Sunday provided one of the more entertaining days of NFL action in a long time. Several games came down to final possessions, including one where neither team won.

$.01--Probably the most noteworthy of Sunday’s slate of games took place in Seattle, where the defending Super Bowl champs hosted the upstart Dallas Cowboys. The visitors silenced the crowd and vanquished Russell Wilson & Co. 30-23 in a game that highlights the new and improved Cowboys.

Once again, Dallas won thanks to the strong running game and a better-than-expected defense. Demarco Murray became the first runner since Jim Brown (!!) to notch at least 100 rushing yards in each of his team’s first six games. While his workload is extreme--he’s on pace for a ridiculous 425+ touches in a league where few top 250 anymore--there is no doubt he’s been unstoppable thus far. A lot of credit goes to the great line in front of him. Dallas took a lot of grief for picking center Travis Frederick and guard Zack Martin in consecutive first rounds, but both are already among the better run blockers in the league.

The Cowboys' defense cemented the win. They held on a late fourth down as Russell Wilson misfired towards a well-covered Jermaine Kearse, then picked off his very next pass after Dallas extended its lead with a field goal. Rolando McClain dropped perfectly into coverage and snatched the ball. You might as well end any voting now; McClain will be the league’s comeback player, and his climb back from being a major draft bust and retiring at 25 is a great story. Dallas was desperate when it signed him, and it has really paid off.

Good teams always wind up with an unexpected major contributor. Dallas found one in McClain, and they’re also getting better-than-expected play from cornerback Orlando Scandrick. The entire defense did a great job anticipating Wilson’s every move and dominating the line of scrimmage.

It’s pointless to argue about the validity of Dallas’ impressive 5-1 start. If you’re still doubting that this Dallas team is different, you’re either not watching or blindly hating on them. The latter is easy to do--I’m often guilty of it myself--but their accomplishments so far this year speak for themselves, and they do so with an emphatic positivity long absent in the land of Jerry Jones.

$.02--What looked like a promising Sunday night game turned into a laugher. The Philadelphia Eagles completely dominated the visiting New York Giants 27-0 in a game where the final score makes the game seem much closer than the actual on-field action would indicate.

New York’s rhythmic offense had been humming the last few weeks, but the Eagles silenced them quickly and repeatedly. Their line dominated the Giants’ young offensive line, continually disrupting Eli Manning’s timing and vision. With no viable rushing attack with Rashad Jennings out, it was easy for the Eagles to tee off on poor Eli. He was sacked six times before being mercifully pulled on New York’s last drive. They managed just 9 first downs with Manning, who was sacked 6 times. Just for good measure Philly brought down backup Ryan Nassib twice on the final drive, including the final play of the game.

I thought Cris Collinsworth was spot on when he stated “it just looks like the Eagles were a step faster all night long”. When Eli or Nassib did deliver the ball the New York receivers were often met by Eagles defenders just as it arrived. There were several drops, some of which were forced by excellent timing by the Philly defense.

One drop could prove very costly. Manning had Victor Cruz open in the corner of the end zone on a brilliant route. As Cruz planted to leap up to make the catch, his knee buckled and he collapsed in agony as the ball glanced off his hands. He was quickly diagnosed with a torn patellar tendon, an injury which surely ends his season. He was in tears as he was carted off, and even the notorious Philly fanatics showed him respect. It’s a terrible injury that robs Manning of his go-to receiver just as he finally got first-round pick Odell Beckham Jr. into the lineup.

Just as encouraging for the Eagles was the breakout running game from LeSean McCoy. After frustrating fantasy owners for weeks, McCoy erupted for 149 yards on 22 carries. More importantly, he ran with confidence and acceleration that hadn’t always been present this season. The offensive line looked better, too. This win should give them ample confidence as they enter their bye week, with two tough defenses (Arizona and Houston) on the road docket after next week. 

$.03--The only team in the AFC North to lose was the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the Steelers didn’t just lose; they were blown out 31-10 in Cleveland.

After a slow start in which the visitors outgained them 73 to -8 in the 1st quarter, the Browns were definitively the better overall team. The next six cumulative drives decided the contest.

Cleveland’s offensive line bullied the Steelers defense all over the field, even after losing Pro Bowl center Alex Mack to a nasty injury. They ran the ball 38 times for 158 yards after netting -1 yards on their first four efforts. Brian Hoyer completed just eight of his 17 throws but managed 210 net passing yards on those throws. Compare that to Ben Roethlisberger netting 221 on 42 attempts and you get a good picture of the efficiency divergence between these two offenses.

I think former Steelers coach (and Browns linebacker) Bill Cowher nailed his old team when he called them “a soft bunch” on defense and “finesse” on offense during CBS’s postgame show. They are unrecognizable as what we’ve come to expect of Pittsburgh teams of the last 20 years other than the yellow and black colors. They are indeed soft on defense, lacking any true difference-makers. Granted some of that is injury related, but they’ve made it a custom to overdraft suspect defensive talent in the last few years. Their scheme has been figured out to a large extent, and as much as Mike Tomlin thinks he can coach them out of it, it’s not working.

Now the Steelers are 3-3 and looking up at every team in the division. The way the Browns have played in five of the last six quarters, and how well they protect the football, Pittsburgh might not escape the cellar anytime soon. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: I really like and respect Mike Tomlin, but he might not deserve to survive what appears to be a prolonged plunge for the once-proud Steelers. 

$.04--Thursday night finally brought a competitive game, though it sure didn’t start that way. The Indianapolis Colts raced out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter and a half, including a gutsy onside kick beautifully executed by Pat McAfee.

A funny thing happened on the way to a blowout. The Texans didn’t panic. Houston stuck to the running game with Arian Foster, who kept ripping off chunks of yardage. That allowed the offensive line to settle down and the defense to catch its breath. Andrew Luck cooled off, a temperature change coinciding with the red hot play of J.J. Watt.

With apologies to Philip Rivers, the two leading MVP candidates both demonstrated why they deserve the honor in this game. Luck was fantastic, throwing for over 370 yards and making some outstanding throws on the move. His deep balls are the best in football and he can deliver them while being flushed or sliding in the pocket.

Watt very nearly willed the Texans to a win all by himself. He batted down three passes. He bagged two sacks, one of them chasing down Luck in the open field and getting a giant paw on his foot to trip him up. But the coup de grace was his fumble recovery of an unexpected (to Luck) snap, which he raced 45 yards into the end zone for his third touchdown on the young season.

Even though Luck won this battle and elevated the Colts to first place in the AFC South, Watt earned my hypothetical vote for MVP with his unbelievable performance. He’s the best player in the NFL regardless of position, and he doesn’t have near the help around him Luck does, relatively speaking. Without him Thursday night, the Texans could very well have lost 70-0. Instead they lost 33-28 because they don’t have a quarterback worthy of backing up Luck. 

$.05--The Detroit Lions boast the league’s No. 1 defense. Seriously.

Technically that was true even before Detroit stormed into Minnesota and preyed upon the Vikings. Sunday’s suffocating performance will only bolster the Lions position atop the league’s defensive ratings. Detroit allowed just 212 yards and forced three turnovers in a 17-3 victory, a game Detroit won despite playing without both Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush.

At least seven Lions had half a sack or more, including 2.5 from Ziggy Ansah, who also forced a fumble and blew up a screen pass for a 4-yard loss. Vikings rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater dropped back to pass 45 times. He was sacked on 8, hit on 12, and hurried on 14 as the Lions feasted on a tentative quarterback behind a leaky line.

It’s time for the national media to finally catch up on the narrative about my Lions. This is a team built around a great defense, not a high-powered offense. In fact, the offense has sputtered even with Johnson and Bush in the lineup, as the offensive line has regressed and Matthew Stafford continues to put out C+ performances with his A+ arm. The kicking is historically bad, as new kicker Matt Prater missed two of his three attempts to leave the Lions 5-for-15 on the season in field goals. Yet the Lions are 4-2 and tied atop the NFC North with Green Bay (a team they’ve beaten) thanks to a defense with impact talent at all three levels. It’s hard to believe, I know, but it’s 100% true.

The Vikings missed Adrian Peterson, but they’re going to have to get used to life after AD. He just might be too stupid to stand trial for his child abuse allegations, proving so after admitting he smoked “a little weed” just before a drug test. That gaffe could cost him his freedom. Moreover, it demonstrates his utter lack of common sense. How can he possibly defend his actions in giving his son an Old Testament-style whipping for interrupting a video game when Peterson isn’t even smart enough to not admit to violating the terms of his bond, or even just not violating them in the first place? On the flip side, it’s scary to ponder what someone with such limited brain capacity is going to do with his life now that football appears to no longer be an option. 

$.06--The biggest surprise, to me anyway, came in Atlanta. The visiting Bears pawed down the Falcons 27-13, grounding Matt Ryan and the vaunted Atlanta passing attack. Chicago gave up just 12 first downs after averaging over 22 in the last three weeks.

Atlanta has now gone scoreless in three straight 4^th quarters. Right after FOX displayed that informative graphic, the Falcons next two offensive plays were a Willie Young sack and an interception by Demontre Hurst. That sort of punchless attack in crunch time is a serious problem, particularly when facing a Bears defense missing all three starting linebackers…none of whom are very good to begin with. Young bagged yet another sack on Atlanta’s next play for good measure. Credit goes to the heretofore underachieving Bears defense.

Best defensive game plan of the season from Mel Tucker & #Bears. Multiple looks, 5-man zone pressure + coverage based on game situation.

— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) October 12, 2014

Many thought the Falcons were poised for a big turnaround after their injury-ravaged 4-12 collapse from being a perennial contender. Now Atlanta sits at 2-4 and behind all but three teams in a deep NFC playoff race. One of those teams they are looking up at is Chicago, now 3-3 and eminently dangerous when Jay Cutler and the offense don’t turn the ball over. They didn’t give up any on Sunday, riding strong performances from Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte and avoiding the key mistakes that often dog them. It’s hard to trust the Bears, who are inconsistent on offense and often overmatched on defense. Yet winning in Atlanta is an impressive feat even if the Falcons are apparently going to suffer another disappointing season. 

$.07--Carolina and Cincinnati played to a 37-37 tie, the first deadlock in the league this year. The Bengals had a great chance to win, but Mike Nugent badly missed a 36-yard field goal as overtime expired. The 74 points marked the highest total in a tie game in the overtime era of NFL history.

It was quite an offensive display by both teams.

• Both teams had 29 first downs, including 18-of-33 on 3^rd downs
• 944 combined yards
• Gio Bernard’s 89-yard TD scamper
• Adam Jones’ 97-yard kick return
• Cam Newton rushing 17 times for 107 yards and a TD

It’s always hard to judge the impact of a tie on the teams. Carolina has to feel good about escaping The Jungle without a loss, yet this game exposed their ongoing defensive issues. Cincy hung 37 on them despite being without its three best receivers in A.J. Green, Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert, while the venerable pass rush brought Andy Dalton down just once in 44 dropbacks.

The Bengals have some defensive issues of their own, giving up 80 points in the last two games. After seven takeaways in the first three games, Cincinnati has just one in the last two games, an alarming drought for their big-play defense. They also failed to record a single sack, and it wasn’t just because of Newton’s athleticism.

One nice thing about the tie: it sure makes figuring out playoff scenarios and (ironically) tie-breakers much simpler. Both these teams remain very much in the thick of those races. 

$.08--NFL Quickies

--Washington turned the ball over four times in the 4^th quarter of a 30-20 loss in Arizona. The final one was a pick-six that Kirk Cousins threw right to Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson, who was nowhere near any Skins receiver. I mean nowhere near anyone; no Washington player was even in the wide camera shot. For those who play weekly fantasy or salary cap games, you want the defense going against Cousins and the Ethnic Slurs. They might score more points than Tampa Bay or Jacksonville’s inept offenses, but they’re more apt to turn the ball over. Repeatedly.

--New England knocked off the Bills in Buffalo, but they likely lost LB Jerod Mayo and RB Stevan Ridley for the season with injuries. While they’re now atop the AFC East and extremely unlikely to give up that perch, they’re not close to being as talented as Denver, San Diego or Indianapolis in a playoff matchup. Those injuries certainly won’t help.

--Miami defeated Miami in Miami, with Green Bay only being incidentally involved in the Packers’ comeback victory before a decidedly partisan Cheesehead crowd. I don’t know which is worse, Dolphins coach Joe Philbin’s end-of-game management or the fact the stadium was at least 75% Green Bay fans. Looking for a team to move to Los Angeles? How about the Dolphins, as the hometown clearly doesn’t care.

--On Aaron Rodgers’ cute fake spike play: it was effective only because Miami CB Cortland Finnegan allowed Davante Adams to get out of bounds a little too easily. Finnegan is a veteran who should know better. If he makes the tackle inbounds, the Packers would have been in a mad scramble to get another play off.

--Great feature on the CBS pregame show on Panthers TE Greg Olsen and his adorable son, who has battled serious heart issues for his young life. Genuine tear jerker.

--I didn’t see a lot of the Raiders/Chargers game, but in the 4-5 drives I watched it looked like Oakland raised its level of play rather than San Diego playing down to them. If that holds true on further review, that’s a very good sign for the Raiders. They’re going to win a couple of games at some point, and it sure looks like they found their QB in Derek Carr.

--He’s not going to get the notoriety of a quarterback, but there might not be a bigger non-QB draft bust in recent times than Vikings LT Matt Kalil. He went fourth overall in 2012, one spot behind Trent Richardson. As maligned as TRich has been, he’s a much more viable NFL talent than Kalil. He might be the worst starting tackle in the league, and there are some really bad tackles out there. If he doesn’t improve soon, he won’t be starting. Kalil could very well be Jason Smith 2.0.

--One of the best parts of watching about 40 hours of football in the last 48 hours is the almost complete absence of political ads. Even the super-PACs cannot afford prime CFB and NFL ad rates. Thank God.

$.09--College/Draft Quickies

--Watched Stanford vs. Washington State on Friday, and I’m now more convinced than ever that Cardinal QB Kevin Hogan is not a legit NFL prospect. His long, low windup and deliberate delivery echo of Tim Tebow, except Hogan doesn’t have that kind of arm strength. He’s got another year of eligibility and I would strongly suggest he use it.

His counterpart in Stanford’s win, Cougars QB Connor Halliday showed much more pro potential. He’s got a very quick release and processes information on the fly. I like his arm strength, on great display on this TD pass. That play also shows his improvisational ability and decent athleticism. He gets infatuated with his arm at times, and his accuracy goes out the window for spurts as well. I’m hopeful he winds up at the Shrine Game and we get a chance to see him out of Mike Leach’s system.

--I was at the Penn State/Michigan game. Here are some thoughts on three Wolverines draft prospects:

Frank Clark had a great night, repeatedly getting into the backfield and showing strength and burst to finish plays. His hands and ability to shed blocks have improved. Biggest issue is that he’s a DE/OLB tweener, not strong enough to play end and not rangy or athletic enough to play OLB. He looks like a rotational contributor, albeit a valuable one for his motor and attitude. I have him pegged as a 5^th/6^th round pick right now. He’d look good coming off San Francisco’s bench.

Linebacker Jake Ryan was everywhere, demonstrating his nose for the ball and ranginess. When he avoids the initial block he’s very effective, and Ryan is a sure tackler with some pop to his pads. What I like is that he doesn’t take false steps or poor angles very often. It’s still early to project but I wouldn’t have a problem with him as a 4^th round pick.

Devin Funchess is going to be the first Wolverine drafted, perhaps in the top 30. That is based on future potential and not what the former tight end offers in his first season or two. Two things here: he’s quite clearly not a tight end with his shrinking mass; he appears to be no more than 220 pounds and has visibly thinned out even since I saw him up close in person at Notre Dame. Yet he still runs routes like a tight end, leggy and round without a lot of precision. He’ll get better there as he gets used to playing split wide and at a lighter, lither physique. He’s also got a bad habit of not looking the ball all the way into his hands. The best comparison I can give for him right now is Dorin Dickerson. Funchess has a better chance of making it than Dickerson (now out of the league) because he’s more sudden with his speed and has a better football IQ, but don’t expect him to light the NFL on fire early on.

--Good job by the AP poll voters to get it right by placing Mississippi State atop the rankings for the first time in school history. I am not a Heisman voter, but Bulldogs QB Dak Prescott would have my vote after another impressive outing in thumping Auburn from the unbeaten ranks.

$.10--The tyrannical NCAA sunk its teeth into another victim this week. Okay, technically the University of Georgia was the acting authority in suspending star running back Todd Gurley indefinitely. But it was all about the NCAA’s asinine hypocrisy and yet another person that holier-than-thou organization is supposed to represent and protect whom they instead prey upon like the mindless jackals they truly are.

Gurley was suspended for selling autographs and memorabilia for personal profit. Never mind that the school, and the NCAA, makes millions doing the exact same thing--by selling Todd Gurley. If Gurley tries to capitalize and do exactly what the school does, he is treated like a shunned Amish.

This is the latest in the ridiculous nature of the NCAA’s iron-fisted, indefensible enslavement of student-athletes. Georgia can sell jerseys with Gurley’s number on them, use his likeness to sell programs, parade him out in front of boosters to coax an extra zero on the checks. But if Gurley himself accepts a taco from an alumnus, he’s subject to sanctions.

Obviously Gurley got more than a taco here. He should know better and he absolutely deserves some punishment for willingly violating the rules, ones which are clearly laid out to him. Georgia is acutely aware of these things after star wideout A.J. Green was suspended for the same thing a few years ago.

But if Gurley cannot profit from being Gurley, neither should the NCAA. Any college student can sell anything they own, and they often do just to get beer money. I once bought a Nintendo from a freshman dorm mate for $40 so he could buy some shrooms for the night. Why can’t Gurley sell socks he wore in a game against Georgia Tech so he can afford to splurge on the large drink with his combo meal instead of just the medium?

The more the NCAA keeps punishing those who bring in their income--the players and the schools who serve under them--for illogical inanities, the quicker the major football and basketball programs are going to shun the NCAA. And when that glorious day comes, and make no mistake it’s coming soon, the NCAA will be as fiscally bankrupt as they are morally right now.