Who's Hot, Who's Not After NFL Week 10

It's hard to believe that we're almost done with 10 weeks of NFL football.

What's more, this has been one of the more unpredictable years I can remember.

That cuts both ways—some players and teams are surprising in a good way, some in a very bad way.

Some in an awful way.

I tried to sneak in a few extra good ones here and there in this piece, but remember, we just have 10 slots—five good, five bad.

So make sure you point out what you saw in the comments below.

Now, let's take a look at who came out of Week 10 hot—and who did not.

*all stats taken from NFL.com or ESPN.com unless otherwise noted

HOT: Golden Tate, Seattle Seahawks at Atlana Falcons

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While "Harvin Watch 2013" rolls on, the Seattle Seahawks have needed wide receiver Golden Tate to step up—and he has.

After a down week in Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tate bounced back against the Atlanta Falcons with six catches for 106 yards and a touchdown. That's on top of the 93-yard, two-touchdown day in Week 8 against the St. Louis Rams.

Percy Harvin will be back at some point, but Tate has really stepped forward and should continue to be a big part of this offense even when Harvin returns to the field.

Honorable mention goes to Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, who had 24 carries for 145 yards and a touchdown, averaging 6.0 yards per carry.

The pass game is important, but it does owe some of its success to Marshawn Lynch and his brutal run game, which wears down defenses.

NOT: Matt Forte, Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions

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You can expect this to be a one-week trend.

After several great games in which Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte dominated the opposition on the ground and in the air, he stumbled.

Against the Detroit Lions, Forte was only able to muster 49 yards total—just 33 of which came on the ground. His 1.9 yards per carry was one part exceptionally tough defense on the part of the Lions and one part bad blocking by the Bears.

The Bears have a ton of offensive weapons, so they were able to keep things going, but they'll need a bounce-back week against the Baltimore Ravens.

Forte will give it to them.
 

HOT: Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers

Sure, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles threw for 406 yards and seven touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders last week, but aside from that, Foles hasn't exactly blown us away.

His victory over the Green Bay Packers was much the same—methodical and solid. Several of his throws should have been picked off (coulda, shoulda, woulda, weren't), and he threw more than his share of floating ducks.

Then you take a look at his overall stats this year—especially the 16 touchdowns to zero interceptions stat—and you realize how sharp he's playing overall.

On top of that, the Eagles offense just looks much better with him in it. He seems to fit head coach Chip Kelly's offense perfectly and gives the Eagles plenty of juice to close the season.

The NFC East is wide open and Foles is putting his team in position to win it.

NOT: Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts vs. St. Louis Rams

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While Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck threw for 353 yards and a touchdown, he also threw three ugly interceptions and looked off all day. Luck was under pressure a lot—sacked three times and hit a total of seven—so that probably contributed to it.

Of course, it's also tough to look good when you fall behind 28-0 in the first half, allowing defenders to just tee off on you all day.

Luck threw six touchdowns in the two games preceding this week and should get back on track against an admittedly tough Tennessee Titans defense in Week 11.

HOT: Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions

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It doesn't seem to matter who is at quarterback for Chicago Bears receiver Brandon Marshall—he just keeps on producing.

On the first drive for the Bears offense, quarterback Jay Cutler hit Marshall three passes in a row for 61 yards, capping it off with a touchdown.

Then, after Cutler had left the game with an ankle injury, backup quarterback Josh McCown entered the game for the final drive, ending it with an 11-yard touchdown throw to Marshall, which brought the Bears within a two-point conversion of tying the game.

They came up short, but Marshall ended up with seven catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns on the day. He is having a very dominant season overall, and it seems that new head coach Marc Trestman's offense suits him.

Honorable mention for this game goes to both Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson and Chicago Bears receiver Alshon Jeffery

Johnson had a "mere" 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns as well but looked just as dominant as he always does. His great games have almost become ho-hum.  

Meanwhile, Jeffery caught nine of 18 targets for 114 yards—his fourth game totaling more than 100 yards.

Both had big days, though not quite as big as Marshall.

NOT: Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens

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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is just two weeks away from the game in which he torched the New York Jets for five touchdown passes and, according to some, had shut his doubters up.

After six interceptions in the last two games—three picks per game—the doubters are back.

The last two games have seen Dalton struggle with pressure, struggle with reads and struggle with pretty much every area of his game.

The Bengals are just two games ahead of the Baltimore Ravens (whom they just lost to) and the Cleveland Browns, whom they face next week.

They've already lost to Cleveland once, a 17-6 loss in which Dalton struggled and went 23-of-42 for just 206 yards and a pick. Losing the second game would be a serious problem.

Of course, they also have to play Baltimore again in Week 17 and again, a second loss could be disastrous.

Dalton needs to get his act together and he needs to do it next week—not after their Week 12 bye.

If he keeps playing the way he has been, the Bengals could be spending this year watching the playoffs or, just as bad, they could squeak in, only to fold in the first round yet again.

HOT: Andre Johnson, Houston Texans vs. Arizona Cardinals

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson is straight-up ridiculous.

The loss to the Arizona Cardinals didn't feature huge yardage totals for Johnson, but it did feature two tremendous touchdown catches, one of which was captured in .gif form by Bleacher Report.

The two touchdowns marked the second game in a row in which Johnson caught multiple touchdowns, totaling five over that span.

Rookie quarterback Case Keenum has his flaws—he was not great in the first half and was part of the reason Houston ended up in a hole—but he definitely loves to throw the ball to Johnson.

The two should continue to hook up for touchdowns the rest of the way—because Johnson can't even be stopped by perfect coverage.

NOT: Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals vs. Houston Texans

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It's hard not to think about what "could have been" when we talk about Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

He's rarely had a good quarterback, certainly not in the last few years since Kurt Warner left. It's caused him to struggle more often than not.

This week was more of the same, but what was worse is that his quarterback—Carson Palmer—was halfway decent and he still didn't have a good outing.

Six targets for three catches and 23 yards is an insanely low output—and it's been like that very often this year.

Fitzgerald definitely has talent, but that doesn't quite seem to be enough on a consistent basis anymore.

HOT: Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers

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The Denver Broncos have a ton of weapons for Peyton Manning to utilize, but Demaryius Thomas is undoubtedly the best.

Sunday afternoon against the San Diego Chargers saw Thomas catch seven balls on 10 targets for 108 yards and three touchdowns.

Thomas has scored in each of the last three games and has been targeted at least nine times in each as well.

He can beat corners vertically, he can make tough catches across the middle, and he can take a short dump pass for a dozen yards.

There's very little he can't do, and while he is definitely not in the category of elite receivers like Calvin Johnson or Andre Johnson, it may not be long before he gets there.

NOT: Eli Manning, New York Giants vs. Oakland Raiders

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Two seasons ago, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was finally confident he had put all the doubters to rest and was among the NFL's elite quarterbacks.

Now it looks as if he might not even be among the top 20 NFL quarterbacks.

It's unlikely he tops the list for most interceptions in a season (George Blanda with 42 in 1962), but he could take a run at brother Peyton's 28 from 1998. In just 10 weeks, he's thrown 15 interceptions to just 10 touchdowns.

He threw another brutal pick-six which gave the Oakland Raiders the lead.

Against another team, that would probably have been fatal.

Whether he manages to break the record or not, Manning has looked awful for most of the season, and while his team won on Sunday, he had little to do with it. He can thank Andre Brown, his defense and the special teams unit (in and of itself a group which has been horrible) for that win.

The Giants have a great schedule ahead of them—with the exception of the Seattle Seahawks (whom they at least get at home) and Detroit Lions, all the teams they face have injury issues or are inconsistent.

Many of them are in the same lackluster division as the Giants.

So they could still make the playoffs.

It would be a short trip, though, if Manning can't turn his season around before then.

Andrew Garda is a member of the Pro Football Writers Association. He is also a member of the fantasy football staff at FootballGuys.com and the NFL writer at CheeseheadTV.com. You can follow him at @andrew_garda on Twitter.