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NFL Week 15 in review: Cowboys continue to confound, win

America's Most Scrutinized Team keeps on winning, earning a "Strangest Good Team" label.

By Mark Craig

December 21, 2021 at 11:34PM

Neville Gallimore (96), Dorance Armstrong and the Cowboys can celebrate winning, if not winning pretty. (Steve Luciano, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

STRANGEST GOOD TEAM

Cowboys (10-4): It's hard to fire Mike McCarthy for continued head-scratching clock mismanagement and Dak Prescott's lengthy slump when America's Most Scrutinized Team keeps on winning. Dallas has averaged 4.8 yards per play in its past three games and still won three division road games while notching four takeaways in each contest.

COULDA, WOULDA, SHOULDA TEAM

Ravens (8-6): The Ravens are the first NFL team to lose three straight games by a combined four points. With a depleted roster, Jim Harbaugh has gone for 2 to win at the end and failed in two of the past three weeks.

RANKING THE VIKINGS (7-7)

No. 18. There are 22 teams with a .500 record or better. Hats off to the Vikings' defense for holding a bad Bears team to 9 points. But let's not get carried away after how poorly the Vikings' offense played. Last week: 19.

THREE UP

Joe Burrow: The AFL would have loved the Bengals quarterback's deep ball. According to NextGen stats, Burrow's 56-yard touchdown to Tyler Boyd was the Burrow's 12^th deep-ball score of the year. No other QB has more than seven.

Jaguars draft: It was a good week for the Jaguars' 2022 draft. Jacksonville managed to fire Urban Meyer, get absolutely no on-field boost from the move and have the Lions upset the Cardinals to put Jacksonville ahead in the race for a second straight No. 1 overall pick. Meanwhile, former Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell fell to 1-5 as an interim head coach. He was 1-4 with the Lions last year.

Mike Tomlin's resolve: The Steelers (7-6-1) were held to 168 yards, converted 2 of 11 third downs and gave up 201 yards rushing … And They Still Beat Tennessee! This is why the Steelers are the hardest team in the league to knock out. It's why Tomlin has never had a losing season.

THREE DOWN

Falcons' goal-to-go offense: The No. 1 late-season pretender probably sunk itself for good with a blowout loss to the 49ers. The Falcons had first-and-goal at the 1 after the 49ers muffed the opening kickoff. Four plays from the 1-yard line later, they turned the ball over on downs.

Mike Glennon's NFL future: The Christian Ponder Rule for not-so-good quarterbacks who'd like to hang around as "experienced" backups is, "Stay on the sideline." Glennon couldn't do that any longer after Giants starter Daniel Jones was injured. In Sunday's loss to the Cowboys, Glennon was 0-for-4 with three interceptions on deep passes.

Cardinals: Much to the chagrin of Survivor Pool hopefuls, Arizona became just the third team since 1970 to have played at least eight games, have the league's best record and lose to the team with the worst record (Detroit). And get smoked 30-12.

STATS OF WEEK

442: Career touchdown passes for Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.

93: Career interceptions for Rodgers.

286: Career interceptions for Favre.

THREE STATS TO WATCH

10: Detroit's win over Arizona was the 10^th of the season by a team with at least four fewer wins than the team it beat. Beware Green Bay (11-3), which hosts Cleveland (7-7); Tampa Bay (10-4), which is at Carolina (5-9); and the Chargers (8-6), who are at Houston (3-11)

17 ½: Number of sacks for Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt, a team record. Next up: Patrick Mahomes, who is two sacks from surpassing his career high of 26.

9: Field goals made from at least 50 yards by rookie Evan McPherson. Only Blair Walsh had more as a rookie when he went 10-for-10 with the Vikings in 2012.

GAME OF WEEK 16

Colts (8-6) at Cardinals (10-4): There are nine games that don't have a team with a losing record. Five of those games have two teams with winning records. The Bengals and Steelers will fight for the AFC North lead, while the Patriots and Bills will do the same for the AFC East. But Colts-Cardinals is very interesting. Can running back Jonathan Taylor keep the Colts going as he tries to become the first non-quarterback to win MVP since Adrian Peterson in 2012? And what are the uber-talented Cardinals really made of after flopping in back-to-back games, including a loss to the 1-11-1 Lions?

about the writer

Mark Craig

Sports reporter

Mark Craig has covered the NFL nearly every year since Brett Favre was a rookie back in 1991. A sports writer since 1987, he is covering his 30th NFL season out of 37 years with the Canton (Ohio) Repository (1987-99) and the Star Tribune (1999-present).