We’re at the exact half-way point of an NFL season that usually resembles the trajectory of an auto race. The most exciting parts occur at the beginning and the end–the muddy middle is typically where one gets up to pee or to drop a few hundred at their favorite driver’s merch trailer.
Such was the case with yesterday’s slate. Games that on paper screamed being competitive were anything but; games that should have been blowouts were frustratingly close. And with perhaps one exception that for the want of an overly ambitious head coach none of those even resulted in what could be considered to be an upset.
The pomp and circumstance surrounding Rob Gronkowski’s induction into the New England Patriots’ Hall Of Fame–with lead FOX analyst-cum-Greek-god Tom Brady in the house for an America’s Game audience–quickly turned into a day where drinking heavily became the order. Per THE ATHLETIC’s Chad Graff and Matt Schneidman:
Jordan Love accounted for four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing), and the Green Bay Packers shellacked the New England Patriots 45-27 on Sunday.
As he has done to opposing defenses all season, the Packers quarterback gashed the Patriots with an explosive passing game, finishing 23-for-29 for 372 yards. He routinely found his stellar receiving duo of Matthew Golden (10 catches, 164 yards, one touchdown) and Christian Watson (seven catches, 171 yards, one touchdown), who had much of their production against Patriots Pro Bowl cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
“We got our asses kicked,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. “There’s no two ways around it.”
The day began with a post-siesta kickoff time in Madrid where the final Sunday morning U.S. kickoff game of the year was supposed to be a battle of two feisty offenses. Well, apparently only one was awoken by his snooze alarm. YAHOO!’s Kendall Baker recapped tersely:
Joe Burrow joined Josh Allen atop the MVP race (+230 at DraftKings) after putting on another masterclass (24/29, 271 yards, 4 total TD) in the Bengals’ 34-17 win over the Falcons in Madrid. Allen could pull ahead with another big game tonight, while Brock Purdy (+450), Jordan Love (+650) and Trevor Lawrence (+900) aren’t far behind.
Exclusive club: Burrow is just the fifth player in NFL history with at least four touchdowns (passing and rushing) in four consecutive games. The others? Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Dan Marino.
But at least Burrow decided to play a complete game. Way more than can be said for teams that had outsized trouble with teams that they shouldn’t have that should consider themselves lucky they escaped with Ws. Two more ATHLETICans, Jon Machota and James Boyd, took the more egregious disappointers to task:
With their season on the line, the Dallas Cowboys’ offense delivered Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Quarterback Dak Prescott kicked off a late fourth-quarter drive with a 46-yard pass to wide receiver Ryan Flournoy. Three plays later, running back Javonte Williams’ 1-yard plunge gave Dallas a 27-23 lead with 1:08 remaining, which held up as the final score.
Before that, the Cowboys looked like they would suffer another upset loss after their 10-point lead in the third quarter turned into a three-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
That said, they didn’t make up any ground on the shockingly consistent New York Football Giants, who finally exorcized the demons that had denied them a win in Philadelphia over the last 13 tries. Granted, they did it against a compromised Iggles offense that was being led by the just-signed first-time NFL starter Joe Milton. But the G-Men had their own issues, which no less than FIVE more ATHLETIC scribes–Dan Duggan, Zach Berman, Charlotte Carroll, Brooks Kubena and Ian O’Connor– gang-banged their way into describing:
The New York Giants remain in firm control of the NFC East after taking down the rival Philadelphia Eagles, 19-11, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
With the victory, the Giants moved to 5-2-1 this season and ended a 13-game road losing streak against Philadelphia.
It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for the Giants, who struggled to get much going offensively and lost quarterback J.J. McCarthy for a brief time in the second half because of a hip injury. Backup Jameis Winston, however, led the Giants on their lone touchdown drive before McCarthy returned to finish 12-of-19 passing for 127 yards.
For the Eagles (2-7), the loss sends them into their bye week on a seven-game losing streak, their longest since 2012. The organization now faces major questions, especially ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Will they start to look more toward the future and sell off some veteran pieces? And beyond Tuesday, will the Eagles consider making any significant coaching changes? We’ll find out the answers to both soon enough.
If the embattled Nick Sirianni is looking for any sort of silver lining as he sweats through the next two weeks, he can point to the fact that a coach considered to be the game’s best by many right now didn’t exactly crown himself with glory last night with the results his team demonstrated for the ironically byline-free ASSOCIATED PRESS bots:
Caleb Williams found a wide-open Colston Loveland for a 38-yard catch to set up Cairo Santos’ 38-yard field goal as time expired, and the Chicago Bears picked up a sloppy 27-24 victory over Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night.
Chicago (7-2) committed five turnovers, including a career-high four interceptions by Williams. But he delivered after Mayfield rallied the Buccaneers in the final minutes.
And he can point to the fact that somehow a coach doing worse that anyone is at the moment seeming quite safe, despite the fact that still another ATHLETIC human, Chris Branch, made a backhanded personal plea for reconsiderationL
I still don’t really understand what’s happening with this franchise, for which an elite quarterback and a competent offensive coordinator have combined for zero wins. The Chargers are 0-8 after a humbling loss to Houston in a year filled with them. The man in charge, Harbaugh, has to hold some accountability.
Not exactly a record-setting or very exciting Sunday by any measure. Football-wise, that is. One could have easily switched to NBC for a far more satisfying turn of events that BLEACHER REPORT’s Doric Sam described with gusto:
Ryan Blaney’s win in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was overshadowed by Kyle Larson. After Stage 1 of Sunday’s race ended under caution with Larson in the fourth position, Larson clinched his second straight Cup Series championship, the third of his career…Larson, who finished 12th in Sunday’s race, entered the final competition with a significant lead in the Cup Series points standings, and it didn’t take much for him to seal the victory.
We’re quite a ways from the NFL season’s checkered flag, and one can only hope that future given Sundays are a tad more engaging. Gentlemen, start your engines.
Courage…