Sports

Week 10 again delivered, with a huge upset for the Buffalo Bills proving the 'any given Sunday' mantra that draws so many people into the NFL.

That result may have opened things up for the New England Patriots to creep back into a leading position they used to occupy, with a schedule that gives them an edge over their 8-2 rivals.

Over in the NFC the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams had perfect results to set up a monster clash next week, while our player of the week is chasing records as well as the MVP.

Here's the pick of week 10.

• Trump at Washington game as Dolphins upset Bills - week 10 round-up
• What we learned from the first half of the NFL season

The breakdown - just a bad day for Buffalo?

Was it just an emotional comedown from beating the Chiefs last week or something more? That's the question for the Bills to answer.

The Bills had won seven in a row against Miami but were second best from the start as the Dolphins ran out 30-13 winners in an eye-opening result - and performance.

MVP Josh Allen only got the team's opening first down in the third quarter and first points in the fourth - yes Miami had 10 days to prepare but it was still a massive egg laid by one of the league's top offences.

Tua Tagovailoa threw two touchdowns but running back De'Von Achane was the devastating difference, with 225 total yards and two scores.

Bottling up the league's best rushing attack was also key, with James Cook and company registering just 86 yards, their fewest of the season and just over half their 161.5-yard average.

Then there were the three crucial turnovers, and the two from Allen in particular. An interception in the end zone meaning a nine-minute drive produced nothing, and his fourth-quarter fumble that Miami turned into seven points just two plays later.

It was classic 'old Buffalo' as they shot themselves in the foot, getting into a hole on defence and Allen trying to do too much to dig his team out of it - not the calm, controlled, well-balanced Bills we've seen this season.

Miami have served up a bit of everything this season so the jury's out on whether this is the start of something, but for Buffalo they'll need an instant response in a tough game against Tampa Bay next week as the Patriots are sneaking into a nice lead at the top of the AFC East.

In focus - Patriots see path to surprise top seed

Speaking of the Patriots, they're one of three 8-2 teams in the NFL, all AFC sides, but are they the best?

You can pick holes in New England, Denver and Indianapolis really for feasting on the lesser sides, with only five of their combined 24 victories coming against teams with a winning record - and one of those was the Colts beating the Broncos.

Denver beat the champion Eagles in Philadelphia and are kings of the fourth-quarter while Indy can ride Jonathan Taylor, but the Patriots adding Sunday's win in Tampa Bay to their primtime success in Buffalo seems like a statement.

Their two defeats came in new head coach Mike Vrabel's first three games, with seven straight wins, just like Denver, since then - but taking down Baker Mayfield after the Bucs had a bye to prepare was huge.

Drake Maye's MVP claims won't go away, and he certainly deserves point for bravery after taking some savage hits in Tampa Bay but hanging in there to steer his side to victory.

The defence is solid and rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson exploded on Sunday with 147 yards and two exhilerating touchdowns of 55 and 69 yards - becoming just the fifth ball carrier to break 22mph this season on his first score.

While you can argue who 'the best' is technically, the Pats should be favourites to finish with the best record thanks to their schedule - which includes just one game against a winning team, albeit a huge one against Buffalo.

Visiting Baltimore is also tough, but Denver have it even tougher in the AFC West with the Chiefs to play twice, the Chargers (who could also challenge for top seed but face the same problem) and also the Packers on the schedule.

The Colts also face the Chiefs, and have the Seahawks, 49ers and two games with the 5-4 Jaguars to contend with. There's a long way to go but the door is open for a shock top seed in the AFC.

Coming up - Rams & Seahawks set for week 11 showdown

Two teams with solid claims to be better than all of the three 8-2 sides are NFC West rivals the Seahawks and Rams, who both put up 40 burgers to go to 7-2 ahead of next week's Hollywood blockbuster meeting between the two in LA.

They've both won four in a row, have quarterbacks in Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold playing at an elite level (although Darnold had turnover issues on Sunday) with top receivers, and defences allowing under 20 points a game.

Both could easily be undefeated as well - especially the Rams as their two defeats came in overtime against th 49ers and then that agonising loss in Philadelphia when they had a game-winning field goal with the last kick blocked and returned by the Eagles for a touchdown.

Seattle also lost to San Francisco, with a late touchdown in week one, before losing to the last kick of the game against the Buccaneers - so they're genuinely two of the best sides in the NFL.

The upcoming game on Sunday could be the best of the season so far.

Player of the week - Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor could be on for a record season after his incredible display in Berlin - running for 244 yards, scoring three touchdowns and adding another 42 receiving yards.

He's currently on pace for 1,936 rushing yards, so Eric Dickerson's long-held record of 2,105 is still within his grasp with more big games like this one.

Taylor could also have Chris Johnson's scrimmage yards record of 2,509 in his sights as he's on target for 2,378 - and he's shown he can break off for big runs and touchdowns at any moment.

A fourth hat-trick of the season on Sunday is the most any player has managed through 10 weeks, and with 15 rushing touchdowns and 17 overall he can also chase LaDainian Tomlinson's records of 28 rushing and 31 overall scores.

His 83-yard touchdown on Sunday is the longest of the season, he's also clocked the fastest speed of the season at 22.38mph, but has strength to accompany that speed, with 228 yards after contact against the Falcons, which the NFL's NextGen Stats says is the most in eight years.

MVP voters love records, and Taylor could grab a few of them if he continues in this form.

Week 10 game notes, stats & records

The Baltimore Ravens looked dead and buried earlier this season, but a win over the Vikings plus Pittsburgh's defeat at the Chargers means the AFC North is up for grabs now - with the two fierce rivals still to face each other twice, including in the final game of the season.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell took over offensive play calling duties from coordinator John Morton after three below-par games, admittedly against good defences.

The result in Washington was 44 points scored, 546 yards, 30 first downs and Jared Goff going largely untouched. Campbell may have the clipboard and glasses on for a few more games going forward.

Matthew Stafford became just the ninth player to eclipse 400 regular season touchdown passes as the Rams beat the 49ers - while also becoming the first player ever with four touchdowns and no interceptions in three straight games.

It's not often the New York Jets and 'amazing' have gone together this season, but in their win over Cleveland they scored on a 99-yard kick return and then a 74-yard punt return in the space of 36 seconds.

Jaxson Dart became the only rookie quarterback in NFL history with a rushing touchdown in five straight games, but the Giants lost him to concussion before losing a 10-point lead to the Bears.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll will feel the heat turning up on him if he fails to find a way to protect a quarterback that looks every inch the face of the franchise in the future.

Caleb Williams is growing into the face of the Chicago Bears by leading another late comeback after last week's epic in Cincinnati.

Watch - Whole 10 Yards trade deadline special

It’s a possible NFC championship game preview on Monday night, but if you look at both of these teams (who met in the playoffs last season), the first half of the 2025 campaign has been underwhelming for each.

The Eagles have the 6-2 record to back up preseason expectations, but, for lack of a better summary, the vibes hadn’t been quite right in Philadelphia leading up to last week’s bye. Meanwhile, the Packers feel like they’re a contender, but a 5-2-1 record features some thoroughly head-scratching performances. The most recent came just last week as they were victims of arguably the biggest upset of the season, losing at home to the Panthers as 13.5-point favorites.

With the Eagles and Packers marching alongside one another in the betting market’s power ratings for most of the season, a shift in the line over the weekend might have to do with some personnel moves on each side.

Odds courtesy of BetMGM.

Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers (-1, 45.5)

An opening line of Packers -2.5 implied that oddsmakers expected bettors to be of the opinion that Green Bay is just shy of one point better than Philadelphia (with a point-and-a-half or more for home-field advantage) — and from last Sunday to Friday, that was true.

The betting market can be a funny thing, as nothing tangible happened over the weekend to trigger bettors’ interest in the Eagles. However, enough respected money has been bet on Philadelphia to pull this game down to a pick’em at some books.

Maybe it was as simple as sharp money getting around to this game, because, if you really think about each team — and the expectation for where, within their range, they might perform on Monday night — there’s a pretty salient argument for a high-end performance from the Eagles, and a low-end one for the Packers.

The Eagles are coming off a bye week that marks the literal midway-point of the season. Regardless of Philly’s record to this point, the latter half is all that matters to that organization. To wit, GM Howie Roseman made a handful of trade deadline deals to address the Eagles’ issues in pass-rusher depth and at third (and fourth) cornerback. He might have literally too many players on Monday if Nolan Smith returns to the lineup as well.

One of the Eagles’ worst games of the season — a Week 6 loss at the Giants — came when CB Quinyon Mitchell (who’s played every snap during non-garbage time) was only on the field for 19 plays, and DT Jalen Carter was out. A team that was rated like the defending Super Bowl champions that they are hasn’t had a roster on that level at any point this season.

• Week 1: Carter was ejected before the first play

• Week 2: Dallas Goedert was out

• Week 3: Mostly healthy (beat the Rams)

• Week 4: Nolan Smith and Adoree Jackson out

• Week 5: Smith and Jackson out

• Week 6: Landon Dickerson, Carter, Smith out

• Week 7: Nolan Smith and Za’Darius Smith out

• Week 8: A.J. Brown, Jackson, Smith and Smith out

The Packers haven’t been blessed with maximum health, losing WR Jayden Reed in Week 2, but they knew WR Christian Watson wouldn’t return until midway through the season. Defensively, missing DT Devonte Wyatt for a couple games was more than made up for by the bonus addition of DE Micah Parsons just before the season, which sent the Packers’ power rating in the market through the roof. Since winning and covering twice in five days to start the season, the Packers have just one point spread cover since, which required a nine-point halftime comeback in Pittsburgh.

Now the injuries are piling up in Green Bay, with burgeoning star TE Tucker Kraft out for the season, and right tackle Zach Tom questionable, the Packers may have to adapt on the fly on Monday night. That’s something the Eagles have done regularly this season, only to finally find enough stability to warrant the line move.

Pick: Eagles +1

Player props

Jalen Hurts: Over 194.5 passing yards (-115)

No. 1 cornerback Kaisean Nixon has been disappointing in coverage, and Carrington Valentine has been in and out of the lineup on a game-to-game basis. Neither player is a particularly dissuasive matchup against Brown or DeVonta Smith, and no defense has allowed more pass receptions to opposing tight ends (7.0 per game) than the Packers. Hurts can find Goedert to extend drives while also challenging Green Bay’s secondary down the field, similar to last season’s opener when he threw for 278 yards in a Week 1 shootout. The Packers should force the Eagles to open the playbook, and Hurts should able to execute for big plays.

RB Josh Jacobs under 69.5 rushing yards (-118)

While he doesn’t need to get to 90 yards to clear his rushing total, it may be telling that Jacobs has hit that number just once this season (against the porous Bengals defense), after doing so five times last season.

Between the drift toward a more pass-heavy approach for the Packers’ offense with their fleet of receiving options, and a snap-split that’s become more 60-40 between he and the other Green Bay tailbacks, Jacobs hasn’t had 20 carries in a game since their Week 5 bye after twice getting that type of workload beforehand.

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When the Eagles are at their best (and healthiest), their run defense puts teams in passing situations and their offense holds the ball long enough to create impatience when the opponent finally gets the ball back. If our assumption is a high-end effort from the Eagles in prime time, that should translate into relatively limited opportunity for Jacobs, who hasn’t broken a run for more than 19 yards all season.

WR Romeo Doubs over 4.5 receptions (-105)

What is Jordan Love going to do without Tucker Kraft — his most reliable pass-catcher (32 receptions on 44 targets)? Probably look more to another big-bodied option, and his second-most reliable receiver (34 receptions on 52 targets).

Partially because of Kraft’s exit, and partly due to a competitive game-script, Love targeted Doubs 10 times last week, the fourth time in the last five games that Doubs had at least eight balls thrown his way.

With enough receivers available to allow Doubs to move around the formation, the Packers should create enough good matchups for Love to look his way the usual amount of times, which should translate to five or more catches.

Anytime touchdown

Jalen Hurts: Over 1.5 passing touchdowns (+140)

Rather than guess who gets the ball thrown to them or pay the vig on either Saquon Barkley or Hurts to run one in, let’s take the plus-money on Hurts to throw two touchdowns.

After starting the season without a passing touchdown, perhaps teams have loaded up the box in the red zone, and/or dared Hurts to beat them from further out. In either case, he’s done it, with two-plus touchdown passes in five of his last six games, and seven total in the two games heading into the Eagles’ bye week.

Christian Watson (+300)

After a 10% bump in snaps played from the first game of his season in Week 8 to the next one in Week 9, Watson should find himself as the No. 2 receiver, regardless of how many are available at the position to play.

The Packers’ best deep threat, Watson has already caught a 33-yard pass and a 52-yarder, but neither found the end zone. The Eagles’ safeties can be taken advantage of over the top, and Watson’s size makes him a good red zone target — as evidenced by his 14 touchdowns in 38 career games before this season.

Luke Musgrave (+333)/John FitzPatrick (+850)

Just because Kraft (scorer of six touchdowns this season) is out doesn’t mean Matt LaFleur threw out the “tight end chapter” of the playbook. Musgrave was drafted ahead of Kraft in 2023, and, until he suffered injuries in his rookie season that put Kraft into the spotlight, Musgrave was actually the more highly-regarded player and should be able to do a reasonable impression of Kraft within the Packers’ offense. 

Meanwhile, John FitzPatrick shifts one spot forward to the No. 2 tight end role. Of the two, he is actually the one with a touchdown already. Splitting a unit across the two leftover Green Bay tight ends is a good way to potentially capitalize on the Packers’ coping without Kraft.

You can find more valuable betting analysis from Yahoo Sports betting contributor, Matt Russell, at THE WINDOW.