The next best thing to an Eagles win is a Cowboys loss. With the Birds on bye this week, the latter was the only thing we could root for this Sunday and Dallas delivered.

The Cowboys, now without Ezekiel Elliott who is finally serving that six-game suspension, got absolutely trashed by the Atlanta Falcons, who seem to be picking up steam now heading into the second half of the season. The loss dropped Dallas to 5-4 and showed what this team is without Elliott and also left tackle Tyron Smith.

The Cowboys are a different team now and looked lost against the Falcons on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles head to AT&T Stadium on Sunday night and are early 3.5 point favorites.

 

It was a wild sports weekend, let’s take a look.

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The Roundup:

Dallas lost and looking around the NFC East, your smile will get even bigger. The Redskins fell to the surging Minnesota Vikings 38-30 and the Giants lost to the previously winless Niners 31-21. Another embarrassing loss for the G-Men reportedly may end Ben McAdoo’s tenure as the Giants’ head coach today.

Without even playing, the Eagles gained one game in the standings on everyone else in the NFC East. Take a look:

  1. Eagles 8-1
  2. Cowboys 5-4
  3. Redskins 4-5
  4. Giants 1-8

Since the Eagles didn’t play, Jalen Mills took a week off from finger wagging and went on NFL Network where he lauded Doug Pederson:

Carson Wentz spent his bye week as you would expect him to:

Although the players got the week off, Howie Roseman was still working. Looks like the Eagles are adding a linebacker:

Looking around at the rest of the NFL action, the Packers won their first game this season without Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Fitzpatrick (now with the Tampa Bay Bucs) got revenge on the New York Jets, and the Steelers barely beat the sluggish Indianapolis Colts.

One of San Francisco’s touchdowns was pretty emotional for the receiver:

 

The Redskins may have already locked up catch of the year:

 

The man overseeing all of this, Roger Goodell, countered in his contract negotiations. His proposal leaked out, reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. What did he ask for?

The committee will address Goodell’s salary and compensation package. The last written counterproposal from Goodell, which was around the first of August, was seeking about $49.5 million per year, as well as the lifetime use of a private jet and lifetime health insurance for his family, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

Joe Lockhart, the executive vice president of communications, denied that Goodell had submitted such a written counterproposal. He also said there have been several meetings or conference calls among the compensation committee before Monday’s scheduled meeting.

The source who originally provided the information on Goodell’s “only written counterproposal” of $50 million with the perks is standing firm on the matter. The source only clarified that Goodell’s monetary proposal was for $49.5 million.

Saturday’s college football slate was full of upsets with #1 Georgia being pummeled by #10 Auburn 40-17 and #3 Notre Dame was blown out by #7 Miami 41-8. #16 Mississippi State nearly upset #2 Alabama, but fell 31-24 to the Tide.

#14 Penn State defeated Rutgers 35-6 and Temple beat Cincinnati 35-24.

Tennessee was blown out by Missouri 50-17 and finally Butch Jones was fired on Sunday night. Brady Hoke takes over.

The latest AP Top 25 dropped yesterday. Here’s the top 10:

  1. Alabama
  2. Miami
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Clemson
  5. Wisconsin
  6. Auburn
  7. Georgia
  8. Ohio State
  9. Notre Dame
  10. Oklahoma State

Penn State was 13th.

The latest College Football Playoff Rankings come out Tuesday night.

The Sixers lost to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. Kevin Kinkead compiled his observations from the setback, including this:

Joel Embiid still is not in game shape and he’s not playing his best basketball.

He went for 12 and 7 on 4-11 shooting and had a game-high seven turnovers in 25 minutes.

Part of the problem, for me, is that he’s still settling for too many mid-range jumpers. He’s receiving the ball too far from the low block and not doing enough work to get closer to the rim either with or without the rock.

Philly is in LA facing the Clippers tonight at 10:30pm.

Despite the loss, the Sixers are trending up, quickly, and FiveThirtyEight analyzed how the Process is going:

In the nearly 200 minutes Simmons and Embiid have shared the court, the Sixers have played like a contender, scoring 106.2 points per 100 plays while surrendering just 97.2, marks that would rank them inside the NBA’s top 10 on both ends of the court.4
This duo is clearly the source of Philadelphia’s new identity, but a number of other factors also help explain the team’s promising start.

The club — which for years might have had better shooters in the stands than it did on its bench — is lighting things up from deep, thanks to free-agent addition J.J. Redick and two-way stud Robert Covington (who’s outpacing Klay Thompson as the NBA’s best high-volume catch-and-shoot 3-point gunner so far5). The Sixers have made their plays following timeouts count, scoring 1.05 points per possession in those situations, second-best in the league, per Synergy Sports. And the young defense, still holier than a bible at times, is making an extraordinary effort as it learns the ropes. Philly boasts the NBA’s best defensive efficiency after committing live-ball turnovers, per Inpredictable; that’s noteworthy because the Sixers fumble it away more than any other team.

On the ice, the Flyers failed to net a goal in a 1-0 loss to the Wild on Saturday. The two teams tangle again on Tuesday night. The puck drops at 8pm.

Come to the Crossing Broad Christmas Sweater Party in a few weeks!

MMQB took a deep dive into football in Philadelphia from Penn football, to high school football, and the Eagles. A longer read, but well worth it to start your week.

In non-sports news…

There is a job opening to make $10,000 a month living in Cancun.

An earthquake at the Iraq/Iran border kills at least 145.

Multiple people were stabbed in an attack at Mall of America on Sunday night.

Ohhh Sunday night…wasn’t very good for Carrie Underwood, who fell and broke her wrist, among other injuries.

Enjoy your Monday! It’s Dallas week.