FOUR-IN LANDS
Surprise quartet in position for playoffs at top of the NFC
THE EAGLES, Vikings, Saints and Rams have a lot in common this season. Not only are they the first-place teams in their respective divisions in the NFC, all four missed the playoffs last season.
So in an NFL season known for protests, suspensions, injuries to superstar players and declining television ratings, there is something exciting and well worth watching on the field.
This suddenly fearsome foursome is a combined 29-7 after amassing a cumulative mark of 26-38 a year ago.
The Eagles, who have the best record in the NFL at 8-1, had the easiest Week 10 Sunday of the group because they had a bye. But the Saints weren’t far behind with their 47-10 road victory over the Bills.
Drew Brees threw for only 184 yards and no touchdown passes, but did score one of New Orleans’ six rushing touchdowns. This was a game in which the Saints had 32 f irst downs to Buffalo’s 10, and a 298-69 advantage in rushing yards. They didn’t turn the ball over, didn’t allow a sack and possessed the ball for 41:20 of the 60 minutes of play. It was about as thorough a butt-kicking as can happen in the NFL.
Afterward, Saints punter Thomas Morstead tweeted an image of the team’s inactive list, adding his name in the middle in big, bold type. The reason: Morstead was not called upon to punt in what became the first game since a Bears victory over the Lions in 1941 in which a team had six rushing touchdowns and no punts.
The first loss in five home games was so bad for the Bills, they were outgained on the ground by a streaker who ran nearly 100 yards late in the game before being taken down by security.
The Rams had a tougher time with the Texans than the final score of 33-7 would indicate. Houston, playing with Tom Savage in place of the injured Deshaun Watson, had a 7-6 lead as late as the final minute of the first half. The Rams solved the Texans’ defense in the third quarter as Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes, including a 94-yarder to Robert Woods.
In 2016, the Rams scored 242 points, the fewest in the NFL and a whopping 40 behind the second-worst Browns. Now, they lead the NFL with 296 points, and they seemingly are only getting better. They’ve won their past three games by scores of 33-0, 51-17 and 33-7.
The Vikings provided possibly the most emotional and most fun moments of the day. Teddy
Bridgewater, who suffered a horrific knee injury prior to the beginning of last season, was in uniform and active for the f irst time, and was seen shedding some tears just before kickoff.
“Just running out of the locker room, being able to stand next to those guys on the sideline for the national anthem, it just all boiled up,” Bridgewater said.
Bridgewater did not need to enter the game, as Case Keenum had them covered, throwing for 304 yards and four touchdowns — to four different receivers in a challenging 38-30 win over the Redskins at FedEx Field.
Adam Thielen had 166 yards receiving and a touchdown, after which he led a handful of teammates in a wholesome celebration — a game of leapfrog.
It was only fitting, for the Vikings and the other three also-ran teams who have leapfrogged into the top spots with seven weeks to go.
NOW DOUBT THEM COWBOYS!
What a week for the Cowboys.
Ezekiel Elliott f inally got tackled by the judicial system and began his six-game suspension.
Jerry Jones and Atlanta’s Arthur Blank, on opposite sides of an ownership feud regarding Roger
Goodell’s contract, avoided each other before the game. And then the Cowboys had to face the Falcons.
Dallas took a quick 7-0 lead on a Dak Prescott touchdown run following a Xavier Woods interception. From there, it was a disaster all the way to the final gun for the Cowboys in a 27-7 loss that dropped them to 5-4, three games south of the Eagles, who they meet next Sunday night in Arlington, Texas.
As it turned out, it wasn’t the absence of Elliott that was most damaging to the Cowboys. A bigger problem was at left tackle, where Chaz Green replaced stud Tyron Taylor, and mostly watched the Falcons’ Adrian Clayborn sack Prescott. “That’s a pretty embarrassing play,” Troy Aik
man said during the FOX broadcast after one of Clayborn’s six sacks, five of which came against Green. “That’s about as bad as I’ve seen someone get beat in all my years watching football.”
Green took the blame, saying “I feel like this is on my shoulders. I let the team down,” according to ESPN. Good for Green, taking accountability, but 20-point losses rarely come down to one guy.
PLAY OF THE DAY
On a day with many long touchdown passes and special teams and defensive scores, the nod goes to an acrobatic, diving touchdown catch by the Redskins’ Maurice Harris in a losing cause against the Vikings. Harris, freshly signed off the practice squad, freed himself from blanket coverage by Minnesota’s Trae Waynes, laid out, caught Kirk Cousins’ pass with one hand and landed on the pylon. His initial reward was to see the nearest official call the pass incomplete, but he rightly was awarded the touchdown on review.
BAD BEAT You’ve got the Jag uars at home giving 3 ½ points to the Chargers and you think you just went up by four when Tayshaun Gipson picks up a fumble and runs 36 yards for a touchdown. After a f ive-minute review, it’s ruled Gipson was touched down when he recovered the ball, though that evidence was not clear on the CBS broadcast. Blake Bortles then throws an interception but the Jaguars get the ball back and send it to overtime on Josh Lambo’s f ield goal. In overtime, you think you’ve got this won again when A.J. Bouye intercepts a deep pass from Philip
Rive r s and starts heading down the right sideline with no one too close, but Rivers knocks him out of bounds at the 2. Jags then win by a field goal and you fall a halfpoint short. POST PATTERNS
Brett Hundley led the Packers past the Bears in Chicago, 23-16, his f irst win in three starts since replacing the injured
Aaron Rodgers. At 5-4, the Pack sit in the 10th spot in the tightly grouped NFC. The current wild-card holders, the Seahawks and Panthers, are just a game better at 6-3. … Clayborn’s six-sack day fell one short of
Derrick Thomas’ NFL record of seven (1990, Chiefs vs. Seahawks). … A.J. Green temporarily put the Bengals ahead with a 70-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter in Tennessee, before the Titans won 24-20 on a Marcus Mariota to DeMarco Murray TD pass with 36 seconds to go. Question is, why was Green playing and not suspended for his brawl-starting choke hold versus Jacksonville last week? … Strange stat: In the Steelers’ 20-17 win over the Colts, a player under 21 ( JuJu Smith-Schuster) and one over 40 ( Adam Vinatieri) scored points in the same game for the first time in NFL history.