What we learned from Sundays Week 14 games

Wiki Article

What we learned from Sunday's Week 14 games Published: Dec 09, 2018 at 08:34 AM In a clash between arguably the league's top offense and defense on Sunday evening, defense prevailed. The , fresh off surrendering 30 points to the , held the world-beating to just six in prime time, complementing a stiff run defense with impeccable pa s coverage for the full 60 minutes. Chicago held the to a Sean McVay-era low 214 total yards and forced a career-high four interceptions from . The weren't dominant by any means on the other side of the ball -- threw three picks and was no better than his counterpart -- but Chicago took advantage of its opportunities. The turning point came in the third quarter when Vic Fangio's front seven seized the lead from a 6-6 stalemate with a safety, and Trubisky responded with a nine-play touchdown drive, the lone one of the evening from either side. On the scoring play, the brought in four eligible defensive linemen and threw it to the lone eligible offensive lineman, , for the TD. Inventive stuff, trademark Matt Nagy and what we've come to expect from this bunch. Chicago played confident and loose in their building, bullying the frigid into submi sion. In doing so, the 9-4 pa sed yet another test on the path to league-wide legitimacy. Chicago ensured that its lead in the NFC North would not dwindle regardle s of Monday night's result and even inched ever closer to an improbable first-round bye. This defeat was their ugliest since the end of the Jeff Fisher era, particularly on offense. Credit is of course due to , , and the like for shuttering the ' high-flying offense, but Los Angeles couldn't get off the ground, or on the ground for that matter. The league's leading rusher, , was held to 28 yards on 11 carries; he had just six totes through three quarters. The play-action consequently never get going, the pre sure on Goff never let up and the offense never started churning. After their first scoring drive -- a three-and-out FG "march" off a turnover -- the had just one play in the red zone: a false start. It is alarming how, following that slugfest against the and the bye, Los Angeles has struggled to put together a complete game on offense. Worse for the is that Sunday's lo s drops them to 11-2 and into a tie with the atop the conference. Due to their earlier lo s in New Orleans, however, L.A. is now behind the in the race for home-field advantage. On the flip side, Chicago kept the at bay with a stellar ground attack. L.A. had no answers for the speedy and surrendered 's first 100-yard rushing game of the season. Chicago rushed for a season-high 194 yards on a soft front seven, and that prowe s in the run game lent to Chicago's significant time of po se sion advantage (36:49 to 23:11). was, aside from a run stuff or two, nonexistent. The ground-and-pound attack was welcome because Trubisky had an off night in his return from a right shoulder injury. His three interceptions were mostly self-inflicted overthrows or poor decisions. We often draw comparisons between Trubisky and Goff, top-two quarterbacks in the last three drafts. Neither QB had much succe s on Sunday night. But while the ' signal-caller was failed by other facets of his offense, Trubisky's teammates and play-callers picked him up. = hero. The receiver corralled a tipped ball in overtime and took it to the house, his third touchdown of the day, for a victory over the division-rival . The win gives the (8-5) a stranglehold on the NFC East with three weeks to play. A 6-0 halftime struggle-fest in Dallas turned into fireworks late, as the and combined to score 31 fourth-quarter points to head to overtime tied at 23. After winning the coin to s, the pounded a tired defense, milking most of the 10-minute period. Credit Jason Garrett for going for it on 4th-and-1 in field-goal range to keep the ball away from Philly. The conversion led to Cooper's heroics three plays later. Garrett's decision, which kept the ball away from an team that had scored on four of its five previous po se sions, proved vital. The Cooper trade continues to pay dividends for the . The receiver took advantage of a beleaguered secondary, scorching Philly for 217 yards and three touchdowns on 10 receptions. Cooper generated two big scores of 28 and 75 yards to put the ahead in the fourth quarter. His final catch sealed the win, and likely the division. Cooper's arrival has completely transformed the . The big-play receiver aided on a day the quarterback struggled for stretches. Prescott threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. The mistakes kept the in a game the were dominating everywhere but the scoreboard early. Prescott's best attribute is a resilient ability to bounce-back from the flubs. Julius Erving Jersey On a day he didn't play his best, the Dallas quarterback to sed a career-high 455 yards and completed 42 pa ses. mistakes -- including continued red-zone woes, and three holding penalties on -- kept the contest close, but with Cooper's big plays, the streaked to their fifth-straight win. The champion are all but cooked. Sunday's lo s drops Philly to 6-7, and, after falling twice to Dallas, the division figures out of reach. While Doug Pederson's team remains in the hunt for a wild-card berth, with games against the and on tap, the outlook is exceedingly bleak. Nothing Philly did for three quarters suggested it's a team that can go on a late-season run against playoff teams. was scattershot most of the day, to sing for just 48 first-half yards -- he finished with 228 yards and 3 TDs. Nothing is easy for the ' offense. Facing a superior defense played a factor, but Wentz and the rest of the unit are a disjointed mishmash of inconsistent play. fans could point to refs me sing up what looked like a sure fumble recovery on the opening kickoff or a bad OPI call on late, but between those two calls, Philly didn't help themselves. The offense generated just 256 yards, 16 first downs and had four 3-and-outs on the day. The furious finish to force overtime displayed promise, but much like most of the season, the comeback fell short. The entered Sunday with just two wins, but it was hard to tell the way they played against the . Sure, they faced backup quarterback Josh Dobbs for much of the second half with nursing a rib injury that he suffered in the first half, but Oakland's effort was golden. Roethlisberger re-entered the game in the fourth quarter after the went up 17-14, and he quickly led the team to retake the lead with a 1-yard touchdown pa s to with 2:55 left. quarterback responded by marching the offense down the field on a 6-play, 70-yard drive, which Carr capped off with a 6-yard touchdown pa s to tight end with 25 seconds remaining. The then got some outside help after allowing wide receiver Smith-Schuster to take a lateral from and go 43 yards, setting up a potential game-tying field goal. kicker 's left foot slipped as he planted, and he kicked the ball low enough that the blocked the attempt to seal the win and improve to 3-10 on the season. Carr receives a lot of negative attention when he makes mistakes, and he should as the team's franchise quarterback. But he more than deserves kudos when he plays like he did late in the final period. Carr calmly executed throughout the fourth quarter and brought the back from a 14-10 deficit with two touchdown pa ses, including the game-winning score. Carr finished 25 of 34 (73.5 percent) for 322 yards and two touchdowns for a 122.4 pa ser rating. The ' signal-caller outdueled Roethlisberger and Dobbs, both of whom combined for 306 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Roethlisberger didn't show any ill effects of his rib injury when he returned, but his health will be under the microscope in the coming week. Injury aside, the (7-5-1) will regret this lo s when realizing the blown opportunity on two fronts. The (9-4) and (9-4) lost in the early games, giving the the chance to close ground in the race for higher playoff seeding. A win also would've given the the chance to pick up a game on the (7-6) in the AFC North because the also lost. Instead, the went 0-4 this season against the AFC West and now have to prepare for two tough matchups in the final three games against the in Week 15 and (11-2) in Week 16 before closing out the regular season against the (5-8). The (9-4) were seven seconds away from winning their 10th straight AFC East title until the Miami Miracle produced the most 'Fintastic finish in NFL history. With the taking a five-point lead in the final seconds on a field goal, the started with the ball on their own 31 on the ensuing po se sion. then threw a dart to who ran it 14 yards before lateraling the ball to . Parker then pa sed the ball to , who weaved his way through the thinning and backward-stumbling defense on the final 52 yards of a seemingly impo sible trek to the end zone. It left everyone at Hard Rock stunned and the (7-6) in the thick of the playoff hunt. Outside of the final play, the put in a gutsy yet flawed performance. performed decently despite being pre sure often on the way to being sacked four times. He connected on 14 of 19 pa ses for 265 yards and three touchdowns and survived an injury scare just before halftime. Like most of the wins, the first 59:44 of Sunday's game wasn't anything special, but Miami's resiliency managed to break through in the most unlikely of ways. and the fell for the second straight year in Miami, but the 41-year-old quarterback proved that humidity doesn't hurt pliability. Brady connected on 27 of 43 pa ses for 358 yards and three touchdowns and came up big later in the game when New England was doing all it could to get and stay ahead of the . A big part of the offense revolved on Brady's renewed connection with . The prolific tight end caught eight pa ses for 107 yards. and also caused problems for Miami's defense, which was playing without interception magnet . Had it not been for a mi sed field goal by Gostkowski in the first half, the would have secured their 16th straight season of double-digit wins. Brady might not have had his greatest December outing, but he did achieve another remarkable career milestone. With his 2-yard touchdown pa s to in the second quarter, Brady broke a tie for the most touchdown to ses, including playoffs, in NFL history. The pa s helped the jump out to a 13-7 lead. Brady now stands at 581 career touchdown pa ses. Brady wasn't the only greybeard to etch his name in NFL history during this game. In the third quarter, running back surpa sed Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson (18,456) for fifth in all-time in yards from scrimmage. After Gore's 92-yard rushing game, he stands at 18,530 scrimmage yards for his career. You can only keep a Ferrari stuck in traffic for so long. After cruising through the first two quarters, quarterback was stymied for the first three po se sions of the second half, getting battered by Baltimore defenders left and right, throwing for just 27 yards after the halftime break. Then Mahomes hit the gas pedal. The play of the game came on a fourth-and-9 with the trailing by seven points with 1:29 remaining. Mahomes scrambled away from the rush and to sed acro s his body to find downfield for a 48-yard bomb. The quarterback to sed a touchdown to tie the game and used his arm to set up the game-winning field goal in overtime. Mahomes earned every bit of his 377 yards pa sing on the day. The QB was clobbered repeatedly by creative Baltimore blitzes, getting hit 15 times (five by Matt Judon) and sacked thrice. Credit the defense for corralling the for long spells of the second half. But when magic was needed, magic is what K.C. got from Mahomes, who several-times weaved around rushers to find streaking receivers. The second-year signal-caller completes throws others can only dream of attempting. Against the league's top-ranked defense, Mahomes proved he could win a playoff-type game. continues to make strides as the starting quarterback. Once again Baltimore's run game dominated for stretches, including an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, all earned on the ground. For the first time since Jackson took over, the were held under 200 yards rushing, coming up just shy, at 198. The rookie was up-and-down pa sing, but found strides in the second-half. The run-game keeps Jackson in manageable down and distances. Of his 13 completions, 12 went for first downs or scores. Jackson, who threw two TD pa ses, has done enough to earn another start when returns from injury. The ' offense is much more difficult to defend when the rookie starts. However, there will be questions about Jackson's ability to run end-of-game drives. Jackson was strip-sacked by with under 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the game tied. Only a mi sed field goal gave the a chance in overtime. Would John Harbaugh have inserted Flacco at the of the game had he been active? Jackson was also injured on Baltimore's final drive. entered to throw the final two heaves of the game that went incomplete. Jackson told reporters after the game that a player landed on his ankle, but he's fine. The victory clinches a , who will face the for AFC West supremacy on Thursday night. With New England's lo s Sunday, the 11-2 also sit in the catbird seat for the AFC's No. 1 seed. Earning home-field advantage would be huge for K.C. Playing at Arrowhead is a daunting prospect for any opponent. The lo s pushes the into a tie for the AFC's final wild-card spot. At 7-6, Harbaugh's team sits tied with the , , and with three weeks to go. The close out facing the Bucs, , and , likely needing at least two wins to reach the postseason. authored another eye-popping afternoon, hitting his first seven pa ses for 161 yards and a touchdown with deep strikes of 66 and 51 yards. Once again, a string of stirring traits were on display by the ' rookie field general: Fiery arm strength and pinpoint pa ses spun perfectly into the hands of blanketed wideouts Next-level field awarene s as the young signal-caller quickly dumped the ball off to third and fourth reads with free rushers closing in Master fakery on a Statue of Liberty handoff to Nick Chubb Saucy magic-spinning and fearle s derring-do whipping the ball downfield Turning into a thing The hurt themselves with a mi sed extra point and a pair of lost fumbles by and , but it was Landry who sparked the club with a beautiful 51-yard trick gallop to set up a fourth-quarter score. This offense is a delight for the first time in forever. started well with shots of 25 yards to and 20 yards to , but concerns remain. Still battling a shoulder injury, Cam threw an awkward wobbler that fell short of Samuel and was again relieved by backup on a first-half Hail Mary attempt. Too many of his pa ses sailed high, including a fourth-and-goal misfire aimed at in the end zone with 2:35 left and the down by six. Minutes later, Cam returned to throw a game-ending pick. It's clear he's banged up. McCaffrey dialed up a pair of short scoring runs, the second coming after Carolina recovered that Higgins fumble deep in territory. Rookie tight end played the best game of his young career, while rookie wideout showed off his hand strength with a few tough grabs and his elusivene s on a 40-yard catch and run. The (6-7) remain mathematically alive for a wild-card spot in the NFC, but they're tough to take seriously riding a five-game losing streak with two games left against the NFC South champion . Cleveland (5-7-1) would need a handful of contenders to be taken away by an angry alien mothership to make the postseason, but there's something new in the eggnog for fans this time around: hope. The were sleep walking through the first half, totaling just 104 yards, en route to a 14-3 deficit. The first po se sion of the second half produced an uninspiring three-and-out, and then happened. Hill, the team's Mr. Everything (as the backup quarterback to Drew Brees), burst through the ' coverage unit to block a punt at the 7:23 mark of the third period. The play woke up the and the team went on to score three straight touchdowns to seize control of the game. Hill's game-changing play will tend to fly under the radar for fans craving video game-like offensive football, but the blocked punt proved the launching pad for the ' offense. The ' , marking the first time in franchise history the team secured a division title in consecutive years. The win also improved the ' record to 11-2, tied for the top seed in the playoffs. The ' path to close out the season won't be easy in the chase for the No. 1 spot, though. New Orleans has two divisional games remaining against the and a Week 16 matchup against the . That said, two of the final three games will be at the friendly confines of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where the are 5-1 on the season. Give the (5-8) credit for a spirited effort through the first two quarters. The Bucs defense held the powerful offense in check, limiting Brees and Co. to just a field goal. The Bucs, however, couldn't carry the momentum into the second half, as Brees threw a touchdown and scored on a 1-yard plunge to help the comeback. Despite the lo s, the have played inspired football the past three games, going 2-1 in that span, behind quarterback , who threw two touchdowns Sunday, and a capable defense, which recorded an interception for a third straight game. Over that span, the Bucs have seven interceptions after totaling just one through the first 10 games. With Winston and an improving defense, the are in position to play spoiler in two of their final three games, as they face playoff hopefuls in the and . Four days out from an all-important divisional clash in Kansas City, the narrowly avoided a trap-game lo s to a moribund, injury-riddled side. After scoring touchdowns on their first two drives, L.A. was shut out of the end zone for the final 44 minutes of the game, settling instead for four Michael Badgley field goals. Behind , the pulled within two points late in the fourth quarter. But an indecisive Driskel was sacked by on Cincy's two-point conversion attempt and L.A.'s 10th victory was sealed. This is the first time since 2009 that the Bolts have won at least 10 games. On the heels of the ' momentous win in Pittsburgh, though, Sunday's win was a wake-up call for the slumbering Bolts, who now boast the AFC's second-best record behind the rival . The two AFC Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot Jersey West foes will meet on Thursday with division supremacy and playoff positioning on the line. Which team will show up: the comeback kids from Week 13 or the complacent bunch from Sunday afternoon? In place of the injured for the second straight week, had a stellar bounce-back game, recording 94 total yards and a rushing score on 17 touches. , the hero of last week, was far le s of a factor, but that could change on Thursday night. Ekeler suffered an apparent shoulder injury on Cincinnati's onside attempt with under two minutes to go and looked to be in a lot of pain. It's too early to tell if the injury will hinder him from playing down the stretch, but on a short week, the last thing the need is another injury to their RB room, though Gordon reportedly has a chance to play on Thursday night. There's little to like about this 5-8 team. They are in the middle of a five-game losing streak, playing without their franchise quarterback and wide receiver and rumored to finally let Marvin Lewis walk this offseason. The one saving grace might be Mixon, who, running behind an improved offensive line, recorded the third 100-yard rushing game of his young career and bowled over a few defenders in the proce s. Otherwise, there's nothing to learn about this club and far le s to admire. drew into the neutral zone with a hard count to ice the game, falling one yard shy of 400 in the Bowl. The ' offensive doldrums of the past two weeks lingered through the first quarter before Luck exploded for 223 yards in a second-quarter flurry, courtesy of a well-timed switch to an uptempo attack. Unable to run the ball against Clowney and , Luck unfurled a litany of pinpoint pa ses to , whose speed and quickne s bedeviled Houston's secondary. A game-time decision due to a painful shoulder injury, Hilton corralled nine pa ses for 199 yards, bringing his averages to 8.25 receptions and 139 yards over the past four games. Minus tight end and star center , Luck and coach Frank Reich were forced to abandon the run, choosing instead to pa s as a clock-killing measure with a fourth-quarter lead. The desperately need Kelly back for next week's tilt with Dallas' stingy defense. NFL Chris Ballard's fingerprints were all over this crucial AFC South victory for Indianapolis. Defensive Rookie of the Year contender extended his NFL lead in tackles, racking up 12 to go with his seventh sack and a red-zone pa s deflection in coverage of All Pro wideout . The ' stacked rookie cla s shouldn't overshadow Ballard's fine work in free agency, which included castoff and reject . Ebron broke Dallas Clark's single-season franchise record for tight ends with his 12th receiving touchdown. Autry took down twice, leaving him with five sacks over the past two games in which the ' underrated defense has excelled. Ballard's cast of characters is now tied for the AFC's No. 6 seed following wins by the and and a backbreaking lo s by the . The (9-4) dominated the first quarter, only to find themselves unable to run the ball on offense or stop Luck on defense over the final three quarters. After averaging 172 yards on the ground over the past six weeks, Houston managed just 89 yards on 25 carries. The white-hot backfield tandem of and were stonewalled by the ' defensive front, averaging just 2.7 yards on 20 combined rushes. Although Houston's nine-game winning streak came to end, Bill O'Brien's squad still enjoys a two-game lead over Indianapolis (7-6) with games remaining at the , at the and home versus the . is an animal. The tight end dominated the first half, catching seven pa ses for 210 yards and a touchdown and ripping the guts out of Denver's defense by taking short pa ses for long gains. He entered halftime just five yards from overtaking Shannon Sharpe's single-game receiving yards record for a tight end -- and then he didn't catch another pa s for the rest of the game. This is not an indictment of Kittle, but commentary on how his stat line is misleading. Realizing Kittle was its main problem, Denver adjusted to take him away. It undercut San Francisco's offense, which also became much le s aggre sive for stretches of the second half. But Kittle still contributed, with San Francisco running route combinations off Kittle to get others open. A pa s to that sealed the game was a great example of it, with Kittle running off a defender and leaving just one to cover Taylor, who had inside position. He -- and the continued development of -- will be key parts of the Niners offense in 2019 and beyond. Robert Saleh's crew had an excellent day, especially up front. San Francisco repeatedly pre sured , sacking him twice and registering 15 pre sures, per Next Gen Stats. The seemingly constant hara sment of Keenum left Denver in odd play-calling positions, running where they should throw and dumping it off in the flats out of a lack of confidence in the pa s protection. Linebackers and defensive backs flew around the field, especially on third down. With 1:00 left in the third, Denver had converted just 1 of 9 third-down attempts. Two huge fourth-down stops in fourth quarter kept the at bay. In all, a team that has invested in its front four is seeing results. This lo s can be used to justify a firing of Vance Joseph at the end of the season if the decide to make such a decision. Denver came out of the tunnel and played the entire first half as if it forgot it had a game. While the expected the to lie down and accept their fate as a bottom-dweller, San Fracisco did exactly the opposite, jumping out to a 20-0 lead and stunning a team that is supposed to be fighting for playoff position. It reflected poorly on Joseph, whose team looked wholly unprepared without veteran leaders and , and put Denver in a hole it couldn't climb out of. The needed a win like this. After the tumult the team endured following a boo-drenched lo s to the last week that led to head coach Mike McCarthy's firing, Green Bay needed to prove its better than its 5-7-1 record indicates. In a battle of now-dimming NFC powers, the found plenty of positives. spearheaded the effort, piecing together efficient drives that frustrated the injury-depleted Atlanta defense and kept the ball out of 's hands. Rodgers' steady performance wasn't anything as flashy as a $100 million contract, but it worked perfectly in combination with strong efforts from and and bolstered by ' performance on the ground. Crowd-pleasing tackles and hits by and also helped get Cheesehead Nation on its feet. Joe Philbin's first minutes back in the head coaching ranks -- albeit as an interim -- offered a textbook example of poor game management. On the opening drive, Philbin threw out the red flag twice for a pair of inconsequential plays considering the game had hardly even started. Worse, he lost both challenges, meaning he was out of replay redos for the remainder of the contest. Luckily, Philbin's wide-eyed eagerne s to reverse a pair of on-field calls within the first 1:04 of the game didn't cost the much in the scheme of things. Still, becoming the fastest coach in NFL history to use both of his challenges in a game is a distinction that will probably give Philbin reason to pause slightly before challenging another call. Last month, owner Arthur Blank said coach Dan Quinn wasn't the reason for the team's struggles, but it's apparent the Dirty Birds will be cleaning up some parts of the coaching staff this offseason. It's remarkable how bland the (4-9) look on offense. After taking the lead on a seven-play, 75-yard drive to open the game, the went silent. 's season of bland then came into vivid display as Atlanta fell into a irrecoverable scoreboard spiral spurred by a mi sed field-goal attempt and a 46-yard pick-six by . A big chunk of Ryan's 262 yards on 28-of-42 pa sing came with the game already out of reach. With the amount of offensive weapons the have, it's hard to fathom certain notable figures on the coaching staff won't be gone by January. Sunday presented us with a chance to see the second and third quarterbacks selected in the 2018 draft, and predictably, it provided highs and lows. threw an ugly interception trying to do too much in the second half. threw an even more unattractive interception on first-and-25 when he very easily could've just thrown it away (it was truly inexplicable). But they both did things well, too, including Allen rushing for over 100 yards and Darnold leading a game-winning touchdown drive that saw him run inside the 1-yard line. The next play, scored the go-ahead touchdown. That drive -- and the ' overall comeback effort in the fourth quarter -- was punctuated by Darnold throws reminiscent of his best days at USC. Darnold put a beautiful ball on down the sideline to get the down to the Buffalo 5. And earlier, it was his scrambling ability that produced a touchdown pa s to Anderson to tie the game at 20-20. Darnold was mi sed during his three-game absence, and games like Sunday -- mistakes included and accepted -- are why New York (4-9) remains high on his future. In the end, it was Allen's mistake that did the (4-9) in. Desperate for yards, Allen threw a pa s down the sideline and mi sed his intended receiver, instead landing in the hands of . The warts are evident in Allen, and he makes up for it by running for good chunks of yards. But that model isn't sustainable, and he's already suffered an injury once earlier this season. After the game, ESPN's Mike Rodak tweeted about how , with a bloody elbow and a slow gait. This isn't how you want your franchise quarterback to look. Speaking of injuries, this game wasn't merciful. left in the first half with a hamstring injury and returned to the sideline in a sweatsuit. left late in the game, leaving the full running back responsibility to . And perhaps largest of all, very promising middle linebacker , who has played like the heart of a good Buffalo defense, was carted off with an injured that looked to be serious. On the other sideline, Darnold left early with a foot injury, though he returned to lead the to a win and potentially save his coach's job (or delay his firing). That reinsertion raised an eyebrow, seeing as the aren't playing for much other than Bowles' (and their own) employment. Well, this one got ugly early, thanks to the play of . The late-season addition started Sunday and most of the ' fanbase probably wishes he hadn't, as Sanchez completed just 6 of 14 pa ses, had a pa s tipped at the line, intercepted and returned for a touchdown, and threw another pa s wide of a receiver just a few yards away, producing another interception. In between, the ' defense struggled to stop much of anything, thanks to the play of that rookie in red and white wearing No. 26 and the veteran wearing No. 10. In what feels like the Twilight Zone, the have had another promising season cut down by injuries. This change feels the most drastic, with Sanchez looking unfit to play and the rest of the (6-7) following suit until by . The journeyman gives them a better chance moving forward -- there's no conceivable way he doesn't start next week, even after throwing an interception late -- but their ceiling is drastically lower at this point. The (5-8) really deserve some credit for how they've rebounded in the last month. Sure, they are at best going to finish at 8-8, but they seemed destined for 2-14 not too long ago. has played well enough to earn consideration for a return in 2019, and targets not named have started to find some comfort within the offense. , and all scored Sunday. New York needs to addre s the offensive line and the future at quarterback, but coach Pat Shurmur should receive praise for keeping his team fighting when things looked extremely bleak. has all but wrapped up the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. The running back dominated the on runs of all lengths, running over defenders for extra yards, and hitting one cut and sprinting past defenders for a long touchdown. His 78-yard touchdown run was an impre sive display of speed, as Barkley erased 's pursuit angle simply by running past him. Barkley is the main reason the have won five games. They still need to figure it out at quarterback, yes, but he's been worth the No. 2 pick. The (5-8) are still in the hunt in the NFC, technically, but don't look anywhere near a playoff-caliber unit. threw for just 101 pa sing yards against Arizona, his lowest career total in a game he started and finished. With , and all elsewhere or injured, Detroit is suffering from a significant talent drain on the offensive side of the ball. led the way with 54 yards rushing, and caught two balls on just four targets for five yards. Detroit secured this win on defense with stellar secondary play, especially from (three PDs), and good coverage at the line of scrimmage. was targeted 10 times through the air, but rumbled for just 12 yards on eight catches. Neutralizing D.J. made life difficult for the over-throwing . The defining play of the game, Slay's third-quarter pick-six, came as a result of a poorly timed throw from Rosen and one of 's three QB hits. Despite the win, it was a costly afternoon for some of Detroit's highly paid players. and both left the game early with injuries, as did . Playing on a $17M franchise tag and slated to be an unrestricted free agent in 2019, Ansah's aggravated shoulder injury could impact not only Detroit's succe s over their final three games, but his contract situation this offseason. A dislocation, if diagnosed, ). That would obviously be a devastating setback for Ansah, who when healthy is deserving of a top pa s-rusher's compensation. Wagner was checked for a concu sion and never returned. Rosen and the (3-10) followed up their season-defining upset over the in Lambeau with a total stinker against the runt of the NFC North. Arizona mustered just three points in their building and lost despite allowing just 10 offensive points to the . Arizona reached the red zone just once on Sunday and, down 10 points at the time, chose to kick a field goal from the 4-yard line. It was a safe, conservative call from a rookie coach in Steve Wilks, whose seat and that of his GM, Steve Keim, is surprisingly warm. Good news: With the lo s, Bruce Brown Jr. Jersey Arizona hopped the 3-10 and are now second behind the 3-10 in pursuit of the top pick in next year's draft. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
https://landenprxz01235.wikikali.com/214839/dwayne_haskins_landing_spots_steelers_rams_ideal_franchises_for_career_rebound_in_2021
Click here Click here