NFL Week 11, 2018: Will statement wins continue for these 4 teams?

Four teams made statement wins last week, solidifying their place in the playoff race. Which matter and who keeps it up in NFL Week 11? Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Chicago and New Orleans are rolling.

NFL Week 10 was a time of statement wins. Every win is technically created equal (with the exception of tiebreaker wins over divisional opponents), but a devastating win against a similarly-talented opponent means more to the masses.

The perfect example is what the Pittsburgh Steelers did to Carolina on Thursday night. The Steelers couldn’t be stopped offensively and decimated Carolina. Both teams appear to be in good shape for the playoffs, but it announced Pittsburgh’s arrival into the upper echelon after a slow start to the season. And by the way, never pick a road team on Thursday Night Football. Home teams are 8-2 thus far.

In Sunday news, the Chicago Bears trounced Detroit, even accounting for a 12-0 fourth quarter for the Lions. The New Orleans Saints bludgeoned the Bengals. The Tennessee Titans took it to New England. And the lowly Buffalo Bills put a whooping on New York. Which statement wins matter and who will keep it up in NFL Week 11?

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the NFL Week 11 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

People may think the Buffalo outcome was most surprising, but I lean toward Tennessee. Of these statement wins, the Titans’ certainly feels the most important and was incredibly surprising considering the path of these two squads. Tennessee is struggling in the thick of a mediocre division race.

Keeping pace with Houston, winners of six straight, is of paramount importance. And everyone assumed the Titans would take an L against the Pats and try to regroup with three divisional games in their next four. Instead, they made a statement.

Whether this means something moving forward remains to be seen. That is the trick with the NFL. Teams are too evenly matched most of the time for one wild outcome to carry any sway the rest of the year. Momentum exists for as long as teams play up to their potential. A costly mistake or bad turnover immediately puts an end to it. That means momentum doesn’t really exist at all. Just ask the Pats.

The Patriots were on cruise control, essentially in control of as much momentum as one team could have. They had won six straight games, even beating heavy hitters Kansas City, Chicago, and Green Bay. A comfortable win over Aaron Rodgers was followed up by getting whipped by Marcus Mariota and the NFL’s 30th-ranked offense.

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But just because momentum is a myth doesn’t mean the Titans can’t build on this win. They will have to review tape of what went so right and try to infuse that into future game plans. For New England, there’s no such thing as bad momentum either; just bad teams. It will be fine.

Dan Salem:

Statement wins are only as good as your followup. Pittsburgh and Tennessee impressed me in Week 10, but each must maintain their momentum for it to matter in the playoff picture. I expected Chicago and New Orleans to win, but the manner in which they attained victory was certainly impressive. We must now look to the NFL Week 11 matchups to determine who’s statement win actually meant something.

The Saints play the struggling Eagles and likely put Philadelphia out of their misery. That game won’t tell us much about New Orleans. Chicago plays Minnesota, so we will learn if the Bears’ are legitimate contenders or not. The Vikings still carry weight this season, while many of Chicago’s opponents, including Detroit, do not.

That win did not impress me, but a decisive victory over the Vikings will. As for the AFC contenders who truly made statement wins, each gets a more cupcake opponent in classic trap games for NFL Week 11.

Pittsburgh plays Jacksonville and Tennessee plays Indianapolis. Neither the Jaguars or Colts are good teams, but both will be at home with a lot to prove. Overcoming the trap game proves the validity of the Steelers’ and Titans’ statement wins this past week.

Playoff contenders do not lose to mediocre teams in the midst of their playoff push. Tennessee separated themselves from the pack and cannot afford another loss. Pittsburgh is rolling and cannot afford to slip up amid the LeVeon Bell drama. The real question is, was any statement win enough to make us believe the Chiefs and Rams will be defeated in the playoffs?

Los Angeles is not safe, because New Orleans already proved they can beat them and has not let off the gas. Kansas City sits alone, however, because we saw how vulnerable the Patriots can be and nothing that Pittsburgh did has convinced me they are better. I won’t ignore your obvious jab at me either, including Buffalo in the statement win category.

The Bills are a bad football team and happened to beat another bad football team. One backup quarterback defeated another. Despite my love for the Jets, we should not take anything away from that football game except for maybe a blackout on New York football until next season.