Last Thursday, we fell to 7-4 on the season. It was different from the Steeler’s game in the fact that we didn’t beat ourselves. Contrary to a lot of opinions, I was very okay with DQ’s call to go for it on 4th. Hindsight is always 2020. If we got the first down, everybody would’ve been talking about what a great call it was. It was the second game in a row where we’ve failed to convert on 4th in a pivotal moment. The play calling in terms of time management was very questionable at the end. A little more urgency would’ve helped. We unfortunately went 0-2 in back to back games which would’ve put us in the drivers seat for a home playoff game. That outlook is not looking great at the moment. We need to get back in the winners circle and hope the Eagles drop some games. We aren’t mathematically out of hosting a playoff game just yet. However, we did make things a lot harder on ourselves.
The Eagles are a very good football team who will likely end up with the 2nd seed in the NFC. We knew Saquon was going to be a problem and that held true. We did however hold AJ Brown to zero touchdowns and his receiving yards under. That was a surprising stat coming out of this game. My biggest takeaway was we need to get healthy. The week 14 bye has done us absolutely no favors. Hopefully, this 10 day break has been enough to get the team back to full health.
JD has not looked like himself whatsoever lately. Although DQ is very vocal about the rib injury being resolved, I won’t believe his words until I see JD’s play on the field be the same as it was earlier in the season. Our wide receivers were a non factor combining for 28 total yards. It’s pretty hard to win a football game when that’s the stat line among all of them. BRob and Ekeler showed up to play. Hopefully, BRob can stay healthy and allow Ekeler to thrive in the pass catching back role he has well established himself into.
I did find it funny how X (formerly known as Twitter) was blowing up about it being the coldest game JD has ever played in. He had everyone fooled wearing the massive jacket on the sidelines between drives. Meanwhile, he was just trying to hide the fact that he had his ribs wrapped. He has clearly been playing like someone who doesn’t want to get hurt. I don’t know if it’s a mental or physical thing. I fear his helicopter mother may be deep in his ear. Obviously, this is a heavy assumption, but I still believe it to be true. It would explain why we haven’t seen him use his legs nearly as much since the injury.
Prior to the game, people were talking about how Sirianni was going to feature Jahan Dotson as a means of sticking it to us for trading him away. And stick it to us he did for an 8 yard gain on the first play of the game. That was all they had loaded in the chamber. I believe he missed his over of a 10 whole yards by just a few. It is still incredible how we got a 3rd rounder in return. Without him, we likely don’t have Lattimore on our team who ideally will be making his debut for us this weekend. Another thing I got a kick out of was the Jordan Mailata highlight reel of him just holding our defensive ends. That video definitely made it seem like he was putting together a helluva game and the refs weren’t missing any calls.
Mikey Sainristil has played his way into being the second best corner on the team. He had AJ and Devonta locked up all night. Once Marshon is back, Mikey will take over the role of the second corner in hopes that teams with duos like these two are minimized. In a perfect world, Adam Peters will hit on another rookie corner next year allowing Mikey to go back in the slot where he is best. So far, it’s seeming like we have hit on most of our rookies. Who would’ve expected we’d get a QB, LT, DT and a CB all in the same draft. I still have not given up hope on Sinnot to emerge as our starting tight end. Ertz becomes a free agent after this season and we will see what direction management decides to go.
It’s time the wheels get back on the track. I didn’t expect to be saying this at the start of the year, but we have the perfect opportunity coming up against the Cowboys. It is one we absolutely cannot afford to drop. We were 10 point favorites when the line opened. I know the Cowboys are bad, but I did not expect the line to be this big. It’s been 17 seasons since we were at least 3.5 point favorites over Dallas. It’s a little bit of a jump going straight to 10. After watching them play the Texans on Monday night, I can attest to the fact this line is justified. The dumpster fire that has been lit in Dallas has been long awaiting for.
I think we all know who is the one responsible for putting the Cowboys in this situation. Jerry World has literally began falling apart and we can say the same for the team. It’s never a receipe for success when your team’s 82 year old owner doubles as the GM. He dumped loads of money into three players hoping the rest of the pieces would fall into place. It’s nice seeing Dallas in a worse place than us for the first time in my life. I have no problems with it. It’s awesome how every Cowboys fan who by this time of year is all gung ho about their how good their team is has already “checked out.” I’ve heard more Jerry Jones slander this year than ever before. It must suck knowing your franchise has absolutely no future as long as it’s owned by a controlling dictatorlike personality. We have absolutely no idea what that feels like at all so I can only imagine what they are going through right now. It is reassuring knowing that team is never leaving the Jones’ family. We as people who root for the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins are set up to watch the Cowboys build up and burn out every year for the long haul.
To get into the game, I really hope and believe we are going to run them out of Landover. It will be a nice follow up to the Cowboys’s game at home last year. I believe I left the game in the 3rd quarter and only attended because a free ticket was offered. Our teams were in absolute opposite position. They were slated for yet another deep playoff run that inevitably ended in the first round. We were a fan base hoping to lose so we would hold onto the second pick who is now running the show for our franchise. Seems like everything worked out for us. It’s a testament to how fast things change in this league. Now, we are in the drivers seat.
We get to watch Cooper Rush run the show. This goes to show how low they regard Trey Lance in terms of talent. They traded a draft pick away to put him on the bench. That’s great management in my opinion. Giving away your future pieces to contribute nothing to the present. I like when division rivals operate in that fashion. Ideally, JD used the 10 day break to get everything together. I don’t love him telling the media the rib wrap is being used to stay warm. It makes me feel like he is still banged up. But, we will know for sure on Sunday. It won’t take long to realize if he was telling the truth.
To get into the bets on Sunday, BRob to score is always free. It doesn’t have to be stated at this point. Terry’s over yards is due. After a down week, he’ll be ready to bounce back and catch a big one, maybe even two. I like our team total over. I’m not exactly sure what it is but I expect us to boat race this poverty team. Just like every game, Luke McCaffrey is due to finally break onto the scene. He has to find the endzone at some point. Why not it be against a divisional rival? I’m running the football this weekend with the picks. The past few weeks I’ve tried airing it out. It’s time to get back to the basics and make some money. And lastly, we are going to cover. I love looking at a spread and seeing us as 10 point favorites. It really isn’t often we are given this opportunity and it’d be a mistake to pass up on it.
This Sunday we will do away with the bad vibes. I don’t want to hear any Bo Nix for Rookie of the Year or Drake Maye mumbo jumbo next week. Both of those franchises wish they had Jayden Daniels. We’re going to get to see him at full health running it up on the Cowboys in his first start against them. This game will set the tone for the rest of his career. From here on out, they will be expecting a loss everytime we meet. Wishing everyone a great weekend. Hopefully this snow/rain mix today doesn’t get in the way of anyone’s plans. Good luck in life and gambling. Looking forward to being boots on the ground this Sunday and writing back next week after the ass kicking.
Photo Credit: Laurence Kesterson – freelancer, ASSOCIATED PRESS