What else is there to say? A game that many of us expected to be a “welcome to the big leagues moment” for Minnesota turned into a proving ground in one of the most insanely fun games with twists and turns all over the final fourth quarter and overtime. A couple teams likely kissed their season goodbye and some performed well enough to earn another week of hope. Good, bad, and ugly performances were had just like any weekend in the NFL and we saw the final undefeated team fall, but the Vikings and Bills gave football fans a dramatic performance that explains why we love to watch sports.
Vikings Make Their Greatest Comeback in Best Game of the NFL Season
At a certain point, a team keeps winning games and regardless of how impressive they look in those games there comes a time when it is time to accept the they are a legitimate player at the Super Bowl table. The Minnesota Vikings have finally proved that with their 33-30 overtime road win against the Buffalo Bills in a game that instantly earned the title of game of the year.
The Vikings entered the Buffalo game with six game winning streak and 7-1 record, but have needed to come from behind late in games against Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, and Washington. Not exactly the best the NFL has to offer, but still mentally tough wins.
All those comebacks combined could not amount for how the Vikings-Bills game played out on Sunday. It started early in the day when it was finally announced that Josh Allen would in-fact start despite concern over an elbow injury acquired last week. Not only did Allen play, but he looked good, throwing with the same zip Buffalo fans are familiar with and trucking Vikings defenders on first down runs.
The Vikings opened the game with a touchdown drive, but then struggled to create any consistent form of offense the rest of the first half and saw several of the issues they’ve shown in previous games that had kept lesser opponents hanging around or taking leads. The defense was giving up big yardage plays, Kirk Cousins had an overthrown ball picked off, and the offense seemed to have no flow. The worst came at the end of the half when the Vikings not only failed to gain one yard, but threw the ball on third and fourth down which stopped the clock and allowed the Bills offense to march right down the field and score another touchdown before the half to take a 24-10 lead.
Buffalo extended their lead to 17 after the half, but with 1:34 left in the third quarter things started to get crazy. At that moment, Dalvin Cook broke off an 81 yard rushing touchdown to cut the lead to 10 entering the fourth quarter.
Despite the big touchdown, Buffalo marched right back down the field into Vikings territory until the Vikings forced them into a 4th & 2 on the 7 yard line. Curiously, Sean McDermott elected to have his team go for the jugular and that led to a Josh Allen interception in the end zone. A very questionable decision that would hold huge repercussions later.
The Vikings took that interception and put together a 13 play, 66 yard drive that included two 4th down conversions and ended with a CJ Ham rushing touchdown. Greg Joseph, who has been one of the league’s worst kickers would of course miss the extra point to only pull the Vikings within four points, 27-23.
Minnesota would force a three and out to get the ball right back. After two Kirk Cousins sacks, the Vikings found themselves in desperation mode with a 4th & 18 from their own 27 yard line. Under pressure, Cousins threw up a 32 yard pass to Justin Jefferson in traffic in which Jefferson some how grasped with one hand and came down with it while pinning it against the Buffalo defender’s hand before cradling it to the ground. The catch was so unbelievable that it defies physics and is easily a lock for catch of the year, if not on the Mount Rushmore of all time catches. The Vikings would use that miraculous play to get into a 4th & 1 situation, but Kirk Cousins was stuffed at the goal line. With only 50 seconds remaining, the Bills would run out the remainder of the clock.
Or not.
From the doorstep of their own goal line, the snap to Josh Allen was botched and Vikings Linebacker Eric Kendricks fell on the ball for a Vikings touchdown and 30-27 lead. The Vikings looked like they would pull a rabbit out of their hats and earn the comeback victory.
Or not.
In just 39 seconds, Josh Allen led a 69 yard drive in only five plays to allow Tyler Bass to kick a game tying field goal and send the game to overtime. The drive didn’t come without controversy though as a 20 yard completion to Gabriel Davis should have been called incomplete after TV replays showed Davis didn’t have control of the ball before going out of bounds.
Minnesota would win the coin toss and a great drive would die out in the redzone after a 2nd & Goal sack of Cousins that pushed the Vikings to the 15 yard line. Greg Joseph would kick a field goal to take the 33-30 lead and give Buffalo a chance to score.
It finally appeared that the Vikings luck would run out as Allen marched the Bills right down the field again, but on 2nd & 10 from the Minnesota 20 yard line, Allen was picked off by Patrick Peterson for the second time in the game. The interception capped off a 33-30 Minnesota win and not only the best game of the season, but one of the best NFL games of recent memory.
The game also acts as a statement game for Minnesota, who are now undeniably one of the best teams in the NFL and a team that doesn’t get rattled when things don’t go their way. Teams don’t just go into Buffalo, get down by 17 in the second half, and comeback to win the game. Even with the emotional victory, the Vikings can certainly improve in areas and still cut back on mistakes, but it’s time football fans start putting them in the conversation with Kansas City, Buffalo, and Philadelphia.
Buffalo on the other hand now slides into third place in the AFC East behind Miami and New York, something that would’ve been unheard of entering this season. There’s no question Buffalo is a top AFC team, but the strength of their division now limits their room for error the rest of the season.
The 2022 Week 10 Minnesota-Buffalo regular season game will be remembered for years to come, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that these two teams could meet up again come February in Glendale, Arizona. Wouldn’t that be something?
Washington Defense Delivers Eagles First “L”
The 1972 Miami Dolphins can start their celebration after the Washington Commanders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles to give them their first loss of the season.
The 32-21 win came off the backs of the Washington defense which held the Eagles to only 264 total yards and forced four turnovers. It deserves to be noted that six of the points and one turnover were earned on Philadelphia’s final play of lateral pass hot potato in hopes of pulling out a miracle victory.
The big difference in this game for the Eagles was the turnover differential. Prior to this game, Philly had only three turnovers on the season. They had played nearly perfect in protecting the ball this season and despite how well they’ve played, the game acts as a reminder of how different things can be when a team doesn’t take care of the football.
Philadelphia now finds themselves tied for first place in the NFC, but holds the tiebreaker with Minnesota thanks to their Week Two victory over them. A once perceived to be easy schedule the rest of the way now looks much stronger. Philadelphia has road games against the Giants and Cowboys, two NFC rivals who are playing very well. They will also play a likely playoff team in Tennessee. Green Bay, Chicago, and Indianapolis are teams that have made changes to scheme or coaching staff recently and have also somewhat improved. Philadelphia is in the driver seat still, but Minnesota is pulling up along side them.
Dolphins Continue to Ride Scoring Wave
The Miami Dolphins have scored over 30 points for the third straight game to earn a fourth straight win. The Dolphins high powered offense has them now sitting at the top of the AFC East division and the second overall seed in the conference.
Miami produced nearly 500 yards of total offense as they pieced up the Cleveland Browns in route to a 39-17 win at home. Tua Tagovailoa is climbing his way into the MVP conversation after throwing three more touchdowns, putting him at 18 touchdowns with only three interceptions on the season. Had Tua not missed a couple games due to his concussion he most definitely would be in the same award conversation as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts.
Big picture, this Miami offense seems to be gaining more and more confidence as weeks go by. Everyone who watches football already knows about the playmaking ability of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, but Jeff Wilson Jr. may become one of the underrated trade acquisitions in the league as he ran for 119 yards on only 17 carries. Another former San Francisco Niner, Raheem Mostert, added 65 yards on eight carries. Defensively, Miami is good enough with the potential to get better as Bradley Chubb continues to become more familiar with the defensive scheme.
As great as things are now for the Dolphins, they can’t lay off the gas as they have one of the most difficult remaining schedules in the NFL. Miami will have road games against San Francisco, Buffalo, New England, and the Los Angeles Chargers. They also have remaining games against Green Bay and the New York Jets. If Miami clinches a playoff berth, they will have already been plenty tested.
Bucs Leave Germany with Big Win to Separate in NFC South Race
Many questioned why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were betting favorites on a neutral field in Germany when playing a Seattle team that has been surprisingly impressive and is leading the NFC West. The Bucs responded by finally finding a way to get some offense through both the receiving and rushing game.
Surprisingly, Tampa Bay didn’t get most of their rushing yards from Leonard Fournette, but from rookie Rachaad White, who produced 105 yards on 22 carries. It was the best individual rushing performance for the Bucs since Week One when Fournette gained 127 yards.
Geno Smith did lead a Seahawks comeback from a 21-3 deficit to cut it down to 21-16 in fourth quarter, but that would end up being the final score. With the loss and San Francisco’s win, Seattle’s NFC West lead has been cut to one game with the 49ers having played one less game.
Tampa’s win now improves their record to .500 for the first time since Week Seven. The Bucs now have sole possession of first place in the NFC South and with how terrible the rest of the division looks, anything less than holding that lead would be incredibly disappointing.
Questions After Week 10
How costly is Buffalo losing the #1 seed and home field over the past two weeks?
Considering most people believe the Bills have been on equal playing field with Kansas City the past two seasons and were eliminated by the Chiefs on the road in both seasons, it would seem like a fairly big deal.
Don’t get it twisted, Buffalo is still one of the absolute best teams in all of football even with them not playing at their highest level the past couple weeks. The problem is that as mentioned throughout the year, the AFC has plenty of talent that includes those Chiefs that have Buffalo’s postseason number.
Buffalo is really only a game out of being tied with Kansas City and would own the tie breaker due to their early season win at Arrowhead Stadium. They do have a fairly difficult remaining schedule though which includes games against New England (twice), the New York Jets (who they’ve already lost to), Miami, and Cincinnati. Kansas City on the other hand only has three games remaining against teams who don’t currently have losing records.
Buffalo losing home field throughout the playoffs is its own problem, but their biggest concern right now should be working their way back up from third place in the only division in the NFL that has four winning teams.
Is the Buffalo-Minnesota game from this weekend the best regular season game of the past ten years?
It’s probably this or the 2018 Chiefs-Rams game. I would lean ever so slightly to the 2018 game since it was a nationally televised Monday Night Football game and featured two elite teams that entered that game at 9-1. The game had seven different lead changes, including four that took place in the fourth quarter alone. The 54-51 Los Angeles win also accounted for the third highest combined scoring game in NFL history. The defenses couldn’t get a stop, but it had more to do with how elite those offenses were.
This weekend’s Bills-Vikings game was special and probably had more chaos than that 2018 game. The Justin Jefferson catch quite simply can’t be explained and the Bills fumble in the end zone when trying to kneel is one of the all time botched plays in NFL history. One of the key differences between both games though is the fact that the Bills and Vikings both had their blown opportunities and sloppy moments. They both deserved to be considered Super Bowl contenders now, but after watching Kansas City and Los Angeles play four years ago, most people were convinced those were the two teams who would be playing in the Super Bowl.
“Everybody Loves to Hate-read Power Rankings so Go Ahead and Hate-read” Power Rankings
- Kansas City Chiefs (7-2)
- Philadelphia Eagles (8-1)
- Minnesota Vikings (8-1)
- Buffalo Bills (6-3)
- Baltimore Ravens (6-3)
- Miami Dolphins (7-3)
- San Francisco 49ers (5-4)
- Dallas Cowboys (6-3)
- New York Giants (7-2)
- Cincinnati Bengals (5-4)
- New York Jets (6-3)
- Tennessee Titans (6-3)
- Seattle Seahawks (6-4)
- Los Angeles Chargers (5-4)
- Washington Commanders (5-5)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-5)
- New England Patriots (5-4)
- Green Bay Packers (4-6)
- Arizona Cardinals (4-6)
- Atlanta Falcons (4-6)
- Detroit Lions (3-6)
- Los Angeles Rams (3-7)
- Indianapolis Colts (4-5-1)
- Cleveland Browns (3-6)
- Denver Broncos (3-6)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (3-6)
- New Orleans Saints (3-7)
- Carolina Panthers (3-7)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (3-7)
- Chicago Bears (3-7)
- Las Vegas Raiders (2-7)
- Houston Texans (1-7-1)
Week 11 Game Watchability Rankings
Teams on Bye: Buccaneers, Dolphins, Jaguars, Seahawks
14. Bears vs Falcons: Reasons to watch this game? Justin Fields has been one of the most exciting players to watch in recent weeks and the Falcons still have a chance at the NFC South title. Better off watching the highlights.
13. Raiders vs Broncos: Two teams in the AFC West that made huge offseason additions, but have nothing to show for it right now. The Raiders acquired both Chandler Jones and Davante Adams, two of the best players at their position, and have gone from a playoff team last season to one of the league’s worst teams. Denver’s experience with Russell Wilson has not been much better.
12. Rams vs Saints: Both teams have plenty of former pro bowlers on their roster, but each week you just keep waiting for Los Angeles or New Orleans to show some life. To this point it hasn’t happened and there is no reason to think that will change now. Stars or otherwise, these two teams are not worth paying any attention to.
11. Commanders vs Texans: Are the Commanders suddenly good? At the very least, they are now more than competent after delivering Philadelphia its first loss of the season in an impressive road victory. If Washington is truly turning things around, this is a game that should be very manageable for Ron Rivera’s team. Houston is a train wreck, minus Dameon Pierce.
10. Panthers vs Ravens: Carolina has played much better and has been challenging teams in the weeks following Matt Rhule’s firing. Baltimore feels like the closest team to being an elite team that isn’t talked about like one. With only one game remaining against a currently winning football team, the Ravens have a real chance at earning the number one seed in the AFC.
9. Bengals vs Steelers: Cincinnati will look to redeem themselves after their opening week loss to Pittsburgh, but it will have to come without the help of Ja’Marr Chase. The Steelers defense looked back to its usual self with the return of T.J. Watt. Pittsburgh would likely love nothing more than to sweep the season series and play the spoiler to their division rival.
8. Browns vs Bills: With two straight losses, Buffalo is now third in their own division and sixth in the AFC. The NFL landscape changes in a blink of an eye. I don’t think anyone who watches football would say the Bills aren’t an upper echelon team, but the pressure will be on to take advantage of a very winnable game at home against Cleveland.
7. Lions vs Giants: New York is catching Detroit at a time where they are coming off two straight wins and starting to look like the more improved team people were expecting this season. This may be a trap game for the Giants.
6. Eagles vs Colts: “Undefeated Season Watch” is over for Philadelphia. It’s now a matter of holding onto the NFC number one seed for the Eagles. Frank Reich being out as coach, Indianapolis coming off a win with new coach Jeff Saturday, Jonathon Taylor being healthy, and playing in Indy are all reasons to hope this could be a good game and tough challenge for the Eagles.
5. 49ers vs Cardinals: It’s still hard to know exactly how good this San Francisco team will be as the weeks go by. Arizona has looked much better since Deandre Hopkins has returned despite Kyler Murray being out in Week 10. This should be a good NFC West showdown.
4. Titans vs Packers: Green Bay earned a big win over Dallas this weekend and will need to keep putting together wins if they want to stay alive in the Wild Card race. Will the Packers continue to build off the more balanced offensive attack they showed against the Cowboys? Tennessee has quietly won six of seven games with their only loss being a three point game in Kansas City.
3. Jets vs Patriots: With Buffalo losing two games in a row, suddenly the AFC East is up for grabs and all four teams are in the running. Each game within the division will hold huge weight the rest of the season. Zach Wilson will need to play much better than he did in New York’s matchup with New England a couple weeks ago.
2. Chiefs vs Chargers: The Chiefs hold their own destiny in their hands now that they own first place in the AFC Conference. Los Angeles is one of many teams in the AFC wild card hunt. Will we get the good or bad version of the Chargers in this game?
1. Cowboys vs Vikings: How does a team respond after an emotional road win in one of the best games in recent memory? We will get to find out next week when Minnesota welcomes Dallas to U.S. Bank Stadium. Two of the best teams in the NFC and the NFL, who seem like virtual locks for the postseason. Without a doubt, the game of the week.