Good morning! Here are the plays everybody will be talking about Monday morning.
Down go the Panthers! The Carolina Panthers were finally knocked off, losing to the Atlanta Falcons and falling to 14-1. The key moment came late in the third quarter with the game still very much in doubt. With the Falcons facing a 3rd-and-13 at their own 30, Matt Ryan scrambled out of the pocket and heaved the ball downfield to Julio Jones who was covered by two defenders. One of those defenders was Luke Kuechly, who is probably the defensive player of the year in the NFL. It didn't matter as Jones leaped over Kuechly, grabbed the ball out of mid-air, and then raced to the end zone for the huge touchdown.
Cam went into beast mode. The Panthers may have lost, but Cam Newton still had his MVP moment. With the Panthers facing their own big third down, Newton scrambled and took on what seemed like the entire Falcons defense, dragging players, and eventually stretching for the first down. You can read more here.
Only Bill Belichick can make this mistake and get away with it. The New England Patriots inexplicably decided to kick to start overtime against the New York Jets. At first it seemed like Matthew Slater, the Patriots captain, had made a mistake saying they wanted to kick. It turns out the mistake was simply choosing to kick instead of choosing which way to go (which would have led to the Patriots kicking anyways as the Jets would have then chosen to receive the ball). It was a costly move as the Jets would take the ball, go down the field, and score a touchdown. But despite the risky decision and not properly preparing the player to make the call, most are ready to give Belichick a pass since he is known to take risks and a lot of times it works.