Week 10 Reactions: Expected Unexpectedness

Every week in the NFL is unique and yet we are constantly surprised by what happens. We're prepared to expect the unexpected but then the unexpected happens and we're all shocked. Whether it was Alex Smith passing for 368 yards and four touchdowns in the season opener against the Patriots in Foxboro, or Deshaun Watson throwing for 16 touchdowns over a four-week span or Carson Wentz leading the Eagles to the best record in football, we know things get crazy in the NFL but we never cease to be amazed by it.

Well, the expected unexpectedness continued in Week 10, led by the Saints absolutely blasting the Bills in Buffalo. Just two weeks ago the Bills were 5-2 and well on their way to their first postseason berth since 1999. Since then, they've allowed 81 points in two games, a 34-21 loss at the Jets in Week 9 and then Sunday's 47-10 drubbing by the Saints. Losing big to the Saints isn't the most surprising thing in the world, as New Orleans has had a tremendous offense pretty much since the day Drew Brees arrived. However, Sunday's unexpectedness came with the Saints scoring 47 points but Brees passing for only 184 yards and zero touchdowns. Instead, they relied heavily on the running game, racking up a ridiculous 298 total yards on the ground, just shy of the triple century mark thanks to Chase Daniel's minus-two yards on three carries. In addition to the 298 rushing yards, the Saints became the first team since the 1941 Bears to rush for six touchdowns in a game and not punt once.

After rushing 10 times for 68 yards and a touchdown as well as catching six of seven targets for 84 receiving yards and another score in Week 9 against the Buccaneers, Alvin Kamara was at it again Sunday, rushing 12 times for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown while also catching all five targets for 32 receiving yards. Kamara's dominant performance was just what fantasy owners were hoping for when they decided to start him despite his place behind Mark Ingram on the depth chart, and the rookie has now scored at least one touchdown in five of the last seven games. However, Kamara's big day didn't come at the expense of Ingram, who actually finished as the top scoring fantasy running back by rushing 21 times for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Ingram doesn't offer the versatility that Kamara does in the passing game, but that hasn't stopped him from scoring at least one touchdown in four of the past five games, finding the end zone eight times in that span.

If there's a better way to show how unexpected Ingram's game was, how about looking at the fact he was only 2.2 percent owned among the 176,470 entries in this week's Millionaire Maker contest on DraftKings? Ingram's three rushing touchdowns tied the team record set back in Week 12 of the 2006 season by Reggie Bush, a player much more like Kamara than Ingram. In fact, the Saints' backfield in that game was somewhat similar to Sunday's, as Deuce McAllister led the team with 26 carries for 136 rushing yards while Bush rushed 10 times for 37 yards and three touchdowns while also catching all nine of his targets for 131 yards and another score. The McAllister/Bush blueprint is actually a pretty good one for Ingram and Kamara, as their current paces line up well to the former duo's final lines in 2006:

The Saints had two of the 10 highest scoring PPR fantasy players in Week 10, a feat the Rams were also able to accomplish, though they did so through the air. Quarterback Jared Goff was absolutely dominant in Sunday's 33-7 win over the Texans, completing 25 of 37 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns, his second consecutive game with more than 300 passing yards and at least three scores. The Rams came into the week averaging the same number of points per game (32.9) as the 1999 Rams, who won Super Bowl XXXIV thanks to the Greatest Show on Turf, and this year's team has now scored more points than they did all last season.

Los Angeles relied heavily on running back Todd Gurley in their first seven games, but they've thrived of late thanks to Goff, who connected with six different receivers en route to his career-high in passing yards. Gurley's fantasy owners are probably disappointed he didn't find pay dirt, though he did rack up 116 yards from scrimmage (11 carries for 68 yards and six catches on seven targets for 68 receiving yards), his eighth game with at least 95 total yards this season. Leading the receivers was Robert Woods, who caught eight of 10 targets for 171 yards and two touchdowns, including a 94-yard score on a pass Goff threw two yards deep in his own end zone. Woods' chemistry with Goff is very apparent, as he's scored two touchdowns in back-to-back weeks and is now just 77 yards short of a career-high for a season. Sammy Watkins also scored a touchdown Sunday, his second in as many games, but he's only been targeted five times in that span. Meanwhile, Cooper Kupp has just one score in his last five games and hasn't finished with more than 60 receiving yards since Week 1. If there's a player to pair with Goff, it's clearly Woods.

Goff and Woods weren't the only QB-WR tandem to finish in the top 10 in PPR points, as the Vikings' Case Keenum and Adam Thielen joined the ranks during their 38-30 win at Washington. The big Vikings story before Sunday's game was that Teddy Bridgewater was active for the first time since a playoff loss to the Seahawks on Jan. 10, 2016, and there was even talk that he might play at some point Sunday. On the surface that idea seems pretty crazy, and Keenum's performance certainly should close the door on the Bridgewater talk for a while. Leading the Vikings to a 38-30 win, Keenum completed 21 of 29 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns, connecting with six different receivers. Thielen led the way by catching eight of 12 targets for 166 yards and a score, though Stefon Diggs chipped in 78 yards and a touchdown on his five targets (Jarius Wright and David Morgan caught the other two scores). Keenum threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns in Week 8 before their bye, and with the Vikings improving to 7-2 and Keenum completing at least 62 percent of his passes in five straight games, there's no reason to make a change under center now.

Another quarterback with a guy breathing down his neck is C.J. Beathard, who looks set to lose his starting job to Jimmy Garoppolo before too long. However, Beathard isn't going to let the job go without a fight, as he showed Sunday while leading the 49ers to a 31-21 win over the Giants, San Francisco's first victory of the season. Beathard is obviously not the future for the Niners, but he showed what he's capable of by completing 19 of 25 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing five times for 15 yards and another score, his third rushing touchdown in the last four weeks. It wasn't the most dominant performance, but it certainly paid off for anyone bold (dumb?) enough to start him this week.

Finishing up our unexpected performances for the week, Titans running back DeMarco Murray was 0.7 percent owned in the DraftKings Millionaire Maker, but he helped someone win $1 million by scoring three touchdowns in an otherwise completely unspectacular performance. Murray rushed 14 times for 42 yards while Derrick Henry had 11 carries for 52 yards, but the former added four catches on four targets for 30 yards while Henry failed to catch any of his three targets. The Titans' backfield situation continues to look like a shared workspace, and while Murray scored three times Sunday, he still only has two more touchdowns than Henry for the season. The Titans may share their backfield duties like the Saints, but only one team is producing two legitimate fantasy weapons each week.