This article is part of our NFL Observations series.
It was a lovely Thanksgiving but for the 1-2 against the spread. But otherwise how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
Truth be told, I watched the second half of Saints-Falcons this morning. What an insane ending, with the potential to be one of the all-time backdoor covers. While Younghoe Koo can't kick field goals to save his life, he sure can execute an onside kick.
I watched only parts of the first two games -- I had to put the TV on with no volume at our friends' house in the background while we ate, and GamePass malfunctioned to the point where I couldn't go full screen on my IPhone to their Apple TV.
• Matt Ryan played better than the numbers against a tough Saints defense despite missing Julio Jones, Austin Hooper and Mohamed Sanu. He took nine sacks, threw two picks and fumbled twice, losing one, but he was under constant pressure and kept the ball moving as well as humanely possible. He also didn't get credit for a few PI penalties. This wasn't Jared Goff against the Ravens.
• Devonta Freeman (17 carries, seven targets) didn't do much, but he looked healthy at least. Even Brian Hill looked like a useful player.
• Calvin Ridley caught most of what was thrown his way even in tight coverage. He also drew two PI penalties not reflected in his stats.
• Drew Brees didn't need to do much, but he looks pedestrian to me. The system will probably sustain him, but his only TD pass was basically a forward handoff to Taysom Hill that traveled a foot in the air between them.
• Michael Thomas had his worst game of the year -- it didn't help that the Saints were leading the whole game, but I thought they would force-feed him more to make sure he got the record.
• Alvin Kamara also had a modest game -- the Saints just didn't have the ball that much.
• Onside kicks aside, the Wil Lutz/Younghoe disparity killed my Falcons plus seven pick.
• As someone who had Devin Singletary and John Brown going in my most important NFFC league, a Yahoo league with a playoff spot on the line and the Bills plus 6.5, I nearly jumped out of my skin when Singletary caught a long TD pass on a trick play from Brown. The NFFC awards six points per passing TD, and it's full PPR, so it was worth 13 points not even counting the yardage for both players.
• While Kyler Murray moves like Russell Wilson, and Lamar Jackson like Michael Vick, Josh Allen most closely resembles Cam Newton in running style. A big, physical runner with a better nose for the end zone than the first two types. Allen looked sharp as a passer too, so the comp to the good version of Newton might not be that farfetched.
• I didn't watch closely enough to dissect all the Jason Garrett gaffes, but judging by my Twitter feed, there were many. I did see him way too conservatively play for the missed field goal at the end of the first half, leaving a timeout in his pocket in the process.
• I usually don't think revenge games are a thing, but don't tell that to Cole Beasley.
• Dak Prescott padded his stats in garbage time, but he missed badly on a fourth down throw toward Zeke Elliott in the red zone, the Cowboys' last real chance to make it a game.
• I got the Lions and +3.5 on Wednesday, but the line went all the way to 5.5 by kickoff. Obviously, they lost by four.
• This game wasn't as close as the final score because the last TD was in garbage time, and the refs made several bad calls, one negating a Prescott turnover, that all went against Buffalo.
• Shockingly both QBs played pretty well, with Mitchell Trubisky leading the Bears on the game winning drive, making a nice deep throw to Anthony Miller.
• Miller has had 33 targets over the last three games. People forget that before the year, the Bears offense with Allen Robinson, Miller, Tarik Cohen and a healthy Trey Burton actually had some promise. Too little, too late for most.
• Even David Montgomery got going, with 4.7 YPC and catching the game-winning score.
• Third-string QB David Blough seemed competent -- probably more so than backup Jeff Driskell, but as I said, I was trying to see a partial screen game without volume through the haze of seven glasses of wine and four helpings of pie.
