The Giants’ mountain of mistakes in Munich and other Week 10 disappointments

The NFL wrapped up their 2024 international series slate on Sunday, which might be a good thing considering the shaky football played in Germany. Things weren’t much better back in the United States for many players and teams looking to build momentum. We’ll take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from Week 10. All statistics are from Football Reference.

The Bears were handily defeated by the New England Patriots at home by a final score of 19-3. The score might not seem that extreme, until one realizes that the Patriots defense sacked Caleb Williams nine times. Not many quarterbacks would be able to withstand that much punishment, let alone overcome it.

Bleacher Report notes that Bears head coach Matt Eberflus plans to evaluate “everything” after this latest setback. Sports Illustrated posted an article after the game asking whether fans should buy or sell Williams. At this point, it’s hard to evaluate anything when the offensive line is being eviscerated as badly as it has been.

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Football Sunday started abroad in Germany, as the 2-7 Giants faced the 2-7 Carolina Panthers. The NFL didn’t exactly send its best to Munich, and it showed. Neither New York nor Carolina could lock up a victory despite having multiple chances to win in regulation. The Panthers finally ended the sloppy tilt after Giants running back Tyrone Tracy fumbled on New York’s first overtime possession.

Carolina can’t exactly come away from this feeling confident, but the loss feels more embarrassing for the Giants. They head into their bye headed nowhere fast at 2-8, and the New York Times is wondering why the team should consider keeping head coach Brian Daboll around. At one point on Sunday, New York was “in the lead” for the first pick in the NFL Draft with their latest loss.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Colts found themselves at 4-3, which a realistic chance to make a push for the playoffs if they could clean some things up. To that end, they benched floundering second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson for the veteran Joe Flacco, who figured to be a more reliable option for a team ready to win now.

Instead, Flacco has looked every bit his 39 years of age, and was especially dreadful on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. The very first pass that left Flacco’s hand was picked off by Bills defensive back Taron Johnson for a pick-six, which put Indianapolis in an immediate hole they could never climb out of. It’s fair to wonder whether head coach Shane Steichen will go back to Richardson in Week 11.

It wasn’t a particularly pretty victory, but the Minnesota Vikings got out of Jacksonville with a 12-7 win. Perhaps of greater concern has been the regressing play of quarterback Sam Darnold, who has now thrown five interceptions in his last two games. He threw three picks against the Jaguars in Week 10.

On each of his turnovers, Darnold was trying to get the ball to superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson. That’s usually a fantastic idea, but not if there’s no window to throw the ball. Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell isn’t shaken by Darnold’s recent play, telling NBC Sports that it would be craziness not to have total confidence in Darnold.

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Denver could practically taste a shocking victory on Sunday as they had the Kansas City Chiefs on the road. Kicker Will Lutz just needed to convert a 35-yard field goal as time expired, and the Broncos would be the first team in the NFL to beat the defending Super Bowl champs this year. It wasn’t meant to be, as a convoy of Chiefs descended on Lutz, with Leo Chanel blocking the kick to seal a win for Kansas City.

It was a brutal way to end what was an encouraging day for Denver. No one expected them to be where they are, even at 5-5 on the year, after the Chiefs loss. Still, a lack of execution and focus in a critical point of the game cost them a chance to further improve their chances to make the playoffs in the AFC.

Fans won’t find many better examples of quarterbacks warding off a defensive lineman to make a play. Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield stiff-armed San Francisco 49ers All-Pro defensive lineman Nick Bosa for multiple steps with his left hand, and threw a bullet with his right arm to Rachaad White to convert an improbable fourth down play.

The magical moment kept the drive alive, and ultimately ended with the Buccaneers tying the game on a field goal. Unfortunately, they left enough time for San Francisco to pull off a drive of their own, and win the game on a Jake Moody field goal. It’s disappointing that such a phenomenal play for Mayfield didn’t result in a win for his team.

Atlanta had a golden opportunity to take care of business against a New Orleans Saints team that was reeling. The Saints had lost seven straight games heading into Sunday, and had fired their coach earlier in the week. The Falcons couldn’t take advantage, and fell 20-17 against a struggling Saints squad.

We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out, but the loss probably won’t ding Atlanta too much in their quest to win the NFC South. However, had they beaten New Orleans, they could have been 7-3, and would have been in a much stronger position to contend for homefield advantage in the NFC.

The Cowboys were expected to take a step back after the news that Dak Prescott would be sidelined for the rest of the season with a hamstring ailment. However, things looked much worse for Dallas than anyone had anticipated. They were run out of their own building against the Philadelphia Eagles 34-6.

There weren’t many positive things to take out of the game. Star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb finished with six catches for 21 yards, and Dallas’ leading receiver in the game, tight end Jake Ferguson, only finished with 24 yards himself. Micah Parsons and the Cowboys defense did their best to slow Philadelphia down for as long as they could, but the Eagles won the time of possession battle 34 minutes to 26.

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