Inside The Star
In all likelihood, the race for the NFC East title ended Sunday night when the Eagles played less sucky football than the Packers.
The Eagles improved to 7-2 with the win and now hold a three-game lead over the Dallas Cowboys in the loss column.
The Commanders season, like the Cowboys, has come apart, and they have only the New York Giants to thank for not being in the cellar at 3-7.
The Giants sit at 2-8 after blowing a 10-point lead on Sunday at Chicago. That loss appears to have been the last straw at team headquarters.
On Monday, New York fired its head coach, Brian Daboll, not even waiting for an upcoming bye week, much less the end of the season, to part ways.
The Giants have Green Bay, Detroit, and New England for the next three games before finally getting their bye week. That won’t be much fun for Daboll’s replacement.
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who became the Giants’ OC in 2022, gets the unhappy task of playing out the string.
Daboll departs with a 20-40-1 record; his lone winning season was his first with the Giants in 2022.
The team went 9-7-1 that year. They upset the Minnesota Vikings in the wildcard round before falling to the Eagles the following week.
The bye week gave the Cowboys a chance to rest, heal, and get ready for a second-half push for a playoff spot.
Two trades just before the deadline also gave the team a lift. Then the unthinkable happened.
Less than 50 hours after scoring his first NFL touchdown, defensive end Marshawn Kneeland took his own life.
It was a stark reminder of where sports really ranks in life.
Around the NFL stadiums, they paused for a moment of silence in Kneeland’s memory. His family, friends, and teammates begin the never-ending process of grieving his life and moving on as best they can with their own.
For Dallas’ players and coaches, that means getting back to practice for the next game.
At 3-5-1 the Cowboys playoff hopes are not good at all. Here’s how Dallas’ odds stands with eight games remaining:
The quest to beat the odds begins in Las Vegas in six days.
Next Game: at Las Vegas, Monday, 7:15 p.m.
The Giants looked poised to win their first road game of the year in Chicago. They were looking at possibly getting out of the lone occupancy in the NFC East cellar too.
Then they lost starting quarterback Jaxson Dart.
That brought Russell Wilson in off the bench and pretty much killed the Giants’ hopes.
New York was up by 10 and driving in the second half when Dart was tackled on a run. He fumbled the ball and left the game with a concussion.
The entire Giants roster started playing like they...
