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Blogging the Boys
Cowboys Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb injured in soul-crushing loss to Falcons
This Dallas Cowboys season has been broken for a long time now and Sunday reaffirmed that.
Coming into this game against the Falcons, it felt like a major tipping point for the Cowboys. Following a loss to the 49ers, the wheels were starting to fall off, highlighted by Trevon Diggs confronting a reporter outside the locker room following the game.
That seemed to ratchet up with the news on Saturday that Ezekiel Elliott was being made inactive, and did not travel with the team, as discipline for having missed several meetings. Elliott, purportedly a team leader, having this type of issue and not even traveling with the team is far from a good look.
It wasn’t noticed at first, but Prescott suffered two injuries on a drive that resulted in a field goal. Officially, Prescott was ruled out with a hamstring injury he suffered during a deep throw to Jalen Brooks, but he was also seen receiving medical attention for a serious cut on his throwing hand.
Cooper Rush finished out the game, and he helped make things close, but the offense was crippled even more by the fact that Lamb continued to take shots to his shoulder. Lamb left the game several times, visibly in pain, but repeatedly waved off trainers and insisted on returning to the game. He technically finished the game, but Lamb was very clearly in pain and struggling to play through it.
Both injuries are as devastating, if not more so, than the loss itself. The odds of making the playoffs after falling to 3-5 are pretty slim – though not impossible, as the Cowboys learned for themselves back in 2018 – but if either Prescott or Lamb misses any time with the injuries they suffered today, the season may as well be over right now.
Bleeding Green Nation
NFL Week 10 odds: Eagles significantly favored in road game against Cowboys
Philadelphia might be facing a Dallas team missing Dak Prescott.
The Philadelphia Eagles opened as 6.5-point road favorites in their Week 10 game against the Dallas Cowboys, according to FanDuel.
That’s … a big number.
For perspective, consider that the Eagles opened as 6.5-point home favorites against the Jacksonville Jaguars entering Week 9.
Also consider that the Eagles haven’t won at AT&T Stadium since … 2017.
This line seems to suggest that Dak Prescott is in serious jeopardy of missing next weekend’s game. The Cowboys’ starting quarterback suffered a hamstring injury in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. CeeDee Lamb also got hurt on Sunday.
If Prescott can’t suit up, it’ll presumably be Cooper Rush under center with Trey Lance backing him up. Rush is 5-1 as a starter with his sole loss coming to the Eagles in 2022. Of course, his career passing stats don’t paint as rosy of a picture as his win-loss record with eight touchdowns to six interceptions and a 81.3 passer rating.
Of course, A.J. Brown’s uncertain status looms large. The Eagles’ star wide receiver left Sunday’s game early due to a knee injury.
Bleeding Green Nation
Eagles vs. Jaguars: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Highlights and lowlights from Philadelphia’s Week 9 win.
It was the Eagles’ fourth-straight victory—although it felt like a loss—in driving the Eagles to 6-2 overall.
Jalen Hurts looked sharp again, though had some problems in the pocket with Jacksonville’s Cover 2, completing 18 of 24 for 230 yards, and two touchdowns, while scoring one rushing touchdown. Saquon Barkley had a typical Saquon Barkley kind of game, rushing 27 times for 159 yards, and catching three passes for 40 yards, including a touchdown.
At first, this seemed like a playground game for fun to the Eagles. It looked like the Eagles were on their way to win their fifth-straight game next week without question in Dallas, which should have concluded the kiddie table portion of the schedule.
The season was not supposed to take a serious turn until the Eagles hosted NFC-East leading Washington on Thursday night, Nov. 14.
Now it seems everything has shifted back to where it was a few weeks ago, a team in limbo, which does far more harm to itself than good. The Eagles are led by a coach who is prone to make desperate choices during the juncture of games when they are not necessary (fourth down conversions opposed to field goals, two-point conversions opposed to extra points, etc.)—only to have those decisions come back and possibly sting later.
There will come a time this season when those dubious decisions will cut deep.
There was a healthy dose of good, a touch of bad, and pile of ugly, like leaving nine points off the board, in the Eagles’ fortunate 28-23 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Big Blue View
2025 NFL Draft order: Giants hold No. 7 overall pick
The New York Giants move up two draft slots after loss to Washington
The New York Giants may have lost to the Washington Commanders in Week 9, but they did move up in the draft order and now hold the No. 7 overall pick, per Tankathon.
Thanks to their loss, as well as wins by the Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans, the Giants have moved from ninth to seventh in the 2025 NFL Draft order. The Giants are currently in a seven-way tie with six other 2-7 teams at the top of the draft order, though their 0.538 strength of schedule currently has them picking last among those teams.
Big Blue View
3 things we learned from the Giants’ 27-22 loss to the Commanders
We’re on a road to nowhere. Come on inside.
Are Brian Daboll’s days as head coach numbered?
I cannot understand Daboll’s approach to the game today. If I counted correctly, 21 of the Giants’ first 25 offensive plays were rushes. A couple of them may have been scrambles, but most were designed. I don’t mind a rush-heavy offense when you don’t have confidence in your quarterback. This started to remind me of Joe Judge’s final game as Giants’ head coach, though (also at MetLife vs. Washington). All that was missing was the surrender formation.
On the rare occasions Daniel Jones did try to pass, it was all short stuff for most of the first half. Jones finished the half 4 of 6 for 0 yards, -8 total including sacks. One of the passing plays of course was the Jones fumble as he tried to dump off a screen pass to Devin Singletary and was met by Dante Fowler, who had blown past backup left tackle Chris Hubbard. I think Jones was looking downfield and only tried the screen when he saw Fowler coming out of the corner of his eye but he should have eaten that ball.
When Jones did start passing in the second half, he actually did well, though once again he didn’t take any deep shots. The Commanders blitzed quite a bit in the first half when he did try to pass and he did not respond well.
The problem was that Daboll went for two after the first TD. Probabilities say that gives you the best chance of winning the game, assuming that you have a 50% chance of making the first 2-point conversion. There’s the problem. Daboll called this game as if he didn’t believe in his offense…and then he changes his mind in the fourth quarter and does something that requires at least 50% confidence or close to it to be a good decision. Then, after the first miss, on the second attempt late in the game, he designs a passing play with only three receivers sent out, on vanilla fades plus one right in the middle – no crossers, no attempt to create traffic for the defensive backs to sift through. No wonder on both plays Jones wound up keeping the ball and being tackled short of the goal line.
Finally, down 27-22 with less than three minutes left and Washington driving, Daboll declined to use a timeout before the two-minute warning. I don’t get it. In the end it didn’t matter, because the Commanders got the ball close to the goal line and didn’t score only because head coach Dan Quinn showed class by having Jayden Daniels take a knee to drain the clock.
Daboll seems to have given up trying to win because of him when he has a choice. The question is whether he can hold the team together enough to avoid Judge’s fate during the second half of the season. Next Sunday, the Cam Ward sweepstakes tournament begins with a game against Carolina, who got their second win today. There are nine two-win teams as I write this, so there’s a long way to go to get No. 1. Will Daboll get a chance to coach whichever quarterback the Giants add in 2025?
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ESPN
Betting buzz: Tua bad beat, Commanders feat highlight Sunday NFL slate
The Washington Commanders became the first team to go over their season win total (6.5) on Sunday. The Commanders defeated the New York Giants 27-22 to improve to 7-2 on the season. At BetMGM sportsbooks, 77% of the bets and 66% of the money wagered was on the Commanders over 6.5 wins entering the season.
Washington has covered the spread in eight consecutive games, the longest streak since the Tennessee Titans in 2022. Sunday’s cover came down a failed two-point conversion in the fourth quarter by the Giants, who were four-point underdogs.
“Our biggest need was the Giants and they couldn’t get that two-point conversion at the end of the game,” John Murray, executive director at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said.
ESPN
Judging biggest overreactions for NFL Week 9 games
The Giants should trade for Bryce Young
The Giants, of course, still have Daniel Jones starting at quarterback. But his guaranteed money runs out after this season, and the Giants didn’t look like they trusted him to throw a pass Sunday until they got to the second half and had no other choice. He had zero passing yards in the first half (despite throwing a touchdown pass … think about that), and 121 of his 174 on the day came in the fourth quarter of the loss to Washington. The Giants have said they’d give Jones the year to show whether he can still be their franchise quarterback, but given that they’re 2-7 and he’s not lighting up the scoreboard, it’s likely they’re also looking for a new signal-caller this offseason.
Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION
The Cowboys will actually be trading away players at the deadline
Things get worse in Dallas every week. The offense looked listless again in a 27-21 loss to the Falcons. They fell to 3-5 for the season, and it’s the first time in five years they’ve lost three straight Dak Prescott starts. Prescott hurt his hamstring and couldn’t even finish this game. Their next three games are against the Eagles, Texans and Commanders, all of whom have winning records, and it’s possible the Prescott injury could mean the Cowboys have to play some (or all) of those games without their starting QB.
Cowboys fans always want the team to be adding more than it does. But if they’re being honest with themselves about this season, it might make more sense to trade away some guys and see about loading up on draft picks to avoid ending up with a thin roster again anytime soon.
I’m not seeing it. Jerry Jones isn’t giving up on a season in early November. He actually hinted after Sunday’s game that the Cowboys might be active at the deadline. And maybe they will, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
They’re going to say they’re getting edge rusher Micah Parsons and other injured players back at some point and continue to hope that the young players on the roster improve. And frankly, unless they made the seemingly unthinkable decision to put a star player, such as Parsons, on the market, I’m not sure how many Dallas players would even bring back enough in return to justify white-flagging the season. I’m more willing to believe the Cowboys add a running back or defensive lineman before Tuesday afternoon than I am to think they’re going to be unloading. It just doesn’t sound like them.
Verdict: OVERREACTION
NFL.com
Raiders fire OC Luke Getsy following blowout loss to Bengals, 2-7 start to season
Having already made a change at quarterback this season, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has made an even larger alteration to his offense.
The Raiders have fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported on Sunday night. The team subsequently announced the parting of ways along with the oustings of QB coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg.
Pierce felt he needed to make a move after Sunday’s 41-24 blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals dropped the team to 2-7 on the season, Pelissero added.
Though an interim OC or play-caller isn’t yet known, Pelissero noted former Washington offensive coordinator Scott Turner, the current passing game coordinator, is a logical candidate.
Pro Football Talk
Lamar Jackson is first player in NFL history with four games with perfect passer rating
With his fourth perfect passer rating today, Jackson is now the first player in NFL history to hit the 158.3 mark four times in games with at least 15 pass attempts. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger are the only other quarterbacks to do it three times.
Craig Morton had a perfect passer rating twice, and no other player in NFL history has had a 158.3 game more than once.
Pro Football Talk
Bengals “concerned” about rookie TE Erick All’s knee injury
Bengals rookie tight end Erick All Jr. injured his right knee during a 6-yard reception with 10:05 remaining until halftime. All was unable to reach the sideline without assistance, and the Bengals quickly listed him as doubtful and then out.
Coach Zac Taylor said afterward that he is “concerned” about the injury.
“I worry about it. . . . I don’t have all the information yet, but I’m concerned about it,” Taylor said, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
He tore the ACL in the same knee last season at Iowa and wasn’t cleared to practice until the middle of August.