Copyright The New York Times
Each Sunday, three of The Athletic’s NFL writers react to the biggest news, plays and performances from the day’s games. Week 10’s early games saw some fantastic finishes, MVP performances and one contender laying an egg. While the Bears held off the Giants to stay in the NFC North hunt, the Texans stormed back from 19 down to stun the Jaguars and Jonathan Taylor put on a spectacular 244-yard, three-TD rushing day to top the Falcons in overtime, the Bills were embarrassed by the Dolphins in Miami. Making matters worse for Buffalo was a Patriots road win against the Buccaneers to broaden their lead in the AFC East. NFL writers Mike Jones, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei share their thoughts on Week 10’s highs and lows. How alarming is the Bills’ upset loss to the Dolphins, who came into the game with just two wins? Was it a hiccup against a division rival or were bigger issues exposed? Jones: Surprising, yes, in terms of how lopsided this was. Alarming, not necessarily. Every now and then, a good team will run into a divisional opponent and really can’t find a way to get on track. The Bills have issues. We’ve known this. Especially when it comes to their run defense. So, Mike McDaniel came up with the perfect recipe for attacking those weaknesses. De’Von Achane had a monster game with 174 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. That production really helped ensure that Tua Tagovailoa didn’t have to do too much (only 173 passing yards and two touchdown passes). He did throw two interceptions, but Miami’s defense took care of business, so Buffalo didn’t manage to turn either of those takeaways into points. The Bills will be OK, but this game should serve as a wake-up call for them. Nguyen: The Bills defense had an amazing game against the Chiefs last week and did some tricky things schematically to stop the Chiefs’ passing game. They also forced the Chiefs, who don’t like to run the ball, into a passing script. Their big weakness is still stopping the run, particularly perimeter runs, which the Dolphins major in. Miami ran for nearly 200 yards. The Bills offense just can’t have a down day for this team to win, and they had miscue after miscue on Sunday. The Bills will still be a contender because of Josh Allen, but they have some major holes that can be exposed, and this game showed it. Their lack of a No. 1 receiver also hurts them when they get into a passing script. Tight end Dalton Kincaid, who didn’t finish the game with a hamstring injury, is a good player, but he can’t be your top option. Pompei: The belief here is the Bills will finish strong. But this is a rough, concerning patch. Losing to a division rival on the road is excusable. It’s less excusable to lose by 17 points to a struggling team that essentially waved the white flag at the trade deadline. The Bills also gave up 186 rushing yards after coming into the game ranked 26th in the league in run yards allowed per game. And they’ve lost three of their last five. The Bills clearly have some things to clean up, and if they thought the Dolphins presented a challenge, wait until next week when they play another Florida team, the Bucs. New England’s win at Tampa Bay was possibly their most impressive this season, up there with their Week 5 road win over the Bills. What impressed you most about the Patriots on Sunday and why? Pompei: What is most impressive about the Patriots is their consistency and ability to avoid a dip. Since a shaky beginning, they have won seven straight games, giving them the NFL’s longest win streak. Some of their opponents have been eminently beatable, but we see eminently beatable teams shock opponents almost every week in the NFL. The Pats didn’t prevail over one of those beatable teams Sunday. They won against a strong, well-rested team on the road. What they are doing is a testament to coaching and culture, as Mike Vrabel is making a strong case for Coach of the Year. Jones: It was what coaches describe as “a total team win.” You saw a balanced attack with Drake Maye passing for 270 yards and two touchdowns. TreVeyon Henderson rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns. A defense that largely held Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers offense in check. Mike Vrabel continues to position this young team for success, and now they have extended their win streak to seven games, which is tied for the longest in the NFL this season. There’s nothing flukish to this team. They do the little things right and continue to display growth and improvement weekly. The Patriots are a legit playoff team. Nguyen: The Patriots defense holding the Bucs’ explosive offense to just 16 points until a garbage-time touchdown was extremely impressive. We know about Maye’s sophomore jump and how much the offense has improved, but the Patriots defense doesn’t get enough credit for how much they’ve improved. They struggled early in the season with some injuries, but they’ve been impressive lately. Their run defense has been elite and hasn’t gotten close to allowing a 100-yard rusher. With Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis at corner, it’s hard to throw the ball outside on them. It’s impressive how consistent and how much focus this young team plays with, and they’re becoming a complete team. A running back hasn’t been named the league’s Most Valuable Player since Adrian Peterson in 2012. After another dominant performance in a win over the Falcons on Sunday, what case would you make for or against Colts running back Jonathan Taylor breaking the quarterback MVP streak this season? Nguyen: It’s difficult for a running back to break through the slog of quarterbacks that typically win the award, but this season, there hasn’t been a QB standing head and shoulders above the rest. Drake Maye may be the most worthy QB so far, but maybe voters won’t want to give it to a second-year player. Taylor certainly has a case, but I feel like a running back needs to hit 2,000 yards rushing to have a real shot at winning, especially with 17 games to get it. Taylor isn’t on pace for 2,000 and he probably isn’t breaking LaDanian Tomlinson’s touchdown record (28). We had a similar situation last season and Saquon Barkley, who eclipsed 2,000 yards, didn’t win. I have a hard time seeing Taylor win it unless he breaks a record. Pompei: Taylor’s production through 10 games should make him an MVP candidate. Whether he becomes the actual MVP will depend on a couple of things. The first is if he can maintain or elevate his performance as the games become more critical. MVP voting always comes down to the final games. The other factor will be quarterback competition for the award. Barkley played like an MVP last year, but two quarterbacks got more MVP love. Josh Allen won the award with 378 vote points and 27 first place votes. Lamar Jackson was second with 352 points and 22 first place votes. Barkley had 117 points and no first place votes. The lesson? If a quarterback dominates the season the way Taylor is dominating, the quarterback will get the votes. And he should. Jones: Taylor is having a fantastic season. He leads the league in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and yards per carry. He’s on target to rush for 1,690 yards and 22 touchdowns on 296 carries. He’s a definite tone-setter for the Colts, and his production helps ease pressure on Daniel Jones, who is enjoying a revival season. But, if Barkley couldn’t win the MVP after rushing for 2,005 yards (just 101 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record) on 345 attempts and averaging 125.3 yards per game while serving as the true difference-maker for the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles, then nah, I can’t give Taylor the MVP. Fantastic season, yes. Dominant level of play, yes. But I don’t think it’ll be enough. If I’m going to eye a running back for that award, I’d give the nod to Christian McCaffrey, who is truly helping carry an injury-riddled San Francisco and entered Week 10 with 1,195 all-purpose yards (596 rushing, 626 receiving) and eight touchdowns (four receiving, four rushing) and is on target for 2,257 total yards and 15 total touchdowns. Where do you stand on the Ravens’ chances to win the AFC North after a third straight win on Sunday, beating the Vikings on the road? Nguyen: They’re only a game behind division-leading Pittsburgh, so they have to love the position they’re in based on their outlook a few weeks ago. We knew the offense would figure things out when Lamar Jackson came back, but the defense all of a sudden is looking much improved. That’s what can propel them into the playoffs. They moved Kyle Hamilton back in the box, and he has bolstered their run defense. In the next three weeks, they play the Browns, Jets and Bengals before playing the Steelers at home. Jones: The Ravens will win their division. I firmly believe that. They’re healthy again on offense, and things are finally starting to click on defense. They have games against the Browns, Jets and Bengals up next and have a very good shot at holding a 7-5 record entering that Week 14 meeting with Pittsburgh. Another game against the Bengals, meetings with the Patriots and Packers follow, and then the season finale in Pittsburgh. That game could decide it all, but I like the Ravens’ chances. They’re more explosive than the Steelers on offense and are looking more consistent on defense. It appears that order has been restored.
