NFL Week 10 is here, meaning the league is at the turn of the 18-week schedule. Here are the top storylines entering NFL Week 10.
The NFL season hits the turn as NFL Week 10 schedule opens on Thursday night. A breathless nation awaits a nationally televised pillow fight between the 1-7 Carolina Panthers and the 2-7 Chicago Bears.
The second half opens with the Philadelphia Eagles owning the NFL’s best record at 8-1. In the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs have taken dramatically different routes to 7-2 marks. The Ravens lead the NFL with a plus-115 scoring differential. Kansas City has a two-and-a-half game lead in the AFC West but an offense that is sputtering.
Here are the storylines to watch entering NFL Week 10.
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5. Have the San Francisco 49ers righted the ship?
The San Francisco 49ers entered their bye week last week on a three-game losing streak and had fallen out of first place in the NFC West. As they return, the division lead is back in their hands. The Seattle Seahawks got curb stomped at Baltimore on Sunday, giving the 49ers the lead via tiebreaker.
San Francisco added defensive end Chase Young from the Washington Commanders during their bye and he is expected to see action on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A smaller move involves defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. The 49ers announced on Wednesday that Wilks will move down from the booth to the field to call signals in Jacksonville.
Over its last three games, San Francisco has allowed 395.3 yards per game, 30th in the NFL over that span. Trevor Lawrence provides a big test for whatever fixes the 49ers applied on the bye.
4. New York Giants turning to an undrafted rookie quarterback
For the first time in the common-draft era (which began in 1966), the New York Giants will start an undrafted rookie quarterback in a non-strike game.
Tommy DeVito takes over for Daniel Jones, out for the season with a torn ACL. Veteran backup Tyrid Taylor was already on injured reserve and DeVito got the call over newly signed vet Matt Barkley.
The 25-year-old played four years at Syracuse before transferring to Illinois last season. His NFL debut came against the New York Jets on Oct. 29 and he got two-thirds of the snaps in Big Blue’s 30-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders last week.
The 2-7 Giants, one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL after a playoff berth last year, have been let down by their offensive line. The unit has surrendered 49 sacks — 15.2% of dropbacks have resulted in a sack. DeViro absorbed six of those last week.
With nothing else to lose besides more games, DeVito gets a chance to put some video on file against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
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3. A sneaky-important game in Minneapolis
The New Orleans Saints visit the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday for a matchup with potential playoff implications. The 5-4 Saints lead the NFC South while 5-4 Minnesota holds the third wild-card spot in the standings. It’s still early in the playoff race, but the tiebreaker effect could be important down the road.
New Orleans comes in off consecutive victories, with its defense producing five turnovers in a 24-17 win over the Bears on Sunday.
The Vikings roll in with four straight wins. Sunday’s comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons defined “unlikely,” with quarterback Josh Dobbs playing most of the game with guys he hadn’t practiced or played with before.
With Kirk Cousins already out for the year with an Achilles’ injury, head coach Kevin O’Connell will start Dobbs Sunday over rookie Jaren Hall, who left last week with a concussion.
2. Red-hot Cincinnati Bengals host red-hot C.J. Stroud
The Cincinnati Bengals face an uphill climb for their third straight AFC North title. With four straight wins, Cincinnati is 5-3 but is 0-2 in the division and 1-3 against AFC teams. They host a conference foe on Sunday when the surprising Houston Texans come to Paycor Stadium.
The Texans survived a 39-37 shootout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week as quarterback C.J. Stroud set an NFL rookie record with 470 passing yards. Stroud threw five touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Tank Dell with six seconds left.
The Bengals got their first conference win last week, beating the Buffalo Bills 24-18 with Joe Burrow playing more like Joe Burrow. He threw for 348 yards and two touchdowns on 31-of-44 passing.
Stroud has just one interception in 279 attempts, a 0.4% interception percentage which is on pace to shatter Dak Prescott’s rookie record of 0.9% set in 2016 when he had four picks in 459 attempts.
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1. The game of the week is in Baltimore
For older fans, Sunday’s matchup at M&T Bank Stadium is Cleveland Browns 2.0 vs. Cleveland Browns 1.0. In reality, it’s just the Browns and Ravens in their second meeting of the season.
Baltimore won the first at Cleveland 28-3 back on Oct. 1 and comes in off four straight victories, including a 37-3 shellacking of the Seahawks on Sunday. Cleveland blanked the Arizona Cardinals at home on Sunday, the third time in eight games the Browns’ defense has kept their opponent out of the end zone.
Deshaun Watson is set to start for the Browns on Sunday after an efficient 19-of-30, two-touchdown effort against the Cardinals. He missed the first game against the Ravens with a rotator cuff injury that sidelined him for most of four games.
The Ravens (7-2) lead the division by a game and a half as every other team in the AFC North is 5-3 and in possession of a wild-card position. Lamar Jackson is completing an NFL-best 71.5% of his passes and has run for 440 yards and five touchdowns as well.
But as has often been the case for Baltimore when it’s good, defense is setting the tone. The Ravens are second in the NFL in total defense, first in points allowed and have surrendered nine offensive touchdowns in nine games.
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