St. Louis Rams defeat Washington Redskins, 19-17. Yes, that's right. You don't have to check the score again, it really happened. Josh Brown hit a last second field goal to put the worst team in football ahead of what was supposed to be one of the best teams in football. The Week 6 power ranking of Washington was #3. St. Louis was #32. I don't even know where to start. Adam and I both picked the Redskins to massacre the Rams. St. Louis didn't score a single offensive touchdown. One fumble return and 4 field goals (not all chip shots either) made this upset happen. St. Louis was penalized 10 times for 79 yards, which was 3 more yards than they rushed for. Marc Bulger threw for 136 yards and that was it. It was an ugly game, an ugly win, but the one Rams fan at the bar I was at didn't care. I shook his hand and congratulated him once it was all said and done and told him I never saw that coming. He said he expected to go 0-16, so this was a great day for him. I will never underestimate a team again, no matter how bad they are.
Arizona Cardinals defeat Dallas Cowboys, 30-24 in overtime. Let's face it. There is absolutely no valid argument for the Cowboys being the best team in the NFC anymore. Their defense can't stop any decent offense (only the Browns and Packers were held below 20 points), and their offense is led by a player who doesn't even care about football. Yes, I said it and I will stand by it.
Just after the Cowboys got a field goal at the end of the 4th quarter to send them into overtime, the cameras showed Romo joking around with a player from the Cardinals. Yeah, you can be friends with the guy off the field. That's fine. After the game, have dinner, play video games, whatever. But...when your team is going into overtime and you need this win to keep up with your division, the worst thing you can do to instill confidence in your teammates is pal around with a guy on the other side. Right now, he is your opponent. Talk to your own teammates, start figuring out the game plan once you get the ball. Don't pal around with the other team, telling him about what new trick Jessica Simpson did with her mouth the other night.Edit: Just read on ESPN.com that Tony Romo is out four weeks with a broken pinkie. Chances of him ending up on a red carpet or tropical country somewhere during that time? Better than the Cowboys' chances of making the playoffs, I'll tell you that.
So, after Romo showed how he doesn't have his head in the game, what happens? 3 and out, punt block, Arizona returns for a touchdown, game over. I hope Tony Romo reflects on this while lying on a beach in Mexico before blowing his next playoff game. The difference between Tony Romo and Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, and Eli Manning is that those guys are quarterbacks first, celebrities second. Romo would rather be on the cover of People than Sports Illustrated, and that is the sole reason why Tony Romo will never be one of the NFL's legends.
Philadelphia Eagles defeat San Francisco 49ers, 40-26. But...and this is a big but. The score was 26-17 going into the 4th quarter. Philly is a great team and put together a giant 4th, but San Fran gave the game up. By the end of the game, they had beaten themselves into the ground with mistakes and missed opportunities, and that's why the Eagles came out on top. I talked to Eagles fans last night and today, and while they're happy they came out with the win, they know their team needs to start playing up to their potential if they want to be a legitimate contender. I agree. When they bring their A game, Illadelph might be the best team in the NFL. They've been their own worst enemy this season, and have a lot to iron out in the upcoming months.
With that, the New York Giants are alone on top of the division. If the Browns pull off the win tonight, they'll still be on top. They've got the best defense in the division hands down, the best quarterback in the division right now, but there's still a lot of football to be played. We'll see how the G-Dudes do tonight. If they can pull ahead 1.5 games in the division, that will be big.
So if the NFC East isn't the best division in football, who is? The NFC North, where the Packers, Vikings, and Bears are tied for 1st at 3-3? No. The AFC East, where the surprise Bills are on top, with the Jets and Patriots making cases for themselves and the Dolphins looking like a solid playoff contender? No. The toughest division from last season, the AFC South, where the Titans are off to a great start, the Colts are looking alive, and the Jaguars are putting together wins? No.
The new powerhouse is the NFC South. Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Atlanta are all 4-2. New Orleans is 3-3. Take away the blown non-offsides call against the Broncos (see picture below for proof) and assume Grammatica would have been able to hit at worst, a 36 yard attempt (the offsides call would have given the Saints a 1st down inside the Denver 20 instead of a 4th down at the 24). Consider that, and the Saints should be 4-2. The Falcons aren't winning by pure luck, and the Buccaneers absolutely dominated the Panthers who were thought to be the better team. You can make the argument that the strength of schedule for the NFC South teams isn't that great. You can make the argument the Falcons and Panthers are overplaying and won't keep this up. You can make a lot of arguments against the NFC South, but what is probably the smallest market of any division in the NFL is quietly playing some great football.
This isn't even a close call. Do the referees really love Denver this much?If this call isn't blown and Hochuli doesn't screw the Super Chargers,
the Broncos are 2-4. They're not actually a good team, just very lucky.
Will the NFC South keep it up? Maybe. If James from the future came back to tell me that the Falcons and Panthers played in the NFC Championship, I wouldn't doubt him. The Rams won yesterday, and this is by far the weirdest, craziest, most insanest football season in a long time. At least once a week I keep finding myself feeling like Murphy in Boondock Saints after Rocco shoots the cat and just thinking, "I can't believe that just fucking happened...". Maybe the NFC South starts dropping games left and right, maybe they keep dominating the rest of their schedule and the NFC East only sends one team to the postseason. If the Bucs, Panthers, and Falcons all made the playoffs, would you really be that surprised?
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