Morning briefing: 5-Dec-24 – Is the Cowboys ‘winning streak’ real? Which NFC East player was voted ‘most annoying’ in the NFL?

NFC East links

Bleeding Green Nation

Eagles have two of the most “annoying” players in the NFL

Beat reporters from around the league interviewed 110 NFL players in August and September, and asked everyone the same set of questions — although not everyone answered all the questions, and players were given anonymity on their answers.

the only category the Eagles were really well-represented in, was Most Annoying Player in the NFL. Of the 68 players who voted in the category, 14 (20.9%) named C.J. Gardner-Johnson, putting the safety in the No. 1 spot on the list.

The Athletic reports that one player said, “Yap yap yap,” of the sixth-year veteran.

Notorious trash-talker, and Eagles legend, Brandon Graham also made the list at No. 4. He won’t be on the field the rest of this year, although Graham’s surgery was successful following his triceps injury, but he’s looking at a 4-6 month recovery. Opponents won’t get a break from the yapping, though, as the veteran still went for the coin toss against the Ravens, and is expected to be on the sideline as often as possible.

Blogging the Boys

Cowboys analytics roundup: How real is this win streak?

How much stock are you putting into the current winning streak that the Cowboys are on?

The team has certainly looked better these past two games, but does it actually mean anything? Let’s dive into the advanced statistics and see what value there is in these two wins and where the Cowboys are headed.

Their team DVOA has jumped up two spots in the rankings during this two-game winning streak. Interestingly, the offense has taken a slight step back while the defense is making strides. That will be a recurring theme throughout this report.

In terms of weighted DVOA, which is more a measure of how efficient a team is playing right now rather than from start to finish, the Cowboys are still 25th but their defense is creeping up to the league average line.

The EPA-based team tiers aren’t quite as kind to the Cowboys. They’re still stuck in the bottom three of the league, just narrowly ahead of the Raiders and Panthers, the latter of whom they play in two weeks.

Dallas is also just behind Cleveland and Jacksonville, two other teams playing without their franchise quarterback right now. This chart probably offers the biggest reality check for anyone getting excited about this win streak.

Big Blue View

Injuries keep piling up for New York Giants

Bobby Okereke leads long list of players who might not be available Sunday vs. Saints

The New York Giants have a lengthy injury list as they begin practicing for Sunday’s Week 14 game against the New Orleans Saints.

Not practicing

• LT Jermaine Eluemunor (quad)
• RT Evan Neal (hip)
• CB Deonte Banks (rib)
• DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches (neck)
• LB Bobby Okereke (back)

Head coach Brian Daboll said all of those players are “week-to-week” and could miss Sunday’s game.

Eluemunor and Banks both missed the Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys with their injuries. Neal played through a hip injury. Nunez-Roches suffered a stinger against Dallas. With defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence now on IR, Nunez-Roches is the only veteran defensive tackle on the 53-man roster.

Okereke played every defensive snap for the Giants last season and is the defensive signal caller.

If Okereke is out, either Micah McFadden or Darius Muasua could get the green dot as the defensive signal caller.

NFL league links

Articles

Washington Post (paywall)

The NFL has figured out how to save the kickoff (with more tweaks to come)

NFL kickoffs aren’t dead after all; thanks to a rule change, more kicks are being returned, for more game-breaking plays and more touchdowns.

The league had been attempting to fix the kickoff for years, calling it the most dangerous play in the game, with an injury rate far higher than that of plays from the line of scrimmage. The high rate of concussions was particularly alarming.

[N]ow, 13 weeks into the 18-week regular season, it appears that the league is on its way to saving the kickoff with a format that seems to work, albeit with further tweaks to come.

Injury data for the regular season is not yet available. But league leaders previously said they’d noticed nothing alarming about the injury rate associated with the new format. And while the return rate has fallen shy of initial projections, it represents meaningful improvement over last season.

Through the Week 13 games, 32 percent of kickoffs have been returned. That’s up from 20.3 percent through 13 weeks of last season.

Kickoff returns played a central role in one of the strangest and most enthralling games of the season, the Dallas Cowboys’ triumph over the Washington Commanders in Week 12 at Northwest Stadium. The Cowboys returned two fourth-quarter kickoffs for touchdowns in their 34-26 victory. The first of those was one of the plays of the season as speedster KaVontae Turpin initially mishandled the ball, went back to his 1-yard line to pick it up, spun to his left to avoid tacklers around the 10-yard line and then zoomed to the opposite end zone.

League officials and members of the NFL competition committee are expected to consider offseason modifications to the kickoff rules that likely will include moving the spot of the touchback from the 30- to the 35-yard line, to further discourage kicks into the end zone and potentially boost the return rate. That’s the touchback spot originally envisioned by the format’s architects. Some within the sport also have suggested moving the spot of the kickoff five yards further from the opposite end zone, to make it more difficult for kicks to get there. The owners will have to approve the format again, given that it was ratified for only one year.

The Athletic (paywall)

NFL, NFLPA agree to policy changes on substance abuse and performance-enhancing drugs

The NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed to changes to their policies on substance abuse and performance-enhancing drugs.

According to the memo, the league and union agreed to increase the positive THC level from 150 ng/ml to 350. The two sides also agreed to reduce the fines for a positive test.

In the past, players would receive a half-game fine for their first violation/positive test. Now players will receive only a $15,000 fine. The old punishment for a second violation was one game. Now it is a $20,000 fine and no missed playing time. A third violation used to carry a two-game fine, but now is reduced to a one-game fine. Four violations or more used to draw a three-game suspension, but now will call for a two-game ban.

The league and union also agreed to a reduction in fines for missed tests. In the past, a missed test drew a $20,000 fine. A second violation drew a one-game fine, a third missed test drew a two-game suspension and four or more missed tests drew a four-game suspension. Now, however, if there is a missed test, the parties will confer within 10 business days of the missed test.