DENVER (AP) — Election Day has come and gone. So has the trade deadline. The autumn leaves are mostly on the ground. The days are shorter, the nights longer. And yet here we are watching sloppy football across the NFL.
Week 10 looked a lot like Week 1, or even the preseason tilts chock full of NFL wannabes who may have made the play but not the cut.
The slate started with a Thursday night snoozer in which both the reeling Las Vegas Raiders (2-7) and the surging Denver Broncos (8-2) had more penalties (11) than first downs (10). The Broncos prevailed 10-7 — the same score the Eagles beat the Packers on Monday night to wrap up the wacky week — despite going three-and-out eight times thanks to a bevy of bad throws, dropped passes and, yes, yellow flags.
On Sunday, the Chicago Bears, who are accustomed to playing in wet, windy weather, dropped six of Caleb Williams’ passes in their 24-20 comeback against the New York Giants that cost Brian Daboll his job.
And in their 27-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Minnesota Vikings were whistled for a whopping eight false starts — at home, where these things generally don’t happen.
Except that it’s the NFL in 2025: cockeyed, confusing and chaotic.
The Patriots are atop the AFC East this late in the year for the first time since Tom Brady was throwing darts and dunks to Gronk instead of arrows and flowers from the broadcast booth and Bill Belichick was steamrolling NFL opponents instead of getting crushed in college.
The Colts are chasing their first AFC South title since Andrew Luck was QB in 2014, and the Broncos are alone atop the AFC West for the first time since 2015 when they won their last Super Bowl title.
The Seahawks are tied with the Rams at 7-2 atop the NFC West. They haven’t won their division since 2020 before Russell Wilson was traded and benched in Denver, chased out of Pittsburgh and demoted in New York.
The Broncos have been flagged 101 times this season, second only to Jacksonville's 102. Both teams have 83 penalties against them that were accepted. Seventeen by Denver were declined and one was offsetting.
“Certainly, it's a point of emphasis,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.
Yet, the Broncos are tied with New England and Indianapolis at 8-2 for the best record in the league in this topsy-turvy season in which we're into November and the Kansas City Chiefs, winners of nine straight AFC West crowns, five of the last six AFC championships and three Super Bowls, are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
The Vikings' eight false-start penalties against Baltimore were the most by a home team since the Buffalo Bills had nine against Cleveland on Oct. 11, 2009, according to Sportradar.
“Whatever was unearthed today needs to be corrected immediately,” coach Kevin O’Connell said after the Vikings’ eight false starts among 13 flags short circuited their comeback hopes against the Ravens
The eight false-start penalties also were the most in a game by any team since the Carolina Panthers at Seattle on Sept. 24, 2023, according to Sportradar.
Right tackle Brian O’Neill was flagged three times. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy and star receiver Justin Jefferson also were penalized. The quarterback and his offensive line struggled with snap counts, cadence and presnap adjustments, especially in the fourth quarter, when the Vikings had three false starts in the final 10 minutes.
Running back Aaron Jones said some Ravens defenders seized on the confusion by barking “Hut!” when McCarthy changed the play call or protection. Still, the friendly crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium should not have made it that problematic, he said.
“That’s what they get paid to do,” Jones said. “We’ve just got to lock in, especially when we’re playing at home.”
The Vikings, 14-3 in the regular season a year ago, fell to 4-5.
“It’s going to be tough to win games like that,” Jefferson said. “Go back to work and do the things that allow us to move forward, not backward.”
At five yards a pop.
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With contributions from Associated Press Writer Brian Murphy in Minneapolis.
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Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season.
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