Halloween Weekend brings tricks and treats to the NFL

The early games this Halloween weekend let teams try to unmask pretenders and establish themseleves as contenders. The biggest question mark in the league being the Dallas Cowboys who faced the surprisngly competitive LA Rams. 

The Cowboys came up with a dominant performance as they led 33 - 9 at the half and knocked Matt Stafford out of the game for the Rams. They dominated the whole game holding the Rams to under 300 yards of offense while controlling the game on the offensive side themseleves with Dak Prescott throwing for 304 yards and 4 TDs while CeeDee Lamb led the way with 12 catches for 158 yards and 2 TDs. The final score a not as close as it seemed 43-20 for the Cowboys who go to 5-2 .

The Minnesota Vikings moved up to 4-4 with the win today after starting the season 0-3 but they may have lost in the long run as QB Kirk Cousins is probably done for the season with a probable Achilles Tendon injury. They win 24-10 as the Green Bay Packers continue to struggle with Jordan Love at the helm falling to 2-5 for the season. 

The Tennesse Titans and the Atlanta Falcons met in a battle of offensively challenged teams and the Titans won 28-23. Both teams played different QBs as the Falcons pulled Desmond Ridder in favor of former Washington Commander Taylor Heinicke who played well in a losing effort, while the Titans went with rookie Will Levis in place of the injured Ryan Tannehill. 

Levis responded with a 4 TD pass debut becoming only the second QB in NFL history to accomplish that. The other one was Marcus Mariota for these same Titans. 

The New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts faced off in Indy and the Colts won in a high scoring matchup 38-27. Derek Carr led a balanced Saints offense with 310 yards passing and a combined 161 yards rushing led by QB Taysom Hill who went for 63 on the ground to go with 44 yards passing.  

For the Colts Jonathan Taylor is getting into gear with 95 yards rushing. 

In an AFC east match up the New England Patriots and the Maimi Dolphins showed last weeks offensive explosion was a costume and they unmasked the previous bad Patriots offense. Winning the game 31-17 and moving to 6-2 on the season. 

The Dolphins were led by their Pro-Bowl Wide Recievers as Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle both went over 100 yards and each grabbed a TD. For the Patriots Mac Jones was back to being ineffective with 161 yards passing while Free Agent signees Ezekiel Elliott and JuJu Smith-Schuster combined for 39 yards total.

In the battle of New York the Jets and the Giants faced off in game that seemed to be heading towards the perfect Tie between the two teams that had playoff hopes and are now just stumbling to the end. The Jets win in OT 13-10 and move to 4-3 on the season while the Giants go to 2-6 and waste Saquon Barkey's 128 yards. 
They did try to take the NFL back to the 1940's with an amazing -9 yards of team passing. Tyrod Taylor showing he is not the answer to any question with a total of 8 yards passing. 

Just bad Football all around in New York especially when you consider the Giants were in the Playoffs last year. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars scored enough to take down the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-10. The Jaguars moved to 6-2 in a workman like effort while the Steelers had Kenny Pickett leave with injured ribs and went with Mitch Trubisky to end the game and he played to his career stats with 2 Ints and a passer rating of 51.2. 

The Carolina Panthers with not become the first team to go 0-17 as they win 15-13 in a game against the Houston Texans that was mainly talked about as wether the Panthers took the wrong QB in Bryce Young versus CJ Stroud. For one week Young played better with 235 yards passing and a TD. 

The Cleveland Browns fall to the Seattle Seahawks 24-20 as the question that is Deshaun Watson continues to hang over the team. PJ Walker started in his place with a pair of INTs and a 59.6 QBR. 

The final early game saw the Washington Commanders find their offensive footing again as Sam Howell threw for almost 400 yards (397) and 4 TDs in a losing effort to the Philadelphia Eagles 38-31. For the Eagles Jalen Hurts countered with 319 yards passing and 4 TDs himself.  
The Commanders may have solved a big problem as they only allowed 1 sack against Howell who is on pace to break the record for sacks in the year. The Eagles go to 7-1 while the Commanders fall to 3-5 while continuing to be competitive.