It is crazy that two 3-7 teams were going to play a game on Thanksgiving and one of those teams would be in first place when the day ended. That is how it’s been for the NFC East in 2020, with the chances of that continuing likely. On Thanksgiving, the Washington Football stomped on the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 41-16. At 4-7, Washington is now in first place and is 3-2 in the division. Let us analyze how this game played out.

Have a Day, Antonio Gibson

With a chance to shine on the national stage, rookie RB Antonio Gibson took advantage and put on a show, leading the Washington offense to victory. The Memphis product had 20 carries for 115 yards, finding the endzone three times. Through the air, he also caught five passes for 21 yards in the blowout. In the process, Gibson tied Hall of Fame WR Randy Moss for most touchdowns in a game as a rookie. The rookie has quietly been dominant this season, averaging 4.6 YPC on 139 carries while scoring 11 touchdowns. He is not going to win rookie of the year, but he should at least get more respect than he has been receiving.

Washington Defense Stays Hot

The strength of Washington coming into the season was the defense, highlighted by their d-line featuring Montez Sweat, Chase Young, and Jonathan Allen. Like Gibson, the defense was able to show out on a national stage by forcing two giveaways and sacking QB Andy Dalton four times while only giving up 247 yards of offense. One of the giveaways was an interception by Montez Sweat that was taken to the house for a pick-six. This was the second pick-six by a defensive lineman on the day, the first coming from DE J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans, who did it against the Lions earlier in the day. If Washington can keep running the offense efficiently, the defense should be able to make plays to win football games down the stretch.

Dallas Woes Continue

There is no way around it, but it has been a rough year for the Dallas Cowboys. QB Dak Prescott, LT Tyron Smith, RT La’el Collins, and CB Trevon Diggs are all out for the season. Unfortunately, one of their coaches tragically passed away this week also. Besides all this, the play on the field has not been their either and the coaching decisions have been questionable. RB Ezekiel Elliott has underperformed to his standards, the defense has been inconsistent, and they do not have their quarterback to pick up the slack right now. As for coaching, a fake punt on fourth down may have cost them the game, as well as throwing it on 4th and Inches when you have Elliott, who even in a down year is still one of the premier backs in football. Adding to the injuries, two more offensive linemen got hurt in this game, one of them being RG Zack Martin. It has been a rough year for Dallas and one that seems to be considered a lost season due to all the injuries.

Looking Ahead

Looking forward to Week 12, Washington will look to improve their chances of winning the division and move to 5-7 on the road against the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers (10-0). As for the Cowboys, they will look to take down the Baltimore Ravens (6-4) on Thursday Night with the likelihood that MVP QB Lamar Jackson will miss the game due to COVID-19.

Info from profootballreference.com

Writer

-By: Richie Dordas

Detroit, MI: Thanksgiving is a holiday of acknowledging all the good fortune that the American people have received over the past year. Some are thankful for their good health, the clothes on their back, the food in their stomachs. Others are thankful to have a job or the opportunity to go for a grade-a education during a crazy year that featured a controversial national election, a global pandemic, and murder hornets (remember those?). Texans fans, however, are counting their lucky stars and giving thanks to the fact that they have a guy like DeShaun Watson quarterbacking their team, as Houston walked into Ford Field on Thanksgiving and absolutely embarrassed the Lions on “their day” with a 41-25 routing.  

 

Great win, but don’t get fooled, Texans Fans 

            This game against the Detroit Lions was supposed to be the offensive fireworks display many fans were expecting from the Houston Texans going into this season. DeShaun Watson, despite being the leader of this mediocre menagerie of misfits that is the Texans offense, has been a top-five, top-seven quarterback this season. He’s 6thin the league in passing yards, tied for 9thin passing touchdowns, and hasn’t thrown an interception in the last five games. And yet, the Texans offense ranks 17thin yards per game, 31thin rushing yards per game, and Watson often has to play against his own defense, which gives up 411 yards per game (31stin the league in that category) and 27 points per game. But somehow, it all came together for Houston on Thanksgiving. Watson again eclipsed 300 passing for the second week in a row, completed 68% of his passes, tossed four touchdowns, and finished with a near-perfect passer rating of 150.4. And on a day that he didn’t have either Kenny Stills or Randall Cobb, Watson might have found his No. 1 receiving target going forward, connecting with Will Fuller V on six catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns; a forty-yarder that came off the heels of a false start, and an impressive 34-yard flea-flicker that had Fuller skipping into the endzone. 

As for the defense, Detroit’s offense was in a giving mood, as they gave the ball away to Houston’s defense three times; two fumbles and a pick-six by the Texan’s future hall of fame defensive juggernaut JJ Watt. In reality, they should have had eight turnovers, but safety Justin Reid dropped what would have been Matthew Stafford’s second interception of the day in the fourth quarter, and they weren’t able to scoop up three of Detroit’s five fumbles of the day.  

But don’t be fooled Texans fans. Just because interim head coach Romeo Crennel has gone 4-3 since taking over for Bill O’Brien in week 5, it doesn’t mean he’s the answer at head coach for your team. The search starts now for someone that knows how to develop a unique talent in DeShaun Watson. Don’t make the same mistakes the Browns did in 2019.  

Sheila Ford, do the right thing 

            The fact that Matt Patricia is still the head coach of the Detroit Lions after his offense was held to just 185 yards of total offense & laid an egg against the Carolina Panthers last week, along with his defense giving up a horrendous 397 total yards and 28.7 points per game this season, is a crime against football humanity. The former Patriots defensive coordinator was brought to Michigan in hopes of revamping an aging Lions defense to help compliment a promising offense that was top 10 in passing categories, thanks to the efforts of their franchise stalwart in quarterback Matthew Stafford (28/42 [67% completion] for 295 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, and one fumble). But that hasn’t been the case. Patricia is reviled by Lions fans, current/former players, and the Detroit media. During his two years in the Motor City, Patricia has compiled a 13-29-1 coaching record. It took his predecessor, Jim Caldwell, four years to hit 28 losses with Detroit. Let that sink in. As for this game, the only positive takeaway for Detroit was that tight end TJ Hockenson had his best game of the season against Houston, racking up five catches for 89 yards, with 51 of those yards coming off this insane flea-flicker play. His best play of the day, though, came on Adrian Peterson’s (15/55/2) second touchdown of the day, where he won on a one-on-one block with Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus at the goal line.  

What’s next? 

            After enjoying a nice Thanksgiving meal to go along with their win, Houston heads back to NRG Stadium to host a No. 1 ranked Colts defense coming off a battle for the division lead in week 12 vs the Tennessee Titans. As for Detroit, if Patricia is still on this team by week 13, his squad travels southwest to Chicago to face a middling Bears team that would have played in a Sunday Night divisional showdown against the Green Bay Packers.

Writer

-By: Juan Guarin-Camargo