Another week of NFL action down! Wasn't quite the excitement factor we got last week, but still plenty of big plays and storylines to discuss. Why waste any more time on this introductory paragraph when we can get right into it:
Titans 27- Packers 17
A decent game by Thursday standards! Tennessee was coming off of a bye, which was apparent in how much fresher they looked than Green Bay on a short week. It wasn't Derrick Henry's most efficient day on the ground, but he battered the Packers' front seven on his way to passing and rushing touchdowns. When the box got packed, Tannehill found Treylon Burks with ease to make the defense pay. The rookie receiver had his best career game with seven receptions for 111 yards. As balanced an offensive showing as the Titans' have had all season.
You could say that the Packers' offense was also balanced, just make sure to include that both elements were equally bad. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined for a paltry 53 yards on 18 carries while Aaron Rodgers was regularly missing open receivers. There's no consistency with them and at this point, a lot of that blame needs to fall on their QB1. He's actively regressing before our eyes.
Shoutout Christian Watson for scoring five touchdowns in the last two weeks-- maybe the only bright spot currently in Green Bay. Their 2022-2023 campaign is toast. Tennessee has all but wrapped up the AFC South crown, and it ain't even December yet.
Falcons 27- Bears 24
From the putrid AFC South to the equally gross NFC South we go! Fun game down in the ATL that lived up to the hype.
The Bears came out hot, moving the ball with ease while building a 17-7 lead with about four minutes to go in the second. Then Cordarrelle Patterson set NFL history by returning his ninth career kickoff for a touchdown. Younghoe Koo drilled a 40 yarder right before the half and we were all tied up.
Both teams traded touchdowns in the second half, knotting things up at 24. Late in the fourth, Koo was true once more from 53 and the Atlanta defense intercepted Justin Fields on the ensuing possession to end the game. Drilled the over, fun back and forth, season saving win for the Falcons.
Despite the late pick, Fields still looked solid under center for Chicago, continuing to build on his strong month of play. Darnell Mooney caught his second score of the year, salvaging his fantasy day. David Montgomery was also very involved in Khalil Herbert's absence.
On the Atlanta side of things, Mariota was pretty lackluster but did enough--kind of the story to his season so far. Very curious what their plan will be for quarterback next year. Kyle Pitts had three catches but then got hurt, keeping the theme for his bust of a season. Drake London caught a two-yard touchdown on his only reception of the game. It's actually amazing the over in this game hit given how little fantasy relevance the main players achieved.
Bills 31- Browns 23
This game should've been in six feet of snow... Really a missed opportunity by the NFL to not have that game go down in those conditions-- public and player safety be damned.
On a more serious note, this game started slow, which wasn't a surprise given the adversity each team had to deal with in the location change. It felt like there were a ton of points left off the board too, as Buffalo had to kick six field goals. Credit to Cleveland's defense for keeping them out of the end zone.
Unfortunately for the Browns, they didn't really reach the promise land much themselves. Nick Chubb had far and away his worst performance of the season, averaging just 1.4 YPC on 14 totes. Jacoby Brissett did what he could in this one, clearing 300 passing yards for the first time as a member of the team, collecting three scores on the way. It wasn't enough, as Cleveland drops to 3-7 overall. I guess Deshaun's already got his guaranteed money, otherwise there'd be no reason for him to come back during this lost season.
The Bills were able to overcome Josh Allen's lowest passing totals to get the dub. Their star QB only connected with four pass catchers to total 197 yards through the air. Devin Singletary was solid on the ground, but slightly outshined by rookie RB James Cook, who accumulated the same amount of yards on seven less carries. His 86 rushing yards easily set his current career high. This Buffalo offense would benefit from some balance like this.
Eagles 17- Colts 16
Poor Colts. Everything was going right for them in this one: at home against a far superior team, up 16-10 with about 4:30 left on the clock. Eleven plays and about three minutes later, Jalen Hurts was walking into the end zone, setting up Jason Elliott for the game winning extra point. Brutal...especially with Indy giving the Eagles 39 yards on the final drive on a DPI penalty.
Jonathan Taylor had another nice day on the ground. He's been revitalized with Matt Ryan back at QB, keeping defenses honest. Parris Campbell continued to stay involved which is a huge help to Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce. The Colts do have a genuinely underrated top three receivers. They sputtered for too long on offense however, blowing a ten point lead they held for much of the second half.
This Eagles team is still having issues with ball security, fumbling four more times (losing two of them). They'll need to clean that up against better teams, otherwise the result will be different then what we saw Sunday. Miles Sanders was okay, but Hurts was more in control on the ground while Devonta Smith and AJ Brown paced the passing game. Huge comeback win for Philly, maintaining the #1 seed in the NFC.
Patriots 10- Jets 3
This game was so bad. Like, unwatchable. One cool thing happened, with 16 seconds left. Rookie corner Marcus Jones fielded a punt at their own 26 and weaved through the Jets punt unit en route to the game winning touchdown. Wild, wild finish to a horribly boring game.
Zach Wilson went 9-22 for 77 yards. He was completely inept against Bill Belichick for the fourth time in his career. The team has worked hard to surround him with elite talent and he's completely failed to take advantage thus far. Rookie receiver Garrett Wilson was quoted by reporters saying, "this shit is sorry," when asked about the offense. He isn't wrong. Big decisions on deck for the New York front office this offseason if their quarterback's play continues this poor play.
Saints 27- Rams 20
A much more entertaining game then anticipated down in NOLA. I was calling for Andy Dalton's job these last few weeks and he stepped up in this one to quiet my criticism for a week, going 21-25 for 260 and three touchdowns. Chris Olave caught five of those passes for a team-leading 102 yards to continue his strong rookie campaign, burning Jalen Ramsey for a score in the process. Tight end Juwan Johnson also caught another tuddy to continue his solid, under-the-radar season.
The Rams are done, absolutely done. They're 3-7, their best receiver is set to miss 6-8 weeks with surgery, and now Matthew Stafford finds himself with another head injury. Honestly at this point, they should mail it in for the season and try and maintain their health for 2023. This team sucks on all fronts. A few teams around the league should be very happy with how high their draft picks from LA are going to be in the upcoming draft.
Lions 31- Giants 18
The Lions are on a three game winning streak. That wasn't a joke. They flat out dominated the Giants in the Meadowlands, on their way to a thirteen point victory.
The game wasn't that close though. Detroit was down 6-3 in the second quarter before storming ahead to a 24-6 lead that New York never threatened. Jamaal Williams exploded for three scores on the ground and D'Andre Swift added one of his own. Justin Jackson was their most efficient back though on a day they ran all over the G Men. Amon-Ra St. Brown predictably had a big day too, posting 76 yards on seven snags.
The Giants may be in trouble. After a 6-1 start that was as improbable as it was impressive, New York's dropped two of three, with their only victory coming in a dull effort over Houston. A key factor in this negative shift has been turnovers. Five of their eleven giveaways on the season have come in their most recent two losses, adversity this team simply isn't equipped to overcome. That'll be their downfall if they can't cut it out.
Impressive rookie Wan'Dale Robinson was also lost for the season with a torn ACL Sunday. You hate to see it, especially off of an impressive 9/100 day. He was really establishing himself as the WR1 for this team. Darius Slayton SZN. Humongous divisional game on deck against Dallas on Thankskilling.
Ravens 13- Panthers 3
I was so confident on Baltimore...then something came over me on Sunday morning that said, "this game's going to irritate the fuck out of you." Boy did it ever.
This game was scoreless until a Justin Tucker field goal soared through the uprights as time expired in the first half. Seven punts, a Lamar interception and a field goal...that was the first half action.
Second half wasn't much better! The Panthers had three turnovers that Baltimore converted into ten decisive points. The Ravens' offense looked terrible and needed all the help they could get from Baker Mayfield's mistakes. I would be legitimately surprised if Carolina doesn't have Sam Darnold at QB this upcoming week.
Bad game, hated watching it, was very happy to turn down tickets to it. Too many drops by the Ravens. But that defense is ferocious. Onto Jacksonville they go!
Commanders 23- Texans 10
Credit where it's due for Washington. Riding high on a big win streak against an inferior opponent on the road and they did not suffer a let down. Taylor Heinicke and the boys went three and out to start the game but quickly were redeemed by a Kendall Fuller pick six. It was the closest Houston would be the rest of the game.
By halftime it was 20-0. The Commanders coasted to the finish line with a steady run game and stout defensive. Davis Mills punched in a late rushing score to make this final look closer then it was. Don't get things twisted: the Houston Texans are a very, very bad football team. Washington marches on.
Raiders 22- Broncos 16
Really low expectations for this game, but it was actually fairly engaging. There were a ton of okay drives for as few total points as there were, with a ton of kicking. The teams combined for six made field goals, two misses and eight punts. Busy day for the special teams.
Melvin Gordon fumbled again, costing himself a job. Russell Wilson was incredibly average, but didn't rally the Broncos at any point. Unlike Gordon, he's essentially contractually stuck in his job, no matter how shitty his play is. Waiting on that Nathaniel Hackett termination any minute now...
In a unique stat line, Josh Jacobs was the only Raiders to record a carry. No kneels, no scrambles, no spells, just Las Vegas' RB1 racking up 109 yards on the ground. Derek Carr wasn't super efficient, but he made some big plays when he could connect with his pass catchers. And Davante Adams is really fucking good, posting a 7/141/2 line, including the walk off 35-yard touchdown in overtime. Josh McDaniels' career fights on for another week.
Cowboys 40- Vikings 3
This game destroyed my betting week... Vikings got molly whopped in their home stadium. Dallas did whatever they fucking wanted by air, ground, sea, wherever... Micah Parsons took Kirk Cousins' soul and all of his chains, leading the Cowboys' ferocious pass rush on their way to sacking the QB seven times. Atrocious. Shoutout Tony Pollard too, he rolled Minnesota for 189 yards and two scores on 21 touches. He's emerged as a legitimate weapon in this league.
Vikings need to put this one behind them ASAP. In a remarkable statistic, they're actually -2 in point differential on the year despite being 8-2 overall. Is this a gritty team that wins close games, or a pretender that gets throttled against quality opponents? Time will tell, but Captain Kirk's history suggests the latter.
Bengals 37- Steelers 30
I wasn't wildly confident about Cincinnati in this matchup, but they really stepped up and got it done on the road. Cincy found themselves trailing 20-17 at the break after a late Burrow pick set Pittsburgh up for a go ahead field goal. It'd be the last time they found themselves behind.
After punting on their first second half drive, the Bengals scored 20 points on their next six drives to pull away from a Steelers' offense that just couldn't keep up. Samaje Perine was the player of the day, nabbing 52 receiving yards while taking three of his four catches into the end zone. It was the perennial backup's second career multi-score game and more touchdowns than he had all of last season. What a DFS play he would've been...
When he wasn't hitting Perine in the red zone, Joe Burrow's main target was Tee Higgins, who led both teams with 148 yards on the day. The Bengals' quarterback racked up 355 passing yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions against a defense that gave him a ton of trouble earlier in the year. Not too shabby of a showing.
Najee Harris hit 90 yards again and scored twice, really starting to produce dividends for the Steelers' commitment to the run game. Pat Freiermuth and George Pickens seem to be the preferred targets of Kenny Pickett, which has really sunk Diontae Johnson's fantasy value. The offense has shown a little bit of life with the rookie signal caller, but he's still got a ways to go.
Chiefs 30- Chargers 27
The Chargers went ahead 27-23 with 1:46 left on the clock. Too much time for Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs' phenomenal quarterback drove the team 75 yards in 75 seconds for the go-ahead tuddy, finding Travis Kelce for his third touchdown on the evening and league-leading eleventh on the year. Isiah Pacheco was a big story in this one, rumbling for 107 yards on just fifteen carries--his first career game over the century mark. Kadarius Toney also exited after one target with a hamstring injury. Bad look for a dude mocking such an injury just a week ago on his touchdown celebration.
LA really benefitted from having Keenan Allen and Mike Williams back in the mix, even if it was receiver Josh Palmer who led the way. With the KC defense needing to respect the pass game more, Austin Ekeler was able to find room to work in the running game, putting up his second highest rushing total.
Tough loss for the Chargers, but one they look to build upon with some key guys getting healthy. They've got to get to work soon ASAP however, as they're now 5-5 overall.
49ers 38- Cardinals 10
To Mexico City we go to wrap up week 11!
Not a fun game here unless you were cheering for San Fran. It looked close at halftime before the 49ers ran off 21 unanswered in the second. George Kittle predictably popped for two touchdowns, assisted by Brandon Aiyuk, who had two of his own. Elijah Mitchell seems to be the back of choice on the ground, but McCaffery still got his with seven receptions and fourteen total touches.
The Cardinals suck. Colt McCoy isn't good, but how much worse is he then Kyler in this offense? On paper, it's a laughable question, but watch the games from this year and tell me it's not at least considerable. I fully anticipate Kyle Kingsbury to be given his walking papers at the season's end, barring something magnificent over the next seven weeks. Shoutout to our boy Greg Dortch for clearing 100 yards too.
------
@Choppinglines
*I own no rights to any images found in this blog
Comments
Post a Comment