We’ve seen a pattern in the NFL since the league imposed training restrictions and padded practice limits. These days the teams and players don’t seem to hit their strides until November.
Now we’re up and running. That was by far the most exciting Sunday of the season thus far.
I thought the Cowboys-Eagles game was a pretty accurate gauge of where those two teams are, relative to each other. The Cowboys are good. The Eagles are a little better right now. That could change.
That was a microcosm of Dak’s career. He played with guts, heart and disregard for his personal safety. But he came up short. Literally. Three times.
You saw C.J. Stroud’s numbers. Four hundred seventy passing yards. Five TD passes, including the gamer with six seconds left. I hope you saw how he posted those numbers rather than just reading about them. The Kid is a flat-out phenom and now a rookie in name only. The Texans’ future is glowingly bright. Big-time free agents are going to want to play for DeMeco and with C.J. Houston is going to be a very “cool” place to be.
But C.J. wasn’t even NFL Folk Legend Number One on Sunday. That title goes to journeyman Josh Dobbs, who hadn’t even taken a practice rep since coming to the Vikings on Tuesday in a trade with the Cardinals. Practice? Josh don’t need no stinkin’ practice! Dobbs wasn’t even supposed to play in Sunday’s game at Atlanta, but was pressed into emergency service when rookie starter Jaren Hall left with a first-quarter concussion. Vikings 31, Falcons 28, as Dobbs tossed the game-winner late, on a play he had never practiced. Instant legend. And don’t look now but the slow-starting Vikings are 5-4.
The Eagles have the league’s best record at 8-1. But as the Sun comes up on November 6, Philly is not the league’s best team. The Ravens are. Did you watch them dismantle the Seahawks, and before that the Lions? Baltimore’s defense is once again elite, and Lamar Jackson is playing better than he did in his MVP season.
The second-best team might be the Bengals. Burrow is more than back. The Texans will have to deal with The Stripes Sunday in Cincy.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert is going to miss at least a month with a fractured forearm. That’s a big blow to that offense.
Looks like the Giants’ Daniel Jones has a torn ACL. Sadly, that won’t impact the G-Men’s offense that much. It’s beyond repair.
As you know, I’m not a fan of these games across the pond. But the second half of Chiefs-Dolphins in Frankfurt was some sweet strudel. Here’s how you slow down Miami’s sprint relay team. You punch ‘em in the mouth.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley finally put clueless defensive coordinator Alex Grinch out of his misery, something that should have happened a year ago. The Trojans’ defense has been stunningly awful.
Oh, and Kansas State blew it Saturday in Austin by going for it on fourth down rather than kicking a gimme field goal that would have sent the game into a second overtime. Your job as a coach is to keep the game alive. And I think the Wildcats would have had an edge in a second OT.
