"The Stack" 11-13-17
The Stack is back on this Monday and yes, I am still working on the college basketball season preview. It will come out at some point this week. That’s my goal anyway. Happy Veteran’s Day to all of those who are serving or who have served. Thank you for your service and what you’ve done for our country. We have plenty of NFL reaction to get to so let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Monday, November 13th:
Saints 47 Bills 10
The Saints continue to run the football and run it well. They were great yesterday as Mark Ingram had three touchdowns and Alvin Kamara added another touchdown on the ground as well. Drew Brees even ran it in once. The Saints defense is playing well as well. Better than that. Seven wins in a row. This team is impressive.
Packers 23 Bears 16
This wasn’t the best game to watch, not by any stretch, but Brett Hundley made a couple of great throws including a touchdown to Devante Adams and picked up his first win as a starter as the Packers would beat the Bears meaning their season is still alive. The Bears need to get Tarik Cohen involved more. That was not good at all.
Lions 38 Browns 24
For a while, it seemed like the Lions were destined to lose this game. It would have been very Lion-like. Matthew Stafford and the Lions offense wasn’t doing anything while the Browns offense was able to move the ball down the field. Finally the Lions awoke and Stafford threw three touchdowns as the Lions would pull away to win. Good teams find a way to win. Bad teams find a way to lose. The Browns once again lost.
Steelers 20 Colts 17
The Steelers were not at their best in this game. They struggled to move the ball against a suspect Colts defense. Their defense gave up a couple of long touchdowns to Jacoby Brissett, but the Steelers continued to grind and found a way to win. Good teams find a way to win. Bad teams find a way to lose (didn’t I just say that above?). That’s what happened in this one.
Jaguars 20 Chargers 17
It didn’t feel like either team wanted to win this game, but the Jaguars found a way to win. Blake Bortles was a mixed bag (more bad than good?), but the Jaguars would get a field goal in overtime to win and keep pace with the Titans (more on them in a moment).
Buccaneers 15 Jets 10
A week after looking their best against the Bills on Thursday night, the Jets looked terrible against a bad Buccaneers defense. The Bucs defense got six sacks and while Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn’t great, he did throw a touchdown against his former team and the Bucs won despite not having Jameis Winston or Mike Evans.
Titans 24 Bengals 20
The time of possession in this game would indicate that the Titans should have won this game easily yet they found themselves down 20-17 late in the fourth quarter when Marcus Mariota led the Titans on a huge drive and connected with DeMarco Murray for a seven yard score to give the Titans a lead. Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict got ejected for making contact with an official.
What a shock!
Vikings 38 Washington 30
Given that the Vikings normally stink coming out of the bye, you’ll have to forgive me and lots of other people for thinking that they wouldn’t win this one. With Everson Griffen out with a foot injury as well, it was also difficult to think that the Vikings would have enough to take down Kirk Cousins and company. Enter Case Keenum who had his best game of the season by far with four touchdowns as the Vikings went five-for-five on touchdowns in the redzone and won the game. Keenum did throw two interceptions on back-to-back passes, but he played great in this one. Adam Thielen (eight catches for 166 yards and a touchdown) also played great. Big win for the Vikings.
Rams 33 Texans 7
Dear Tom Savage’s agent. Please see yesterday’s game again as an example as to why your client shouldn’t have been playing at all this year. Another bad game by Savage, but the Texans defense also couldn’t hold up after playing good in the first half. Three touchdown passes by Jared Goff in the third quarter alone sank this team. Dear Texans. If you are serious about winning, sign a quarterback, perhaps like Colin Kaepernick. Savage is not cutting it out.
Falcons 27 Cowboys 7
So the first game that Dak Prescott plays without Ezekiel Elliott wasn’t exactly what the Cowboys had in mind. Maybe it would have gone much better if Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn wasn’t playing. Most teams are happy with six sacks in a game. Clayborn had six sacks by himself! Six! How does that happen? It was a career game for him and the Falcons offense played well despite losing running back Devonta Freeman to a concussion early in the game. Big win for them. The Cowboys need to figure things out in a hurry with the Eagles coming to town next week.
49ers 31 Giants 21
I know the Giants aren’t a good team…obviously. But, can you tell me something? How do you give up 31 points to a terrible 49ers team? Seriously?! This Giants team has given up on the season. It’s an absolutely embarrassment. They are far more embarrassing than the 49ers and maybe even the winless Browns. Just terrible!
Patriots 41 Broncos 16
Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler didn’t play terrible in the game, but it looks little bad when the final score is 41-16. That’s because the vaunted Denver defense gave up 41 points to Tom Brady and the Patriots. That’s not good…obviously. Things have gone south in a hurry for the Broncos. The Patriots defense is playing better. They are starting to look like the team we thought they would be at the start of the season.
Miami Dolphins @ Carolina Panthers 8:30 PM ET ESPN MNF
While I’m not a believer in the Panthers quite yet, the Dolphins have not shown me any reason to believe that they can pull off a road win. Their last road trip was a 40-0 shutout loss. At least they have Jay Cutler this time. It won’t matter. The Panthers will win this game pretty easily.
Prediction: Panthers 26 Dolphins 10
Coming up Wednesday: 2017-18 College basketball season preview
