Ranking the 10 dumbest mistakes we’re still talking about from NFL Sunday in Week 10

We’re not going to tell you that November separates the pretenders from contenders. That’s corny, to paraphrase Jon Gruden. But it’s true the stakes get much higher. Every little screwup can become the difference between the playoffs in January or sitting at home. Every loss causes a team’s playoff chances to take a hit — in the Eagles’ case, from 70 percent to 35 percent.

It’s still football, though. Players are sometimes going to make a bad play and coaches are sometimes going to make the wrong call. And like any week, some stand out more than others.

The usual suspects — like the Browns, Jets, Raiders, and Brock Osweiler— are here. So are, more surprisingly, the Patriots. But if you’re looking to laugh at the Bills, you’ll have to wait another time, probably whenever they’re forced to play Nathan Peterman again.

These are our picks for the 10 dumbest mistakes Sunday in Week 10, ranked from least egregious to most Fitztragic.

The Falcons love being their own worst enemy and boy were they during their 28-16 loss against the Cleveland Browns. Mohamed Sanu was reckless on second-and-18 trying to reach out for extra yards ... on what would’ve been a five-yard gain.

Sanu should’ve just gone down, but he ended up fumbling and gave Cleveland the ball back. The fumble set the Browns up with great field position and they ended up scoring a touchdown.

Giving up on a play isn’t always bad, sometimes it can prevent disaster from happening — that’s exactly what happened to Atlanta on this play.

The Patriots struggled to hang with the Titans in an upset loss in Nashville, thanks in part to New England’s shocking insistence on shooting itself in the foot whenever possible.

There were a pair of Josh Gordon drops that took precious first downs off the board. And Tom Brady, despite catching the ball this time, proved once again that he should never, ever be a wide receiver.

Brady’s inability to run more than a few yards without tripping over his own damn feet cost the Pats a first down and effectively served as a one-play summary of New England’s awful Sunday. It set up a fourth-and-1, which Marcus Cannon then torpedoed with a false start. Brady couldn’t connect with Julian Edelman on fourth-and-6, and the Patriots’ deficit stayed at 17 points.

Two plays later, Titans coach Mike Vrabel dialed up his own QB throwback pass just to bust his former team’s chops.

It went for 21 yards. The Titans scored on the drive and won, 34-10.

The Browns looked like a brand-new team against the Falcons as soon as they took the field Sunday. Baker Mayfield, who was feelin’ dangerous, was a perfect 9-for-9 to start the game. The Browns were leading and looked in firm control of the game, even though it was still early.

And then they decided that was the right time to call a trick play with a running back (Dontrell Hilliard) who hasn’t completed a pass since, presumably, Pop Warner:

The Falcons scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to take a lead, but, fortunately for the Browns, they answered right back and then never trailed again.

That wasn’t the last time they pulled a BROOOOOOWNS though. Up by 12 with four minutes left, Mayfield ran the ball on third down ... out of bounds, stopping the clock:

But it didn’t matter. The Falcons fumbled on the next drive, securing Cleveland’s third win — and fourth non-loss — of the season.

The Packers gave Miami plenty of opportunities to leave Wisconsin with a playoff hope-affirming win at Lambeau Field. Five of the Dolphins first seven drives pushed beyond the Green Bay 30-yard line, offering Brock Osweiler plenty of opportunities to put the Pack on their heels.

Instead, the veteran quarterback found the end zone zero times, the Dolphins didn’t lead this game for a single second, and, uh, this happened too:

Osweiler would later throw an interception that turned into seven Packers points, overthrow wide open targets near the end zone, and showcase all the mobility of a Muppet en route to a zero-touchdown, six-sack performance. On the plus side, this is all very good news for Ryan Tannehill, whose career of being better by comparison is still going strong in 2018.

The Eagles and Cowboys were both in must-win mode on Sunday night. But at home and coming off a bye, the Eagles were an easy favorite. The Cowboys were ready, though.

After trailing for most of the night, Philly fought back to tie things up midway through the fourth quarter. Ezekiel Elliott put Dallas back on top with his second touchdown in what was a monster night, but the Eagles still had over three minutes to work with to tie or take the lead.

Carson Wentz quickly moved them down the field with a few short passes and a scramble, before facing fourth-and-7 at the Dallas 35-yard line. To no surprise, the pass went to Zach Ertz, who caught a game-high 14 catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns. But whether the play call was to blame or Wentz’s throw, Ertz came down with the ball juuuuust short of the first-down marker.

The Cowboys got the ball back with a minute and change left, and for some reason didn’t run Elliott three straight times, so the Eagles had another chance. On the final play of the game, Wentz lasered the ball to Ertz, who couldn’t make it to the end zone and tried to lateral it:

Once again, the Eagles came up short.

Jacksonville’s defense hasn’t been as good as it was in 2017, but still entered Sunday as the No. 1 unit against the pass. They sure didn’t look like a good pass defense Sunday, though.

Andrew Luck threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns against the Jaguars, and kept finding players wide open. Like WIDE open.

There were no Jaguars players within 10 yards of Colts tight end Eric Ebron on his first touchdown reception of the game:

It was more of the same on his second touchdown grab:

Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton finished with 77 yards on only three receptions because, he too, found gigantic holes in the Jacksonville secondary.

The Jaguars defense buckled down and didn’t allow another point after halftime, but the hole was too big for the offense to climb from. Who would’ve guessed that it’d be the Jaguars’ pass defense that would’ve let them down Sunday?

New York was poised to end a three-game losing streak when it welcomed the 2-7 Bills to MetLife Stadium. Even Sam Darnold’s foot sprain appeared to be a blessing in disguise, as it would give Josh McCown, the man who engineered the Jets’ surprising five-win 2017, a chance to jump start Todd Bowles’ offense.

Instead, New York vomited all over itself, giving up 41 points to a Buffalo team that had scored a total of 46 points in its prior six weeks. McCown looked like a 39-year-old journeyman, needing 34 passes to throw for 135 yards and two interceptions. The Jets defense allowed Matt Barkley to post a 117.4 passer rating 11 days after being signed off the street as a free agent. A 320-pound left tackle caught a touchdown pass.

But nothing summed up the Jets’ ineptitude more than a first-and-10 play from the Buffalo 37-yard line in the second quarter. Elijah McQuire took a carry 18 yards down the right sideline to push the Jets into the red zone ... only to have the play called back thanks to three (THREE) different holding penalties.

One play later, McCown threw his first interception of the game.

It’s only been two weeks since the Rams traded for Dante Fowler, a former Jaguars first-round pick, in an attempt to boost their biggest obstacle to a Super Bowl. So far, his Rams career has gotten off to a slow start.

Fowler was the worst offender on a day when the Rams couldn’t stop shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. On the Seahawks’ first drive of the game, Fowler was called for a face mask penalty that moved Seattle to the Rams’ 14-yard line. The Seahawks scored three plays later, giving them a temporary 7-0 lead.

On Seattle’s first drive of the second half, Fowler was flagged for an even costlier mistake. The Seahawks couldn’t convert on third-and-11, but Fowler’s unsportsmanlike penalty gave them a new set of downs and an extra 15 yards. They scored two plays later to go up, again temporarily, 21-20.

What did Fowler do? He tried to tell a ref how to do his job:

I told him that it felt like we were getting held a lot and we weren’t getting the calls. I’m a respectful young man. I never called him by his name or anything. I told him, ‘that was a terrible call.’ ‘Terrible’ was the bad word. I got the flag thrown on me for it. That just when I knew I can’t do that. I can’t put my team in those positions or predicaments. The thing that I learned today, don’t talk to the referees.”

Fowler at least was able to make up for both of those penalties when he strip-sacked Russell Wilson.

The Rams found the end zone on the next play and won, 36-31, both because of and in spite of Fowler.

It’s been a rough 2018 for Derek Carr. He’s been forced to deal with a new head coach who has been content to trade away two of the best players from Oakland’s breakout 2016 season. An injury to Marshawn Lynch only further depleted his list of targets, and now he’s stuck on the holdover on a rapidly bottoming-out franchise.

The losing is starting to wear on Carr, and it’s boiling to the surface. It’s cropped up in fits and starts this fall, but was never more apparent than on Sunday where he faced fourth-and-5 in the Chargers’ red zone and ... threw the ball away.

The Raiders probably weren’t coming back to win that game, but this one weird mistake doesn’t appear to be limited to a single game. Carr addressed his unhappiness after the game — but in a vague enough way to suggest it won’t be going away anytime soon.

Ryan Fitzpatrick was supposed to restore the light behind the Buccaneers’ offense after the team benched Jameis Winston. On Sunday he threw for 406 yards, which is good. His team scored three points in a loss to Washington, which is very, very bad.

Tampa Bay turned the ball over four times, turning eight drives into the red zone into three total points. All of these turnovers were the result of impressive plays by the Washington defense. That, however, did not make some of them any less hilarious.

If that weren’t bad enough, kicker Chandler Catanzaro made just one of three field goals, missing attempts from 48 (reasonable) and 30 (oh no) yards. 2018 remains a great year for free agent kickers looking for a midseason opportunity.

Still: 3 points on 501 yards. That’s actually impressive. So ... congrats, Bucs?