MARQUE MATCHUP: Falcons vs. Saints, 8:30PM ET, Monday
From Giants-Jets to Chargers-Lions, there is no shortage of solid matchups on the Week 16 schedule. But it doesn’t get any bigger than Atlanta-New Orleans on Monday night. With a victory, the Saints will clinch the NFC South and keep themselves in contention for the No. 2 seed in the conference playoff picture. With a victory, the Falcons would clinch a playoff berth and remain in contention with the Saints for the NFC South crown. But for Atlanta, this game means much more than clinching a spot in the postseason. If they lose, they could accomplish the same thing next week at home against the hapless Buccaneers. No, a victory over the Saints in New Orleans would prove that the Falcons have the pieces in place to take down one of the elite teams in the conference. A win would also go a long way in instilling confidence in a Falcons team that has been inconsistent all season. Beat the seemingly unbeatable Saints on their home turf and the sky is the limit when it comes to the playoffs. Lose and have doubts remain about whether or not you can beat any of the top teams in the NFC. With cornerbacks Brent Grimes (knee) and Kelvin Hayden (toe) expected to return this Monday, the Falcons should be at full-strength defensively. And given how good Matt Ryan has looked running Atlanta’s no-huddle attack recently, the Falcons certainly have the weapons to pull off the upset in New Orleans. But whether or not they can do it is another question, especially considering the Saints are averaging nearly 40 points a game at home this season.

THE POTENITAL (NOTEWORTHY) UPSET: Eagles over Cowboys, 1:00PM ET, Saturday
Three weeks ago the Cowboys had a golden opportunity to take a two-game lead over the Giants in the NFC East and they went out and lost to the Cardinals in overtime. The following week, they blew their one-game lead over the Giants when they lost to New York at home, 37-34. My point is that the Cowboys have been in these positions before, when they’ve had chances to improve their standing in the division only to choke the opportunity away. They now have a one-game lead over the Giants again after New York inexcusably lost to the Redskins at home (a game in which I highlighted in this section last week). Now Dallas has a chance to either hold onto its one-game lead or win the division outright with a victory and a New York loss to the Jets. But something tells me Jason Garrett’s squad could choke on applesauce again. Philadelphia has been the most inconsistent team in the league this year but Andy Reid’s team is certainly capable of going into Dallas and knocking off the Cowboys in grand fashion. And if the Giants beat the Jets earlier in the day, the ‘Boys are even more likely to succumb to the pressure.

THE GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: GREEN BAY PACKERS (vs. Bears, 8:20PM ET, Sunday)
It doesn’t get any easier for the Packers to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC. All they have to do is beat the rudderless Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on Christmas night and then they can rest their starters for two weeks if they choose to. Of course, they just lost to a rudderless Kansas City team a week ago so it’ll be interesting to see how Green Bay responds on Sunday. The Bears have looked completely inept offensively since Jay Cutler and Matt Forte went down with injuries (and justifiably so), but their defense has be known to keep Green Bay’s offense in check. Just last year, the Bears held the Packers to 10 points in Green Bay on a cold January afternoon at Lambeau and if Josh McCown can somehow revive Chicago’s dead offense, the Bears could pull off the upset. (Hey, crazier things have happened.) That said, this is a game the Pack should win. Again, it doesn’t get any easier for them to clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP: DETROIT LIONS (vs. Chargers, 4:15PM ET, Saturday)
It’s been over a decade since the Lions made an appearance in the playoffs and it’s been nearly two decades since they won a postseason game. But they have a chance this Saturday to do something they haven’t done since 1999: Play past Week 17. All they have to do is beat the suddenly surging San Diego Chargers at Ford Field. Granted, even if the Lions lose they can still win next week and clinch a playoff spot. But next week they play at Green Bay and there’s no telling what the Packers will do in terms of resting starters. Thus, it’s best if Detroit handles its own business this weekend by knocking off San Diego, but it won’t be easy. Over the past three weeks the Bolts have played like everyone expected them to at the start of the year. Suddenly Philip Rivers has stopped turning the ball over, Ryan Mathews is running like a man possessed, and the defense has been lights out. Not that they would but if the Lions think the Chargers are going to waltz into Ford Field and lie down, than Detroit has another thing coming. Keep in mind that the Lions’ secondary is still banged up, which obviously plays into the hands of Norv Turner and his vertical passing attack. It’ll be interesting to see if Jim Schwartz’s squad can rise to the challenge and play with a little composure for once. If not, the Lions will put a ton of pressure on themselves to beat the Packers next week and end their horrific playoff drought.

ESPN.com is reporting that the Cowboys will officially hire Jason Garrett to be their next head coach.

Terms of the deal were not available, but Garrett had one year remaining on his contract as the assistant head coach that paid him $3.5 million annually.

Considered the favorite all along, Garrett is the eighth coach in franchise history and owner/general manager Jerry Jones did not feel the need for an exhaustive search. He interviewed wide receivers coach Ray Sherman to comply with the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which states a team must talk with at least one minority coach during the process.

Jones wanted to finalize the deal quickly because he didn’t want other teams with vacancies getting their hands on Garrett.

It’s a matter of opinion as to whether or not this was the right hire for the Cowboys. But there’s no doubt that this was the right hire for Jerry Jones. He handpicked Garrett himself when he made him offensive coordinator in 2007. Making Garrett the full-time head coach was Jones’ plan all along and now it’s come to fruition.

The fact that he went 5-3 with Jon Kitna as his quarterback proved that Garrett’s offense can succeed. But he and Jones better pick a decent defensive coordinator because the Cowboys took a major step backwards on that side of the ball this year.

It’ll also be interesting to see if this group of players will work hard for Garrett now that he’s the full-time guy. One would think they will, seeing as how they finished 5-3 under his guidance. But these were the same players who openly said how much they loved Wade Phillips only to mail it in when his job was on the line.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Clarence E. Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that Jason Garrett will likely be named the Cowboys’ head coach on a full-time basis. But the announcement can’t happen now because Dallas must adhere to the Rooney Rule and inteview at least one minority candidate.

With an open process, Super Bowl champion coaching free agents such as Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, if he is let go, would certainly be associated with the Cowboys job.

But it’s very clear inside Cowboys headquarters that Garrett is the man for the job.

He has long been a favorite of Jones’ dating to his days as a backup quarterback on the Cowboys’ Super Bowl title teams of the 1990s.

And in guiding the Cowboys to four wins in seven games since taking over for the fired Wade Phillips after Dallas’ 1-7 start, Garrett has proved to Jones that he is more than just a bright offensive mind. He has shown to be an effective leader who can run the team and get players to respond to him.

The hiring of Garrett would also allow Jones to continue business as usual as the general manager and top personnel decision maker on the team.

The smart money was always on Garrett. Because it’s the Cowboys, people assumed that Jones would go out and hire a big name. But don’t forget that Garrett was handpicked by Jones, so the Dallas owner wasn’t going to groom him and let him succeed elsewhere. Plus, as the article points out, Jones wants to remain as general manager of the team. If he hired someone like Cowher, he would likely have to concede a lot of his power when it comes to personnel decisions, which he doesn’t want to do.

Update: The NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi is reporting that it’s a done deal: Garrett will be retained as head coach. The ‘Boys managed to interview wide receiver coach Ray Sherman to comply with the Rooney Rule, so they’re all set.

Jason Garrett didn’t help his chances of earning a full-time coaching gig with the Cowboys’ after his team blew a late lead to the Cardinals on Christmas night. The Cowboys had scored a touchdown with under two minutes remaining in the game to make the score 26-24, but the Cardinals managed to get into field goal range and kick a game winner to pull out a 27-26 final

It didn’t help Garrett’s cause that the ‘Boys missed an extra point after their final score or that their defense gave up a 4th-and-long on Arizona’s last possession to help set up the game-winning field goal.

Following the game, Jones was asked whether or not the loss would affect Garrett’s chances of earning the head job on a full-time basis.

“That’s not something that I’m even thinking about right now,” Jones said. “I’m mad as hell and I know all of our fans are. That’s where that is.”

The response isn’t surprising. What do you want Jones to say? That he’s happy his team blew an opportunity to win a game when they came back from a 21-3 deficit? Of course he’s going to be mad. And saying anything definitively either way on Garrett’s future with the team wouldn’t be a prudent move on Jones’ part either. You’re not going to disqualify a guy after one loss and you’re certainly not going to sing his praises either.

Jones will take his time making this decision. He was asked by Deion Sanders on the NFL Network pre-game show whether or not he would consider Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden for the position and Jones point out that (I’m paraphrasing), “No head coach that has won a Super Bowl has ever won another one with his second team.”

Does that mean that Jones isn’t considering Cowher or Gruden? Of course not. But who knows what’s going on in Jones’ head right now. He needs time to digest everything and go from there.

Jerry Jones would have fired Wade Phillips a month ago if he knew the Cowboys would have played as well all season under Jason Garrett as they did in New York on Sunday.

The Cowboys routed the Giants 33-20 in Garrett’s debut. Even though Dallas’ win was only by a 13-point margin, I use the term “routed” because many believed that this New York team was the best in the NFC coming into this game. (Not to mention the Cowboys have looked like an utter train wreck for most of the season.)

There really was no secret to how the Cowboys dismantled the Giants: they stayed balanced offensively, they won the turnover battle and they produced some big plays. The Giants turned the ball over three times, including once at the goal line as Bryan McCann picked off Eli Manning and returned the gift 101 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest interception return for a score in franchise history for the Cowboys.

Jon Kitna, who clearly located a genie sometime this week and cashed in one of his three wishes, threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns. Rookie Dez Bryant caught three passes for 104 yards and a score, while Felix Jones (who saw a lot of playing time after Marion Barber was benched) caught three passes for 85 yards and one touchdown.

Outside of Mario Manningham (10 receptions, 91 yards, 1 TD), it was a day the Giants would like to forget. Dallas punched them in the mouth from the opening bell and New York had no response. They tried to make it close at the end, but a Hakeen Nicks touchdown was wiped off the board because of a holding penalty and then Manning turned the ball over twice on the Giants’ next two possessions to ice the game for the Cowboys. (Although a botched snap was part of the blame for one of Manning’s turnovers.)

It’s not completely shocking that a divisional rival was able to walk into the New Meadowlands (a dark New Meadowlands at that, as the stadium suffered a couple of power outages during the game) and beat the Giants. What’s shocking is that the divisional rival was a Dallas team that had just fired its head coach earlier in the week and had played like crap in its previous three games. If I’m Tom Coughlin, I don’t even watch the reply from this loss. Just pitch the tape in the trash and look ahead to next week.

Whether it’s Wade Phillips or Jason Garrett that finishes out the rest of the season as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, the team isn’t going to the playoffs. But Jerry Jones’ decision to fire Phillips on Monday isn’t about making the playoffs.

Jones needed to send a message to those that will be around past this year that the lack of effort and execution that the Cowboys have displayed this year won’t be tolerated. Not all of the team’s problems are because of Phillips, but the head coach is always the first one on the chopping block when things fall apart.

You always hear about how Phillips is a players’ coach, but most of his players stopped playing for him weeks ago. I don’t think there’s any question that Phillips can coach in this league, but obviously the players stopped responding to his methods and Jones had no choice but to let him go after the embarrassing 45-7 loss in Green Bay on Sunday night.

Without Tony Romo, Garrett’s chances of succeeding are fairly slim. But he won’t be measured on wins and losses over the next eight weeks – he’ll be measured on how the players respond. If they quit on him like they quit on Phillips, then Garrett may be searching for a job after the season as well.

Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden’s names will be brought up repeatedly over the next two months in connection with the Dallas job, but consider this: No head coach has ever won the Super Bowl with his second team. Bill Parcells (Giants/Patriots), Dan Reeves (Broncos/Falcons) and Mike Holmgren (Packers/Seahawks) all got close, but they couldn’t pull the feat off. That’s not to say that Cowher or Gruden would be bad choices to replace Phillips, but Jones needs to at least consider bringing in someone fresh.

It’ll be interesting to see not only whom Dallas hires at the end of the season, but also whether or not Phillips will get another head coaching job next year. He may have to settle for a defensive coordinator position after what transpired with the Cowboys this season.

The 2010 version of the Dallas Cowboys are dead and in the spirit of Halloween, there are no Jason-type comebacks on the horizon.

They’re done, finished, caput. At 1-6, they’re tied with the Panthers for having the worst record in the NFC and whether they fire Wade Phillips now or torture him and themselves by waiting until after the season, 2010 is over with.

Thus, what is an owner like Jerry Jones to do? He knows that no matter what he does with his head coaching position, it’s not going to matter for this season. So does he wait it out and then start fresh the second the season is over or does he start making changes now?

The short answer is that he must make changes now. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Jones is considering making a coaching change, which he should. His team can’t execute game plans, they can’t tackle, they have completely forgotten basic fundamentals, they have no energy and play with zero urgency. They’re a mess.

Jones can’t hire someone from the outside right now because it would wind up being a useless move. Nobody could go to Dallas, install an entirely new system in a week and have the Cowboys – this Cowboys team – competing again this season. There’s just no way.

But that doesn’t mean Jones can’t send a message to his players that this type of play won’t do. If he fires Phillips, he’ll at least be telling his players and fanbase that he’s willing to do something – anything, to right the ship.

Who would replace Phillips? Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett certainly doesn’t deserve a promotion, but Jones once viewed him as Phillips’ replacement so he might as well see what the red head can do over the next nine weeks. If Garrett stabilizes things and gets this team to compete again, maybe Jones can consider making him the full-time head coach when the season is over.

Or, whatever. The end of the season is a long way away. The here and now is what matters and the here and now is ugly with Wade Phillips in charge. Granted, the Cowboys’ problems aren’t all Phillips’ fault but he oversees things and right now he oversees one of the worst teams in football (even though they have more talent than the likes of the Panthers).

Jerry Jones has to do something, even if the 2010 season is a goner.

Now that Terrell Owens is in Buffalo, he’s putting what happened in Dallas behind him and moving on.

Just kidding – he’s making sure that everyone knows he wasn’t to blame for his release in the Big D.

Via Rotoworld:

Terrell Owens is blaming Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and quarterback Tony Romo for running him out of Dallas.

Answering a fan who said he was unhappy that T.O. left Dallas, Owens tweeted: “Neither ws i, blame the OC & romo!! but i’m happy 2 b where i am but i miss the other guys tht were & r true teammates!!”

That’s pretty impressive that T.O. managed to blame both Jason Garrett (the “OC” Owens’ is referring to in his tweet) and Tony Romo in the characters allotted to send a tweet. And might I add, I think it’s great that we’ve become a nation that has found a way to shrink the written word down to only letters to convey a message. Only in today’s society can we look at “ws i” and know that the person writing the message meant “was I.” Awesome.

Getting back on topic, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if both Garrett and Romo did play a part in T.O.’s demise in Dallas. But Owens didn’t help himself by constantly trying to disrupt the chemistry in the locker room and bitching at Garrett that he wasn’t getting the ball enough. In the end, there were many factors that led to Owens getting the boot. But what’s great (and when I say great, I mean infuriating) about T.O. is that he never points the finger at himself. It’s always someone else’s fault.

One day after VP of Personnel Billy Devaney said that Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was the Rams’ “leading guy” to replace Scott Linehan/Jim Haslett, the team hired former Giants’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo as their next head coach.

UPDATE: The NFL Network is reporting that Spagnuolo and the Rams have agreed on a four-year contract worth $11.5 million. I was unable to independently verify this information and have no idea if it’s accurate.

Spagnuolo, 49, was the Giants defensive coordinator in 2007 and 2008 and came up with the game plan that resulted in five sacks of Tom Brady and a shocking upset of the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Before that, Spagnuolo learned his trade under acclaimed Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, working as an Eagles defensive assistant from 1999-2006. Spagnuolo came out of the Philadelphia experience with a variety of multiple defensive formations and blitz packages that he put to great use with the Giants.

Rams GM Billy and Spagnuolo have been friends for many years and that relationship obviously created a trust factor that helped Spagnuolo feel comfortable about taking the Rams job.

After devising a defensive scheme to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl last year, Spags became one of the hottest names in the coaching ranks. The Rams are definitely getting a quality coach and one that understands what it takes to reach the Super Bowl. Given the team’s struggles over the years on defense, it’s not a big surprise that the Rams went with a defensive-minded coach, but one has to wonder if they gave up on the next great offensive mind in Garrett.

Still, defense wins championship so it’ll be interesting to see what Spags can do for a player like Chris Long.

Jason Garrett flew into St. Louis Friday evening to meet for the second time with Rams’ VP of Personnel Billy Devaney, who said the current Cowboys’ offensive coordinator is “the leading guy” for the team’s head coaching vacancy.

Jason Garrett landed in St. Louis early Friday evening with his wife Brill, and told the Post-Dispatch that he was just here for a second interview and that no job had been offered.

Minutes earlier, en route to the airport, Devaney was singing the same tune.

“It’s part of the interview process,” Devaney insisted. “He wanted to look at the facility. We’re not close to moving on Jason Garrett. I’m not even going to say he’s the leading guy.”

Take that for what it’s worth, but Garrett is the only finalist to visit St. Louis. And he did have his wife with him. Devaney also said that he’d already made his recommendation to owner Chip Rosenbloom on who he wanted to hire as the next Rams head coach.

Devaney said he hoped to reach a decision by Monday on the next Rams head coach.

Garrett and Devaney have a lot in common. They’re both from New Jersey. They’re both big Bruce Springsteen fans, and they’re both represented by the same agent _ David Dunn.

Garrett would be a solid choice for the Rams. I’ve recently taken on the mindset that dome teams are at a disadvantage defensively (you can find my explanation for it here), so it’s wise for them to load up on offense and take advantage of playing on a fast surface eight-plus times a year.

Garrett is one of the bright young offensive minds in the NFL, although his credibility certainly took a hit with how bad the Cowboys struggled down the stretch. Still, the guy has some innovative offenses and if the Rams can rebuild their offensive line, Garrett’s schemes might flourish.

What’ll be interesting to see is if the Rams take a flier on Jon Gruden, who was just fired in Tampa. Gruden is another solid offensive coach and obviously has more experience than Garrett and the other head-coaching candidates linked to the St. Louis job (i.e. Leslie Frazier, Steve Spagnuolo and Rex Ryan).