Commanders shock Eagles; Falcons take NFC South lead after Cowboys top Bucs; Ohio State, Penn State roll

🏈 The Football Five

1. Entering this weekend, the Buccaneers controlled their playoff destiny. Then Sunday night happened. Tampa Bay lost to Dallas, 26-24, handing the NFC South lead to the Falcons. The Buccaneers out-gained the Cowboys 411-317 but had two turnovers, including a devastating Rachaad White fumble to seal the loss. Tampa Bay and Atlanta are both 8-7 after Michael Penix Jr. beat the Giants in his first career start Sunday, but Atlanta has the head-to-head tiebreaker.
2. The Ravens took the AFC North lead with a 34-17 blowout of the Steelers on Saturday. Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes, Derrick Henry had 162 yards rushing and Marlon Humphrey had a pick six. Garrett Podell wonders if Baltimore, with its Steelers demons exorcised, are set up for a big postseason run. 
3. The longest active winning streak in the NFL belongs to the Vikings after Minnesota squeezed by Seattle, 27-24. Justin Jefferson went for 10 catches, 144 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner from 39 yards out. Sam Darnold was a big winner (again), and Minnesota remains in the running for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
4. The NFC West, in turn, went from the NFL’s most competitive division to just another division race. The Rams lead that race by a game thanks to a 19-9 win over the Jets coupled with the Seahawks’ loss. The Cardinals and 49ers were both eliminated from playoff contention.
5. In the AFC, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Miami are clinging onto playoff hopes. The Bengals thumped the Browns, 24-6, behind three Joe Burrow touchdown passes, and they host the Broncos in a must-win Week 17 contest. Jonathan Taylor ran for 218 yards and three scores in the Colts‘ 38-30 win over the Titans. The Dolphins beat the 49ers, 29-17, behind 190 yards from De’Von Achane.

🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS …

The NFL’s most electrifying rookie engineered another exhilarating comeback while accomplishing something no one in his lifetime has done. Jayden Daniels threw for five touchdowns, including the game-winner with six seconds left to Jamison Crowder, and the Commanders pulled off a stunning 36-33 win over the shorthanded Eagles.

• Daniels is the first Washington player to throw for five touchdowns since Mark Rypien in 1991, and the Commanders needed every one of them considering they also had five turnovers. It’s the first time since 2002 they’ve won a five-turnover game.
• Philadelphia took an early 14-0 lead, but not before Jalen Hurts left, and he did not return due to a concussion. That was the start of an avalanche of injuries and exits for the visitors that included C.J. Gardner-Johnson getting ejected for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Even Kenny Pickett, who replaced Hurts, got X-rays on his ribs postgame.
• Philadelphia will rue the injuries, sure, but also the missed opportunities: DeVonta Smith dropped a wide-open pass that could have put the game away.
• Washington has 10 wins for the first time since 2012.

Wow. Daniels doing this against anyone is impressive. Him doing it against arguably the league’s best defense was jaw-dropping. On a day when running backs were stuffed, Daniels had 81 yards on the ground, including a 29-yard scramble on fourth-and-11. His preternatural calm belies the fact that he’s only 15 games into his career. I don’t have enough superlatives.

Oh yeah, and the Commanders won off the field over the weekend, too: The franchise could return to Washington, D.C. in the future after some legislation dramatically passed in the Senate.

… AND THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF FIRST-ROUND WINNERS

The first round of the College Football Playoff is in the books, and all four favored hosts are through to the quarterfinals.

• Jeremiyah Love broke off a 98-yard touchdown run early, and (7) Notre Dame never looked back in a 27-17 win over (10) Indiana. The final score doesn’t even reflect the hosts’ dominance: They led 27-3 with under five minutes left. It was an impressive win for the Fighting Irish, but for them to shed their spotty big-game reputation, they need another one, Dennis Dodd writes.
• (6) Penn State overpowered (11) SMU 38-10, with a pair of early pick-sixes setting the tone. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen led a 189-yard effort on the ground. Much like Notre Dame, though, James Franklin and Penn State need another win to prove they’ve taken a step forward on the biggest stages, Will Backus writes.
• (5) Texas ran for a season-high 292 yards and four touchdowns, with Jaydon Blue and Quintrevion Wisner both going over the century mark and scoring twice, in a 38-24 win over (12) Clemson. This was a statement performance by a legit championship threat, Chris Hummer writes.

But given everything going on over the past few weeks, the performance of the weekend belongs to (8) Ohio State, which walloped (9) Tennessee, 42-17. The Buckeyes led 21-0 after 12 minutes and smothered the Volunteers at every turn. Coming off a 13-10 loss to Michigan that rankled just about everyone associated with the scarlet and gray, the offense showed just how good it can be.

There was plenty of orange in the crowd, but the Buckeyes quieted those fans quickly. Jeremiah Smith had a 37-yard touchdown catch on the opening drive, and Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson both scored on the ground before the quarter was out. Ryan Day and Chip Kelly had it all rolling, and John Talty says it would behoove the Buckeyes to keep Smith — “simply better than everything Tennessee tried to throw at him” — involved early and often.

Call it game plan, call it approach, call it whatever you want. Ohio State didn’t have it against Michigan but it found it against Tennessee, John adds.

• Talty: “When this version of Ohio State shows up, with an attacking offense and a ferocious defense, it has a legitimate argument as the best team in the country. This team looked loose in a way that it never does against Michigan and played as dominant a game as it has all season in a pressurized spot that prompted athletic director Ross Bjork to publicly defend Day earlier in the week.”

The Buckeyes aced Shehan Jeyarajah’s weekly grades

👍 Honorable mentions

• Charlie Woods notched his first hole-in-one. Watch dad’s reaction.
• It was a big weekend on the MLB front: The Yankees signed Paul Goldschmidt, and he’s worth the bet. The Phillies acquired Jesús Luzardo and did well in R.J. Anderson’s trade grades. The Nationals acquired Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers. The Diamondbacks acquired Josh Naylor from the Guardians.
• The Knicks signed Landry Shamet.
• The Thunder and Alex Caruso agreed on a four-year, $81 million extension.
• Bill Belichick hired his son Steve as defensive coordinator.
• North Carolina pulled off a huge comeback to beat No. 18 UCLA, and Ohio State thumped No. 4 Kentucky in a wild CBS Sports Classic doubleheader. These were much-needed wins for the Tar Heels and Wildcats, and maybe this is the spark UNC needed.
• No. 7 USC upset No. 4 UConn after a wild final sequence, with JuJu Watkins (25 points) leading the way.
• USMNT star Weston McKennie scored in Juventus‘ win.
• Penn State beat Louisville in the NCAA women’s volleyball championship, making Katie Schumacher-Cawley the first female coach to win a Division I volleyball championship. She did it while battling cancer. What a story.

🏈 And not such a good morning for …

THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF UNDERDOGS … AND THE PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM

The scoreboards don’t lie. It was ugly for first-round underdogs in the first 12-team playoff. Sure, Clemson showed some fight, and Kevin Jennings has a bright future at SMU, but there was little drama in what’s supposed to be the most dramatic action college football can offer.

People jumped on it. You knew they would. Lane Kiffin mocked the selection committee — never mind his Ole Miss team lost to a 4-8 Kentucky team that beat zero other power conference teams. You also could have argued for Alabama or any other team that just barely missed the playoff. But the Crimson Tide (9-3) lost straight up lost to Tennessee and got demolished, 24-3, to a 6-6 Oklahoma squad.

Long story short, the committee got it right, Will Backus says, and don’t let the benefit of hindsight change that.

• Any 11-1 Big Ten team that dominated nearly every win and had no bad losses — Indiana’s exact profile — is going to make it.
• SMU was a bigger question, but the Mustangs had zero bad losses and made a major conference championship game … where it lost on a walk-off 56-yard field goal.

Plus, isn’t this what is supposed to happen? Maybe not to this extent, but the first-round home teams get the advantage of hosting a weaker team but the disadvantages of (1) having to play that game and (2) having to win that game. Don’t overlook key details, Dennis writes.

• Dodd: “Sorry to burst your bubble, Lane, but what happened over the weekend has been going on for 10 years. The CFP’s previous 20 first-round (semifinal) games were decided by an average of three scores (17.85 points). The four first-round games this year were won by an average of 19.25 points. … That’s football, dude.”

👎 Not so honorable mentions

• Josh Allen is banged up.
• Tank Dell was hospitalized with a “significant” knee injury suffered in the Texans‘ loss to the Chiefs.
• Bryant McFadden says the Giants need to clean house.
• It looks like Alex Bregman‘s time in Houston is over. Where could he land?
• Steve Kerr had some not-so-subtle comments about “selfish” play that fuels Jonathan Kuminga trade rumors.

🏈 Previewing College Football Playoff quarterfinals

OK, now here come the big boys. Maybe the playoff expanding to 12 was too big (at least based off this year’s very small sample size), but now that eight teams are left, we’re due for some real humdingers next week.

• Fiesta Bowl: (6) Penn State vs. (3) Boise State, Dec. 31 (preview)
• Peach Bowl: (5) Texas vs. (4) Arizona State, Jan. 1 (preview)
• Rose Bowl: (8) Ohio State vs. (1) Oregon, Jan. 1 (preview)
• Sugar Bowl: (7) Notre Dame vs. (2) Georgia, Jan. 1 (preview)

We have early betting info and Dennis’ early thoughts on all four games.

Obviously the Rose Bowl stands out. The Buckeyes and the Ducks played a 32-31 thriller earlier this season, and now Ohio State gets a second chance, this time in the Granddaddy of Them All.

We’re all for second chances, so we gave our college football experts second-chance brackets, too.

⚾ Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, MLB’s steals leader, dies at 65

Baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, MLB’s all-time steals and runs scored leader who played for nine teams across 25 seasons, died at 65 years old.

• Henderson, nicknamed the “Man of Steal,” stole 1,406 bases. That’s 468 more than second-place Lou Brock. That’s the same as the gap between Brock and Jimmy Rollins, who ranks 46th all-time with 470 steals. Henderson had thee 100-steal seasons, including a record 130 in 1982.
• Henderson is also the all-time leader in leadoff home runs (81). The stats, simply put, are astounding.
• His ledger includes 10 All-Star Game selections, three Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove and the 1990 AL MVP. He won two World Series — in 1989 with the Athletics and in 1993 with the Blue Jays — and was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 2009.
• Here’s how sports stars reacted to the news.

The numbers tell only half the story. Henderson’s personality also made him a special, singular force, Matt Snyder writes.

• Snyder: “Rickey had a swagger that was something to behold. Back before home run celebrations were ubiquitous, he would pick at his jersey while rounding the bases in style. The ‘cool’ just oozes out of the screen, man. There was just no one in his ballpark. He homered to set the all-time record for runs scored and fittingly slid into home plate.”

🥊 Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury again, retains titles

And still! Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury by unanimous decision to retain world heavyweight champion status. All three judges scored it 116-112 in favor of the Ukrainian, who also beat Fury back in February.

Though Usyk didn’t knock down Fury like earlier this year, he outlanded the Englishman, 179-144, with his big left hand doing most of the damage. Brian Campbell says Usyk cemented himself as an all-time great.

• Campbell: “Even if Usyk walked away for good after such an impressive triumph, it’s hard to shake the idea that we might be watching the most purely skilled heavyweight the division has seen since — wait for it — Muhammad Ali. Usyk may not own devastating one-punch power, yet he landed the bigger shots for two consecutive fights against Fury despite giving up so much in terms of size and weight. And he’s clearly one of the mentally strongest champions with the highest boxing IQ to enter the division in a very long time.”

📺 What we’re watching Monday

🏈 Myrtle Beach Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA, 11 a.m. on ESPN
🏈 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State, 2:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Spurs at 76ers, 7 p.m. on NBA TV
🏈 Saints at Packers, 8:15 p.m. on ABC/ESPN
🏀 Pacers at Warriors, 10 p.m. on NBA TV