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Micah Parsons feels worse for players like Zack Martin than Mike McCarthy
Parsons feels worse for certain teammates than for head coach Mike McCarthy.
“Mike can leave and go wherever he wants,” Parson told reporters after Sunday’s blowout home loss to the Eagles, via Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. “Guys I kind of feel bad for [are] guys like Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year or on their way out. Because that’s who I wanted to hold the trophy for. You want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did. Those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for.”
Embedded within Parsons’s words is a recognition that it’s over for McCarthy and the Cowboys when the season ends. That’s hardly a shock, but it feels like it’s becoming a done deal.
Either way, the Cowboys seem done. And they still have to deal with eight more games.
Bleeding Green Nation
Jerry’s World design simply adds to Cowboys’ failures
Dallas WR CeeDee Lamb was blinded by the light in Sunday’s loss to the Eagles.
The Dallas Cowboys were facing enough challenges in Week 10 against the Philadelphia Eagles, but the sun was just an added punch in the gut. At one point, newly promoted QB Cooper Rush had a wide open CeeDee Lamb in the endzone for an easy touchdown, but the wideout wasn’t even close to bringing in the ball. Like an ant burning under a microscope, Lamb pointed to his eyes after to play, acknowledging he couldn’t see the pass.
Really rare in sports to see the consequences of your hubris play out so plainly pic.twitter.com/SgTamXsef0
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) November 10, 2024
They know that the sun is an issue in the stadium. But, perhaps instead of blaming field position from a coin toss, the Cowboys’ owner could have addressed the persistent issue on a more permanent basis — instead of actively avoiding something (for 15 years) that could make a tangible difference in the success of the team he owns.
The Athletic (paywall)
Jerry Jones’ frustration clearly growing, but changes aren’t coming for Cowboys stadium or staff
There are curtains at AT&T Stadium. They have been used for various events like concerts and college basketball games. Jones clearly prefers the look of the stadium for Cowboys games with the natural light coming through, even if it becomes an issue for the players.
“Everybody has got the same thing,” Jones said. “Every team that comes in here has the same issues. I’m saying, the world knows where the sun is. You get to know that almost a year in advance. Someone asked me about the sun. What about the sun? Where’s the moon?”
Count Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb among those who think it’s an issue.
“I couldn’t see the ball,” Lamb responded when asked about a particular play. “I couldn’t see the ball, at all. The sun.”
Is Lamb in favor of curtains?
“Yes,” he said. “One thousand percent.”
Did he talk to Jones about that?
“I mean,” he said, “y’all doing my job right now.”
The three-win Cowboys are clearly in a lot of trouble with nearly a half of the season still remaining. Dak Prescott, their franchise quarterback, is potentially looking at season-ending hamstring surgery. Dallas’ backup quarterbacks combined for 66 passing yards Sunday.
“I’m just frustrated, like everybody else is,” Jones said. “But since I had a lot to do with what we’re seeing, then it’s the proper frustration, as far as I’m concerned. We’re just not playing in a way, especially when you play a team that is the caliber of teams that we’re playing out here. Philadelphia is a high-caliber team. And we’re not up to them, and that’s troubling, and we’ve got to look at all the things that have happened. But I’ll just say this right now, five turnovers over the last two games. And I don’t know what we’re drinking in the third quarters (when we) come out (of the locker room). But it’s not working.”
Blogging the Boys
Cowboys almost a touchdown underdog at home next week against the Texans
The Cowboys are huge home underdogs against the in-state rival Texans.
The Dallas Cowboys season has officially reached comatose stage. Not even the return of Micah Parsons could jolt the squad to life, although he and DeMarvion Overshown did everything they could to keep the team in the game. It wasn’t enough as the Cooper Rush-led offense was anemic and Dallas lost 34-6.
The train doesn’t stop in the NFL, so the Cowboys will have to suit up again next week, this time a home date on Monday night with the Houston Texans. The Texans had a 6-3 record entering their game on Sunday night with the Detroit Lions. There are early odds already out on the Cowboys game with the Texans and as you might expect, Dallas are underdogs at home, a place they haven’t won at since the end of the 2023 regular season.
FanDuel has the Cowboys as 6.5-point underdogs to the Texans, which at the moment feels too small of a spread.
Blogging the Boys
Dallas Cowboys set worst kind of NFL history in embarrassing loss to Philadelphia Eagles
The Cowboys set a horrible NFL record during their loss on Sunday.
As the game wore on the Cowboys developed a 20-point deficit which was hardly shocking given how they have been playing as of late. What was notable about this 20-point deficit was that it set an NFL record for the most consecutive games in which a team had a 20-point deficit in their home building.
For the first time in NFL history a team has trailed by 20 or more points in five straight home games, including playoffs, with the Eagles now up 28-6 on the Cowboys. The Cowboys had been tied for the longest streak with the 2013-14 Raiders with four in a row.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) November 10, 2024
Everything about who the Cowboys have been since the Packers loss resembles statistics of this nature so this isn’t surprising, but it is still intense to see things put into terms to where the Cowboys are now the only team to ever do this.
Big Blue View
2025 NFL Draft order: Giants hold the second overall pick
The Giants jump up in the draft order
if there’s a silver lining to the Giants’ loss to the Panthers it’s that they now hold the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Thanks to their loss, as well as wins by the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots, the Giants are one of two 2-8 teams in the NFL.
There’s still plenty of football left to be played this year, and with it plenty of time for teams to jockey for position in the draft order. However, if the season were to end today, the Giants would be picking second behind the Jacksonville Jaguars, per Tankathon.
Current Top 10
- Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8)
- New York Giants (2-8)
- Cleveland Browns (2-7)
- Las Vegas Raiders (2-7)
- Miami Dolphins (2-7)
Big Blue View
6 things we learned from the Giants’ 20-17 win over/loss to the Panthers
The Daniel Jones era is almost surely over
Jones could not have played a worse game today. All of his weaknesses were on full display: Inaccuracy, failure to see the field, anticipation.
The Giants have an awful run defense
This is not news. We seem to say it every week. But the fact is that when Dexter Lawrence is not on the field, and with Kayvon Thibodeaux sidelined, teams run with impunity on the Giants’ defense.
I feel sorry for Tyrone Tracy
Tracy has been an amazing value for the Giants as a fifth-round pick who proves every week that you don’t need to pay much – in money or draft capital – to have elite running back play. Tracy broke the 100-yard mark for the second time in the past three games, including a beautiful 32-yard TD run.
Unfortunately, he also fumbled and couldn’t hold a pass that became an interception, including the game-deciding fumble on the first series of OT that was directly responsible for the loss. He deserves better.
NFL.com
NFL Week 10: What We Learned from each Sunday game
Carolina Panthers 20, New York Giants 17 (OT)
Time’s up for Dimes. As the Giants inch closer, loss by loss, to being eliminated from playoff contention, so goes Daniel Jones, moving closer, misfire by misfire, to the bench. The sixth-year QB’s 10th start of the season might have just been his last in New York, but it wasn’t unfamiliar to Giants fans. There were misreads, underthrown balls in the middle of the field, overthrown passes along the sideline, hapless sacks and, of course, interceptions. Jones (22 of 37 for 190 yards) had three critical errors in Sunday’s slog in Munich. His first: Midway through the second quarter, Jones was sacked on a third-and-1 flea-flicker, missing two open receivers downfield. Next: With New York marching into the red zone on the ensuing drive, Jones’ second-and-13 pass was deflected by Jadeveon Clowney and intercepted by Xavier Woods, another opportunity squandered. Last: After a Hubbard fumble in the fourth quarter set up Jones and Co. with a chance to take the lead, the QB misfired behind Tracy in the flat, leading Josey Jewell, draped on the RB in coverage, to corral a pick. New York’s loss wasn’t all Jones’ fault. The QB did, after all, help lead three scoring drives in the second half; Graham Gano missed a second-quarter field goal; and Tracy’s fumble on the first play of OT sealed the deal. But Jones is not elevating the players around him. Another loss after the bye will basically assure another postseason-free winter in East Rutherford, and a Jones benching, for reasons on the field and in his contract, should follow.
Giants, Panthers flip places at top of draft order. Forget the playoff picture. The loser of Sunday’s game was the real winner, at least in terms of draft positioning. Carolina entered the proceedings with the No. 2 pick. Now at 3-7, the Panthers will likely exit Week 10 near the bottom of the top 10. Meanwhile, the Giants, at 2-8, are more likely to begin Week 11 with the top pick in the draft than a mid-range selection. With its QB position as curious as ever, New York would prefer to be on the clock sooner rather than later, especially with time running out on their playoff hopes in 2024.
Philadelphia Eagles 34, Dallas Cowboys 6
Parsons’ return provides boost, but not enough to fix Cowboys’ issues. For a quarter or so, Dallas made this rivalry renewal interesting. Micah Parsons registered a team-high five pressures (despite only playing 53.8% of snaps), including two quick pressures and two sacks as part of a defense that posted 16 pressures and five sacks before the Eagles sat Hurts in the fourth quarter. That impact made things a little difficult for Philadelphia, which turned it over twice in the first half. But eventually, it became clear such an improvement on the defensive side wouldn’t be enough to carry the Cowboys. Their offense is exponentially worse with Dak Prescott on the sideline due to a hamstring injury. The Cowboys lack an explosive threat outside of CeeDee Lamb, which was true when Prescott was in the lineup and is only magnified without him. There’s no solving this quickly. It’s going to be a dark winter for Dallas, which will only precede an intriguing offseason that could end up being a significant one. The biggest downside: Dallas still has a handful of prime-time games on its slate and zero answers for its problems.
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Sunday Night Football: Jared Goff throws five picks, but Lions win 26-23 on last-play FG
The Lions should have lost. Despite five interceptions by Jared Goff, they didn’t.
Detroit got a 52-yard game-winner from Jake Bates on the final play, delivering an improbable 26-23 victory. The Lions moved to 8-1, while the Texans fell to 6-4.
In one of the more entertaining games of the season, the teams combined for seven interceptions. Four came in the third quarter with Goff and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud each throwing two.
Over the Cap
Looking at the Saints Salary Cap Situation
How excessive is the Saints use of restructures? From 2020 to 2024 they have ranked no lower than 2nd in a given year in the amount of salary converted to a bonus for salary cap purposes. Over the entire term no team is even in the same ballpark as New Orleans. The Saints have restructured around $450 million to create nearly $340 million in cap space over that timeframe. The amount converted is a staggering $254 million more than the next closest team. They have “created” $182 million more in cap room than the next closest team. In recent years they have had to restructure almost every eligible contract to function. They are up to nearly 50 restructures, almost 25 more than the next closest team and that does not even count a few players who were extended in large part to lower their cap hits.
The Saints sit about $63 million over our estimated salary cap next year. Their position is $55 million worse than the next closest NFL team. They already lead the NFL in dead money with $48 million on the books following their decision to trade Marshon Lattimore, just months after they opted into a contract restructure they needed to function for 2024.
There are no savings to be found by releasing players. The only player whose release saves significant money is Ryan Ramczyk whose release saves $6 million. There are five other players who will save between $2 and 4 million if cut. You can reduce the net savings by $840,000 which is the minimum salary earned by a rookie who would replace the cut player. So basically, the Saints get stuck having to restructure the same bad roster because past decisions have really eliminated the exit ramp that almost every other bad team has with their roster.
I would anticipate the Saints getting creative with their roster decisions. Up first is what to do with Derek Carr. The Saints signed Carr to a $37.5 million per year contract in 2023 and his cap number next year is $51.5 million. The problem is the cost to cut him is $50 million so there is nothing saved by cutting him outright. The Saints also owe him $10 million in guaranteed salary. I can not see the benefit of doubling down on Carr next year. It hasn’t worked at all and he likely will be out of the NFL if released. They could try to bring his salary way down to something like $20 million, freeing up $20 million in the process and then however much more by converting that $20 million into a bonus, but what purpose is there for Carr to be a Saint in 2025?
The Saints should work with Carr on renegotiating his contract in 2024 so that they can designate him a post June 1 release in 2025.
In my mind this is the one move the Saints have to make. The near $35 million in cap savings will put them in a position to be salary cap compliant without having to double and triple down on everyone else on the roster. Keeping Carr to let him compete just makes the situation worse and the team needs to have someone else, preferably a draft pick, under center next year.
After the Carr deal is hopefully done the team needs to begin identifying players who will potentially retire. Ramczyk will be at the top of that list. The team will negotiate a new contract with him that takes his salary down to $1.255 million and reduces his cap charge by $16.745 million. This will let the Saints carry him on the roster until June 2nd at which point they will release him from his contract.
If the team can get the Carr deal done then they would be pretty close to being salary cap compliant following the two retirements. Hopefully they can then be more cautious with what they do, knowing that they will be working with a skeleton of a roster in 2025 and hoping that the draft class can lift them the way it had the Washington Commanders in 2024.
The worst thing the Saints could do is maintain the same path. If the plan is to keep Carr on his current contract and restructure his deal again for cap room, they will extend their issues into 2027 rather than beginning to ease out of them next year. The trade of Lattimore makes me think they will not be keeping Carr, but it was only a week or two earlier that they extended Alvin Kamara in large part for cap purposes which made no sense for a rebuilding team. We should know the answer to how the Saints plan on approaching this by January 4th which is the deadline to modify the Carr contract for a June 1 release. If they fail to do that and run it back again in 2025 with this same group all they are doing is setting themselves up for five years of total failure.