Week 17’s Sunday games brought crucial moments for coaches on the hot seat, teams battling for their playoff lives and, in some cases, both. The Cowboys tried to rally around their head coach and the Eagles got it done with second- and third-string quarterbacks. Meanwhile, the Colts let an opportunity slip through their grasp, just like the Broncos did a day earlier.
Drew Lock runs it in
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/5m2v3z0zWd
— New York Giants (@Giants) December 29, 2024
The Athletic NFL writers Mike Jones, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei share their thoughts on all of these storylines and more.
There is plenty of buzz that the Cowboys locker room wants Mike McCarthy back — is that a good idea or a bad idea for Dallas?
Nguyen: The offense has stayed afloat with Cooper Rush despite a lack of bluechip weapons. McCarthy finding ways to highlight the strengths of players like Rico Dowdle and KaVontae Turpin is a positive sign. But hiring defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer might ultimately be what saves McCarthy’s job; after a shaky start to the season, the defense is playing at a high level. They’re obviously still weak against the run, but that’s a personnel problem — they are light upfront and you can only do so much to mask that schematically. Coming into the week, the Cowboys were the top third-and-long (7-plus yards) defense in the league; Zimmer can still dial up pressure schemes with the best of them. Though they got blown out by the Eagles on Sunday, I think McCarthy has done enough to justify bringing him back. Unless they think they can land a big fish like Ben Johnson, McCarthy and Zimmer working with an upgraded roster could be a winning combination. However, the problem with McCarthy is his late-game decision making. The Cowboys didn’t play in a lot of big games in 2024, but how he performs in those big-stake situations is ultimately how he will be judged.
Jones: McCarthy has done a good job of getting the Cowboys to continue battling despite rampant injuries (well, until Sunday anyway). Give him credit. The locker room easily could have tuned out the message and let the season turn very ugly. And before this year, McCarthy had led the Cowboys to three straight 12-win seasons, though the underachieving Dallas has done in each of those postseasons looms large. This year’s injuries are beyond McCarthy’s control, and the failure to adequately address the running back position is Jerry Jones’ fault. However, the Cowboys seem to have reached their ceiling under McCarthy. If Jones is happy to be competitive in the regular season and then fall short repeatedly in the preseason, then sticking with McCarthy is the way to go. But if he truly wants to win another Super Bowl, Jones needs to both turn over talent acquisition duties to someone else and find a stronger leader and more innovative mind to guide this team as head coach.
Pompei: A newcomer with fewer scars might inspire more external excitement, but that never should be the driving force in making a decision on the head coach. There is merit in retaining McCarthy, whose history inspires confidence. Does anybody believe another coach could have led this team to the playoffs this year? And can anyone be sure that the Cowboys could replace him with a better coach? McCarthy works well with Jerry Jones and he resonates with Dak Prescott. There is value, underrated value, in continuity. The Cowboys might advance further in the near-future if they don’t have to step back first, and a new coaching staff almost always means a step back.
Is there anything you take away from the Eagles (down to third-string QB Tanner McKee) bouncing back from last week’s loss in Washington to blow out a division rival?
Pompei: We didn’t really learn anything, but there would have been a significant takeaway if they didn’t handle the undermanned Cowboys as 7.5-point favorites. It’s impressive that the Eagles can score 41 without Jalen Hurts, and a testament to the value of Saquon Barkley and the offensive line. If they take care of the Giants next week (as they should), the Eagles will be able to look past their loss to the Commanders and feel justifiable confidence as they prepare for playoff opponents who are in a different class from the Cowboys. To win in the postseason, though, they will need their QB back.
Nguyen: Sunday’s win just reinforces what we know: The Eagles have an incredibly talented roster. They have an elite defense, elite running game, and elite weapons on the outside — those ingredients make the quarterback’s job easy. The weakest part about their team might be their quarterback depth. If Jalen Hurts plays at a decent level, this team should represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Jones: I think the No. 1 takeaway is Tanner McKee > Kenny Pickett! Nah, in all seriousness, the main takeaway is that this is a well-constructed team with a strong offensive line and collection of skill players, and a dominant defense capable of easing pressure on their quarterback. The Eagles aren’t making a deep playoff run without Jalen Hurts — let’s get that straight. But this is a well-oiled machine that doesn’t need their quarterback to throw for 300 yards and four touchdowns for them to win games. (We probably gathered that from the 10-game win streak, which saw Philadelphia win in a variety of ways, didn’t we?)
More frustrating performance with a playoff spot on the line: Broncos letting it slip away in Cincinnati on Saturday, or Colts getting beat by the hapless Giants?
Jones: Definitely the Colts. The Bengals are better than their record suggests, so it’s far less egregious for Denver to lose to an explosive and highly-motivated Cincinnati team led by Joe Burrow, who would have garnered MVP consideration had his defense not let him down so many times this season. But to go out and lose 45-33 to a two-win Giants team that 1) had only topped the 20-point mark three previous times and 2) had nothing but pride to play for is a grave transgression. Inexcusable.
Nguyen: The Bengals have one of the best offenses in football; it wasn’t a surprise that the Broncos lost to Cincinnati. The Colts laid an egg. Even with Anthony Richardson missing the game, Joe Flacco is one of the better backups in the league. The Giants offense has been atrocious with Drew Lock and they scored 45 on Sunday — that’s unacceptable. The Colts showed definitively why they aren’t a playoff team today. The worst part is that the effort didn’t look bad. They gave up so many big plays to an offense that has struggled because of bad tackling and mental errors.
Pompei: That was a tough loss for the Broncos, but it came at the hands of a highly-motivated team that knows how to win and has a quarterback who is playing at the highest of levels. The Colts lost to a team that had nothing to play for, had no business being in the game, was playing its third choice at QB and had lost 10 in a row. Would it have been different if Richardson played? Maybe, but the loss mostly was on the defense and special teams, which combined to give up 45 points.
(Top photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
