The middle of November means the playoff race heats up while the weather cools down. We saw an odd slate of games last week. The Cardinals gave the 49ers all they could handle as San Francisco escaped with a three point win. Minshew Mania is officially over in Jacksonville and his going out party was awful. The Texans beat Jacksonville 26-3 in London. The Jaguars have announced that they will return to Nick Foles as their starting QB after the bye week. The Chiefs got a much needed win at the last second on the foot of Harrison Butker. The Jets lost as the Dolphins got their first win of the season. The Bears' struggles continued as they fell to 3-5. The Eagles improved to 5-4 against the Bears. Pittsburgh is rolling right now as they won on a missed FG by legendary kicker Adam VInatieri. Russell Wilson willed the Seahawks to an OT win over the Buccaneers. The Packers lost an ugly game to the Chargers. Then, the highlight for most of the league was on Sunday night as the Ravens gave the Patriots their first loss of the season as Baltimore won 37-20.
Playoff Outlook (If playoffs began today)
AFC First Round Byes: 1 New England, 2 Baltimore
AFC Wild Card Games
6 Indianapolis vs 3 Houston
5 Buffalo vs 4 Kansas City
NFC First Round Byes: 1 San Francisco, 2 New Orleans
NFC Wild Card Games
6 Minnesota vs 3 Green Bay
5 Seattle vs 4 Dallas
Week 10 Picks (all times central)
Los Angeles Chargers vs Oakland Raiders 7:20 (Thursday) FOX (Pick: LA Chargers)
Atlanta Falcons vs New Orleans Saints 12:00 FOX (Pick: Atlanta) (NFL100 Game of the Week)
Detroit Lions vs Chicago Bears 12:00 FOX (Pick: Detroit)
Kansas City Chiefs vs Tennessee Titans 12:00 CBS (Pick: Kansas City)
New York Giants vs New York Jets 12:00 FOX (Pick: NY Giants)
Miami Dolphins vs Indianapolis Colts 3:05 CBS (Pick: Indianapolis)
Carolina Panthers vs Green Bay Packers 3:25 FOX (Pick: Green Bay)
Los Angeles Rams vs Pittsburgh Steelers 3:25 FOX (Pick: Pittsburgh)
Minnesota Vikings vs Dallas Cowboys 7:20 NBC (Pick: Minnesota)
Seattle Seahawks vs San Francisco 49ers 7:15 (Monday) ESPN (Pick: Seattle)
What to Watch For
This is looking like a playoff deciding week for some teams. Those teams will know after Sunday if they have a legit shot at playing in January or if they will be watching the playoffs. These teams include Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Chicago, Detroit, and Tennessee. These teams have either four or five losses already and a fifth or sixth in week 10 would sink any ship for almost all of them. Both teams in New Orleans are coming off of bye weeks, one is 7-1(New Orleans) and the other is 1-7(Atlanta). This is a dangerous spot for New Orleans because they have everything to play for and Atlanta has nearly nothing when it comes to playoff hopes. The Colts have an interesting game as they are a half game back of Houston for the division lead in the AFC South. They play one of the lesser teams in the NFL, the Dolphins. The two games at 3:25 both have great intrigue. In Green Bay, Carolina is still in the race for the NFC South and the Packers seem to be in a dead heat for the NFC North with Minnesota. In Pittsburgh, one team is trying to keep its head above water, that would be the Rams, the other can gain serious ground over the next four weeks in the division race with the Ravens. Sunday Night Football could be a playoff game in January. Dallas has a slight edge on the Eagles in the NFC East. Minnesota needs to stay close to Green Bay in the NFC North. Then we come to Monday night out west. This game is a battle of two rivals who are separated by a game and a half.
These two also play in week 17, but this is the first of four to five games in as many weeks that 49ers will be tested. The NFL is a QB league and one important factor is have you been there in a big game. Russell Wilson has won a Super Bowl and lost one. Jimmy Garoppolo has been to Super Bowls but has not played because he sat behind Tom Brady. Its going to be a showdown Monday night in the Bay Area.
Have a magical day and we will SEE YA! real soon.
