22. Atlanta Falcons
Michael Penix Jr. left the game with an injury, and the Falcons couldn’t finish the deal against their division rival Carolina Panthers. Once again, when we watch the Atlanta Falcons, we’re left with far more questions than answers.
And ultimately, that speaks volumes about this team. They’re just not in that contender realm right now, even though they’ve come as close as overtime the last two weeks against the Panthers and Colts before that.
The story this week was that the Falcons’ defense just could not stop Bryce Young, as weird as that sentence even is to type. The Panthers had 20 passing first downs against Atlanta, but even holding the Panthers to 2-of-6 in the red zone wasn’t good enough to come away with a win.
The Falcons have plenty of weapons, but it’s just not in the cards for them this season.
21. Dallas Cowboys
Cowboys play Monday night vs. Raiders
In many ways, it feels like it’s too late for the Dallas Cowboys this season. They’ve had far too many issues defensively up to this point, the Eagles are starting to run away a little bit, and the NFC North and NFC West are making the Wild Card picture way too muddy for Dallas to be a factor.
With five losses at this point, however, the Cowboys are still in it. And playing against the Raiders on Monday night, they’ve got a really good chance to get back on track. The Raiders have been one of the worst teams in the NFL this season on both sides of the ball, and coming out of the bye, the Cowboys are getting healthy on defense at just the right time.
Not only are they adding Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson to the mix, but DeMarvion Overshown is back, Malik Hooker is back, Donovan Wilson is back, and the Cowboys can get something cooking here with three games in the next 11 days. We’ll know by the time the turkey and pie is settling in our stomachs whether or not the Cowboys are going to be in the Wild Card mix.