NFL Week 13 Takeaways From Sunday

Fun Weekend Of Football In Week 13. 

Falcons Vs Chargers

 The Los Angeles Chargers Had An Opportunity To Make A Statement Against The Baltimore Ravens on Monday Instead Their Turn Around Season stalled WHEN the Team, Quentin Johnston, and The Offense Dropped The Ball. The Chargers Remain Locked Into Their Wild Card Spot But Stand In A Precarious Position Considering Their Schedule And Their History For Collapsing. The Chargers Had The Number One Defense In Football Before They Met The Ravens And Found Themselves Exposed In Many Areas Of Football. The Offense Has Always Looked Troublesome At Best Because Of Their Lack of A True Number Or Number Two Threat On The Outside. Ladd McConkey Leads The Team In Yards Per Route Ran 2.19. Joshua Palmer, Jalen Reagor, and Quentin Johnston Have Had Moment But Remain Spotty With Performances. In Terms Of Passing Defense, The Falcons Have One Of The Worse This Season, Giving Up The Highest Completion Percentage(71.6%), a passer Rating of 101.2, and The Lowest Sack Percentage In Football(2.6%) And We’re Last Seen Giving Away A Career Game To Bo Nix And The Broncos. The Chargers Could Regain A spark. The Falcons Have A Playoff Spot To Protect Coming Off Two Losses In A Row And Looking Far From The Near NFC Contender Of Late October. The Falcons Have Managed a -0.010 EPA, Kirk Cousins Just Two Picks, and 0 Touchdowns Since the Week Especially In The Run Game that Has Never Gotten Going Zach Robinson Despite Talent Like Bijan Robinson and Tyler Algreier. Both The Falcons And Chargers Need This Game If The Falcons Who Have Plenty Of Weaponry Can Get Their Offense Going. The Falcons First Drive To Start Their Saved Lead In The Division Got Off Inauspiciosly with A Missed Field Goal A Familiar Scene For Atlanta This Season. The Chargers' Offense Take Over Without Starting Runningback JK Dobbins with Hasson Haksins Who Fumbles On Third and One The Falcons Takeover In Chargers Territory And They Falcon Cash In With Their Running back Bijan Robinson For A Three Yard Touchdown To Put The Falcons On The Board Up Zero. The Chargers Would Fumble Again On The Following Drive But They’d Recover And Convert A Field Goal to Get On The Score Board. 

Kirk's cousins Would Give The  Chargers The Extra Possession Back With A Pick Of His Own On The Following Possession And The Falcons Prove Their Worst enemy Generating And Taking Points Away From Themselves. The Chargers Again Get A Field Goal As The Chargers Offense Succumb To Some pressure Herbert Takes A Sack that Forces A long Field Goal. The Falcons Pass Defense Forcing The Ball Into Herbert’s Hands Keeps The Ball Out Of The End Zone For Three Straight Drives. Herbert Starts The Game Efficiently 11/15 115, 108 Of Which Belonged To Rookie Ladd McConkey But No Touchdowns and A 9-7 Lead at Half. Kirk Cousins Throws Four Picks, One That proves the winning six For The Falcons, Two In The Second, Another Negates A Red Zone Drive, And Another That Seals The Game On Fourth And 12 Attempts That Could’ve Extended The Falcons’s Last But Instead Exemplified Some Of The Limitations In The Falcons offense Under Kirk Cousins. The Chargers Offense Look No Greater In The Second Half As Herbert As The Chargers Put Up 38 Yards Of Total Offense and Two First Downs In The Second Half. Instead, Atlanta Would Have Drive After Drive Stunted By Pick After Pick After Pick Beyond The Chargers’s Territory. Despite Bijan's Early Touchdown, The Falcons Couldn’t Run The Ball Effectively In The Second Half Leaving The Work For Kirk Cousins. After Drake London Drops A Pass That Would Have Converted A Third & 12 instead A Chargers Defender Dislodge The Ball. The Chargers Struggle To 187 Yards Of Offense As The Falcons Nearly Double With 350 Offense In A Loss. The third Down Offense Betrayed The Falcons Just 3/14 As Atlanta’s NFC South Lead Continues To Dwindle As Atlanta Now rests at 6-6. The Chargers Remain A Team Good Enough To Win The Average Game But Not A Next Level Game Although The Falcons Threw This Loss Into The Arms Of The Chargers. The Season Gets Interesting As The Bucs Who Don’t Have Any WinS Over The Falcons Remain In Striking Distance. 

Commanders Vs Titans 

If You’re The Commanders Coming Off Of Three Harrowing Losses After Starting 7-1 And You Look Over To Week 13 And You See The Tennessee Titans On Schedule You Probably Feel Relieved—At Least Two Weeks Ago. The Commanders Need To Get Back To Winning Or Else Their Great Start Could Fall To Rubble Unfortunately The Titans Present Greater Trouble Than In Previous Weeks Of The Team. The Titans Just Defeated The Texans A Week Ago and Will Levis Almost Threw For 300 Passing Yards Against The Vikings.  The Commanders’s Defense Has Never Looked Strong All Season But Now The Offense Can't Put Up Points To Keep The Defense From Getting Exposed. The Titans Scored 13 Points Unanswered Starting With Will Levis Connects With Wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ihkine Before The End Of The Half and two field Goals In The Third Quarter But That would prove Enough To Overcome The 28 Points Jayden Daniels And The Commanders Started The Game. The Commanders scored four Touchdowns On Their First Four Drives Before Adding Two More In The Second Half To Crush The Titans 42-19. Daniels 25/30 For 206 Passing Yards and Three Touchdowns. The Commanders Crushed In The Rushing Game Three Touchdowns Including One From Daniels, Another 40 Yarder By Brian Robinson Jr. And Chris Rodriguez Jr. Brian Robinson Jr 16 Carries For 103 And Touchdown As The Commanders Snap Their Losing Streak And Further Solidify Their Hold On A Wild Card Spot In The NFC Standings. 

Texans Vs Jaguars

Doug Pederson Has Kept His Job Into Week 13 And No One Expects His Position To Remain Safe Into Next Season But Over The Last Two Weeks He’s Had An Excuse For His Team Turning Out One Of The Weakest Offensive Two Weeks In Football We Witnessed. Trevor Lawrence Returned To The Lineup To Face A Texans’ Defense Thats Had A Better Times This Season. Texans Survive A Late Run By The Jags Lead By Mac Jones Who Replaced An Injured Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence Who Returns From Injury This Game Got Knockout With A concussion In The First Half After Texans Linebacker Azeez Al-Shahir. The Impact Knock A Sliding Trevor Lawrence Incapacitated Ultimately Sparking A Fight And Shahir  Found Himself Thrown Out Of The Game. The Texans Amassed A 16-6 Early  The Fourth Quarter After The Two Team Were Gridlocked at Six Points In The Third Quarter. 

Stroud Would Bump The Lead Up 23-6 After Connecting With Dalton Shultz For 22 Yards. The Game Looked Virtually Over But The Jags Score Two Touchdowns In The Final 12 Minutes. Mac Jones Gets His First Touchdown As A Jag Connecting With Receiver Parker Washington For 22 Yards That Concludes A 12 Play, 72 Yard Drive For The Jags. The Jags' Defense In Something Of A Miracle For Them Manages To Stop Stroud And Texans Offense From Converting A New Set Of Downs. With Another Opportunity Mac Jones Delivers Once More This Time Working With Both Big Plays And Efficiency Jones Drove, The Jags To The Red Zone Going 8/10 For 84 Yards, 36 Yards To Parker Washington, and a 8 Yard Touchdown To Brian Thomas Jr Over The Top Of The Texans’s Secondary. With More Than 3 Minutes left In The Game, The Texans Get That First Down On A Joe Mixon Run For 14 Yards and The Texans Ice The win. Even With Lawrence Back, I Didn’t Believe Houston Would Have To Escape Jacksonville But BOTH defenses Played Solid By Keeping Both Passing Attacks Off Balance. Stroud Missed Some Deep Shots Pass In This Game By Still Produced A Solid Outing Of 22/34 For 242 Passing Yards One Touchdown With Three Completions Over 15 Air Yards. Mac Jones Looked Way Better Than Anything We’ve Seen From Him Previously 20/32 For 235 Passing Yards and Those Two Drive Looked Exemplary. Lawrence The Jags De Facto Starter May Have Screwed One Of Those Drives Up With His Turnover Prone Nature—He Threw a Pick On An Over Throw Before Leaving The Game—Jones Instead Executed And Made This Matchup Interesting. Brian Thomas Jr 4 Catches For 76 Yards, A Big 56 Yard Catch And Run That Setup Jacksonville’s Second Field Goal. 

 Joe Mixon Racked Up 20 For 101 With A big 30-yard play.  Nico Collins 8 Catches For 118 Yards As The Texans Maintain Their Hold On First Place In The South As The Schedule Deepens The Rest Of The Way. The Texans Haven’t Played Their Best Ball Yet But They’ll Need To If They Want To Prevent The Division From Slipping Out Of Their Hands Completely. 

49ers Vs Bills

At One Point This Season This Niners Against The Bills Game Had A Potential Super Bowl Preview. The Niners Coming Off Of A Superbowl Appearance  Coached By Kyle Shanahan With Some Of The Best Skill Players In Football The Niners Couldn't Improve The Roster In Free Agency  But Added Upside In The Draft. Now Entering Week 13 The Niners not only  Falling Out Of The Conference Race But are not Even In The Runnings In The NFC West And The Niners Need Every Win To Crawl Back Into The Playoff Picture. The Niners Have Suffered The Wrath Of  Injuries Woes But They Got Quarterback Brock Purdy Back For This Week 13 With The Bills. In An absurd Game Sith Snow Cascading The Field Josh Allen Completes A Pass Which He Then Receives a Lateral Ball And Scampers In For A Touchdown In The Third  Quarter As The Bills Pummel The Niners 35-10 Nearly Effectively Ending Any Hope Of The Niners Reclaiming Their Season. 

Both Teams Had To Deal With The Elements But The Bills Faired Better Rushing For Two Early Touchdowns On The Ground Including A 65-yard Rushing Touchdown By James Cook help The Bills Build A 21-3 Snow Castle Lead Over The Niners. The Offense Struggled In The First Half, Not Only with Moving The Ball But Converting Field Goals As Jake Moody Missed Two Kicks In The First Half As The Niners Generate Just  Three Points. The Second Half Faired No Better As The Niners Fumbled Three Times  And Punted Two Other Times With a Touchdown In The Third Quarter But The Game Had Ended. Brock Purdy Threw For Just 94 Yards On 11/18 Passing no Touchdowns. The Niners Rush For Over 153 Yards On The Ground. The Bills Put Up 220 On The Ground led by James Cook With 14 Carries For 107 And A touchdown. The Elements Matter But This Matchup, The Bills Simply Out Played The Niners. They Win their Fifth Straight ‘AFC East’ Championship And Josh Allen Strikes Another Note For His MVP Case. Scary Moment As Niners Running Back Christian McCaffrey Takes A Tumble On The Field Suffering a Contact Injury In The First Half Early Indicators Suggest a PCL Injury That Could Prove Season Ending A Sour But Sort Of Poetic Note As The Niners Season Virtual Ends With His Fall. 

Buccaneers Vs Panthers

Chase McLaughlin Converts A Long 56-Yard Field Goal To Force Over Time As The Buccaneers Escape An Upset At The Hands Of The Panthers. This Division Matchup Expected To Show Up As Nothing But A Spot On The Schedule Turned Out As A thriller As Late Panthers Touchdown From Bryce Young To Adam Theilen Put The Panthers Ahead 23-20 With Less Than 40 Seconds To Go In The Game. Baker Mayfield returned from Injury To Lead The Bucs In The Fourth Going 11/12 For 114 Passing And Leading The Game Tying Field Goal Drive.   Mayfield’s 17-Yard Connection To Mike Evans And His 10 Scramble Put The Bucs In Position To Win Despite An Odious Start That Included Two Interceptions. Mayfield Started the Game With a dazzling Touchdown Conversion To Mike Evans Who Came Down With a Dazzling One-Handed Catch as Evans Finishes With 8 Catches For 118. However The Real Star For Rookie Running back Bucky Irving Who Cobbled Up 28 Touches For 185 Scrimmage Yards and A Score. The Bucs Ran For 236 Yards On The Ground But Only Converted 2-12 On Third Down. The Panthers Offense Despite Missing Two Field Goals And Having A Touchdown Striped Of Them In The Second Quarter Panthers Pulled Ahead On Brilliant Step Up From Pressure Touchdown From Bryce Young To  Adam Theilen For 25 Yards. Young Completed all But One Of His Passes On The Panthers' Final Drive For 55 yards. That Drive Alone Could’ve Concluded A Brilliant game For Young But In Overtime, after  The Bucs missed A Field Goal On 3rd Down Young Connects With Theilen For A One Handed 16 Yard Pass Connection Something That rivals Any Catch This Season. If The Panthers Could Kick A Field Goal The Game Could’ve Ended In Highlight Fashion For The Second Time But At 50 The Panthers Needed More Yards And Entered Chubba Hubbard. Hubbard Lost Just Two Fumbles All Year Loses A Fumble After Bucs’ Pass Rusher Anthony Nelson. Baker Mayfield Would Take Over The Game From Their Connecting With a 21-yard Catch To Mike Evans. From there Bucs Running back Richard White Would Get The Bucs In The Red Zone With a 38 Yard run Where McLaughlin Would Finish The Job Off With A 30 Yard Field Goal.  The Bucs Play Away Despite A More Than Adequate Game From Bryce Young 26/46 For 298 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, 83.4 Passer Rating. Adam Theilen 8 Catches For 99 Receiving Yards. The Win Helps The Bucs Played Within One Game Of Tying The Falcons For The Division Lead After ATLANTA lost To The Chargers. Baker Mayfield 21/33 235 Passing Yards. Kyle Trask Stepped In For A Series And Completed A Pass. Bryce Young Looked Generally Better And He’s Earned At Least A Second Look even Though I Doubt The Panthers Hold On To Him Considering How Weak The Bucs' Defense Has Played This Season. Even With The Worrisome Defense, The Bucs ' Five Offense Looks Like A Better Contender Than The Falcons  Who Enter The Final Stretch With Better Help But Struggling. 

Jets Vs Seahawks 

As The Jets Navigate The End Of Another Tumultuous  Quarterback Situation Their Former Quarter Geno Smith Has His Team In The Lead In The NFC West But Not Exactly Safe From The Threats Lurking. The Cardinals Entered Week 13 With The Edge In Probability To Win The Division But The Seahawks Can Stay Ahead Until The Two Meet Again In Week 14. With Rodgers Possibly Out The Door, He Puts Up One Of His Best Performances Of The Season In the First Half As The Jets score 21 Points, Two Offensive Touchdowns both Passing Touchdown From Rodgers To Adams To Get The Jets on The Board First Then Another Touchdown To Isaiah Davis. Adams Caught A Joggling Pass From Rodgers In The Corner Of The End Zone. Rodgers Converted His Second Touchdown After Seattle’s Special Team Fails To Secure A Kick Returner Laviska Shenault Fumbles The Return Before Rodgers Converts The Short Field. Rodgers Nearly Put Together A Third Scoring Drive On The Same Situation. Shenault Stumbles Out On His Return Resulting In Another Fumble And A Short Field. Instead, The Seahawks Defense forced a Tipped Pass Which Landed In The Hands Of Defensive Lineman Leonard Williams Who Returned The Turnover 92 Yards For a Touchdown To Keep The Seahawks In The Game On The Scoreboard 21-16 At The Half. The Seahawks Had To Feel Grateful Because Outside Of One Drive Where Seattle Scored After Gaining 88 Yards Geno Smith And The Offense Had Nothing To Show For 7 Possessions and 5 Drives. The Seahawks Second Half Drive Typifies The Team’s Efforts To Score. The Seahawks Drive To The Half Yard Line Only For Geno Smith To Get Sacked On Fourth Down. The Seahawks just didn’t have cash opportunities against a Jets defense, and the Jets team is playing with more flavor. The Seahawk's Field Goal would Mark The First Score Of The Half For Either To Cut the Lead 21-19 Heading Into The Fourth Quarter. The Jets Fail To Record Another Point In The Second Half, As An Aaron Rodgers Deep Attempt To Garrett Wilson Falls Out Of Wilson’s Reach, and The Jets Fall Short Of A Fourth Victory 26-21. Seahawks Runningback Zach Charbonnet Rushes For 8 Yards To Get The Only Score Ten Points In The Second Half and The Winning Number. The Jets Stumble In The Second Half Over Four Possessions The Jets Punt Twice, and Breece Hall’s Fumble In The Third Leads To A Seahawks’s Field Goal And Momentum crushing Swing. The Jets' Receivers Couldn’t Win Routes Consistently Adams Generated Just 2.4 Yards Of Separation(Below Average)  and Garrett Wilson 3.3(Slightly Above Average) And Just Not Good Enough to Hold On To Tough as Speedy Seattle Secondary. With The Run Game Just Functioning The Jets Couldn’t Work The Clock and Finish The Game With A Couple Of Stolen Possessions. Rodgers Struggled With The Deep Ball Just One Completion Over Fifteen(15+) Yards On His Way To Two Touchdowns, 21/39 185 Passing Yards, Two Touchdown and A -13.1 Completion Percentage So Rodgers Didn’t Get Most Of His Easy Throws and Virtually None Of His Hard Throws. Geno Smith Stepped Into His Old Station In The Meadowlands And Comes Away 20/31 For 206 Passing Yards, One Touchdown Four Passing Plays Over 20 Plus Yards. DK Metcalf Hauled In Multiple Big Plays Including A 28 Yard Pass and A 30 Yarder On His Way To 4 Catches For 66 Yards. The Seahawks Take Total Control Of The NFC West With a Cardinal loss and Could Virtually Wrap Up The Division With a Win Over The Cardinals. The Seahawks looked muddied for stretches of this game but came away with a late win. 

Colts Vs Patriots 

Entering Week  13 Of The NFL Under .500 Usually  Doesn't Spell For Your Playoff Chances and Coming Off an Expected But Disappointing Loss To The Best Team In Football Also Cuts The Chances But The Colts Have An Opening Down The Stretch. At 5-6 Indy Has To Win Out, No Impossible But Difficult, Starting With The 3-9 Patriots. Anthony  Richardson didnt Put Up A Better Follow On his return To The Starting Quarterback position Just 11/28 For 178 with One Big 39 Yard Completion To Mark His Only Explosive Play Over The Lions's  Defense. The Patriot's Defense came in Ranked Near The Bottom Against The Pass And Just Got Cut To Ribbons By Tua. The Patriots Give Up A 102.8 Passer Rating and An 11.4 Completion Percentage. Patriots Corner Christian Gonzales Remains A Strong Force Allowing a 78.4 Passer Rating. The Colts Gave Up Pressures Only nearly 46% Of Anthony Richardson Drop Backs  With No Sacks. Richardson Struggled Under Pressure For Most Of The Game Which Resulted In Bad Performance. The Patriots Don’t Excel With Producing Pressure On 18.6 With One Of The Lowest Sack Totals This Season. 

The Colts' Defense Also KEPT The Lion’s Best Offense In Football From Really Exploding, Relegating The Lions To Just 24 Points Despite Giving Up 390 Yards Of Total Scrimmage Yards. Drake Maye Finished With 221 Passing Yards, But struggled to Complete The Difficult Tight Quarters Throws Observers Would Want Their Shelf Quarter To Hit. The Colt's defense came into the game top ten in total pressure, and they sacked Jared Goff three times. The Patriots Don’t Have Anywhere Near The Same Pedigree Of Offensive Lineman As The Number One Detroit Lions The Colts Could Rack Up Some Turnovers and Pressures This Game. The Colts Allow 233.3 Passing Yards A Game and The Patriots Don’t Have Much To Speak For In A Run Game. 

The Colts Play Just One More Team This Season With a Winning Record If They Overcome The Broncos in Week 15 After A Week 14 Bye Week. A Win Versus The Broncos Would Boost Their

Chances astronomically. The Texans Made The Playoffs Last Year And Because Of Their success, They earned the Second Hardest Schedule To Close The Season Meanwhile The Colts Have An Easy schedule To Close. The Colts leapfrogging The Texans Seems Far More Feasible Than Houston Surviving The Late Gauntlet.  Patriots Kicker Josh Sykes missed A Potential game Winning Field Goal As The Colts Put Together A Late Game Winning Drive On The Strength Of Anthony Richardson’s Two Point Conversion 25-24. Anthony Richardson Has Started The Last Three Games For The Colts And The Loss To the Lions  Aside He Brought The Offense Under His Control It's His Offense And he Showed it On His Final Drive. Richardson Overcomes A Third Quarter Interception To Put Together A 19 Play 80 Yard Drive With The Colts Down 24-17. Richardson would Miss A lot Of Passes Forcing The Colts Offense To Face Multiple Third And Long And Fourth Down Situations Including The Fourth Down at The Goal Line Before Converting At The End to The Colts Over. The Colts And The Patriots Remained Locked In a Tight Score Game for most Of The Game. The Colts Score The First Touchdown On Board A Richardson Connection To Jonathan Taylor For 7 Yards. With The Game On The Line, The Colts Turned To Taylor On 3rd And Goal but The Patriots Keep The Star Tailback Out Of The End Zone As The Colts Chances To Win Shrunk. Richardson Would Connect With Alec Pierce For Three Yards To Finish The Game To Put The Colts Over For The Final Time. The Patriots Outplayed The Colts Most Of This Game 422 Total Yards Of Offense For 253 Total Offense For The Colts. The Patriots Also Won The Turnover Battle But Come Up Short With Two Missed Field Goals and Just 2-6 In The Red Zone. Drake Maye Again Looked Impressive He Couldn’t Curb His Turnover Bug with one Interception And did not Complete Any Passes Over 15 Yards In The Air But He Extended Drive With His Legs, Fit Passes Into Tight Windows To His tight End Including A Touchdown To Austin Hooper. Kayshon Boutte Had A big 29-yard catch And Run and A Two-Point Conversion. Maye Also Added 59 Yards On The Ground Behind Running backs Rhamondre Stevenson Who Leads The Team With 18 Carries For 73 Yards and Antonio Gibson Who Scored To Put The Patriots Up Late on His Way To 7 Carries For 62 Yards. The Patriots Played One Of The Most Complete Offensive Games Of The Season And Lost. Anthony Richardson completes Just 50% Of His Passes For 109 But Each Of His 12 Completions Matter More Than The Ones He Missed. The Texans' Winning Negated Much Of The Colts Progress In Making The Playoffs But Things Get Interesting In a Few Weeks And The Colts Couldn’t Afford To Lose This Game If They Hoped To Stay In The Playoff Race. Jonathan Taylor 25 Carries For 96 Rushing Yard.