Week 10 to 15, to me, is the sweet spot for highly anticipated games that will say plenty when it comes to the Super Bowl contender pecking order.
We learned a lot about the Patriots after their impressive 28–23 victory over the Buccaneers. They’re no longer the surprise team that may be a year away from truly contending for a Lombardi Trophy. They have a legitimate shot to win it all now.
The Rams and Seahawks each handled business in their respective blowout victories Sunday, setting up an NFC West showdown next week with first place on the line.
As for the Lions, coach Dan Campbell made a drastic decision in hopes of getting his offense back on track before the massive Week 11 game against the Eagles.
We also learned plenty about a losing team and its head coach.
Let’s get to what we learned during a busy Sunday in Week 10.
Initially, I wanted to write that the Patriots are the best 8–2 team in the league. But that would be a disservice to the impressive résumé that coach Mike Vrabel quickly built during his first 10 games in New England.
These Patriots have gone from surprising to being the best team in the AFC heading into Week 11.
The conference has three new contenders atop the standings, with the Patriots, Colts and Broncos all having identical records. But the Patriots shouldn’t be grouped with these two teams that still have plenty to prove. Denver is clearly a pretender for several reasons after adding another lackluster win Thursday night against Las Vegas.
Indianapolis can score in bunches, but the offense is too reliant on running back Jonathan Taylor, as we saw in the ugly loss in Pittsburgh last week. Additionally, the defense needs more talent even with the addition of Sauce Gardner, who struggled against Drake London in the 31–25 overtime win over the Falcons in Germany.
As for the Patriots, they have an MVP-caliber quarterback in Drake Maye, something the Colts and Broncos don’t have. New England has a balanced offense and just received a breakout performance from rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson during the impressive win over the Buccaneers. The defense might not be as good as Denver’s, but it’s one of the better ones in the conference with defensive tackle Milton Williams and cornerback Christian Gonzalez leading the charge.
And, yes, the Patriots haven’t proven anything when it comes to postseason résumés in recent seasons, something the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens have. But New England has already beaten Buffalo (6–3), a team that just fell to the lowly Dolphins. Kansas City is 5–4 and has struggled in one-score games. Baltimore (4–5) is on the rise, but hasn’t proven much when it comes to signature victories, losing to the Bills, Chiefs and Lions.
If pundits would rather side with a proven outfit for the AFC playoffs, that’s fair. There’s plenty of time for the usual suspects to turn it around. But let’s no longer group New England with Indianapolis and Denver in the “surprising” category. The Patriots are the real deal, can hang with the best teams and could make plenty of noise when January rolls around. They could turn more doubters into believers by beating the Bills for a second time later this season.
After the Lions’ get-right 44–22 victory against the Commanders, Campbell finally admitted that he’s been the one calling the offensive plays the past few weeks, not offensive coordinator John Morton.
Scoring 44 points and recording 546 total yards against the Commanders’ awful defense doesn’t say much, but Campbell made the correct decision to step in early in a risky attempt to spark an offense that was nowhere near as good as last year’s unit. To compare, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and Falcons coach Raheem Morris find themselves on the hot seat because they’ve been slow to react to their inconsistent offenses. (More on Morris below.)
Campbell didn’t have the best play-calling season debut in last week’s loss against the Vikings—the fifth-year coach was secretive about it despite wearing glasses and staring at the play sheet throughout the game. But he found a rhythm a week later and even got wide receiver Jameson Williams (six catches, 119 yards, TD) in the flow of the offense.
Jared Goff has struggled this season, especially when playing from behind, but he was sensational during the rout in the nation’s capital, delivering a 320-yard, three-touchdown performance. Again, beating the Commanders without Jayden Daniels is nothing to brag about, but the Lions could be thanking Campbell for the drastic move if the offense builds on the confidence and rhythm it gained from the Week 10 victory.
Detroit is too talented to just be reliant on the rushing duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. This needs to be an elite offense for the Lions to have a strong chance of winning the Super Bowl because the defense isn’t as talented and it had several issues in the losses vs. Minnesota, Kansas City and Green Bay.
With the Lions standing pat at the trade deadline, it was vital for this Detroit passing game to show signs of improvement. Goff & Co. did just that against the Commanders and are now back on track before showdowns against the Eagles and Packers over the next three weeks.
I’m a big believer that, in most situations, a head coach should get at least three seasons to prove whether they’re the right fit to lead a franchise.
But Falcons coach Raheem Morris has a unique situation and could find himself out of a job after two seasons in Atlanta. Expectations drastically jumped for Morris after the team’s bold decision to trade next year’s first-round pick to the Rams to select edge rusher James Pearce Jr., who went at No. 26, 11 spots after the team took edge rusher Jalon Walker.
Clearly, Atlanta thought it was a few defensive players away from ending an eight-year playoff drought, an understandable line of thinking with Bijan Robinson, London and Michael Penix Jr. on the offensive side. While the defense has shown promise, the offense remains inconsistent and the team now needs a miracle to make the playoffs after a four-game losing streak. The Falcons are 3–6 with a potential top-10 pick heading to Los Angeles after the season.
Patience isn’t on Morris’s side because of the talented roster, but he’s also not the one who traded away the 2026 first-round pick. That would be GM Terry Fontenot, the same person who gave Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180 million contract last year.
Don’t be surprised if Morris soon fires offensive coordinator Zac Robinson with hopes of sparking the offense—and saving his own job. But with another disappointing season, it might be time for team owner Arthur Blank to opt for a clean slate in the offseason. Perhaps a different regime can get a lot more out of this talented roster.
Here’s a thought for the future: The Falcons appear headed down the path of the Jets, who recently broke up an impressive core group by trading Gardner and Quinnen Williams to ignite another rebuild. Robinson and London might be available next year if the losing continues from now until the next trade deadline.
It was an ugly slate of games in the late afternoon window, but at least the Rams and Seahawks appeared to be in their top form before next week’s NFC West showdown in Los Angeles with first place on the line.
Plenty of creativity will be on display for a matchup I’ve been waiting on for weeks. (It also made the top five on my list for best remaining games of the 2025 season.)
Coach Mike Macdonald has developed a top-five defense in his second season in Seattle, while coach Sean McVay has revamped his Rams offense with a scheme that features plenty of tight ends.
For the first month of the season, the Rams were a bit predictable with Matthew Stafford connecting with Puka Nacua often in games. Now, Stafford is a frontrunner for MVP with this new-look scheme, one designed for getting many playmakers involved. Tight ends Colby Parkinson, Terrance Ferguson, Tyler Higbee and Davis Allen all contributed to the dominant 42–26 win over the 49ers.
As for Seattle, the defense had no issues in the blowout 44–22 win over the Cardinals, with defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence setting the tone with two touchdowns in the first half.
Along with creativity, there will also be plenty of mystery in the first meeting between the Rams and Seahawks. On one hand, L.A. will get to show whether this team is better than the one that blew it in Philadelphia and against San Francisco in the first meeting at home. On the other hand, Seattle lacks a signature win after home losses to San Francisco and Tampa Bay.
The winner of Rams vs. Seahawks could very well be the representative of the NFC in Super Bowl LX. These two teams are that good.
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