Things That Made Me Giddy
Justin Herbert Continues to Be Incredible: His physical traits allow the Chargers to design and call, basically, whatever they want. Constantly under duress against the Browns’ front four on Sunday, Herbert was utterly spectacular. And to beat an elite opponent on short rest, in which the offense needed to put up 40-plus points, is the sign of a franchise-defining player.
The Cowboys’ Hog Mollies Are Hog Mollier Than the Giants’ Hog Mollies: Dallas could breathe easy once Mike Glennon was in the game, but they controlled this one throughout, especially up front (and in spite of center Tyler Biadasz’s continued struggles). The Cowboys went for 201 rushing yards on 39 carries against a very good Giants front.
Steelers Offense, Better: It was the best performance they’ve had from the offensive line in two years, and while Ben Roethlisberger will still spark his share of nervous moments—he’s a bottom-10 starting quarterback but still a starting-caliber quarterback—a day like Sunday will more than do. They got a long touchdown early, took a lead, then let the run game (35 rushes, 147 yards) and defense carry the load. Roethlisberger only dropped back 26 times in the win over Denver.
Arizona Stays Perfect: And now they have wins over the Rams and 49ers, with the Seahawks facing a lengthy sans-Russell Wilson period.
The Bucs Offense With Their (Almost) Full Complement of Weapons: Now that Tom Brady is essentially coordinating the offense himself, there’s not much reason to believe anything besides inclement weather or an elite opponent will slow down the Bucs. Tampa rolled up 558 yards of offense and went 8-for-10 on third down against the Dolphins.
Kirk Cousins Gets It Done Again: This Vikings have had three games decided by a game-ending field-goal attempt. They’re getting used to having to mount late drives to win games or force overtime, and Cousins has now done so three times (including setting up Greg Joseph for the chip-shot he missed at Arizona) in four opportunities this season. Against the Lions on Sunday, he drove the Vikings 46 yards in 30 seconds and three plays with two timeouts to set up Joseph’s game-winner.
Tim Kelly Just Humiliated the Entire Belichick Family: And the Texans offensive coordinator did it with a rookie third-round QB throwing to the likes of the Chrises Moore (fresh off the practice squad) and Conley.
Mason Crosby, Eventually: Three straight misses on potential game-winners before finally connecting at the end of overtime (a chance he only got because Evan McPherson’s would-be game-winner drifted wide). As Meatloaf once sang, 1 out of 4 ain’t bad.
Bears Do It Their Way: The offense is ugly as ever, but they went into Vegas and dominated with the pass rush and coverage that for the most part didn’t give up anything downfield (and when they did allow something downfield, the Raiders tended to drop it).
Trey Lance Shows Some Flashes: Kyle Shanahan called a lot of designed runs for him, and he was clearly instructed to look to take off if his first two reads weren’t there. He made a couple of impressive, tight-window throws and made plays with his legs. He needs to reach a point where he’s actually taking some checkdown opportunities, which were there. Ultimately, coming up short on a fourth-and-goal (and three other fourth-down attempts) did this offense in.
Hey, a Nathan Peterman Cameo!: That always adds a little spice to the weekend. He ran three plays while Derek Carr was banged up, one a hand-off, one a third-down scramble just short of the line-to-gain, and a fourth-down QB sneak to convert the first down.
Terrence Mitchell Punchout: Just like Soda Popinski. At least when I fight Soda Popinski. I have a lot of issues with Soda Popinski. As for the Texans’ veteran DB, he had a touchdown-saving forced fumble on Damien Harris as Harris was on the verge of crossing the goal line.
Matt Nagy’s Indecision Pays Off: Well, except for the fact that when Justin Fields had to leave the game after tweaking his knee, Andy Dalton didn’t even have his rib-protector on on the sideline, so the backup quarterback was literally unprepared to enter the game.
This Kicker Will Be the Death of Mike Zimmer: Greg Joseph is three weeks removed from pushing a chip-shot would-be game-winner against the Cardinals. In the fourth quarter of Sunday’s back-and-forth win over Detroit, Joseph hit from 55, was from 49, and then connected from 54 to walk it off.
