During the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons, the Houston Texans had two players who had been Jess Lanier High School Purple Tigers on their way to the NFL.
DeMeco Ryans is now the head coach of the NFL team. On Wednesday, the former Alabama All-American will attend the funeral in Bessemer of his hometown teammate.
An All-SWAC defensive end at Alabama State, Earl Cochran died on Oct. 31 at age 44.
Before their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at NRG Stadium on Sunday, the Texans had a moment of silence for Cochran, then scored the contest’s final 26 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Jaguars 36-29.
“I’m just thankful for finding a way to win this game,” Ryans said at his postgame press conference, “especially coming in with a heavy heart. Lost my best friend Earl Cochran, so I know he’s smiling down on us right now. He would be very proud.”
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After the game, Texans general manager Nick Caserio presented Ryans, whom he called the “best leader and the best coach we have in the league,” with a game ball.
“We had a moment of silence for Earl Cochran before the game,” Caserio told the Houston players in the locker room. “Earl was a massive part of DeMeco’s life, OK? So he’s got a heavy heart, all right? He’s been thinking about it, it’s been weighing on him, but he went out there and he fought and he led like he always does because he loves this team.”
Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said Ryans had talked to the team about Cochran on Saturday night.
“He talked about losing his best friend, former player here, and he carried that on his shoulders since last Friday and didn’t say anything until last night,” Al-Shaair told reporters in the locker room after Sunday’s game. “So it was just all of us collectively, just having a lot of emotion, excited, happy for him, happy for the organization.”
RELATED: BESSEMER DEDICATES STREET TO FORMER ALABAMA STAR TURNED NFL COACH
While Cochran was three years older than Ryans, they made their NFL debuts with the Texans in 2006. Ryans won The Associated Press NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award to kick off his 10-year career as an NFL linebacker. Cochran worked his way from the practice squad to make his first NFL regular-season appearance in Houston’s final game.
“Just a standup guy,” Ryans said. “Close friend. I mean, loving, caring, big heart, give the shirt off his back to anybody like he was — just treated people the right way, loved people. Always had a big smile, big heart. Very wise, so I’m just thankful to have had him as a friend here.”
Cochran’s funeral is scheduled for noon CST Wednesday at New Life Interfaith Ministries in Bessemer with interment to follow at Elmwood Cemetery and Mausoleum in Birmingham.
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Cochran signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted rookie in 2003. But he sustained a shoulder injury in the preseason and spent the season on injured reserve.
Green Bay released Cochran before the 2024 season, and his next football came with NFL Europe’s Amsterdam Admirals in 2005. Later that year, Cochran returned to the NFL in the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp and spent a brief stint on the team’s practice squad.
Back with Amsterdam in 2006, Cochran helped the Admirals reach World Bowl XIV as a starting defensive end, and that led to a contract with the Texans.
Released after the preseason, Cochran later joined Houston’s practice squad before reaching the active roster. After his debut in 2006, Cochran played in 15 games in 2007 and eight games in 2008 for the Texans to complete his NFL career.

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As we’re 10 weeks through the 2025 NFL season, the playoff picture is getting more clear, while frontrunners for individual player awards are coming into a clearer view.
Of course, the award most talked about is the league’s MVP, and it’s been a fun debate across the league.
There’s Jonathan Taylor and Daniel Jones shining for the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts, Drake Maye looking like a cool veteran with a New England Patriots team with the same record, and Matthew Stafford looks back in his prime with the Los Angeles Rams.
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But there is one name that hasn’t been getting the same recognition despite putting up similar numbers, while his team is showing they are a true playoff contender: Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
Charger star receiver Ladd McConkey may be a bit biased, but he agrees his quarterback should be right in the conversation alongside the other league leaders.

A disillusioned rugby lifer walks into a local pub in his small Scottish Borders hometown in 2006. But the only walks-into-a-bar joke that day is on him.
For the previous 12 years, Richie Gray had worked for the Scottish Rugby Union as its development czar. Note the past tense. Earlier that month, the organization laid him off. “I was disillusioned,” he says now, 19 years later. “A real kick in the teeth.”
That night, Gray gathers with his mates from childhood; rugby gladiators, all. These scarred, squatty men grew up here, in Galashiels, a town of 12,600 where textile mills churned out cashmere and Gray’s father coached the province’s team. There’s a family-run cinema, an architectural trail and manicured gardens. The town is a living postcard, its quaintness in contrast with the worn faces of the tough bastards raised on rugby.
Gray orders a malt whisky, same as always. He’s more than disillusioned. He’s newly married, with a child on the way, a mortgage he just closed and no job. He doesn’t doubt he could find another gig in rugby. But that’s no longer what he wants. He’s thinking bigger, broader.
After a whisky or three, Gray drops his cautious stance on his own future and says the quiet part, what he really wants, out loud. “I’m going to be different. I’m going to concentrate on contact and collision only, and I’m going to become the best in the world at it.”
When these mates reaffix their respective jaws to their faces, they start … laughing. Big, belly guffaws, doubling over, wondering if he’s delusional or joking or both. “You’ll never work again,” one tells Gray.
Gray, in contrast, sees the future. Contact sports, he argues, are played by ever bigger, ever faster, ever stronger people, each trained, conditioned and fortified with modern performance and recovery methods. Meaning … more collisions. More forceful collisions. And, in all likelihood, more injuries from the physics involved alone.
On this night, Gray makes his argument. But stop there? Oh, no. He vows to become the world’s foremost contact/collision coach. To do that, he tells the men who laugh at him, he must stay in rugby. But he must also do something no one like him had ever before considered.
“I’m going to have to be involved in the NFL,” Gray says.
Everyone at the table erupts, once more, into a round of laughter.
At the end of a Zoom call over the summer, Gray mentions his … branding. He has T-shirts. He rises from his office chair in Scotland and grabs one, proudly displaying it on the laptop screen.
The Collision King.
That is him. But Richie Gray is not some barbarian who laughs at science. He reads dense research papers for “fun.” He wants collision sports to be as safe as possible. And he has ideas, so-so-so many ideas, for how to do this, along with methodology, equipment, contacts and experience.
This might sound audacious, delusional, an oxymoron—safer collision sports. His quest winds, across an ocean, over two decades, to a sport that devotes little time or resources toward the craft of tackling, despite, you know, a tackle ending the majority of plays. Gray has already done this in rugby, his approach grounded on development—of skill and technique, as humans collide with other humans.
From consulting for NFL teams for almost a decade to being (brotherly) shoved into prominence after helping hone the Eagles’ Tush Push, he has always seen football as two simple endeavors: blocking and tackling. Schematics, Gray believes, long ago overtook technical accuracy in relative importance to NFL teams. “I saw an area of the game that was being ignored,” he says, “although it was the biggest single challenge in player health and safety.”
As a kid in Scotland, Gray still stumbled into America’s favorite collision sport. By age 12, he knew that every Sunday, on Channel 4, the network played a tape-delayed broadcast of a featured NFL game. He’d settle into the living room, near the massive window overlooking Galashiels.
He loved football collisions and fell for the sport’s best players and teams—Dan Marino, Joe Theismann, Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton and the 1985 Bears. One Christmas, he received a bona fide NFL jersey: Marino’s aqua No. 13.
Valerie Gray gave birth to Richie in April 1970. He was the oldest of three tough brothers. Quaint backdrops aside, the south of Scotland was known as the Lawless Lands. It’s where William Wallace planned his raids on England. The Romans, known for their gladiator toughness, gave up fighting the lawless south. They built Hadrian’s Wall 25 miles from Galashiels for their own protection. Reivers—similar to modern-day gangsters—rode horses from town to town. Each was then constructed and fortified on principles of defense and attacking.
“I’m fascinated in why we do what we do,” Gray says. “Does your history and your culture define who [you are] and why? I think it does.”
His father, Johnny, now 84, introduced Richie to rugby when the boy turned 5. Johnny coached many of the country’s seminal rugby figures, and Richie became a ball boy for his father’s squads. “[I was],” he says, “brought up in collision and contact.”
Richie recalls the rugby field in front of his primary school; the sport was part of his curriculum. If he or friends had a rugby ball and five minutes, they played, wherever, whenever, full contact, no warmup. They didn’t need a pitch. They used hillsides, grass patches and flat stretches of nearby woods, even if that meant occasionally running into trees—which sparked his ingenuity. They all played Border League Rugby, the oldest and perhaps most brutal league in the world.
Rugby, like professional football, presented almost no safety regulations in those days. Players could jump on top of competitors, leading with their cleats, as well as punch and elbow.
Richie’s scars are part of his expertise. The first: age 12, top of right ear sliced open, part of said ear ripped off, dangling. Richie was … proud. Same as the times, plural, he broke his nose. Same as the time another collision collapsed that nose into his face. Same as when he broke bones, tore ligaments, dislocations, whatever.
At 18, he earned a spot on the Galashiels team. In 1999, he captained that squad to its first Scottish Cup triumph. He represented his country at high school and college levels and flirted with the national team but wasn’t quick or athletic enough—especially not after one opponent knee dropped him and tore his ACL in a college-aged World Cup appearance.
To understand the Collision King’s one-of-one career, start with collision sports’ caveman era. For all his brawn, Gray also approached rugby from an intellectual bent. He completed his degree in physical education, with honors, in 1995. That same year, rugby in Scotland went professional. The Scottish Rugby Union offered a meager salary—£25,000—to make him a rugby development officer/coach. Gray didn’t have the faintest clue what that even meant. Still, no one had been paid to participate in rugby before. He spent the next five years creating a development model from scratch.
This wasn’t his father’s rugby any longer. Johnny took his first coaching gig, gratis, in 1969. His approach wasn’t exactly scientific. He brought oranges for his players to consume at halftime. His pregame notes from his greatest triumph, a victory over the Australian national team, consisted of a mere four lines.
Richie had access to information his father could never have envisioned, allowing the younger Gray to study the world’s best teams. He ordered books on strategy and performance training from all over the world. He collected VHS tapes, piling them near his television until the stacks stood higher than the TV. He devoured documentaries, also on performance, even one featuring Olympic rowing coaches.
His family refers to Gray’s endless pursuit of knowledge as his Zombie Mode. He’d often just disappear into the garage, to begin another round of tinkering. When Gray made his first contact/collision sled, in 2010, he named it … the Collision King. It took so long to construct just one, that, after he finished, his wife said, “Yeah, you’ll not be doing that again.”
Gray recently finished his 52nd contact/collision device and completed the final adjustments to another enhanced sled—Collision King II. As the rules of contact sports changed, so did the equipment Gray assembled in that garage. He now develops and sells those products internationally—tackle dummies, handheld shields, sleds, etc.—under his GSI Performance umbrella, which Gray created in 2010.
His approach is based on three critical factors: equipment, methodology and analysis. Each relates to high performance, where gains occur at slim margins. To that end, Gray applied for dozens of patents, design rights and trademarks over the past 15 years.
Rugby development took Gray to South Africa, to the coaching staff of its national team, the mighty Springboks. While there in 2015, he received an unexpected phone call from the head of performance for the Dolphins.
Wayne Diesel told Gray that his staff had scrutinized statistics from rugby World Cups and had come across Gray’s influence. In May 2016, the Dolphins flew him to Florida for a week to assess their defenders’ tackling techniques and meld minds with Miami’s coaches.
Gray didn’t attempt to fool the locker room. He delivered brutal honesty, centering his opening salvo on his passion for collisions. He wanted accurate, aggressive, dominant, physical players. Not merely the most physical in the league. The most physical on the planet.
Gray spoke, as he likes to say, “from the cage.” He understood athletes, injuries, how it felt to deliver collisions and endure them. The first Dolphins visit went so well, Miami brought him back several times that season. Individual players began reaching out to Gray, asking for additional input.
He approached Kiko Alonso, an early Dolphins favorite whose jersey hangs in Gray’s office, differently than, say, Christian Wilkins, the defensive tackle Miami drafted three years later. Alonso needed technique refinement. Wilkins lost force while struggling to bend. Gray helped him incorporate more offseason technique training. In 2022, Wilkins set a single-season record (since eclipsed) for tackles by a defensive lineman (98).
Asked to describe a proper tackle, Gray—whose approach focuses on what he calls the Five Fights—explains: The key is stopping ballcarrier momentum. Ideally, you want to knock them back. [When that’s not possible], then you have angle tackles.
You have to fight to track. [You want] to get from A to B just before you get to the ballcarrier.
You’ve got to fight to prepare. [That’s] really important; that’s within 0.00 to 2.53 meters away from the contact point.
Fight to connect is literally [getting a] shoulder onto ballcarriers; with control, with accuracy; shoulder, wrap, clamp, grip.
Fight to accelerate is once you’ve made the connection, keeping your feet running on the ground.
And then finish. [That’s] also a psychological thing. If I finish on top of you, I’m dominating you.
Matt Burke, the linebackers coach for those Dolphins and now the Texans’ defensive coordinator, believes Gray connected with football players because he was both like and not like them. “He can speak to all these crazy Scottish stories, all the wild stuff. But then there’s real insight,” Burke says. “There’s research behind it, things he studied from other sports.”
Gray tracked down Marino on that visit in Miami. He explained the jersey and Marino signed some memorabilia for him. At that moment, Gray thought, “I sometimes feel like I’m here for a greater purpose.”
No one in Miami planned to tell anyone about Gray’s influence. But that’s not the NFL, where everyone gossips more than any Real Housewife. Adam Gase was fired as Miami’s head coach on the last day of 2018. His assistants, also let go, spread all over the league. Many took Gray’s collision gospel with them.
Lo and behold, Gray soon had a tree of his own, in a sport where he knew no one two years earlier. He began consulting with franchises all over the league.
Gray’s tentacles continued to spread. USA Football tasked him with writing its tackling methodology. The National Federation of High School Football adopted his program, too. College teams began reaching out. Riddell, which supplies helmets to players across the NFL, partnered with GSI on a three-year deal for exclusive manufacturing and distribution rights. So did rugby squads, like RC Toulon in France. World Rugby adopted his tackling methodology/standards, too.
The beauty in Gray’s approach lay in that authenticity. He told locker rooms he didn’t know the names of the star players, that he would treat them all the same. In Miami, one such player went to the office of Vance Joseph, then the defensive coordinator, and said, “Coach, we love this guy. But does he seriously not know who we are?”
Another coach introduced Gray to Don Brown, a longtime defensive coordinator and head coach in college football known as Dr. Blitz. He wanted Gray to design something for practices to ward off cut blocks. Gray had seen teams utilize a heavy orange ball, rolling it toward defenders who were taught to block the block and shift away. “But it moves in a straight line,” Gray told Dr. Blitz. “It’s not realistic to the game at all.”
Gray took that starting point and fashioned an entirely new creation, a weighted foam and PVC device he called the Hammer. Coaches can throw it at players’ ankles and knees or bounce it off the ground, creating unexpected angles. After Brown received the prototype, he threw it against his office wall and immediately ordered four more.
This past June, Gray visited the Giants during OTAs. Gray believes he can make any tackler around 20% more accurate, while giving them tools to further increase accuracy when he’s back across the pond.
The Giants flew Gray in on a Monday. He worked with defenders from Tuesday through Thursday. Then he flew home, after impacting dozens of lives and as many livelihoods, from Brian Burns to Abdul Carter to Bobby Okereke. “He’s very detail-oriented, he has really broken down tackling and contact to a science,” says Okereke. “I’m sitting there taking notes. At this point in my career, I just love to learn. So anytime anyone’s bringing me new information that can help me level up my game, I’m all in.”
Okereke says Gray’s lessons have left such a deep imprint that he will carry reminders onto the football field this season, almost as if hearing Gray inside his helmet. In a sport defined by margins as thin as fingernails, this matters.
Gospel proliferated, 24 of 32 NFL franchises now utilize Gray’s equipment and methodology. Eventually, the NFL saw what could no longer be ignored. Three-quarters of its franchises found the Collision King’s expertise compelling enough to reach out via Zoom or phone calls, or fly him halfway around the world for instruction. Gray says that in one eight-day stretch in August, he spoke with the Broncos, 49ers, Giants, Packers and Raiders. Five teams in eight days.
Gray’s ambitions don’t include flag football, less contact or more restrictions on defenders. He wants players he mentors to live in “that millimeter before madness.” Those who do, he says, are less likely to get injured—and less often.
“I’m going to make big changes to the game, right?” Gray says. “Big changes.”
Even in his playing days, Gray understood that coaches often overtrained teams, leading to upticks in injuries sustained in practice. His ACL tear was never properly treated. Caveman tendencies mattered. But that approach baked in its limitations. His doesn’t rob football of its soul. It presents a smarter, safer, more scientific approach to navigating what Gray hopes will always be a violent ethos. “You can’t change the essence of the game—and not just football,” he says. “They’re there because there is a desire, and there is a need. Because the human being loves to watch [collisions, violence]. We’re preparing players to go into that environment and not just pay it lip service. It’s gotta be the right way.”
The point has never been to simply collide. Gray argues that technically accurate thumpers are safer thumpers, too. Gray is inventing new equipment that medical staffs can use to help players return and distributing protocols to ensure they do so safely. (A major university in Scotland awarded Gray an honorary doctorate last year—making him a Doctor of Collisions.) Gray used to say he wanted to “create surgeons, not butchers.” Now, he says, “You’re trying to create surgeons with a butcher’s mentality.”
Johnny Gray joins for a final Zoom interview. His house in Galashiels is only half a mile from his son’s. Johnny found Richie’s NFL pivot interesting at first. He wasn’t surprised. And yet, news of the Tush Push, its international fame and Richie’s role in fine-tuning its effectiveness reached all the way back home. Says Johnny, “I quite enjoy it.”
Lost in the increasingly hysteric debates over the play, Richie says he cannot find one scientific, objective study that shows the Tush Push is any more dangerous than a typical QB sneak. The real issue, Gray believes, is the name. There is a tush involved. But the two players behind Jalen Hurts aren’t there to push him forward, necessarily. They’re there, Gray says, to guide him into open space. More cocoon than snowplow, in other words. A more accurate name, Gray believes, would be Organized Mass. “A lot of the time, those two back pushers never get to Hurts,” Gray says. “The job’s done before then.”
To banish the Brotherly Shove—Gray’s preferred term—24 owners had to vote to outlaw it. They fell two short. “I genuinely don’t think the sport understands the play,” Gray says. “They just see it as big men bashing other big men. [But] if you actually look down on a field, with a drone, there are angles and forces in play. They don’t [lead] with their heads. And the quarterback is actually just getting a free ride. He’s insulated.”
That’s Gray’s educated opinion, and the NFL seems more and more interested in what he has to say. In March 2024, officials invited Gray to their league meetings to address the hip-drop tackle. He also spoke to officials from all 32 teams. “Very easy, really, to show that this is not a good technique to be using in the game,” he says.
Soon another round of franchises called—just as his visa ran out. Gray took calls with about 15 teams over videoconference, instead.
When talking to league officials, Gray included his thoughts on how football—especially contact/collision—should be played. He asked what many NFL defenders want to know: Why don’t they practice tackling, this central part of football, from January to July? He showed them clips of Wilkins, toiling all offseason, just as Gray designed.
Saints director of sports science Ted Rath sees more buy-in of Gray and his approach at a league-wide level each offseason. Like others who know the Collision King, he wonders if one team will hire Gray and shut him off from everybody else. One NFL official has already told him that sooner or later, he will be forced to choose.
Or there’s a broader possibility: that he will work for the league, instead. “A big, audacious goal,” Rath calls it. “But that’s how this game has been invented. Richie’s the guy to do it. [He’s] going to make the tackle more productive and more efficient and keep our guys out of harm’s way. The whole league should [benefit from] it.”
Were Gray ever to be made the NFL’s contact/collisions czar, he would start by establishing a skills department for every team to make tacklers more accurate. While Gray understands why a powerful, money-printing sports league would want to keep its players safer, he also believes that the reduction in live tackling has actually made the situation worse. More than one study has found an increase in injuries each September. Gray believes that players’ bodies are not fortified in ways they could be, owing, in large part, to collectively bargained restrictions on contact. But Gray sees this callusing of bodies as the less critical of his two main prongs. Accuracy matters more—and accuracy cannot simply be summoned in training camp. It must be built. For example, a linebacker not wearing pads will start his tackle about three inches farther away from the target. NFL defenders do that for six weeks before transitioning to pads, which presents an entirely different angle, grip, wrap, clamp—an entirely different everything.
“This needs to be researched, analyzed and implemented,” Gray says.
Gray now accumulates airline miles the way his protégés rack up safe tackles. Before one recent flight from Newark back to Scotland, he noticed five middle-aged men dressed impeccably, in full, colorful, velour tracksuits, sitting in an airport lounge. Upon boarding, Gray was seated next to them. He introduced himself—“Hey, guys, you’re dressed like superstars”—thus hitting it off with The Sugarhill Gang.
“Have you ever heard a song called ‘Rapper’s Delight’?” one asked.
Of course he had! Most anyone who meets Gray, like these 60-something rappers, will ask what he does, too. “I coach contact and collision,” he says. In the U.S.? Well, yes, in fact.
“Have you ever heard of the Tush Push?”

Which NFL teams have the best chances of winning their games on the NFL Week 11 schedule?
ESPN Analytics has revealed its Matchup Predictor numbers for the 15 games in the league this week, and they offer some interesting win probabilities.
Take a look at the site’s picks for this week’s NFL games, beginning with the Thursday Night Football game between the New York Jets and New England Patriots and ending with the Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders.
Some of the site’s predictions differ from NFL Week 11 odds and other NFL Week 11 picks for NFL Week 11 games.
How correct will the analytics be this week? Click on each game for more NFL Week 11 predictions for that NFL matchup. All times MST. The site allows for the possibility of ties, so the numbers add up to just less than 100%.
NFL Week 11 picks: Jets at Patriots | Commanders vs Dolphins | Panthers at Falcons | Buccaneers at Bills | Chargers at Jaguars | Bears at Vikings | Packers at Giants | Bengals at Steelers | Texans at Titans | 49ers at Cardinals | Seahawks at Rams | Ravens at Browns | Chiefs at Broncos | Lions at Eagles | Cowboys at Raiders | The Republic’s predictions
Watch NFL games on FUBO (free trial)
Thursday Night Football prediction, Nov. 13
New York Jets at New England Patriots, 6:15 p.m., Prime Video (stream on Amazon)
The Patriots have a 72.1% chance to beat the Jets on Thursday Night Football.
The site gives the Jets a 27.7% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Sunday international game in Madrid, Spain, prediction, Nov. 16
Washington Commanders vs Miami Dolphins, 7:30 a.m., NFL Network (stream with FUBO)
The Commanders have a 51.1% chance to beat the Dolphins on Sunday.
The site gives the Dolphins a 48.5% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Sunday early NFL game predictions, Nov. 16
Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons, 11 a.m., FOX (stream with FUBO)
The Falcons have a 57.9% chance to beat the Panthers on Sunday.
The site gives the Panthers a 41.8% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Buffalo Bills, 11 a.m., CBS (stream with FUBO)
The Bills have a 59.9% chance to beat the Buccaneers on Sunday.
The site gives the Buccaneers a 39.8% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Los Angeles Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars, 11 a.m., CBS (stream with FUBO)
The Chargers have a 57.2% chance to beat the Jaguars on Sunday.
The site gives the Jaguars a 42.5% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings, 11 a.m., FOX (stream with FUBO)
The Vikings have a 51.8% chance to beat the Bears on Sunday.
The site gives the Bears a 47.8% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Green Bay Packers at New York Giants, 11 a.m., FOX (stream with FUBO)
The Packers have a 56.9% chance to beat the Giants on Sunday.
The site gives the Giants a 42.8% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers, 11 a.m., CBS (stream with FUBO)
The Steelers have a 59.1% chance to beat the Bengals on Sunday.
The site gives the Bengals a 40.6% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans, 11 a.m., FOX (stream with FUBO)
The Texans have a 67.8% chance to beat the Titans on Sunday.
The site gives the Titans a 31.9% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Sunday late NFL game predictions, Nov. 16
San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals, 2:05 p.m., FOX (stream with FUBO)
The 49ers have a 63.7% chance to beat the Cardinals on Sunday.
The site gives the Cardinals a 36% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams, 2:05 p.m., FOX (stream with FUBO)
The Rams have a 61.2% chance to beat the Seahawks on Sunday.
The site gives the Seahawks a 38.4% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns, 2:25 p.m., CBS (stream with FUBO)
The Ravens have a 79% chance to beat the Browns on Sunday.
The site gives the Browns a 20.8% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos, 2:25 p.m., CBS (stream with FUBO)
The Chiefs have a 61% chance to beat the Broncos on Sunday.
The site gives the Broncos a 38.6% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Sunday Night Football prediction, Nov. 16
Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles, 6:20 p.m., NBC (stream on Peacock)
The Eagles have a 52% chance to beat the Lions on Sunday Night Football.
The site gives the Lions a 47.7% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
Monday Night Football prediction, Nov. 17
Dallas Cowboys at Las Vegas Raiders, 6:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC (stream with FUBO)
The Cowboys have a 58.7% chance to beat the Raiders on Monday Night Football.
The site gives the Raiders a 41% shot at winning the NFL Week 11 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.
The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints are off this week.
NFL’s highest paid players in 2025: Quarterbacks | Running backs | Wide receivers | Tight ends | Offensive linemen | D-linemen | Cornerbacks | Safeties | Linebackers | Edge rushers | Highest paid NFL players: Overall | By position | By team
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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1
Matthew Stafford Los Angeles Rams QB
You thought he was good during his first season with the Rams? Try Year 5, which has the 37-year-old playing with backyard-level freedom to the tune of a whopping 25 touchdown passes after nine games. (+4)2
Lamar Jackson Baltimore Ravens QB
He wasn’t a magician so much as a fighter in his latest outing, but Jackson’s natural elusiveness does so much to offset Baltimore’s front. Paired with the team’s defensive resurgence, he’s on a nice upswing.3
Drake Maye New England Patriots QB
The chemistry with just about every one of the Patriots’ wideouts is noticeable. The vision and placement on deep shots is MVP-caliber. But here’s the best part: At just 23, he never seems out of control.4
Jared Goff Detroit Lions QB
Detroit’s attack is like clockwork: If Jahmyr Gibbs is running wild out of the backfield, then Goff is a safe bet to slice and dice in accompaniment. So long as the machine is in full operation, he will show up. (+2)5
Jalen Hurts Philadelphia Eagles QB
Hurts and the Eagles are not a bastion of weekly fireworks, but all year, No. 1 has threaded the needle on the most critical downs. He’s up to 16 scoring strikes and just one pick for a win-at-all-costs contender. (-1)6
Josh Allen Buffalo Bills QB
At the end of the day, we still trust Allen’s Superman gifts to forge another playoff push. His presence has lately failed to transcend a rote offensive script, however, even with James Cook often on the loose. (-5)7
Sam Darnold Seattle Seahawks QB
It sounds simple, but Darnold’s refusal to look away from Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been his greatest weapon; the Seahawks’ top target is all but uncoverable while collecting darts from Darnold’s zippy arm.8
Jordan Love Green Bay Packers QB
Is he so hit or miss due to a lack of proper protection? Or is he making matters worse with some zany choices in the face of pressure? Maybe it’s both. Love can float it beautifully, but the rhythm isn’t there.9
Patrick Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs QB
Mahomes has shown he can maximize the Chiefs’ deep arsenal of utility weapons. He’s also under too much heat to mesh all the moving parts, or more so transcend sketchy blocking and run support.10
Baker Mayfield Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB
The scrappy Mayfield opened 2025 on a career-high pace as a scrambler, but he’s since slowed his role outside the pocket, perhaps to manage lingering injuries. Tampa Bay desperately needs him upright.11
Justin Herbert Los Angeles Chargers QB
The face of the Chargers is still facing too much heat (42.1% pressure rate) behind a decimated front, but fortunately for L.A., Herbert has kept his feet moving to let outlets like Ladd McConkey spring loose. (+2)12
Dak Prescott Dallas Cowboys QB
All eyes will be on Jerry Jones’ restocked defense, now featuring Quinnen Williams, coming out of the Cowboys’ bye. But Prescott needs to sharpen his own in-game decision-making to slow the giveaways.13
Aaron Rodgers Pittsburgh Steelers QB
Rodgers turned in his first real dud of the 2025 campaign against the Chargers, sailing balls while appearing to turn away from contact. The Steelers’ severely limited skill group doesn’t exactly help. (-2)14
Bo Nix Denver Broncos QB
Nix’s erratic aerial work (60.9% completion rate) may bite Denver down the road, but he doesn’t take unnecessary sacks and he always shows up late, with an NFL-leading four fourth-quarter comebacks.15
Daniel Jones Indianapolis Colts QB
It’s astounding how much cooler he operates when Jonathan Taylor, you know, runs all over the opposing defense. The ex-Giants castoff has now logged six games with at least a 70% completion rate in Indy.16
Caleb Williams Chicago Bears QB
Nothing about the Bears’ quiet march to 6-3 has been particularly pretty. But Williams has now strung together consecutive late-game showcases thanks in large part to his never-say-die scrambling. (+1)17
Mac Jones San Francisco 49ers QB
At this point, Kyle Shanahan teasing Brock Purdy’s return should be taken with little to no regard. Purdy may well be recovering, but if he’s not ready to add play-extending juice, why bench his feisty fill-in? (+2)18
Joe Flacco Cincinnati Bengals QB
The difference between Flacco with the Browns and Flacco with the Bengals this year has been glaring; he’s fully at ease chucking it to Cincinnati’s wideouts. If only he still had that Browns defense to help. (+2)19
Tua Tagovailoa Miami Dolphins QB
No starter has endured such stark leaps and dips this year. Tua will feast on shoddy secondaries, ensuring Jaylen Waddle puts his speed on display. He’s also still good for a giveaway or two each week. (+8)20
Jacoby Brissett Arizona Cardinals QB
The spark of his run in place of Kyler Murray all but extinguished in a blowout loss to the rival Seahawks. Still, he represents a safer bet to at least drive the ball down the field as Murray recovers from injury. (-2)21
J.J. McCarthy Minnesota Vikings QB
With McCarthy, there seems to be no in-between; he’s either wowing with otherworldly determination or heaving it into enemy arms. In other words, he’s functioning like an unofficial rookie in Minnesota.22
Michael Penix Jr. Atlanta Falcons QB
Quarterback growth isn’t always linear, but Falcons fans were probably hoping for a bit of progressive change by this point; Penix’s laser arm is unteachable, but he’s yet to master timing or placement.23
Davis Mills Houston Texans QB
With C.J. Stroud sidelined due to injury, Mills stepped in and played hero for Houston, rallying the Texans to stun the rival Jaguars. He’s more seasoned than many realize, with close to 30 career NFL starts. (+6)24
Marcus Mariota Washington Commanders QB
With Jayden Daniels out with a dislocated elbow, Mariota had the honor of leading the sinking Commanders against the all-star Lions. He at least protected the ball through the air in defeat. (+3)25
Trevor Lawrence Jacksonville Jaguars QB
We’re far enough into Lawrence’s career that more people seem to be accepting the former No. 1 overall pick just might have more tools than NFL-caliber polish. His Jaguars are consistently undisciplined.26
Tyler Shough New Orleans Saints QB
Hey, look, some life out of New Orleans! Granted, it was against the Panthers, but the rookie Shough thoroughly outplayed former No. 1 pick Bryce Young (more on him below) by creating out of structure. (+3)27
Justin Fields New York Jets QB
The athletic but streaky Fields has done enough late in two straight games to hang onto New York’s top quarterback job. His calling card is moving, not throwing, however, while facing lots of pressure. (-1)28
Bryce Young Carolina Panthers QB
No one should ever doubt his determination to translate college-level composure to the NFL stage, but we’re two and a half years in, and Young still looks overmatched when it comes to throwing the rock. (-5)29
Geno Smith Las Vegas Raiders QB
There was a brief time when Geno belonged in the top-10 conversation for his improbable big-play moxie. That time has passed, which is a pretty good summary of the entire Raiders operation at this point. (-5)30
Russell Wilson New York Giants QB
Brian Daboll is out as the Giants’ coach, and some of his wreckage is still apparent, with rookie Jaxson Dart now sidelined after a spicy but reckless run as a dual threat. The aging Wilson is back as the placeholder.31
Dillon Gabriel Cleveland Browns QB
Is it possible coach Kevin Stefanski already knows he’s destined for new pastures? Or might he soon elevate Shedeur Sanders for a last-gasp attempt at an offensive facelift? Either way, it’s not pretty here.32
Cam Ward Tennessee Titans QB

The 2025 NFL season is more than halfway complete with Week 10 in the books and Week 11 already upon us. The playoff picture isn’t finalized, but it’s certainly taking shape as we near the home stretch.
The AFC, in particular, is a complicated situation — not to mention a surprising one. (Raise your hand if you had the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots pegged as the midseason conference heavyweights before the season began.) This is perhaps most evidenced by the crowded wild-card race, where preseason Super Bowl favorites like the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs are angling to overcome uneven starts.
The AFC will send seven total teams to the playoffs, three of which will enter the dance as wild cards. So which teams are best equipped to make good on postseason promise? Which ones have too much ground to cover before the end of the regular season? Here, we’re sorting out each of the seven teams that we currently consider to be in the running for a wild-card berth:
Division leaders
Indianapolis Colts (8-2, AFC South)
Denver Broncos (8-2, AFC West)
New England Patriots (8-2, AFC East)
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4, AFC North)
Unofficially out of it
Tennessee Titans (1-8)
Cleveland Browns (2-7)
Las Vegas Raiders (2-7)
New York Jets (2-7)
Miami Dolphins (3-7)
Wild-card contenders
7. Jaguars (5-4)
Is there anything about Jacksonville that screams

With just eight weeks to go in the season, the NFL playoff race is going to be heating up this week and that’s because there are several big games on the schedule in Week 11
One of the biggest ones will be taking place in Denver, where the Kansas City Chiefs will be trying to keep their division title hopes alive in an AFC West showdown with the Broncos. There’s also a huge game in the NFC with the Los Angeles Rams hosting the Seattle Seahawks.
So how will those two games impact the playoff race? Glad you asked. We’re going to break it all down right now.
To help you figure out who’s going to make the playoffs this year, we’re going to be publishing a projection every week for the rest of the season. These projections will be based on data from number-cruncher Stephen Oh of SportsLine. Each week, Oh will plug some numbers into his SportsLine computer and simulate the rest of the season. Using those numbers, we’ll project the 14 teams that we expect to make the playoffs, plus we’ll give you the postseason chances for all 32 teams.
With that in mind, let’s get to the projection.
AFC playoff projection
Projections via SportsLine
1. New England Patriots (AFC East champion)
The computer must be having a flashback to Tom Brady’s days in New England, because it has the Patriots (8-2) earning the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC. A big reason the Patriots are projected to finish at the top is because they have the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the NFL. Out of their final seven games, they will only face one team that’s currently over .500 (Bills in Week 16).
2. Denver Broncos (AFC West champion)
The Broncos (8-2) are being projected to win the AFC West and they have a chance to land a knockout punch on Sunday against the Chiefs. Right now, the computer is giving Kansas City a 22.4% chance of winning the division, but that will drop down to 7.9% with a loss to Denver. As for the Broncos, they currently have a 52.6% chance of winning the division, but that will shoot up to 70.6% if they beat Kansas City.
3. Indianapolis Colts (AFC South champion)
Colts fans might want to go ahead and get their division title shirts printed out, because the computer thinks Indianapolis (8-2) is essentially a lock to win the AFC South. Right now, Indy’s chances of winning the division are sitting at 86%, which is the highest of any first-place team in the AFC.
4. Baltimore Ravens (AFC North champion)
After the Steelers loss to the Chargers in Week 10, the computer decided to jump off of Pittsburgh’s bandwagon. Heading into Week 11, the computer now views the Ravens (4-5) as the favorite to win the AFC North. The Ravens have a 55.5% chance of winning the division while the Steelers’ chances are sitting at 41.4%.
5. Buffalo Bills (Wild card 1)
The Bills’ five-year reign atop the AFC East is going to come to an end this year, according to the computer. Right now, the Bills are being given just a 21.8% chance of winning the division following their shocking loss to the Dolphins in Week 10. The biggest problem for the Bills is that they’re now 2-2 in the division, so even if they beat the Patriots in Week 15, New England would still hold the division tiebreaker over Buffalo as long as the Patriots finished 5-1 (They’re currently 2-0 in AFC East play).
6. Los Angeles Chargers (Wild card 2)
The computer doesn’t think the Chargers have a great chance of winning the AFC West, but it does view Los Angeles as a near lock for the playoffs. According to the computer. the Chargers have an 80.9% chance of getting into the postseason.
7. Kansas City Chiefs (Wild card 3)
The Chiefs have won the AFC West for nine straight years, but the computer doesn’t think that streak is going to continue this year. However, the computer definitely isn’t giving up on Kansas City: The Chiefs currently have an 8% chance of winning the Super Bowl, which is tied with the Colts for the highest mark in the AFC.
Other AFC playoff chances: Steelers (51.3%), Jaguars (33.7%), Texans (23.2%), Bengals (3.4%), Dolphins (0.3%), Browns (0.2%), Raiders (0.0%), Jets (0.0%), Titans (0.0%).
Note: The Raiders, Jets and Titans aren’t eliminated, but their odds are listed at zero because the computer has given up on them.
AFC wild-card round projection
(7) Chiefs at (2) Broncos
(6) Chargers at (3) Colts
(5) Bills at (4) Ravens
Bye: Patriots
NFC playoff projection
Projections via SportsLine
1. Los Angeles Rams (NFC West champion)
The NFL’s most unpredictable division right now is the NFC West. The computer views the race as a coin toss between the Rams (7-2) and Seahawks. Los Angeles has a 48.8% chance of winning the division while Seattle sits at 47.9%. The two teams play this week and if the Rams win, their chances will shoot up to 69.6%. On the other hand, if the Seahawks win, their chances of winning the NFC West will improve to 72.1%.
2. Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East champion)
Every team in the NFC East is still mathematically alive to win the division, but we’re going to ignore that, because the computer says this race is over. The Eagles (7-2) have a 97.7% chance of winning the division, and if that happens, it will make them the division’s first repeat champion since 2004. The computer is giving the Eagles a 9.9% chance of winning it all, which is the highest of any team in the NFL.
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC South champion)
The Bucs (6-3) only have a 1.5 game lead in the NFC South over the Panthers, but don’t tell that to the computer, because it thinks the race is over. According to the computer, the Buccaneers have a 97.6% chance of winning the division.
4. Detroit Lions (NFC North champion)
Green Bay’s loss to Philadelphia on Monday night threw a wrench into the computer’s NFC North projection. The Packers (5-3-1) were projected to win the division last week, but now, that honor belongs to the Lions (6-3), who have a 59.5% chance of taking home the NFC North crown. With their loss to Philly, the Packers chances dropped from 44.1% down to 27.2%.
5. Seattle Seahawks (Wild card 1)
For the second straight year, it’s starting to look like Sam Darnold is going to win a lot of games only to once again get stuck playing in the wild-card round. Last year, Darnold’s 14-3 Vikings went to the playoffs as a wild card team. This year, the computer has the Seahawks (7-2) finishing 12-5 and playing in the wild-card round.
6. Green Bay Packers (Wild card 2)
The Packers loss on Monday night definitely hurt their chances of winning the division, but the computer still loves them to make the playoffs. The Packers currently have a 72.8% chance of getting in, but it won’t be easy. The Packers have to play three of their final four games on the road and their only home game in the stretch is against the Ravens.
7. San Francisco 49ers (Wild card 3)
The 49ers (6-4) are banged up, but the computer still likes their chances of earning the NFC’s final wild card spot. San Francisco has a 69.1% chance of getting into. According to the computer, their only real threat is the Bears (6-3), who have a 54.9% chance of getting in. The Bears and 49ers will play each other in Week 17 in a game that will likely have huge playoff ramifications.
Other NFC Playoff Chances: Bears (54.9%), Cowboys (7.9%), Panthers (5.3%), Vikings (4.5%), Falcons (2.9%), Cardinals (1.0%), Commanders (0.8%), Giants (0.0%), Saints (0.0%).

Welcome to the Week 10 grades!
If you love rooting for the underdog, then Week 10 ended up being a pretty solid one for you as we saw a total of five underdogs pull out a win.
The Patriot went into Tampa Bay as a 2.5-point underdog and ended up pulling off a 28-23 upset over the Buccaneers. Drake May kept himself in the MVP conversation by throwing for 270 yards and two touchdowns.
With CJ Stroud out, the Texans were a 1.5-point home underdog to the Jaguars and it looked like they were going to get run out of their own stadium. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Texans were trailing 29-10, but then they pulled off a stunning comeback to top the Jags, 36-29.
The Jets were also a 1.5-point underdog and although their offense didn’t even produce 170 total yards, they managed to pull off an upset over the Browns thanks in large part to two special teams touchdowns.
And let’s not forget about the Saints. They were a 5.5-point road underdog against a 5-4 Panthers team and somehow they managed to pull off the upset with a 17-10 win.
Finally, we have the Dolphins, who pulled off the shocker of the day by destroying the Bills 30-13 in a game where Buffalo closed as an 8.5-point favorite.
In the final game of Week 10, the Eagles weren’t an underdog, but they did go on the road and beat the Packers, 10-7, in a pivotal NFC showdown.
Let’s get to this week’s grades, starting with Philadelphia’s big win.
Philadelphia 10-7 Green Bay
C+It’s never pretty, but the Eagles always seem to find a way to win. With the offense struggling for most of the game, the Eagles defense held the fort down by shutting out the Packers for the first three quarters. Nakobe Dean was the star of the show with a sack and a key forced fumble after the Packers had driven deep into Philly territory. Offensively, the Eagles came alive in the fourth quarter with a 36-yard touchdown from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith. Whether it’s their offense or defense, the Eagles always seem to get a big play whenever they need one. The Eagles (7-2) have now faced three of the NFC’s best teams (Rams, Buccaneers, Packers) and beaten them all, which makes it feel like this team has a realistic shot to defend its Super Bowl title. CThe Packers now have three losses this year, and all three have one thing in common: Their offense didn’t show up, with Green Bay being held to 13 points or fewer in each game. With Tucker Kraft and Matthew Golden both out, the Packers’ passing game struggled due to a combination of problems: Receivers dropped passes and struggled to get open and Jordan Love was off the mark on several throws. Love also lost one of Green Bay’s two fumbles. The ugly offensive performance overshadowed a solid game by a defense that pitched a shutout in the first half. Heading into November, the Packers (5-3-1) looked like one of the best teams in the NFC; after two straight losses, they suddenly don’t look like much of a Super Bowl contender.
Miami 30-13 over Buffalo
FAfter beating the Chiefs in an AFC showdown last week, the Bills got caught sleeping at the wheel in this game. Buffalo looked overmatched, unprepared and completely out of sync. Josh Allen turned the ball over twice, James Cook lost a fumble and couldn’t get going on the ground, and the Bills receivers had trouble getting open. The defense hasn’t been able to stop the run all season and that issue continued in this game with De’Von Achane going off for over 170 yards. The Bills (6-3) are still a Super Bowl contender, but they have a lot of flaws this year and those flaws were on display in this game.A+We finally found out what the Dolphins can do when everything comes together for them. The defense held the NFL’s second-leading rusher (James Cook) to just 53 yards and they totally bottled up Josh Allen. The Bills QB looked lost against a Dolphins defense that forced three turnovers while also sacking him three times. De’Von Achane was the star of with 225 total yards on just 28 touches. Jaylen Waddle also got the last laugh on the Bills, who tried to trade for him last week. Not only did Waddle stay in Miami, but he finished with 84 yards receiving and a TD. At 3-7 it might be too late to save their season, but if the Dolphins keep playing like this, they certainly could make things interesting with games coming up against the Commanders, Saints and Jets.
L.A. Chargers 25-10 over Pittsburgh
DAfter shocking the Colts last week, the Steelers came crashing back to earth on Sunday night. Aaron Rodgers finally looked old: Most of his passes were off the mark and the Steelers simply couldn’t move the ball in what was easily their worst offensive performance of the year. The mistakes piled up for Pittsburgh with two interceptions, a muffed punt, a missed field goal and a safety, and it’s almost impossible for any team to overcome that. The Steelers (5-4) are still in first place in the AFC North, but they might not be for long if they keep playing like they did on Sunday night. AThe Chargers are a team that can beat you in multiple ways, and on Sunday night, their defense turned into a wrecking ball. A safety by Khalil Mack in the first quarter set the tone for a defense that only gave up one drive of more than 20 yards through the first three quarters. Offensively, Justin Herbert was under attack for most of the game, but that didn’t seem to bother him. Despite getting sacked five times, Herbert still managed to throw for 220 yards and a TD. Kimani Vidal was an unsung hero with 95 yards and a TD on the ground. This is a tough team that can go toe to toe with anyone. When it comes to the AFC West, everyone keeps talking about the Broncos and Chiefs, but you might want to start paying attention to the Chargers because this team is dangerous (and they’ve already beaten both Kansas City and Denver).
L.A. Rams 42-26 San Francisco
AIt’s fitting that this game was played near Napa, because Matthew Stafford is aging like a fine wine. The 37-year-old Rams QB absolutely torched the 49ers defense for 280 yards and four touchdowns. Stafford does a good job of spreading the ball around and he did that here with five different players finishing with more than 30 yards. The Rams defense wasn’t dominant, but the unit seemed to come up with a big play whenever it needed one, from a fumble recovery to a fourth-down stop to a fourth-quarter interception. This was a statement win by a Rams (7-2) team that went on the road and destroyed a strong divisional opponent. D+The banged-up 49ers have been findings ways to win recently, but against the Rams, their injuries finally caught up to them and they were just beaten by a better team. The defense wasn’t able to get much pressure on Matthew Stafford and he made them pay with four TD passes. Offensively, it looked like the 49ers were going to have the firepower to hang with the Rams, but they kept making back-breaking mistakes and that started in the first quarter with a fumble by Jauan Jennings that eventually turned into a Rams touchdown. Mac Jones, who threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns, continues to play well, which could create a controversy at QB if Brock Purdy ever gets healthy. No matter who the QB is, though, it’s hard to imagine the 49ers (6-4) being a serious Super Bowl contender due to all their injuries.
Detroit 44-22 over Washington
AAfter a shocking loss in Week 9, the Lions bounced back with a vengeance. The offense had its best performance of the season: The Lions piled up 546 yards, which was the team’s highest total in a road game over the past 10 years. Jared Goff diced up a Commanders defense that had no idea who to stop, so it didn’t end up stopping anyone. Jahmyr Gibbs had 172 yards and two touchdowns on 18 touches and Jameson Williams finally made a splash. The receiver finished with 119 yards, marking the first time in eight weeks that he’s topped 70 yards. When the Lions are clicking, they’re nearly impossible to stop and they were clicking against Washington. The Lions (6-3) better hope they saved some of this offensive magic for next week, because they’ll be facing a much more challenging opponent in the Eagles. D-When you have a backup QB playing (Marcus Mariota), it’s hard to win when your defense is getting burnt for more than 540 yards and 44 points. The Lions scored on their first eight possessions and the only reason they didn’t score on their ninth possession is because the game ended. The Commanders (3-7) never stood a chance here and with the way their defense is playing, they might not win another game all season.
Seattle 44-22 over Arizona
DThis game was a nightmare from start to finish for the Cardinals (3-6). Jacoby Brissett fumbled on two of Arizona’s first three possessions and both were returned for touchdowns, and the rout was on from there. The Cardinals offensive line was no match for a Seahawks defense that beat up Brissett to the tune of five sacks. The Cardinals defense also had a nightmarish start with the Seahawks scoring a TD on each of their first three possessions on drives that all went at least 65 yards. With this blowout loss, you can probably put a fork in the Cardinals’ season, because they seem done. AThe Seahawks are so good, they’re starting to make the NFL look easy. For the second straight week, the Seahawks blew out their opponent and this time around, they did it with one of their best all-around performances of the year. DeMarcus Lawrence got the blowout going by recovering two different fumbles and returning BOTH of them for touchdowns in the first half. Sam Darnold was nearly perfect, Jaxson Smith-Njigba was once again uncoverable and Zach Charbonnet led a rushing attack that ran for a season-high 198 yards. There were a few hiccups here — like the three turnovers from Darnold — but the Seahawks (7-2) were already up 35-0 by the time the first one happened, so it’s hard to ding them too much for that. This is one of the best teams in the NFC and we’ll find out just how good the Seahawks are in Week 11 when they face the Rams.
New England 28-23 over Tampa Bay
B+The Patriots won their seventh game in a row, and somehow, they seem to look better every week. We know Drake Maye is playing at an MVP level, but he hasn’t been getting much help form his rushing attack. However, that changed on Sunday with TreVeyon Henderson going off for 147 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries. Maye also found someone to throw to besides Stefon Diggs: Mack Hollins. The veteran receiver finished with over 100 yards for just the second time in his career. When you’re playing the Bucs, you’re not going to stop them, but you can slow them down and New England’s defense did that. The Patriots (8-2) are now a very real threat not to just win the AFC East, but to also earn the No. 1 overall seed in the entire AFC. B-It might be too much to say that the Buccaneers defense got exposed, but it definitely didn’t look good against the Patriots. The unit got absolutely burnt by the big play with New England scoring three touchdowns that went for 55 yards or more. The Bucs ability to stop the run has been a strength this year, but they got run over by TreVeyon Henderson who scored on runs of 55 and 69 in the second half. On the other side of the ball, Baker Mayfield finished with decent numbers, but the offense just seemed to disappear at times. The offense had five different drives that went for 8 yards or less. Although the Bucs (6-3) have lost three of their past four, this one won’t sting quite as much because the Falcons and Panthers also lost.
Houston 36-29 over Jacksonville
C-This was an epic all-around collapse by a Jaguars team that blew a 29-10 lead in the fourth quarter. The offense totaled just 11 yards in the final period and the defense couldn’t get a stop. Most of the loss has to be pinned on an offense that struggled to move the ball for most of the game. The Jags didn’t have a single drive that went for more than 40 yards in the first half and they went three and out on their two biggest drives of the fourth quarter. The defense also deserves plenty of blame for giving up 26 points in the final quarter. The Jags (5-4) could have taken control of second place in the AFC South, but now it feels like only a matter of time before they lose that to Houston. BThis game got off to an ugly start for the Texans, who turned the ball over twice in the first four minutes, but they made up for it later with one of the best fourth quarters by any team in NFL history. The comeback was possible thanks to an offense that came alive over the final 15 minutes and a dominant performance by the defense. The Texans defense forced two punts while holding the Jaguars to just 11 yards in the fourth quarter, which allowed the offense to get Houston back in the game. Davis Mills, who started for an injured C.J. Stroud, threw for 104 yards and two touchdowns in the final quarter and then he capped off the comeback by scoring on a 14-yard run that gave Houston its first lead of the game with just 31 seconds left to play. Nico Collins showed why he’s one of the best receivers in the NFL with seven catches for 136 yards. The Texans (4-5) essentially saved their season with this win.
Chicago 24-20 over N.Y. Giants
CIf we learned one thing about the Giants in this game, it’s how much Jaxson Dart already means to the team. The Giants (2-8) were leading 17-10 when Dart was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter, and after that, the team looked completely deflated. With Russell Wilson running the show, the Giants totaled just 22 yards on his three full possessions. Although Dart’s injury explains why the offense struggled, it’s hard to explain why the defense melted down in the fourth quarter. The Giants blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and that will have Brian Daboll’s seat heating up to a temperature that probably isn’t safe for anyone. C+For the second straight week, the Bears scored a game-winning touchdown in the final two minutes. Although it wasn’t quite as dramatic as their win over the Bengals, this one was still impressive. With the Bears trailing 20-10, Caleb Williams, who didn’t exactly look great during the first three quarters, took over in the fourth quarter. Williams totaled 129 yards and two touchdowns in the final period (77 yards passing and a TD, plus 52 yards rushing and a TD). The Bears defense came up with several big fourth-down stops while also forcing a key Jaxson Dart fumble in the third quarter that led to a pivotal field goal. The Bears (6-3) don’t always look great, but they keep finding a way to win and that’s all that matters in the NFL.
Baltimore 27-19 over Minnesota
BThe Ravens weren’t flashy, but they were impressive in this win. Their defense, which has struggled at times this year, finally came through with some big plays, including two interceptions and three fourth-down stops. Offensively, the Ravens didn’t put up huge numbers, but they did take advantage of everything the Vikings gave them. Minnesota turned the ball over three times and the Ravens got a total of 13 points off of those turnovers. With three straight wins, the Ravens (4-5) are now very much back in the AFC North race. CThe Vikings’ decision to let Sam Darnold leave during the offseason continues to look worse every week. Not just because Darnold is thriving in Seattle, but also because the QB position continues to be one of Minnesota’s biggest problems. J.J. McCarthy completed just 47.6% of his passes while throwing two interceptions on what was a sloppy day for the Vikings. The offense got called for eight false starts, which was the most in a home game in franchise history. Myles Price also lost a fumble on a kickoff that Baltimore quickly turned into a touchdown. At 4-5, this is dangerously close to becoming a lost season for the Vikings.
N.Y. Jets 27-20 over Cleveland
C-When you hold your opponent to 169 total yards, you usually win in the NFL, but the Browns lost this game because of a special teams meltdown in the first half. Not only did Cleveland give up a 99-yard kickoff return for a TD in the first quarter, but 36 seconds later, they gave up a 74-yard punt return for a TD. The defense also imploded late in the fourth quarter with two ugly penalties that allowed the Jets to seal the game. This was just another disappointing loss in a season full of disappointing losses for the Browns (2-7). Over the past five years, NFL teams had been 54-4 when holding their opponent under 170 yards, but that’s now 54-5. B-It’s a good thing the Jets didn’t trade Breece Hall, because he was nearly the entire offense against the Browns. With 83 yards on the ground and 42 yards receiving, Hall accounted for 125 of New York’s 169 yards on the day. The Jets’ special teams also went crazy: Kene Nwangwu had a 99-yard kickoff return TD and Isaiah Williams returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown. The Jets defense also held its own less than a week after trading away Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner. The Jets (2-7) haven’t had much to celebrate this year, so they should definitely feel good about picking up a win here.
New Orleans 17-7 over Carolina
AKellen Moore’s decision to turn the starting QB job over to Tyler Shough is already starting to pay dividends. With Shough running the show, the Saints offense looked like a well-oiled machine. The rookie QB threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns, including a clutch 30-yard score to Juwan Johnson on a third-and-12 in the fourth quarter that iced the win. Chris Olave (104 yards) and Johnson (92 yards) were the biggest benefactors of the rejuvenated passing game. The defense also deserves a lot of credit for holding one of the NFL’s top rushing attacks to just 73 yards on the ground. The Saints (2-8) might not win many more games this year, but Moore definitely still has them playing hard. This win marked the first time since 1981 that the Saints have won a game with a rookie QB starting. D-This was an absolutely embarrassing loss for the Panthers. Their offense only seems to work if they can run the ball and they couldn’t run the ball against the Saints. That put the game in the hands of Bryce Young, who responded by turning the ball over on consecutive possessions in the second half. The Panthers (5-5) had a chance to stamp themselves as a playoff contender after beating the Packers last week, but instead, they feel like a pretender.
Indianapolis 31-25 (OT) over Atlanta (in Berlin)
CThe Falcons (3-6) might be the most inconsistent team in the NFL. At times, they play well enough to compete with anyone, but at other times, they can’t get out of their own way. Offensively, Michael Penix Jr. made several big throws, but he only completed 42.8% of his passes. The Falcons were especially bad on third down, going 0 of 8 in the game. Defensively, the Falcons forced two Daniel Jones turnovers while sacking the Colts QB seven times, but they couldn’t stop Jonathan Taylor, who ran for 244 yards. On special teams, Zane Gonzalez had a field goal, but the Falcons gave up several huge returns, including a 49-yarder by Ameer Abdullah late in the fourth quarter that set up Indy’s game-tying field goal that sent the game to overtime. Every time the Falcons did something good, they did something bad to cancel it out and that’s been the story of their season. B-Jonathan Taylor took his MVP campaign to Germany: The Colts running back ran for 244 yards, which is the most by any player in the NFL this year. He also added three touchdowns and the Colts needed every single one of those. Taylor carried the offense on a day where the Colts couldn’t fully depend on their passing game. The offensive line got bullied by a Falcons pass rush that sacked Daniel Jones seven times. Jones also turned the ball over twice, which took some luster away from what was otherwise an impressive performance (255 yards and 1 TD, including going 5 of 7 for 57 yards in the fourth quarter, plus overtime). The Colts defense, with Sauce Gardner now in the fold, held the Falcons to zero third-down conversions on eight attempts. The Colts (8-2) continue to look like one of the best teams in the NFL, but if Jones doesn’t cut down on the turnovers, that could come back to haunt Indy later in the season.
Denver 10-7 over Las Vegas (Thursday)
CThis game basically epitomized by the Raiders are 2-7 this year. The defense had its best performance of the season, but that went to waste because the Raiders made mistake after mistake after mistake. On offense, Geno Smith was under siege all night by a Broncos defense that sacked him five times. The Raiders also inexplicably decided not to feature Brock Bowers with their star tight end getting just three targets. On special teams, the Raiders were a total disaster: They gave up a blocked punt in the first half, and then, in the fourth quarter, Daniel Carlson missed a 48-yard field goal that would have tied the game with under five minutes left. The Raiders just aren’t good enough to make that many mistakes and win a game against a good team. CFor the second straight week, Bo Nix struggled. The Broncos QB threw two interceptions, including one in the fourth quarter that almost gave the game away. With Nix struggling, the offense got off to a slow start with ZERO first downs on its first four possessions. The Broncos (8-2) won this game, because they have a Super Bowl-contending defense that continues to dominate the opposition. The defense beat up on Geno Smith, who was sacked six times with 1.5 of those coming from Nik Bonitto. If the Broncos are going to be a true Super Bowl contender, their offense is going to have to play better than it did on Thursday night. And Denver’s not going to have a lot of time to fix things because they have the Chiefs coming up in Week 11.

A potential power struggle is brewing between Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals over his return from a toe injury.
Burrow is determined to play this season, even if the team is out of playoff contention.
The Bengals’ front office may be hesitant to risk their star quarterback if the season is lost.
Despite a high-scoring offense, the team is struggling with the NFL’s worst defense and a 3-6 record.
We’ll see who’s really in charge of the Cincinnati Bengals by Thanksgiving.
Joe Burrow is hellbent on returning from injury for the game in Baltimore that night. Question is, will Bengals coach Zac Taylor and the front office let the superstar quarterback return if the floundering team is essentially out of playoff contention by then?
A power struggle between Burrow and the club’s decision makers could be forthcoming after Joey Franchise returned to practice on Monday for the first time since suffering the turf-toe injury nearly two months ago. That seemed clear by Burrow’s coy tone when asked if he’ll still play this season even if the Bengals are out of it.

In a game where points and yards were hard to come by, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith got six of one and 36 of the other on one reception for the key play in a 10-7 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.
The two longest plays of the NFL’s Week 10 finale came on consecutive snaps in the fourth quarter.
With the Eagles ahead 3-0, Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts threw short to running back Saquon Barkley for a 41-yard gain and long to Smith for a 36-yard touchdown with 10:35 remaining.
The 2020 Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama, Smith had four receptions for 69 yards against Green Bay, including the leaping touchdown over Packers safety Evan Williams.
A Crimson Tide teammate of Smith’s, Hurts completed 15-of-26 passes for 183 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran five times for 27 yards on Monday night.
A third member of Alabama’s 2017 CFP national-championship team scored the game’s other touchdown. Packers running back Josh Jacobs ran for 74 yards on 21 carries, caught five passes for 33 yards and bulled into the end zone from 6 yards out with 5:49 remaining.
Green Bay had two more possessions. The first featured a fourth-and-1 carry by Jacobs, which ended with the football in the hands of Philadelphia safety Reed Blankenship, a former West Limestone High School star.
In addition to taking the football away from Jacobs, Blankenship made seven tackles for the Eagles.
Green Bay got a final shot when Philadelphia failed on fourth-and-6 at the Packers 35 with 27 seconds to play. After an 18-yard completion, Green Bay sent Brandon McManus out for a 64-yard field-goal attempt with five seconds left. The Eagles called a timeout just before the snap, but McManus kicked the football anyway. The kick came up short, prompting the Packers to put the offense back on the field to try to get a little closer. After an incompletion, McManus had to try to kick a 64-yard field goal for real. It never had a chance as the game ended.
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The Philadelphia-Green Bay game at Lambeau Field involved 17 players from Alabama high schools and colleges. Others included:
Eagles cornerback Jakorian Bennett (McGill-Toolen) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
Eagles running back Tank Bigsby (Auburn) ran for 7 yards on three carries.
Eagles linebacker Jihaad Campbell (Alabama) made four tackles on defense and another one on special teams.
Landon Dickerson (Alabama) started at left guard for the Eagles.
Cameron Latu (Alabama) started at tight end for the Eagles. Latu did not record any stats in his first NFL start.
Xavier McKinney (Alabama) started at safety for the Packers. McKinney led Green Bay with seven tackles.
Eagles cornerback Mac McWilliams (UAB) was designated as a game-day inactive.
Packers safety Jaylin Simpson (Auburn) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
Tyler Steen (Alabama) started at right guard for the Eagles.
Eagles wide receiver Quez Watkins (Athens) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
Packers quarterback Malik Willis (Auburn) dressed for the game but did not play.
Colby Wooden (Auburn) started at defensive tackle for the Packers. Wooden made five tackles and recorded one tackle for loss.
Eagles defensive tackle Byron Young (Alabama) made one tackle for loss.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
In its next game, Green Bay (5-3-1) plays the New York Giants at noon CST Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Philadelphia (7-2) plays the Detroit Lions at 7:20 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Many expected fireworks with the Eagles facing the Green Bat Packers on Monday Night Football. The clash between the NFC’s best turned into a defensive standoff, but the Birds put the game to bed with a 10-7 win to maintain their grip on the top spot in the NFC.
As the punters on both teams made their case for MVP, retired NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning found plenty of excitement dissecting the game with some Philly celebrities on the ManningCast. Here’s everything you may have missed from the broadcast:
What is there to talk about?
With little going on in the game, the Mannings found plenty of jabs to throw at the Birds — first taking aim at everyone’s favorite punching bag in the Tush Push.
“It looks like guys are leaving early,” Peyton said. “… The left guard is early, the Packers are doing it, so if you’re not going to call it, than don’t call it either way.”
“I feel like they’ve done that all season,” Eli responded. “You think the refs would be looking for that.”
» READ MORE: Grading the Eagles’ win over the Green Bay Packers
Positive yards didn’t help cheer up the brothers, as Jalen Hurts choosing to scramble instead of pass late in the second was met with more negativity.
Perfecting the job of the armchair analyst, Peyton was quick to assume how A.J. Brown was reacting to his quarterback’s performance.
“I don’t think he saw him,” Peyton said. “You think [Brown] is going to bring that up? Say ‘I was open; I was open.’”
» READ MORE: Jason Kelce ice skates, more Tush Push controversy, and other nuggets from the Eagles-Packers broadcast
In the fourth, Peyton refused to lighten up on Brown, despite crediting him with drawing two defenders on DeVonta Smith’s fourth-quarter touchdown, which gave the Eagles a two-score lead with 10 minutes, 35 seconds to go.
After Josh Jacobs’ responded with a touchdown of his own later in the fourth quarter to bring the game back within three, the Colts and Broncos legend found a way to drag Brown again despite the team converting a big third-and-12.
“Shane [Gillis, one of the Mannings’ guests on the show], I’m going to tell [Brown] that you wanted the ball to go to him,” Peyton said following a catch from Smith. “I know there’s tension in the locker room right now. I’m going to be on the record saying he wanted to go to Brown, but he went to Smith, though.”
All about Abbott (Elementary)
Quinta Brunson, the star of the hit Philly-based sitcom Abbott Elementary, brought some much needed life to a difficult-to-watch broadcast. The West Philly native came out firing with her first moments of screen time.
“I’ve had to train myself to have patience to be able to talk with you today,” Brunson said to Eli Manning.
“Why, because you’re an Eagles fan?” Eli responded. “… Jeez Louise, I can’t escape y’all.”
The insults didn’t stop there as Brunson repeatedly slighted Eli by complimenting Payton while acting as a voice for frustrated fans who had to sit through a scoreless first half.
“This has been kind of a wild game,” Brunson said. “I think Eli said it earlier; it would be nice to see some more points on the board.”
In between her quips, though, Brunson may have let it slip that she’s maybe not as big of an Eagles fan as she has led us to believe — she claims she became a fan when they “won the 2011 Super Bowl.”
What?
Nothing Shady
Comedian Shane Gillis also made an appearance on the broadcast — chopping it up with the Mannings for a majority of the third and fourth quarter.
A Mechanicsburg, Pa., native and former offensive tackle at Trinity High School in Cumberland County, Gillis had to play against Eagles legend LeSean McCoy multiple times growing up.
“I went to the Catholic school across the river,” Gillis said. “I had to play him my entire life in every sport. And he just destroyed us every single year.”
Still an Eagles fan despite the embarrassment McCoy gave him, Gillis went on to perfectly predict the Eagles victory. After calling Reed Blankenship’s forced fumble and the ensuing blocked field goal, Gillis was placed high up on Manning’s predictions tracker.
What did he just say!?
Gillis, predictably, is all for the Tush Push, but it’s not something his Trinity squads were executing in the mid-2000s.
But now after his latest Peyton’s Places episode, the elder Manning brother has some lived experience with the play. And he had a bit of advice to offer.
“Better listen, Shane,” Peyton said. “Head down a— up, remember that advice.”
“Are you allowed to say that on TV?” Eli Manning responded.
“It’s ESPN2.” Peyton finished.

Edgerrin Cooper’s rise has been fast and fearless. Standing tall at 6-foot-2 and packing 229 pounds of pure muscle, Cooper isn’t just another name on the Green Bay Packers’ defense, he’s becoming their heartbeat. But beyond the tackles and sacks, there’s another side to his journey that’s just as fascinating. It’s the economics behind the game.
What is Edgerrin Cooper’s net worth?
Edgerrin Cooper’s estimated net worth in 2025 sits around $8.6 million, as per multiple reports. Most of that comes straight from his NFL contract and a few smart endorsement deals. The Packers locked him in with a four-year rookie deal worth $8.417 million. That deal included a solid $3 million signing bonus and $6 million guaranteed. For a player still building his résumé, that’s a major win. And it’s clear Green Bay saw long-term value in him right from day one.
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Edgerrin Cooper’s contract breakdown
Cooper got the full $3.073 million signing bonus up front, but it’s spread out over four years for cap purposes. In simple terms, that means the Packers only take a $768,440 cap hit from that bonus this season. Add in his base salary of $795,000, and Cooper’s total cap hit in 2024 lands at $1.563 million.
Interestingly, that $768,440 cap hit from the signing bonus will stay on the books each year of his deal. Meanwhile, Cooper’s salary climbs steadily. In 2025, it’s $1.185 million. Then it bumps to $1.576 million in 2026 and $1.967 million in 2027, as per Spotrac.
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What is Edgerrin Cooper’s salary?
As of 2025, Cooper’s financials look even sharper. He’s set to earn a base salary of $1,185,860, plus a workout bonus of $8,820. That puts his cap hit at $1,963,120 and his dead cap value at $5,013,655. Not bad for a young player in his second year.
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Edgerrin Cooper’s college and professional career
Edgerrin Cooper’s football story began long before the bright lights of Lambeau Field. Back in Covington High School, he was already turning heads as a dominant linebacker. Coaches saw more than just potential. Every game, every tackle added to his growing reputation. By the time his senior season wrapped up, college scouts were lined up, and Cooper’s name was already on their lists.
Then came 2020, a turning point. Cooper chose to take his talents to the Texas A&M Aggies, and that decision changed everything. Over four seasons, he became the engine of the Aggies’ defense.
Forty-five appearances, twenty-one starts, and numbers that spoke volumes: 205 total tackles, 30½ for loss, 8½ sacks, plus interceptions, fumbles, and pass breakups that showed how well-rounded he was.
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By 2023, he wasn’t just a name in the SEC; he was the name. His dominance earned him consensus All-American honors, a recognition that only a handful of players ever achieve. Seventeen tackles for loss and eight sacks tied him among the nation’s best, proving that he could wreck plays anywhere on the field. That season stamped his legacy in College Station.
Soon after, Green Bay came calling. The Packers picked him 45th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he wasted no time making an impression. In his first year, he recorded 57 solo tackles, 30 assists, 3.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and a pick in 14 games.
In 2025, he’s already stacked up 36 solo tackles, 26 assists, and half a sack in just eight games. The Cheeseheads know they’ve got a keeper.
Off the field, Cooper’s showing the same focus he brings to football.
Edgerrin Cooper’s brand endorsements
He’s been stepping into business, investing smartly in real estate and tech startups. That mindset shows he’s not just playing for now, he’s building for what comes after football. For Cooper, it’s all about growth, on and off the field.

The Jets accomplished something they haven’t done in 14 months.
Win back-to-back games.
The Jets enter Week 10 with consecutive victories after beating the Cleveland Browns 27-20 at MetLife Stadium in Week 10.
Buy New York Jets tickets
After a disastrous 0-8 start and being sellers at the trade deadline, the Jets have now improved to 2-8 and are aiming for their first three-game winning streak in over two years.
Now the Jets bring their momentum to Foxboro, where they take on the hottest team in the NFL and winners of seven straight — the New England Patriots — in an AFC East primetime matchup on Thursday night.
Here’s what you need to know on how to watch and more on the Jets vs. Patriots divisional showdown at Gillette Stadium to kickoff Week 11:
What channel is Jets vs. Patriots game on?
Livestream: Amazon Prime Video
Jets vs. Patriots will stream exclusively on Prime Video in Week 11 of the 2025 NFL season. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will call the game from the booth at Gillette Stadium, with Kaylee Hartung reporting from the sidelines.
Stream Jets vs Patriots live on Prime Video
Jets vs. Patriots time
Date: Thursday, Nov. 13
Start time: 8:15 p.m.
The Jets-Patriots Week 11 matchup starts at 8:15 p.m. from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Jets vs. Patriots predictions, picks, odds
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Tuesday, Nov. 11:
Patriots 31, Jets 10: The Jets are flying high after winning two in a row for the first time since last September. Unfortunately for the Jets, this is the perfect recipe for a blowout loss. The Patriots are the hottest team in the NFL, winners of seven straight and are at home, where as the Jets will be traveling to Foxboro likely with their star wide receiver in Garrett Wilson and facing the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL through 10 weeks. The chance Gang Green surprises here is near impossible given the situation, as the Patriots roll to a three-score victory and continue to increase their lead over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East.
Spread: Patriots by 11.5 points
Over/under: 44 points

Finally.
After a long 14-month wait, the Jets (2-7) have won consecutive games following Sunday’s impressive 27-20 win over the Cleveland Browns in front of 72,000-plus fans at MetLife Stadium.
And a victory Thursday night would mark the Jets’ first three-game winning streak since October 2023.
Despite back-to-back two wins over AFC North opponents, the Jets will have their work cut out for them on Thursday night.
Not only do the Jets have to play in Foxboro against the red-hot New England Patriots (8-2), but they’ll be doing so without star wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who is expected to miss the next 3-4 weeks with a knee sprain.
Can the Jets do the improbable and come out on top as an underdog on the road without Wilson, or will the Patriots keep rolling and make it eight consecutive wins?
Our prognosticators throughout the 2025 season are: Art Stapleton (Giants/NFL writer, NorthJersey.com), Bert Bainbridge (sports trending reporter/columnist, NorthJersey.com), Brian Marron (digital producer, NorthJersey.com), Chris Iseman (Rutgers writer, NorthJersey.com), Bob Jordan (sports editor, Asbury Park Press/APP.com) and Dave Rivera (sports editor, USA TODAY Northeast/NorthJersey.com).
Jets vs Patriots NFL Week 11 predictions, staff standings
Dave Rivera: 6-3
Art Stapleton: 6-3
Chris Iseman: 6-3
Brian Marron: 6-3
Bob Jordan: 6-3
Bert Bainbridge: 5-3
Here are our staff predictions for Jets vs. Patriots on Thursday night to begin Week 11 in Foxboro:
Bert Bainbridge
The pick: Patriots 31, Jets 10
Here’s why: The Jets are flying high after winning two in a row for the first time since last September. Unfortunately for the Jets, this is the perfect recipe for a blowout loss.
The Patriots are the hottest team in the NFL, winners of seven straight and are at home, where as the Jets will be traveling to Foxboro likely without their star wide receiver in Wilson and facing the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL through 10 weeks.
The chance Gang Green surprises here is near impossible given the context of the situation. In the end, the Patriots roll in the spot to a three-score victory and continue to increase their lead over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East.
Dave Rivera
The pick: Patriots 27, Jets 13
Here’s why: Just when you wanted to feel good about the Jets, you get the bad news that WR Garrett Wilson is lost for 3-4 weeks. The Jets are coming off their second straight victory, but they can’t rely on special teams touchdowns to boost them that way every week.
The Patriots are on a roll and they’re out to prove that they are for real. They’ll get their opportunity with a national audience watching Thursday night to show they’re going to be a real contender this season.
Chris Iseman
The pick: Patriots 34, Jets 10
Here’s why: Bad matchup for the Jets here. New England’s a far better team, and injuries keep mounting for the Jets.
Bob Jordan
The pick: Patriots 42, Jets 14

The Los Angeles Chargers racked up their third win in a row after going 1-3 the previous four weeks. With a 7-3 record, the Bolts find themselves with one of the better records in the AFC and could fight for the number one seed.
LA has been performing well without a prominent running game so far this season. So far, the leading rusher for the Chargers is Kimani Vidal, who was on the practice squad at the beginning of the season and was elevated to the 53-man roster to help with the injuries at the position. Vidal has 404 rushing yards on the season, with over 300 of his yards coming from three games alone.
Justin Herbert is the second-leading rusher on the team with the amount of injuries (and scrambling he has to do) for the Bolts, showing that the team needs some assistance in the run game.
The trade deadline has passed, so the current set of RBs the Bolts have will need to step up their game if Los Angeles wants to make a run in the playoffs. But one NFL writer believes the Chargers can acquire a talented running back in the next offseason to help for the future.
Bolts Acquire AFC East Running Back
The Los Angeles Chargers invested resources in a strong run game for Justin Herbert in the 2025 offseason to help alleviate some pressure off of him.
The Bolts signed Najee Harris to a one-year deal (who has rushed for four straight 1,000+ yard seasons) and drafted Omarion Hampton. But as of now, both players are on injured reserve, leaving Kimani Vidal as the best option in the backfield.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh and offense coordinator Greg Roman have done well with the pass game, but it cannot be the only source of production to lead them to a Super Bowl.
FanSided’s Wynston Wilcox urges the Chargers to trade for Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane next offseason to help the team’s lack of a prominent player in the backfield.
“The Los Angeles Chargers have their top two running backs on IR and with Najee Harris in the final year of his contract, I don’t think they’ll be inclined to bring him back. Omarion Hampton was supposed to be the new shiny toy after being drafted last April, but he was limited to just five games this year,” Wilcox wrote.
“Achane gives them a proven back and reliable option that would take some of the pressure off Justin Herbert. He’s appeared in every game since his rookie season and had at least 800 rushing yards each of the last two seasons; last year he had nearly 600 receiving yards. What he brings to Los Angeles is exactly what Jim Harbaugh needs, so Achane should be a top priority.”
De’Von Achane RB1?
The Chargers are one of 12 teams that do not have a 500-yard rusher on the season. As mentioned, Kimani Vidal is the closest player with 404 rushing yards.
Injuries have knocked Hampton from getting 500 rushing yards (which he was on track to hit), but the Bolts need a player who can guarantee to help them in the running game, with De’Von Achane being a clear answer.
Achane has run for more than 780 yards in three straight seasons, run for five touchdowns in each season and caught a minimum of three touchdowns with the Miami Dolphins. In his career, Achane has 32 total touchdowns.
If the Bolts were to trade for Achane, it would give the team an experienced player who can be used in multiple ways.
Plus, being on a playoff contender could give the player a boost in production.

Chael Sonnen has given his seal of approval to a new UFC heavyweight who borrowed more than a few of his lines after winning his octagon debut.
Josh Hokit scored a first-minute knockout of Max Gimenis on Saturday night at UFC Vegas 111 to announce himself as a serious contender in the heavyweight division. He even picked up a $50,000 bonus for his performance.
However, it was his post-fight promo that made the headlines and earned him praise across social media. He used a number of Sonnen’s legendary lines, most notably regarding having ‘the biggest arms’, and telling his planned next opponent Valter Walker he ‘absolutely sucks’.
Chael Sonnen offers stamp of approval to Josh Hokit after UFC Vegas 111
After his big victory on Saturday night, Josh Hokit cut a massive promo which finished with him calling out the ranked contender Walker for his next outing. He sprinkled in a number of Chael Sonnen’s most famous lines, which it seems the Hall of Famer appreciated.
During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Sonnen was shown the interview and appeared overjoyed at what was being said. He then gave his seal of approval to the heavyweight, admitting that the lines may not have originally been his in the first place.
“He did fantastic, yes,” Sonnen beamed. “I, of course, got inspired by some other people but he was paying me some homage there… Oban Elliott starts reaching out to get a hold of me and he says ‘hey man, if you say this guy is in the club I’m reaching out to let him know’.
“So I’m like ‘alright, let me call Colby’. We’ve got this little Bad Guy group going on and the bottom line is everybody gave him the thumbs up. I’m on board, man.”

Rookies can make or break your fantasy season. If you draft one early, it can pay off if they hit, but if they start slow (i.e. TreVeyon Henderson), it can cost you a high pick. There are also always some rookies who earn starting roles, but weren’t drafted, so they become crucial waiver wire pick ups (i.e. Jaxson Dart).
By now, we have a pretty good idea of which rookies will be fantasy relevant for the rest of the year, and which ones won’t be. As the playoffs draw nearer, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re starting the right ones, so today, I’m ranking the top 10 fantasy rookies for Week 11 of the NFL season.
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1. Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants
Season Rank (where they rank among rookies on Sleeper): 1
Week 11 matchup: Green Bay Packers
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Before I dive into the analysis, Jaxson Dart exited Sunday’s game with a concussion. There is a chance he doesn’t play against the Green Bay Packers this week, but we’ll find out more as the week goes on.
Dart has been an incredibly consistent fantasy option since taking over a the starter. He’s scored 17+ in every single game, and has had 20+ in four of his seven starts. If he’d been starting since the beginning of the season, he’d be a top-seven fantasy quarterback. Still, even after three games on the bench, he’s QB13. The Packers have a tough defense, but that hasn’t stopped Dart in the past. I expect him to sit right around that 20-point mark this week.
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2. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
Season Rank: 4
Week 11 matchup: Dallas Cowboys
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Even with some of the Las Vegas Raiders’ struggles offensively, Ashton Jeanty has been a pretty solid fantasy option at running back. He hasn’t lived up to his first-round price tag, but he’s really coming along quite nicely in recent weeks. Now he gets to face one of the worst defenses in football that can’t stop the run to save their lives. This is a great matchup, and Jeanty could end up outscoring all the rookies this week.
3. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Season Rank: 2
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Week 11 matchup: Buffalo Bills
Emeka Egbuka fell off for a few weeks after his incredibly hot start to the season. He was still getting a ton of volume, defenses were just focusing in on him with so many of the Bucs’ weapons out. He got back on track this week with a 23-point performance and should continue to be a valuable fantasy option for the rest of the year. This week’s game should be a shootout, and we just saw Buffalo’s defense get exposed. No reason he shouldn’t have a big game.
4. Quinshon Judkins, RB, Cleveland Browns
Season Rank: 7
Week 11 matchup: Baltimore Ravens
The Cleveland Browns’ offense stinks, but Quinshon Judkins is the only bright spot on the unit. He gets a ton of work, and even if he’s not that efficient, his floor is pretty high. Baltimore’s defense hasn’t been great this year, and while it’s been better in recent weeks, Judkins should be able to have a bit of success and possibly get into the end zone this weekend.
5. Tet McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers
Season Rank: 6
Week 11 matchup: Atlanta Falcons
Tet McMillan is another guy in a pretty bad offense, but outside of Rico Dowdle, McMillan is the only bright spot on Carolina’s offense. He’s been a very consistent fantasy option this year, especially when Bryce Young is healthy. The Atlanta Falcons have a decent defense, but they don’t have anyone who can completely shut McMillan down.
6. Oronde Gadsden, TE, Los Angeles Chargers
Season Rank: 11
Week 11 matchup: Jacksonville Jaguars
Oronde Gadsden has been listed as day-to-day after suffering an injury on Sunday Night Football, but it seems like there’s a good chance he’s ready to go this week. He has been excellent since taking over as the Los Angeles Chargers’ TE1 and has launched himself up to the No. 11 rookie in fantasy this year despite hardly playing half the season. If he’s good to go, he’s a must-start against Jacksonville.
7. Dillon Gabriel, QB, Cleveland Browns
Season Rank: 19
Week 11 matchup: Baltimore Ravens
Dillon Gabriel has been surprisingly pretty good in fantasy these past two weeks. He’s averaging 17 points per game over his last two, and this week he plays a Baltimore defense that’s improving, but still has its weaknesses. I wouldn’t start him in one QB leagues, but if you have him in a Super Flex, then I’d consider it.
8. TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots
Season Rank: 10
Week 11 matchup: New York Jets
TreVeyon Henderson exploded last week for 147 yards and two scores in the New England Patriots’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If I knew he was going to be the RB1 for sure, he’d be much higher on this list, but Mike Vrabel loves him some Rhamondre Stevenson, so who knows how Henderson will perform. A ton of upside, but a very low floor. Same could be said for third-round draft pick and Week 10 TD scorer Kyle Williams.
9. Woody Marks, RB, Houston Texans
Season Rank: 13
Week 11 matchup: Tennessee Titans
Woody Marks has received at least 10 touches in each of his last four games, and in those games, he’s scored at least 12 points three times. Houston’s offense is tough to trust, but they looked pretty good with Davis Mills under center last week. Maybe they can carry some of that momentum over to this week against a very bad Tennessee defense. If so, Marks could have a pretty good game.
10. Harold Fannin, TE, Cleveland Browns
Season Rank: 9
Week 11 matchup: Baltimore Ravens
Rounding out our top 10 is another Brown, Harold Fannin. He’s been one of the best rookies all season long, and Gabriel loves throwing him the football. He should see at least six targets this week against a Baltimore defense that’s struggled to defend the pass this year. Easy start on most teams this week.
Sleeper’s Top 15 Rookie Rankings For Week 11
1. QB Jaxson Dart
2. RB Ashton Jeanty
3. WR Tet McMillan
4. WR Emeka Egbuka
5. RB Quinshon Judkins
6. QB Dillon Gabriel
7. TE Oronde Gadsden
8. QB Cam Ward
9. RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt
10. RB Woody Marks
11. TE Harold Fannin
12. TE Colston Loveland
13. WR Tez Johnson
14. TE Mason Taylor
15. WR Elic Ayomanor

The Broncos are OMG without their D, DOA without VJ. You could build a 10-foot hoagie from the amount of bacon Vance Joseph has saved from Sean Payton’s hindquarters since August.
Denver leads the NFL in punts (53). The Broncos have kicked it away on fourth down four more times than the Browns (49), who went from Joe Flacco to Dillon Gabriel at QB, and 11 more times than the Titans (42), who fired their coach after six games.
Meanwhile, Denver (8-2) rolls into Sunday’s absurdly huge showdown with the Chiefs (5-4) ranked third in the NFL in fewest points allowed (17.2) and fewest yards given up (270.7).
It’s one of the most lopsided 8-2 profiles in modern NFL history — a kaiju corgi with a big body and tiny little legs, stepping on buses and chewing on power cables in the most adorably destructive way possible.
“Shootouts, low-scoring games, as long as we win,” Joseph, the Broncos’ defensive coordinator and mastermind of the Mile High Mashers, told me after practice earlier this month. “You have to improve every single week, fix your issues and move forward. That’s what we’re doing.”
Speaking of issues, the Giants are now looking for a head coach. Brian Daboll became the second NFL boss this season to lose his gig not long after losing to the Broncos. The Titans, who looked Hackett-esque in a Week 1 defeat at Empower Field, have been on the hunt for Brian Callahan’s replacement since mid-October.
As the hottest coordinator in the NFL, Joseph, 53, has already landed on most pundits’ short lists. As well he should.
“It is flattering (to be mentioned),” Joseph said. “I think as a coach, you always like when your work’s being recognized. Obviously, that’s why we do it. I think the highest honor in this league is being mentioned in those conversations, so that’s flattering, also. But this is my, what, 18th, 19th season in the league?
Renck vs. Keeler: Which team has best shot at title: Broncos, Nuggets or Avs?

Victor Flores is the Montana State Bobcats beat writer for 406 MT Sports. Email him at victor.flores@406mtsports.com and follow him on Twitter/X at @VictorFlores406
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On the first NFL Sunday since the death of Marshawn Kneeland, teams across the country took time out before kickoff to honor the former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman.
Kneeland died by suicide on Thursday in Frisco. He was 24.
Sunday’s slate of games comprised 12 matchups, and reports on Saturday said that the NFL sent a memo to teams requesting they hold a moment of silence prior to kickoff.
The memorials started Sunday morning all the way across the pond for the Colts-Falcons matchup in Berlin in the NFL’s early-morning international game.
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The noon slate brought another seven matchups, all of which paid tribute to the late Cowboys lineup prior to opening kick, along with a tribute to Kneeland and a call for mental health awareness by the studio pregame shows.
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The tributes continued in the evening slate of games, with a handful of other teams offering up a videoboard message and a moment of silence for Kneeland.
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Ravens head coach John Harbaugh also led off his postgame press conference after Baltimore’s win over Minnesota with some words of consolation for Kneeland and for former NFL commisioner Paul Tagliabue, who died on Sunday.
Ahead of Sunday night’s Steelers-Chargers game, Kneeland was also honored with a moment of silence at SoFi Stadium. The team also hoonored former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. See the moment of on NBC’s broadcast below.
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Prior to Monday night’s Packers-Eagles game, former Cowboys Micah Parsons paid tribute to his former teammate Kneeland.
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Dallas returns from its off week with a Monday night game against the struggling Las Vegas Raiders.
The team is also set to wear t-shirts honoring the former defensive end.
This marks the Cowboys’ fourth primetime matchup of the 2025 season.
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Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Round 1 – Pick 1
Arvell Reese LB
Ohio State • Jr • 6’4

Week 10 of the NFL season is done and dusted, and it’s time to see who had the best week. There were a ton of great individual performances this week, especially at the running back position. As always, it was hard to narrow this list down to just 10 players, but I gave it a shot.
Here were my 10 best performers in NFL Week 10.
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1. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts
Jonathan Taylor took the week off last week, but is back on top of our list in Week 10. The Indianapolis Colts’ star made a statement in Germany, totaling 286 yards and three touchdowns in their win over the Atlanta Falcons. I mean, are we even surprised at this point? He’s been doing this all year – it’s his FOURTH three-touchdown game of the year. Just insane numbers he’s putting up.
Stat Line: 244 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards, 3 TD
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2. Will McDonald, DE, New York Jets
Everyone (myself included) thought the New York Jets were just going to lay down a die after their fire sale at the trade deadline, but they did no such thing. Instead, they came out with a fire under them and took down the Cleveland Browns. That win was largely due to Will McDonald, who went off with four sacks and five quarterback hits. He was a massive reason the Jets won this game, so he deserves a podium spot on this list.
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Stat Line: 5 tackles, 5 QB hits, 4 sacks
3. De’Von Achane, RB, Miami Dolphins
This was a great week for running backs across the league. Taylor led the way, but De’Von Achane also had a massive game, rushing for 174 yards and three touchdowns while adding 51 yards through the air. He was the main reason the Miami Dolphins dropped 30 points in their massive win over their AFC East rivals, the Buffalo Bills.
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Stat Line: 174 rushing yards, 51 receiving yards, 3 TD
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4. Danielle Hunter, DE, Houston Texans
Another defender who finds himself in the top five is Danielle Hunter, who helped the Houston Texans win an overtime thriller this weekend. Hunter totaled seven tackles and 3.5 sacks, including a massive one to force a punt when Houston trailed by nine with 10 minutes left. He was one of the main reasons Houston won this game, so he lands in the top five.
Stat Line: 7 tackles, 4 QB hits, 3.5 sacks
5. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions
Yet another running back who had a big game this weekend was Jahmyr Gibbs. The Detroit Lions’ star RB ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns while adding another 30 yards and a score through the air. The Lions scored 44 points in their blowout win over Washington, and Gibbs was a large reason why their offense was so successful.
Stat Line: 142 rushing yards, 30 receiving yards, 3 TD
6. Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams
Our first quarterback to crack the list is none other than Matthew Stafford, who is playing as good as anybody in the league right now. After throwing for 280 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions on Sunday, Stafford has now thrown for 743 yards and 13 touchdowns in his last three games. He’s also thrown 20 touchdowns since his last interception. If it’s not Taylor, Stafford is the MVP right now.
Stat Line: 24-for-36, 280 yards, 4 TD
7. TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots
With Rhamondre Stevenson out again, TreVeyon Henderson took over as the New England Patriots’ RB1 this week, and man was he explosive. Henderson received 14 carries, but took them for 147 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-sealing 69-yard touchdown run with under two minutes to go. He was one of my favorite players in the draft this year, and I hope the Patriots keep giving him more touches.
Stat Line: 14 carries, 147 yards, 2 TD
8. Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals
Trey McBride has been one of the best receivers – not just tight end, but all receivers – since Jacoby Brissett took over as the starter. He’s had 50+ yards and at least one touchdown in every single game since Brissett took over, and now he adds a nine-catch, 127-yard performance to his resume. He’s having a great season, but this was his statement game.
Stat Line: 9 catches, 127 yards, TD
9. Jalen Nailor, WR, Minnesota Vikings
This has been a down year for wide receivers and quarterbacks, but Jalen Nailor made his presence felt on Sunday, catching five passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. While Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison struggled, Nailor came through huge for the Minnesota Vikings, but they still fell just short against Baltimore. Still, it was a career day for Nailor.
Stat Line: 5 receptions, 124 yards, TD
10. Brian Branch, DB, Detroit Lions
Detroit beat the brakes off Washington this week, and while their offense will get a ton of the credit, their defense played pretty well, too. Brian Branch was a big part of their defensive success, logging seven tackles, two QB hits, 1,5 sacks and a tackle for loss in the 44-22 win. He was solid in coverage, didn’t miss a tackle and sacked Marcus Mariota twice. It was a great game for Branch and the Lions’ defense.

Week 10 of the 2025 NFL season is in the books, and you know what that means…It’s time to power rank all 32 teams. Last week, we saw a ton of movement, and while this week was a bit more subtle, there were still some big changes made.
Here’s our NFL Week 11 power rankings.
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32. Tennessee Titans (1-8)
Last Week’s Ranking: 32
Week 9 Result: Bye
PFF Rankings: Offense 31st, Defense 19th
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Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm vs Texans
The Tennessee Titans were on a bye this week, and saw the only other two one-win teams both collect wins. Easy last place for the team that now owns the No. 1 overall pick.
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31. Las Vegas Raiders (2-7)
Last Week’s Ranking: 30
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Week 9 Result: 10-7 loss to Broncos
PFF Rankings: Offense 25th, Defense 30th
Week 10 Matchup: Monday, 8:15 pm vs Cowboys
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The Las Vegas Raiders kept it surprisingly close against the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, but it doesn’t mean they looked good. Their offense really struggled, and it felt like Denver’s offense shot itself in the foot more than Vegas’ defense played super well.
30. Cleveland Browns (2-7)
Last Week’s Ranking: 27
Week 9 Result: 27-20 loss to Jets
PFF Rankings: Offense 32nd, Defense 1st
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:25 pm vs Ravens
The Cleveland Browns have not looked good recently. Outside of their big win over Miami, they’ve really struggled on both sides of the ball in recent weeks. Their defense, which was supposed to be great, has now given up 27+ in nearly half of their games.
29. New York Jets (2-7)
Last Week’s Ranking: 29
Week 9 Result: 27-20 win over Browns
PFF Rankings: Offense 27th, Defense 16th
Week 10 Matchup: Thursday, 8:15 pm at Patriots
The New York Jets looked like they were in full-on tank mode after the trade deadline, but they showed everyone they’re still competing after taking down the Browns, 27-20. Their offense still looked really bad; they just made a couple of big special teams plays that helped them win this game.
28. New Orleans Saints (2-8)
Last Week’s Ranking: 31
Week 9 Result: 17-7 win over Panthers
PFF Rankings: Offense 30th, Defense 15th
Week 10 Matchup: Bye
Tyler Shough proved a lot of people wrong on Sunday. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was down on this kid during the predraft process because of a few lowlights, but he was a really good college quarterback, and balled out on Sunday. He has a great arm, makes good decisions and is accurate. That’s a great trio for an NFL starting quarterback. I think this offense can do some damage with him under center.
27. Arizona Cardinals (3-6)
Last Week’s Ranking: 24
Week 9 Result: 44-22 loss to Seahawks
PFF Rankings: Offense 24th, Defense 18th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:05 pm vs 49ers
The Arizona Cardinals were blown out on Sunday, but that was more a testament to how good Seattle is than how bad Arizona is. I still think they can make some noise and pull off another 2-3 upsets, but they’re still not a great team all around.
26. New York Giants (2-8)
Last Week’s Ranking: 26
Week 9 Result: 24-20 loss to Bears
PFF Rankings: Offense 22nd, Defense 26th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm vs Packers
After blowing yet another lead, the New York Giants have fired Brian Daboll. I feel like it’s the right move, but I also think the timing was a bit weird. If it wasn’t for an injury to Jaxson Dart, they win that game. Still, a loss is a loss, and it was time to move on anyway.
25. Atlanta Falcons (3-6)
Last Week’s Ranking: 21
Week 9 Result: 31-25 (OT) loss to Colts
PFF Rankings: Offense 13th, Defense 22nd
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm vs Panthers
Another week, another loss for the Atlanta Falcons. They’ve been able to keep it close with some top teams in recent weeks, but just can’t get over the hump. They were gashed by Jonathan Taylor, who had the 19th-most rushing yards in a single game in NFL history. Not a fun Europe trip for the Falcons, and I just don’t see how they turn things around anytime soon. Michael Penix stinks and they’re just a hard watch (but that’s fine with me as a Saints fan).
24. Miami Dolphins (3-7)
Last Week’s Ranking: 28
Week 9 Result: 30-13 win over Bills
PFF Rankings: Offense 27th, Defense 27th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 9:30 am vs Commanders (Spain)
The Miami Dolphins might have the lowest floor in the league. When they’re playing bad, they’re BAD, but they also have a very high ceiling. This offense randomly goes off for 30+ points every three weeks, and that’s what happened on Sunday as they took down the Buffalo Bills. They’re hard to rank because you never know what team you’re going to get. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it two in a row next week, though.
23. Cincinnati Bengals (3-6)
Last Week’s Ranking: 25
Week 9 Result: Bye
PFF Rankings: Offense 19th, Defense 31st
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Steelers
The Cincinnati Bengals were on a bye this week, but they jumped one spot due to Arizona’s loss. Joe Burrow was spotted at practice on Monday, though, so could we see him back in time to make a playoff push?
22. Washington Commanders (3-7)
Last Week’s Ranking: 23
Week 9 Result: 44-22 loss to Detroit
PFF Rankings: Offense 14th, Defense 28th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 9:30 am vs Dolphins (Spain)
The Washington Commanders suffered yet another loss on Sunday. Their offense didn’t look all that bad without Jayden Daniels, but their defense was atrocious yet again. I don’t see much hope for this team moving forward.
21. Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 22
Week 9 Result: Bye
PFF Rankings: Offense 7th, Defense 32nd
Week 10 Matchup: Monday, 8:15 pm at Raiders
The Dallas Cowboys were on a bye this week, but jumped one spot due to the Falcons’ loss. There are still massive concerns about this defense, but their offense can keep them in most games.
20. Carolina Panthers (5-5)
Last Week’s Ranking: 18
Week 9 Result: 17-7 loss to Saints
PFF Rankings: Offense 21st, Defense 17th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Falcons
The Carolina Panthers dropped an ugly one to the Saints, where they scored just seven points. Carolina’s offense has been pretty bad these last couple weeks, and I don’t see them getting a whole lot better. They were always worse than their record indicated, and this game proved that.
19. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-4)
Last Week’s Ranking: 17
Week 9 Result: 36-29 loss to Texans
PFF Rankings: Offense 23rd, Defense 14th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Titans
I was impressed by how the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense played against a very good defense, but man, their defense stunk it up against a very lackluster offense that was without their starting quarterback. Maybe Davis Mills is really that good?..No, probably not. I think Jacksonville is just another team that’s not as good as their record.
18. Houston Texans (4-5)
Last Week’s Ranking: 19
Week 9 Result: 36-29 win over Jaguars
PFF Rankings: Offense 20th, Defense 5th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Titans
Speaking of Houston, I never thought they’d win a game where their defense gave up over 20 points, but here we are. Davis Mills looked better than C.J. Stroud has pretty much all year, and led them to their second-most points of the season. Impressive stuff, but I still don’t trust their offense to be consistent.
17. Minnesota Vikings (4-5)
Last Week’s Ranking: 16
Week 9 Result: 27-19 loss to Ravens
PFF Rankings: Offense 29th, Defense 23rd
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm vs Bears
The Minnesota Vikings struggled offensively in this game, but were still able to keep it somewhat close with the Lamar Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens. They’re probably the most average team in the league right now. It feels like there’s a clear tier above and below them, and they’re just floating alone in the middle.
16. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4)
Last Week’s Ranking: 11
Week 9 Result: 25-10 loss to Chargers
PFF Rankings: Offense 226th, Defense 10th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm vs Bengals
I wanted to drop the Pittsburgh Steelers further than this, but I just couldn’t find the room. Man, what a pathetic performance from the Steelers on Monday night. The score was 25-10, but it was really 25-3. They just got their butts whooped; there’s no other way to put it. The Los Angeles Chargers have a legit defense, but that was a poor performance from Pittsburgh’s offense.
15. Green Bay Packers (5-3-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 14
Week 9 Result: 10-7 loss to Eagles
PFF Rankings: Offense 12th, Defense 2nd
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Giants
What a disappointing loss. Not that they lost to Philly, but the way they lost. They looked horrible. Their offense really struggled, and while they played well defensively, it was more on Philly’s offense not playing well. We’re notorious for being low on Green Bay, and these last two weeks have been a perfect example of why we’re so low on them. They just aren’t serious NFC contenders, no matter how much the national media wants you to think they are.
14. Baltimore Ravens (4-5)
Last Week’s Ranking: 20
Week 9 Result: 27-19 win over Vikings
PFF Rankings: Offense 16th, Defense 21st
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:25 pm at Browns
Yeah, the Baltimore Ravens are back. Lamar Jackson wasn’t great by any means, but they still found a way to grind out a win against a pretty good Minnesota team. Their defense forced a couple of turnovers, and Tyler Loop went 4-for-5. Not all wins are going to be pretty, but a win is a win. The AFC North just got a whole lot more interesting after this week.
13. Chicago Bears (6-3)
Last Week’s Ranking: 15
Week 9 Result: 24-20 win over Giants
PFF Rankings: Offense 22nd, Defense 26th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Vikings
I am not a believer in the Chicago Bears. I hope they prove me wrong, but it feels like every time they get a win, it’s a bit lucky. If Jaxson Dart doesn’t get hurt, they lose this game. They’ve also been in tight battles with Cincinnati, Washington and Vegas and barely came out on top. There’s something to be said about winning games no matter the circumstances, but I just don’t believe in this team to win a big one. They get the Packers and Eagles in a few weeks, and that’ll tell us a lot about this team.
12. San Francisco 49ers (6-4)
Last Week’s Ranking: 13
Week 9 Result: 42-26 loss to Rams
PFF Rankings: Offense 8th, Defense 29th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:05 pm at Cardinals
The San Francisco 49ers are still beat up, but I expected them to be a bit more competitive against the Los Angeles Rams. Their offense wasn’t horrible, but their defense just looked lost. They couldn’t stop Matthew Stafford if their lives depended on it, and that does not bode well for them in the future. It looks like a two-horse race in the NFC West.
11. Buffalo Bills (6-3)
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Week 9 Result: 30-13 loss to Dolphins
PFF Rankings: Offense 5th, Defense 24th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm vs Buccaneers
The Buffalo Bills beat the brakes off Carolina, knocked off Kansas City and then…Lose to Miami by 17. I know the weather wasn’t perfect, but man, this is a bad loss. They were beginning to establish themselves as real contenders in the AFC after a two-game losing streak, and now everyone’s doubting them again. Can’t have losses like this if you’re as talented as Buffalo.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-3)
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
Week 9 Result: 28-23 loss to Patriots
PFF Rankings: Offense 18th, Defense 9th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Bills
This was Tampa’s chance to make a statement and knock off the New England Patriots, but they blew it. It was a close game, so I’m not punishing them too hard, but giving up a 69-yard rushing touchdown when you know they’re going to run it to try and burn out the clock is just horrible. When their offense gets healthy, I expect them to be better, but for now, they hardly crack the top 10.
9. Los Angeles Chargers (7-3)
Last Week’s Ranking: 12
Week 9 Result: 25-10 win over Steelers
PFF Rankings: Offense 15th, Defense 11th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 1 pm at Jaguars
The Chargers came out on Sunday night and dominated the Steelers. This was a statement from the Chargers. Despite being down their top two running backs and their two starting tackles, they beat the Steelers by 22 (garbage time touchdowns don’t count in my book). Great win for LAC. They deserve to be in the top 10.
8. Kansas City Chiefs (5-4)
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
Week 9 Result: Bye
PFF Rankings: Offense 9th, Defense 7th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:25 pm at Broncos
The Kansas City Chiefs were on a bye this week, and they stayed put at No. 8. They have some questions to answer next week against the Denver Broncos, though, because last time out, they did not look great against Buffalo.
7. Detroit Lions (6-3)
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
Week 9 Result: 44-22 win over Commanders
PFF Rankings: Offense 4th, Defense 4th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 8:20 pm vs Eagles
The Lions just ran through the Commanders on Sunday afternoon. Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling duties and called a perfect game. Jahmyr Gibbs ran wild, Jared Goff had an efficient day through the air and their defense looked pretty good once again. If their offense can consistently play this well, their ceiling is a top-five team.
6. Philadelphia Eagles (7-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
Week 9 Result: 10-7 win over Packers
PFF Rankings: Offense 6th, Defense 12th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 8:20 pm vs Lions
What an unconvincing win for the Philadelphia Eagles. Their offense struggled all night, and while their defense played really well, I think it was more of Green Bay’s offense not playing well. Still, a win is a win, and they’re 7-2. It’s hard to knock a team for winning, but this was just ugly. I was much more impressed by some teams behind them.
5. Denver Broncos (8-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 7
Week 9 Result: 10-7 win over Raiders
PFF Rankings: Offense 17th, Defense 7th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:25 vs Chiefs
The Broncos are a tough team to figure out. They’re 8-2 and have one of the best defenses in football, but I just do not trust that offense at all. Bo Nix needs to be much more consistent, but I can’t put them any lower than No. 6. They keep finding ways to win, and while they can’t keep winning like this forever, it’s working for now, and I have to respect that. I know I just knocked the Eagles for pretty much the same thing, but I think Denver’s defense gives them the slight nod over Philly.
4. Indianapolis Colts (8-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 7
Week 9 Result: 31-25 (OT) win over Falcons
PFF Rankings: Offense 3rd, Defense 30th
Week 10 Matchup: Bye
The Colts almost looked like themselves this weekend. After a brutal loss to Pittsburgh, Jonathan Taylor got things going with a massive game on the ground, which led the Colts past the Falcons in Germany. European games can be a bit tricky, but I thought they handled it well. Still want to see more from their defense, but they’re back in the top-five this week.
3. New England Patriots (8-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
Week 9 Result: 28-23 win over Buccaneers
PFF Rankings: Offense 11th, Defense 13th
Week 10 Matchup: Thursday, 8:15 pm vs Jets
The Patriots just keep cementing themselves as Super Bowl contenders. Week after week, I keep waiting for them to slip up, but they just don’t. This was their first real test in a while, and they handled it and knocked off one of the best teams in the NFC. Drake Maye and Co. are legit. They could win the AFC this year.
2. Seattle Seahawks (7-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
Week 9 Result: 44-22 win over Cardinals
PFF Rankings: Offense 2nd, Defense 6th
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:05 pm vs Rams
The Seattle Seahawks were our No. 1 team last week, and after a big win over the Cardinals, they fall one spot. This isn’t due to any fault of their own. They’re a great team with a great offense and defense. I was just a little more impressed with their NFC West rivals this week.
1. Los Angeles Rams (7-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
Week 9 Result: 42-26 win over 49ers
PFF Rankings: Offense 1st, Defense 3rd
Week 10 Matchup: Sunday, 4:05 pm vs Seahawks

Week 10 of the2025 NFL seasonkicked off Thursday with the Broncos narrowly beating the Raiders despite two interceptions by quarterback Bo Nix.
Sunday’s action started in Berlin, where Colts star Jonathan Taylor turned in the best performance by a back all season in a win over the Falcons. Back in the United States, the Bears and Texans overcame double-digit deficits in the second half against the Giants and Jaguars, respectively. In Tampa, the Patriots halted a potential game-winning drive from the Buccaneers. The Ravens secured their third consecutive win in Minnesota, while the Bills failed to win their third straight in Miami.
In the late window, the Rams avenged their Week 5 overtime lossto the 49ers. QuarterbackMatthew Staffordthrew four touchdown passes for the third straight game, and the win marked Los Angeles’ fourth in a row. Elsewhere in the NFC West, the Seahawks also secured their fourth straight win by defeating the Cardinals. And the Lions comfortably reached 40 points in a blowout win over the Commanders.
In the evening, the Chargers shut down the Steelers offense on their way to a comfortable win at SoFi.
To close Week 10, the Packers lost to the Eagles in a defensive battle on Monday night.
Our NFL Nation reporters reacted to all the action, answering lingering questions coming out of each game and detailing everything else you need to know for every team. Let’s get to it.
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Philadelphia 10, Green Bay 7
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Eagles
Are the Eagles poised to make another title run? Their chances of capturing the No. 1 seed improved to 33 percent with the win, per ESPN Analytics, compared to 12 percent if they would have lost. It was a huge win at a difficult venue in Lambeau Field, and highlighted just how dangerous this defense can be now that they’ve bolstered the defensive front with the addition of Jaelan Phillips and the return of Nolan Smith Jr. from a triceps injury. The offense was overly conservative and needs to stop it with the three-and-outs — they have 29 3-and-out drives resulting in a punt this season, the second-most in NFL — but there’s plenty to like heading down the home stretch.
Most surprising performance: Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio gave Phillips a major role in his first game as an Eagles, and Phillips delivered big-time. Acquired from the Miami Dolphins for a third-round pick in front of last week’s trade deadline, Phillips got the start and erupted for seven QB pressures, two QB hits and six tackles. He stuffedJosh Jacobson 4th-and-1 with 1:30 remaining, leading to a forced fumble that helped seal the win for Philly. The Eagles have something cooking along the defensive front with the Phillips addition, Smith’s return and Jalyx Hunt heating up. — Tim McManus
Next game: vs. Lions (Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET)
Packers
How can the Packers fix their offense? Tight end Tucker Kraft isn’t coming back from last week’s knee injury. He’s done for the year with a torn ACL. Receiver Jayden Reed is still weeks away from returning off injured reserve while recovering from a foot and collarbone surgeries. And the offense line remains a revolving door with center Elgton Jenkins leaving this game because of an ankle injury. Clearly, coach Matt LaFleur didn’t want to put the game in the hands of quarterback Jordan Love, what with his run-heavy game plan, but he’s going to have to figure out a way to get more out of this team if they’re going to make a run to the playoffs.
Trend to watch: For the second straight game, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s unit gave the team a chance to win. A week after the 16-13 loss to the Panthers, they held the Eagles in check for most of the game. The Packers gave up their first points of the game on a field goal halfway through the third quarter and didn’t allow a touchdown until early in the fourth. The Packers are 5-3-1 this season. They allowed 16 or fewer points in all 3 losses. They are now 1-3 when allowing 16 or fewer points this season, their most such losses since 1978, per ESPN Research.– Rob Demovsky
Next game: at Giants (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)
L.A. Chargers 25, Pittsburgh 10
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Chargers
Does this win prove that the Chargers can contend despite their many injuries? No. If the Chargers were playing this version of Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers every week, then this answer might be different. The Chargers still struggled to protect quarterback Justin Herbert; he was sacked five times and pressured 12 times Sunday. But they benefited from Rodgers’ errant throws and his receivers’ dropped passes, which didn’t put pressure on the Chargers’ offense. While Sunday’s win was a great sign for the Chargers’ playoff hopes, it isn’t an indicator that they can be serious championship contenders.
Trend to watch: Ladd McConkey’s uptick in production. It had seemed that McConkey’s role in this offense had diminished as receivers Keenan Allen and Quentin Johnston were more productive through the opening weeks of the season. But that has changed in recent weeks. McConkey appears back to being the Chargers’ top receiving threat and finished Sunday night with four catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. He leads the Chargers in receiving yards and is second in receptions. — Kris Rhim
Next game: at Jaguars (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)
Steelers
Was this a bad sign or a bad game for Aaron Rodgers? Maybe both. Less than a month from his 42nd birthday, Rodgers, the NFL’s oldest active player, looked every bit his age in his worst performance as a Steeler to date. Rodgers completed 16 of 31 pass attempts with two interceptions and a garbage-time touchdown. He took three sacks and appeared out of sync with his receivers throughout the game. He was intercepted in the first half when he overthrew DK Metcalf in the seam and rocketed the ball right to rookie RJ Mickens. He also took a sack in the end zone for a safety on the Steelers’ third possession as he attempted to extend the play. Prior to Sunday night’s game, Rodgers looked rejuvenated in his first eight starts as he completed 68.7% of his pass attempts, his highest completion percentage since the 2021 season. Rodgers had found success this season by completing short passes, but even those weren’t connecting Sunday night.
Key stat to know: How about two: The Steelers were 2-of-11 on third down and had only 11 first downs on 12 possessions. With the two garbage-time third-down conversions late in the fourth quarter, they narrowly avoided being the first Steelers team in 20 years to not convert a third down in a game. — Brooke Pryor
Next game: vs. Bengals (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)
Detroit 44, Washington 22
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Lions
Have the Lions fixed their offensive issues? The Lions bounced back from last week’s stunning loss to Minnesota with a dominant win at Washington. But it’s tough to tell whether the offensive explosion was a result of the Commanders’ struggling defense or Detroit’s adjustments since last week. Coach Dan Campbell seemingly took over the offensive playcalling duties from first-year coordinator John Morton, as Campbell was spotted talking into a headset between plays with a play sheet in his hands.
Stat to know: Running back Jahmyr Gibbs scored his 41st career touchdown, joining Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only players in Lions history to score 40 or more touchdowns within their first three seasons, per ESPN Research. Sanders had 47 from 1989 to 1991. It was also Gibbs’ fourth career game with a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown, which is the second most in Lions history behind Sanders (five). Gibbs was coming off a career-low 28 scrimmage yards on a season-low 12 touches in Week 9. — Eric Woodyard
Next game: at Eagles (Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET)
Commanders
When will the losing streak end? According to ESPN Research this is the second time in franchise history that Washington has lost four straight by 20+ points (1954). It’s also the most points they’ve allowed over a four-game stretch since 1954. Injuries and ineffective play have wrecked them. They have a chance to end the streak next Sunday against 3-7Miami, but the Dolphins just upset the Bills. The Commanders still have games left versus Denver, at Minnesota and versus Philadelphia (twice). They should get help on offense if and when receivers Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown return from injury. That could provide the boost they need against the 2-8 Giants (away on Dec. 14) or 3-5-1 Cowboys (home on Dec. 25). But the schedule looks bleak the rest of the way.
Stat to know: 8.8 yards per play. That’s what Detroit’s starting offense averaged before quarterback Jared Goff was pulled with 6:56 left in the game. That’s the most Washington’s defense has allowed since Nov. 30, 2014, when the Colts averaged 9.9 yards per play. On Sunday, the Lions gained 546 yards overall. — John Keim
Next game: vs. Dolphins in Madrid (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET)
Seattle 44, Arizona 22
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Seahawks
How many — if any — teams are better than the Seahawks? The Seahawks won by 22 points despite three turnovers, two of which set up short Arizona touchdowns. It was far from a clean performance, but it was dominant nonetheless. And with 198 yards on the ground, it might have marked a turning point for their stagnant run game, the last cylinder on which their explosive offense was not yet firing. Only the Colts, Broncos and Patriots (all at 8-2) have better records than the Seahawks. The Rams are the only NFC team matching Seattle’s 7-2 mark, and their Week 11 matchup will have major implications in the NFC West.
Stat to know: Per ESPN Research, outside linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence became the fourth player in NFL history with multiple fumble return touchdowns in a game. He did it in the first half — both times via fumbles forced by inside linebacker Tyrice Knight. The Seahawks have not blitzed much this season — they entered Week 9 with the NFL’s third-lowest blitz rate — but coach Mike Macdonald dialed a few up on their way to a 38-7 halftime lead.
Best quote from the locker room:Knight started at middle linebacker in place ofErnest Jones IV, who was out with a knee injury.