32 things we learned in NFL Week 10: C.J. Stroud running away in top rookie race

The 32 things we learned from Week 10 of the 2023 NFL season:

1. What a wild Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks all winning with field goals on the final play of their respective games. It marked the most game-winning scores with no time remaining in the fourth quarter in a single week in the league’s 104-season history.

1a. It's emblematic of what’s been a dramatic season, 69.8% of all games so far within one score in the fourth quarter.

2. In a year when Rams WR Puka Nacua and Dolphins RB De’Von Achane had record-setting starts to their careers – not to mention the ongoing impact of Falcons RB Bijan Robinson and Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs – is their any reason not to give Offensive Rookie of the Year honors to Texans QB C.J. Stroud now?

2a. Coming off his rookie-record 470-yard passing day in Week 9, Stroud put up 356 more in Sunday’s 30-27 upset of the Bengals in Cincinnati. He joined Cam Newton and Andrew Luck for the most games (3) with 350+ pass yards among rookies – with eight more games yet to play. Stroud’s 2,626 yards passing are the third-highest total ever through a rookie’s first nine starts.

3. Houston’s win, secured by fill-in K Matt Ammendola’s 38-yard field goal, moved the Texans ahead of the Bengals by a tiebreaker and into the AFC’s projected playoff field as the final wild-card team.

3a. However a win by the Bills on Monday night – they host the Denver Broncos – will vault Buffalo past Houston.

4. It wasn’t all daisies and rainbows for Stroud, who threw his second interception of the season – though his 15-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio is still tracking toward breaking Dak Prescott’s rookie record (23-to-4).

4a. But it was pretty sweet to have such a big game in Cincinnati, where Stroud could doubtless salute so many alumni from Ohio State, for whom he was starring just last year.

5. Welcome back, Kyler Murray. The Cardinals quarterback returned to action 11 months after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Sunday’s effort against the Atlanta Falcons was hardly perfect – 249 yards and an INT through the air with 33 yards and a TD on the ground – but Murray's 33-yard pass to TE Trey McBride set up Matt Prater’s 23-yard game-winning field goal.

6. The Lions no longer have the league’s worst defense, though Sunday served up an unwanted flashback after they gave up 38 points to the Los Angeles Chargers. But no problem – even on the road – as the NFC North leaders hung on for a 41-38 win that pulled them one game behind the idle Philadelphia Eagles – they’re about to face Kansas City, Buffalo, San Francisco, Dallas and Seattle in succession – in the race for the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed.

7. But what an aerial show by the Bolts. QB Justin Herbert’s 16,438 career passing yards eclipsed Hall of Famer Peyton Manning for the most by a player in his first four NFL seasons. Herbert threw for 323 yards and four TDs in defeat.

7a. Meanwhile, Chargers WR Keenan Allen now has 15 career games with at least 11 receptions, also a league record.

8. The Minnesota Vikings ran their winning streak to five games, currently the league’s best, by outlasting the New Orleans Saints 27-19.

9. Vikes substitute QB Joshua Dobbs, formerly the Cardinals’ substitute QB, accounted for two more TDs in his first start for Minnesota.

9a. At some point – next year? – is some team finally going to offer Dobbs the chance to get on a tenure track? At least the NFL has stripped the "Passtronaut" across the top of its X account.

10. The number of rookie quarterbacks to start this season, a league record (the 1987 strike season notwithstanding) after the New York Giants were forced to elevate Tommy DeVito for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

11. This veteran has always been appreciative of the league’s ongoing “Salute to Service” program, not to mention the military-adjacent gear players and coaches sport every year.

12. And a salute to the Cowboys for making their red, white and blue helmet stripes an annual tradition to honor vets.

12a. Originally a look “America’s Team” used throughout the 1976 season to celebrate America’s bicentennial, the Cowboys have gone red, white and blue on their helmets for a game in the past three seasons, including Sunday.

13. Yet another salute to Dallas WR CeeDee Lamb, the first man in NFL annals to catch at least 10 passes for at least 150 yards in three consecutive games after snaring 11 balls for 151 yards in Sunday’s 49-17 rout of the little Giants. Lamb caught one TD pass and ran for another score.

14. And a final salute to Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy, who’s taken deserved flak – this space serving up some – for his orchestration of the Dallas offense. Maybe it’s not all that noteworthy steamrolling the Giants, but any time you score seven TDs and post 640 yards and 32 first downs – thirty-two – against an NFL defense, you’re clearly doing something right.

14a. Six of the Cowboys’ touchdowns came in the red zone, a place they’ve struggled all season.

15. Dallas ran its home winning streak to 12, currently the league’s longest.

15a. The Cowboys swept the Giants this season by a collective 89-17 score.

15b. Dallas outgained the Giants by 468 yards Sunday.

16. Just when you think you understand the NFL – particularly in this vexing 2023 season – you get a game like the Browns’ 33-31 victory over the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

16a. Just when you thought the Ravens had staked a legitimate claim as the league’s best team.

16b. Just when you thought QB Lamar Jackson (2 INTs) was perched to become the MVP frontrunner.

16c. Just when you knew to take the under and expect a slugfest between the league’s top two defenses, but instead get a shootout – though one that did include a pair of pick-sixes (one per team).

16d. Just when you knew the team with the universe’s best kicker (Baltimore’s Justin Tucker) had an advantage … only to see him outperformed by Cleveland’s Dustin Hopkins, who was perfect on four field-goal tries, including the game-winning 40-yarder.

17. Weird stat of the game: Ravens rookie RB Keaton Mitchell had a 39-yard TD run … and finished the game with 34 rushing yards.

17a. Crazy stat of the game: Ravens LB Roquan Smith finished with 21 tackles, 14 of the solo variety.

17b. Wild stat of the game: Per ESPN Stats & Info, no NFL team – until now – had won a game in the 21st century while trailing for as long as 59 minutes and 20 seconds, which Cleveland did Sunday.

18. If Sunday’s game between the division-leading San Francisco 49ers and Jaguars in Jacksonville had been labeled a “contender or pretender” matchup, then the verdict is squarely in after the Niners’ 34-3 rout ended their three-game skid and the Jags’ five-game winning streak.

19. San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey’s 17-game streak, including postseason, with at least one touchdown ended one shy of setting a new league record. But fantasy owners everywhere applauded HC Kyle Shanahan for trying to scheme CMC into a score in the game’s final three minutes even with the 49ers leading by 31.

19a. Said a smiling McCaffrey afterward: “Yeah, I suuuck. Everyone else on the team scored … except for me.”

20. DL Chase Young made his debut for the 49ers following his trade-deadline acquisition from the Washington Commanders. He and Nick Bosa, formerly teammates at Ohio State, combined for a sack that forced a fumble from Jags QB Trevor Lawrence.

21. The Green Bay Packers outgained the Steelers 399-324, Pittsburgh yet to have more yards than an opponent in all nine games this season and now collectively outstripped by 865. Yet, amazingly, the Steelers have finished six of their nine games with more points than the other guys after surviving the Pack 23-19.

22. Get this: The Steelers’ win made it six in a row for teams wearing throwback uniforms ... though Pittsburgh really makes you look closely at those number fonts.

23. But that’s good news for the Packers, who will wear theirs in Week 11.

24. Sunday’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots in Frankfurt, Germany, was the league’s 50th regular-season contest staged outside the United States.

25. The Pats’ 10-6 defeat prevented them from becoming the first team to win its first four games on foreign soil.

26. New England’s setback may also signal the end of QB Mac Jones’ starting tenure. This wasn’t the first game this season finished by QB2 (currently) Bailey Zappe, but it was the first time he took over with the outcome still in doubt.

27. The Patriots are off next week but (embattled?) HC Bill Belichick did not commit to a starter for Week 12’s matchup with the Giants.

27a. "How does Mac Jones come back from that? We've seen his emotional failures before,” ESPN analyst and former Patriots defensive captain Tedy Bruschi said after watching Jones get benched. “I don't know how more embarrassing this gets."

28. While the Colts will gladly take the win and the level-setting 5-5 record they take into their bye week, Sunday was the first time they failed to score 20 points – ending the best streak of any team in the league in 2023.

29. What a weekend for the Bears. They improved the chances they’ll own the No. 1 draft pick in 2024 by beating the one-win Carolina Panthers – who would own that pick had they not traded it to Chicago earlier this year. Those odds further improved Sunday when the Cardinals won their second game.

30. Glad to be past a rough cluster of idle teams, the division-leading Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins all out of action.

31. But the payoff comes a week from Monday, when the Iggles visits K.C. for a Super Bowl 57 rematch.

32. Because you were thinking it, noted Eagles fan Taylor Swift has a concert the night before in Brazil. If she makes the trek to Kansas City, it will say something about her relationship with Chiefs All-Pro TE Travis Kelce.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL takeaways: Texans' C.J. Stroud running away as top rookie