While the Hot Takes are done so that you may have a chance to step inside the dark and twisted genius of the Oracle and view the NFL through his eyes, Ray Flowers is tending to some personal business and has left the article in my sometimes capable hands. Week 10 was certainly an interesting one, filled with some of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, so let’s just get to it and see if we can wrap it all up in style.

The Cleveland Browns are a massive dumpster fire and not even Hue Jackson knows what to do. His removal of Cody Kessler from Thursday night’s game was a complete head-scratcher and even more so was the fact that he left Josh McCown in to finish the game en route to finishing with 6-of-13 completed passes for just 59 yards and two interceptions. The now 0-10 Browns are dangerously close to being the first team to go winless in the modern NFL since the 2008 Detroit Lions. Have you seen their remaining schedule? Too bad there’s now franchise quarterback coming out in the 2017 draft.

With Bryce Petty getting the starting nod in Week 10, the Jets joined the Browns and the Patriots as the only teams who have started three or more different quarterbacks this season. Unfortunately for the Jets, they’re a lot closer to being just like the Browns than they are the Pats and that’s actually a scientific fact.

Through nine games this season, Todd Gurley has amassed just 513 yards and three touchdowns. He had 575 yards and three touchdowns through his first five games last season. He now has just one 100-yard performance over his last 17 games. Elite? No. At least not on paper. And it makes it even more astounding as the Rams continue to shuttle out Case Keenum to lead this offense.

Rather than continually asking ourselves “what’s wrong with the Packers,” maybe we should be asking ourselves if the Titans are really this good? DeMarco Murray has now found the end zone in five-straight games and has scored in all but two this season while Marcus Mariota has a 17:3 TD:INT over his last six games. Throw in the fact that Rishard Matthews has touchdowns in three-straight and six over his last six games and suddenly you’ve got a well-balanced offense capable of keeping pace with the best in the NFL. Love that offensive line!

Say goodbye to Ty Montgomery, people. His time as a viable fantasy option has disappeared almost as quickly as it showed up. Contrary to Mike McCarthy’s stupid statement, Montgomery is not a three-down back, the Packers will use James Starks over him every chance they can get and there are too many other wide receivers on that team to afford him anything more than two targets per game. No need to waste a bench spot on him anymore.

While the Vikings have now dropped four-straight, Stefon Diggs continues to surge. He leads the league with 42 targets over the last three games and now has 35 catches for 320 yards in that span. Of course, he’s got just one touchdown to his credit, so his value in standard leagues right now is not where it should be. At least not where it is in PPR formats.

Entering Week 10, Jamison Crowder ranked seventh in the NFL with 11 red zone targets. He picked up another when he caught his 4-yard touchdown Sunday and continues to be one of the more underrated names in the fantasy realm.

When are fantasy owners going to learn? Jay Cutlet is always at his absolute worst when the industry group-think targets him as a strong, reliable option for the week. It doesn’t even matter who the opponent is, as evidenced by the Bucs 20th-ranked pass defense coming into the game. The guy had two fumbles (one lost) and two interceptions before his Hail Mary touchdown pass to close out the nightmarish first half.

And speaking of that fluke touchdown, Cameron Meredith should continue to reside on your league’s waiver wire. After being everyone’s darling in Weeks 5 and 6, he’s seen just six targets in the three games since and has just three catches for 82 yards and that one “look what I found” TD catch.

Before you get too excited about Doug Martin’s return performance, keep in mind that he averaged just 2.1 yards per carry against the 23rd-ranked run defense in the league. And that touchdown? Come on. The game was well in-hand before he crossed the goal-line with just under six minutes remaining in a blow-out.

Cam Newton is taking a beating this year and if you haven’t noticed yet, Sunday’s game was the perfect microcosm. The Panthers signal-caller threw for a touchdown and ran for another in the first half, but after two sacks and four big hits by the Chiefs defense, his game performance diminished considerably. He threw a critical pick-six to lose the game Sunday and is now just the 15th-highest scoring quarterback in the fantasy realm and has just 14 total touchdowns this season, leaving him well off the pace to reach 40 touchdowns for a second-straight year.

With Jeremy Maclin sidelined due to a groin injury, it was Tyreek Hill who stepped into the new No. 1 role for the Chiefs. In fact, his 13 targets surpassed the combined total for Albert Wilson and Chris Conley, two receivers who never seem to get enough work in Andy Reid’s offense. Granted, it’s a run-first scheme, but with Spencer Ware still shaking the cobwebs out of his head, there was hope that Alex Smith would return to his earlier season form and actually throw the ball more against a defensively challenged Panthers secondary. Unfortunately, like my granddaddy always used to say, “You can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first.” Thanks, Andy.

What the hell is wrong with Doug Pederson? Did he get kicked in the head with a mule? OK, we get it. Pederson doesn’t care about your fantasy team. But you would think that maybe he would have noticed that the Eagles win when he hands the ball off to Ryan Mathews as his lead back and lose when he puts all his eggs into Mighty-Mite Darren Sproles’ basket. Mathews’ 29 fantasy points in PPR formats were likely sitting on everyone’s bench this week. Everyone’s.

Slow-going for Devonta Freeman owners once again as the Falcons running back has found the end zone just twice over his last five games and both those times were in the same week. He’s also failed to record more than 100 all-purpose yards in four of his last five games. The passing attack continues to run on all cylinders, but perhaps Freeman’s success this year is in direct relation to the health of Tevin Coleman. The team was thriving with the two-back system and could certainly use a jolt as they’ve now lost three of their last five games.

Justin Simmons’ block and Will Parks’ return marked the first time in NFL history that such a play was the decisive one in a game. One in a million shot, Doc. One in a million.

Should be interesting to see what Sean Payton does with Michael Thomas moving forward. Thomas has been a revelation for the Saints this season, but losing two fumbles in this game was crazy huge. Payton benched Mark Ingram for losing a fumble in two-consecutive games, so if he wants to seem consistent in his discipline, Thomas could take a seat or see a reduced role in Week 11. Of course, that won’t happen because the league is full of hypocrites.

Anyone find it strange that Brock Osweiler and Blake Bortles are both in the bottom six of the league in both completion percentage and QB rating? Me neither. Keep this in mind when you’re waiting on quarterbacks next season. There is very little separating them from players like Case Keenum, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cody Kessler, Josh McCown or any other scrub sitting on the bench of most teams.

Someone finally found a way to contain Jay Ajayi as the Dolphins running back failed to crack the century mark in rushing yards for the first time in four games. He also failed to find the end zone for the first time in five games. Don’t worry – he’s got the Rams and the Niners coming up over the next two weeks. Enjoy!

Tyrell Williams cracked the century mark in receiving yards for the third time in the last six games and has now found the end zone in each of his last two games. With Travis Benjamin still banged-up, Williams is primed to steal the No. 1 job here and is well-deserved of the potential honors. He now leads the team in targets, receptions, receiving yards and sits behind only Antonio Gates for the team-lead in receiving touchdowns.

And the first to cross the 1,000-yard threshold is none other than rookie Ezekiel Elliott who continues to reward those who grabbed him in the first round of their fantasy drafts. The Cowboys prized running back has been nothing short of impressive, but still needs to average 114.7 yards per game over the final seven to reach Eric Dickerson’s record of 1,808 yards set back in 1983. If he averages 95.6 yards per game over the next seven he’ll pass George Rogers at No. 2, but still fall 134 yards short of Dickerson.

It was a big day for Dez Bryant and one that should be honored here. Bryant lost his father Saturday but refused to sit out the game Sunday to stay with his family. He racked up 116 yards on six catches and found his way into the end zone for one touchdown. Upon scoring, rather than do his trademark X with his arms and yelling at the crowd, he pointed up to the sky, paused a moment and put the ball down. Our thoughts are with the Bryant family during these troubling times.

Either Ben Roethlisberger is the human equivalent to Stretch Armstrong, or these injuries which keep getting reported are being exaggerated. We get it. He’s a hard-nosed, gritty player, but why is it that every play he’s portrayed as Willis Reed or Kirk Gibson. It’s a tough sport to play, for sure, but come on. If this guy got the wind knocked out of him, broadcasters would be talking about his super-human lung capacity that allows him to breathe better than the average man under the most oxygen-deprived circumstances. Enough already.

Sammie Coates is not a viable fantasy option. Forget him. It would be safe to assume that Big Ben and Mike Tomlin have finally realized that Coates’ hands are indeed made out of buttered stones and he will drop more than 70-percent of what is thrown his way. Dump him.

While David Johnson was able to put together yet another fantastic performance for his fantasy owners this week, can anyone explain why the hell Bruce Arians had Carson Palmer throwing the ball 49 times against a run defense that allows almost 200 yards per game? Seriously. If you didn’t want to overuse Johnson, then give Andre Ellington a chance to tote the rock. I was actually on my knees pleading with that universal spirit that ties and binds all things to have the Cardinals lose this game. They lucked out for sure, but had the Niners won, the loss would fall squarely on Arians’ shoulders. Easiest game plan in the world to follow and this idiot nearly f***ed it all up.

Last season, Russell Wilson had a fairly quiet first nine games of the regular season. He averaged 235 passing yards per game and had a 10:7 TD:INT. Then he lit up the 49ers for 260 yards and three touchdowns in Game #10 and went on to average 272 passing yards with 24 touchdowns to just one interception over his final seven games. This season he’s averaged 262 yards per game with a 7:2 TD:INT over his first eight games and used his ninth to light up the Patriots for 348 yards and three touchdowns. Now he faces just two decent pass defenses over his final seven games moving forward. I can probably do the same for Doug Baldwin who caught three touchdowns from Wilson on Sunday too. Do I need to? Just sayin….