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Morning briefing: 28-Nov-24 – With DeVito injury, it looks like it will be Drew Lock vs Cooper Rush today

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers v New York Giants
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ESPN

2024 NFL Thanksgiving schedule, picks, odds, injuries

Giants (2-9) at Cowboys (4-7)

Giants storyline to watch: The Giants come in reeling and on the verge of implosion. They’ve dropped six straight, and players called their effort “soft” in Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers following the bye week. New York has been outscored 148-74 during that stretch and relied on Tommy DeVito, previously the third-string quarterback, last week. DeVito was sacked four times and is now a long shot to play Thursday due to a forearm injury. That puts Drew Lock in line for his first start with the Giants. — Jordan Raanan

Cowboys storyline to watch: Can they put together a winning streak? Can they actually win a game at home? The Cowboys last won two straight in Weeks 4 and 5 and have yet to win a game at AT&T Stadium this season. They have trailed by more than 20 points in each of their past six home games, including the playoffs, which is an NFL record. But this is the Giants, who are coming off an embarrassing Week 12 performance. And the Cowboys have won seven straight games against them at AT&T Stadium. — Todd Archer

Stat to know: Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II had nine sacks through Week 7, which was the most in NFL. He has had zero sacks since then, but one more would make him the third Giants player with double-digit sacks through 12 games in the past 15 seasons.

Injuries: Giants | Cowboys

Fantasy X factor: Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. In regular-season games without quarterback Dak Prescott, Lamb has averaged 12.0 targets and 16.8 fantasy points per game. With Rush under center, he should get plenty of looks, especially because the Giants have allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 70.8% of their passes. See Week 13 rankings. — Moody

Betting nugget: Unders are 5-0 when the Giants play teams with losing records this season. Read more.

“Jerry has run the team according to his own cantankerous whims for a generation, slowly aging into a doddering parody of the octogenarian billionaire who complains about the price of groceries.”

Cowboys TankWatch. Free!

miketanier.substack.com/p/tankwatch-…

— Mike Tanier (@miketanier.bsky.social) 2024-11-27T14:09:02.087Z

ESPN

No shade: Why the Cowboys’ sun issues are unique to Dallas

DAK PRESCOTT DIDN’T talk about it afterward, because by the time he threw his second interception at the start of the fourth quarter against the Lions, the Cowboys trailed by 31 points. It didn’t matter to the box score that the $240 million quarterback faced a second opponent — the sun — as he took a deep shot at midfield on fourth down, or that instead of finding his own receiver Jalen Brooks, he found Lions safety Brian Branch.

“He’s staring right into the sun,” Tom Brady said as Fox’s broadcast showed the replay of the pick.

It was Oct. 13 in Arlington, Texas, before the end of daylight savings time, so the sun was beginning its long descent just before 6 p.m. Central Time, through the southwest windows of AT&T Stadium.

A month later, at the next 3:25 p.m. game at AT&T, the sun claimed another couple of Cowboys against the visiting Eagles, this time around 4:45 p.m. as those southwest-facing windows framed the setting sun with two minutes left in the second quarter.

“I couldn’t see the ball,” Lamb said after the loss, confirming what he’d gestured after he missed the ball in the end zone. “The sun.”

Lamb emphatically declared a belief that curtains in the southwest-facing windows would help him do his job. “One thousand percent,” Lamb said.

[P]lenty of people around the league will tell you that the sun at A&T Stadium… yes, it’s a thing.

“That f—ing glare coming through that end zone in the afternoon is f—ing ridiculous,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast. “Absolutely ridiculous. It’s like the glass makes it f—ing like spread more. It’s like the sun is bigger and brighter than it’s ever f—ing been.”

Jerry Jones says the sun equally affects both teams, and he has seen both Cowboys players and opponents drop catches or interceptions, so he doesn’t see the use in changing anything.

AT&T is one of only two NFL stadiums built on a southwest-northeast axis, and it is the only NFL field that has a transparent southwest end zone. The only other field on that axis, Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, has a solid wall blocking the southwest end zone.

ONE EXECUTIVE FROM an NFL club gave ESPN a tip for researching this story: Check late-afternoon games and what direction the teams that lose the coin toss choose.

Many spend time scouting this, because they believe there is a potential edge to gain when you know exactly where the sun will be. And the prevailing theory is, if the sun is in the receiver’s eyes, it can cost you points.

Pro Football Focus

2024 NFL offensive line rankings ahead of Week 13

3. Philadelphia Eagles (No change)

Projected Week 13 starters:

Although the Eagles’ offensive line was once again very good in the ground game, they were not at their best in pass blocking in a win over the Rams. The unit surrendered eight pressures — including a sack — on just 26 pass plays, leading to an 82.7 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating that tied for 17th in Week 12.

Whereas right tackle Lane Johnson allowed just two pressures over the first nine weeks of the season, he has surrendered four pressures in his past three games.

Best player: Jordan Mailata

Mailata’s 92.9 PFF overall grade leads all offensive tackles this season.

8. Washington Commanders (Down 3)

Projected Week 13 starters:

The Commanders’ offensive line bounced back nicely after a rough game against the Eagles. Washington’s offensive line ranked eighth in PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating in Week 12 after surrendering 10 pressures on 43 pass plays against Dallas.

Rookie left tackle Brandon Coleman played especially well, as he did not allow a single pressure against the Cowboys. As a result, he earned an 86.2 PFF pass-blocking grade, which ranked third among left tackles this week.

Best player: Sam Cosmi

Cosmi is going through a rough patch. He has earned a 55.9 PFF overall grade since Week 8, which ranks just 51st among guards over that span.

25. Dallas Cowboys (Down 1)

Projected Week 13 starters:

The Cowboys were without their two best offensive linemen in Week 12, Tyler Smith and Zack Martin. T.J. Bass and Brock Hoffman took their places.

The Dallas offensive line did well to protect quarterback Cooper Rush. The unit led the NFL in Week 12 with a 98.5 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating after allowing just one quarterback hurry on 34 pass plays.

Best player: Tyler Smith

Smith’s 70.7 PFF overall grade this season ranks 23rd among guards.

28. New York Giants (No change)

Projected Week 13 starters:

Left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor left the Giants’ Week 12 game after just four snaps due to an injury. Chris Hubbard, his replacement, earned a 46.5 PFF overall grade in the Giants’ loss to the Buccaneers.

New York’s offensive line finished Week 12 ranked dead last in PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating after surrendering a league-high 18 pressures — including a league-high five sacks — on 40 pass plays.

Best player: Greg Van Roten

Van Roten’s 59.9 PFF overall grade in Week 12 led the Giants’ offensive linemen.

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ESPN

How Daniel Jones affects Vikings, Sam Darnold, J.J. McCarthy

Starter Sam Darnold joined Minnesota on a one-year contract during the offseason and has surpassed all expectations in leading the Vikings to a 9-2 record, having already topped his career high in touchdown passes (20), and he could command a hefty free agent contract.

Darnold is 27 and perhaps hitting the prime of his career, and re-signing him would make sense in the abstract. But rookie J.J. McCarthy, the No. 10 pick of the 2024 draft, is the team’s quarterback of the future. Adding a market-level veteran deal for Darnold would negate the roster-building advantage of having a starter on a rookie contract. Plus McCarthy’s performance during training camp suggested he was close to being ready to start even then. At the time, O’Connell said: “I really believe that J.J. has kind of confirmed to me and a lot of our coaches and players that we got the right guy in the building for the future.”

McCarthy is also the only quarterback under contract for the 2025 season, as backups Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien are on expiring deals as well. Even if you assume McCarthy will make a full recovery from surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee, one that required a second surgery earlier this month to address swelling, the Vikings would need to pair him with a veteran of some kind.

That’s probably the best way to think about Wednesday’s move. It’s pretty unlikely the Vikings will need Jones to play this season, assuming Darnold remains healthy and maintains his level of play. (Vikings fans will remember, however, that the team went through four quarterbacks in 2023. It can happen.)

If nothing else, the Vikings get a chance to see Jones close up and work with him months before they will have to make an offseason decision on building the position’s depth around McCarthy.

Jones, meanwhile, will get the benefit of attending one of the NFL’s top quarterback schools before he needs to market himself in free agency. He will start out on the Vikings’ practice squad, so he’ll also have the chance to sign with another team if a starting quarterback goes down in the next three weeks.

Pro Football Talk

Caleb Williams can break the rookie record for consecutive passes without an interception

Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has played much better football recently. And he’s been as good as it gets for a rookie quarterback in avoiding interceptions.

Williams hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 193 pass attempts, and he’s closing in on Kyler Murray’s NFL rookie record for the most consecutive passes without an interception.

As the first overall pick in 2019, Murray threw 211 consecutive attempts without an interception. So if Williams throws 19 passes today against the Lions without getting picked, he’ll break Murray’s record.

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