Aside from the sideshow that saw Panthers WR Steve Smith duke it out with Patriots CB Aqib Talib and hearing Patriots QB Tom Brady drop an ‘F’ bomb to the referees as they picked up a flag that would have guaranteed New England at least one more play to win the game, this was a good Monday night game.  Most this season have been dreadful, but not as bad as the Thursday night showcases on the NFL Network.  Regardless this was a big victory for the Carolina Panthers as it puts them well into contention in the NFC and the Patriots loss doesn’t mean much other than to say that they aren’t invincible and they won’t always have the perception of being bailed out by the referees.  If this means that Cam Newton will now live up to the potential that comes with being the number one overall pick then this will be the game that started his rise to that elite level.  Time will tell and now the NFL will quickly focus to the Patriots hosting the Broncos next week and hopefully folks will forget about that flag being picked up.

I haven’t gone this far in calling the NFL a ‘flag football’ league, but after this past weekend I have no choice now.  First and foremost I’m a San Francisco 49ers fan.  If you didn’t know before, you know now.  Even if I wasn’t a Niners fan that hit that Ahmad Brooks put on Saints QB Drew Brees was a clean hit in my book.  Although my book would classify a lot of perceived ‘dirty’ hits nowadays as clean hits, but I’ve seen far worse hits on quarterbacks this year and sometimes they were called, but not all the time.  Why was this one?  I saw Colin Kaepernick get pushed to the ground after he clearly threw the ball away and took nearly two full steps before being pushed.  Was there a flag?  Nope.  Where’s the consistency in the calls?  That’s all I’m asking.  49ers LB Ahmad Brooks is appealing his fine which might or most likely not be reduced, but the damage is done.  He’ll be thinking twice about touching the quarterback when he has to and we are getting closer to a flag being around the quarterbacks waist or two-hand touch.  Which do you prefer?

If I’m Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, stop talking about Michael Vick.  As long as Nick Foles is healthy this is your quarterback.  At least former Eagles head coach Andy Reid did something right by drafting Foles a few years before he was fired.  As of right now the Eagles are atop the horrible NFC East which still has the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants still on their heels.  8-8 would be the best record for the division winner at this point, but the way that Foles has been playing of late don’t be surprised if the Eagles push their win total to 10.  I’ve always had second thoughts about this division for a long time.  Almost the majority of ‘experts’ say that this is the toughest division in football.  It is in the sense that no one wants to outright take it.  You never know who will show up, especially when they play each other.  You have to wonder how much longer Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder keep their current staffs with the disappointment they’ve had this year with high expectations.  Will Tom Coughlin be back if the Giants don’t make the playoffs?  If the Eagles win the division how far could they go in the playoffs? It could be a case of don’t let any team from this division qualify for the playoffs, but the only one I see making any noise going forward would be the Eagles based off of the arm of their current quarterback.