$.01--For years and years the NFC East was the NFL’s preeminent division. The high-profile teams, the noteworthy players, the iconic coaches, the perennial multiple playoff teams, the division was handily the most celebrated by both the league itself and its broadcast partners.

That glory has largely faded over the past few seasons, as the teams have largely grown to mediocrity. So it was great having a meaningful, exciting Sunday Night game between Philadelphia and Dallas, two of the most exciting and improved teams in the league.

The game did not disappoint. Philadelphia led most of the night but the Cowboys kept it close as both young quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott showed promise but also rookie mistakes. The most accurate, succinct assessment of how up-and-down the QBs--and the game itself--truly played out:

Both teams had several chances late, but for the third week in a row we were treated (or subjected) to bonus football on Sunday night. Dallas won the toss and rode the rookie tandem of Prescott and Zeke Elliott down the field. Yet the game winner came at the hands of grizzled veteran Jason Witten, the wide open recipient of a scrambling Prescott throw when two Eagles defenders collided.

As much as it pains most of America, the NFL is better when the Dallas Cowboys are prominent contenders. And that they are, at 6-2 and playing strong football on both offense and defense. In an NFL season best described as “irksome”, the Cowboys are doing their best to salvage the increasingly disengaged fans. What a fun game! 

$.02--The Atlanta Falcons desperately needed a victory to stem the bleeding of a two-game losing streak. Those losses to Seattle and San Diego bled all the life blood out of their impressive 4-game winning streak. With Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in town, it was easy to see these Falcons fading away just like last season.

Matt Ryan had other ideas, and his strong play carried the host Falcons to a critical 33-32 comeback win. Ryan hit Mohamed Sanu deep in the end zone on a beautifully designed pass play for the late go-ahead score and the shaky Falcons defense held tough on Rodgers’ answering attempt.

The statement victory and impressive game-winning drive not only lifted the Falcons to 5-3 and set back the 4-3 Packers, it thrust Ryan squarely into the MVP conversation. Ryan completed 9-of-11 on the final drive, including the artful TD. What’s more impressive for Ryan is that he posted his monster game despite little contribution from star wideout Julio Jones, who didn’t catch a pass after halftime. Instead of the typical 10-catch, 100-yard outing for Jones, Matty Ice spread the wealth around to the likes of Austin Hooper, Taylor Gabriel and Sanu, who caught nine.

Outdueling Aaron Rodgers, who was sharp despite almost no threat of a running game other than on his own, is a real feather in Ryan’s cap. Even though he’s led this team to playoff victory in the past, much of the current team hasn’t really seen that Matty Ice. Now the 2016 Falcons have to have extreme confidence in No. 2, who leads the league in passing yards and is second in both QB Rating and Yards per Attempt behind Tom Brady.

The Packers nearly pulled it off despite missing several key regulars, notably the top three running backs in Eddie Lacy, James Starks and Ty Montgomery. Clay Matthews also sat, as did Randall Cobb and Jared Cook. Green Bay doesn’t accept moral victories, but the fact Rodgers looked dialed in once again despite so many missing pieces has to engender some serious confidence going forward too. Rodgers last six quarters have been nothing less than outstanding given the circumstances, and that makes the Packers a very real threat. 

$.03--Sunday kicked off in London with Washington and Cincinnati. Four hours and forty agonizing minutes later, this game ended in a 24-24 tie.

I bring up the time component because it directly impacted millions of viewers, myself included. I live in the Grand Rapids television market, which is most definitely Detroit Lions country. Except because we are more than 100 miles away from Ford Field, our local FOX affiliate didn’t switch from the London game.

It was well into the second quarter before we got to see the local team of choice, and by that point the Texans already had a 7-0 lead and were driving for more. Then, as is the growing custom, came the ads. Thanks to a couple of injury timeouts, we saw over 12 minutes of advertisements in the first fifteen minutes of real time once we finally got to the game. Did I mention we missed the beginning of Houston’s drive so we could see the loathsome McDonald’s ad with the skinny James Lipton doppelganger not once but twice before I started that 15 minute clock?

Maybe FOX was protecting us from the embarrassing effort from Jim Caldwell and an uncharacteristically out of sync Detroit offense. Matthew Stafford had his worst performance of the season, while his receivers continued to let him down with at least two more drops. It negated a spirited performance from Detroit’s desperately undermanned defensive back seven, which was missing top CB Darius Slay and started fresh-off-the-street Josh Bynes at linebacker.

Detroit closed the gap and got within a touchdown late. It’s at that point where Caldwell fired up his coaching malpractice once again. Caldwell eschewed using a timeout before Matt Prater’s field goal cut the score to 20-13. A total of 29 precious seconds clicked off while the Lions brought out the field goal unit and prepped for the snap.

That in and of itself is not a terrible decision. The justification is keeping three timeouts for the defense and trusting them to make a stop. Given Detroit’s league-worst defense--which is allowing opposing QBs to complete just under 75% of their attempts--that’s a questionable choice. But then trying an onside kick, that’s inexcusable. Sam Martin’s effort was lousy on said kick, and the Texans got the ball around midfield. Even if the Lions could muster a defensive stand, they’re not getting the ball back outside their own 20 and would have no timeouts to traverse 80-plus yards with maybe 90 seconds left. As fantastic as Matthew Stafford has been with comebacks, that’s asking a lot.

It didn’t matter as the Texans finally got the ground game cranked up and easily converted to run out the clock. That doesn’t excuse Caldwell, who is overwhelmingly culpable for three of Detroit’s four losses this year with his poor preparation and game management skills. Rookie GM Bob Quinn has quickly built a lot of goodwill with long-suffering Lions fans, but if Jim Caldwell is still coaching Detroit more than 24 hours after the season ends, it all goes out the window.

$.04--Any Given Sunday, Week 8 edition happened in New Orleans. The Saints eked out a 25-20 win over the visiting Seattle Seahawks when Russell Wilson’s pass to Jermaine Kearse sailed too deep and the wideout couldn’t get both feet down in the corner of the end zone as time expired.

The Saints entered the game with what was, by one statistical metric, the worst pass defense in NFL history. And while Wilson and the Seahawks offense found some success, the 22 completions, 64 percent completion rate and 253 yards allowed were all season lows for teams facing the New Orleans D.

New Orleans also had a season best in another realm, one which greatly frustrated the Seahawks and their vociferous fans. The Saints had but two penalties for 10 yards. There were several plays where the Saints certainly could have been penalized but were not, for whatever reason. Seattle was guilty 11 times for 76 yards, a fact Richard Sherman and Pete Carroll both noted the wide discrepancy in their postgame press conferences.

I’ll give opposing fan bases who have cried foul for some egregious officiating home cooking in Seattle over the past few seasons a chance to stop laughing before proceeding…

The win, coupled with the tie in London, really throws the NFC playoff picture into a major cluster. 11 of the 16 teams have between 3 and 5 wins, with Dallas the only team at 6 (Minnesota can get there Monday night). Moreover, the Vikings and Cowboys are the only teams that don’t have at least two conference losses. With three teams (Washington, Seattle and Arizona) all with a tie on the ledger, it’s going to be a very interesting, complex second half of the season in the middle-heavy NFC.

The Oakland Raiders get a special mention here for the improbable victory, though for a different reason. The Raiders were picked by many to win in Tampa Bay, but to do so while setting an NFL record for penalties is simultaneously amazing and disturbing…especially if you’re a Tampa Bay fan. Oakland prevailed 30-24 in overtime, improving to 6-2 and throwing QB Derek Carr’s name into the MVP hat race in the process. Throwing for 513 yards and a game-winning score will do that for a quarterback. The Raiders are shockingly 5-0 on the road. 

$.05--If it’s Thursday Night, it must mean bad QB play. That’s been the curse all season with the abbreviated prep schedule.

At least this week, one quarterback shined. That would be Marcus Mariota. The Titans’ second-year slinger had the best game of his promising young career in carving apart Jacksonville. Tennessee evened its record at 4-4 thanks in no small part to a masterful performance by Mariota: 18-for-22, 270 yards, 2 TDs, 6 straight third down conversions in the air.

The Titans dominated the game, leading 36-8 in the fourth quarter before the Jaguars showed up and thrived in garbage time. That’s where Blake Bortles is king, but his abhorrent failure to look like even a competent NFL backup up to that point is a big reason why the Jaguars are 2-5 and falling apart at the seams.

In the wake of yet another lifeless, hopeless loss, Jaguars Head Coach Gus Bradley saved his own hide by firing Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson. It’s a desperate, disconnected move akin to buying a trailer for a sunken boat.

That’s basically what Bortles does all the time. He wound up with 337 passing yards but more than 200 of that came in the final three drives with the game long decided. Jacksonville’s first four drives produced exactly one first down. In fact, the Jaguars netted just 22 total yards in the first half. Tennessee had 20 first downs in the same period.

This was supposed to be the year Bortles and the Jaguars broke out. Yet the quarterback has the worst mechanics in the league and has clearly lost the confidence of his wideouts. Star WR Allen Robinson looks disinterested at best, and this is a guy who made Christian Hackenberg look good at Penn State. Then again when the defense can’t tackle, can’t cover and can’t rush the passer, it’s hard to blame Robinson for his apathetic disgust.

$.06--To follow up on last week’s first cent, the New York Giants came to their senses and released wife-beating kicker Josh Brown. Good for them.

Alas, the NFL’s own mouthpiece is responsible for the off-field hypocritical idiocy this week. NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, who played in the 1980s and apparently stopped thinking shortly thereafter if his “analysis” is any indication, opined that the Eagles should “put a little bounty” on Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott.

Never mind the whole Bountygate fiasco with the New Orleans Saints. Sean Payton missed an entire season on suspension because his Defensive Coordinator (now with the Rams) Gregg Williams offered bounties for injuring opposing players. It remains one of Roger Goodell’s prouder moments as NFL Commissioner and was generally seen by most outside of New Orleans as a merited action.

With that as context, and with the news over the week that the league is investigating the Vikings for a bounty issue back in 2009, for someone employed by the league--the NFL Network is corporately owned--to actively advocate for rewarding players for injuring other players, I…can’t…even…

The NFL cannot get out of its own way. As Donald Duck would spittle dejectedly, “It’s always something”. While this is obviously out of Goodell’s control, it speaks to a broader lack of institutional control and respect for his office from within. Considering the vast majority of fans loathe Goodell and how he’s managed the NFL, maybe this helps the owners see the emperor’s glaring nudity. Is the $40 million they’re paying Goodell every year to be their public punching bag really worth the millions of fans the league is losing because he can’t keep the NFL ship from hitting every iceberg in the harbor?

$.07--Saturday was a momentous day for the college football landscape. Among the major developments…

  • Undefeated No. 7 Nebraska fell in overtime at Wisconsin
  • Undefeated No. 8 Baylor lost late at Texas
  • Undefeated No. 10 West Virginia lost big at Oklahoma State
  • Undefeated No. 13 Boise State lost on a late safety at Wyoming

No. 5 Louisville barely survived against lowly Virginia, needing a last-minute TD pass from Heisman front-runner Lamar Jackson to wash away an otherwise miserable day.

That puts the close shaves by No. 2 Michigan (at Michigan State), No. 3 Clemson (at Florida State) and No. 4 Washington (at Utah) in proper context.

The most impressive of those victors was Washington, even though it took a late punt return to break a 24-24 tie and a final Utah incompletion out of the back of the end zone to seal the deal. Clemson survived the Dalvin Cook assault, benefitting from a couple of favorable calls and Florida State’s lack of composure at both QB and Head Coach in crunch time.

Say goodbye to any title hope for the Big 12, which needed both West Virginia and Baylor undefeated when they meet after Thanksgiving to have any shot. Say goodbye to any hope for a Group of 5 interloper into the CFB playoff, even though Western Michigan remains undefeated and has two wins over Big Ten opponents. The Broncos should earn a New Year’s Day bowl, however; having seen them and Notre Dame in person this year, P.J. Fleck’s WMU team would beat the Irish even in South Bend.

It’s now even easier to project the 4-team playoff. Alabama is in as long as they don’t lose to both Auburn and LSU. The Michigan/Ohio State winner gets a spot, though if it’s Ohio State they will need to win the B1G Championship the following week as well. Clemson is all but guaranteed a spot as they’ve passed the difficult portion of its schedule unblemished, though beware of Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks. And Washington should make it as long as they don’t lose to Washington State (underrated and undefeated in PAC-12 play). If Washington loses there, Louisville or a 1-loss Michigan squad get that spot.

$.08--NFL Quickies

--These are the shoes Cam Newton styled after Carolina’s convincing win over Arizona… 

I don’t know if they’re made of pizzeria breadsticks or bleu cheese or hardened spotted dick, but I can’t fathom paying money to wear that. Certainly not with the light salmon suit and leprechaun green, feather-adorned felt fedora...

--Aside from his edible-looking footwear, Newton delivered a real shot at the NFL officiating in his post-game presser. Talking about a dangerous low hit that clearly should have been penalized but wasn’t, Newton declared “Because at times I don’t even feel safe. And enough is enough”. Remember Newton is coming off a concussion caused by a nasty--but legal--hit. When poor, inconsistent officiating is eroding the players’ confidence in their own safety, it’s gone beyond time to replace Dean Blandino as head of officiating.

--Speaking of not keeping players safe, check out this Deadspin piece on the two hits Alex Smith took in Kansas City’s win over Indianapolis. The first hit probably should be penalized but I can see the point that the defender had already started his action before Smith slid. The second one, where his head gets shoved into the ground as he’s completing his slide? How any officiating mouthpiece can claim that’s not a penalty is about as credible as Kim Jong Il shooting a 57 at Augusta.

--The most interesting tidbit from New England’s 41-25 blowout of the rival Buffalo Bills wasn’t anything Tom Brady did on his way to his 26th victory in 29 tries against Buffalo. No, the noteworthy moment came when someone in the end zone crowd threw a, well, ummm, prosthetic adult body part onto the field. There’s something you don’t see every day.

--Josh Norman dropped two fairly easy INTs for Washington. The Bengals scored TDs on both drives in a game which ended in a tie. And folks wonder why the cornerback was quite agitated and irritable in his press conference.

--RIP to 1974 NFC Rookie of the Year, and 1973 Heisman Trophy runner-up John Hicks. He remains one of the most dominant and decorated offensive tackles in college football history for his stellar time at Ohio State. Hicks remains the only offensive lineman to start in three Rose Bowls. Injuries interrupted his Buckeye tenure and cut short his NFL career as well, and that’s why most fans under about 40 have probably never heard of him. He was just 65.

--For those who like to plan ahead, the NFL confirmed the Dolphins will host the Saints in London in 2017. No word on the week yet, obviously, but get your passports in order if you’re interested.

$.09--College/Draft Quickies

--Florida State RB Dalvin Cook dazzled in the primetime thriller against Clemson, ripping off several long runs on the way to a 19-carry, 169-yard, 4-TD performance. His 70-yard counter run around left tackle and down the sideline, accelerating away from everyone, showed just about everything NFL scouts want in a runner. He’s got vision, balance acceleration, top-end speed and toughness. The junior is solid in the passing game too, though he did have an ugly drop.

Yet Cook might not be drafted as high as you might think. He’s had two separate surgeries on one shoulder and also has missed time with a similar issue in his other shoulder. The medical exam at the Combine will be huge for the very talented runner.

--My Ohio University Bobcats did something they haven’t done since before my mother attended OU. They won in Toledo on Thursday night, the first road win over the Rockets since 1967. They hadn’t beaten Toledo anywhere since 1988. The Bobcats are in first place in the MAC East at 6-3 (4-1 in the MAC) and control their own destiny for the division title. OU, Oh Yeah!

--Michigan’s win over Michigan State highlighted a couple of Wolverine defensive prospects. End Taco Charlton played his best game of the year, consistently disrupting the Spartans blocking and making plays. He’s No. 33 at the bottom the GIF here…

I see the 6’6”, 270-ish pound Charlton as a second round talent. His stats aren’t gaudy but keep in mind he plays as part of the deepest, most talented DL rotation outside of Alabama.

Jabrill Peppers won’t last past about the 8th overall pick. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: everything that folks liked about Myles Jack fits Peppers to a “T” but Peppers does actual football things so much more naturally. The biggest question is his size. I met the junior last fall and would guesstimate him at within a hair of 6’, and he’s visibly more muscular now than the 200 he weighed then. That’s plenty big for a hybrid safety/LB who might also be the fastest man from one end zone to the other in this class. And yes, he’ll be part of this draft class. Fair chance he’ll be my No. 1 overall player.

$.10--I’m not a baseball follower any longer, but I made an exception for this World Series. The team of my youthful heart, the Cleveland Indians, made it back for the first time since breaking millions of hearts in Northeast Ohio back in 1997. They haven’t won since Harry Truman was President. But that’s nothing compared to the Cubs, who haven’t even been in the World Series since 1945 and haven’t won since 1908.

It’s been a lot of fun watching the Indians even though I don’t really know many of the players or the intricacies of the lineup anymore. Getting to know the likes of Francisco Lindor, Andrew Miller and Jose Ramirez on the lighted stage has been a lot of fun, even in the midst of football season. I spent Sunday night switching back and forth from Game 5 to the Eagles/Cowboys game, something I’d never imagine doing for any other baseball teams.

My Indians didn’t wrap it up Sunday night, and I’m okay with that. Maybe. I’m banking on the glory of a Cleveland team winning a title at home and how awesome that will be. I’m also more than a little uneasy at the prospect of blowing a 3-1 lead, the inverse of how the Cavaliers broke Cleveland’s agonizing title drought on Father’s Day. Even though Joe Buck’s incessant Cubs cheerleading in the broadcast booth and some very questionable ball/strike umpire decisions that have consistently favored Chicago have dampened the experience, it is great to see my hometown united.

This election season has been brutal for everyone, but imagine being in the swing counties of the most critical swing state. That’s Indians territory. For everyone there to come together, put aside partisan antics and rally for a common cause, that has made Cleveland great again. And that’s why we need sports more than ever. It doesn’t matter if you support Trump or Clinton, which God you pray to, the color of your skin or who you love; sports unite us.

I’ve still never experienced anything like the way the Indians of the 1990’s captivated a city for so long. Lebron’s Cavaliers topped it this year with the magical title run, but those Indians were the front page story for five years at a time when the Browns left and the Cavs were boring afterthoughts. The past few weeks of baseball playoffs has been just as special at such a divisive time.