Previously:
The Browns and the Patriots have been two of the most run-heavy teams in the NFL this year. That trend continued even more in week 10, with both teams recording their most run-heavy games of the season. Cleveland has Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, and while they may not be Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell running through the Eagles or Cardinals or Eagles again, they are at least entering Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack territory. In a game with a lot of wind, Baker Mayfield‘s passing attack gained just 125 yards, while Chubb rushed for 126 yards and Hunt picked up 132 yards from scrimmage. Cleveland ran on over 66% of their plays against Houston, the highest run ratio for the Browns in over six years (when names like Brian Hoyer, Terence West, Isaiah Crowell, and Ben Tate were relevant).
For New England, it remains a very different offense with Cam Newton around. With Brady under center, New England never ran on 66% or more of their plays. But for the second time this season, the Patriots did just that, with himself recording 11 carries, and Damien Harris and Rex Burkhead contributing another 28 totes. Against a good Ravens defense, New England played their perfect game plan: the passing attack picked up a first down on 10 of 19 dropbacks, and the team went 2-for-3 in the red zone and 1-1 on 4th downs.
The full week 10 Game Scripts, below.
| Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | CIN | Boxscore | 36 | 10 | 26 | 14.2 | 46 | 20 | 69.7% | 44 | 21 | 67.7% | |
| MIA | LAC | Boxscore | 29 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 25 | 32 | 43.9% | 34 | 29 | 54% | |
| DET | WAS | Boxscore | 30 | 27 | 3 | 8.8 | 34 | 21 | 61.8% | 57 | 26 | 68.7% | |
| LVR | DEN | Boxscore | 37 | 12 | 25 | 7.9 | 25 | 41 | 37.9% | 50 | 19 | 72.5% | |
| NYG | PHI | Boxscore | 27 | 17 | 10 | 6.9 | 31 | 36 | 46.3% | 40 | 23 | 63.5% | |
| LAR | SEA | Boxscore | 23 | 16 | 7 | 5.4 | 40 | 29 | 58% | 44 | 21 | 67.7% | |
| CLE | HOU | Boxscore | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3.7 | 21 | 41 | 33.9% | 32 | 22 | 59.3% | |
| NWE | BAL | Boxscore | 23 | 17 | 6 | 3.6 | 19 | 39 | 32.8% | 36 | 28 | 56.3% | |
| TAM | @ | CAR | Boxscore | 46 | 23 | 23 | 2.9 | 40 | 37 | 51.9% | 31 | 16 | 66% |
| NOR | SFO | Boxscore | 27 | 13 | 14 | 2.7 | 26 | 30 | 46.4% | 41 | 25 | 62.1% | |
| MIN | @ | CHI | Boxscore | 19 | 13 | 6 | 1.8 | 37 | 33 | 52.9% | 33 | 17 | 66% |
| IND | @ | TEN | Boxscore | 34 | 17 | 17 | 0.6 | 40 | 29 | 58% | 28 | 32 | 46.7% |
| GNB | JAX | Boxscore | 24 | 20 | 4 | 0.3 | 35 | 25 | 58.3% | 38 | 23 | 62.3% | |
| ARI | BUF | Boxscore | 32 | 30 | 2 | -3.1 | 35 | 35 | 50% | 50 | 18 | 73.5% |
The Steelers and Bills came out with two of the most pass-heavy games of the week, both with positive Game Scripts. Pittsburgh blew out the Bengals and produced the highest Game Script of the week. And yet the Steelers also had the highest pass ratio of any winning team in week 10! Pittsburgh led by at least 10 points after each quarter and won by over three touchdowns. In the process, Pittsburgh became just the 5th team in NFL history to meet those criteria and also throw on at least 69% of their plays: the first four games including the Chiefs/Jets game from Week 8 of this season, a crazy Ravens game from 2016, a 2002 Raiders game where Rich Gannon set an NFL record for consecutive completions on Monday night football. The fifth of those games was the ’99 Panthers season finale that seems to be coming up pretty frequently this year.
Finally, Josh Allen and the Bills passed on over 73% of their plays against Arizona, the most pass-happy game for Buffalo in six seasons. What’s really remarkable about this is Allen himself ran 7 times. Add in the 50 pass plays (Allen threw 49 times and caught one pass), and Allen was involved on 57 of 68 (84%) of all Buffalo plays.