This past week in the NFL, there was confusion across the board. The New Orleans Saints fired their head coach after being defeated by the equally bad Carolina Panthers in a tough scramble. The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills let bad teams stay too close to them in their respective games, possible bad foreshadowing as the playoffs approach. The Kansas City Chiefs also let a worse team give them grief until overtime, but still managed to scrape through and remain undefeated.

The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen.
The New Orleans Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen Nov. 4 and are temporarily replacing him with special teams specialist Darren Rizzi. The Saints have not been performing well this season — their seven consecutive losses are an example of this, so this firing is not a surprise. The Saints are last in the NFC South, a ranking they haven’t held since before 2015.

Rizzi has been with the Saints since 2019, when he was team specialist, and in 2022 he also became assistant head coach under Allen. Last season, under Rizzi’s leadership, the Saints were in the top 10 of 13 special teams categories. Rick Gosselin, an NFL writer who annually ranks special teams, has put Rizzi’s team in the top half of the league for the past 12 years. On Nov. 10, the Saints will play the Atlanta Falcons, where all eyes will be on how New Orleans can perform under Rizzi.

The Bills and Eagles almost let two bad teams upset them.
This past week, the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles — both with a 6–2 record — almost got upstaged by the two worst teams in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins.

The Bills could not score a touchdown in the first half, only securing three field goals. Buffalo finally scored their first touchdown with seven minutes left in the third quarter, one of three that they scored. Although the Mafia’s offense got their act together in the first half, it’s underwhelming that they were not able to close against the Dolphins as their defense is not the tightest in the league.

The Philadelphia Eagles were up 22–0 at about the halfway point of the third quarter. The defense was subpar as the Jags took the ball down the field, and let quarterback Trevor Lawrence into the end zone through a gap in the defensive line. The Eagles also let an easy two-point conversion be successful, which could’ve made their lives a little easier. Not even a minute later, running back Miles Sanders fumbled the ball, which was picked up by defensive end Travon Walker, where he managed to find the end zone. Yes, Philly does have some injured players, including Jalen Carter and DeVonta Smith, but who doesn’t? Their competitors are capitalizing on the Eagles’ small errors, and if the Eagles want to go far, then they need to close down.

The Chiefs win over the Bucs in overtime.
The Kansas City Chiefs had a tight battle with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Nov. 4. The Chiefs managed to win in overtime after trailing behind in the third quarter. The Buccaneers offense moved themselves forward well, sneaking in through Kansas City’s mistakes that have been a consistency throughout the season despite their success.

Rookie running back Bucky Irving — on the catch from the halftime kickoff from the Bucs — ran right up to the 50-yard line, which helped Tampa Bay earn another touchdown in just a few drives, putting them ahead of Kansas City. It was the defense that was the downfall for Tampa Bay, where the Chiefs have been able to capitalize again and again. With less than two minutes in the second quarter, the Bucs gave tight end Travis Kelce a wide open space for a catch near the middle of the field. The equalizer touchdown was also caused by a miscommunication on defense, where two Buccaneers players ran to rush the running Patrick Mahomes, leaving running back Samaje Perine unguarded.

The Lions continue to get better.
Despite their early loss in the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Detroit Lions continue to get better each week. On Nov. 4, the Lions took down the Green Bay Packers, 24-14.

The Packers led early in the game with only a field goal in the first quarter, but the Lions came out hard in the second, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal. The first touchdown was textbook, with the running backs finding the gaps and the crisp passes from quarterback Jared Goff, specifically a 25-yard rush from tight end Sam LaPorta.

The Lions did have a major slip-up right after the first touchdown, where Packer running back Josh Jacobs went through the Detroit defense and managed to pick up 37 yards. The Lions learned from this mistake and denied any more points in the half. After an easy touchdown, courtesy of running back Jahmyr Gibbs for Detroit, the Packers started to pick up some yardage. With four minutes left in the game, Packers running back Emanuel Wilson managed to squeeze into the end zone, giving Green Bay their first and only touchdown of the game.

The Panthers won?
Probably the most surprising game of the weekend was the Carolina Panthers’ second win of the season. The Panthers met the New Orleans Saints at home Nov. 3, where both teams were pretty evenly bad. The first half ended with the Saints barely leading the Panthers 13-10.

The first touchdown in the second half was after Ja’Tavion Sanders’ impressive 46-yard run, in which he leaped over safety Tyrann Mathieu. The Panthers defense was able to shut down New Orleans in the third quarter, only letting them score a field goal, their third and final of the night. However, early in the fourth quarter, the Saints were able to scramble for a touchdown with a rainbow pass caught by Foster Moreau, but unable to earn the two-point conversion.

A pass interference call on the Saints helped the Panthers after completing a couple of long passes to get down the field in a short amount of time. At the 16-yard line, quarterback Bryce Young handed the ball to running back Chuba Hubbard, who snuck through the defensive gaps into the end zone, giving the Panthers their second victory of the season. After the game, Young said at a press conference, “It feels great. You definitely don’t take it for granted.”

Week 10 Predictions: Who should you start and sit?

Fantasy football seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. It provides fans of underperforming NFL teams with something else to watch for and obsess over on Sunday afternoons. While the game mostly relies on luck, that doesn’t stop people with strong teams from boasting and claiming they have superior “ball knowledge.” The truth is, fantasy football is hard to predict. If it were easy, there’d be no point in playing it. That being said, one can try to make educated guesses and try to figure out what might happen, and here are some educated guesses.

Start
Jared Goff (QB, DET) (Away vs. HOU)
It’s a known fact that Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff performs much better indoors, with a passer rating over 10 points higher, as well as .3 more TDs per game and significantly less turnovers. Luckily for him, the Houston Texans’ home stadium, NRG Stadium, has a roof that closes.

Goff is having a strong season so far, averaging almost 16.5 points per game, and is playing a Texans defense that got diced through the air by a not-great New York Jets passing attack. Not only will Goff still have ol’ reliable, elite wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, but he’s getting back another top pass-catching option, Jameson Williams, meaning there will be plenty of opportunity for him and he could very well have a strong game.

Darnell Mooney (WR, ATL) (Away vs. NO)
Many factors lead to a bullish outlook on Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney this week. First off, presumptive WR1 Drake London may be out this week, meaning Mooney will have a higher target share.

Additionally, the Saints appear to be in full rebuild and tear-down mode and do not look like a good football team. In addition to firing its head coach, the team traded its best defensive player, all-pro cornerback Marshon Lattimore, to the Washington Commanders. Lattimore would probably have guarded Mooney, so him being out of the picture is certainly a positive for Mooney’s prospects. Lastly, Mooney is on a bit of a hot streak recently, putting up over 18.5 points in both of his last two games, and this week could be a great chance to continue that streak.

De’Von Achane (RB, MIA) (Away vs. LAR)
When Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is active and playing, De’Von Achane looks much better, especially from a fantasy standpoint. In the four weeks that Tagovailoa has been healthy, Achane is averaging 27.8 fantasy points, an incredible output. When Tagovailoa doesn’t play, Achane only averages seven points per game, which is very disappointing. As Tagovailoa is healthy this week and should be the starting quarterback vs. the Los Angeles Rams, Achane is an easy start.

Sit
CeeDee Lamb (WR, DAL) (Home vs. PHI)
CeeDee Lamb is having a phenomenal season with the Dallas Cowboys thus far — there’s no way around that. However, starting quarterback Dak Prescott is headed to the injured reserve and will be missing a minimum of the next four games. This should be worrying for Lamb’s prospects, as he certainly plays a lot better when Prescott is the one throwing him the ball.

Presumptive starting quarterback Cooper Rush hasn’t started a game in two years, so there’s considerable reason for worry there. Additionally, the Eagles’ defense has been strong the last couple of weeks, limiting the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence to one touchdown and three interceptions combined. This has been a good passing defense which will certainly impact Cooper Rush and therefore give reason to be wary of Lamb this week.

C.J. Stroud (QB, HOU) (Home vs. DET)
The Houston Texans face the Detroit Lions this week. The Lions’ defense did a good job last week against a strong Packers offense, limiting quarterback Jordan Love to no passing touchdowns and just 11 points. They also did a good job against the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys (who had Prescott) as well. C.J. Stroud has also been disappointing this season, averaging a full four fewer fantasy points than he did last season. He’s without one of his top pass-catching options, Stefon Diggs, and his best receiver, Nico Collins, still has yet to return from injury. Overall, Stroud just hasn’t been as effective as he was last season, and it’s unlikely to change versus the Detroit Lions.

Jonathan Taylor (RB, IND) (Home vs. BUF)
Jonathan Taylor hasn’t had a bad season, per se, averaging 16.7 points in the games he does play for the Indianapolis Colts. However, there are still reasons to feel bearish on his outlook for this week against the Bills.

First off, he didn’t look great Nov. 3 against the Vikings, only scoring 8.9 points. The Colts offense as a whole seems to be a total mess, with them flip-flopping between starting quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco, creating even more uncertainty for the entire team. More so, this matchup in particular doesn’t look too great for Taylor. The Bills have been quite good versus the run lately, limiting the Seahawks and Dolphins, but also, the Bills are a good football team who are likely to be ahead in this game. This would lead to a more pass-heavy game script, significantly harming Taylor’s chances of performing.