SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Here’s Sunday’s National Football League NFC East wrap. The Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Football Team, the Philadelphia Eagles took care of business. The frontrunning New York Giants did not and no longer holds the top spot.
And now with each having three more games in the hunt for first place and a first-round home game in the playoffs, the race became tighter. First, Dallas took the road to the Cincinnati Bengals and left with a resounding 38-7 victory. Next came the Giants playing host to the Arizona Cardinals and outplayed to the tune of 26-7. That was part one, the earlier games.
What followed was both Washington and Philadelphia emerging victorious, the Footballers by holding off the 49ers in San Francisco, 37-28, and in Philly, it was the Eagles clutching a 27-25 win over the New Orleans Saints.
And now it’s Washington on top of the heap at 6-7, the Giants, who hold a tiebreaker over the temporality-named Football Team, dropped to second place at 5-8, the Eagles holding on to third place at 4-8-1 (the tie against Cincinnati), and still in the basement are the Cowboys at 4-9.
Next stop for Washington is a home game versus the Seattle Seahawks, the Giants remaining at home to face the surprising Cleveland Browns, the Eagles heading for Arizona to play the Cards, and the Cowboys welcoming a visit from the 49ers. From there, it’s Washington home to the Carolina Panthers, New York visiting the Baltimore Ravens, and Philadelphia in a key contest played in Dallas.
It could come down to the final week, with two of the tilts highlighting the Cowboys at the Giants and the Football Team in Philly,
In the AFC East, it doesn’t look good for the New England Patriots to make their 12th straight appearance in the playoffs, all with Tom Brady as their quarterback. But after their 24-3 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the first-place Buffalo Bills (10-3) clinched at least a tie when the second place Miami Dolphins (8-5) fell at home to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, 33-27, and after they disposed of the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers, 26-15, in the night game, to drop Pitt to 11-2.
Meanwhile, the winless New York Jets (0-13) are still eyeing Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence after another dismal effort, this time a 40-3 clobbering by the visiting Seattle Seahawks (9-4), who remained tied with the Rams for the top spot in the NFC West. After losing the previous week to the New York Giants at home, Seattle was more than ready to leave MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. without another defeat to a New York team, and this was one wasn’t close.
It was another unimpressive day for Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. He could manage only 116 yards through the air, had but a dozen first downs, and after this New York team began with a field goal, it was a rout from there on in. Darnold was sacked three times for a loss of 16 yards. The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-12) are also in the hunt for the No. 1 pick, which if the Jets select Lawrence, would probably settle for Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, and he’s no slouch.
Another loss by the Jags came against the Tennessee Titans (9-4), who remained tied for first place with the Indianapolis Colts following the Indy 44-17 success over the Las Vegas Raiders. Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears, now 6-7, are still hanging around and seeking a playoff spot with their 36-7 win over the Houston Texans, and are now deadlocked with the Minnesota Vikings three and one-half games behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North, with the Pack (10-3) turning in a 31-24 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Minnesota lost 26-14 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-5) and are two games in back of the New Orleans after falling on the road to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Chargers, 4-9 and in last place in the AFC West, dropped the Atlanta Falcons to 4-9 with a tight 20-17 triumph.
In the AFC, the Steelers and Chiefs have clinched playoff spots. The same for the Packers and Saints in the NFC.
In the Monday night game, the surprising Cleveland Browns, 9-3 and behind Pittsburgh by a game-and-a-half, are right up there as the leading wild card team in the league when they get a visit from the Baltimore Ravens, 7-5 and still in the wild card chase in the NFC North.
And on Thursday night, it’s the Chargers in Las Vegas versus the 7-6 Raiders, another wild card hopeful. Others are Miami in the AFC and the Colts or the Titans. In the AFC, it’s between the Rams and Seahawks in the West, and possibly the runner-up in the NFC East, but don’t bet on it.
