NFL Week 12 Recap.
The Week 13 Slate Felt Light But Impactful. The Chiefs Avoid An Upset Against The Panthers, While The Cardianls Fail To Hold On To First Place In The NFC West. The Dolphins Offense Continues To Tear The Tattered Close Of Their Premature Burial With Tua Back In The LIneup But A Blowout Win Against The Patriots May Not Stand As Enough To Get Them Back Into The PLayoff Picture. The Short Handed 49ers Stood Helplessly As The Packers Took Off For Five Touchdowns With Canon Shot After Canon Shot Virtually Ending San Fransisco’s
Cowboys Vs Commanders
The Commanders Drop Their Third Straight Game This Time losing team In The Division Rival Cowboys As Both Offenses Struggled In The First Half Before The Cowboys Pulled Away Late With A Flurry Of Quarter Touchdowns Including Two Special Teams.
Barring A Massive Collapse—I Pre-Wrote This Intro But The Point Remains— And Some Unprecedented Heroics From One Of The Top Seed In The NFC West Division The Commanders Won’t Drop Out Of The Playoff Race but The Second Half Of The Season Has Proven Unkind For The Commanders. The Commander's Offense remains One Of The Best, 2nd In Points Per Drive, 2nd In EPA Per Game, Despite Tough Outings Against The Eagles and Steelers. The Cowboys Don’t Pose Anywhere Near The Threat That The Eagles And Steelers But They Got Healthy On Defense The Commander Found some Trouble. The Dallas defense Played Up To The Challenge To Challenge Holding The Commanders To Just Three Points At The Half, Picking Off Jayden Daniels Once And Keeping Him From Extending Drive As Daniels Goes 0-5 On Third Down Passing. The Cowboys Playing For Less Than Pride Against A Division Foe Take A 10-9 Lead in The Third Quarter After Quarterback Cooper Rush Connected With Receiver Jalen Tolbert—the Cowboys's Defense Held Jayden Daniels Below 100 Yards Passing Until Late In Fourth Quarter. Daniels And The Commanders Put Together An Excellent fourth-quarter drive going 7/7 On A Late Drive To Give The Commanders A Chance By Connecting With Zach Ertz For A Red Zone Touchdown and A Two Point Conversion To Cut The Lead 20-17. The Cowboys Respond In A Resounding A Silencing Way With A 99 Yard Kick Return By Kavontae Turbin after He Fumble The Catch He Dodge Multiple Touchdown And Took Off Down Field. The Commanders Cut The Lead To One Point After Terry McLaurin picked an 86-yard Catch A Run For A Touchdown After Four Catches For 19 Yards To Start The Game. The Commanders Almost Tied The Game But A Mishandled Snap On The Extra Points Finished The Commander Off And Picked A Massive Upset The Cowboys 34-26. The Cowboys Special Teams Scores Two Fourth Quarter Touchdowns Within The Last Three Minutes Of This Game To Close Out The Score. Despite The Final result, The Commanders had Control Of This Game For Much Of The Contest. Still, Their Inability To Sustain Drives, Just 4-12 on Third Down Despite Out-gaining The Cowboys 412-332 Totals, The Commander's Offense Played Sloppy Turning The Ballover Three Including two Picks By Daniels And A Late Fumble By Tight End John Bates. Jayden Daniels is 25/38 For 275 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns And Two Picks. Cooper Rush For The Cowboys 24/32 For 247 Passing Yards, Two Touchdown Passer Rating 117.6 With A Big 41 Yard Catch and Run By Jalen Brooks Rico Dowdle On The Ground with 19 Carries, 86 Rushing Yards.
The Commanders again Had Trouble Finding Options On The Outside To Consistently Convert Down, With The Cowboys Focused On Shutting Down Top Option Terry McClaurin. The Commanders Ran The Ball Pretty Well, 145 Yards On The Ground, 5.8 A Carry. The Cowboys' Offense Hung Around In This Game The Commanders Had Shots To End On Multiple Occasions. The Lost Opens The Door A Small Door To A Wild Card Exit Any team In The NFC West Really Could Overcome Late In The Season. The Gap for NFC East Also Widened As The Eagles Can Jump Ahead Two Games. The Cowboys Get A Feel Good Win For A Week and Maybe The Media Shifts Attention Away From The Lost Cowboys Season That Never Materialized.
Vikings Vs Bears
The Bears Special team Bettay Them two Games In A Row With Two Blocked Field Goals And Muffed Punt TooK Points Of The Board For Chicago And Resulted In Points For Minnesota. Despite A Well Played Game From Caleb Williams And Some Late Game Heroics To Pullout The Win In Overtime. After The Vikings Score A Third Quarter To Go Up 24-10 This Game Look Practically Over as The Bears Struggle To Consistently Move The Ball Throughout The First Half. In The Fourth, Caleb Williams Would Engineer Two fourth-quarter scoring Drives One A Ten Play 64 Yard Drive The Result Of Which Cut The Vikings' Lead To 24-16 With 7 Minutes Remaining In The Half. The Vikings Would Get Another Red Zone Drive That Ends In A Field Goal To Go Up 27-16 Leaves Virtually The Two Minute Warning Left In The Fourth. The Bears Special Teams Woes Turn Around With A 55 Yard Return To Give Chicago A Favorable Field Before Caleb Drives The Bears On A Short Field And Williams Would Lead A Drive That He Caps Off With A One Yard Touchdown Pass To Keenan Allen. Williams Would Rack Up 32/47 For 340 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns For A Passer Rating Of 103.1. The Bears Try an Onside Kick And The Ball Fails To Meet The Necessary Yardage But Hits A Vikings Player And The Bears Recover The Kick Caleb Williams Hits DJ Moore Over The Middle For 27 Yards And The Bears set Up A Game Tying Field Gaol. Despite Having A Kick Blocked Earlier In The Game The Bear Cairo Santos Converts A 48 Yarder and The Bears’s Tie The Game.
Vikings Wide Receiver Addison Made A Post Social Interpreted As Request For More Touches And Involvement In A Vikings Offense Concentrated On Justin Jefferson And Simply Not Passing The Ball At The Highest Frequency With The Lowest Pass Rate In Football. Addison Showed Out Against A Strong Bear’s Pass Defense Hauling Two Massive Plays A 48 Yard Catch Through Contact To Set Up His Own Two Yard Touchdown and A 69 Yard Catch And Run THAT resulted In A Second Half Field Goal. Sam Darnold looks his Best In a Few Weeks 22/34 330 Two Touchdowns, 82.7 QBr, and 116.1 Passer Rating. Darnold Left The Game For A Down And backup quarterback Nick Mullen led The Vikings To a Third Conversion Connecting With Running back Aaron Jones For 14 Yards. Aaron Jones had 22 Carries For 106 Rushing and One Touchdown. Addison Eight Catches For 167 Receiving and A Touchdown. TJ Hockenson Also Added 7 Catches For 114 Yards As The Bears Shut Down Vikings Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson Just Two catches for 27 Yards.
For The Bears DJ Moore Caught Seven Passes For 106 Receiving Yards As The Bears Passing Game Made Plays But Fell Just Short On A Couple of Opportunities Caleb Williams Looks A lot Better He’s Not Holding The
ball Or Forcing Down The Field Shots Williams Finished With a 2.42 Time To Throw A Far Greater Palatable Number Than His Previous Ventures Over 3 Seconds. Sam Darnold 3.35 Seconds On Time To Throw and 7.7 Completion Percentage Over Expected. Darnold Has Return To His Near MVP form Near The Start Of The Season. The Vikings Although The Passing Defense Gets Shredded Outside Of A Few Plays Made Here Or There This Team Looks Back To NFC Contender. The Bears Drop Another Close Game But The Offense Looks A lot More Functional And Caleb Appears As if He’s Going Through His Reads and Completing His Progressions. The Bears Look Like The Team Some Suspected Would Contend For An NFC Playoff Spot Those Hopes Have Fizzled Since The Bears Fall To 4-7.
Titans Vs Texans
The Titans Drop The Texans 32-27 In A Massive Sunday Upset Behind 278 Yards From Will Levi’s On 18/24 Passing Despite Taking 8 Sacks.
The Titans Have Played Some Of The Worse Special Teams This Season much so That The New Kick Return Rules Haven’t Protected Them From Surrendering Some Of The Best Field Positions, The Most Special Teams Yardage, And Special Team Touchdowns This Season. On The Opening Drive Against The Texans Spec-ail team strikes again Kick Returner Dameon Pierce Picks Up A 64 Yard Return To The Texans A First Drive Red Zone Drive, One Play Later CJ Stroud Hit Tight End Cam Stover For 19 yards Score. The Texans' Offense Has HAD Trouble for Stretches This Season Dealing With Injuries and Elevated Expectations. Titan Quarterback Will Levis Not Battling Expectation But Still auditioning For his Job Or Another Job In the NFL He Gets Off To A Strong Start. Levis Starts 10/10 And The Titans An Early Lead After Connecting With Receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikine For 38 Yards. Westbrook-Ikine Scored Last Week On A 98-yard Play Scored To Put The Titans Up Over Their Division Rivals. The Titans despite The Early Touchdown Surrender Kept Charging Against The Texans, This Time On The Ground A Tony Pollard Rushed For 17 Yards to pull The Titans Offense Out Of Their End Zone, and 10 Rush From Pollard Once More To Put The Titans In The End Zone And Give Tennessee A 17-7 Lead In The Second Quarter. The Texans Didn’t Calculate Falling Two Scores To The Titans In the First Half But CJ Stroud and The Offense Got The Back On Track. Starting By Connecting With Leading Nico Collins In The Red Zone For A Short Touchdown To Cut The Titan Lead To 17-14. A Titans Punt Would Again Result In A Texans Red Zone Drive, After CJ Stroud Hits Nico Collins For 59 Yards To The Titan's 9 Yard Line. This Time The Titans Hold But The Texans Tie The Game 17-17. So Much this Season The Arm of Stroud Gives and Takes Away. A Texans Sack Forced The Titans Offense To Punt Stroud’s Next pass Resulting in A Pick And A Field Goal By The Titans For a 20-17 Lead Titans Before Half. This Game Look Trouble For The Texans After The First Drive. The Texans Who’d Own This Division All Season Could Stay On The Field Just 3/13 On Third Down And The Offense Only Managed 54 yards Total In The Second Half. Jimmie Ward Put The Texans' Only Touchdown Score Of The Second Half On The Board After He picked Off Will Levis In The Third Quarter The Texans Had The Lead But The Offense Couldn’t Move The Ball. Wards Play Representative A Momentum Shift For The Texans After Stroud Had Just Threw An Interception On His Last Pass.
The Texans Manage just 260 Yards Of offense, CJ Stroud 20/33, 247 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns, Two Picks, and Four Sacks. Will Levis AnD the Titans Would Score On 70 Yard Catch And Run On a Touchdown That Put The Titans Up An Over? In Back To Back Weeks The Texans Defense Gave Up Massive Passing To Two Quarterbacks Of Average Rating. Will Levis Completed Two Passes Of Over 30 Air Yards? Stroud Also Carved Out Some Big Plays in the Pass Game But His Turnovers and The Texans' Struggle To Run The Ball, Just 40 Yards, Resulted In A Unstable Offensive Performance From Half To Half. The Texans' passing Defense Looked Fairly Strong But Now Comes Into Question After Another Tough outing Against A Subpar Quarterback.
Seahawks Vs Cardinals
The Seahawks Topple The Cardinals To Takeover First Place In
In NFC
West In A Chaotic 16-6 Game.
Two Of The Most Inconsistent Teams In Football Meet With The Division On The Line As The Cardinals Face Off With The Seahawks For The Division. The Seahawks Started The Season 3-0 Before Dropping To 4-4 Before Escaping With a Win Against The Niners Last Week To Emerge As The Cardinals Top Challenger. Kyler Murray Had A Solid Final Box Score Despite The Ugly Offensive Finish For The Cardinals 24/37 For 285 One Interception. The Cardinals however Couldn’t Run The Ball All Game Just 49 Yards And Faced Adverse Field Positions for Plenty of Times Starting At Or Behind The 20 20-yard line. The First Field Goal Of The Game Came On One Of The Few Drives That Started At 50 Yard Line. The Offense And Kyler Murray Had To Work Their Way Out Of Poor Field Position Only To Punt As The Managed 3-12 On Third Down. The Seahawks Also Struggled On The Ground The Offense Had Difficulty Moving The Ball Consistently All Game. In The First Half, The Seahawks had One Drive That Travels Over 30 Yards Of offense A 61 61-yard touchdown Drive Put Together By Geno Smith And Jaxson Smith-Njigba To Get Seattle A 7-3 Lead Into The Half. Smith-Njigba Converted A Third And Goal For Three Yards Following A 46 Yards Pass Play That Set The Seahawks Up To Score. Kyler Murray's Second Half Interception Touchdown All But Closed The Door On This Win For Seattle. The WinHowever Ugly Helps Seattle Leapfrog The Cardinals For First Place In The Division With Another Showdown Coming In Two Weeks. The Hinges On Week 13 Results But They Could Make The Season More Interesting.
Panthers Vs Chiefs
The Chiefs Jump Out To An Early 20-6 Lead In The Second Quarter And Score Points On All Five Of Their First Drives Of The Game Only To Crumple After The Third Quarter Before Escaping An Upset On a Field Goal.
Only A Handful Of NFL Have Face The Reality Of The Week After Their First Lost Deep Into The Season And These Teams Usually Have Two Ways To Respond. Undefeated Teams Either Crash Out And Unravel exposing the Cracks That Luck Had Stitched Over Or Return To Dominance by Facing the bottom-dwelling Cleveland Browns The Chiefs Wouldn’t crash Out. The Carolina Defense Gave Up A First Drive Touchdown To The Chiefs, But Held Kansas City To Just Two Field Goals After Long Drives Got Shut Down In The Red Zone, And What Could’veResulted In a 21-6 Lead Translated To A 13-6 Lead and The Rout didn’t Look Like It Leaves The Station. After The Panthers Go Three And Out The Chiefs Put Together A Long 14 Play Drive For 92 Yards And the Panthers Fell Behind 20-9 At The Half Closer To Expectations. In the Second Half, The Panthers Kept Coming, Bryce Young Hit Wide Receiver David Moore For A Yard Touchdown In the Early Third Quarter Start At Chipping The Lead. The Panthers Struggled In The Red zone Just 2-6 Especially Young Who Went 4/11 Within The 20 Yard Line. The Chiefs Capitalized On These Missed Opportunities By Extending The Lead 27-16 Holding The Panthers From A Two Point conversion And Escaping With The Win. Patrick Mahomes Took Five Sacks On His Way To Finishing The Game 27/37 For 269 Passing, Three Touchdown And A Passer Rating Of 120.2 And Added Five Carries For 60 Yards On The Ground On Scrambles. Kareem Hunt 16 Carries 60 Yards. Bryce Young is 21/35 263 Passing Yards, One Touchdown To Passer Rating of 92.9 Including A Couple of Explosive Plays. David Moore 6 Catches For 81 Receiving Yards. The Panthers' Defense Racked Up Five Sacks Against A Very Good Pass Protection Unit For Kansas City. The Panthers Nearly Knock Off A Top Five Team In Football But I Think This Game Speaks More To The Chiefs Again Finding A Way To Win Late Just Getting Away. If The Chiefs Lucked Out On Any Win, The Panthers' Ted Zone Woes Cost Them The Biggest Victory Of Bryce Young’s Embryonic Career. The Chiefs Go 8-15 And Controlled The Clock for Most Of The Game.
Packers Vs. 49ers
The Packers Demolish The Short-Handed Niners In A Rout 38-10 As Packers Running Back Josh Jacobs Picks Up Three Touchdowns On The Ground On His Way Through 26 Carries For 106 Yards. Packers Quarterback Jordan Love Added Two Touchdowns On 13/23 Passing For 163 Passing Yards As The Packers Go Wire To Wire. The Loss Further Sinks The Niners Ship On This Trouble Niners’ Season. The Niners Could Not Stay Afoot With Brandon Allen's Three Total Turnovers, Two Off The Hands Of Allen Another Fumble By Running back Christian McCaffrey And The Nines’ Offense Went 3-10 On Third Down, Multiple Three And Outs. The Niners Get Just 44 Yards On The Ground Just 2.8 A Carry. The Packers Leap Closer To Sealing Off Their Wildcard Position With The Win.
Dolphins Vs Patriots
The Patriots Don’t Have Much To Play For Much Of The Rest Of This Season At 3-8 Maybe The Patriots Can Play Spoiler And Put Out The Embers Left In Miami’s Playoff Hopes But The Fanbase Doesn’t Need To See Another Win For The Year. What Fans Want To See Steadied Growth And Maye Has Shown Growth In Patriots Offense Even If We Wish He Could Perform Better In Crunched Time A Staple Of Patriots Franchise Guys. Since Week 7 Tua Ranks Second In The NFL Behind Only Jared Goff In Terms Of EPA Per Play The Dolphins HaveDrop Some Close Ones In That Span And He Leads The League In Completion Percentage At 73.8%. The Dolphins Blast The Patriots 34-15 as The Dolphins’ Offensive Return To Form Continued Against The Patriots. Tua Throws Four Touchdowns, Three In The Red Zone Two To Devon Achane On Short Pass And Runs As The Dolphins Blow The Patriots. The Patriots Get A Forced Fumble Recovery FROM Cornerback Christian Gonzalez And a Big 38 Pass Play To Austin Hooper On 4th and 15 At The End Of The Third Quarter. Tua Finished 29/40 For 317 Passing Yards For Four Touchdown, a 128.9 Passer Rating, On Relatively Short Passes, Just Four Passes Of 15+ Yards In The Air. Jaylin Waddle Score A Touchdown on A Short Pass And Some Patriots Miss Tackles On His Way To 144 Receiving Yards On 8 Catches. Tight End Jonnu Smith 9 Catches 87 Receiving. The Dolphins Move Closer To .500 And While The Playoffs Still Look Like A Long Shot The Dolphins Stay Alive. The Patriots And Drake Maye Played Sloppy, Maye Turned The Ball Over Twice and Suffered An Obnoxious Fumble By Just Failing To Secure The Ball Even With a Defender Barreling Down On Him When He Just Needed To Tuck The Ball Away. Maye Finished 22/37 For 222 Passing Yards, One Touchdown And For All The High Up Side Maye Only Completed One Pass Over 15 Air Yards(His Touchdown) And Finished With -9.1 CPOE.
