JACKSONVILLE -- There was pretty much only one thing that went wrong for the 49ers on Sunday. Late in the game and up 27-3 on the Jaguars, they were trying their darndest to get running back Christian McCaffrey a touchdown, and they just couldn't get it done. McCaffrey entered the game on an NFL-record-tying streak of 17 straight games with at least one touchdown. But sole possession of the record was not meant to be. Instead, it was fullback Kyle Juszczyk who got the final score of the game -- the fourth different 49ers player to score in the 34-3 win over Jacksonville.
"Yeah, I suck," McCaffrey joked after the game. "Everybody on offense scored but me."
It was a day to laugh and exhale for the 49ers, who had lost three games in a row to drop to 5-3 ahead of their Week 9 bye. They needed a win -- and a big, decisive road win against one of the hottest teams in the league was the perfect medicine. "Those three games, that wasn't us," linebacker Fred Warner said. "We needed to get back to playing 49er football and being proud of what we put on tape, and today we did that."
It was an impressive enough victory to earn the 49ers the coveted top spot in the overreactions column, in which we judge some of the biggest potential takeaways off the Week 10 slate of games.
Jump to:
49ers are the NFC favorites?
Four AFC North teams in the playoffs?
Top NFC quarterback is Prescott?
Winston over Carr in New Orleans?
Murray is still the Cards' QB of the future?
The 49ers are back to being the NFC favorites
Without a doubt, this looked a lot more like the 49ers team that won its first five games than the one that lost the following three. They didn't turn it over once, and they took the ball away from the Jaguars four times. The defense had five sacks and held the Jaguars to 59 rushing yards. Quarterback Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes, and the offense scored 30-plus points for the sixth time.
It was a three-hour party for the team that flew across the country hoping to feel more like itself after a month that had people outside the organization questioning it. "I always said if we don't turn it over and don't have a bunch of penalties on first and second downs, we'll score a lot of points," tight end George Kittle said. And the Niners did just that Sunday.
Verdict: OVERREACTION
Nobody looks scarier than the 49ers do when they're right. With receiver Deebo Samuel and offensive tackle Trent Williams back from injury, the offense looked completely different. And if edge rusher Chase Young can be a contributor up front on defense, they have as formidable a defensive line rotation as anyone in the league. They are absolutely one of the favorites to win the NFC and reach the Super Bowl.
But the Eagles were off this week, and the Cowboys looked pretty dominant (albeit against the Giants). The 7-2 Lions are going to be tough, and the Vikings have some kind of magic working right now. Heck, the Niners aren't even clear of the Seahawks yet in their own division. They will have a fight on their hands in the NFC. All Sunday did was remind us what they can be when they're at their best.
All four AFC North teams will reach the playoffs
The big game of the day in the league's best division was the Browns' comeback victory over the first-place Ravens. It pulled Baltimore back closer to the rest of the AFC North field. The Ravens are still in first place at 7-3, but the Browns are a half-game behind at 6-3. So are the Steelers, who won again Sunday despite giving up more yards than they gained -- something they've now done in all nine of their games. The Bengals lost a tough one to C.J. Stroud and the red-hot Texans, so they're in last place and on the outside looking in at the moment -- even at 5-4.
If the season ended right now, the Ravens, Browns and Steelers would all be playoff teams, while the 5-4 Bengals would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker for the final spot to the 5-4 Texans. (The Bills, who are 5-4, play on Monday night and could jump both Cincinnati and Houston with a win over Denver.)
Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION
I do not know how the Steelers are doing this, and I expect it to catch up with them at some point. But right now, all they have to do is go 4-4 the rest of the way for a good chance to get in. Cleveland's defense is going to keep it in most games, and it just won a shootout on the road against a Baltimore team that had been looking unbeatable. And the Bengals were looking fantastic for more than a month, and they even had a late lead Sunday despite being banged-up and shorthanded on offense before Stroud led another winning drive against them.
ESPN's Football Power Index currently projects all four teams with between 30% and 88% chances to make the playoffs. If Cincinnati can beat Baltimore on Thursday (big if, but far from impossible) and tighten things up even further in this division, the likelihood of the AFC North landing all four teams in the postseason will only go up.
Dak Prescott is the best quarterback in the NFC
Prescott accounted for five touchdowns -- one rushing and four passing -- on Sunday in the Cowboys' 49-17 thrashing of the Giants. He was 26-for-35 for 404 yards and didn't play in the fourth quarter because he didn't have to. And while the Giants aren't putting up a lot of resistance at the moment, the fact is this didn't come out of nowhere. Since the Cowboys' Week 5 debacle in San Francisco, they've played four games. In those four games, Prescott has completed 72.1% of his passes, averaged 338.5 passing yards per game, thrown 12 touchdown passes to two interceptions and rushed for two scores. Dallas is also 3-1 in those games.
On Sunday, Prescott was 8-for-10 for 233 yards and a touchdown pass on throws that traveled at least 15 yards down the field, tied for his most such completions in a game in his career. So he's also not dinking-and-dunking his way to these performances by any means.
Verdict: OVERREACTION
Much like the San Francisco one, this is an assertion that only makes sense on the Eagles' bye week. Jalen Hurts went to the Super Bowl in February and is in the midst of another excellent season. Too many turnovers for Hurts? Sure. But he's leading the Eagles to wins, and they just beat the Cowboys last week.
Purdy still has the NFC's best QBR (76.3). Jared Goff is doing his thing in Detroit. Prescott is in this conversation, and by the time the season ends, he could be on top of the list. Over the past month, no one in either conference has been better. And if the Cowboys can run down the Eagles and win the NFC East, make no mistake, Prescott will be a candidate for league MVP. But Hurts still has this crown until someone knocks him and the Eagles off their perch.
The Saints' offense works better with Jameis Winston at QB than it does with Derek Carr
New Orleans trailed Minnesota 27-3 when starting QB Derek Carr had to leave the game because of a right shoulder injury and concussion. Winston, the backup, led two scoring drives that culminated with touchdown passes that had high degrees of difficulty. The Saints' comeback attempt fell short -- because how can anyone expect to overcome Joshua Dobbs -- but Winston got them back into it.
Verdict: OVERREACTION
It's important to note that in addition to the two touchdown passes, Winston also threw two interceptions. That's the kind of ratio that has defined Winston's career, and frankly it's the reason the Saints acquired Carr instead of just letting Winston have the starting QB job. Yes, Winston's 32.7 Total QBR for the game was higher than Carr's 22.8, but both figures left a lot to be desired.
The offense had started to click behind Carr in the Saints' previous two games, averaging 31.0 points per game in victories over the Bears and Colts, third highest in the NFL over Weeks 8-9. And if you look at the Saints' schedule, "Do No Harm" is probably a pretty good philosophy for what they need out of their quarterback. The turnover risk with Winston remains too high. Carr isn't perfect, and Winston is a better and more accomplished backup than most teams have at their disposal, but Carr should be the Saints' starter once he's healthy again.
Kyler Murray will be the Cardinals' starting quarterback in Week 1 of the 2024 season
Murray made his long-awaited return from last season's torn ACL and started his first game of the 2023 for the Cardinals on Sunday. He led Arizona to a victory over the Falcons, going 19-for-32 for 249 yards passing and an interception. He came inches away from a touchdown pass, but receiver Michael Wilson went down just short of the goal line, and the Cardinals wisely opted to tush push their way in with backup Clayton Tune instead of the guy coming off a serious knee injury.
Murray did run for a touchdown earlier in the game, and he contributed 33 yards on six carries, indicating that maybe he won't be limited in that aspect coming off the injury. In fact, Murray even reached a top speed of 20.17 mph on a 13-yard scramble on third-and-10, the fifth-fastest speed he has reached in his career (NFL Next Gen Stats).
All in all, it was a solid and encouraging return to action for Murray, who's still signed through 2028 and has a guaranteed $35.3 million salary next season.
Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION
There are still a number of different ways this could go. Arizona has a new GM and coaching staff that didn't draft Murray and didn't see him play for them until Sunday. This win improved the team to 2-8, so Arizona is still obviously a candidate to have a high pick in next year's draft, where it could potentially find Murray's replacement. The Cardinals would suffer massive dead-money hits if they cut or traded Murray, but if they had a chance at, say, USC's Caleb Williams, that might be something they'd consider.
But what I know from my reporting on this situation is that the Cardinals haven't made up their mind or ruled anything out. They want to see Murray play the rest of this season so they can decide whether their best course of action is to keep him and use their draft picks to build around him. The story on Murray isn't written yet, and him returning as the Cardinals' QB for 2024 and beyond is still within the realm of possibility. Sunday's performance -- which could understandably have been marred by rust but was not -- only helps his case.