VITO'S VIEWS

—The Buffalo Bills pushed the Kansas City Chiefs off their tightrope Sunday. The Chiefs came into the game as the league’s last unbeaten team at 9-0 but they were like walking a tightrope all season as they came from behind eight times. But this time Josh Allen made sure there was no Chiefs comeback with his touchdown scramble on 4^th and 2 late in the game that gave the Bills a 30-21 win. And Allen became the first quarterback to beat Patrick Mahomes four times and left the Bills only one game behind the Chiefs in the battle for the top seed. Nobody will be surprised if they meet in the AFC title game. Despite his 4-1 record against Mahomes in the regular season, Allen is 0-3 against Mahomes in the playoffs. The Chiefs loss also left the 1972 Dolphins as the only unbeaten team but they only had to win 17 games to have a perfect season. A team today would have to win 20 or 21 games to do it and that is unlikely to happen in free agency era.

–In the other feature Sunday game, the Steelers didn’t score a touchdown and gave up two touchdowns but still managed to beat the Ravens 18-16 on six field goals It was only the 11^th time in NFL history that a team has won without a touchdown while giving up two. Russell Wilson is now 4-0 as the starter despite failing to get a touchdown.  Lamar Jackson could only put 16 points on the scoreboard for the Ravens and it wasn’t enough. The victory left the surprising Steelers at 8-2 while the Ravens are 7-4. Both are likely to make the playoffs and both teams have to prove they can win in the playoffs 

–Detroit coach Dan Campbell has a good problem this year. He often has a problem deciding when to pull his starters in routs. He let Jerod Goff stay in until he led the Lions to touchdown drives on the Lions first seven possessions in a 52-6 rout of the Jaguars. The Lions are now favred to make the Super Bowl for the first time. They are in the lead in the battle for the top NFC seed at 9-1.The Jaguars are now 2-9 and both coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke are on the hot seat. 

–Jim Harbaugh is making a difference as the Chargers coach. The Chargers lost a 21 point lead to the Bengals but still came back to win 34-27 to boost their record to 7-3. They are just two games behind the Chiefs in the battle for the division lead and should at least make a wild card spot. The Bengals are a disappointing 4-7 and wasting a good season by quarterback Joe Burrow.

–The Colts-Jets game was a battle of a young and an old quarterback. Youth was served when Anthony Richardson was inserted into the starting lineup after a two game benching and led them to a 28-27 win over Aaron Rodgers. Richardson thrw for 272 yards and a touchwown and ran for two more. The Colts are 5-6 while the Jets are 3-8. After the game, owner Woody Johnson, who previously fired coach Robert Saleh, fired general manager Joe Douglas. The timing was puzzling since he could have waited until the end of the season. It also turns out Johnson wanted to bench Rodgers after four games but was talked out of it by the coaches. The Jets just continue to spin their wheels.

–The Kansas City Chiefs showed Sunday they are still so good at finding a way to win as they go for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era. They boosted their record to 9-0 and remained the only unbeaten team in the league with a 16-14 win over the Broncos. The Broncos had a chance to beat the Chiefs with a 35-yard field goal at the end of the game but the Chiefs blocked it. They now have a clear path to the top seed and a berth in the Super Bowl. The only AFC teams with fewer than three losses are the 8-2 Bills and 7-2 Steelers. The Chiefs play the Bills next week and Steelers on Christmas Day. 

–The Bills posted their fifth straight victory by beating the Colts 30-20 to go to 8-2 for the first time since 1993 when they were on their four Super Bowl run. They now have a tough stretch coming up with a home game against the Chiefs, a bye, a home game against 49ers and road games against the Rams and Lions. They have the division title and a playoff berth virtually locked up with a four game lead in the loss column over the Dolphins. But they must beat the Chiefs if they are to have a shot at the top seed.

–Russell Wilson threw three touchdown passes including a 32-yarder to Mike Williams in the final three minutes to give the Steelers the 28-27 victory over the Commanders. The Commanders had two shots to rally but a fourth and nine catch was ruled just short of the first down on a questionable spot. And when the Steelers had a 4^th and 1 they lined up to go for it but rookie defensive lineman Johnny Newton jumped offsides when he was fooled by Wilson’s hard count. The Steelers remain in first place in the AFC North with a 7-2 mark while the Ravens, who go to Pittsburgh Sunday, are 6-3.

– The Lions overcame five Jared Goff picks to edge the Texans, 26-23, while the Vikings overcame three Sam Darnold picks to beat the Jaguars 12-7. The 8-1 Lions have already beaten the 7-2 Vikings and they meet again in the final game of the season.  

–The Cowboys, Jets and Bears are three of the most disappointing teams in the league. All three lost Sunday as the Cowboys were beaten by the Eagles, 34-6, the Jets lost to the Cardinals, 31-6, and the Bears lost to the Patriots, 19-3. The Cowboys  are 3-6 and Jets at 3-7 and both are virtually out of the playoff race. The Jets thought Aaron Rodgers would be their answer at quarterback and gave him a lot of control on personnel decisions, but Rodgers is showing his age at 40 and the Jets likely will likely be in the market for a new quarterback next year. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are so out of sorts that their stadium caused a controversy. It has glass doors on both ends and if it isn’t overcast the sun shines in. CeeDee Lamb lost a touchdown pass in the sun and complained about the sun. Owner Jerry  Jones has rejected the idea of putting curtains up to blocck the sun and got annoyed when reporters brought it up. Of course, the Cowboys have many more problems besides the sun issue, namely the fact that Jones insists on being the general manager. The Bears haven’t recovered from their Hail Mary loss to Washington and have lost three in a row to drop to 4-5.

—As the NFL heads into its 10^th week of season, the issue of officiating is once again the main topic of conversation. The weekend started when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 35-34 in an exciting Thursday night game marred by bad officiating. The Bengals scored with 38 seconds left to cut the deficit to a point. The Bengals went for two, but Joe Burrow’s pass was incomplete.But the officials appear to miss two Ravens’ fouls on the play – defensive holding and a hit to Burrow’s helmet. Neither is reviewable so the Ravens won instead of the Bengals having a second shot at the two point conversion. The officials also missed a false start by the Ravens that should have nullified an 84-yard touchdown play by Tylan Wallace. The no calls showed the NFL either needs more review in the final two minutes or needs to approve the officiating. But the NFL has yet to show much interest in fixing the problems and loses some of its best officials to TV, which pays them better. So the controversies are likely to continue. 

–The feature Sunday night game this week is the Lions at Houston.The 7-1 Lions have won six in a row since losing their second game to Tampa Bay and are shooting for the top seed. They have a one game lead over the Vikings, who are playing at Jacksonville. The Texans have been somewhat disappointing but still have  5-3 record in the AFC South and a two game lead over the Colts. The Texans have lost two of last three including a surprising loss to the Jets last week. The Texans have already swept the Colts so that means they would win a tie-breaker against the  Colts.

–The other national games are Carolina vs. Giants in Munich on Sunday morning morning while the Rams are hosting Miami Monday night. The Giants and Carolina  are both 2-7 so the NFL once again has a game in Europe between two losing teams. But the NFL knows it can sell out the games in Europe regardless of the matchup. In the Monday night game, The Rams are 4-4 and a game behind the Cardinals while the Dolphins are struggling at 2-6   

–CBS has two feature early games – the Steelers and Commanders in the eastern half of the country and the undefeated Chiefs hosting Denver in the western half. The Buffalo at Indianapolis game also should be a good game but is basically being shown in the TV areas of the two teams. Tampa Bay is hosting San Francisco but the Bucs are blacking out their home game so it will be shown on the West Coast.

–The CBS feature game doubleheader game Sunday is Philadelpha at Dallas, which will be shown to most of the country. The 6-2 Eagles figure to win but the 3-5 Cowboys are an attraction even though they are a losing team and quarterback Dak Prescott is injured and willl be replaced by Cooper Rush..

—The feature game this weekend will be the Fox doubleheader game featuring the Lions at Green Bay which will be shown across the country except in parts of the West Coast where the Rams at Seattle game will be shown. The Lions have the best record in the conference and a victory would boost their record to 7-1 while a Green Bay loss would drop the Packers to 6-3. Packer quarterback Jordan Love suffered a groin injury against Jacksonville last week and it is uncertain if he will play.

–If the Lions win, Minnesota can remain a game behind them in the NFC North  and boost their record to 6-2 with a win over the Colts, who are 4-4 in the Sunday night game. It was flexed into the prime time spot when the Jaguar-Eagles game was moved to late afternoon. Joe Flacco will replace rookie Anthony Richardson as the Colts quarterback and the Colts can remain a game behind the 6-3 Texan in the AFC South with a win.

–The weekend started Thursday night with the Jets snapping a five game losing streak with a win over the Texans, who were expected to be a contender but haven’t played the way they did last year when C.J. Stroud led them to the division title as rookie. One problem is that the offensive line isn’t giving Stroud enough protection. He also said the Texans have to stop pointing fingers, which seemed to indicate they are doing just that.

–The NFL’s only unbeaten team, Kansas City, is favored to boost its record to 8-0 with a victory over Tampa Bay on Monday night. Except for the Bills and Steelers, who are both 6-2, the rest of the AFC teams have at least three losses so the Chiefs are in a good position to get the top seed and a bye as they go for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era.  The Bills host Miami while the Steelers have a bye.

–Besides the Miami-Buffalo game, CBS has three other early game – Denver at Baltimore, which will get the most coverage, the Chargers at Cleveland and New Orleans at Carolina. With the Broncos and Ravens both 5-3, it is a pivotal game for both teams in the two late CBS games, Chicago is at Arizona and Jacksonville is at Philadelphia.

–In the Fox early game, Dallas at Atlanta gets the most coverage while Washington  is at the Giants; Las Vegas is at Cincinnati and New England is at Tennessee in the other three games.

–The eighth weekend will be remembered for what is likely to be the play of the year – -the Commanders victory over the Chicago Bears on a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game. But this was no ordinary Hail Mary. Although rookie Jayden Daniels, who was playing with a rib injury, gets the credit for throwing the pass, he got a lot of help because the Bears did a poor job of defending the play after taking the lead with 25 seconds left. To begin with, the Bears gave the Commanders a 13 –yard completion on the next to the last play to get the ball near midfield. Then coach Matt Eberflus didn’t call time out to set the defense and rushed only three defenders. Then Tyrique Stevenson ran downfield waving his arms with his back to the play like he was taunting the fans and when he turned around he ran to the scrum and jumped and tipped it into the arms of Noah Brown for the game winning touchdown. The play will live in infamy for the Bears and could eventually cost Eberflus his job. For the Commanders, it is a sign they are beginning a new era.

–The weekend ended with the Chiefs and the Lions with the two best records in the league and it remains to be seen if they are headed to a Super Bowl meeting. The Chiefs are 7-0 after beating the Raiders 27-20. Patrick Mahomes still isn’t at the top of his game but the Chiefs still find ways to win. The Lions crushed the Titans, 52-14, to boost their record to 6-1. The Packers, who beat the Jaguars on a late field goal, and the Vikings, who lost to the Rams, are 6-2 and 5-2. The Bears fell to 4-3 after their Hail Mary loss. The Chiefs, by contrast, are three games ahead in the loss column over the 5-3 Broncos, who beat the Panthers, and the 4-3 Chargers, who beat the Saints. The Chiefs are a virtual lock to win their division title.

–The 6-2 Bills, who routed the Seahawks, 31-10, also have a three game lead in their division in the loss column over the 2-5 Dolphins, who lost to the Cardinals, 28-27.  The Bills host the Chiefs on Nov. 17 in what is likely to be a pivotal game for both clubs as they vie for the top seed in the AFC. 

–The Browns found out they are apparently better off without Deshaun Watson, who was injured and replaced by Jameis Winston. With Winston at quarterback, the Browns stunned the Ravens, 29-24, and even though they are 2-6, they are talking about making a run for a wild card spot. The Ravens dropped their record to 5-3, one game behind the surprising 6-2 Steelers, who beat the Giants Monday night and are now 2-0 with Russell Wilson at quarterback.

–The Jets decision to bring in Aaron Rodgers a year ago was an ill-fated one. A year ago, he was lost for the season on the first series. This year, he is looking like an old quarterback instead of a quarterback of old and fell to 2-6 with a loss to the Patriots, who are also-2-6. Looks like the Jets will be in the market for a new coach and quarterback next year.

—It is still too early to be talking about February but nobody will be surprised if the Super Bowl pits the Kansas City Chiefs vs. either the Lions or the Vikings, who appear headed towards a showdown in the NFC title game 

–The Chiefs, going for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era and the third in NFL history, beat the injured plagued 49ers and are now the only unbeaten team at 6-0. But it is not like the Chiefs are playing at the top of their game. But they just find a way to win. Patrick Mahomes had only a 44.4 quarterback rating and threw two picks, but he usually makes a big play when they need it and they have an elite coaching staff and a strong defense. They should go to 9-0 with the next three games against the Raiders, Bucs and Broncos before they go to Buffalo on Nov. 17.

.  –The Lions handed the Vikings their first loss, 31-29, and could meet two more times. They play again in the final regular season game and could well meet again in the playoffs. The Lions seem to have the edge because Jared Goff s is playing so well. In the last three games, he has completed 85.2 per cent of his passes, including all 18 against Seattle, while throwing for 887 yards and seven touchdowns. Of course, the Lions will have to overcome the loss of Aidan Hutchinson.

–The Super Bowl loser rarely wins it the next year. The last team to do it was New England, which lost to Philadelphia at the end of the 2017 season and beat the Rams in the Super Bowl the following season. Before that, the last team to do it was the perfect Dolphins of 1972, who beat Washington in the Super Bowl after losing to Dallas the previous season. Now San Francisco, which lost to the Chiefs last year, doesn’t look like a team that will return this year, much less win it. They are 3-4 after the loss to the Chiefs and they haven’t had Christian McCaffrey all year and they lost Brandon Aiyuk for the season with a knee injury against the Chiefs. The 49ers were last in the Super Bowl after the 2019 season when they lost to the Chiefs and didn’t return until last year.  And now Deebo Samuels is suffering from pneumonia. Could be a tough year for the 49ers.

–The Washington Commanders continue to be the surprise team in the league. They routed the hapless Panthers to go to 5-2, a half game ahead of the 4-2 Eagles. They get a good test in the next five weeks when they play against the Bears, Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys with a game against the Giants after the Bears games.

–The Baltimore Ravens ended last season by losing to the Chiefs in the AFC title game and started this year losing to them in the opener. But the Ravens could be headed towards another duel with the Chiefs in the playoffs. They boosted their record to 5-2 with their fifth straight win after after an 0-2 start by beating the Bucs, 41-31. The Ravens have a 1-2 punch in quarterback Lamar Jackson, who threw five touchdown passes, and Derrick Henry, probably the best free agent acquisition of the offseasn, who ran for 169 yards.Henry is on pace for a 2,000 yard season and could challenge Eriic Dickerson’s career record of 2,105 yards. He has 873 yards and can play 17 games. The Bucs suffered a blow in the final minute when they lostChris Godwin for the season with a dislocated ankle that will require surgery.

—Fox has the doubleheader of the year this Sunday. One of its early games will be Detroit at Minnesota which will be shown to much of the country. Their late game is Kansas City at San Francisco in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl. Minnesota and Kansas City are both undefeated at 5-0 coming off byes. Detroit is 4-1 coming off a big win over the Cowboys while San Francisco, hobbled by injuries this year, is only 3-3 after beating Seattle last week. The Vikings and 49ers are both favored by about 1.5 points but nobody would be surprised if both underdogs win. The Chiefs haven’t been at the top of their game but Patrick Mahomes finds a way to pull out games And coach Andy Reid has an NFL record 21-4 coming off byes. Be interesting to see how good the ratings are.

–The weekend started with Denver’s easy win over New Orleans Thursday night and four other national games are scheduled starting with New England vs. Jacksonville at 9:30 am Sunday on the NFL Network. Both teams are 1-5 so it is not likely to have a big audience, but it is critical for Jaguars Coach Doug Pederson, who is already on the hot seat because owner Shad Khan said at the start of the season that it was time to win. His seat will get hotter if he loses to an underdog. New England is the first year of a rebuild with a new coach and rookie quarterback so there is no pressure on them.

–The Sunday night game has the 4-2 Steelers hosting the 2-4 Jets. Surprisingly, the Jets are favored. It helps they have added Davante Adams to give Aaron Rodgers one of his favorite targets. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has indicated he may bench Justin Fields now that Russell Wilson is healthy so this could be an intriguing game. Rodgers has yet to be the quarterback the Jets thought he would be but maybe the addition of Adams will help jumpstart his play.

–There are two Monday night games starting with Baltimore at Tampa Bay. Both are 4-2. The other game pits the 3-2 Chargers at the 2-4 Cardinals. The Ravens are favored by 3.5 points and the Chargers are a 1.5 choice over the Cardinals.

–The best game Sunday afternoon besides the Fox doubleheader is the Texans at the Packers. The Texans are 5-1 while the Packers are 4-2. The Texans are in control of the AFC South since the Colts are 3-3 and the Titans and Jaguars have won only one game. But the Packers are in the best division in football and need a win because the Vikings, Lions and Bears are a combined 13-3 and since the Vikings and Lions are playing each other; either the Vikings will be 6-0 or the Lions 5-1.

–The highlight of Week 6 was the Detroit Lions scoring a Pyrrhic victory over the Dallas Cowboys by a 47-9 score, the first time in NFL history that a game has ended with that score. But in the process they lost their best defensive player, Aidan Hutchinson with a broken tibia and fibula, probably for the season. The Lions had a lot of incentive after losing to Cowboys in a controversial game late last year. But can they go to the Super Bowl without Hutchinson? That is the big question. Just winning the division will be a challenge since they have to play all six division games starting with the game Sunday at Minnesota.

–The only two unbeaten teams, Kansas City and Minnesota, had byes last week and remain 5-0. There are six teams with one loss – the Patriots, Browns, Titans, Jaguars, Rams and Panthers. Two of them, the Pats and Jaguars, play in London Sunday morning so barring a tie, one of them will get a second win.

–The Ravens beat the Commanders to tie the Steelers, who beat the Raiders in the renewal of an old rivalry, so they are tied at 4-2 atop the NFL North. Despite his 4-2 start, Justin Fields may be benched for Russell Wilson, who is recovering from a calf injury. If Fields plays less than 51 percent of the plays, the Steelers give a sixth-round pick instead of a fourth-rounder to Chicago for Fields. So if Wilson plays well, the Steelers are likely to stick with him.

–Rookie Drake Maye lost his first start with the Patriots to a much better Houston team. But he didn’t act like the stage was too big for him and showed potential for the future. Now the Patriots have to build a better team around him. He threw three touchdowns in the lass. He has a shot for a win Sunday in London against the Jaguars, another 1- team.

–The Jets fired their head coach and demoted their offensive coordinator but still looked like the Jets in the Monday night loss to the Bills as they made too many mistakes, committed too many penalties and missed two field goals. Aaron Rodgers threw a Hail Mary touchdown pass at the end of the fourth period but threw an interception to end their last the drive.  A victory would have tied the Jets with the Bills at 3-3. Now they are 2-4, trailing the 4-2 Bulls by two games.

—The two unbeaten teams, Kansas City and Minnesota, happen to have a bye this week so both will go into week 7 with 5-0 records. The other two bye teams this week are Miami and the Rams.

–The weekend started Thursday night with the 49ers beating Seattle to even their record at 3-3and to tie the Seahawks, who have lost three in a row, for first place in the NFC West. The 49ers have been struggling with injuries and blew two double leads in last three weeks. Coach Kyle Shanahan has blown 18 double digit leads in his career as 49ers coach plus the 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl against the Pats as the Falcons offensive coordinator. The 49ers had a double digit lead against the Seahawks, who got within six but the 49ers pulled away to win, 36-24. 

–There are three other national games this weekend with the Bears and Jaguars playing in London at 930 am Eastern time Sunday, the Bengals at the Giants Sunday night and the Bills at the Jets Monday night. The Bengals at 1-4 are desperate for a win against the Giants to show they can stay in the race. The Giants are 2-3 and can get to .500 with a win. After posting their first win last week, the 1-4 Jaguars need a win over the Bears to try to claw back into the race.

 The 3-2 Bills have lost two in a row and need a win to get back on track with a win over the Jets. The Jets decision to fire coach Robert Saleh with a 2-3 record added some drama to the game. New Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich has decided to take the play calling duties away from Nathaniel Hackett and give them to Todd Downing, who was the passing game coordinator. Saleh had decided to make this move shortly before he was fired although Hackett will stay on the staff. Hackett was close to Rodgers, who has denied he was involved in the decision to fire Saleh but he doesn’t seem to have gone to bat for him for him. Rodgers also hasn’t been playing well since returning from the Achilles injury last year and needs to get in a groove  

–CBS has a single game and its feature attraction is Washington at Baltimore in an early game. The surprising Commanders lead the NFC West at 4-1 and the Ravens are tied with the Steelers at 3-2 in the AFC North. It is a pivotal game for both the Commanders and the Ravens. 

FOX has the doubleheader game Sunday with Detroit at Dallas. The 4-1 Lions are one game behind the 5-0 Vikings in the NFC North while the 3-2 Cowboys are a game behind the 4-1 Commanders in the NFC East.

—There are now just two unbeaten teams, no winless teams and one head coach fired. Those are the highlights now that week five is in the books.  The Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings both won to go to 5-0 while the Jaguars, the last winless team, won and the New York Jets fired coach Robert Saleh after a 23-17 loss to the Vikings dropped the Jets to 2-3.

–The Chiefs bid for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era continues to be on track  as they won their 11^th consecutive games with the 26-13 win over the Saints to go 5-0. Of the 11 wins, nine have been by one score. 24-23. Except for the 4-1 Texans every conference team has at least two losses.

–The Vikings weren’t at their best about the Jets but still won and have been behind only slightly more than four minutes in the first five games. Five other 5-0 teams have led for all but under 4:30 and made the Super Bowl and three won it. But being in the division with the 3-1 Lions and 3-2 Packers means they have a challenge just winning the division.

–With the Jaguars beating the Colts 37-34, there are now six 1-4 teams. The other five are the Panthers, Rams, Patriots, Browns and  Bengals, Since 1-4 teams rarely make the playoffs, the odds are that 26 teams are fighting for 14 playoff spots. The 1-3 Titans probably should be added to the list.

–The Jets decision to bring in Aaron Rodgers may have cost Robert Saleh his job. Joe Flacco would have been a much better choice. Rodgers doesn’t seem to have recovered from last year’s Achilles injury and seems to create too much drama. Unless he and interim coach Jeff Ulbrich can turn the team around, the Jets are likely to have a new coach and quarterback next year.