Cowboys steal one from Steelers; Vanderbilt stuns Alabama; both NL Division Series tied

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🏈 The Football Five

1. Dak Prescott found Jalen Tolbert for a 4-yard touchdown on fourth down as the Cowboys beat the Steelers, 20-17. What a huge throw and catch for an offense that struggled much of the night.
2. Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions, including a pick six to Andrew Van Ginkel and a loss-sealing pick to Stephon Gilmore, and suffered an ankle injury in a 23-17 defeat to the Vikings. Minnesota is 5-0, and that defense continues to be excellent; Cody Benjamin named coordinator Brian Flores a big winner this week.
3. The Commanders cruised past the Browns, 34-13, and I wrote on how Washington produced its fourth straight win. (Hint: Jayden Daniels was awesome, again.) Deshaun Watson, meanwhile, was decidedly not awesome, but Kevin Stefanski is sticking with him. I’m surprised. It’s becoming a Bryce Young-esque situation. No matter how much you’ve invested in the player, you need a quarterback who can run a competent offense. Cleveland got an “F” in John Breech’s weekly grades.
4. The Texans beat the Bills, 23-20, on a 59-yard Ka’imi Fairbairn field goal as time expired. The bigger story, however, might be Sean McDermott bungling late-game scenarios.
5. Shoutout to the defenses. We had multiple defensive touchdowns of 100+ yards, Xavier McKinney making some history and a ridiculous pick six. 

⚾ Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES AND SAN DIEGO PADRES

The Mets had another miraculous rally. This time, though, they couldn’t make it stand. Nick Castellanos ripped a hanging Tylor Megill breaking ball into left field to plate Trea Turner as the Phillies walked off the Mets in Game 2, 7-6, to even their NLDS series.

• Trailing 3-0 in the sixth, Philadelphia knotted things up with back-to-back home runs from Bryce Harper and Castellanos, but Brandon Nimmo answered with a solo shot to give New York a 4-3 lead in the sixth.
• The see-saw affair was only getting started. In the eighth, Bryson Stott tripled home Harper and Castellanos off star reliever Edwin Díaz and would later score himself. Philadelphia, 6-4.
• The Mets, somehow, weren’t done: Mark Vientos launched a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the ninth, the latest game-tying homer in franchise postseason history.
• Back came Castellanos, who had been booed earlier in the game, in the bottom of the ninth. It’s the Phillies’ first postseason walk-off since 2009.

On the West Coast, the Padres‘ bats exploded in Game 2 — while the Dodgers‘ were silenced by Yu Darvish — as San Diego walloped Los Angeles, 10-2, to even that series as well. It’s the franchise’s largest playoff win, and it came on the back of a franchise postseason-record six home runs, two by Fernando Tatis Jr.

This is a really, really good offense, but the pitching and defense was also superb. Darvish needed just 82 pitches to go seven innings, and Jurickson Profar going over the wall to rob Mookie Betts of a home run in the first inning helped a lot, too. Who knows what happens if he doesn’t pull that one back?

Finally, we’d be remiss to not mention this one got plenty chippy. Here’s a quick reminder no one should need, but apparently some do: Stop throwing stuff at players. Absolutely ridiculous.

Today, things swing over to ALDS Game 2s. In Game 1, the Yankees beat the Royals, 6-5, in a true roller coaster, and the Guardians topped the Tigers, 7-0. Mike Axisa wrote about why this may be the best shot for Aaron Judge and company.

👍 Honorable mentions

🏈 And not such a good morning for …

THE ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

One team entered ranked No. 1, led by the Heisman Trophy-favorite quarterback. The other team entered 0-60 all time against top-five teams, with a fifth-year quarterback who had no Division-I offers out of high school and played two years at junior college and two more at New Mexico State. 

To hell with the odds and what was “supposed” to happen, the Vanderbilt Commodores said. We’ve got something special here, too. Led by folk hero-turned-legend quarterback Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt shocked the nation with a 40-35 win over No. 1 Alabama.

Pavia was a magician, keeping Crimson Tide defenders’ heads spinning with 252 yards and two touchdowns through the air and 56 yards on the ground. Sedrick Alexander had two touchdowns rushing.

We have to give so, so much credit to Vanderbilt and coach Clark Lea, writes John Talty. The Commodores have been the SEC punching bag for a long time. Heck, the stadium is mid-construction, adding a humorous, almost charming backdrop to such a massive upset. (It’s going to need more construction after fans took down the goalposts and threw them into the Cumberland River.) John compared Vandy to “trying to compete in a boxing ring with an arm tied behind its back against the biggest heavyweights of the sport.” But the times, they are a-changin’, and the results, for one magical October night at least, are, too.

OK, onto Alabama. This just doesn’t happen. It certainly isn’t supposed to. The Crimson Tide are 63-4 all-time when ranked No. 1 and facing an unranked team. But the defense has major issues and produced no sacks nor turnovers in an SEC game for the first time since 2015. As exciting as Jalen Milroe is, he had a couple of crucial turnovers. With the defense not making impact plays, those loomed large.

Here’s more on the Crimson Tide:

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Ravens stun Bengals in wild overtime contest

Mishandled snaps. Miracles. Miscues. Mind blown.

Madness.

Ravens-Bengals had it all, but it ended in an all-too-familiar fashion for Cincinnati: a loss. Baltimore came back and then escaped with a 41-38 overtime win. Let’s pick it up with the Bengals up 38-35 with just over three minutes to go in regulation:

• Marlon Humphries stepped in front of a Joe Burrow pass, a huge turnover as Cincinnati was looking to put things out of reach.
• Justin Tucker — struggling all season — nailed a 56-yard field goal to force overtime.
• The Ravens win the coin toss and drove into Bengals territory before Lamar Jackson muffed the snap. Germaine Pratt recovered.
• Cincinnati went extremely conservative on its play calling, and punter Ryan Rehkow mishandled the snap on Evan McPherson‘s 53-yard field goal try. The mistimed kick sailed wide.
• Derrick Henry ripped off a 51-yard run, and Tucker made a 24-yard field goal to win it.

Phew.

Jackson, who made a play of the year candidate earlier on a fumbled snap, was “ticked off” by his mistakes. But hey, at least Baltimore won.

Burrow should be really ticked off after 392 yards and five touchdown passes in a losing effort. Players to throw for at least five touchdowns had won 18 straight games entering Sunday, a streak that spanned back to 2019. Instead, Cincinnati wasted Burrow’s masterpiece, Will Brinson writes, and Jeff Kerr says the playoffs look like a pipe dream for the 1-4 Bengals.

🏈 Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan fall in upset-filled weekend; No. 8 Miami survives thriller

Remember when I said things were going to kick up a notch in October? Well, it happened. Five of the country’s top 12 teams went down this weekend. We’ve already talked about Alabama. Here are the others:

• Arkansas shocked No. 4 Tennessee, 19-14, with backup quarterback Malachi Singleton running in for the game-winning score and the defense getting a late stand. Could it help turn things around for Sam Pittman?
• No. 25 Texas A&M throttled No. 9 Missouri, 41-10, as Le’Veon Moss ran wild and the Tigers’ attack was blanketed. Were some pregame hijinks an inside job? Regardless, it’s the Aggies’ largest win over a top-10 team, and Missouri is at 10/10 on David Cobb’s panic meter.
• Washington upset No. 10 Michigan, 27-17, as the Wolverines’ quarterback conundrum persists.
• Minnesota stunned No. 11 USC, 24-17, on a QB late sneak touchdown by Max Brosmer.

It was nearly more: No. 8 Miami needed a miraculous rally to beat Cal, overcoming a 25-point, third-quarter deficit. Cameron Salerno breaks down how it happened. As for a couple of highly ranked teams avoiding the upset big, No. 3 Ohio State crushed Iowa, 35-7, and No. 5 Ohio State outlasted Auburn, 35-13.

Here are the results of the madness:

🏀 Liberty advance to WNBA Finals, Sun force Game 5 vs. Lynx

The reign is over. The Liberty are heading to the WNBA Finals after defeating the back-to-back champion Aces 76-62 in Game 4.

As was the case all series, it was the Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart show, with Ionescu making five 3-pointers en route to 22 points. Stewart, who kept the receipts from last year’s defeat, filled up the box score with 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Las Vegas goes into the offseason with plenty of questions. New York, meanwhile, awaits its Finals opponent after the Sun forced a winner-take-all Game 5 with a 92-82 win over the Lynx. Tyasha Harris had a playoff career-high 20 points, and stars Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner had 18 apiece.

📺 What we’re watching Monday

⚾ ALDS Game 2: Tigers at Guardians, 4:08 p.m. on TBS/truTV
⚾ ALDS Game 2: Royals at Yankees, 7:38 p.m. on TBS/truTV
🏈 Saints at Chiefs, 8:15 p.m. on ESPN