So out of nowhere the Steelers are suddenly a playoff team. That sounds absurd, but they literally, in fact, are as it stands today, a playoff team. Pittsburgh would be the No. 6 seed in the AFC if the season ended today. It doesn't, I know. But the fact they have a shot at making the playoffs is a testament to the job Mike Tomlin's done with this team and how a bold trade early in the season is paying massive dividends for Pittsburgh.

When Kevin Colbert shipped a first-round pick to the Dolphins for Minkah Fitzpatrick, there were plenty of people who questioned the move. The Steelers were 1-4 and trotting out Duck Hodges for a matchup in Los Angeles against the Chargers. They were looking at sending a top-10 or even top-5 pick to Miami for a safety. It was OK to ask questions about the deal.

A wild Week 10 is almost in the books and there's a lot to go over. Fortunately Will Brinson, John Breech, Ryan Wilson and Sean Wagner-McGough are here to break everything down on the latest episode of the Pick Six Podcast. Listen to the full show below and be sure to subscribe right here for daily NFL goodness fired into your eardrums.

Instead, Fitzpatrick has been a revelation for the Steelers. In seven games he has five interceptions, eight passes defensed, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. In the last two games he's accounted for 12 points by virtue of scoring defensive touchdowns including a scoop and score of a Jared Goff fumble on Sunday.

Joe Haden's playing his tail off too, inspired by the improvement of a secondary that was carved up by Tom Brady and Russell Wilson in the first two weeks of the season. Yes, the schedule has been easier. But the stats don't lie: the Steelers defense since Fitzpatrick arrived has been night and day different. 

The Steelers offense isn't particularly good right now, but they're dealing with injuries. And they've scored enough points to give their defense a chance at finding a way to win.

They should continue to do well given the schedule. Over the next three weeks, the Steelers have a chance to make up some ground on the Ravens in the AFC North. They draw the Browns in Cleveland on Thursday, the Bengals at home the week after that and Cleveland again in Week 13. The Cardinals, Bills and Jets are on the docket leading up to a Week 17 road matchup against Baltimore with potentially the division on the line. 

Cowboys play scared (again)

No one hurt their playoff hopes worse on Sunday than the Dallas Cowboys, who held the ball down 28-24 with 4:34 left in the game and a locked-in Dak Prescott prepared to deal out a game-winning drive on national television. It was a perfect stage for a signature moment and Dak delivered. Then Jason Garrett showed up.

Garrett is, rather notoriously, one of the most conservative coaches in all of football. It's widely believed after the Cowboys new Star Wars offense led by Kellen Moore uncorked early on in the season that Garrett grabbed the reigns back for a few weeks and tried to #establishtherun. It felt that way late too against Minnesota when the Cowboys inexplicably decided to feed Ezekiel Elliott on back-to-back plays, leading to a fourth down. 

Zeke is great, but the Vikings were selling out to stop the run and Elliott wasn't getting anything on the ground. Elliott averaged less than 2.5 yards per attempt on the ground. Dak averaged 8.6 yards through the air. Every single Cowboys receiver was running wide open. 

A claim from VP Stephen Jones on 105.3 the Fan Monday morning indicates the Cowboys were running to kill the clock and avoid giving the Vikings back the ball if they scored too quickly. If that's truly the case, how do you explain the Cowboys snapping the ball with three seconds left on the game clock and nine seconds left on the play clock before the two-minute warning on their first down play?

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-2-26-00-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

If they're killing the clock, why is Dak throwing the ball here? Whatever, the play got eight yards and a first down. The next play, another Prescott throw, got eight yards as well. What followed on second and third down was a bit disastrous. The Cowboys at least spread out and ran the ball instead of going jumbo. And Cris Collinsworth remarked the team could "run it twice" even on third down, with the Cowboys obviously going for it on fourth down. 

Garrett admitted after the game it was "important" to keep trying to run the ball.

It's not. The analytics show you don't need to run the ball to be effective in play action. And with Prescott being as effective as he was to the outside with Amari Cooper (11 catches on 14 targets), it was absurd to go away from what was working and dive head first back into what was not working. 

In fact, you could argue the other way on the clock-killing stuff. This wasn't a team with a four-point lead trying to melt the clock and get into position for a field goal to go up a touchdown. This was a team trying to crank up their playoff chances by beating a Vikings defense that simply couldn't stop the pass. Go get the touchdown and don't worry about being cute with when you score. 

Instead the Cowboys did the things they do and curled up. 

Lamar Jackson is utterly ridiculous

Did Lamar Jackson just have his NFL Heisman Moment? The play on the field where everyone realizes he's operating at a different level than everyone else from an athletic standpoint, the signature move where he all but solidifies his MVP campaign? He obviously didn't lock up the MVP, because Russell Wilson/Deshaun Watson exist and it's still just Week 11. But his midfield spin move against multiple Bengals defenders on a 47-yard touchdown run to put Baltimore up 35-10 in a road divisional game during a prime letdown spot was truly incredible.

As John Harbaugh said afterwards, it's the type of play where people will be watching it and talking about it for "decades" to come. He's not wrong -- shoutout to Kevin Harlan for the call as well. Harlan is one of the best play by play guys in the biz and has been for years, but it feels like he's having a "breakout" year in terms of the general public. Just like Lamar! 

Harbaugh also chatted up Jackson on the sidelines and the conversation -- about influencing young kids for years to come but also staying grounded and aggressive -- was really insightful into the dynamic between these two.

Harbaugh said before the season the Ravens offense would be unlike anything we'd ever seen. I scoffed at him, not because of a lack of faith in Jackson, but because I just didn't think the Ravens would completely reinvent offensive football. They haven't per se, but they have created an incredibly explosive and dynamic offense that also somehow manages to lean heavily on the run and often times feature a huge pile of tight ends. 

As noted by Mike Clay of ESPN, the top three route runners for the Ravens against Cincy were tight ends. 

Baltimore is coming close to averaging 200 yards per game on the ground. They're averaging 197.2 rush yards per game on the year, giving them more than a 25-yard gap on average over the No. 2 team, the 49ers (who play Monday obviously). And San Francisco has an 18-yard gap on average above the No. 3 team, the Minnesota Vikings.

The last time a team was above 170 rushing yards per game was the 2014 Seahawks. The last time a team was above 180 yards per game on the season was the 2006 Falcons. You have to go all the way back to the 1978 New England Patriots to find a team above 190 yards per game for a full season. That Patriots team averaged 197.8 yards per game rushing thanks to Steve Grogan using his feet at the quarterback position. Grogan finished the year with 2,824 passing yards. Jackson is averaging roughly 50 more pass yards per game on the season. 

Baltimore is also in the top half of the league in explosive plays. They have six plays of 40 yards or more (ranked 11th) and 30 plays of 20 yards or more (17th). 

Texans coach Bill O'Brien, who plays the Ravens next, said it best on Monday when asked what he thought about the Colts losing to the Dolphins.

"I'd love to give you all my thoughts on all the games, but I'll be honest with you I've been basically immersed in watching the Ravens," O'Brien said. "I mean, have you watched the Ravens on film? There's a lot to watch."

Thanks to Jackson's game-changing speed and acceleration, the Ravens are a run-heavy team with the ability to morph personnel from game to game while also creating shot plays down the field. It truly is unique and Lamar truly is an MVP candidate. 

Freddie Kitchens Coaching Blunder(s) of the Week

Every week, there's something new for the Browns first-year head coach. Against the Bills, there were once again multiple sets of circumstances flashing with big red lights on a sign that reads "OVERWHELMED" with Kitchens. 

The first two things I would highlight can sort of be featured on the same drive, and we can start in the red zone, where the Browns magically managed to run eight plays from the Buffalo one-yard line after Nick Chubb ripped off a 24-yard run to set up first and goal on the Browns second drive of the game. 

First off, it's worth noting the Browns used both Kareem Hunt and Chubb on this play. And Hunt levied a huge block to spring Chubb. Awesome stuff from the controversial signing in his return to game action. 

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-11-34-30-am.png
via NFL Broadcast

As noted by my colleague, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, Hunt was in the game with Chubb on 43 percent of the team's snaps Sunday and Chubb gained 113 of his 116 rushing yards on those snaps. Here's one of my issues: I wrote in my Best Bets piece (4-2 ATS last week for those counting at home) about the Bills issues giving up explosive rushing plays and how Chubb was arguably the most explosive rusher in football this year. Why on Earth is Baker Mayfield throwing the ball 38 times against a top-five pass defense? Why are the Browns targeting Odell Beckham 12 times in a tough matchup against Tre'Davious White?

I'll tell you why -- because Odell was a squeaky wheel after the Browns struggled the week before and he was spotted on the sideline standing far away from Baker. They're trying to feed their big-name wide receiver instead of leaning into a strength of their team that perfectly coincides with a weakness of their opponent. That's bad playcalling and a silly approach, especially in a game where the Browns led for most of the contest. It's why I would be looking to back the Steelers (+3 or +2.5) on Thursday night this week.

Second up: the red zone playcalling for Cleveland on the eight plays that immediately followed that Chubb run. Yes, after getting to the one-yard line, the Browns were able to run EIGHT PLAYS. Making it more impressive? They didn't actually score any points. 

I don't hate the first down play, a good route from Beckham on a play where he was being covered by Jordan Poyer, and one that wasn't going to result in an interception barring a total egg by Baker. OBJ won and Poyer just grabbed him for DPI.

The resulting first down run featured a tight end (Jordan Pharoah) in at fullback and an extremely snug formation with a pitch to Chubb that was stuffed.

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-12-03-33-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

Second down was basically more of the same, albeit with an option look that featured Lorenzo Alexander easily identifying Chubb was a runner on the play. The Bills weren't forced to take any defenders out of the box here. 

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-12-04-43-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

Spreading out the defense and running from unexpected formations is a far more viable option. Get Hunt in there and run some two-back sets out of shotgun. Force the defense to make choices rather than to just win outright up front. 

On third down, Beckham drew another pass interference penalty. He was outstanding running routes in these spots but you're asking for help from the officials on a critical third down in a one-on-one matchup. 

Another first down ... another run from a largely bunched formation with a single running back.

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-12-44-46-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

Another stuff as Tremaine Edmunds was left completely unblocked and met Chubb in the hole. 

Second and goal this time around was a goal line fade. Ban the goal line fade. Even to OBJ. Ban it. (Credit White for a great play on the ball here as it could have been a score.)

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-12-49-02-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

At this point, you could hear the Cleveland crowd getting restless. As Andrew Catalon noted, "it's third and goal, but it's really seventh and goal." This was followed by a third down run from, sigh, a singleback formation in which Chubb was, sigh, met by multiple unblocked defenders. 

"Here comes the heavy package" James Lofton remarked as the CBS cameras cut to a fairly exasperated looking Kareem Hunt. 

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-12-50-58-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

Fast forward a few seconds and -- not so shockingly -- Chubb is being stuffed for a loss after being met in the backfield by multiple Bills defenders.

screen-shot-2019-11-11-at-12-54-18-pm.png
via NFL Broadcast

The intention here is not to beat on Kitchens. But this is just bad playcalling. You can't have eight looks from the one-yard line and walk away with zero points. It's borderline difficult to do. And the Browns still pulled it off. 

One more point of contention with Kitchens in-game management: he called a timeout with three seconds left in the third quarter and the Bills on the field for a fourth down where they were VERY clearly not trying to actually run a play. The plan was to try and draw the Browns offsides and then huddle up at the quarter break to run a play. Kitchens apparently didn't like what he saw from the defense out there -- and we don't know, because no one asked him according to the press conference transcript -- and he called timeout. 

You can't call timeout with three seconds left in the third quarter of a three-point game. That's setting a critical asset on fire when there's a free timeout coming in a couple seconds. The Bills did end up going and not getting it, but the result shouldn't justify the process here. 

Again, the Browns need to lean on Todd Monken and let him call offensive plays. They're wasting a ton of talent and in a game where every edge is critical, the Browns are volunteering losses.