It’s not often you see a game like what took place on Thursday night. I’ve watched too many NFL contests to count over my lifetime and it’s not often when I say to myself, “does either team want to win this game?”

And yet, this is what we witnessed. The Eagles and Giants had an exciting ending, but that was only after three-and-a-half quarters of gaffes and outright buffoonery. Carson Wentz was throwing the ball like he didn’t care where it landed, Daniel Jones ran 80 yards before tripping over his own feet and it seemed every positive play was followed by something that made you scratch your head.

And yet, in true NFL style, the game made you glad you stuck around. The Eagles, trailing by 11 with just minutes left to play, erased the deficit and took the lead and the win thanks mostly to Wentz making the kind of throws that convert doubters into believers. And for all his faults, you can’t take that away from him.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

However, I can take everything away from the NFC East, which is an unmitigated dumpster fire. The Eagles are now in first place with a record of 2-4-1. Remember when people mocked Philly head coach Doug Pederson when he played for a tie rather than risk taking a loss to the Bengals? People mocked him for that. Doesn’t seem so stupid now, does it?

That tie might end up being the difference between going home after Week 17 and a home playoff game, which amazingly, the winner of this division will get. What a country, amirite?

NFL’S TOP 10

  1. Chiefs — They smacked around the Bills and now they get Le’Veon Bell as a reward. It’s a little troubling that they tend to play down to their competition at times, but they almost always end up with a win. They get to play the Broncos, Jets and Panthers before their bye week. There’s no reason to believe they won’t be 8-1 at that point.
  1. Steelers — I’ll just admit it: There’s something about this franchise that annoys me. I’ve never been able to fully embrace them, even though I understand their rich history of success and their important spot as one of the NFL’s gold standard teams. That being said, man, they look impressive. Their defense terrorizes opponents and they have an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver. Every one of them is a big play threat.
  1. Titans — Ryan Tannehill has turned his career around since arriving in Tennessee, but one gets the feeling that people are waiting for a bad game from him so they can point and shout, “see? I told you he’s no good!” Well, they’re still waiting. Tennessee is deep at running back and managed to win two games in five days. You can’t ignore that.
  1. Ravens — Don’t get me wrong, I’m not jumping off the Baltimore bandwagon. They’re still a great team and they just added pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue in a trade with the going nowhere Vikings. However, I worry about how this team will match up against Pittsburgh. If the Ravens fall behind early, they might not have the firepower to mount a comeback. Maybe I’m wrong. We’ll find out when these teams square off next Sunday. Can’t wait.
  1. Seahawks — Russell Wilson MVP blah blah blah. By now, you should know my schtick when it comes to Seattle. And now there are rumors that Antonio Brown could be a Seahawk in the near future. Despite all of the headaches that Brown has caused in recent years, he’s knocked off his social media nonsense and seems to be willing to focus on football. I believe he’ll be a success if the team signs him. And they better, because they need to outscore every team they play.
  1. Buccaneers — How about those Bucs, eh? Their defense showed why they’re a unit to be feared last week against the Packers, when they intercepted Aaron Rodgers twice, including a pick-six. And that was after they fell behind by 10 points in the first quarter. You could feel the momentum change in an instant and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles deserves most of the credit for that.
  1. Packers — Aaron Rodgers doesn’t throw multiple interceptions in a game very often. In fact, he’s never done so in consecutive games. Sometimes good teams get blown out. Let’s see how they respond against the Texans on the road.
  1. Bills — They’re still in these rankings for what they accomplished over the first four weeks of the season. Since then, they lost a tough game to the Titans and then looked pretty bad against the Chiefs. Both of those games were against elite competition and worse, on national television for everyone to see. Josh Allen has also regressed. It’s not panic time, but people should be uneasy up in Buffalo.
  1. Rams — One day this team will figure out how to beat the 49ers when Jimmy Garoppolo is at quarterback. And now they enter a challenging part of their schedule. Jared Goff didn’t throw any interceptions last week, but he missed several seemingly easy throws. He’ll need to clean that up. And their defense is good on paper, but in a lot of key situations, they get blocked easily.
  1. Bears — Are they as good as their 5-1 record would suggest? No, not really. But they are indeed 5-1 and have a win over my much beloved Buccaneers on their resume. That’s good enough to sneak in the back door of these rankings.

WHAT’S THE CHATTER?

Nervous time: If I was Derek Carr, I’d be sweating. The last thing you want to hear is that a majority of your offensive line is dealing with COVID-19 issues before facing a Buccaneers defense that just made Aaron Rodgers look like Johnny Manziel. The league already moved the game out of the Sunday night spot and there are rumblings it could be moved to Monday night. Whatever happens, Tampa head coach Bruce Arians has already ordered his players to avoid “mingling” with the Raiders after the game. Good move.

Sam is back … for now: The Jets announced Sam Darnold will be back under center on Sunday when they face the Bills. It seems as though his future is not in New York as the team might be tanking to get the No. 1 pick, which they would use on Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. Fair enough. If that’s the case, Sam should just try and put as much good tape as he can out there. Some team will take a chance on him next season. Who knows, a new home might be what he needs to break through in the NFL.

It’s not fair: I’d be upset if I was a team in the AFC North and NFC West. Every single game in that division is a slog. No easy wins. Even against the Bengals. Meanwhile, the NFC East continues to trip over themselves and do a disservice to the game of football and at least one of them will be in the postseason. I know I harped on this earlier, but it bears repeating. Ban the NFC East!

Fantasy football sucks: I get it, nobody cares about other people’s fantasy teams, but I need to vent. I had Evan Engram starting on Thursday night and every fantasy dork, err, expert, in the country swore up and down that he’s an elite option. He’s done nothing but disappoint for the past few weeks and the last straw came in the fourth quarter against the Eagles when he could have sealed the win for the Giants, but a perfectly thrown ball from Daniel Jones bounced off his stone hands. Ugh.

Hmmm, really? Vikings GM Rick Spielman insists that the franchise hasn’t lost faith in Kirk Cousins. Well, that’s nice. I mean, he has thrown 10 interceptions in six games, but cool, keep the faith. If I was head coach Mike Zimmer, I wouldn’t share that sentiment. That kind of faith will cost you a job.

APPOINTMENT VIEWING FOR WEEK 7

Browns at Bengals: Baker Mayfield claims he doesn’t give a damn what people think about his play this season. Whatever. People are just reporting what they observe. Whenever the Browns play a solid team, they get pushed around and Mayfield plays like garbage. But he gets to face Cincinnati this week, and I’m sure he’ll play well and puff his chest out like he always does when things go well against inferior competition.

Steelers at Titans: What a tasty matchup. Despite the many compliments I lobbed Tennessee’s way above, they’re in a troubling situation as left tackle Taylor Lewan is now out for the year with a torn ACL. His backup, Ty Sambrailo (great name), is a solid option and has played a bunch of snaps this season, but let’s see how he does when he carries the full load at the position. I’m thinking the Steelers get the win here, but it should be close.

Panthers at Saints: It’s one of those NFC South matchups that everyone seems to get excited about, but doesn’t move the needle for me. But hey, I won’t stop people from having their fun.

Cowboys at Washington: Hey, somebody has to win, right? If Dallas wins, watch their fans come back out of the holes they’ve been hiding in.

Buccaneers at Raiders: Finally! Jon Gruden will get a chance to get revenge on Tom Brady for the infamous “Tuck Rule” play. Seriously, I can’t believe that was a storyline this week. That play is so old it can vote.

49ers at Patriots: Who would have thought New England would be 2-3 at this point? Well, a lot of people did before the season, but now we’re seeing it come to pass. Cam Newton looked pedestrian in last week’s ugly loss. The Patriots will be anxious to erase that memory.

Seahawks at Cardinals: A lot of people feel this is a sexy upset pick, especially after how the Cardinals looked while dismantling the Cowboys. I don’t believe that. Seattle will win this one.

Bears at Rams: Chicago has made the Sean McVay offense look silly in recent history. As a Rams fan, I have a bad feeling about this game. Then again, I have a bad feeling about every game. Why should this week be any different?

See you next week!

Sid Saraf
Sid Saraf

NFL Analyst

Currently a Mobile Editor at Yahoo, Saraf spent 5.5 years (Oct. 2010 – Feb. 2016) working for FOX Sports as an NFL Editor and Writer. Prior to that, Saraf worked for CBS Interactive for 4.5 years (May 2006 – Oct. 2010) as a Staff Editor.

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