NFC                                          W-L      Conf         Last Week      %

Detroit                     North         9-1       6-1                 1                99

Philadelphia            East          8-2       5-2                  2                97

Arizona                   West          6-4       3-3                 4                64

Atlanta                    South         6-5       6-2                 3                73

Minnesota               WC1          8-2       3-2              WC1             95

Green Bay               WC2         7-3       3-3               WC3            80

Washington             WC3         7-4       5-2               WC2            81

LA Rams                                   5-5       3-4                10              14

Seattle                                      5-5       2-4                11               21

San Francisco                          5-5       3-4                  8               31

Tampa Bay                               4-6       4-3                12               37

Chicago                                    4-6       2-3                 9                  1

All eyes on the Commanders who could struggle over the last 6 games.  At least that’s the hopes of the NFC West teams and Tampa Bay (with a head-to-head win over WASH) as they aspire to having a Wild Card possibility join their division struggles).

But Washington’s remaining schedule has two games with crippled Dallas.  Sweep there and take two of three from New Orleans, Atlanta and Tennessee, even with a 2^nd loss to the Eagles, and the Commanders finish 11-6.

In the NFC West, the Rams have wins over both Seattle and San Francisco.  Arizona, with wins over both California teams, plays Seattle twice in the next three weeks.

NFC West                   W-L     Div      Conf

Arizona                        6-4      2-0       3-3       .

LA Rams                     5-5      2-1       3-4

Seattle                         5-5      1-2       2-4

San Francisco             5-5      1-3       3-4

AFC                                          W-L      Conf        Last Week          %

Kansas City               West        9-1       5-1                  1                99

Buffalo                      East           9-2      7-2                 2                 99

Pittsburgh                 North         8-2       5-1                 3                98

Houston                    South      7-4/6-5   5-1                 4                98

LA Chargers             WC1          7-3       5-2                 WC2          91

Baltimore                  WC2          7-4       4-4                 WC1         95

Denver                      WC3         6-5        2-4                 WC3         67

Indianapolis                               5-6        4-4                 8               30

The Bills have the tiebreaker with Kansas City now.

And could the Chargers catch the Chiefs?  Kansas City won their first meeting.  The re-match is December 8 on Sunday night at Arrowhead.

CHICAGO

This tweet from Barstool with photos of Washington’s Hail Mary and Green Bay’s FG block:

@barstoolsports

Caleb Williams has led 2 game-winning drives this year.

The Bears are 0-2 in those games.

We would point out that, at ProFootballReference.com, Williams is also credited with a GW Drive in a game that the Bears actually did win.  But the “GW Drive” seems to be a Bears Pick 6 of Titans QB WILL LEVIS.  Upon further research, we feel this is entered in error.

– – –

This from Jay Glazer:

@JayGlazer

Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams actually got up in a team meeting after OC Shane Waldron was fired and APOLOGIZED for his part in the offense stalling enough where Waldron was fired. Teammates were very impressed by the accountability and his decision to do that.

@NFLonFOX

– – –

Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com on what was different about Chicago’s offense on Sunday with new OC Thomas Brown calling the shots:

How did the offensive coordinator change affect the Bears’ offense? New OC Thomas Brown’ game plan led to more decisiveness from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who held the ball less (2.42 seconds, the lowest of his career) and made short, quick throws to combat the Packers’ pass rush. The Bears leaned heavily on the run, including a career-high 70 rushing yards from Williams, got their top playmakers involved (17 total catches for wide receivers DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen) and had more third-down conversions (eight) than they did the previous three weeks combined (six).

DETROIT

As the NFL defines it, QB JARED GOFF did not pitch a “Perfect Game” when he went 18-18 against the Seahawks earlier this season.  His18-18,292 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs did not hit 158.3 on the NFL’s passer rating formula due to now having enough TDs, “only” 155.8.

But he did have one Sunday against the Jaguars with 24-29, 412 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs.  Tobias Bass and Colton Pouncy in The Athletic:

The Detroit Lions showed their offensive firepower Sunday in a 52-6 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, who suffered their worst loss in franchise history.

Quarterback Jared Goff bounced back from his five-interception game in last week’s win over the Houston Texans with a perfect passer rating (158.3) against the Jags, completing 24 of his 29 passes for 412 yards and four touchdowns. Goff became the only QB in history to have multiple games with 400-plus passing yards and a 158.3 passer rating.

The Lions also benefitted from three of their top skill position players, as running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown combined for five TDs.

St. Brown has scored a TD in eight straight games, the longest streak in Lions team history. He finished with 11 receptions for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Montgomery and Gibbs became the second rushing duo with eight-plus TDs through 10 games since the Green Bay Packers’ Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor did it in 1960.

The Lions defense took another hit Sunday. Linebacker Alex Anzalone, Detroit’s second-leading tackler, broke his forearm and is expected to be out 6-8 weeks, coach Dan Campbell said in the postgame news conference. Detroit is already without star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who broke his fibula and tibia in Week 6.

His first NFL-defined Perfect Game came for the Rams in 2018 against the Vikings with 26-of-33 for 465 yards and 5 TDs, 0 INTs.

And we should note that in more history, the 52-6 win marked the 4^th Scoragami of the 2024 NFL season.  There had never been a 52-6 NFL game before Sunday and it is the 1,088^th unique score in NFL history.

We wondered about 18-16 in Steelers-Ravens which actually had happened 8 times before this week (same with 34-19 in Dolphins-Raiders).

– – –

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com with some more cool thoughts on the Lions:

Let’s get the obvious qualifier out of the way: Beating a 2-8 Jaguars team with Mac Jones at quarterback isn’t going to win any team a Super Bowl. If Doug Pederson’s job was on the line heading into Jacksonville’s bye week, his players sure didn’t seem to notice or care. I’m not sure this particular win tells us a ton about what the Lions are going to do against the league’s top competition in January or February.

At the same time … scoring 52 points is cool! This was a truly dominant performance against a Jaguars defense that kept the Vikings out of the end zone for 60 minutes a week ago. And one week removed from a five-interception game against the Texans, Jared Goff was back to the cool, collected quarterback we saw in October, going 24-of-29 for 412 yards with four touchdowns. Hendon Hooker even got to come in and convert a fourth down in garbage time before Detroit kneeled deep in Jaguars territory.

This was the ultimate get-right game for Detroit, which scored touchdowns on each of its first seven possessions on offense. To put that in context, the last team to do that in the regular season was the 2007 Patriots, who did it almost 17 years to the day earlier in a 56-10 win over the Bills. (Buffalo got its revenge by essentially repeating that feat against the rival Pats in the 2021 postseason, although it technically had a zero-play drive at the end of the first half when it fielded a kickoff with one second left.) The Lions converted more than 47% of their plays into first downs or touchdowns, the fourth-highest rate for any team in any game since 2007.

– – –

Sunday was the ninth time since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 that an offense has had four different players each rack up at least 90 yards from scrimmage and score a touchdown. The last time it happened was 2018, when both the Rams (with Goff) and Saints (playing Pederson’s Eagles) pulled it off. David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combined to run for 146 yards and added 74 receiving yards, while both Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams topped 120 receiving yards through the air. The Lions came five Montgomery scrimmage yards away from having four players with 100-yard games, something that has happened three times since the merger.

That big four might also accomplish something never pulled off before. No offense has produced two 1,000-yard rushers and a 1,000-yard receiver in the same season. The Lions might end up with two of each! While acknowledging they get the benefit of a 17th game, Gibbs and Montgomery are on pace to become the eighth duo in league history to top 1,000 rushing yards in the same backfield. St. Brown is well ahead of the 1,000-yard pace, and while Williams missed two games via suspension, he would narrowly top 1,000 receiving yards if he continues at his current game-by-game rate.

GREEN BAY

The Packers weren’t surprised by their winning FG block.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

The Green Bay Packers knew they weren’t losing to the Bears even as Chicago lined up for a game-winning 46-yard field goal.

“We were going to block it,” defensive lineman Kenny Clark said, via the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

It wasn’t simply bravado. Special teams coach Rich Bisaccia saw a weakness in the Bears’ field-goal blocking unit, with a struggling guard situation and a kicker in Cairo Santos who had a low trajectory to his boots.

“Rich said to our team last night, ‘I will not understand if we come out of this game without a block,'” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Whether a field goal or [point-after attempt].”

They blocked the biggest kick of the game, clinching a 20-19 victory.

DALLAS

Will the Cowboys have WR CEEDEE LAMB in the battle for Texas supremacy tonight?  Jane Slater of NFL.com:

@SlaterNFL

After dealing with a shoulder injury, #Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb popped up on injury report with a back injury this weekend and was listed as questionable. A team source tells me “everything right now is pointing for him to play” I’ll have more from AT&T stadium later today

They have displayed no homefield advantage:

@ProFootballTalk

The Cowboys head into tonight’s game against the Texans on a terrible streak of home losses, having lost their last five home games by a combined 110 points.

The Cowboys are the only North American sports team not to win a home game in calendar 2024.

The Kent State Golden Flashes are the only FBS team without a home win this season.

NEW YORK GIANTS

QB DANIEL JONES goes to the bench – and it will be QB TOMMY DeVITO, the hometown favorite starting Sunday, not QB DREW LOCK.  Jordan Raanan ofESPN.com:

The New York Giants have benched the struggling Daniel Jones and are expected to name Tommy DeVito as their new starting quarterback, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The benching of Jones starts the process of the last-place Giants moving on from the quarterback they signed to a four-year, $160 million deal less than two years ago.

DeVito will start in Jones’ place beginning Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium. The Giants (2-8), who are coming off their bye week, also have veteran Drew Lock, who has served as Jones’ backup for every game this season.

The change at the quarterback position comes with seven games remaining in New York’s season. Although the Giants’ record and Jones’ play were key factors in the move, ownership and general manager Joe Schoen also had to consider that there is a $23 million injury guarantee in his contract for 2025 that becomes fully guaranteed if he gets injured and is unable to pass a physical in the offseason.

The Giants are not the first team to sit a quarterback to protect themselves against a substantial injury guarantee. Last year alone, the Denver Broncos did the same with Russell Wilson ($37 million) and the Las Vegas Raiders with Jimmy Garoppolo ($11.25 million).

Coach Brian Daboll said after the Week 10 loss to the Carolina Panthers that the Giants would “evaluate” everything during their bye week — a stark contrast to the previous weeks, when he immediately committed to Jones after losses. At that point, the wheels were in motion to make a quarterback change.

But there have been signs in previous weeks that the Giants would eventually head in this direction. They openly looked for a quarterback at the top of this year’s draft and also pulled Jones in a 28-3 Week 7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles four weeks ago.

DeVito won three straight games last year as a surprise starter following injuries to Jones and Tyrod Taylor. He was the third-string quarterback for every game this season behind Lock.

– – –

Moving on from Jones is as big an indictment on Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen as it is on the quarterback. They signed him to the eye-opening deal with Jones coming off the best season of his career in 2022 and used the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley, who is now thriving with the rival Philadelphia Eagles.

Jones threw 15 touchdown passes and just six interceptions while finishing sixth in QBR during the career year in 2022. He also was close to flawless in a playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings.

But the Giants haven’t been able to get Jones back to playing at that level, partly due to injuries and an inoperable offensive line last season. Jones missed games in 2023 with a neck injury and torn ACL.

Matt Ryan thinks Jones will take a step back in 2025, but could do a Sam Darnold.

Daniel Jones has finally been benched as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants, officially ending his six-year run as QB1 with the franchise that had significantly more lows than highs. Just 27 years old, Jones’ career in New York will be over — yet he can latch on with another team and rebuild his profession.

Can Jones accomplish this as a starting quarterback again? “NFL Today” analyst and former NFL MVP Matt Ryan feels Jones can start once again — but not in 2025.

“We’ve seen the reemergence of guys like Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold, where it’s taken a few stops along the way and they’ve gotten back into a good situation and they’ve had production,” Ryan said on CBS Sports HQ Monday. “I think Daniel Jones is hoping for a situation like that — be a backup for a year or two and kind of learn and maybe get an opportunity to play — and play well enough to earn a starting role.”

Plenty of quarterbacks have revitalized their careers with other franchises, with Mayfield and Darnold being the two most ideal examples. Darnold is 10th in the NFL in passer rating (100.0), while throwing 19 touchdowns to 10 interceptions for the Minnesota Vikings this season. Mayfield is fifth in the league in passer rating (103.6), throwing for 24 touchdowns to nine interceptions for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season.

Jones can go a similar path as Darnold and Mayfield, if he settles as a backup and not a starter in 2025. There may not be a job for him anyway.

“I look at starting positions that are gonna be open next year and I don’t see a place where an organization is gonna pay Daniel Jones that starting quarterback money right now,” Ryan said. “I think he goes to the bench for a little while. … I just don’t see a spot for him as starting quarterback next year.”

Greg Auman of FoxSports.com points out that the 6-5 Broncos are in the AFC playoffs because of the abuse they have heaped on the NFC South:

@gregauman

Denver Broncos and Sean Payton on their way to being NFC South champs:

Leading Falcons 28-6

Beat Bucs 26-7

Beat Saints 33-10

Beat Panthers 28-14

ATLANTA

Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com thinks the 5-seed will be a near sure-bet to advance in the first round:

Can we mark the Falcons down for a loss on that first Saturday game wild-card weekend?

The Falcons are good enough to win the NFC South, and that’s about it. They were absolutely handled by the Denver Broncos on Sunday in a 38-6 loss. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix continued his steady improvement as he picked apart the Falcons. Nix completed 28 of 33 passes for 307 yards and tied a Broncos rookie record with four touchdowns. Atlanta had no desire to stop the Broncos and the Falcons’ offense was punchless too.

The Falcons seem likely to hold off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC South title. But the Falcons are showing they’re no threat to make any noise once the playoffs start.

CAROLINA

Look out Chiefs!  Here comes some more of QB BRYCE YOUNG.  NFL.com:

QB Bryce Young will remain the starter for Week 12’s game versus the Chiefs, head coach Dave Canales announced Monday. The Panthers are riding a two-game winning streak under Young, who took over after Andy Dalton suffered a sprained thumb he suffered in a car crash on Oct. 22.

And he will be likely to have WR ADAM THIELEN off IR and available to throw to.

NEW ORLEANS

Without even counting his INT and his lost fumble, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com says QB TAYSOM HILL’s stat line Sunday sorts out to something not done in 53 years:

Describe the game in two words: Taysom Time. The Saints got the full Taysom Hill experience against the Browns — he was a blocker, receiver, quarterback and running back. He scored three times but was also picked off throwing deep and fumbled near the end zone. Per ESPN Research, Taysom Hill is the first player with three rushing touchdowns, 50 receiving yards and one pass completion in a game since the Chiefs’ Ed Podolak in 1971.

– – –

Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com on whether or not Darren Rizzi, now 2-0, can be this year’s Antonio Pierce:

Darren Rizzi: Last season, Antonio Pierce got a chance to be the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim head coach. He won a few games, won the fans over with his energy and got hired as the team’s permanent head coach. It’s every interim coach’s dream scenario.

Rizzi, the New Orleans Saints’ interim coach, is 2-0 and has to be feeling pretty good. The Saints played well Sunday in beating the Cleveland Browns 35-14, with Taysom Hill scoring three touchdowns to lead the way. Rizzi’s energy has already gotten positive attention for his energy on the sideline during games. We’ll see what the Saints (4-7) do after the season, but if Rizzi wins enough games he’ll at least get some consideration. That’s all an interim coach can ask.

SAN FRANCISCO

Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com on the struggles of the 49ers:

After coughing up a fourth-quarter lead to a division rival in the closing moments on Sunday afternoon, the San Francisco 49ers were left with an all-too-familiar emotion.

This time, it was the Seattle Seahawks storming down the field to score the winning touchdown with 12 seconds left, turning what seemed like a sure defeat into a 20-17 victory.

Given what the Niners were feeling, it might as well have been their Week 3 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams or the Week 5 letdown against the Arizona Cardinals.

“It’s infuriating, honestly,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “It’s not like us. But that’s just what we’ve shown this year, so I guess until we stop doing that, then that’s who we are.”

What the 49ers are now is a 5-5 team teetering on the brink of a lost season. This loss dropped them to 1-3 in NFC West games and saw defensive end Nick Bosa suffer a hip and oblique injury that kept him out for most of Sunday’s second half and could linger into the coming weeks.

All of which would make the Niners’ path to a third straight divisional crown, or any playoff berth, substantially tougher.

The frustration Warner shares with his teammates isn’t just the record against divisional foes but how San Francisco has attained it. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 49ers have three divisional losses when leading in the final two minutes of regulation, which is tied for the most such losses by a team in a season since the 1970 merger.

San Francisco’s three late-game letdowns have come in just four chances, and the Niners are tied with the 2001 Carolina Panthers, 2000 Los Angeles Chargers, 1996 Baltimore Ravens and 1994 Washington Commanders as the only teams to have that many defeats in those situations on the résumé.

Losing a third game when leading in the fourth quarter also tied the Niners for the most such blown leads by any team this season, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals. It all led to 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan touching on a similar message to what he has espoused after several losses this season (and even some wins).

“We had every opportunity to run away with that and put it away,” Shanahan said. “[We] missed a couple opportunities to do that and … let people hang around, that’s what happens.”

Indeed, the 49ers had multiple chances to build a big, perhaps insurmountable lead against the Seahawks. But a series of self-inflicted mistakes prevented that from happening.

Playing without tight end George Kittle because of a hamstring injury, the Niners were sluggish on offense, finishing with just 277 yards of offense, their lowest output in a game since Week 6 of the 2023 season. Their longest play of the day went for just 22 yards, tied for the second shortest for a game since Shanahan took over in 2017 (with 19 yards as the longest play in a 2020 loss to Washington).

Fred Warner called Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, which featured another blown lead late, “infuriating” and not like the 49ers of years past. Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

More maddening for the Niners, however, was their inability to avoid penalties that wiped away multiple scoring chances. San Francisco racked up nine penalties for 54 yards, with seven of those infractions going against the offense. In recent seasons, the Niners have had no trouble overcoming such miscues, but this team hasn’t proved capable of the same type of in-game resilience.

“Obviously [in] years past, it’s like we put that behind us and play the next play,” quarterback Brock Purdy said. “Just because we had success the last couple years doesn’t mean just because something bad happens to us, we’re just magically going to make up for it. We’ve got to have the chip on our shoulder to go take it every single play, down and game. We’ve just got to get back to that mindset.”

While there are still seven games left in the season for the 49ers to rediscover what has made them successful in recent years, the clock is undoubtedly ticking as they prepare for a difficult two-game stretch with visits to the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills. That they might have to do it without Bosa only figures to make the task tougher.

Bosa dealt with a right hip pointer and oblique issue all week that he said would make it “close” as to whether he would even play against the Seahawks. Bosa did start the game and had four tackles and 1.5 sacks before leaving early in the second half.

He injured his other hip and oblique when he brought Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith down for a sack with 9:26 left in the third quarter. Bosa stayed on the field for one more play before checking out and did not return. After the game, Bosa said he felt like he was “compensating” for the previously injured hip and oblique and lamented missing Seattle’s game-winning drive.

The Seahawks averaged just 3.3 yards per play when Bosa was on the field versus 6.1 yards when he was off it on Sunday. Seattle also scored all 20 of its points with Bosa off the field.

“Brutal,” Bosa said. “The most important time in the game for me to be out there, I wasn’t able to be. I hate missing time. That’s why I pushed through last week. Hopefully, it’s not too long [to be out].”

SEATTLE

QB GENO SMITH came up big when he had to Sunday.  Michael-Shawn Duggar of The Athletic:

Geno Smith had that look in his eyes.

Laken Tomlinson has been a Seattle Seahawk for only seven months, but that’s more than enough time to learn how this current team feels about the San Francisco 49ers, his former club.

It was also enough time to gather how much a game like this meant to Smith, who came into the huddle ahead of Seattle’s game-winning drive Sunday calm and in control, smiling as if he knew what was about to happen. Smith’s confidence and command of the moment added to the feeling of belief flowing through everyone in the Seahawks’ huddle Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium.

“I was like, ‘This is it. We’re going to win this game,’” said Tomlinson, Seattle’s veteran left guard. “He gets that look in his eyes, and he’s just going to do something special. When he gets that look, man, all we can do is back him up.”

The situation called for greatness, and Smith and the offense delivered. Down by 4 points on the road against a division rival that had defeated them six times in a row, the Seahawks needed 80 yards in the final 2:38 to avoid a sixth loss in seven games, which would have essentially put a fork in their season.

Smith has had special late-game moments in his three seasons as Seattle’s starter, but Sunday he checked a new box by leading a game-winning scoring drive against San Francisco, punctuated by his 13-yard scramble with 12 seconds remaining to give the Seahawks a 20-17 victory.

On the final series, Smith completed 7 of 8 passes for 54 yards and accounted for 29 yards on two runs, the latter so cathartic that once he extended the ball over the goal line, he joyously launched it into the air toward a stunned crowd of 49ers fans.

“That was probably my best throw of the day,” Smith said with a smirk in his postgame news conference.

It is impossible to overstate the significance of this victory for Seattle, which improved to 5-5 and third in the NFC West with two games against the division-leading Cardinals (6-4) over the next three weeks. The Seahawks came into this game with 3 percent odds of winning the division, according to The Athletic’s projection model. A loss would have kept them in the division basement while being at a mathematical and psychological disadvantage against a 49ers team that had won the previous six meetings by an average of two touchdowns.

DENVER

Robert Griffin III takes a bow for being right about QB BO NIX:

@RGIII

Bo Nix is the perfect fit for Sean Payton’s offense? Man, people told me I was crazy when I said it 1st before the draft.

They said he wouldn’t do anything in the NFL because he wasn’t in a good situation at Auburn in the SEC. He didn’t run away to Oregon. He found the best place for him to develop as a QB and as a man.

Now, @BoNix10  looks to have found the best place for him to develop as an NFL QB in Denver. His 28/33 for 307 yards and 4 TD performance to lay the SMACKETH DOWN on the Atlanta Falcons was the efficient Bo Nix we saw at Oregon.

The praise for what he is doing as a rookie needs to be just as loud as the disrespect was.

And Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com says Nix is an Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate:

Has quarterback Bo Nix put himself in the Rookie of the Year conversation? Nix has flourished since October began, including in the Broncos’ sweep of the NFC South. He was 28-of-33 passing for 307 yards and four touchdowns Sunday. It was his first four-touchdown effort and first 300-yard passing game in the NFL. He has 13 touchdown passes in the past seven games and has topped 70% completions in four of those, including Sunday. He has thrown just two interceptions in the past nine games, and the Broncos are 6-3 over that span. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was the easy pick a month ago, but Nix might be playing the best of all the rookie signal-callers right now.

KANSAS CITY

Adam Teicher of ESPN.com on how much the loss at Buffalo hurt the Chiefs’ chances of the coveted top seed:

How much damage did this loss do to the Chiefs’ chances at the AFC’s No. 1 seed? Plenty, according to ESPN Analytics. The Chiefs were given a 91% chance of getting the No. 1 seed had they beaten the Bills. But now their chances are down to 54%. They have to worry about finishing ahead of not only the two-loss Bills, who have the tiebreaker against them, but also the two-loss Steelers. The Chiefs and Steelers will meet Christmas Day in Pittsburgh.

BALTIMORE

Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com on the Ravens looking like a Wild Card team after coming up short in Pittsburgh:

How much does this loss put a dent in the Ravens’ chances to win the AFC North? This is a major setback for the Ravens in their pursuit to become back-to-back AFC North champions. Baltimore’s chances to win the division dropped to 37%, according to ESPN Analytics. It’s difficult to believe the Ravens can overtake the Steelers when quarterback Lamar Jackson continues to struggle against them. The reigning NFL Most Valuable Player is now 1-4 against Pittsburgh after completing a season-worst 48.4% of his passes (16-of-33), which doesn’t include his desperation toss on a failed two-point conversion.

CINCINNATI

A tweet from Caleb Noe that could also have gone in PITTSBURGH:

@CalebNoeTV

Joe Burrow has thrown 9 TDs against the Ravens this season… and lost both games.

The Steelers just beat the Ravens WITHOUT SCORING A TOUCHDOWN.

6 field goals.

18-16 final.

Wild.

PITTSBURGH

Bill Barnwell loved Mike Tomlin’s timeout before the key Ravens two-point attempt that could have tied the game:

Tomlin calls something at the perfect time. On Sunday, Tomlin’s moment of magic manifested itself as a game-altering timeout. After Baltimore scored a touchdown with 1:06 to go to make the score 18-16, Jackson and the Ravens lined up for the potential game-tying 2-point conversion. It looked like they were calling for Jackson to run on the interior on a quarterback power run, only for Tomlin to call timeout just as the play began, costing them their preferred 2-point play.

What they came back with wasn’t very appealing or well-executed. Hill had been on the field throughout the final drive, and even after the timeout, the Ravens chose not to bring back Henry, who hadn’t been on the field since the 8:46 mark of the fourth quarter. They called for a designed counter run from Jackson, but it wasn’t well-blocked. Nelson Agholor wasn’t able to prevent Herbig from shooting into the backfield, which slowed down the pulling linemen. Nobody was able to kick out Porter, who easily tackled Jackson to end the play.

INDIANAPOLIS

Colts QB ANTHONY RICHARDSON was pretty darn good Sunday in pulling out the win over the Jets.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson returned to the starting lineup on Sunday and he made a compelling case to remain there in a road win over the Jets.

Richardson helped the Colts to a 13-0 lead and then lead two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter after the Jets had rallied to take a 24-16 lead. The second of those drives ended with him running for a go-ahead touchdown with 46 seconds left to play. The Colts would hold on for a 28-27 win that lifted their record to 5-6 on the season.

Richardson was 20-of-30 for 272 yards and a score to go with two rushing touchdowns and it was his best overall outing of the season. After the game, Richardson said his two-game benching “allowed me to take a step back and just clean up some things that I have to clean up” and it resulted in him feeling more relaxed than he has at any other point in his professional career.

“I wouldn’t say the most prepared or the most confident, just the most relaxed I’ve been,” Richardson said, via the team’s website. “There wasn’t really any pressure on me, I was just out there taking it one play at a time. That’s what I kept telling my teammates, one play at a time, and that was probably the biggest thing today.”

Relaxed was a good look for Richardson on Sunday and the Colts will be hoping that it’s a sign of things to come for the 2023 first-round pick.

JACKSONVILLE

Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com on the plight of Coach Doug Pederson:

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan laid out an expectation for his team a few days before this season started.

“Make no mistake: this is the best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever,” Khan said.

Not too long ago, that best Jaguars team assembled would have seemingly been in great hands with head coach Doug Pederson.

When the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles won the only Super Bowl in franchise history, certain truths seemed apparent when it came to Pederson. He was revolutionizing the game by being more aggressive on fourth downs than any coach before him (that has held true). He was a quarterback whisperer who had Carson Wentz on an MVP track and then coached up Nick Foles to an epic Super Bowl MVP run. He was also a top five, at worst, coach in the NFL. He outcoached Bill Belichick in a Super Bowl. That happened. And he was going to be the Eagles’ coach for a long time. That was Pederson’s second season as head coach.

On Sunday, as the Detroit Lions crushed the best team the Jaguars have ever assembled 52-6, which is the worst loss in Jaguars history, those days of Pederson being a star in the coaching industry seemed like a lifetime ago. The loss dropped the Jaguars to 2-9 and might finish Pederson’s time with the Jaguars.

On Saturday, someone leaked to NFL Media that with the Jaguars’ bye week coming up, big changes could be made including firing Pederson. That’s an underhanded way of finding out that keeping your job might depend on winning at Detroit, but at least Pederson knew the stakes. And like just about everything else since that Super Bowl win with the Eagles, Pederson fell short. The Lions were up 28-3 late in the second quarter. Jared Goff finished with 412 yards for four touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. There have been plenty of embarrassing days for the Jaguars this season, but Sunday was a new low. If the season ended today, the Jaguars would have the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. They also look like a team that should be drafting first overall.

“I can’t control that,” Pederson said after the game, via NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. “Listen, I’ve been around this league a long time. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen obviously. But at the same time, I have a job to do.”

What happened to Pederson? The easiest way to explain it is he caught a hot streak with a really good Eagles roster and a coaching staff around him that had a heck of a season. Philadelphia went 13-3 that season. Pederson is 42-50-1 with two playoff wins in six seasons since.

The longer answer might have to do with the relationship with his players, particularly quarterbacks, since that magical 2017 season. Pederson’s frayed relationship with Wentz was a key reason the Eagles relationship ended so soon after the Super Bowl. Pederson’s relationship with Trevor Lawrence will be dissected, but at the very least it’s clear that Pederson didn’t get the best out of a quarterback making $55 million per season. Pederson seemed to blame the players at times this season, while going out of his way to protect embattled offensive coordinator Press Taylor. That blind loyalty to his staff was another reason he was ousted in Philly and a reason he failed in Jacksonville. The team’s schemes on both sides of the ball seemed stale. Lawrence was injured and didn’t play Sunday, and Mac Jones hasn’t covered himself in glory in either start replacing him. But it’s not like there was much creativity to help him. And the Jaguars’ defense gave up plenty of points to Detroit.

In February of 2018, it seemed impossible to think that a little more than six years later Pederson could be out of chances as an NFL head coach. He looked like a Sean McVay or John Harbaugh, a championship coach who would be a fixture in the NFL for a long time. Then, as quickly as he seemed to figure out the NFL in Philadelphia, the game suddenly passed him by.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com says that wily Jaguars GM Trent Baalke has a plan to save his job amidst the rubble in Jacksonville.

If the Jaguars part ways during the bye week with coach Doug Pederson, what happens with G.M. Trent Baalke?

In August, owner Shad Khan said that “this is the best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, ever.” Well, Baalke built that team. Will he avoid the hammer, if the hammer does indeed fall in Jacksonville?

There’s a belief in some circles that Baalke’s future potentially hinges on a package deal that would bring Bill Belichick to the team as the next head coach. Belichick and Baalke spent two years together as co-workers with the Jets, in 1998 and 1999. And some believe Baalke’s prospects with the Jaguars could indeed hinge on selling both Khan and Belichick on giving it a go.

The Jaguars emerged as a potential suitor for Belichick after a 47-10 loss to the Bills. Now, after the worst loss in franchise history, 52-6 in Detroit, things could indeed heat up for the Jaguars and Belichick, who is available to be interviewed at any time.

Hell, they could hire Belichick for the rest of the year, if they want. Yes, they’d have to still conduct a full and appropriate interview process after the season. But teams have perfected the art of checking the boxes — and the league has perfected the craft of letting them.

Now or later, Belichick is a name to watch in Jacksonville. And Belichick could be Baalke’s key to sticking around beyond 2024.

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WR GABE DAVIS heading to surgery:

WR Gabe Davis is believed to have suffered a torn meniscus in Sunday’s loss to Detroit, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Monday. The team is still assessing the injury, but Davis is expected to have surgery and doctors will determine if it’s a full repair or just a trim during the procedure, per Rapoport and Pelissero.

TENNESSEE

Glimpses from QB WILL LEVIS in Sunday’s loss.  Turron Davenport of ESPN.com:

Can quarterback Will Levis’ big plays boost him for the rest of the season? Levis showed glimpses of the deep passer he was last season. It started with a beautifully thrown pass from his own end zone to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for a 98-yard touchdown. Levis’ deep strike to Calvin Ridley for 51 yards on a post the next series was another well-placed pass, but an illegal formation penalty called it back. Those two passes seemed to do something for Levis. With seven games left in the season, he can build upon his season-high 295 passing yards in his quest to prove he’s Tennessee’s future at QB.

BUFFALO

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com with some thoughts on the big Bills’ win:

On one hand, Bills fans should be used to beating the Chiefs, but that hasn’t translated to the postseason: Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have beaten Buffalo all three times they’ve played each other, including last January’s win in front of these very fans in Western New York.

The roar after Josh Allen converted his fourth-and-2 scramble for a 26-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach, though, didn’t feel like it was for just another victory. Beating an archrival is always fun, but the roar reinforced two things to me. One was that this was a more meaningful victory in the regular season than the others, given that it denied the 9-0 Chiefs a chance of pursuing an undefeated season. The other is that it felt like a statement of intent. While the Bills blew out the Chiefs early in 2021, this was a relatively comprehensive victory, a game in which they only trailed for a total of seven minutes and 36 seconds. Buffalo’s fans roared because they believe they can do it again. They might be right.

The story of these games is always going to be Allen versus Mahomes, and as he’s been all season, Allen was the better quarterback. This was a stereotypical example of a 2024 game from Allen, who has evolved from a quarterback who combined huge highs and game-wrecking lows to a far steadier option. His numbers as a passer weren’t anything dramatic; he went 27-of-40 for 262 yards with a touchdown pass. Those are roughly in line with what he does on a weekly basis, where he ranks 13th in the NFL in yards per attempt and 12th in yards per completion.

Instead, Allen’s ability to avoid sacks and propensity for avoiding interceptions have basically eliminated the negative plays from the Buffalo offense, allowing them to steadily move the ball while mixing in his occasional moment of magic. And while he did throw an ugly interception on what appeared to be a moment of miscommunication with backup tight end Dawson Knox, he didn’t take a single sack on 40 dropbacks. Since the start of the 2022 season, there have been only two games in which a quarterback went an entire game without being sacked by Steve Spagnuolo’s Kansas City defense. They were Allen’s starts against the Chiefs in the 2023 postseason and then on Sunday.

While the Bills didn’t have much success running the ball with their backs, this was one of those games in which Allen was aggressive as a runner, both on scrambles and designed calls. His 11 rushes produced 58 yards, including three short-yardage conversions and the scramble that sealed the victory. When Spagnuolo blitzed Allen, the quarterback was able to find escape routes and either scramble for yardage or get the ball to one of his receivers.

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The Bills, on the other hand, are managing to overcome missing stars on defense. While Sean McDermott’s early teams in Buffalo were built around the linebacker duo of Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds, they have needed to rebuild. Edmunds left for the Bears in free agency in 2023, while Milano has missed the past 25 games of because of various injuries. On top of that, replacements Terrel Bernard and Baylon Spector have both missed time, while Buffalo is rebuilding its safety rotation with Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin.

All of this should have pointed to a big day for Chiefs star Travis Kelce, but despite running 26 routes, the tight end managed two catches for 8 yards. Noah Gray was able to score two touchdowns in the red zone, but the Bills taking away Kansas City’s best pass catcher without Milano was a critical step for them to win this game. Bernard, who has been excellent this season when healthy, even came up with a third-down sack of Mahomes to end a Chiefs drive before snaring the fourth-and-13 throw to Kelce in the fourth quarter for a game-ending pick.

There isn’t the same sort of star power we once saw in the back end of this Bills defense, but they’re remarkably well-coached and don’t make many mistakes. Mahomes was great on quick-game concepts, but when he held the football, the Bills were able to deny him options. He was 9-of-10 for 70 yards and two touchdowns when he got rid of the ball in 2.5 seconds or less, but when he held it for any longer, the two-time MVP went 14-of-23 for just 126 yards with two interceptions.

The first interception was all too familiar for Mahomes, an overthrown interception on a pass over the middle of the field. He had an open Gray and could have picked up a first down with a better throw, but he was falling and lofted his pass high in the air, where it was picked by Rapp. The Bills took advantage of the short field to score the game’s first touchdown, taking an early lead and never looking back.

For the Bills, a loss to the Chiefs probably would have halted their home-field advantage hopes. Now, they could win a potential head-to-head tiebreaker with the Chiefs come January. They also hold a 7-2 record in the AFC, although the Chiefs and Steelers are both 5-1. After their Week 12 bye, McDermott’s team will get a three-week stretch of NFC games against the 49ers, Rams and Lions before finishing up with two against the Patriots and a home game against the Jets.

As for the Chiefs (9-1), while they still hold first place in the AFC, they’re now one more loss away from opening the door for the Bills or Steelers. They have to play Pittsburgh later this season, although their schedule before then is easier, given that Mahomes & Co. are about to face the Panthers and Raiders over the next two weeks. ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives them a 51.8% chance of landing the top spot in the AFC, while Buffalo (9-2) has a 35.9% chance. And if the Chiefs are going to play the Bills again, well, it’s much better to do it in Kansas City.

NEW YORK JETS

Cody Benjamin of CBSSports.com on whether or not the Jets will want to press on with aging QB AARON RODGERS in 2025.

Ever since acquiring Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers, the New York Jets have been waiting for the quarterback to return to something even remotely close to MVP form. They’ve waited so long it’s cost them a head coach, an offensive play-caller, multiple draft picks and spendy contracts for Rodgers’ friends, and now, more than likely, a 14th straight season without a playoff appearance. Talk about a “win-now” effort gone wrong!

The question many tired Jets fans are openly wondering: What now? Rodgers is 40 and, for arguably the first time in his future Hall of Fame career, fully looks his age. No amount of his brainy but increasingly deflated off-field pep talks appears capable of reviving his sluggish mobility or absent comfortability inside an organization that knows painful defeat much better than hard-earned victory.

It’s hard to believe Rodgers’ recent admission that he’d still like to play in 2025 was muttered with any real sense of conviction, but even if the former star does try another go-round, it’s possible the rest of Jets leadership will be packing their bags without him, as interim coach Jeff Ulbrich and general manager Joe Douglas are among logical casualties of this wretched season. Which begs the follow-up question: Could the Jets say thanks but no thanks? Is there a feasible way for New York to move on from its failed, aging savior?

Barring retirement, Rodgers is due $23.5 million in 2025, the final year of the restructured three-year deal he signed with the Jets. As of now, New York couldn’t outright release or trade Rodgers immediately following 2024 without paying an exorbitant price; cutting or trading him would result in a loss of $25.5 million, or roughly the majority of the Jets’ entire projected 2025 salary cap, pending additional cuts. That won’t happen.

Rodgers could, however, be designated a post-June 1 cut, which would actually save the Jets $9.5 million against the 2025 cap, freeing his deal from the books. The team would get the same savings if it literally held Rodgers on the roster until June 1, then traded him afterward. It seems unlikely anyone would come calling with a premium offer for a struggling 41-year-old signal-caller, even as a modest short-term rental, and especially when said quarterback is known to have such a strong sway on coaching and personnel decisions; would Rodgers even sign off on relocating, when he went through such pains to orchestrate his move specifically to the Jets?

All signs point to one of two scenarios unfolding: Rodgers finally stepping away from the game, as so many Packers fans hoped he might do following the 2022 season, or the Jets stepping away from Rodgers’ remaining contract. Unless, of course, the grizzled gunslinger finally, after all this trouble, delivers on the hype to end 2024.