News: BTB: Seven Things We Learned From Sunday's NFL Games

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We review yesterday's NFL action and marvel at the ineptitude of the Eagles, wonder what to make of the Cardinals, and share some other random observations.

1. Such a perfect day

Seeing the Eagles fumble away the game in Arizona was especially entertaining, but it wasn't the only good news from a Cowboys perspective.

The Cowboys own the tiebreaker over the Saints and Seahawks, so having them win against the Packers and Panthers respectively plays right into our cards.

LOL @ Da Bears.

Only a Lions loss in the early Sunday action could have made the day any better from a Cowboys perspective.

2. The bar is set very high for the Cowboys tonight.

The Cowboys' last three opponents (excluding the Giants, who had a bye week) went 3-0 yesterday, as the Saints, Texans and Seahawks outscored their opponents 87-58. Yet the talking heads are still voicing doubts about whether the Cowboys are "for real," and that a simple win tonight isn't enough to prove they are legitimate. No, they must beat the spread, sit DeMarco Murray in the second half, and get five sacks.

Ummm, yeah.

This is another case of "old memes die hard:" It's only a big game if the Cowboys lose.

3. Eagles learn the meaning of Regression To The Mean.

Last season, Nick Foles had an astonishing 27-2 TD/INT ratio. That was then, this is now:


Nick Foles has 9 INT's - MOST by an Eagles QB in the 1st 7 games of a season in 25 years #6abcEagles #PHIvsAZ pic.twitter.com/UzHkLc42th

— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) October 27, 2014

After seven games, the Eagles have a passer rating of 80.7, the sixth worst value in the league and just ahead of the Bucs and Raiders. Last year, Nick Foles led the league with a 119.2 passer rating.

Eagles fans are now calling for Mark Sanchez to start, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the terrible 80.7 passer rating the Eagles have right now would be a career high for Sanchez.

4. The importance of home-team advantage in the playoffs.

The Saints are 3-0 at home (and looked fantastic against the Packers last night) and 0-4 on the road. The Packers are 3-0 at home and 2-5 on the road - and looked terrible against the Saints last night as they got gashed by Mark Ingram for a career-high 172 yards, and allowing Drew Brees to complete all but five of his 32 pass attempts is not. You don't want to play either team on the road in the playoffs.

5. NFL Today studio crew can’t stop laughing at the Commanders

The Washington Post provides a "play-by-play" of the NFL Today studio panel losing it on air at the idea that the Commanders could win in Dallas tonight. The Post is outraged, everybody else is laughing.

6. The Cardinals aren't all that

What little we saw from Patrick Peterson makes me wonder why we're giving Morris Claiborne such a hard time - on 27 defensive snaps, Peterson was targeted six times and allowed six receptions for 71 yards and a TD. Hope he gets well in time for next Sunday.

The Cardinals won on two monster TD receptions, one for 80 yards and another for 75. Outside of that, the offense was very unimpressive against a suspect Eagles defense. Carson Palmer was 20 for 42, which is a Mark Sanchez-level of accuracy. On 11 drives (excluding the two long touchdowns), the Arizona offense had five three-and-outs, and only managed three drives of more than six plays.

The Eagles on the other hand were on the field for a very high 92 plays, yet only came away with 20 points. That's a lot of hot air and little to show for.

7. Fear The Star.

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