucial week 15 matchup with the New England Patriots in Pittsburgh.
5. The Colts continue to surge
Despite a 3-5 record, I picked the Colts to win the AFC South for my midseason picks. Their defense has continued to hold up well enough and Andrew Luck looks better and better each week. Frank Reich has a taken a team that frankly didn’t have a ton of talent on offense and has turned them into a real threat. They currently sit at 4-5 and will need a slip up from the red hot Texans in order to make moves in the division. However, their last 7 games are against the Titans, Dolphins, Jags, Texans, Cowboys, Giants, Titans. If this team continues to stay hot, we could see them overtake the Titans and Texans for the AFC South crown.
-Stephen Brown III (@sbtrey23)
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