Things That Made Me Giddy
Everything Goes Wrong and the Cowboys Win Anyway: It looked like they were going to fall in Foxboro when they kept failing on third down. Or as they racked up 115 yards of penalties. Or when Dak Prescott turned it over on the goal line. Or after Greg Zuerlein hooked a potential go-ahead kick late. Or when, moments after a Trevon Diggs gave them the lead, they allowed a 75-yard touchdown to give it right back. Or when, trailing by three in the final seconds, a series of Connor Williams penalties had them facing a third-and-25 in their own territory. Or when they lost the overtime coin toss. There’s something to be said for pulling out a game like the Cowboys did in Foxboro, and especially when it pushes you to 5–1.
The Ravens Are Doing Something Special: You already knew Lamar Jackson was good and that only the most goobery of goobers were buying into the “they figured him out” talking points coming from various NFL also-ran types. But what’s incredible is that Baltimore has overcome the obscene rash of injuries they suffered in August and September. On top of that, they’ve now had to play on a short week, coming off an overtime game, twice this season; both games were against fellow AFC bluebloods and both games they won, stealing one from the Chiefs in Week 2 and completely outclassing the Chargers on Sunday. This is a team that weathered the worst and have come out playing elite football. That’s a credit to the players and coaching staff.
What Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins Are Doing: As in, repeatedly converting third-and-longs out of structure. The Cardinals’ first touchdown in Cleveland came on a third-and-21 in which Murray extended the play until Christian Kirk came open. The second was on a third-and-goal from the 13, a Browns blitz forcing Murray into an uninspired quick throw to Hopkins, who made the catch at the 10 and somehow shook three Browns defenders to take it into the end zone.
The Bengals Become the Hammer: Lots of funeral preparations were being made for Zac Taylor this summer, but right now he has the Bengals sitting at 4–2, Joe Burrow looking every bit like the franchise quarterback we thought he’d be, and the defense emerging as one of the most underrated units in football. The schedule has been soft, but good teams establish themselves as good by beating bad teams, and that’s what the Bengals—once one of the bad teams—are doing right now.
Kirk Cousins Does It Again. And Again, Again: Due to some frustratingly conservative late-game play-calling, the Vikings are coming down to the final possession pretty much every week. On Sunday, Cousins drove the Vikings 46 yards in 42 seconds with two timeouts, setting up a potential game-winning field goal from 47 that kicker Greg Joseph missed. So Cousins took matters into his own hands in overtime, driving the Vikings 75 yards on nine plays, with the game-winner to K.J. Osborn. Cousins has been charged with mounting a final-minute drive to tie or win a game six times this season; five times, he’s either put up points or put Minnesota in position to score points via field goal attempt of less than 50 yards.
Kenny Clark as Kyra Sedgwick as : Coverage had a lot to do on both plays, but with the Bears trying to cut it to a one-possession game Clark sacked Justin Fields twice in a three-play span. Finishing a play in the backfield on Fields is no small feat for a 300-plus pounder.
Rich Bisaccia Is on the Board!: The Raiders played like a team with no interest in folding up the season in the wake of the Jon Gruden scandal. The pass rush was there, they took advantage of multiple Teddy Bridgewater misfires, and Derek Carr delivered a handful of big-time throws in his first game post-Gruden.
Cardinals on Third-and-Very-Long vs. Browns on Fourth-and-Short: Arizona scored touchdowns on a third-and-21 and a third-and-goal from the 13. The Browns failed to convert a fourth-and-3 and a fourth-and-4 inside the Cardinals’ 15. That's how a game gets out of reach early.
Mac Jones Gets Trevon Diggs on With the Long Con: One play after giving up the lead with a high-and-wide slant throw that became a pick-six for Diggs, Jones and the Patriots took advantage of Diggs’s aggressiveness with a double move to re-take the lead on a 75-yard Kendrick Bourne touchdown in the wildest succession of plays you’ll ever see.
A Man Going By Matthew Wright: Apparently Justin Tucker falsified a passport and traveled to London to kick for the Jaguars under the assumed identity “Matthew Wright.” Jacksonville—who amazingly had not converted a field goal through five games—got three field goals from “Wright” in London, including a 54-yarder to tie it with 3:40 left, and a 53-yarder to win it as time expired.
Trevor Lawrence and His Teammates Are on the Board!: Most impressively, they dragged Urban Meyer to an NFL victory with them!
J.J. Watt and Markus Golden Against Two Backup Tackles: Most starting tackles have no chance against that pairing, so you can imagine how Blake Hance and James Hudson fared.
Ja’Marr Chase Lead Blocks Too:
What It’s Like to Be an Offensive Coach for the Cardinals: Considering the consistent individual, out-of-structure playmaking of Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins (not to mention the dominant play of Vance Joseph’s defense):
