This year our writers are teaming up to bring you weekly football coverage! Each week, a few of our writers will be sharing their thoughts and highlights from games they’ve watched. Who were the winners this week? Who remains undefeated? Which team will come out victorious at the end of the 2013-2014 season?
At this point in the game the NFL has managed to invent a system of equilibrium and all teams have created some precise level of playoff-race drama. There are about twenty teams in the postseason position, or a game behind of the Top 6. This balance has proven that there is a very distinct gap from the great teams to those that are just pretty good. And while we clear the field to see the best and worst in these six remaining weeks of regular season, we have a good idea who could make it to the Super Bowl.
This week the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars got their first wins of the season, while the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys were blown out by their opponents despite being the top of the class in their respective division. The Kansas City Chiefs are still–get this–undefeated and take on the Denver Broncos this Sunday, so how’s it all going to play out? Either way, that will be an interesting game to watch. In the meantime, how did Week 10 look? Our writers, Tania Hussain and Andrew Rogers team up and share some highlights from their favorite games and what they thought of the plays. Do you agree with them?
St. Louis Rams at Indianapolis Colts
Image Credit: NFL/AP Photo
Rams, 38-8
Tania:
What in the world happened to Indy here?! The 6-2 Colts were facing the 3-6 Rams, played at home in the gorgeous Lucas Oil Stadium and it seemed like the home team would get their seventh win of the 2013 season–that it was all in the bag. But, no. It wasn’t. It’s no question that the Colts have shown this season that they have the best quality comeback wins as they’ve beaten Seattle, San Fran, and Denver–three very real contenders here for the Super Bowl this season–but what’s baffling about their plays sometimes is that they create these horrible, stinky fluke games and the worst part is, they have to subject their fans to this quality of play. The Colts gave up 38 points to the Rams, with four TDs in the first half of the game with the Colts coming up late in the game with 1 TD in the last half. The offense tried its best to pull up despite the absence of WR Reggie Wayne in the second half, but it proved ineffective as QB Andrew Luck wasn’t very ‘lucky’ this time around and got sacked three times after fumbling in the first quarter. It was a miserable performance for Indy, and an even worse for the young quarterback in his career record.
It was a good game for the Rams though, picking off four passes (three of which belonged to Luck). It was also a great win for St. Louis as RB Tavon Austin, as the rookie put together a phenomenal win for the Rams and improved their season record to 4-6. Austin kicked things off with a 98-yard punt return in which he flew past Indy’s special teams, then followed up with a 57-yard TD from Rams QB Kellen Clemens in the second quarter. According to NFL stats, Austin is only the third player in NFL history to score 3 TDs of 55 or more yards in a single game.
Oakland Raiders at New York Giants
Image Credit: NFL/Getty Images
Giants, 24-20
Andrew:
It was nice to see the Giants, again, making some good plays. Their running game (which is something that’s been sorely lacking around the league) was great in this and their defence really threw Prior off his rhythm a few times which, I think, is what allowed them to pull off this win. I know it’s a super long shot with Foles coming up strong for the Eagles, but Big Blue is still in this! They’re on the verge of surpassing the Redskins and they play the Packers this week, who are down Rodgers and a few other key players, so it’s definitely a doable win for them. If they win and the Redskins lose to the Eagles, they’ll be ahead of them in the division, but maybe they’d rather have the Eagles lose so they can make a move for the top spot. It’s doubtful but if there’s one thing I’ve learned since two years ago, it’s to never doubt the Giants.
Tania:
It’s always good to see a team like the Giants make some good moves on the playing field. They’re Super Bowl champs, for crying out loud! Seeing them in their glory is what the sport is all about. This is their third straight win and it keeps them in the NFC East playoff race. The Giants were quick to jump on the Raiders’ mistakes with their offense, but can they do the same with the Packers this Sunday? QB Eli Manning has been struggling this season and completed 12 of 22 attempts for 140 yards in this game and a TD, but missed a wide-open WR Victor Cruz for what could have been a TD in the last quarter, ultimately having the Giants settle for a FG. Hopefully little Manning gets his groove back in time for taking on Aaron Rodgers and the “Pack”.
Carolina Panthers at San Francisco 49ers
Image Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Sports Illustrated
Panthers, 10-9
Andrew:
Wow, Carolina is definitely the dark horse of the NFC. While the Saints are getting all the praise in the NFC South for the comeback over last year, the Panthers have been quietly earning themselves a good enough record to possibly overthrow the Saints or, at least, get a wildcard spot. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly worried. The Saints play them two times in the span of three weeks in December which definitely won’t be easy wins for us. So how did the Panthers beat the 49ers? Defence. I think any team that relies heavily on offence, like the 49ers (and the Pats and Saints, two of the Panthers upcoming opponents) should be worried, especially since the Panthers offence is nothing to scoff at because Cam Newton has been earning his keep this season. Yeah, this was a low scoring but not uninteresting game and I think their game against the Pats next week could be a similar scenario.
Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers
Image Credit: Getty Images/NFL
Eagles, 27-13
Tania:
Eagles QB Nick Foles is creating quite a spark for Philadelphia, looking good for a second week in a row but that being said, I do think this team caught a big break with Packers QB Aaron Rodgers being down for the season with a broken collarbone. Green Bay isn’t going to win a lot of games without their esteemed QB, but rookie Scott Tolzien is filling in nicely for him. He’s even impressed Coach Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants. As the Green Bay roster continues to get ravage by injuries, the defense was a mess even with the return of Thor–I mean, WR Clay Matthews and Nick Perry. The overall coverage was poor, tackling was bad and there were a ton of turnovers devoured by the Eagles. Not to mention, the offensive line began to crumble around them. It will be interesting to see the Packers take on the resurgence of the Giants. The Eagles on the other hand take on the Redskins and that could go any way.
Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers
Image Credit: Getty Images/NFL
Broncos, 28-20
Tania:
Wow, was this an incredible game. It came really close and that was the fun part–not knowing. Actually, not knowing “something” is a terrible thing, but that’s for another post. Do we need to be concerned about the Broncos here? They came off their bye week to have their first game of the season with fewer than 30 points and 400 yards of offense, but they still managed to beat the Chargers so I can’t complain. They improve their record to 8-1 and head into next week’s most critical game of the season against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. QB Manning passed for 330 yards and 4 TDs, though he came up limping in the fourth quarter as Chargers DE Corey Liuget tackled him low. It’s been reported that the veteran quarterback is nursing two ankle sprains from last month. The MRI from this past Monday shows he has no damage to his ankle. Phew!
Let’s talk about San Diego, shall we? QB Phillip Rivers started the quarter off decently by picking apart the Broncos defense but San Diego’s problem is that even though they are 7th in the league, they can either score a TD and get into the red zone, or they don’t. Their inability to never finish their drives is unsettling considering we’re in the 10th week of football.
Dallas Cowboys at New Orleans Saints
Image Credit: AP Photo/NFL
Saints, 49-17
Andrew:
I’m not going to lie. This felt good. It felt awesome for my team to come roaring back like this. Our defence shut down Romo and Brees hit four different players for touchdowns. Some teams can’t even hit two and I think that’s the key to my teams success (and Denver’s). It’s the defences never know who to cover. Brees could throw to Sproles, Thomas, Colston, Graham, Toon, Stills… just to name a few. It’s like playing whack-a-mole and for a team with a struggling defence like the Cowboys, it was no contest. Hopefully the same will hold true for the Panthers.
But the interesting twist to this game was that the Cowboys fired out Defensive Coordinator, Rob Ryan, and then he came back and made the weakest defence in the league last season strong enough to take down his old team. That’s revenge at it’s finest. Next week we play the 49ers and I’m hoping we can repeat the success of our divisional rivals the Panthers this week.
Who are you rooting for? What games did you watch? Let us know what you thought of this tenth week of NFL by sounding off in the comments below.
About the Authors
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Andrew Rogers is Editor and staff writer here at The Hudsucker. He is a 24 year old law student who lives in Halifax during the school year and Toronto the rest of the year. Besides Law, his brain capacity is taken up by reality show trivia, video game walk-throughs and food factoids. Andrew is also happily in a relationship with an American boy named Elliott. Follow him on Twitter as @sublymonal.
Tania Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief here at The Hudsucker, and a freelance writer at the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). She has her own column over at NBC News’ Newsvine and has completed a manuscript awaiting to be published. She is a member of The Canadian Authors Association, a national organization dedicated to promoting a flourishing community of writers across Canada. Tania is an avid Colts, Elvis and baseball fan as well as a lover of pancakes and fine cheeses. Follow her on Twitter as @westlifebunny.
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