Who Won The NFL Weekend? Russell Wilson, Healthy And Ready To Take The NFC

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You can copy and paste the phrase The NFL has been crazy this season into an article about every year in the league’s history, but here we are with one game short of 10 weeks in the books, and the Cowboys are the class of the NFC with a rookie quarterback, a rookie running back and a just-good-enough-so-far defense. The NFC teams we thought would be atop the standings, like the Panthers, Cardinals, Packers, have all disappointed. The NFL has been crazy this season.

But order was restored in some small measure on Sunday night, because the Seahawks took down the Patriots, 31-24, and asserted themselves as once again being an excellent team, and a serious obstacle for anyone (like the Cowboys) to overcome if they wish to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. They did so because, in a league where a dominant quarterback can outweigh serious issues in other places on the roster, Russell Wilson is healthy again and looking like his magical self.

Those who have clutched pearls at the NFL’s dwindling stature as an entertainment product must have been heartened by Sunday, as a gameday slate full of craziness in the daytime gave way to a battle between established powers which, for once, lived up to the billing. Seattle and New England traded scores all night, and it ended with a goal line stand to put Seattle at 6-2-1, on the inside track to a first round bye.

Their defense may have given up quite a bit on Sunday night, but sometimes that’s the consequence of doing business against an offense with two of the most athletic tight ends in the NFL in Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett. Heading into the contest, they were ranked sixth in DVOA by Football Outsiders, a healthy spot for a unit whose reputation precedes it. The running game showed encouraging signs with C.J. Prosise totaling 153 yards of offense, but it still is a shell of what it was with Marshawn Lynch. With the offensive line just beginning to emerge from the wreckage it was in the first half, the Seahawks are as dependent on Russell Wilson as it has ever been to keep pace with its defense.

Wilson struggled with an ankle injury for a few weeks there, but he’s amazingly managed to shrug off its effects in-season to look fully healthy. That’s no small thing, and he looked as good as ever against the Patriots with a 25-37 performance for 348 yards and three touchdowns. As well as the Cowboys are playing, it would be hard to call them favorites against this Seahawks team if Russ is throwing up stat lines like that.

Other Week 10 Winners

Marcus Mariota: The Titans may have had the most surprising score line of the day, stomping the befuddling Packers 47-25. Mariota’s numbers looked like he was back steamrolling mid-major schools at Oregon, throwing for 295 yards and four touchdowns on only 25 attempts. He’s looked just as dangerous as he was promised to be these past few weeks, and the Titans are up to 5-5 in the mediocre AFC South. They are firmly in the playoff discussion, and Mariota’s blend of explosiveness and safety — he still hasn’t thrown a red zone interception yet in his career — bodes well for the future regardless.

Kirk Cousins: It’s tempting fate to put Cousins in this spot, considering how wildly he fluctuates between very good and frighteningly bad, but it’s time to give that other, OTHER quarterback in the NFC East his due. Washington sent the Vikings deeper into their tailspin behind Cousins’ 22-33, 262-yard, two-touchdown performance, and got themselves to 5-3-1 and a decent shot at a wild card berth. It certainly got Kirk excited:

That moment is a much more form of endearing goofiness than the shrill “YOU LIKE THAT,” which has become a de facto cheer among Washington hopefuls. If Kirk could get a whole stadium to squeal, “Ooh-wee!” we’d buy into his magic 100 percent.

Dak Prescott & Ezekiel Elliott: As much as we’d like to spend this space shouting out under appreciated players like Dee Ford and Aaron Donald, it’s impossible to ignore what the Cowboys rookies (can we start calling them Deke Ellicott? Or just Deke for short) accomplished on Sunday, combining to completely overwhelm a truly competent Pittsburgh Steelers team. Dak averaged 10 yards per attempt without throwing an interception, and Zeke totaled over 200 yards from scrimmage, including this game-winning run:

We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the Cowboys have the best record in the NFL and their rookies haven’t slowed down a bit. Tony Romo has officially been benched for Dak until the latter cools off, but Zeke will continue to be the workhorse that ruins game plans and keeps the Dallas defense off the field. The two will be competing with each other for both Rookie of the Year and MVP at this rate.

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