Howie Roseman's Brilliance Powering Eagles, Giants Decide Now's Time to Quit | 4 Downs
Saquon Barkley Plants Flag in MVP Race, Seattle Seahawks' Defense Swarms in Statement Win, and Tua Tagovailoa Returns to Form
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Howie Roseman deserves vindication.
It wasn’t long ago that the Philadelphia Eagles’ general manager was being greased up to be run out of town on a rail as the organization’s collection of talent from the University of Georgia got their careers off to an underwhelming start.
Jalen Carter was labeled a bit of a malcontent, Nakobe Dean an outright bust, Nolan Smith labeled over-drafted. Following last season’s historically terrible closing stretch to the season, some suggested Roseman needed a major turnaround this season.
Sunday night in the shadow of the Hollywood Sign, the Eagles’ 37-20 victory over the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia’s seventh consecutive win, was fueled by Carter’s disruption up front, Dean flying to the football, and the prize of this offseason’s crop of free agents, Saquon Barkley, continuing to author his MVP candidacy.
Inside this column; Caleb Williams shows tremendous growth despite an overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins round into form, and the Giants quit on their head coach four days before taking on the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. We take a look back at Sunday’s action, and largely ahead to the football to come as families get together to break bread on Thursday.
On the first snap of the second half, Barkley burst off right tackle for a 70-yard touchdown, untouched and without a Rams defender in sight once he reached the second level.
These Eagles are starting to look not only like the antithesis of last year’s squad that lost five-of-six before dropping the NFC Wild Card Game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and more like the foundation for sustained success built around the formula that fueled a run to the Super Bowl in 2022.
Dean has developed into a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the Eagles’ defense, posting his second sack of the season Sunday night while upping his tackle total to 84.
Smith has 3.5 sacks this season while continuing to terrorize opposing quarterbacks week after week.
Meanwhile, on the back-end of the defense, few rookie cornerbacks have been more impressive than Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, whom Roseman and the Eagles plucked with their first two picks in this spring’s NFL Draft.
Roseman’s most marquee additions over the past three offseasons, if including All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown, have become the centerpieces of what has developed into one of the NFL’s premier rosters on a team that continues to build confidence each week.
Brown caught six passes for 109 yards and his fourth touchdown of the season, continuing to separate himself as the most important player on this roster.
Then, there’s Barkley.
Barkley put the game out of reach when he burst up the middle, shifted into overdrive and ran away from the Rams on a 72-yard touchdown run with 2:44 remaining, his second 70-plus yard rushing touchdown of the night.
The former No. 2 overall pick of the Giants in the 2018 NFL Draft, continues to prove his mettle as one of the most dangerous and versatile weapons in the sport and a driving force of the Eagles’ success.
Sunday night, Barkley rushed for for 255 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams. Barkley’s breakout was the ninth-most rushing yards in a game by an NFL player in league history. He also caught all four of his targets for 47 yards, finishing with 302 total yards from scrimmage.
Over the past six weeks, Barkley has rushed for 910 yards and six touchdowns.
At minimum, Barkley is going to garner MVP votes.
Barkley may even run off with the MVP award, given that he now leads the NFL with 1,392 rushing yards, 10 rushing touchdowns, and has proven instrumental in at least five of the Eagles’ victories so far this season.
In an era where franchises shy away from signing running backs to big contracts, Roseman looked at his roster, realized what an impact Barkley could make, and committed $37.5 million to the 27-year-old former Penn State standout over the next three years.
Another big bet paying big dividends for Roseman and the Eagles.
Roseman is the architect of this franchise which has the foundation along both lines of scrimmage, youthful and explosive playmakers at the skill positions on both sides of the football, and a steamrolling mentality that isn’t just beating opponents right now but demoralizing them late in games.
Philadelphia has a winning formula, plenty of star power, even more confidence, and is suddenly playing its way into the conversation as legitimate threats to not only make a second Super Bowl in the past three seasons but they’ve also built a foundation that suggests this is just the beginning of a sustained run of success.
Roseman has one Super Bowl championship on his resumé and has now built a roster fully capable of making a run at a Lombardi this season, and potentially for years to come.
Here are the biggest takeaways from an action-packed NFL Sunday:
First Down: Giants' Free-Fall Reaches New Lows Ahead of Thanksgiving Clash
The Giants and Cowboys, along with their combined less than four percent chance of either team making the playoffs will square off on Thanksgiving in Arlington. That much we know.
What we don’t know, is who will be the Giants’ starting quarterback and whether Brian Daboll will have the privilege of coaching this 2-9 team just as millions of Americans will be carving up their turkeys.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that four days is far too short notice for a franchise to fire their head coach and make a second quarterback change in as many weeks.
But, these are unconventional times for a franchise that has long lost its way and seems to be executing a new plan depending on which way the wind is blowing in the Swamps of Jersey.
Daboll’s team unequivocally quit Sunday against the Buccaneers.
Giants star wide receiver Malik Nabers had a different way to describe it.
“Soft as fuck,” Nabers told reporters.
Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito, elevated as the starting quarterback after Daboll benched Daniel Jones last Monday and released the quarterback on Friday, was pounded into submission by the Buccaneers.
Tampa’s defense held Devito to 189 passing yards, sacked him four times, while the Buccaneers ran roughshod over the Giants, 30-7.
Sunday’s game was somehow far less competitive than the final score indicates.
“It’s ass,” Giants pass rusher Brian Burns told reporters, of falling behind 30-0 at home, coming off a bye week.
At one point, Tampa Bay had 11 first downs before the Giants’ offense ran its 11th play from scrimmage.
Sunday’s loss was the 27th in Daboll’s first 45 as the Giants’ head coach.
New York didn’t just get blown out by the Buccaneers, they didn’t seem to care much to be there, either.
With just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the CBS cameras spotlighted tens of thousands of Giants fans scurrying for the exits as the game finished out inside a MetLife Stadium that was as vast and lifeless as the desolate stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike between exits 10 and 13.
That kind of embarrassment can’t sit well with John Mara and Steve Tisch in the owner’s suite. That epic display of quitting is the kind of performance that fast tracks firings.
Therein lies the problem for Daboll and the dilemma for the Giants.
Under Daboll’s watch, the Giants have regressed each week, and each season, of his tenure.
Now losers of 11 of their last 14 games dating back to last season, New York has managed to score at least 14 points in only nine of those contests.
Daboll’s Giants aren’t just putrid, they’re irrelevant, if not ignominious.
Even before Thanksgiving, it sounds like Daboll sounds has already lost the locker room.
“You start throwing me the ball when it’s 30-0,” Nabers told reporters, after catching six passes for 64 yards. “What do you expect me to do?”
When asked why the Giants didn’t target Nabers in the first half, he didn’t mince words, replying “I don’t know, ask [Daboll] about that.”
Yikes.
As one prominent league source told me Friday “everyone is getting fired,” after the Giants released Jones on Friday.
So, after Sunday’s debacle, why on earth would John Mara wait?
Daboll’s Giants zoomed past embarrassing weeks ago, and no change to Drew Lock at quarterback is going to boost New York’s chances of pulling off a [meaningless] victory over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
At least if the Giants put Daboll out of his misery before Thursday’s game, ownership would have six weeks to evaluate defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s chops as a head coach, or to turn the keys over to Mike Kafka to see if Andy Reid’s coaching tree is capable of sprouting just one more stable and capable branch.
Ultimately, the Giants have a choice to make: continue down this road of dysfunction or begin laying the groundwork for a true rebuild.
Waiting until the offseason to pull the plug on Daboll would only prolong the inevitable. If the Thanksgiving stage isn’t the time to take a hard look at the organization’s direction, then when is?
Second Down: The Tao of Tua Returns
The Dolphins welcomed the New England Patriots into Miami Gardens, and turned back the clock to the not so distant past with Miami’s Maserati Offense led by Tua Tagovailoa returning to form.
Tagovailoa was nothing short of brilliant, completing 29-of-40 passes for 317 yards, and a league-high four touchdowns, finishing with a 128.9 passer rating as the Dolphins sliced the Patriots down to size in a 34-15 division victory.
Much of this season has been the tale of two Dolphins teams.
There’s the high octane sports car of an offense with Tagovailoa, which deploys head coach Mike McDaniel’s trademarked pre-snap motion to perfection while maximizing the impact of one of the most explosive collections of offensive weapons in the league … and a group that seems to be completely stuck in the mud when Tagovailoa isn’t behind center.
According to good friend, road drinking buddy, and FTN Fantasy Analyst Aaron Schatz, the Dolphins rank first in the league in EPA per dropback from Weeks 8-12 with Tagovailoa, but were ranked 29th in the league without him from Weeks 3-6.
“The thing about Tua is that he’s accurate and has a quick release,” an NFC Personnel Executive tells me. “But he also throws into holes, which lets his guys run and make big plays after the catch. He really knows that offense.”
Case in point; over the past three games, Miami is averaging 30.33 points per game, and are unbeaten over that stretch with Tagovailoa accounting for 812 yards with three touchdowns during that span.
Meanwhile, without him this season, the Dolphins are 1-3 while mustering 14 points in just one of those games.
Those struggles felt like a distant memory as McDaniel, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins revved back up to speed against the Patriots on Sunday.
Tagovailoa spread the ball around to seven different receivers against New England, while completing passes of 29, 20, and 15 yards, but more importantly getting the ball out quickly and into the hands of the playmakers at this disposal to turn ordinary completions into extraordinary plays.
“I would say it’s always great to win,” Tagovailoa told reporters afterwards. “It’s always great to enjoy the win. But there were some things second half-wise that we knew we could have capitalized on that we didn’t, things we said we wanted to do coming out in the second half that we didn’t and those can be frustrating.
“But I would say we’re still below the .500 threshold and it’s a long way to where we want to get to. We’ll enjoy this win, but this next one is going to be big for us, and we’re excited to go down to Green Bay and show everybody on primetime what we can do.”
The Dolphins still have work to do, though.
Miami trails the Denver Broncos by 1.5 games for the No. 7 seed in the AFC Playoffs, with a daunting test ahead against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving night.
Sunday, though, the Dolphins proved that when Tagovailoa is at the helm, their offense is a finely-tuned machine capable of overwhelming even the most disciplined defenses, one of which they’ll play Thursday night.
With the season’s defining closing stretch looming, Miami’s playoff hopes hinge on whether this version of their Maserati offense can stay in high gear.
Third Down: Seahawks Take Command as Dominant Defense Powers Seattle to NFC West Lead
There’s a new top dawg in the NFC West.
The Arizona Cardinals flew into Seattle on Sunday afternoon with the chance to take control of the division race, pick up the baton from the San Francisco 49ers — whom they beat earlier this season, and notch a statement victory announcing to the world that Jonathan Gannon’s program had made a major leap in relevance.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was Mike MacDonald’s surging Seahawks on the opposite sideline.
Not only did MacDonald’s club show up ready for a fight, but they punched Arizona in the mouth, repeatedly, bludgeoning quarterback Kyler Murray and co. in a 16-6 victory that showed how far Seattle’s defense has come this season.
With the Cardinals trailing 7-3, Murray tried to evade blitzing Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon and lofted a pass toward receiver Michael Wilson. However, cornerback Coby Bryant capitalized on the overthrow, pulling down his second career interception and returning it 70 yards for an exclamation point touchdown.
The 16-6 victory served as an emphatic stiff-arm to the Cardinals while propelling the Seahawks to the division lead.
“They play downhill and are mean,” former Seahawks legendary linebacker Lofa Tatupu tells me is key to Seattle’s success on defense.
MacDonald’s defense held the Cardinals to just 3-of-12 on third down opportunities and slammed the door shut on the only two trips into the red zone that Arizona could muster.
Sunday was a marked improvement for a Seahawks red-zone defense that had previously allowed 21 red-zone touchdowns so far this season, saving its finest performance for one of the biggest games of the season.
Seattle’s linebacker duo of Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight combined for 19 tackles, one sack, and one tackle for loss against Arizona.
“Jones is absolutely insane,” Tatupu explains. “It’s not just his volume of tackles but its the quality of tackles in terms of at or behind the line of scrimmage. And, Knight is very impressive, was unheralded out of college and just has no apparent weaknesses.
“Their complementary attacking and aggressive style of ball has made the defensive line’s job much easier, and it was evident by Leonard Williams’ insane production today.”
Meanwhile, the Cardinals managed only 49 rushing yards as a team, as the Seahawks sent Murray running for his life in the pocket all day. Murray was forced to withstand five sacks and seven quarterback hits.
The face of the Seahawks’ pressure, and the one Murray had in his face the most all game was defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
Williams terrorized the Cardinals, finishing with 2.5 sacks, six total tackles, and three tackles for loss as he continues to hit his stride as one of Seattle’s most dominant defenders.
Acquired at the trade deadline last fall, Williams now has 72 total tackles with nine sacks in 19 games in a Seahawks uniform.
The architect of the Baltimore Ravens’ defense that has fueled that franchise’s run of success in recent years, MacDonald has instilled an attitude to match the premier talent that the Seahawks have assembled on that side of the ball in recent years.
This is an ascending defense in Seattle that’s suddenly imposing its will on opponents and starting to build confidence along the way.
Seattle now sits atop the NFC West, and with a defense capable of suffocating opponents like this, they’ve established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the playoff hunt.
The baton has been passed—Seattle’s time is now.
Fourth Down: In Defeat, Caleb Williams Delivers a Glimpse of Hope for the Bears’ Rebuild
On Thanksgiving in Detroit, Caleb Williams will step into the national spotlight against the Lions—a stark contrast to the quarterback who stumbled under the bright lights of Sunday Night Football back in Week 2.
The outcome of Sunday’s game, a 30-27 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings, for a Bears team that entered with just a 1% chance of making the playoffs is almost inconsequential.
In the grand scheme of things, the Bears’ trajectory with Williams seems brighter than ever.
“The good news is Caleb is reading much faster and getting the ball out quicker every week,” a member of the Bears’ front office tells me, on the condition of anonymity to speak freely.
Now more than ever, it is clear, that for Williams and the Bears’ future, Chicago must nail the head coaching hire this offseason.
Matt Eberflus simply cannot continue to oversee this quarterback’s development nor this Bears potential turnaround.
For Minnesota, Sam Darnold was stellar in overtime, guiding the Vikings to a critical victory for playoff positioning.
Darnold was five-for-five in overtime while passing for 90 yards as he delivered in the clutch and the Bears’ defense wilted.
The Vikings’ quarterback played a turnover free game while passing for 330 yards, two touchdowns, and one game-winning drive. The Vikings’ status as a playoff contender in the NFC cemented.
Meanwhile, for Chicago, Williams showed plenty of signs of encouragement throughout. That is, until Williams absorbed a terrible sack in overtime followed by a delay of game penalty which forced a 3rd and 26 that ultimately doomed Chicago’s chances.
Earlier, though, with the Bears trailing 24-10 midway through the fourth quarter, Williams put the Bears’ offense on his back and made some of the most impressive decisions, and plays, of his rookie season.
Facing a 4th-and-4 at the Vikings’ 20-yard line, Williams stepped up in the pocket, before sprinting towards the sideline and getting past the market to extend the drive on a seven-yard run.
Just two plays later, Williams hit D.J. Moore on a short pass that Moore did the hard work on while spinning through the Vikings’ defense for a 10-yard touchdown.
Williams finished Sunday 32-of-47 passing for 340 yards with two touchdowns, a 103.1 passer rating, and 33 yards rushing.
This was arguably the most impressive performance of Williams’ young career, and it is becoming obvious that he’s becoming more comfortable in new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown’s scheme.
After Sunday, Williams now holds the franchise record for most passing yards by a rookie quarterback, with 2,356.
Brown is getting back to basics by relying on high-percentage throws to the likes of Moore and Keenan Allen, who combined for 192 receiving yards and two touchdowns against Minnesota.
Williams is also doing his part.
The No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft seems much more comfortable in the pocket and also more adept at making plays on the run.
In the first half, Williams was flushed from the pocket, scrambled toward the sideline, before leading Bears running back D’Andre Swift deep downfield for a 30-yard gain.
Three plays later, Roschon Johnson punched it in for a one-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 7-0 lead. Williams was 3-for-3 on the possession, with completions of 30, 40, and 10 yards.
The Bears, though, once again faced the same old struggles that have dogged them for much of this season; special teams blunders — including having a field goal blocked for the second consecutive week, and big plays given up by the defense in big spots where they desperately needed to get off the field.
But, Williams became the embodiment of the franchise quarterback Chicago chose him to be, even if he couldn’t finish the job against a superior opponent. Even if he couldn’t finish the job.
The Bears have to be wildly encouraged by Williams’ performance in the game’s biggest moments and Rome Odunze’s emergence as an impact weapon in his arsenal.
Odunze, chosen No. 9 overall this spring, caught five passes for 39 yards including a clutch fourth quarter snag to keep Chicago’s flicking hopes alive.
Trailing 27-16, Williams as marvelous on an eight-play, 40-yard drive, sans timeouts, capped by a one-yard touchdown strike to Allen to pull within three.
After recovering an onsides kick for the first time this season, Williams hit Moore for a 27-yard gain to set up Cairo Santos’ 48-yard field goal attempt he drilled to send the game into overtime.
It was Darnold who delivered when it mattered most for the Vikings, as Minnesota took a step towards challenging the Lions for NFC North supremacy with the victory.
Despite another frustrating loss, Caleb Williams proved once again why the Bears chose him No. 1 overall. Chicago’s 4-7 record may not reflect it yet, but with Williams showing steady growth and flashes of brilliance, the foundation for a brighter future is being laid in the Windy City.
AWARDS
Week 12 MVP: Josh Jacobs, RB, Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers put on a Complementary Football Clinic Sunday, shoveling dirt on the grave of this era of the San Francisco 49ers’ Super Bowl relevancy, with Josh Jacobs serving as the battering ram.
While Xavier McKinney bolstered his Defensive Player of The Year candidacy by pulling down his seventh interception of the season, off 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen, and Lukas Van Ness forced an Allen fumble that the Packers recovered and cashed into a touchdown, Jacobs was the difference-maker.
Jacobs gashed the 49ers’ front seven and crushed their collective will, while rushing for 106 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-10 statement victory.
Sunday’s win helps Green Bay keep pace with the Lions in the NFC North, while all but eliminating San Francisco from postseason contention 11 months after the Niners slammed the door on the Packers in last year’s NFC Divisional Playoffs.
The Packers’ brand of football can travel, as Jacobs illustrated Sunday, which could make Green Bay a threat to make a much deeper postseason run this time around.
Week 12 Breakout Star: Chop Robinson, EDGE, Miami Dolphins
Chop Robinson’s production is starting to match the explosiveness that jumped off the film when the Miami Dolphins chose him with the No. 21 overall pick in the first round of this spring’s draft.
An athletic freak of nature with insane get-off at the line of scrimmage, Robinson terrorized Drake Maye on Sunday afternoon, sacking the New England Patriots’ rookie quarterback 1.5 times for 11.5 yards lost, hit him three times, batted down two passes while posting four total tackles.
Robinson finished Sunday with eight hurries and 10 total quarterback pressures, putting out the film that shows how disruptive he has the potential to be as his career progresses.
Sunday was the latest strong performance in a dominant stretch for the former Penn State standout, who has logged 3.5 sacks over the past four games and as Pro Football Focus points out, has produced 35 total pressures through the first 10 games of his rookie campaign.
What I’m Drinking Tonight
You’re going to see a parade of holiday beers in this space over the next few weeks, before that, though, a new and tasty vanilla porter.
Founders’ Vanilla Porter promises a “Sweet Vanilla Aroma and Subtle Coffee Notes,” and delivers on both in droves.
This isn’t quite like drinking a vanilla coffee, and it has the profile of a stout more so than a Porter, but you’ll never see me complaining about that. It’s a tasty winter beer that is going to find itself in my rotation for the coming months, for sure!
Josh Jacobs ended the Niners' 55 game streak without allowing a 100 yard rusher. With Aaron Jones' 5 straight 100 yard games ending last season and Jacobs now 3rd in the league rushing this year, a strong run game clearly drives Matt LaFleur's offense. Neither Jones nor Jacobs has take-it-to-the-house speed but both contribute with steady 5 to 20 yard carries. Jacobs just pounded the Niner defense with tough runs. Will three days rest be enough to prepare for Thanksgiving night action after such a physical Sunday?
I was pulling for the Bears. That OT sack on Williams was brutal. With six or eight seconds to throw the ball away, Williams took a you-just-can't-do-that sack for a 13 yard loss, effectively killing the Bears opening OT drive. As surprisingly, the Bears tough D couldn't slam the breaks on the Vikings' winning drive despite several favorable down and distance occasions.
Looks like Detroit as the 1 seed, Packers/Vikings as 4 and 5 seeds. The road to the Super Bowl in the NFC will go through the NFC North. The Eagles are the only non-North team belonging in the top four NFC teams.