NFL 2010: Week 10 -- Dallas Dumps Phillips; Moss grows in Tennessee; What's Up in DC?

Pity Jason Garrett. Three years ago he was the rising star coveted by teams like Baltimore and Washington as their potential new head coach. Garrett elected to stay in Dallas getting an outrageous paycheck to remain as offensive coordinator and a strong hint he'd be in line to replace Wade Phillips when Phillips would retire. Since then, Dallas has not looked like a Super Bowl offense by any stretch of the imagination. Then came the 2010 season where the owner dreamed of hosting the Super Bowl with his Cowboys as the home team, but the team collapsed in historic fashion with only one win so far this year. After getting destroyed on national television against the Green Bay Packers, losing 45-7, the long overdue dismissal of Phillips became automatic and now Jason Garrett is the head coach. However, one has to think, unless he's one of those guys Jerry Jones worships (possibility) or the team turns around and plays awesome football (unlikely), it's more likely that someone else will be head coach next year and with luck, Garrett will be somebody's offensive guru.

The food didn't agree with Randy Moss in Minnesota. Now he's in (YAHOO!!!) Nashville. If any coach can work with Randy Moss, it's Jeff Fisher who's low key intensity and ability to quietly lead his players might be the perfect match for the mercurial Moss. He could be a very valuable addition to the Titans' offense making their odds against Indy for the Southern Division in the AFC brighter while the Colts continue to get injured.

What could possibly be uglier for Washington given Coach Mike Shannahan and his "sonny boy" Kyle, the team's offensive coordinator pulled veteran QB, Donovan McNabb, with the game in reach losing to the Detroit Lions with two minutes to go?  Rex Grossman came in and obliterated the Redskins sanity with a prompt fumble leading to a Detroit touchdown. Now Philadelphia comes to town for a Monday night game, the Eagles, McNabb's former team. The tension will be thicker than the BS on Capitol Hill on Fedex Field Monday night. The only way out is for McNabb to play the whole game, play effectively, and beat the Eagles. Anything less will make the soap opera in DC that much more intense.

Thursday night football begins this week. Is this a good thing or overkill. For the Ravens who travel to Atlanta, it's a pain in the arse having to get ready on such short notice.

Here are our picks for Week 10:

Baltimore at Atlanta (-1)
No easy game for either team. They are well matched. Baltimore has faced tougher competition and should prevail.

Cincinnati at Indianapolis (-7)
Indy is all banged up. Cincinnati is not playing well as a team. Payton Manning will prevail.

New York Jets (-3) at Cleveland
Yeah, we know Cleveland upset the Patriots, but in the Ryan brother bash, Rex beats Rob.

Minnesota (-1.5) at Chicago
Minnesota is another one of those soap opera teams who came on brilliantly to pull out a win in the final moments showing they still have some real power despite the internal feuds and a dork of a head coach. They should be strong enough to edge "dah Bears."

Tennessee (-1.5) at Miami
A lot of question marks to this game, Moss joins the Titans and Pennington will take back his old starting roll. Miami's play against Baltimore showed they are no match for the better teams.


Houston at Jacksonville (-2)
Houston has been falling lately but should be ready to turn things around against an unpredictable Jaguar team.

Detroit at Buffalo (-3)
One could say Buffalo's bound to win one of these days, but Detroit is coming in strong after smashing the Redskins. Detroit is a bad team getting better. Buffalo has not turned the corner yet.

Carolina at Tampa Bay (-7)
Pity Carolina, the folks in Charlotte only have two more weeks of  NASCAR, then they'll have to face up to how terrible their football team is -- dreadful and ready to be rebuilt.

Kansas City (-1) at Denver
Have we finally established KC is a decent team this year?  They should be good enough to at least win the AFC West when they beat Denver Sunday.

St. Louis at San Francisco (-6)
If San Francisco is to get it in gear and salvage something from the season, they cannot lose at home to the Rams but they'd better be ready. The Rams are turning things around.

Dallas at New York Giants (-14)
Will the Giants kick the Cowboys when they're down?  Count on it.

New England at Pittsburgh (-4.5)
Could injuries be the Steelers' undoing?  Possibly, but this time of year Pittsburgh is very tough at home and the Pats still have to figure how the lowly Browns beat them last week.

Philadelphia (-3) at Washington
The Redskins will look like a cigar store Indian when the Eagles are through with them Monday night. After Shannahan's shenanigans, it's hard to imagine the team will do much of anything unless Donovan has some unbelievable leadership skills that father and son won't try to oppress.