Bills' Bay Day Opens Patriots Route to Top Spot - Best of Week 10 NFL Action

Quarterbacks in action
Josh Allen along with Drake Maye are scheduled to face in week 15 for what could be an American Football Conference East title decider
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Week 10 once more provided excitement, with a huge upset for the Bills demonstrating the 'any given Sunday' saying that draws so many people into the NFL

That result may have opened things up for the New England Patriots to move back into a leading position they used to occupy, with a remaining games that provides them an advantage over their eight and two rivals

Over in the National Football Conference the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams had perfect results to arrange a monster clash in week 11, while our player of the week is pursuing milestones as well as the MVP award

The Breakdown - Simply an Off Day for the Bills?

Josh Allen in action
Was Josh Allen try too much or was it just a poor performance for the Bills?

Could it simply have been an emotional letdown from beating the Chiefs the previous week or something more? This remains the question for the Bills to answer

The Bills had won seven in a consecutive games against the Dolphins but were second best from the beginning as the Dolphins emerged as 30-13 winners in an surprising result - and performance

MVP Josh Allen only got the squad's initial first down in the third quarter and first points in the final quarter - admittedly the Dolphins had ten days to prepare but it was still a massive egg laid by one of the NFL's best offenses

Tua Tagovailoa passed for two touchdowns but running back De'Von Achane was the game-changing factor, with 225 combined 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 slightly more than fifty percent their 161.5 yard average

Then there were the three critical turnovers, and the two from Allen in particular. An pass caught by defense in the end zone meaning a nine-minute possession yielded no points, and his final quarter dropped ball that the Dolphins converted to seven points just two plays

It was classic 'previous Bills teams' as they hurt themselves in the foot, falling into a deficit on defensive side and Allen attempting to do too much to dig his team out of it - rather than the composed, disciplined, well-balanced Bills we've seen this season

Miami have demonstrated a varied performances this year so the jury's out on if this is the start of a trend, but for Buffalo they'll require an immediate bounce-back in a difficult matchup against Tampa Bay next week as the Patriots are quietly moving into a comfortable advantage at the summit of the AFC East

In Focus - Patriots Identify Route to Unexpected First Place

TreVeyon Henderson running
TreVeyon Henderson clocked the fifth fastest speed in the NFL this year

Speaking of the New England, they're among three different eight and two teams in the NFL, all AFC sides, but are they the best?

One could find flaws in New England, Denver and the Colts really for dominating the weaker opponents, with only five of their combined 24 victories achieved against teams with a winning record - and one of those was the Indianapolis beating the Broncos

Denver defeated the reigning champion Eagles in Philadelphia and are masters of the fourth-quarter while Indianapolis can ride Jonathan Taylor, but the Patriots adding Sunday's victory in Tampa to their prime time success in Buffalo appears to be a declaration

Their two defeats came in recently appointed coach Mike Vrabel's initial three contests, with seven consecutive victories, just like Denver, from that point - but defeating Baker Mayfield after the Bucs had a week off to prepare was significant

Maye's MVP claims continue to be discussed, and he definitely deserves point for bravery after taking some hard tackles in Tampa Bay but persevering to guide his team to victory

The defensive unit is solid and rookie rusher TreVeyon Henderson exploded on Sunday with 147 yards and two exhilerating touchdowns of fifty-five and sixty-nine yards - becoming just the fifth ball carrier to exceed 22 miles per hour this season on his first score

Although you can debate who 'the top team' is statistically, the Pats should be favourites to finish with the best record due to their schedule - which includes just one game against a winning team, although a significant contest against the Bills

Traveling to the Ravens is challenging too, 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 identical challenge) and additionally the Packers on the fixture list

The Indianapolis also play the Chiefs, and have the Seahawks, 49ers and two matchups with the five and four Jacksonville to face. There's a considerable distance to go but the door is available for a surprise top seed in the AFC

Coming Up - Rams & Seahawks Prepare for Next Week Showdown

Two teams with strong arguments to be superior to all of the three different 8-2 sides are National Football Conference West rivals the Seattle and Rams, who each scored 40 burgers to go to 7-2 ahead of next week's Hollywood blockbuster meeting between the two in Los Angeles

Both have won four in a consecutive games, have signal callers in Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold performing at an elite level (although Darnold had turnover issues on game day) with top receivers, and defensive units giving up fewer than twenty points a game

Both could easily be undefeated as well - especially the Los Angeles as their pair of losses occurred in overtime against the San Francisco and then that agonising loss in Philadelphia when they had a game-winning field goal with the final play deflected and run back by the Eagles for a score

The Seahawks also lost to San Francisco, with a last-minute score in the opening week, before losing to the last kick of the contest against the Tampa Bay - so they're genuinely two of the top teams in the league

The next matchup on Sunday could be the best of the season so far

Player of the Week - Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor running
Jonathan Taylor is chasing down multiple rushing and touchdown records

Taylor could be on for a record season after his incredible display in Germany - running for 244 rushing yards, scoring three touchdowns and adding another forty-two {receiving yards

Calvin Porter
Calvin Porter

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