Week 10 of the NFL season was full of surprising and wild finishes, and the Buffalo Bills vs. the Arizona Cardinals game was the best representation of that.
At 5-3 the Cardinals were looking to take first place in the NFC West from the Seattle Seahawks. On the other side of the ball, the 7-3 Bills were looking to extend their AFC East lead over the surging Miami Dolphins.
These two teams mostly just traded field goals for the first half, and Buffalo led 16-9 at halftime. After quarterback (QB) Josh Allen found wide receiver (WR) Cole Beasley for a touchdown in the third quarter, the Bills led 23-9.
From that point on though, QB Kyler Murray took over and rushed for two touchdowns to give the Cardinals the lead entering into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals had multiple opportunities to close out the Bills but could not put them away. In what seemed like the last drive of the game, Allen led the Bills down the field, and threw a laser into the back of the end zone to WR Stefon Diggs. Diggs made one of the better catches of this entire year, and pulled it down to give the Bills a 30-26 lead with 34 seconds left.
Then it happened.
In a two-minute drill with the game on the line, Murray found himself at midfield with no other option than to throw up a hail mary. But when he rolled out left and threw the ball across his body, I thought there was no way it would be completed. Then out of nowhere, I saw WR DeAndre Hopkins in the middle of three white and blue jerseys.
Hopkins jumped up and somehow brought it down over three different defenders.
With that touchdown, the Cardinals won the game 32-30 and moved to 6-3 and first in the NFC West. Murray and Hopkins’ hail mary was the story of the day, and for good reason. This was probably the best game I got to watch on Sunday.
A slightly less exciting game, but with a more surprising outcome was the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants.
Fresh off their bye, the Eagles were looking to extend their NFC East lead over the rest of the field to two games. This game got off to a rough start for the Birds, as Giants QB Daniel Jones immediately took a 34 yard QB option play to the house to give the Giants a 7-0 lead.
The Eagles were able to get three back, but they couldn’t manage to score any other points for the rest of the half. Running back (RB) Wayne Gallman found the end zone for the Giants at the beginning of the second quarter, and with no other scores, the Giants led 14-3 at half.
The Eagles finally woke up in the second half, and answered back thanks to a 56-yard rushing touchdown by RB Boston Scott. Just when it looked like the Eagles had some momentum, Gallman rushed for another touchdown on the goal line and extended the Giant lead to 21-11.
Right before the end of the third quarter, RB Corey Clement scored for the Eagles to cut it within four. That would be the last Eagles score of the game, as the Giants played great defense and kicked two field goals in the fourth to secure the win 27-17.
The Eagles offense looked flat all game, and they were unable to get any kind of consistent passing attack going. The Eagles leading receiver was third string tight end (TE) Richard Rodgers. This was even with the return of Alshon Jeffery and Miles Sanders, along with Jalen Reagor, Dallas Goedert and Travis Fulgham.
The Giants just got more timely stops than the Eagles did, and that was the reason they won this game. The Eagles will go back to the drawing board to try and beat the Cleveland Browns next week.
And finally, another great and exciting matchup that went down this Sunday was when QB Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers faced off against QB Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins. Many people were excited about this rookie quarterback matchup, but the quarterbacks weren’t the biggest story in this game.
The Dolphins quickly took a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Herbert was able to answer with a QB sneak in the second quarter to cut the lead to seven. Dolphins kicker (K) Jason Sanders drilled a 50-yard field goal right before halftime, so the Dolphins led 17-7 at the break.
Both defenses played well in this game, but the Dolphins were able to sack Herbert twice and pressure him throughout this game.
Tagovailoa delivered a dagger early in the fourth quarter, to bring him to 169 yards and two touchdowns for the day. The Dolphins defense was able to hold on for the rest of the game, shut down the Chargers offense for the most part and end up winning 29-21.
With a Bills loss, the Dolphins moved up a full game in the AFC East and now only trail by one game. Meanwhile, the disappointing season continues for the Chargers, as they dropped to 2-7 after losing another one possession game.
Notable Headlines Across the League
- QB Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs returned to form and scored 46 points in a 46-23 blowout win against the Carolina Panthers.
- The Detroit Lions won a thriller against the Washington Football Team in Detroit 30-27. RB D’Andre Swift combined for 149 scrimmage yards and one touchdown on the day. Washington QB Alex Smith threw for 390 yards.
- In another uninspiring week, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson threw for no touchdowns and two interceptions in a 23-16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. With RBs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde missing another game, the Seahawks had no run game, and DK Metcalf was shut down by Jalen Ramsey and the Rams defense.
- In pouring rain on Sunday Night Football, Cam Newton and the New England Patriots were able to take down the Baltimore Ravens 23-17. Rookie RB Damien Harris dominated with 122 yards on the ground, and QB Lamar Jackson was unable to bring the Ravens back in bad conditions.
Games to Look Out For Next Week:
- Cardinals vs. Seahawks Thursday Night Football 11/19 at 8:20 p.m.
- Eagles vs. Browns Sunday 11/22 at 1:00 p.m.
- Titans vs. Ravens Sunday 11/22 at 1:00 p.m.
- Chiefs vs. Raiders Sunday Night Football 11/22 at 8:20 p.m.
- Rams vs. Buccaneers Monday Night Football 11/23 at 8:15 p.m.
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