Week 10 NFL Shocks: Unbelievable Winners and Shocking Losers Revealed!
Week 10 in the NFL brought the usual cocktail of jaw-dropping brilliance and head-scratching upsets that keeps us all glued to our screens — but can one sublime performance truly vault a player into MVP territory? Jonathan Taylor’s electrifying showcase in Berlin certainly upped his profile, yet the ghost of running backs past reminds us: it’s a steep climb. Meanwhile, Daniel Jones has swapped “Danny Dimes” for “Indiana Jones,” steering the Colts to an eye-popping 8-2. And just when you think the script’s written, the Bills stumble in Miami, proving once again that in this league, “any given Sunday” isn’t just a saying — it’s gospel. So, who emerged as the unlikeliest heroes, and which teams might need to rethink their playbooks? Let’s dive into the unexpected highs and sobering lows that defined this wild weekend. LEARN MORE.
Like every weekend on the slate, Week 10 of the NFL had some incredible performances and some wildly perplexing outcomes. Here were some of the highlights and lowlights.
Can a player win the NFL MVP with one performance?
Maybe not in Week 10, and probably not a running back. However, there’s little doubt Jonathan Taylor improved his chances while putting on a show for the NFL fans in Berlin.
Daniel Jones has gotten a lot of attention for his transformation from Danny Dimes to Indiana Jones while leading the surprising Colts to a tie for the league’s best record at 8-2 after Sunday’s 31-25 overseas win over the Atlanta Falcons.
“Any given Sunday” is an unofficial league motto for a reason, and there were a couple of shocking results in Week 10. (Have the Buffalo Bills arrived in Miami yet?)
Each week, some winners outperformed expectations and some losers underperformed expectations. So let’s take a look at some of those who did one or the other in Week 10 and whether their performance should reset expectations moving forward.
NFL Week 10 Winners
Jonathan Taylor for MVP Supporters
The Colts handed the ball 32 times to Taylor, who entered the week fifth in NFL MVP odds, in Sunday’s overtime victory. It was a good strategy against an Atlanta team that ranked third-worst in the league in run success rate allowed heading into the contest.
Taylor averaged 7.6 yards per carry on the way to 244 yards. That included a 1-yard TD run, an 83-yard scoring scamper and an 8-yard game-winning touchdown in the extra period.
Calling Taylor a workhorse isn’t hyperbole. Of the 18 occasions since 2020 in which a running back finished with 32 or more carries in a game, Taylor has done it five times and Derrick Henry has reached that mark four times. No one else has done it three times.
Taylor’s 244 yards were the most in a contest since Saquon Barkley ran for 255 yards on 26 attempts against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 24, 2024. But does Taylor really have a shot at winning the MVP? Really?
We only need to look at Barkley’s 2024 campaign for a clue. Barkley had his own dominant season a year ago, finishing with 2,005 rushing yards – eighth most in a single season all time. But he only ended up third in the MVP voting behind, of course, two quarterbacks (Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson).
So even though he has more yards (1,139) through 10 player games than Barkley had in 2024 (1,137) and the 23rd most since 1950 (DeMarco Murray of the 2014 Dallas Cowboys is the last to have more than Taylor at 10 games), Taylor is likely a long shot to win the MVP.
NFL Week 10 Losers
Bills’ Bid for a Top Seed
When’s the last time a team with two or fewer wins beat a team with six or more victories in Week 10? It was about a year ago when the 2-7 New Orleans Saints beat the 6-3 Atlanta Falcons 20-17 on Nov. 10. 2024.
The circumstances are a little different. The Falcons were something of a surprise headed into that Week 10 and ended up 8-9 and out of the playoffs by the end of the season.
These Bills, however, carry much higher expectations after five straight playoff appearances, including two AFC championship games. But after a 4-0 start, they’ve dropped three of their five following Sunday’s no-show against the 2-7 Miami Dolphins.
Buffalo had no answer for De’Von Achane, who rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 22 attempts in the stunning 30-13 rout. The Dolphins attacked a weakness in the Buffalo defense, which entered the game with the 10th-worst run success rate allowed in the NFL.
The offense wasn’t much better. It was the first time the Bills did not score in the first three quarters of a game since a 14-9 win over the New York Giants on Oct. 15, 2023. They’re now two wins behind the New England Patriots, Colts and Denver Broncos in the AFC standings.
The Opta supercomputer gives the Bills the third-highest probability of winning the AFC (12.8%) behind the surging Patriots (21.8%) and Broncos (16.7%).
So did Buffalo take a win over Miami for granted? It shouldn’t have. After all, the Dolphins did the same thing to the Falcons in Week 8. At that time, Atlanta had a chance to move over .500 with a win over the 1-6 Dolphins.
Instead, Miami eased past the stunned Falcons 34-10. Any given Sunday.
Panthers’ Playoff Hopes
Very quietly, a team that hasn’t won more than seven games in a season since 2017 entered Week 10 with four wins in five games.
The 5-4 Carolina Panthers were surprisingly in the hunt heading into what seemed like a very winnable game against the 1-8 New Orleans Saints. But this league can find a way to harshly humble a team pretty and quickly separate the contenders from the pretenders.
Tyler Shough threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns to earn his first win as a starter, while the Carolina offense struggled in a crushing 17-7 home defeat. Bryce Young completed 17-of-25 passes for 124 yards with an interception. Remarkably, he’s only thrown for over 200 once in his nine games this season.
Young’s 168.2 yards per game are on pace to be the third-lowest average in NFL history among quarterbacks with at least 450 attempts in a season (he’s on pace for about 478).
The Opta supercomputer now gives Carolina a 22.0% probability of reaching the postseason. Those are the ninth-best odds in the NFC.
What’s up next for the Panthers? A winnable road game against fading Atlanta in Week 11.
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The post NFL Week 10 Winners and Losers appeared first on Opta Analyst.
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