What a letdown in Philly, where the only guy to put up a fight wasn’t even in uniform. It’s almost the season to boo Santa Claus there, but they settled for booing the 10-1 Eagles off the field at halftime, only to see things get much, much worse.

I see a lot of complaints about D’Andre Swift getting hurt in garbage time. But here’s the coach’s perspective on benching starters in blowouts: You don’t have enough players to bench everyone. So who do you bench? Coaches don’t like this because it gives the team the belief that there is a pecking order. And if there is one, and there always actually is one, Swift sure as hell wouldn’t be on it. Swift, by the way, is averaging under 4.0 per carry over his past nine games.

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Why Rashaad Penny never got a chance is a huge mystery. It’s been clear for at least four weeks that Swift is not the answer. Penny’s superpower — breaking tackles — will never reveal itself in practice and thus he can’t win a training camp battle.

Yes, the Jets have become a joke without Aaron Rodgers, but it took a while even after Rodgers was injured only four plays into the season. They were 4-3, with wins over the Bills and Eagles. The Bengals are also a joke without their starting QB, as we will see Monday night. The Chiefs would be. The Eagles… for sure. The Jaguars… The Vikings took a while, like the Jets, to be a a joke, but they’re there now. The Rams… The Browns… Dallas would be. Who are we missing?

You can’t say, “(Team X) should have signed Gardner Minshew (who is passable at best).” Minshew has to agree. He was a free agent. He wanted a maximum chance at playing time and you don’t do that behind Joe Burrow or Aaron Rodgers. On top of the injury risk every QB has, Minshew, playing for a bigger deal in 2024, wanted a chance to start early if a rookie wasn’t ready, or late if the rookie fell on his face. Thus, the Colts were perfect for him. You couldn’t even make that up with money because Minshew was prioritizing the potential for snaps, which were basically priceless.

Would the Niners collapse without Brock Purdy? That we can’t say for sure tells you everything you need to know about him being the MVP. San Francisco is too big to fail offensively. They don’t even need Deebo Samuel and he’s the guy who just went Yahtzee in this game. It could have been any of their four skill player studs — George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, and obviously Christian McCaffrey. The closest I’ve seen to this was the Air Coryell Chargers when they had Chuck Muncie, Wes Chandler, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow. Every Niners skill player is straight up a Pro Bowl player.

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Where do we draft Kyren Williams next year? If my math is correct, he has 169.7 PPR points in eight games — 21.2 per game. That’s an amazing RB1.

Mike Evans tied Randy Moss for the second-most 1,000-yard receiving seasons. He’s just destroyed Chris Godwin. I’m afraid to draft Evans next year but afraid not to, too, as he’s obliterating the aging curves of big WRs. Like Terrell Owens, we know Evans is QB independent. He is the wave, not the one riding it.

It’s terrible that Tank Dell got hurt, but why is a guy his size serving as a lead blocker?

Tank Dell gets rolled up on

High concern for high ankle + fracture

The link shows a similar mechanism to Darnell Mooney last season

Fingers crossed I’m wrong here

— Edwin Porras, DPT (@FBInjuryDoc) December 3, 2023

He’s 165 pounds and should never be put into harm’s way like that. It’s just foolish for him to ever be in the paint.

Someone posted a dynasty trade that was Stefon Diggs for Nico Collins plus two more decent things, and I said that Collins will outscore Diggs the next three years so this is no brainer. And Collins is fine but this has little to do with him. This is QB-centric WR rankings and C.J. Stroud is the real deal — so Collins has a high floor and high ceiling. He’s clearly good enough to be a WR1 and I think it’s likely he remains one.

No team beats up on the dregs of the league like the Miami Dolphins. But that’s what you’re supposed to do. This is not a knock. They lack the tight end the Niners have, but they have better WRs, and the RBs are close. They again made offense look easy where it’s a real slog for most of the league. If you can’t throw deep, why are the Dolphins doing it? You beat defenses with players, not scheme.

I can’t explain it but Will Levis sure has something profitable going with DeAndre Hopkins.

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I thought the Colts were a slot dominant team and obviously there is Michael Pittman on the outside. So I saw no path to targets for Alec Pierce, who had four in the second-half alone (plus overtime) and finished the game with 19 PPR points. Nice throw and catch for his first TD of the season.

#Colts WR: Alec Pierce’s 1st touchdown of the 2023 #NFL season:

— Lawrence Owen (@Colts_Law) December 3, 2023

Austin Ekeler has nothing left. He’s totally washed. And Quentin Johnston had another brutal drop, but even if that regresses away, he’s not fast. This Chargers team is SLOOOOOW. Not as slow as the Patriots. The game seemed like it was played in an ether fog like on Bugs Bunny. There’s no reason to play a Patriots player now that Rhamondre Stevenson is injured (ankle).

Even though Justin Herbert is not well supported, he’s a big disappointment. The QB has to drag the offense over the goal line sometimes if he’s truly franchise-caliber, which Herbert is not, I fear. He’s definitely good. But great? That’s looking unlikely now.

Sam LaPorta looked great — converting all nine of his targets for 140 yards. Jared Goff was good in the first quarter, basically.

I don’t know why Taysom Hill doesn’t score every close TD for the Saints. He’s unstoppable over two or three plays. Alvin Kamara managers got charity, as he was handed his first two scores since October and could/should have had none. Hill should get snaps all over the field when the Saints want to run. Just spread Derek Carr out as a WR. I’d do this until the defense showed they could stop it. He can obviously throw somewhat given he’s a former starting QB at BYU.

I think the Saints win the game if Derek Carr doesn’t get pile driven. He was hot at that time.

So much for my Juwan Johnson hype. He got the first target and let it go off his hands for a pick and was benched basically after that (I get it).

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Trey McBride has been so huge. What a windfall for his managers. Look, he had draft pedigree. Once Zach Ertz got hurt, he was obviously very live on the waiver wire. Yet he sat there for weeks.

The opposite of McBride is Marquise Brown, who was shadowed by Joey Porter Jr. But you can’t be shutout twice in three games. Brown has to be benched or dropped now since there obviously is no floor with him.

Russell Wilson has thrown for 200 yards once in the last seven games. It’s over for him.

(Photo of Austin Ekeler: Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)