The NFL will play three-games on Christmas Day. All should have been key matchups with plenty of playoff consequences. That’s how they drew it up at least. As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.” Four of the six teams are completely eliminated. That includes your Washington Football Team. They will face the equally eliminated Dallas Cowboys. It’s not “Must See TV” by any stretch of the imagination. Washington will be starting QB3, 39-year-old Josh Johnson. Game #2 features the Lions vs. the Vikings. There the likely staring QB will be an undrafted Free Agent who has thrown 0-Touchdowns while chucking an interception every 12-throws. In Game #3 the Kansas City Chiefs will be starting a QB3 as well.
It’s not hard to imagine the empty suits at the NFL office in New York back in March salivating over a slate of compelling games. Reality interceded. Best laid plans…and all that. There’s a warm snap coming for the Mid-Atlantic, even warmer farther south. The best football games of the day are likely to be in back yards.
Eleven-Days
Let’s get the good news over with. It won’t take long. The season will be over in 11-days. Back in the submarine days the standard practice for counting down days until one’s enlistment was over was fairly simple: Take a length of Plumber’s Chain with each bead counting a day. Every day near the end one bead would get cut off. Nobody will cast aspersions if there’s a sudden run on Plumber’s Chain at the DMV Hardware stores.
Scrappy Birds
Oh, those Eagles! Isn’t that the most delightful franchise? And, the fanbase to match? Adorable. Yes, they are Division Champs. But, as outlined last week this is not a Division this year to crow about. Philly looks seriously pedestrian. They were losing at halftime to a squad that is injured beyond credulity. Teams with no depth left wilt in the second half of games. So, the score is no surprise. But, make no mistake: The Eagles are not firing on all cylinders. Hoyle would say the Rams or Seahawks should make short work of them.
Rodney Dangerfield would famously say that he went to a Prize Fight and a Hockey Game broke out. The 2-point conversion was gratuitous, superfluous, and petty. But, that’s a reflection of their swarmy Head Coach. The fight, seriously, was the highlight of the game. Dan Quinn’s reaction was, “We’ll see them in two-weeks.” If the game means nothing to Philly they should sit as many starters as possible. Bad blood doesn’t cool in a fortnight. The Eagles have a lot to lose. Washington, not so much.
The Boyz
Dallas and Washington are both disappointments this season. The WFT’s troubles are on plain view on the Injured Reserve list. This week added Eddie Goldman, Sam Cosmi, and Jaylin Lane were added to the crowd. Right now there are 18-players on IR with 3-more ruled “Out” including the QB1. Dallas, however, is in the same boat for other reasons. On its third Defensive Coordinator in as many years the Defense is…well…offensive. They give up points by the bucket full. While the Offense is 2nd in Yards-Gained, the Defense is 30th in the same category. But, hidden in the Offensive stats is that the unit feasts on the Defenses of losing teams. Not so against winning teams. When facing teams with losing records they average 32.5 points. Against winning teams the average is 28-points with a big asterisk. They scored 40-ponts against the Packers in a tie game. They touched 30-points against a winning team only one other time. Against losing teams they scored over 30-points on 5 out of 7 occasions. Against playoff-bound teams they are 1-5-1. Dallas was never a serious playoff contender this year despite generating sporadic noise to the contrary.
Dallas is a highly paid unit. Dak Prescott makes $2.81-Million per game. Cee Dee Lamb makes $1.64-Million per game. Now they have George Pickens who wants to be paid. Micah Parsons was traded because had they paid him what he was worth the percentage of Salary Cap spent on those three would equal somewhere near 40% of the total Cap. Someone finally came to their senses that this was untenable. They’ve picked up Defensive pieces. They are going to get paid as well. The Cowboys, under Jerry Jones, is a star system. It markets well. But, a few stars can only carry a team so far. The NFL has one core principal: Attrition is the standard. To win in that paradigm means having youth and depth in abundance. The stars make for nice bling and sell tickets. They are necessary. But, the Lunch Pail guys are who win a team titles. Jerry Jones has a habit of ignoring those guys.
Resets?
Washington is going to have a reset this coming offseason. Make no mistake. The roster is full of pending older Free Agents. There is a lot of cap space. Per “Over the Cap” Washington has a raw Cap number of $82-Million good for 5th-most. Over the Cap computes something called “Effective Cap Space” also. “Effective Cap Space: the cap space a team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster.” They compute this to the dollar based upon some kind of algorithm. It’s a neat parlor trick only loosely connected to reality. Washington’s Effective Cap Space is $60-Million for what little that is worth.
Ready for the Cowboys’ Cap numbers? The raw number is $47-Million IN THE RED good for 32nd. Their Effective number equals Washington’s $60-Million only it’s in the red. Houdini would be challenged to get out of that situation.
One of these two franchises is going to have an easier time punching the “Reset” button. And, it won’t be Dallas.
Game Information
Dallas Cowboys at Washington Commanders: Netflix, Dec. 25, 1 p.m.
Netflix does not offer a free trial period. Here is a link to a few ways to watch it at a reduced price: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/how-to-get-free-netflix
Also to be carried on WUSA-9 in the DMV
Announcers: Ian Eagle, Nate Burleson, Matt Ryan, Sara Walsh, Melanie Collins
D.C. Radio: Bram Weinstein (play-by-play), London Fletcher (analyst), Logan Paulsen (analyst) BIG 100 WBIG-FM
From talkcommanders; Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
