Week 10 was one of the worst weeks I have ever had with football, across all platforms and it could not have ended soon enough. Things got off to a Rockey start when I tried to help my own personal schedule by getting the Thursday Night Football preview done early, but I didn’t take the time to look into the weather reports. So, I started the week 0-1 as the Panthers landed on the power run to beat the Falcons 25-15 in Carolina.
I managed to pull even as the Buccaneers beat the Seahawks 21-16 in the Germany game. I knew Seattle hadn’t played a legit good defense since they got smoked by the 49ers so I had to ride with the Bucs. The Hawks rallied in garbage time but it wasn’t enough. Then came the big slate of morning games.
| Nick W | Nick L | Nick T | ATS W | ATS L | ATS P | O/U W | O/U L | O/U P | Christen W | Christen L | Christen T | Rids W | Rids L | Rids T |
| 6 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous |
| 86 | 49 | 1 | 68 | 64 | 4 | 54 | 67 | 2 | 76 | 58 | 1 | 72 | 63 | 1 |
| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| 92 | 57 | 1 | 74 | 72 | 4 | 63 | 72 | 2 | 84 | 64 | 1 | 78 | 71 | 1 |
I spent no time on matchup analysis this week and took time off from doing the weekly Pick ‘Em show, and things were going along smoothly through the first half of the morning. It looked like I was going to do just fine on picks but the second halves had something else in store. I went a miserable 6-8 on picks and ATS, but somehow pulled a 9-5 mark on the over/under. Christen went 8-6 to gain some ground and Rids tied me at 6-8.
It all started with the Bills blowing a 17-point, 3rd-quarter lead at home to lose in overtime to the Vikings. Around that same time, the Bears were in the midst of blowing a 14-pt, 3rd-quarter lead to the Lions, in Chicago. Those two games alone would have been enough for me to escape with a decent week.
The Broncos jumped out to a 10-0 lead in Tennessee but didn’t score the rest of the way because of course they didn’t. Ryan Tannehill rallied the troops and posted the best game by a QB vs the Denver defense, IIRC, to win it 17-10. Meanwhile, the Saints tied the Steelers at the half and then did nothing the rest of the way as Andy Dalton threw a pair of interceptions. The Saints’ defense even sacked Steelers’ QB, Kenny Pickett, 6 times but they got run over in the process.
The Giants, Chiefs, and Dolphins all won and covered their respective spreads. New York Beat Houston 24-16, Kansas City beat Jacksonville 27-17, and Miami roughed up Cleveland 39-17.
Then the afternoon brought more madness. Indianapolis had just fired Frank Reich as the head coach and brought in Jeff Saturday. I wasn’t expecting a swift turnaround with their QB situation up in the air, and Jonathan Taylor nursing a nagging ankle injury but Saturday went back to Matt Ryan and it proved to be a good choice. He never should have been benched in the first place and Ryan led the game-winning TD drive in the 4th quarter. The Raiders are a disaster but the matchups each week have been favorable enough that I just keep picking them, like an idiot. This was one of them and Foster Moreau even dropped what could have been the winning TD.
Then came the Cowboys at the Packers. Naturally, when I finally made the switch to not picking the Packers anymore. I guess blowing two-touchdown leads was the theme of the day because Dallas was up 28-14 in the 4th quarter when the wheels fell off. Christian Watson had 2 of his 3 TDs in the 4th quarter and Dallas turned the ball over on downs in OT to set up the Mason Crosby winner.
Fortunately, I leaned on Colt McCoy to help the Cards against a Rams team that was falling apart and he got the job done. I didn’t even realize John Wolford was playing for Matthew Stafford until game time, but I bet against them anyway. Wolford didn’t even do that poorly but losing Cooper Kupp to the knee injury was massive.
The Niners did their job and beat a very depleted Chargers team, but I didn’t even care to watch by that time of the day. They didn’t end up covering and the Chargers had a chance, but Hufanga picked off Justin Herbert to seal the deal inside the final minute. With Mike Williams out and Keenan Allen a non-factor since Week 1, it’s time for the Bolts to address the WR position in the offseason. They are very fortunate to be 5-4 through all of this.
I wasn’t enthused to watch the Monday night game and before the game, I kept telling myself that I should just switch my pick to Washington because the way the week had gone to that point, the writing was on the wall. Philly jumped out to a 14-7 lead but Washington was hanging tough when Jalen Hurts threw an ill-advised ball to A.J. Brown in double coverage which was intercepted. Washington seized that and outscored PHI 22-7 the rest of the way. The Eags still got the ball with a chance to win but Quez Watkins fumbled after hauling in a 50-yard catch. PHI even got the ball back again punt went 3 & out, then late hit Taylor Heinicke, then fumbled a gadget play to give WSH an empty TD to blow up the total points. It was a Week 10 kinda thing.
The Sheist Power Rankings finally have some notable movement with the Vikings getting inside the Top-2 and the Giants and Fins breaking the Top-5. Meanwhile, the Raiders are determined to challenge Houston for the bottom spot and #1 pick.
| 1. Eagles 8-1 (=) |
| 2. Vikings 8-1 (+1) |
| 3. Chiefs 7-2 (+1) |
| 4. Giants 7-2 (+2) |
| 5. Dolphins 7-3 (+2) |
| 6. Jets 6-3 (+3) |
| 7. Bills 6-3 (-4) |
| 8. Cowboys 6-3 (-3) |
| 9. Titans 6-3 (+2) |
| 10. Seahawks 6-4 (-2) |
| 11. Ravens 5-3 (-1) |
| 12. Bengals 5-4 (-1) |
| 13. 49ers 5-4 (+2) |
| 14. Chargers 5-4 (-2) |
| 15. Patriots 5-4 (-1) |
| 16. Commanders 5-5 (+2) |
| 17. Buccaneers 5-5 (+3) |
| 18. Colts 4-5-1 (+5) |
| 19. Packers 4-6 (+8) |
| 20. Cardinals 4-6 (=) |
| 21. Falcons 4-6 (-4) |
| 22. Browns 3-6 (=) |
| 23. Lions 3-6 (+6) |
| 24. Steelers 3-6 (+4) |
| 25. Rams 3-6 (-6) |
| 26. Broncos 3-6 (-2) |
| 27. Saints 3-7 (-6) |
| 28. Bears 3-7 (-3) |
| 29. Jaguars 3-7 (-3) |
| 30. Panthers 3-7 (+1) |
| 31. Raiders 2-7 (-1) |
| 32. Texans 1-7-1 (=) |
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