The Giants come up with creative ways to lose every other week, and this one was especially innovative. First, Odell Beckham torches Josh Norman deep, but drops the perfectly-thrown would-be 52-yard TD. Second, Tom Coughlin punts on 4th-and-1 from the Panthers 41-yard line (The Panthers drove down the field for a touchdown on the subsequent possession, of course.) Third, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie drops a would-be pick six, thrown right into his chest. Fourth, the Giants convert a third-and-three at midfield, but the referees call a ticky-tack offensive pass interference penalty.
That was before they came back from a 35-7 deficit against an undefeated team, but the Giants were not through. They let Carolina drive into field-goal range with 45 seconds left, and Coughlin sat on all of his timeouts as the Panthers ran the game clock down for a final field-goal attempt. Coughlin did use one of the three on an-ice-the-kicker ploy which failed.
Seventy-five percent of the league's coaches are clueless when it comes to 4th-down decisions and clock management, so Coughlin is hardly an outlier. And he's a better leader and more respected than most. But given how many games this team has blown in the waning minutes this year (the Giants are the first team since 1970 to lose five games in either the last 10 seconds of regulation or overtime) and that the team hasn't made the playoffs since it won the Super Bowl four season ago, it's time to move on.
• While Beckham foolishly got caught up in a brawl with Norman most of the game, and was lucky not to be ejected, it's incorrect (as the announcers and many on Twitter were doing) to allege Norman dominated the matchup. Not only did Beckham blow by him for a would-be 52-yard TD, but he caught six passes for 76 yards including the game-tying TD. Moreover, Beckham got loose down the field another time, but Eli Manning was under pressure and threw it short off his back foot. If Beckham catches only the 52-yarder, he's at 128 and two TDs. While you can't credit Beckham with the yardage for a pass he dropped, it still goes on the beating-Norman ledger because Norman had nothing to do with it. If one samurai slays the other, then trips and falls off a cliff afterward, you can't say the fight was a draw because they both died. Norman was already dead on that play when Beckham dropped it.
• Eli Manning played well except for an awful back-foot forced pick on first down as the Giants were mounting a comeback. The Giants made it back anyway after a blocked field goal and a fumbled hand-off, but that poor decision could easily have been game-sealing.
• Cam Newton is as automatic as it gets in fantasy with a high floor and high ceiling. And he's spreading the ball around to his mediocre receivers the way Carson Palmer does with his elite ones.
• I foolishly tried to find the bargain QB in DFS this week when I should have just gone with Newton or Ben Roethlisberger. This year, it's often been worth paying up for the best QBs and going cheap on the running backs.
• I can't believe the Redskins are going to win the NFC East. As a Giants fan, it's like coming home to find the village idiot having sex with your wife.
• Like the Panthers, the Seahawks are suddenly a passing team, and that means targets like Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett are as reliable as ones like Larry Fitzgerald and John Brown.
• Christine Michael had a strong game and could be a difference maker next week as the Seahawks are double-digit home favorites against the Rams.
• The Steelers put up 380 passing yards against the Broncos, but it wasn't especially efficient (6.9 YPA.) Antonio Brown managed a robust 10 yards per target, but the rest of the Steelers were held in check.
• The Denver offense was actually similar with Brown's former teammate Emmanuel Sanders gashing Pittsburgh down the field and the rest of the pass-catchers not doing much. (Demaryius Thomas scored twice but had only five yards per look.)
• The Steelers sealed their win by throwing for a first down on 3rd-and-6 rather than running more time off the clock and punting.
• It was foreseeable a San Diego running back would go off today against a terrible Dolphins defense, so I invested in some Melvin Gordon shares.
• I regret persuading Dalton Del Don to trade for Lamar Miller for our multi-sport League of Leagues team (We gave up Jason Heyward.) The Dolphins couldn't be trusted with peak Earl Campbell, and at this point, I'm not sure we can use Miller, despite a favorable matchup against the Colts, should we make it to the finals (We're favorites, pending the Monday night game.)
• Julio Jones finally showed up, but it wasn't enough to drag Matt Ryan with him.
• Recency bias is a killer. I faded the Cardinals this week after watching how poorly they played last Thursday night against the Vikings, and I'm sure most faded Amari Cooper, Stefon Diggs and Jordan Matthews. While Matthews was a tough call given the Eagles almost random targeting of their players, the equation is always skill, opportunity and matchup. Whether or not someone did well last week might affect opportunity, but in many cases it does not.
• Teddy Bridgewater had his second straight strong game. I'm still not sold fantasy-wise because the Vikings don't throw enough, but his efficiency's been off the charts.
• As I type this, David Johnson is having a monster game. He might be the No. 1 fantasy back this week against the Packers as he's tied to a great offense, gets a ton of work, gets work at the goal line and catches passes.
• I have no idea why Mike McCarthy uses or doesn't use Eddie Lacy. The Packers were actually playing John Kuhn over him in the second half.
• I went big on Brandon Bolden this week given how cheap he was and because he was the starter on a 14-point favorite. Of course, someone named Joey Iosefa saw 14 carries, and James White caught seven passes and scored a TD.
• When you see a flag for offensive pass interference, there's a 75-percent chance replay will reveal it should not have been called.
• There are five good coaches in the NFL: Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, John Harbaugh, Bruce Arians and Ron Rivera.