ICYMI: The Best Stories You Missed from NFL Week 10

Brown Out

He was a can't-miss prospect: a major-conference cornerback who at the 2013 NFL scouting combine weighed in at 6'0", 202 pounds. He cut a 4.37-second 40-yard dash and threw up 20 reps of 225 on the bench press despite possessing the wingspan of an osprey. NFL Network guru Mike Mayock called him "the prototype cornerback in today's NFL."

In Week 10, Justin Gilbert was inactive.

He wasn't injured. He wasn't sick. He didn't have a partner about to give birth or a parent in the final days of hospice care. He was a healthy scratch.

Though all the NFL world has been obsessed with the Cleveland Browns' other first-round draft pick that year, quarterback Johnny Manziel, no one is paying attention to the spectacular flameout of Gilbert, the No. 8 overall pick.

Maybe it's because nobody wants to admit they were wrong on him (and just about everybody was). Maybe it's because his spectacular flameout isn't a spectacle at all: he hasn't suffered a tragic injury or been waylaid by a mysterious illness. He's not guzzling champagne on inflatable swans or playing shirts-and-skins with a porn star (at least, not on Instagram). He's not being devoured by a swirling cesspool of his own steaming desires.

He just can't play.

There are physical issues: Gilbert is a gifted athlete, but seems unable to apply that talent to actually covering NFL receivers. He is readily beaten no matter where he lines up, and seems unable to learn from his repeated mistakes.

There are mental issues: Tom Reed, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, describes Gilbert as a "distant and conflicted young man" who either needs "a swift kick or a hug," and guesses that "the Browns have tried both with little success."

As general manager Ray Farmer's first-ever pick, Gilbert should be the cornerstone of the team. He should be the starting point for the New Browns, the cutoff between the old bad past and the bold new future.

Instead, the talent-poor Browns had been playing Gilbert on special teams and on offense, in desperate need of some kind of contribution from him. In Week 10, they gave up completely.

It's fair to wonder how long Gilbert—or Farmer—will continue to draw a Browns paycheck.

Jonesing for Attention

Washington's Matt Jones is one of those players the NFL world seems to try not to think about. He plays in a crowded depth chart on a perennially struggling franchise with a headline factory of an owner, head coach, and (backup) quarterback.

Perhaps the 2015 third-round rookie tailback is also struggling to make a name for himself because he shares a name with one of the most notorious shooting stars of the last decade.

The previous Matt Jones was an explosive Arkansan quarterback with an eye-popping 6'6", 242-pound frame and plenty of foot speed. He clearly wasn't an NFL quarterback, but in 2005 Jacksonville Jaguars took a crazy-high flier on him as a wide receiver. Jones struggled with consistency, made some highlight catches, and seemed on the path to making it until his career exploded in a puff of cocaine.

Today's Matt Jones—a tailback from Florida—has a similar boom-or-bust factor in his numbers. He put the world on notice in Week 2, with a 19-carry, 123-yard, two-touchdown performance against the vaunted St. Louis Rams defensive line.

Yet, head coach Jay Gruden got Jones a total of only 55 touches over the next six games. Jones, admittedly, wasn't doing much with them: he averaged 2.55 yards per carry and 9.33 yards per catch. Then came Week 10.

In what was to be Rob Ryan's Waterloo, Jones shredded the New Orleans Saints. He rushed 11 times for 56 yards (5.1 yards per carry) and caught three passes for 131 yards, including a screen pass he took for a 78-yard touchdown.

Washington is now—suddenly, inconceivably—just a half-game out of first place in the NFC East. Quarterback Kirk Cousins has finally settled into a groove. After taking on the undefeated Carolina Panthers in Week 11, four of Washington's last six games will be in-division.

If a highly improbable playoff run is going to happen in D.C., Jones will be doing most of the running. Gruden—and fantasy owners—had better start paying attention.

Dependence Day

Jason Pierre-Paul blew off a significant chunk of one hand while messing around with fireworks, costing himself a shot at a massive contract. He laid low for a bit, and then he got back in shape, made good with the Giants, showed up to the facility, signed a contract, and returned to the team.

That was all big news. Everybody talked about all of that. Nobody missed any of that.

By far the bigger story—what everyone should be talking about—is that in two games back, he's not only played a full diet of snaps (108 of 135, per Ralph Vacchiano, of the New York Daily News); he's been as good as he's ever been.

No, Pierre-Paul hasn't been credited with an official sack, but he's hassled the heck out of the two quarterbacks he's faced. In fact, during the Giants' near-upset of the undefeated New England Patriots in Week 10, he had a sack of Tom Brady nullified by a penalty. Pro Football Focus, via NJ Advance Media's James Kratch, credited Pierre-Paul with six quarterback hurries, a hit, and an overall +4.8 grade in that almost but not quite historic win.

Had that sack not been wiped out, or had the Giants upended the Patriots, the narrative would have been completely different. There would have been a narrative. There would have been a coast-to-coast, this-goes-to-eleven celebration of Pierre-Paul's astonishing, inspiring comeback.

Instead, as happens all too often, NFL history was written by the winners.