Absolute Domination

I’ve been accustomed to seeing a grudge match between Dallas and San Francisco whenever they play each other. Whether that’s during the regular season or in the playoffs. Rarely do I ever see one blowout the other. What happened Sunday night was nothing short of domination in every facet of the game. The 49ers took the gameplan that Arizona used against Dallas a few weeks ago and just executed it to perfection. By the end of the game the Cowboys were just out of it. This doesn’t mean that the Cowboys are in danger of missing the playoffs, but there are plenty of issues that they must address if they want to keep talking about being a Super Bowl contender. For the Niners, this puts them firmly in the contender category and don’t expect them to slow down anytime soon.

Couldn’t Back It Up

Normally when you criticize someone or talk trash about an opponent or a peer, you have to back that up when you play them. During training camp, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton was critical of their former head coach from last season in Nathaniel Hackett. Payton was being honest in his assessment of Hackett’s performance, but he must have been thinking that he was still an analyst for Fox Sports when he publicly said it in front of reporters. Naturally, the New York Jets weren’t too happy about it since Hackett is now their offensive coordinator. I at the time immediately checked the schedule and made a mental note about their Week 5 matchup in Denver. I completely forgot about it while the game was being played, but it couldn’t have gone any better in my opinion. Denver is still in dire straights, both offensively and now defensively. It isn’t going to just be a simple fix of changing the head coach. There are problems everywhere and that includes the quarterback. With the Jets victory they proved a point and they did it without Aaron Rodgers, who defended Hackett, his coordinator from his days in Green Bay.

Is It The End?

It’s getting pretty close to the end for Bill Belichick. We all know that he isn’t that far away from passing Don Shula for the most wins as a head coach in NFL history. The way it’s going for the Patriots though, Belichick might have to be coaching another 5 seasons at least to get past Shula’s mark. In their last 3 games, they’ve combined to score only 13 points. In their last two games they were outplayed by Dallas and New Orleans from the start. The Saints shut them out at home and gave Belichick his worst home defeat as the Patriots head coach. The offense has been struggling once again and the lack of playmakers plus quarterback issues isn’t helping their cause on defense which has been good, but they can’t do everything. Maybe the offense will wakeup against a terrible Raiders defense in Las Vegas, but then the Patriots play Buffalo and Miami for their next two games. Currently they’re 1-4, but they could potentially be 2-6 three weeks from now. This is unfamiliar territory for one of the best coaches in NFL history.