It started out as an ugly day, with back-and-forth debates over which lousy game to focus on. Several AFC-NFC battles short on actual rivalry (I'd actually forgotten Broncos-Panthers was a Super Bowl, so far those teams have fallen). But a couple of games rallied to feature high drama, and some of the later ones were even better.

Broncos at Panthers: Can we not? Latavius Murray and Courtland Sutton had serviceable games for the Broncos. Murray was disappointing because they decided not to throw to their running backs this week. I'd say both would be disappointing because they didn't score any touchdowns, but it's the Broncos so you knew that would be the case. Russell Wilson and the offense were horrible and I imagine the coaching staff would be fired today if there were any point. Sam Darnold threw an early touchdown to DJ Moore, a play Baker Mayfield doesn't make, but also vultured a D'Onta Foreman touchdown (expressed concern that might happen).

Buccaneers at Browns: Entertaining game, not quite as much offense as you might have liked from a couple of key players (Mike Evans, Donovan-Peoples-Jones), but everyone else -- ultimately -- came through. Rachaad White paid off, so did Chris Godwin, and Brady was fine. Overtime was huge for Nick Chubb (TD) and Amari Cooper (62 yards) nice if that works out for you, frustrating if not. I guess the Browns are kind of still in the playoff hunt for Deshaun Watson's return. Pretty incredible one-handed touchdown grab by David Njoku to force the extra period.

Ravens at Jaguars: Also a fun game, unless you were a Ravens fan I suppose. But the Jaguars offense was a lot more resilient and plucky than expected, especially after losing Travis Etienne early to a foot injury, uh oh. JaMycal Hasty impressed in relief, not doing much as a runner but catching 5 for 67 with a nifty touchdown. Travis Lawrence very sharp, hitting throw after throw all the way through the game-winning 2-point conversion (I'm still not sure the Marvin Jones touchdown was good, but the refs let it stand). Clutch game by Marvin and huge game for Zay Jones. Ravens offense a disappointment, but Lamar's numbers good and Gus Edwards scored. Mark Andrews can only blame himself for a touchdown that skipped off his hands.

Texans at Dolphins: Well, we weren't low enough on Dameon Pierce. The guy just doesn't have any chance right now; the entire offense is broken. Once the Dolphins had raced out to a huge lead, it was game over for Pierce and everything connected, it didn't matter who the quarterback was. Nice numbers for the Dolphins offense (Jeff Wilson at least scored, though everyone kind of underachieved with some getting early seats -- the game was 30-0 at one point), some garbage time production for Jordan Akins and Dare Ogunbowale, who no one started. Not much to see here.

Bears at Jets: Lots to unpack here. It was raining throughout, with sloppy conditions perhaps factoring into some struggles and injuries, including Darnell Mooney leaving with an ankle injury. Michael Carter also knocked out with an ankle injury of his own, hurting those who started him. Absolutely no controversy about the quarterback switch, with the Jets' passing game looking functional (315 yards and 3 TDs for Mike White), Elijah Moore looking like he did as a rookie, and Garrett Wilson catching a pair of touchdowns. So who's not gonna make the playoffs in the AFC East? Tough group.

Bengals at Titans: This was a weird one, with the teams regularly moving the ball but between turnovers and field goals, the game was kind of lower scoring. Derrick Henry had a big game as a receiver rather than a runner, but was stripped of the ball just short of the goal line, leading to Treylon Burks falling on it for a score. Samaje Perine paid off if you chucked him a lineup; not a big day rushing it, but scored late and was busy as a receiver. Titans offense didn't do quite enough, settling for 4 field goal attempts and just that lone, fumble recovery touchdown. Tee Higgins was huge, Tyler Boyd wasn't. And JaMarr Chase surely back next week, so at least Boyd won't ruin any more lineups in that one.

Falcons at Commanders: Ugly game. Washington is content to win with defense. Atlanta is content to run the ball, except when throwing ill-advised passes that get tipped and intercepted at the goal line to end the game. Olamide Zaccheaus had a good game, pretty sure no one started him. MyCole Pruitt now has as many touchdown catches for the Falcons this year as Kyle Pitts. Somebody has to win the NFC South, it probably won't be the Falcons. A switch to Desmond Ridder couldn't hurt anything presumably, but seeing Marcus Mariota lose close games appears to be our lot. Tyler Allgeier and Cordarrelle Patterson were decent, but the committee helps no one.

Chargers at Cardinals: One of two back and forth barn burners on the later slate, in part because all of the four teams can move the ball and don't play much defense. This was a good battle of capable quarterbacks, with Justin Herbert having a big game and making lots of clutch throws (including to Austin Ekeler), and Kyler Murray and James Conner doing their part to keep up. In some cases, most notably Herbert, it would have been nice to have this all year, but hopefully you stuck around playoff chases enough that it paid off. Quieter game for Josh Palmer, but most of the guys you were starting delivered. Chargers, like the Jaguars, went for 2 at the end -- why wouldn't you? Overtime is a lot more chance-y, it seems than going for the win with all the momentum right then and there.

Raiders at Seahawks: Even less defense was played in this one, which of course made for a nice AFC West throwback shootout. Josh Jacobs supposedly questionable with a calf injury coming in -- yeah, he looked fine. No doubt some benched him on that slight risk, hopefully not too many. Derek Carr also picked up an injury early; he was also fine. Kenneth Walker didn't have a great day on the ground but scored twice, and the key receivers were pretty good as well. Walk-off overtime win for the Raiders for the second week in a row, too bad they're just 4-7.

Rams at Kansas City: Probably the less said about this one the better. The Rams defense came to play and at least prevented it from being a laugher, but it wasn't a particularly good game. As far as quarterbacking goes, uh, Bryce Perkins has a little developing to do in terms of throwing the old pigskin. He finished with 100 yards, and I don't remember many of them; a lot came on a single late drive. Rams receivers have no value if it's Perkins again this week. Much like an exhibition game, and it shows up in the box score; Kansas City had 10 different receivers finish between 15 and 60 receiving yards. Only the scorers (Kelce, Pacheco) really paid off. Kyren Williams didn't do any worse than the other running backs the Rams have used this year, which granted isn't saying much.

Saints at 49ers: Watching the Broncos is painful, but I suspect Saints fans would agree that they're also offering a lot of pain these days. Chris Olave is the best thing they have going, and even he was just OK in this one. Nobody else did much of anything. San Francisco wasn't a lot better; their lone touchdown was a kind of flukey ball that was tipped in the end zone, and maybe their best offensive play was a cool Elijah Mitchell touchdown run that got erased by a George Kittle holding penalty. Deebo Samuel seemed to aggravate his injury at some point. Brandon Aiyuk was the only guy who really paid off.

Packers at Eagles: This game started out at 100 miles per hour and kept on going. I went back and forth on a rushing parlay for Jalen Hurts before deciding against it; he hit the over somewhere around 6 minutes into the game. The Eagles ground game kept pummeling the Packers run defense, but the Packers finally got AJ Dillon untracked and made things interesting. Fun game with lots of big plays, one of the higher Sunday night games you'll see. Aaron Rodgers left late with an injury, and Green Bay's season is pretty much toast now so you wonder if we'll see some Jordan Love coming up. Yet another touchdown for Christian Watson (from Love, as it turned out).

Monday, Monday: A game between also-rans, though I guess some can hold out hope for the Colts sneaking into the playoffs somehow (not gonna happen). Couple of starting fantasy backs and people will be looking for points out of guys like Pittman, Freiermuth and maybe Campbell, Pickens and Diontae too. Don't really have a feel for who's gonna win but betting against Matt Ryan these days seems valid. I'll go Steelers 20, Colts 16.