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Good, bad and ugly from Week 10 in the NFL
It doesn't get much uglier than four interceptions in 20 realtime minutes. Ask Philip Rivers. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Good, bad and ugly from Week 10 in the NFL

San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw four interceptions in the fourth quarter alone on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. Four interceptions. He threw four interceptions in five possessions, including the game-winning pick-six by Kiko Alonso ( watch here).

How in the world does that happen? That's on a level of bad we've rarely seen in the history of the NFL.

To put that into perspective, Tom Brady has thrown four interceptions in his past 400-plus pass attempts. Rivers accomplished this feat in total of 20 minutes (real time). Wow.

And so begins that bad from NFL Week 10.

* The Green Bay Packers entered this season with Super Bowl aspirations. Now, after 10 weeks, Mike McCarthy's squads boasts a 4-5 record and can't even be considered legitimate playoff contenders. This comes after the team yielded five touchdowns in the Tennessee Titans' first six possessions en route to giving up an absurd 311 yards before the game was even at the midway point of the second quarter.

Most of the focus for the Packers and their struggles thus far this season has been on offense. But an injury-plagued defense was absolutely worked over by Marcus Mariota and the Titans in an embarrassing 47-25 loss.

It was so bad that DeMarco Murray broke off an 75-yard touchdown run and tossed a touchdown pass on consecutive possessions. We're not too sure where the Packers are supposed to go from here.

* Speaking of not knowing where to go, the Minnesota Vikings are now just the third team in NFL history to lose four consecutive after starting the season with a 5-0 record. Their latest meltdown came against the Redskins in D.C. on Sunday. And in reality, it was a team-wide failure here.

After a disastrous late-game performance against the Detroit Lions last week, Minnesota's previously stout defense let Kirk Cousins and the Skins' offense make it look silly early Sunday.

All said, Washington scored on its first two possessions, driving down for touchdowns each time. During that span, Cousins completed 9-of-10 passes for 125 yards with two touchdowns. That's not the Vikings football we became accustomed to earlier in the season.

Then, after Minnesota found a way to get its act together by outscoring Washington 20-0 to end the first half, it was the team's offense that let the team down. Trailing by three and with less than 10 minutes remaining, it looked like the Vikings were driving for the go-ahead score. It had driven down to inside Washington's 40 before Sam Bradford made his first real mistake of the game. The veteran was picked off by Preston Smith to end the drive.

The decision itself was horrendous. Bradford did not see the 3-4 linebacker drop into coverage and threw it into his waiting hands.

It's these types of mistakes and struggles on both sides of the ball that have plagued the Vikings over the past four games. Now at 5-4 on the season, Minnesota finds itself tied with Detroit for first place in the NFC North and just one game ahead of the aforementioned Packers.

If that was the bad from NFL Week 10, what could possibly be uglier? Well, despite a drama-filled Sunday of football and some tremendous overall performances, there were some dumpster fires on display around the league.

* Let's start with Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who was coming off a darn good performance against the Minnesota Vikings last week. The expectation here was that Cutler would be able to pick up where he left off against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that allowed 18 touchdowns compared to four interceptions in the first eight games of the season.

In true Cutler-like fashion, the embattled quarterback went against all these trends early on Sunday. Instead, Cutler reverted to old form. The veteran threw an interception on two consecutive passes in the second quarter, one of which was returned by former Bears safety Chris Conte for a touchdown (watch here).

He then proceeded to turn the ball over early in the second quarter inside Tampa Bay's five yard line after losing a fumble. That's a 14-point swing in the Buccaneers' favor in just over a quarter of action. At the end of the day, Chicago fell 36-10 and left us wondering if it was really considering this potential quarterback.

* A bit further west, the New Orleans Saints were feeling really good about their prospects. They had won four of five following a 0-3 start to the season. Brandin Cooks just caught the game-tying touchdown from Drew Brees with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter.

A simple extra point from Wil Lutz would pretty much give the Saints a huge win over the defending champion Denver Broncos.

That's when Denver blocked the extra point and reserve defensive back Will Parks returned it the distance for the game-winning two pointer. Really. It happened. Just watch.

So instead of finding themselves at 5-4 and very much in the midst of the NFC Playoff picture, this one disastrous play dropped the Saints to one game under .500 and on the outside looking in. Ouch.

"Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren't." 

* We're still trying to figure out what to make of Houston Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler. He entered Sunday's action as a starting quarterback of a Houston Texans team that boasted a 5-3 record. He ended Sunday's action with a 6-3 mark as the team's quarterback.

But are the Texans winning in spite of Osweiler? Is he an imaginary obstacle or a real one? Well, if Sunday's performance is any indication, it's a combination of both. The high-priced free-agent signing completed 14-of-27 passes for 99 yards. That's horrendous. That's really horrendous. We mean, that's ... okay, you get the point.

Though, Osweiler did throw two touchdowns without turning the ball over in a 24-21 win over the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars.

Can Osweiler simply be a game manager and expect to help lead the Texans deep into the playoffs? That's the question the organization will have to ask here. Though, passing for 99 yards on 27 attempts against a bad Jaguars team isn't inspiring much confidence from the team's fan base.

* In a day full of tremendous football, the same can't be said for what we saw between the Los Angeles Rams and New York Jets in New Jersey. The two teams threw out the starting quarterback duo of Case Keenum and Bryce Petty, who combined to complete 36-of-62 passes for 328 yards and one touchdown.

The Jets and Rams combined for a grand total of 15 points while converting on 10-of-29 third-down conversions. This wasn't good defense. It wasn't smash-mouth football. It was simply horrible offensive football. That's it.

" A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." 

* Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown made a statement on Sunday. It wasn't to speak out against what is happening in this country. It wasn't to create division within the narrow landscape of the sports world.

It was to pay respect to an American hero and former NFL player that passed away a dozen years ago fighting for the freedom this nation is supposed to represent.

This one act, about as altruistic as it gets, begins the good from NFL Week 10.

* On the very same field with Brown, two rookies from the Dallas Cowboys absolutely dominated the landscape of Sunday's NFL action once again.

Yes, we're talking about Cowboys rookie quarterback Dak Prescott and fellow first-year player Ezekiel Elliott.

For the second time in three weeks, these two guys stepped up when Dallas needed it the most. Down by one at the halfway point of the fourth quarter, Dallas took over at its own 25 with an opportunity to win an eighth consecutive game hanging in the balance.

Prescott would go on to complete all six of his passes before Elliott capped the drive off with a 14-yard touchdown of his own. It was Elliott's second score of the game, the first coming on an 83-yard catch and run from Elliott in the first half (watch here).

Then, within the matter of just over one minute, Pittsburgh would retake the lead on this ridiculous pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown with just 42 seconds left. At that point, it looked like the Cowboys were doomed to lose their second game of the season.

That's when both Prescott and Elliott stepped up again. Dallas drove down the field 75 yards on five plays culminating in this game-winning 32-yard touchdown scamper from Zeke. It's in this that Dallas won its eighth consecutive game, the team's longest winning streak since 1977.

And the numbers themselves are surreal. Prescott has combined for 18 total touchdowns compared to two interceptions in his first nine career starts. He's leading an offense that's averaging 28.9 points per game.

Meanwhile, Elliott is currently on pace to break Eric Dickerson's rookie rushing record and also finds himself on pace to put up over 2,200 total yards. To say that the rookie No. 4 overall pick is an MVP candidate wouldn't be hyperbole.

* Speaking of MVP, there's little doubt that second-year Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters has been his team's most valuable player. That came out in droves late in the Chiefs' stunning late-game win over the Panthers in Carolina.

With the game tied up at 17 and late in the fourth quarter, Peters stripped Panthers receiver Kelvin Benjamin of the ball after a catch, returning it 10 yards and putting the Chiefs in position to win the game. A couple plays later, and Cairo Santos knocked through the game-winning field goal. Peters has now forced eight turnovers in nine games this season and has tallied a grand total of 17 in 24 career games.

* Facing the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium is tough enough. Doing so with Tom Brady and company coming off a bye and having to travel across the country on a short week makes this almost impossible.

But instead of giving themselves excuses, the Seattle Seahawks showed up big time on Sunday Night Football, playing a great all-around game in front of a nationally televised audience.

Russell Wilson put up his best performance of the season, completing 25-of-37 passes for 348 yards and three touchdowns. Rookie running back C.J. Prosise added 153 total yards on 24 touches in the first extended playing time of his career. Meanwhile, Doug Baldwin caught all three of Wilson's touchdown passes.

Yes, the Seahawks' offense surely looked ready to play in this one. Though, it was the team's defense that stepped up once again. With New England driving for the potential game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Seattle stopped Brady and his men four times from the two-yard line to preserve a 31-24 win.

It was a stark reminder of the Super Bowl between these two teams a couple years back. It also ended on a completely different note. And in the end, Seattle pulled off one of the most-impressive wins of the Pete Carroll era.

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