Steelers MMQB: NFL Week 10 Wrap Up
By Kim Myers
The Harbaughs not sure what the gatorade bath scenario would be with a tie game. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE
What We Learned In Week 10 in the NFL:
- Atlanta loses unbeaten season in New Orleans
- Ratbirds let loose on the Raiders
- Giants falter in Cincy
- Eagles season goes down the drain along with Reed and Vick’s jobs
- 49ers and Rams get NFL’s first tie since 2008
- Texans D dominates hyped Chicago D
While it was a Steeler-less Sunday in the NFL there were some definitely good matchups worth taking a look at to satisfy your craving for football. Going into Week 10 Atlanta remained the only unbeaten team in the NFL and quite possibly the least respected team as well. No one was willing to give the Falcons any credit for their great start considering they’ve looked promising in the regular season in years past and have yet to win a playoff game under Matt Ryan. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they’re going to get even less respect now as their bid for a perfect season fell at the hands of division rival New Orleans in a tight game.
This past week it seemed as though most of the highly regarded NFL “experts” were ready to throw dirt on the Ratbirds and their season in spite of their record due to the amount of injuries and lack of impressive wins. Most analysts were counting them out of even winning the division while they still had a better record than the Steelers. Well, seems as though the Ratbirds don’t take too kindly to be counted out like that and took their aggression out on the Raiders at home to the tune of 55-20. It goes without saying that Steeler Nation knew better and didn’t for one second count the Ravens out of anything no matter who is injured. Stabby McStabberton (Ray Lewis) had rejoined the team for the first time since suffering his triceps tear and no doubt gave them one of his signature pep talks before they went out and unleashed the beast on the Raiders.
Last week Giants DE Justin Tuck complained that the Steelers offensive line was “getting away with murder” and hoped they’d get some holding calls their way during the game. Well this week the Bengals did get away with murder because they killed the Giants on Sunday. Eli threw a pair of interceptions and the Giants defense left holes all over the field for Ginger Spice, AJ Green and the rest of the Bungles offense to exploit. The Bengals were definitely looking like the Bungles of late, losing 3 straight including one to the Brownies but looked like a different team against the defending Super Bowl Champs.
The Cowboys and Eagles squared off in a battle of imploding teams with bad habits of turning the ball over. Michael Vick has been a virtual turnover machine for most of the first half of the season and has had Eagles fans wondering if the team should switch to rookie Nick Foles and see what the future might hold for them. Unfortunately for Eagles fans, the future under Nick Foles looked a whole lot like the present under Mike Vick. Foles had a pick six as well as a fumble lost after entering the game for Vick who had left with a concussion. The Cowboys took advantage of the Eagles turnovers as well as their piss poor tackling and also ran back a punt for a touchdown. So for this week Andy Reid’s seat remains rather toasty, while Jason Garrett’s seat cooled off a bit.
How crappy is a tie in the NFL? Well for those of us who take pleasure in seeing anger and frustration on the face of anyone with the last name of Harbaugh, it’s not so bad. For Rams and 49ers fans, yesterday was a rough one. Even with the new OT rules that would allow the other team a possession if the first team with the ball scored a field goal, neither were able to get the ball through the uprights to win the 24-24 stalemate and the NFL had its first tie since the infamous 2008 Eagles-Cincy game where Donovan McNabb admitted to not knowing that NFL games could end in ties. If you watched that OT you were treated to some of the worst football that has been played all season. In the 49ers defense, they were playing without Alex Smith, who had left the game with a concussion. But, when it comes down to it, there’s no defense for a tie. It’s quite possibly the worst outcome a sporting event can have. Surely, this could be bad for the 49ers considering this was a divisional game and the Seahawks are right on their tails after easily knocking off the Jets at home. Is it bad that I’ll take pleasure in the amount of pain that little “1” at the end of the win-loss record will give Harbaugh for the rest of the season?
In quite possibly the most anticipated matchup of the weekend, the 7-1 Texans faced off against the 7-1 Bears to determine which team had the better defense. The Bears have been the highest scoring and most opportunistic defense in the league, taking the ball 28 times from their opponents so far but the Texans came into the game having only turned the ball over 6 times. In the end it was the Bears coughing up the ball to the Texans in a defensive (that means low scoring) game where Bears QB Jay Cutler was forced to leave with a concussion.
The Steelers will face the Chiefs tonight to round out Week 10. The main headlines all week have been about Todd Haley getting his revenge on the Chiefs for firing him last season and the Steelers not overlooking the 1-7 Chiefs. Let’s not forget the Raiders or the Titans and hope the Steelers can put together the game they need to take down the Chiefs and prepare for next Sunday night’s matchup against the Ratbirds.
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