Jared Goff is costing the Rams wins

The NFL competition reached a boiling point in Week 10, despite six teams resting on a bye. From a stunning upset by the Falcons to Ryan Tannehill besting Patrick Mahomes, here are five takeaways from Week 10 of the NFL regular season.

1. Jared Goff is costing the Rams wins

The “fumble” Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick returned for a touchdown may have been a questionable call, but even so, Jared Goff made plenty of other mistakes that cost the Rams in Sunday’s 17-12 defeat to Pittsburgh. The 2016 No. 1 overall draft pick completed 53.7% of his passes and got intercepted twice—once by Fitzpatrick on the Rams’ final drive of the game.

In Los Angeles’ three other losses, Goff has thrown three touchdowns to four interceptions and has completed 59.8% of his passes. He isn’t the only one on offense underperforming compared to last season (see: Todd Gurley), but he’s at the forefront of the Rams’ issues, and it should become even more apparent as he goes up against some of the league's best defenses in the games to come.

2. Lamar Jackson in the MVP hunt

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson capitalized on a mismatch with the league’s worst defense and recorded his second perfect passer rating of the season on 288 total yards, three passing touchdowns and one rushing score against the Bengals.

The second-year quarterback is now ranked 20th in passing yardage (2,036) and 11th in rushing yardage (702), just 86 yards shy of Ezekiel Elliott’s total in 2019.

Russell Wilson is still the favorite (+200) to earn the MVP award, and his victory on Monday Night Football didn’t hurt his cause. But Wilson didn’t exactly look stellar against the 49ers, with a fumble and interception late in the game.

Jackson is right behind Wilson at +220 to win the MVP, and his highlight-reel performance Sunday had everyone talking the following morning. In the Ravens’ 49-13 thrashing of the Bengals, Jackson became the sixth NFL player to register multiple games with a perfect passer rating in his career and is the second player to record a perfect passer rating twice in one season. Ben Roethlisberger in 2017 was the first.

3. Patrick Mahomes can’t make up for the Chiefs defense

The 2018 MVP wasted no time in his return to the starting spot, after he dislocated his knee in Week 7 against Denver. Mahomes jumped back into action on the road at Tennessee and completed 36 passes for 446 yards and three scores. It didn’t matter, though, because the Chiefs defense performed so poorly against the run, even the offensive superstar couldn’t compensate for the unit’s inadequacies.

For the fifth time this season, the Chiefs allowed an opposing player to rush for more than 100 yards. Josh Jacobs nearly joined the list, but he fell one yard shy of 100 in the Chiefs' rout of Oakland in Week 2.

On Sunday, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry gathered 188 yards on 23 carries and scored twice. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill also added 37 yards rushing and ran the ball in for a two-point conversion to put the Titans up three with 23 seconds left.

Mahomes may be a Super Bowl-level quarterback, but his defense is going to keep him from coming close to a berth in the championship game in February.

4. The Bengals are the true disaster of 2019

So many people called for an 0-16 Dolphins season in 2019, and yet on Sunday, Miami surprised the injury-ridden Indianapolis Colts for their second win. Fellow AFC East mate New York also defeated the Giants to earn the Jets a 2-7 mark, but the Cincinnati Bengals remained the unquestionable underling of the league after Week 10.

The Baltimore Ravens pulverized the Bengals and new starting quarterback Ryan Finley in a 49-13 thumping at Paul Brown Stadium. Cincinnati gave Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson the prime platform for another spectacular performance, as he accounted for nearly twice as many points as the Bengals’ total on the day.

Up next the Bengals visit Oakland, host the Steelers, Jets and Patriots, meet the Browns twice and travel to Miami. Chances are even the Dolphins aren’t intimidated by a matchup with the bumbling Bengals.

5. Week 10 produced the most exciting football of the season so far

Parity is seemingly restored in the NFL, for the time being, after an incredible slate of games in Week 10. The Seahawks-49ers game delivered an overtime classic decided by a field goal to cap off a weekend filled with suspenseful finishes.

During Thursday’s prime-time matchup, Josh Jacobs broke free for a game-winning 18-yard run with about a minute left to play in the Raiders’ 26-24 victory. Promoted starter Ryan Tannehill connected on a 23-yard pass to Adam Humphries to give the Titans a 35-32 lead with 23 seconds, before Joshua Kalu blocked the Chiefs’ game-tying field goal on Sunday.

Cleveland survived the Bills, 19-16, after Stephen Hauschka missed a kick to send it to overtime, and the Buccaneers, Bears, Packers and Dolphins each survived comeback attempts by the opposition to walk away with wins.

Aside from the Falcons’ 17-point shocker in New Orleans and the Ravens’ 36-point smackdown of the Bengals, every game in Week 10 was decided by eight points or fewer.

It’s an exciting time in football, and it is only going to get better, as the schedules ramp up and the true contenders come to light over the next seven weeks.

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