NFL Overreaction Week 10: Dolphins defeat Bills, NFC West battle heats up
USA TODAY Sports’ Prince Grimes is “overreacting” to some of the best games of Week 10 on Sunday.
- Several underdog teams, including the Jets and Saints, emerged victorious in Week 10 of the NFL season.
- Colts running back Jonathan Taylor had an outstanding performance in Berlin, breaking the franchise record for most rushing touchdowns.
- The NFL world mourned the passing of former commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland.
32 things we learned from Week 10 of the 2025 NFL season:
1. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” If you weren’t thinking about learning (or reviewing) a Bible quote in this week’s episode, it’s from Matthew 5, verse 5. It’s worth wondering if some of the NFL’s lesser teams read this book before Sunday’s game.
2. The number of consecutive games the New York Jets, who started the 2025 season with an 0-7 record, were the last team to break into the win column.
3. NYJ won Sunday despite being without arguably the team’s two best defensive players, CB Sauce Gardner and DT Quinnen Williams. They are no longer arguably the team’s best defensive player, as they were spectacularly released ahead of the league’s Nov. 4 trade deadline.
4. The sacks collected by Jets DE Will McDonald IV in Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns set a career high, tying the franchise single-game record and putting Gang Green’s status as the current preeminent defender on the line.
5. Running back Breece Hall, who the Jets ultimately decided not to trade, scored the only offensive touchdown in the team’s 27-20 victory, completing a 42-yard screen pass to the end zone. New York’s other touchdowns significantly occurred on both kickoffs and punt returns, marking the first time in franchise history that they occurred in the same game.
6. The number of Jets players who caught passes on Sunday…with the exception of Hall, no one gained more than five yards. Yes, there’s a reason this roster is being revisited. But hey, they beat Cleveland…and may hurt themselves in the long run in the draft order, but that’s a problem in 2026.
7. The New Orleans Saints also earned their second win of the season, defeating the Carolina Panthers 17-7 in Charlotte. Tyler Shaw became the first Saints rookie quarterback to win since Dave Wilson in 1981, when Archie Manning was still the face of the franchise.
8. Who needs WR Rashid Shahid, a player New Orleans acquired before the trade deadline? However, they wisely kept WR Chris Olave (62-yard TD catch) and CB Alonte Taylor (INT), who both had important performances on Sunday.
9. Perhaps the Panthers, despite the loss, haven’t actually lost any ground in the NFC South, but should focus more on offense than touchdown celebrations.
10. The Miami Dolphins ended their losing streak against the reigning AFC East champion Buffalo Bills at seven with a 30-13 upset in South Florida. It was a good thing for embattled Fins coach Mike McDaniel, as the team went 1-0 since moving on from the decidedly more embattled general manager Chris Grier. The Dolphins fell to 3 wins and 7 losses.
11. Miami running back Devon Ashen put up 225 yards (and 2 TDs) against Buffalo’s versatile run defense, eclipsing 200 yards from scrimmage for the second time in his career.
12. Who needs running back Jaelan Phillips, a player Miami acquired before the trade deadline — though Greer clearly wasn’t into it.
13. Number of penalties (102 yards) in loss to the Minnesota Vikings. This also includes three turnovers.
14. Coming off a three-game winning streak in the Twin Cities, the Baltimore Ravens were very happy to take advantage of those missteps as they continue to utilize a much healthier roster at their disposal.
15. Like the Ravens, the two-time defending AFC South Houston Texans improved to 4-5, reminding us that they are still in playoff contention. Houston scored 26 points in the fourth quarter and outscored the Jacksonville Jaguars 36-29.
16. Unlike the Texans, the Jags, who have now lost three of four games, made a big acquisition before the deadline, but got all of their 41 receiving yards (still a team-high on Sunday) from WR Jacobi Meyers.
17. Are the Seattle Seahawks the best team in the league? Winning by 22 points is pretty impressive on a day when QB Sam Darnold’s season-high three turnovers and season-low 12 pass attempts cost him MVP eligibility.
18. Usually explosive, Shahid had just one catch for 3 yards in his debut with Seattle, but gained 20 yards on two rushing attempts and handled three kickoffs.
19. We’ll learn more about the Seahawks when they visit the Los Angeles Rams in a week — they’re tied for first in the NFC West with a 7-2 record.
20. But Rams QB Matthew Stafford is clearly ahead of Darnold and the rest of the MVP candidates after a strong performance Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers that included four TD passes.
twenty one. On Sunday, Stafford became the first player in league history to throw at least four TD passes and zero interceptions in three consecutive games.
twenty two. Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor also put his name squarely in the MVP debate, the de facto equivalent of the quarterback award, in another big game Sunday in the first regular-season game in NFL history in Berlin. (It also didn’t hurt that Colts QB Daniel Jones turned the ball over two more times.) Taylor gained 244 yards and three TDs. One went for 83 yards, the longest in the league of the season, and the other decided the game in overtime.
twenty three. Taylor passed Hall of Famer Edgerrin James for the most rushing touchdowns (66) in franchise history. He also became the fourth player in NFL history to score at least three TDs in five games in a season. Other players include all-time greats LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk, and Chuck Foreman.
twenty four. Still, Taylor is competing for Offensive Player of the Year with Seattle receiver Jackson Smith-Njiba, who has the potential to become the league’s first 2,000-yard receiver. He currently has a league-high 1,041 points through nine games.
twenty five. Who is the Colts’ new CB source Gardner? He’s a really good player. But it’s probably not worth two first-round picks, and it’s probably not the missing piece to the Super Bowl recipe Indy hopes to get.
26. The New England Patriots defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-23 to win the Brady Bowl.
27. After defeating the struggling Bills earlier this season, the Pats have extended a one-and-a-half game lead in the AFC East, keeping pace with the Colts and Denver Broncos, who are atop the conference standings.
28. If the season ended today (it doesn’t), the Colts and Seahawks would be the No. 1 playoff seeds. However, the Philadelphia Eagles will overtake Seattle with a win at Green Bay on Monday night.
29. In his Bears debut at Soldier Field, DB CJ Gardner-Johnson recorded his first multi-sack game in his seven-year NFL career. The second forced the New York Giants to punt, giving Chicago a game-winning touchdown drive in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
30. President Trump, who apparently wants to name the Washington Commanders’ new stadium after himself, appeared at the FOX broadcast booth at Northwest Stadium on Sunday with Kenny Albert and Jonathan Burma. President Trump said, “I want to work for you one day.” (How are you now?)
31. Rest in peace for Marshawn Kneeland and condolences to his family and Dallas Cowboys teammates after the 24-year-old defensive end passed away by suicide.
31a. But hats off to Colts OT Braden Smith. He’s struggled with mental health himself, and now he’s trying to change the way the league approaches mental health. His agent detailed some of Smith’s laudable ideas to Pro Football Talk.
32. Finally, rest in peace former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. While the Hall of Famer’s 17 years running the league were far from perfect, he also propelled the league to new heights in terms of earning power and footprint in the nation’s sports world. “Tags” passed away on Sunday at the age of 84.
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