"The Stack" 11-2-20
It was a rough day for Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Jackson had four turnovers in the Ravens 28-24 to the still unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers defense got after it him much of the game.
The Stack is back on this Monday and it was another wild Sunday in the NFL. We still have an undefeated team. We saw a couple of pretty big upsets and we saw the weather, specifically the wind factor into more than a handful of games. Time to react to it all in “the stack” for today, Monday, November 2nd:
Steelers 28 Ravens 24
The Pittsburgh Steelers remain undefeated. Things started out good with a pick-six right away. Then they forced a Lamar Jackson fumble inside the five yard line when Baltimore was about to take the lead. They forced four turnovers from Jackson in all and had a fantastic drive in the fourth quarter that led to the game-winning touchdown when Big Ben found Charles Claypool. The Ravens had one last chance, but couldn’t get it done. Jackson’s passing struggles continue and the Steelers are now up two games in the division. Very, very impressive.
Rams 17 Dolphins 28
Maybe it’s the fact that they played Monday night and then had to fly cross-country for an early kickoff game. Or maybe the Miami Dolphins were just super hyped because it was Tua Tagovailoa’s first start. Either way, the Rams weren’t very good on offense. Neither were the Dolphins, but defense and special teams more than made up for it with each scoring a touchdown and the Dolphins improved to above .500. Quite the overall impressive team performance. And it will get better each week for Tua.
Jets 9 Chiefs 35
So the Kansas City Chiefs covered. That is the big thing. Hall-of-famer Patrick Mahomes threw five touchdowns and over 400 yards. That was slightly unexpected as some/I thought they would run it all over the New York Jets. They did no such thing. Le’Veon Bell did not have a big game, but he didn’t need to. Mahomes did more than enough.
Vikings 28 Packers 22
Definitely one of, if not the surprise of the day. Aaron Rodgers torched the Minnesota Vikings in the first game of the season. He and Davante Adams had a great connection once again in this one hooking up for three scores, but it was the Dalvin Cook show. The Vikings running back had three rushing touchdowns and had a receiving touchdown as well, the first Vikings player with four touchdowns since Ahmad Rashad in 1979. They bogged down a bit in the fourth quarter, but were able to hang on and beat the Packers despite their secondary taking more hits and losing bodies. What a win for the Vikings. Bad loss for the Packers.
Colts 41 Lions 21
Yes Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers was very good with three touchdowns and yes the defense had a pick six, but can we talk about the real storyline in this game? That would be running back Nyheim Hines’ two touchdown celebrations. The cartwheels. The flips. And no torn ACLs or knee injuries. I want to see more of this! I want to see him in the endzone more!
Raiders 16 Browns 6
The wind wreaked havoc in this game. It was difficult to throw the ball. Both quarterbacks threw for under 300 combined passing yards. The Raiders were just a little bit better and made a few more plays. This game isn’t an indictment on the Browns in their first game without OBJ, but certainly they need to play better going forward. The wind though completely made things difficult.
Titans 20 Bengals 31
If I’m a Tennessee Titans fan, I would start to be worrying. At the southern end of Ohio, the wind was a factor in this game too, but cool hand Joe was ready for it. The Cincinnati Bengals were in control of this game pretty much from the get-go. The Titans got some garbage yards and points late, but Ryan Tannehill didn’t play very well overall. Great win for the Bengals. This team, once they get a little more talent, will be going places. The Titans need to figure things out and fast.
Patriots 21 Bills 24
Finally, we had a positive Zack Moss sighting for the Buffalo Bills. The rookie running back had two rushing touchdowns and complimented fellow running back Devin Singletary well. Bills quarterback Josh Allen once again was not very good and it looked like the New England Patriots were going to win or at the very least force overtime as they drove deep into Bills territory, but Cam Newton was stripped on a designed quarterback run. He never felt the defender come from behind him and punch the ball out. Tough way for the Patriots to lose their fourth straight game.
Chargers 30 Broncos 31
The Los Angeles Chargers are the Atlanta Falcons of the AFC. They just love to invent ways to lose games. They were at it again on Sunday blowing a 24-3 lead to Drew Lock and the Denver Broncos who weren’t doing anything offensively. Second half was a completely different story and the Broncos were able to win the game on the final play of the game thanks to a pass interference penalty that put the ball at the one. Lock rolled right and found K.J. Hamler for the game-winning touchdown. It must be so tough being a Chargers fan and seeing them lose the way they do.
49ers 27 Seahawks 37
Wow! Don’t look at the final score, but this game was not as close as the final score indicates. The Seattle Seahawks blew the doors off of San Francisco in the second half. Russell Wilson threw for four touchdowns and D.K. Metcalf, a man possessed with over 140 yards receiving and two touchdowns. The 49ers got banged up (shocking!) losing Jimmy Garoppolo and George Kittle to injury. Whether or not they will be available Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers that remains to be seen. I’m thinking at least one of the two of them won’t play. Seahawks defense…very impressive.
Saints 26 Bears 23
This was not a pretty game. The weather was a factor in this game and the Chicago Bears offense
was a factor. It wasn’t good until late when Nick Foles led the Bears to 10 fourth quarter points to tie the game. New Orleans wound end winning the game thanks to Will Lutz’s leg. The Bears, not a good team. New Orleans…are they a good team?
Cowboys 9 Eagles 23
If any quarterback had four turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 interceptions) and still stayed in the game and ended up winning like Carson Wentz did Sunday night, well it just wouldn’t have happened unless that team was playing the Dallas Cowboys or New York Jets. Fortunately for Wentz and company, they were playing the former. What an awful game this was. Congrats to the Philadelphia Eagles on becoming the first team from the NFC East this season to win back-to-back games.
5-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ 1-6 New York Giants 8:15 PM ET ESPN MNF
Look, the Bucs are playing really good football right now. The Giants are playing tough, but just aren’t that good themselves. I can’t give you a great reason for watching this game, but if you are hoping for a good game or an upset, think again.
Prediction: Bucs 38 Giants 10
Coming up Tuesday: MNF reaction plus college football weekend reaction and maybe thoughts on Justin Turner
