Most of Sunday's biggest NFL stories were about things that didn't happen. A fullback didn't finish. A receiver didn't show up until the second half. An offense didn't score a touchdown. A referee may have said something he shouldn't have. All of it still counts, and most of it got graded wrong.
Start in Santa Clara, where the 49ers beat Denver and lost Kyle Juszczyk's knee plus two more bodies doing it. Everyone will file this under the same tired headline about San Francisco's injury luck, and everyone will be missing the point. Juszczyk isn't depth. He's a position this offense is built to use, and losing him touches the run game in ways a backup receiver never would. The 49ers keep winning through this because they've decided the cost of how they play is worth paying. I'll take that trade over a healthy team that can't block anybody.
Dre Greenlaw told reporters he had "a little extra" against Denver, his former team. Revenge games are the most over-covered story in football, and that quote is the proof, because there's nothing else to say about it. Of course he had extra. He played in that building. What actually matters is that Denver's staff knows his tendencies better than anyone, and familiarity cuts both directions. The emotion is real. It's also the least predictive thing that happened Sunday.
The NFL is looking into an exchange between the Vikings' Wilson and referee Hill. Here's the part nobody will write: this review exists to protect officials, not players. When a player says something to an official, we get a fine inside a week. When the officiating gets it wrong in a game that decides a division, we get a statement about "communication" and a rule change in March. I'm not predicting discipline, because the league's track record says there won't be any that stings. That asymmetry is the story, and it's the one the investigation won't address.
CeeDee Lamb made Cowboys history against Houston and scored the decisive touchdown with 40 seconds left. Now read the rest of it. Eleven catches for 140 yards after halftime isn't a highlight, it's an indictment of the first 30 minutes. Dallas needed a historic second half from its best player to survive the Texans at home, and the 40-second score means the game was live until the final minute. Great receivers bail out broken offenses all the time, and that's exactly what this was. The record is a symptom. If Dallas doesn't fix the opening two quarters, Lamb gets another line like this and the Cowboys get a worse result.
Minnesota is 4-0 after beating Miami 15-10 on five Will Reichard field goals, and the fan base is asking why it feels like 0-4. Put me on the other side of that. Five scoring drives is five scoring drives, and a team that wins when it can't finish in the end zone is showing you a floor most of the league doesn't have. I'd take a 4-0 team with a red-zone problem over a 2-2 team with a pretty offense every single week. The legitimate worry isn't the wins, it's that 15 points becomes 12 in January, and field goals don't beat good defenses twice.
So my verdict for the day: the 49ers' injuries matter more than the standings suggest, Greenlaw's revenge game matters less, and the Vikings' 4-0 is real even if the offense isn't. Reichard's leg is this team's identity until someone takes it away from him.
