Worst of NFL Week 10: Miami's vice is safeties; Baa, Rams, eww

Three consecutive weeks, three consecutive safeties. 

But this Miami mistake might have been the most painful to watch. The Dolphins' suffered the safety against the Eagles on two cringe-worthy plays — cringe-worthy for different reasons. 

The first was Damian Williams taking a kickoff from four yards deep into his own end zone, passing the goal line and subsequently sitting on the 1-yard marker. He couldn't have handed Ryan Tannehill a worse situation, especially considering the quarterback's recent history of seeing snaps fly past him. 

But this safety was more painful, as this time Tannehill took a massive hit from Walter Thurmond as the football flew out of the back of the end zone. Another negative-2 spot on the scoreboard, another indignity for the Dolphins. 

In fairness, the Dolphins won in the grand scheme, defeating the Eagles 20-19 to move to a 4-5 record.

The Lions hadn't won at Lambeau Field in 24 years. They were 1-7. Quarterback Matthew Stafford and coach Jim Caldwell have hot seats permanently hot-glued to their keisters. So when the Packers scored just three points in the first half, it felt like an opportunity for moving forward.

It didn't look good, early.

The Lions punted on their first five possessions, failing to put together more than five plays at a time until less than two minutes remained in the second quarter. The offense failed on all seven third-down conversion attempts in the first half. The combined forces of Joique Bell, Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick rushed for 20 yards on 10 carries. Stafford completed just one of his first seven passes and nearly coughed away a fumble as the Lions failed to capitalize on a Green Bay malaise. 

But boy, was there a Green Bay malaise. Despite controlling more than 16 minutes of the first-half clock, committing no turnovers and converting 3 of 9 third downs, the Packers punted on five consecutive possessions after kicking a field goal on their opening drive. And their 3.7 yards per play barely outpaced Detroit's 3.4. 

In short, the 3-3 tie at halftime didn't even do justice to the bore in Green Bay. No turnovers. No touchdowns. Just a steady sway of the Newton's Cradle, back-and-forth, never moving too far from the center of the field.

The second half, however, started with excitement, as Abdullah returned the kickoff for 104 yards before the Lions punched it in from the 2-yard line with a Stafford pass to Brandon Pettigrew. And the second half ended with excitement. Just when it seemed certain the Lions had an 18-16 win in the capable hands of Calvin Johnson, he dropped it, giving the Packers another possession and another chance.

But Mason Crosby missed would-be, game-winning, 52-yard field goal, a perfect end for a terrible display of football. The Lions get their win at Lambeau, but given their start, and their finish, they remain on the worst list.

We all know the Saints defense is bad — 31st in the league in points allowed and yards allowed.

But Rob Ryan’s group might be working on a season low against the Redskins.

In losing 47-14, the Saints gave up 513 yards of total offense. And they got torched by Kirk Cousins, who was 20 of 25 for 324 yards and four touchdowns. 

The Saints gave up a 78-yard TD pass to Matt Jones and a 38-yard run to Chris Thompson. Jones, who splits time in the backfield, was having a field day on screen passes, hauling in three for 131 yards.

Good thing the Saints have Drew Brees. Too bad he can’t play defense.

Apparently, Chicago's Jay Cutler is too much for the Rams defense to bear. 

(Sorry.)

The Rams entered Week 10 with a deserved defensive reputation — a good one. They ranked sixth of 32 teams in points allowed per game, fourth in total yards allowed and fourth in passing yards allowed. The Bears offense, meanwhile, entered the game ranked 25th in points per game and 21st in pass yardage.

But with Cutler completely entrenched at quarterback, Chicago stormed back in Week 10, running over the Rams' D. Cutler put up 24 points in the first half, completing 12 of 15 passes for 233 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Zero interceptions. For Cutler. In a full half of a football game. The Bears' 266 total yards dwarfed the Rams' 146.

So much for reputation.

Ultimately, the Bears won 37-13, and Cutler needed only to throw nine more passes to complete the beatdown.

Quick, who’s worse — Matt Cassel or Jameis Winston?

The Cowboys or the Buccaneers?

The injury-riddled Cowboys and rebuilding Bucs tried to answer those questions in Tampa Sunday, but to no avail. The answer is neither; they are both bad.

Cassel, the Cowboys’ second attempt at replacing injured Tony Romo, was 19 of 30, but managed just 186 yards and led Dallas to just two field goals.

Winston, the Bucs’ rookie, was 8 of 17 for 82 yards and averaged just 4.8 yards per pass with an interception and two sacks in the first half. And while he did complete 14 of his next 22 for 182 yards to finish the game, another interception and what would have been a costly goal line fumble if not for a penalty, didn't make for pretty football.

The Cowboys’ once-vaunted running game also vanished. Darren McFadden, the last man standing after the loss of DeMarco Murray and release of Joseph Randle, had just 32 yards on 17 carries.

The result was a thrilling 10-6 victory for Tampa Bay, and a loss for viewers everywhere.

This was supposed to be a shootout. 

The Ravens and Jaguars entered Week 10 ranking 25th and 30th respectively in points allowed per game. Baltimore ranked even worse — at 29th — in pass yards allowed per game. Instead, we saw a 22-20 Jaguars victory — and Bortles hardly shined.

Bortles completed just 22 of his 45 passes for 188 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also found himself falling far behind the line, losing 20 yards on just three sacks.

Bortles did flash his big-play potential in the fourth, finding Allen Robinson on a 15-yard touchdown pass to put the Jaguars up 19-14. But his team did not win because of him Sunday. In fact, he almost cost them, taking a six-yard sack on the final play, leaving Jason Myers with a lengthy 53-yard kick to win it; luckily for Bortles, he nailed it.

Sometimes, efficiency can overshadow ineffectiveness.

Johnny Manziel's basic stats look solid: 33 of 45 passing for 372 yards and a touchdown. But costly turnovers and a poor-performing running game grounded the Browns, who lost to the Steelers 30-9.

Manziel had two turnovers, one a fumble on a pass that slipped from his fingers and flew backwards, the other an interception. And everyone not named Manziel — aka Duke Johnson, Travis Benjamin and Isaiah Crowell — rushed for a combined -2 yards on 11 carries.

Those damning stats, coupled with Andrew Hawkins' fumble, left the Browns staring at a deficit they couldn't overcome, more drives ending in despair than numbers might suggest.

Mariota, meet the Panthers. Panthers, maul Mariota. 

Carolina came into the rookie's house this weekend, but Mariota faced an uphill battle as the Titans took on the Panthers. Carolina entered tied for third in takeaways, and a top-half team in terms of points and pass yards allowed per game.

Mariota will only add to that mystique and those rankings. Mariota completed 16 of 24 passes for 185 yards and an interception. His team predictably lost, 27-10. And it could have been worse. Mariota's two fumbles bounced the right way, falling safely into Titan mitts. 

Knowing those cruel Eagles fans, they were probably happy when starting quarterback Sam Bradford went down with an injury Sunday.
Bradford has struggled for the 4-5 Eagles.

But then the Philadelphia faithful was hit with a cold, hard reality — Mark Sanchez is the backup.

The Eagles were winning against the Dolphins when Bradford went down in the third quarter with a shoulder injury and concussion. And he had played well, completing 19 of 25 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown.

Enter Sanchez.

Game over, Eagles.

Sanchez completed 14 of 23 passes for 156 yards, but threw an interception and fumbled with 53 seconds remaining when the Eagles were driving for a potential game-winning field goal.

Peyton Manning set a new NFL record for all-time passing yards on Sunday against the Chiefs. That was good.

In the same game, Manning threw four interceptions. That was bad...really, really bad. So bad, in fact, that he was benched in favor of Brock Osweiler in the third quarter. When Manning left the game, he was 5-20 for 35 yards and a 0.0 quarterback rating.

Patriots receiver Danny Amendola was racing toward an 82-yard punt return touchdown and had only green space in front of him...and also his teammate Duron Harmon, who accidentally tripped Amendola, which set up an avalanche of Giants players that made the tackle inside the Giants' 10-yard line. It would've been Amendola's first career punt return touchdown, too.