Vincent Verhei's blog

Ben Roethlisberger's thrashing of Carolina was the best game of the week -- but not, surprisingly, the best game of the year. We explain and look at the best and worst quarterback games since 1989. Plus the best passers, runners, and receivers of Week 10.

It's a rarity, but the best game of the week is on Thursday night, as Cam Newton faces Pittsburgh for just the second time in his career when the 6-2 Panthers visit the 5-2-1 Steelers. Only three other games this weekend (Saints-Bengals, Patriots-Titans, and Seahawks-Rams) feature two teams at .500 or better. Use this thread to discuss them all.

Our staff of tape-grinding analysts, computer whizzes, and dedicated wordsmiths bring you the kind of cutting-edge commentary you won't find anywhere else: Nathan Peterman is really bad at football. Not the worst this particular week, but still. Really bad.

I hopped on with our old buddy Bill Barnwell to discuss the Rams-Saints, Panthers-Bucs, and Ravens-Steelers games, and what they mean in the future. Are the Rams still the favorites in the NFC? Who's the better quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, or whoever's playing the Bucs? And how should the Ravens and Steelers handle Lamar Jackson and Le'Veon Bell?

It's a milquetoast slate of games in the NFL this week, with only four contests featuring two teams at .500 or better. The action kicks off with the 1-6 Raiders traveling across the bay to face Jimmy Garoppolo C.J. Beathard Nick Mullens and the 1-7 49ers in one of San Francisco's few realistic chances to get a win and get out of the top overall draft pick. Notable Sunday games include Steelers-Ravens, Chargers-Seahawks, the Packers-Patriots Sunday nighter, and the biggest game of the week, the undefeated Rams visiting the 6-1 Saints. Use this thread to discuss them all.

You won't find many quarterbacks who mix good plays and bad plays as frequently as Jameis Winston, which is why he has been benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick -- but that may not matter, because Fitzpatrick tends to run hot and cold himself. We explain, and detail the best passers, runners, and receivers of Week 8.

The week kicks off with Miami visiting Houston in a Brock Osweiler Revenge Game with serious playoff ramifications. Notable Sunday games include Ravens-Panthers, Packers-Rams, and Saints-Vikings, before a Patriots-Bills Monday nighter that could get ugly. Use this thread to discuss them all.

In the worst game of any quarterback so far in 2018, Josh Rosen did something that had not been done in more than a decade, and only four times since 1991. Plus, the best passers, runners, and receivers of Week 7.

Unless you're a David Johnson fantasy owner, the Broncos-Cardinals Thursday night game looks like a snoozer, but eight games on Sunday pit two teams at .500 or better against each other: Titans-Chargers, Patriots-Bears, Texans-Jaguars, Vikings-Jets, Panthers-Eagles, Cowboys-Washington, Bengals-Chiefs, and maybe the biggest game of the week, New Orleans traveling to Baltimore to take on the Ravens. Use this thread to discuss them all.

Paul Noonan at Acme Packing Company has compiled a list of which teams call their timeouts early, and which do a good job of saving them for the end of the half. As you might expect, considering this was written for a Green Bay blog, the Packers lead the league in early timeouts, and Noonan shows specific examples this season how the early use of timeouts has cost the Packers points and, potentially, wins.