Drama isn’t the only thing the Philadelphia Eagles major in. Winning, too.
After another week of discourse and debate, after star wideout A.J. Brown again vented his frustrations about his role and the team’s sagging offense, the reigning Super Bowl champs stifled the Detroit Lions Sunday night, 16-9, in a win that returned the Eagles to the top of the NFC with seven games to go in the regular season.
The offense remains a work in progress. But if Philly’s defense plays like that the rest of the way, a repeat is absolutely on the table.
The Eagles’ opponent in February’s Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs, are going to have a much tougher time making it back. Or even making the postseason at all. That’s because the AFC’s reigning kings may have already been dethroned, and it’s not even Thanksgiving.
Sean Payton’s red-hot Denver Broncos, who along with the New England Patriots are riding league-best eight-game win streaks, are in firm control of the AFC West after Sunday’s 22-19 victory over the Chiefs. Andy Reid’s team has won the AFC West every year since 2016. It seems that stretch is about to end.
“If you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said after the win. “If you’re scared, go to church.”
Nix’s Broncos are now atop the AFC at 9-2. Included in their eight-game win streak: wins over both of last season’s Super Bowl teams, the Eagles and Chiefs. Denver is for real.
In the battle of the NFC West’s top teams, the Los Angeles Rams picked off Sam Darnold four times in a 21-19 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams, 8-2, are tied with the Eagles for the NFC’s best record, but Philly has the tiebreaker due to a head-to-head win in Week 3.
Just behind the Rams — believe it or not — are the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears, who moved in front of the Lions with another last-second win Sunday. The Bears’ 19-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was Chicago’s fifth fourth-quarter comeback of the season, tying a franchise record. That uninspiring 0-2 start feels like a decade ago. Ben Johnson’s team is now 7-3 and has won three straight one-possession games.
“It doesn’t matter when; it doesn’t matter how; it doesn’t matter who,” said quarterback Caleb Williams, 7-1 in his last eight starts. “We’ve got the guys; we’ve got the coaches.”
For Minnesota, now 4-6, J.J. McCarthy’s struggles continued: He finished 16 of 32 for 150 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
The team behind the Bears in the NFC North, the Green Bay Packers, avoided fading further in the standings with a 27-20 win over the New York Giants on a windy day at MetLife Stadium. Christian Watson snared his first two touchdowns of the season, including the game winner with a little more than four minutes left. Jameis Winston threw for 201 yards and an interception in his first start of the season as the Giants (2-9) dropped their first game under interim coach Mike Kafka.
Say this much for DeMeco Ryans’ Houston Texans: That team never stopped fighting. Now they’re winning, despite star quarterback C.J. Stroud being sidelined with a concussion. After starting 2-4, the Texans have climbed to 5-5 after Sunday’s 16-13 win over the Tennessee Titans. The Texans, division champs each of the past two years, remain alive in a competitive AFC South and still have two games against the Colts before it’s over.
Take a minute and appreciate how far Bryce Young has come: from a disastrous rookie season to a benching in Year 2 to Sunday, when the 2023 No. 1 overall pick threw for a franchise-record 448 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Carolina Panthers’ 30-27 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons. It was Young’s finest game as a pro, and it moves Carolina to 6-5, the team’s best record this late in the year since Ron Rivera’s final full season as coach way back in 2018.
Speaking of turnarounds, how about Liam Coen’s Jacksonville Jaguars? One of the more hectic hirings of last winter’s coaching cycle — Coen turned down Jacksonville at first, only to later change his mind — has proven one of the best. The Jaguars are now 6-4 after routing the Los Angeles Chargers 35-6 on Sunday. It was the most lopsided loss of the Jim Harbaugh era in L.A. Currently, the two teams are holding on to the last two AFC playoff spots.
In Pittsburgh, the Steelers got one they needed, rolling the Cincinnati Bengals 34-12. The concern will be Aaron Rodgers’ non-throwing hand after the 41-year-old exited the game late in the second quarter and didn’t return. Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey was ejected from the game after lobbing a punch at Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase, whom Ramsey alleges spit on him. Chase denied it, but video of the incident backed up Ramsey’s claim. Chase could be hearing from the league this week about a potential suspension.
The win keeps Pittsburgh a full game in front of the Baltimore Ravens, who rallied late to beat the Cleveland Browns 23-16, with two head-to-head meetings to come. Shedeur Sanders, in relief of Dillon Gabriel, went 4-for-16 and threw an interception, but had a tying touchdown pass dropped in the end zone. Not to be overlooked, Myles Garrett is having another all-world season. The Browns’ All-Pro is now the first player in NFL history to have at least 12 sacks in six straight seasons. The Ravens, winners of four straight, are back at .500 and have games coming up against the Jets and Bengals, who have a combined five wins.
The San Francisco 49ers pummeled the Arizona Cardinals 41-22, thanks to another stellar outing from Christian McCaffrey, who totaled three touchdowns. Brock Purdy was sharp in his first start since September, finishing with 200 passing yards and three touchdowns. Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett completed an NFL regular-season record 47 passes in the loss.
In the NFL’s first-ever game in Spain, the Miami Dolphins breathed more life into a season that looked to be on life support just a month ago. Sunday’s 16-13 overtime victory over the Washington Commanders was Miami’s third win in four games, and a strong finish won’t hurt Mike McDaniel’s chances of returning to South Beach for a fifth season. Washington, meanwhile, has collapsed without quarterback Jayden Daniels, who’s started just six games this season. The Commanders are now 3-8 and have dropped six straight. At least last season was fun.
Here’s what we learned across Week 11 in the NFL:
Eagles grind out another one
Lions coach Dan Campbell kept going for it on fourth down, and Vic Fangio’s defense kept reminding him why that was a bad decision.
That was the story Sunday night in Philadelphia, where the Eagles’ defense put together its finest performance of the season in a 16-9 win — one that was so good it echoed February’s dominant outing in their Super Bowl rout of the Chiefs. The front consistently beat a stout Lions offensive line, which sped up Detroit quarterback Jared Goff and led to myriad bad throws and batted passes. The linebackers tackled well. The secondary was excellent in coverage, routinely winning 50-50 balls to stunt drives and keep Philly in front.
It was one of Goff’s worst games in years: At one point in the second half, he completed one throw across 12 attempts. He finished 14-for-37 for 255 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The Lions were 3-for-13 on third downs and 0-for-5 on fourth down, three of which came on Philadelphia’s side of the field. The Eagles owned the money downs.
For a Lions offense that erupted for 44 points after Campbell assumed play-calling duties last week, this was a significant step back. Outside of some chunk plays from Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit never looked in sync. At 6-4, the Lions are currently outside of the playoff picture looking in.
New blood atop AFC West?
For nine successive seasons — all the way back to the end of the Alex Smith era — the AFC West ran through Kansas City. No more.
Barring a miraculous late-season run and stunning collapses from both the Broncos and Chargers, the Chiefs’ division-title streak is all but history. In fact, it’s been a year of firsts for Kansas City in the Mahomes era, and not in a good way. It’s the first time since 2015 the Chiefs are at or under .500 through 10 games. They’ve never trailed the division by this much (four games). And until this year, they’ve never suffered multiple losing streaks in the same season.
Uncharted waters, indeed.
The biggest swing has come in close games. A year ago, the Chiefs thrived in crunch time, going 12-0 in one-possession games, including the playoffs. This season, the law of averages has caught up to them. KC is 0-5.
“Obviously it’s going to be tough to get back in the division race,” said Mahomes, who went 29-for-45 for 276 yards, a touchdown and an interception. “At the end of the day, the goal is to get in the playoffs and try and make a run at it.”
They’re not done, but the Chiefs have been humbled. Instead of being the team everyone’s chasing this time of year, they’re going to be fighting for their playoff lives the rest of the way. Next up: a visit from the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts.
With six games to go, the AFC West is the Broncos’ to lose.
Denver’s offense has sputtered at times this season, but Nix always seems to shine when needed most. Think back to the thrilling 33-point fourth-quarter against the Giants. Or the last-second win over the Texans. Sunday was no different. On a second-and-8 with 54 seconds left and the score tied, Nix hit wideout Tony Franklin for a 32-yard gain. It was a gutsy call from Sean Payton and a gorgeous throw from Nix, who rifled it inside because that’s where Franklin had earned leverage. Wil Lutz’s 35-yard field goal two plays later won it. Vance Joseph’s defense was stifling again, never letting Mahomes get comfortable. The Broncos lead the NFL in sacks with 49, the most through 11 weeks since 1989.
The Broncos’ late-game fortune has flipped, as well. After going 1-6 in one-score games a year ago, Denver is 7-2 this season.
Rams pull ahead in NFC West
Maybe Sunday’s loss was strangely encouraging for the Seahawks: Despite Sam Darnold throwing four interceptions, Seattle still had a chance to win it. Mike Macdonald’s defense deserves credit. That was quite an effort.
But Jason Myers’ 61-yard field goal as time expired fluttered right.
The Rams escaped, in large part due to the 14-3 lead they built early in the game — and a jaw-dropping punt from Ethan Evans that bounced out of bounds at the 1-yard line with 1:41 left.
Outside of Matthew Stafford, who threw for two more touchdowns Sunday, the impetus behind Los Angeles’ five-game winning streak has been the defense. Chris Shula’s young unit has quietly become one of the best in football. The Rams have held three of their last four opponents under 20 and rank second in the league in points allowed. In a game between potential playoff teams — two teams good enough to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl — Darnold’s mistakes were the difference.
The division race is far from over. The Rams are in front at 8-2, but the Seahawks are just a game back at 7-3, and the 49ers — who are starting to get healthy again — are 7-4.
Feel better about the Bills?
The best game of Sunday’s early window came in Orchard Park, N.Y., where Josh Allen shook off some early mistakes to put together another MVP-worthy performance in the Bills’ 44-32 victory over the Bucs. Allen’s absurd talents again proved the difference in a tight game. He finished with three touchdowns through the air and three more on the ground, marking just the third time in NFL history a quarterback’s done that.
Allen has two of those performances. Otto Graham had the other — in 1954.
But for all of Allen’s ability, Buffalo’s run defense remains a major concern heading into the stretch run. Tampa Bay piled up 202 rushing yards on 5.2 per carry, the eighth time in 10 games the Bills have allowed 100 or more on the ground. Needing Allen to play like Superman every week is not how this team’s going to win in the playoffs.
Another story coming out of this one is how much the NFC South has tightened up in recent weeks. The 6-4 Bucs, the four-time defending division champs, are still in front by a half a game, but the 6-5 Panthers are lurking and playing their best football in years. Carolina has won five of seven and is eyeing its first postseason berth since 2017.
Tampa Bay will travel to Los Angeles next week to face the Rams, while Carolina is in San Francisco.
