Eckel’s Monday NFL notes: Cardinals rule the NFC West roost
The chase for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft is going to be a good one
By Mark Eckel
Nine NFL teams have just two wins and two more have just three. That chase for the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft is going to be a good one, or a bad one depending on your point of view.
When more than a quarter of the teams in the league have just two wins after nine weeks and more than a third have three or less, it’s not good.
Here we are heading into week 10 and the Giants, Saints, Panthers, Patriots, Dolphins, Browns, Titans, Jaguars and Raiders have all won just two games. The three-win teams are the Cowboys and Jets.
One of those teams is going to get the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft. And one of them is going to be picking 11th. Yes, it’s going to be interesting.
IF . . .: The playoffs started today (they don’t) Detroit (NFC) and Kansas City (AFC) would have first-round byes. The wild wild-card weekend would feature Green Bay at Washington; Philadelphia at Atlanta and Minnesota at Arizona in the NFC. And Denver at Buffalo; Los Angeles at Pittsburgh and Baltimore at Houston in the AFC.
IN DC: Not only in the state of Pennsylvania going to play a key role in Tuesday’s Presidential election, it could play a key role in the fortunes of D.C.’s football team. The Commanders (7-2) are the surprise of the league right now and their next two games could be crucial. They host Pittsburgh (6-2) Sunday afternoon and then travel to Philadelphia (6-2) for a Thursday night battle. If the Commanders sweep Pa. they would be in as good of shape as the candidate that wins the Keystone State.
WINNING: In spite of their head coach, the Eagles got their fourth straight win when they beat the Jaguars, 28-23, Sunday. It came down to Trevor “Turnover’’ Lawrence throwing his second interception of the game on a 1st-and-10 from the Eagles 13-yard line with under two minutes to go for the Eagles to secure the win. It shouldn’t have been close. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni went for three two-point conversions and went 0-for-3. And bypassed two field goal attempts from about 40 and 45 yards out. Was kicker Jake Elliott hurt?
No, Sirianni let him try a 57-yarder which failed and set up the Jags with great field position on their final drive.
LOSING: The Cowboys (3-5) continue to spiral downward and now may be without quarterback Dak Prescott who left Sunday’s loss to the Falcons. Sunday’s game featured Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, former head coach of the Vikings, against Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, formerly of the Vikings. You would think if any DC knew how to defend Cousins it would be Zimmer. And you, like me, would be wrong. Cousins carved up Zimmer with a 19-for-24, three-touchdown, 144.8-rating performance.
Why are the Dallas Cowboys struggling in 2024?
THAT’S SO RAVEN: Is there a more up-and-down team in the NFL than Baltimore? When they want to be, the Ravens look like the best team in the league as they did in a rout of a decent Denver team, Sunday. They also looked that good in an earlier win over Buffalo. Then keep in mind, they have also lost to two of the worst teams in the league — Cleveland and Las Vegas.
ONCE YOU’RE A JET: So the Packers hired disposed Jets head coach Robert Saleh to consult with the offense. And Green Bay went out against Detroit and scored a season-low 14 points, did not throw a TD pass for the first time in 19 games, saw Jordan Love play his worst game and watched the receivers drop five passes. You could say the Packers looked a lot like, well, the Jets.
LONG, LONG TIME AGO: The NFC West’s first-place Cardinals (5-4) scored three rushing touchdowns with three different players in the first half in their rout of the Bears. That’s the first time the Cards accomplished that since Dec. 2, 1923 in a win over the Oorang Indians.
