Happy Thanksgiving for all those who celebrated, if you didn't I hope you had a fine day anyway. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Why? First I don't have to do any shopping to buy people gifts. I don't mind giving gifts, I hate shopping. Second I feast like a king. I had dinner at my brother's house and even though I am a better cook, my brother contests that statement but what the hell does he know he's a Bengals fan, he had an awesome spread of food. Roasted turkey, fried turkey, venison kielbasa (homemade!), mashed and sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry relish etc, etc. It was great.
The final reason I love Thanksgiving is we are blessed with NFL action, specifically a Dallas Cowboys game. Who doesn't like getting stuffed to the gills and then relaxing on the recliner to watch America's Team? OK all you haters, I know you probably don't like Dallas but tough, they are America's Team so whether you like it or you don't like it learn to love it because it isn't going to change! Right Nature Boy?
"Whether you like it or not, learn to love it, because its the best thing going. Wooooo!" ~ Ric Flair
If you are not a Ric Flair fan then your life is missing something. His shoes cost more than your house!
Anyway back to football. I had to enjoy some Ric Flair promos because the games this year were just dreadful. We were promised a triple-header but the Baltimore Ravens screwed it up by having Covid issues. The Ravens/Steelers matchup was moved to Sunday (maybe), so we were left with the Lions and Cowboys. And they didn't disappoint, they have both stunk all season and they stunk again on Thanksgiving. Good Grief. These are the days I really miss drinking.
Texans 41 Lions 25
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I was rooting for the Lions in this game even though I thought they had no shot to win. I mean they get tore up last Sunday by a XFL QB, what was Deshaun Watson going to do to them? The answer was a lot. Yet I was hoping Detroit could pull one out for their long suffering fans. They deserve better.
The game actually started out well for Detroit. Houston took the first possession and punted after gaining a few yards. The Lions took the ball and drove right down the field with the drive culminating in an Adrian Peterson TD run. The old man still has something left in the tank.
Houston had to punt again on their second possession and Detroit had a shot to grab a good lead early. Except Matthew Stafford threw a pick-six to J.J. Watt with his first pass. Uh, oh. The comedy of errors was beginning.
The Lions got the ball back and RB Jonathan Williams preceded to fumble the ball right back to Houston. The Texans took advantage of the short field to score another TD. OK, time for Detroit to turn it around. Nope, they turned the ball over on their third straight possession when RB Kerryon Johnson lost the ball!
The Lions turned it over on three straight possessions to a team that had only forced 5 turnovers in their first ten games. Ouch. At this point even the football gods felt sorry for the Lions, Houston returned the favor when RB C.J. Prosise coughed the ball back to Detroit. Butterfingers for everyone!
The Lions cashed in on the short field when Adrian Peterson crossed the goal line for his second TD of the game. At this point the Lions held a 14-13 advantage early in the second quarter. They put their plethora of turnovers behind them and actually held a slim lead.
It didn't last long. Deshaun Watson had enough of this nonsense and took over the game, lighting up the Lions defense. When Watson was done air-bombing Detroit the Texans had a 41-17 lead before they gave up a garbage time TD. Final score Texans 41-Lions 17.
Watson was having such a field day the Texans felt free to dig deep into their playbook. Check out this trick-play:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1332056995352887296
- i
This game was all about Houston QB Deshaun Watson. The Texans running game was bad so Watson took command with big plays: 17/25, 318 yards, 4 TDs. Most of those plays went to WR Will Fuller: 6 receptions, 171 yards, 2 TDs. Watson found a matchup he liked and torched Detroit with it. The Texans improved to 4-7.
Somehow Detroit survived all of their early errors by actually having a lead. Then the defense completely fell apart and it was game over as Houston blew right past them. QB Matthew Stafford (28/42, 295 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) couldn't keep up with Watson. RB Adrain Peterson (15 carries, 55 yards, 2 TDs) was good at the goal line but struggled to gain yards against a very bad Houston run defense.
The Lions dropped to 4-7 and head coach Matt Patricia is firmly on the hot seat. He was hired to be a defensive mastermind yet the Detroit defense seems to regress every time they take the field. This kind of pitiful display in front of a nation-wide audience doesn't look good.
No-names 41 Cowboys 16
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The Dallas Cowboys got in the spirit of the Holiday by playing like turkeys. Dammit Dallas, now I have to say nice things about a football team that doesn't even have a damn name!
OK Chops, breathe. You know the Cowboys are bad, you didn't expect good thing to happen. Try to remember the good times, the ones that came so long ago when Troy Aikman was playing instead of commentating.
The real kick in the crotch for Dallas was they were only down 20-16 entering the 4th quarter. They shouldn't have even been in that bad position, but terrible decision making and a turnover put them there. They still had a chance. Then they made even worse decisions and seemed to give up as Washington rolled right over them for 21 unanswered points.
Dallas took a 10-7 lead in the 2nd quarter on a beautiful 54-yard TD pass from Andy Dalton to Amari Cooper. Too bad the game didn't end there because not much went right after that.
Washington kicked a FG to tie the game at 10-10. Then the Cowboys shot themselves in the foot. Facing 4th and inches on their own 34-yard line, head coach Mike McCarthy decided to gamble and go for it. I had no issue with that decision, the Dallas defense is bad and you have to keep your foot on the pedal. The problem was the play call. 4th and inches and you have Zeke Elliott at RB. Run right? Or at least a QB sneak. Those would have been smart decisions.
Instead McCarthy called for a pass. Not for #1 WR Amari Cooper, not for #2 WR Ceedee Lamb, but for #3 WR Michael Gallup. I Like Gallup, I like him a lot, but he is clearly behind the other guys. If you make this kind of gutsy (stupid) play call you have to go to one of your tops guys. The pass was incomplete and to make matters worse the Cowboys committed a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty to give the No-names the ball at the Dallas 19-yard line.
Washington took advantage of the gift for an easy short, short field TD. The Cowboys later kicked a FG to cut Washington's lead to 17-13 at the half.
The Cowboys got the ball first in the second half and had a chance to re-take the lead. Then Zeke Elliott fumbled the ball on their second play. WTF! Nobody knocked the ball out of his hands, he simply dropped it as he was falling down. Jesus H. Christ. It was the fifth fumble Elliott has lost this season, he had only lost 5 fumbles in his first four year's in the league. Nobody, and I mean nobody, in the NFL is having a worse season than Zeke when you consider how much money the Cowboys have given him. What a waste.
The much maligned Dallas defense stepped up and only surrendered a FG, giving Washington a 20-13 lead. Then the Cowboys got a break. On the next Washington possession QB Alex Smith threw an INT to LB Jaylon Smith, who returned the ball to the Washington 4-yard line. Woo Hoo, the Cowboys were back in business! Except the offense lost six yard in three plays and had to settle for another FG. Shit. Still the Cowboys cut their deficit to 20-16 heading into the 4th quarter.
Then things truly turned to shit.
After the Dallas defense forced another punt, the Cowboys got the ball on their own 12-yard line. Several plays later they faced a 4th and 10 on the 23-yard line. Still early in the quarter, the Cowboys have plenty of time left. Time to punt the ball and hope the defense can get another stop. Especially since the defense actually played alright when the offense didn't give the No-names short fields. But no, Mike McCarthy decided to dig into his bag of tricks again. What followed is possibly the worst fake punt in NFL history.
Watch for yourself:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1332115695832866817
- i
At this point I knew the game was lost. You can't come back from a decision and play that horrible. I nearly threw up my delicious Thanksgiving dinner.
Washington knew the game was over as well and preceded to drive a stake right through the heart of Dallas. They only needed one play for RB Antonio Gibson to score a TD on a 23-yard dash. The Dallas defense gave up, they had seen enough.
Yet Washington sensed they could make a statement and they went on to bury Dallas. After another Dallas punt, Washington put together their best drive of the game to go 76-yards and score a TD. Then to make matters worse for the Cowboys, Andy Dalton's next pass was picked off for a pick-six. Ugh. Finally the clock hit zero and this disaster was over, Washington 41 Dallas 16.
Time to give Washington some credit before I lose my lunch again. The No-names defense was very good outside of giving up the one big TD bomb. They forced the Cowboys to turn the ball over on downs twice to set up the offense for easy scores. Plus they only gave up 3 FGs in the Cowboys three red zone opportunities. Then they put some icing on the cake by running up the score with a pick-six. Great effort.
The No-names offense wasn't great, but they took advantage of all the opportunities the Cowboys gave them. QB Alex Smith (19/26, 149 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) didn't move the ball much. The No-names ground attack was better with RB Antonio Gibson (20 carries, 115 yards, 3 TDs) having a big day and RB Peyton Barber (11 carries, 57 yards) contributing as well. Overall it was a good team win for Washington, with all three phases of the game contributing. The No-names improved to 4-7, and believe it or not, first place in the NFC (L)East.
Lets sum up the Cowboys. Bad decisions, bad play calling, bad execution. That wraps it up. They could have won this game, but they gave it away. That's the story of the 2020 Cowboys.
QB Andy Dalton (25/35, 215 yards, 1 TD, 1INT) wasn't great, but he wasn't awful either. If WR Ceedee Lamb could have held on to a pass that hit him right in the hands in the endzone his numbers would have looked better. WR Amari Cooper (6 receptions, 112 yards, 1 TD) always plays great at home. He was a bright spot for the offense.
The Cowboys banged-up offensive line lost two starters early in this game and the ground attack stunk. Zeke Elliott (10 carries, 32 yards, 1 fumble) continues to have a horrible season. Great players are supposed to step up when teammates go down. Elliott hasn't, he has gotten worse.
Mike McCarthy is going to get ripped over his coaching in this one and he will deserve it. There is bold decision making and their is stupid decision making. He opted for stupid. On top of that he tried calling a few trick plays that all failed. And failed bad. This team has no identity on offense and that falls on the head coach. And he better not blame the Dak Prescott injury either. Dalton is good enough that this team should still be able to score. The Cowboys fell to 3-8, last place in the pathetic NFC (L)East. It's where they belong.
Well with no Ravens/Steelers game tonight, that's all the action we got for Thanksgiving. Two sad sack teams getting their asses handed to them by squads that aren't much better. Yup. Hopefully we have better luck on Sunday. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave any comments below. Or continue with your glorious post-turkey nap.