The Athletic has live coverage of Monday’s Carolina Panthers vs. San Francisco 49ers game.
The NFL’s most complete team is starting to reveal itself. No one looks better right now than the Los Angeles Rams.
Following a 34-7 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday night, Sean McVay’s squad is now an NFC-best 9-2 and winners of six straight. The Rams aren’t just playing like the class of the conference. They look like the deepest and most dangerous team in the league.
The Bucs, meanwhile, might have a big problem: Baker Mayfield left the game at halftime, wincing in noticeable pain, and watched the second half with his non-throwing arm in a sling with what the team called a shoulder sprain.
It’s going to be another interesting week for the team the Rams unseated atop the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles, who choked away a 21-point lead in Dallas and lost to the Cowboys 24-21. Philly looked like the reigning Super Bowl champs for one half, a fading playoff contender the next. If it’s consistency that wins this time of year, the Eagles are still searching for it.
Philly’s wasn’t the only offense to shrink with the game on the line Sunday: The Indianapolis Colts, up 11 points in the fourth quarter in Kansas City, finished with three consecutive three-and-outs when one scoring drive likely would have clinched a critical road victory. That allowed the Chiefs to escape with a 23-20 overtime win that keeps the reigning conference champs alive in the AFC playoff picture. The Colts are 8-3 with the meat of their schedule upcoming. The Chiefs are 6-5 and still on the outside looking in.
In Las Vegas, Shedeur Sanders didn’t hide from the moment. “I’m who they been looking for,” the Cleveland Browns rookie told CBS before his first start. In fact, 17 straight Browns quarterbacks had failed to win their NFL debut, a streak that dated to 1995.
No more. Browns 24, Raiders 10. Sure, Las Vegas is among the worst teams in the league — the silver and black have now lost nine of 10 and parted ways with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly Sunday night — but the Browns will take any win they can get. Sanders threw for 209 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The defense was dominant, sacking Raiders quarterback Geno Smith 10 times. Myles Garrett had three to push his season total to 18, the second most in league history through 11 games. The single-season record is 22.5, shared by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has six games left to chase it down.
For the first time since 2015 — Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s 15th season together in New England — the Patriots are on a nine-game win streak. Mike Vrabel’s team took down the Cincinnati Bengals 26-20 on Sunday to improve to 10-2 and move into the top spot in the AFC while the 9-2 Denver Broncos enjoyed a bye. But the Patriots suffered what could be a critical loss: Rookie left tackle Will Campbell left the game with a knee injury and didn’t return.
A little over a month ago, the Baltimore Ravens were 1-5 and tied for the second-worst record in the league. Their star quarterback was hurt. Half their starters, it seemed, were hurt. Any talk of winning a third straight division title — or even making the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years — felt ludicrous.
Somehow, three days shy of Thanksgiving, Baltimore is back in front in the AFC North.
Lamar Jackson has returned. The Ravens have gotten healthier. And now they’re red hot, winners of five straight after Sunday’s 23-10 victory over the New York Jets. Couple that with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ current skid — four losses in six games, including Sunday’s 31-28 defeat in Chicago — and it’s Baltimore atop the division, not Pittsburgh, with six weeks to go (the Ravens currently have a better AFC North record). The Ravens and Steelers, both 6-5, still have two head-to-head meetings left on the schedule, starting with a Dec. 7 date in Baltimore.
Sticking with red-hot teams, the Bears have won eight of nine after starting 0-2. Say this much for Ben Johnson’s squad: The Bears have their formula, and it keeps working. Win close. Win ugly. Win no matter what. Sunday’s three-point victory over Pittsburgh was Chicago’s fourth-straight in one-possession games — and first over a team that’s currently above .500. Caleb Williams threw for three touchdowns, and the defense shut the door late in the fourth. Johnson is doing wonders in Chicago.
The team just behind the Bears in the NFC North, the Green Bay Packers, routed the Minnesota Vikings 23-6 Sunday in what was another dismal outing for J.J. McCarthy. The Vikings’ first-year starter completed just 12 passes for 89 yards and threw two interceptions. Minnesota went 2-for-9 on third down and had just 52 net passing yards. Yikes.
For Green Bay, prized offseason acquisition Micah Parsons now has 10 sacks on the season, making him just the second player since the stat was first recorded in 1982 to record 10 or more in each of his first five seasons. The other? Hall of Famer Reggie White.
Chicago (8-3) has a big one coming Friday in Philadelphia. In the crowded NFC North, the Packers (7-3-1) stayed just ahead of the Detroit Lions (7-4), who escaped with a 34-27 overtime victory over the New York Giants despite a three-score day from Jameis Winston that included a touchdown catch by the quarterback in the fourth quarter. Despite a 10-point lead in the final period, the Giants couldn’t close. Again. Jahmyr Gibbs was the biggest reason why: the Lions running back piled up 264 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Dating to 2022, Detroit has won 14 straight games coming off a loss, tied for the third-longest streak in NFL history.
In Tennessee, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold bounced back from his four-interception outing last week to throw two touchdowns in a 30-24 victory over the Titans. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who already has the Seahawks’ single-season receiving record with 1,313 yards, continues to play like the best wideout in football. He’s on pace for 2,029 yards, which would make him the first 2,000-yard receiver in league history. The Titans are the only 1-10 team in football and could be on track for a second straight spring with the No. 1 pick.
In New Orleans, the Atlanta Falcons ended their five-game losing streak with a 24-10 win over the Saints. And in Arizona, the Jacksonville Jaguars overcame a wild day from Trevor Lawrence — who threw three touchdowns and three interceptions — to beat the Cardinals 27-24. That’s eight losses in nine games for Arizona. The Jaguars have won three of four and are now just a game behind the Colts in the AFC South with two head-to-head meetings still to come.
Here’s what we learned from Week 12 in the NFL:
Stafford, Rams rolling
Remember all the concern about Matthew Stafford’s back in training camp, all the whispers that a 37-year-old quarterback — one with gray in his beard and 16 seasons under his belt — wouldn’t be able to hold up through the rigors of another NFL campaign? Details were scarce. Stafford missed several weeks with an aggravated disc in his back and spent time working with a spine specialist. He didn’t practice until Aug. 18.
He’s been the best quarterback in football ever since.
Eleven games into the season, Stafford has thrown 30 touchdowns to go with just two interceptions, joining Peyton Manning, Brady and Patrick Mahomes as the only quarterbacks to start a season with 30 TDs and fewer than five picks.
McVay, likewise, has been at his best this season, calling plays for an offense that’s potent through the air and on the ground. The Rams have scored 30 or more in four of their last five games. On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator Chris Shula has emerged as one of the best in the game, directing a unit that’s punishing at all three levels.
Before exiting with a shoulder injury, Mayfield — previously an MVP candidate this season — had just 41 passing yards in the first half. Between Kobie Turner, Jared Verse and Nate Landman, L.A. is loaded with young talent. Shula’s bringing out the best in that group.
At this rate, it looks like the NFC will run through Los Angeles come January, and the Rams have the ability to make a third Super Bowl trip since 2019. Of their nine wins so far, five have come against teams currently in the playoff field.
The Bucs, who’ve dropped four of five after starting 5-1, are still in the top spot in the NFC South, but only by virtue of a tiebreaker. The Panthers can move into first place with a win over the 49ers Monday night.
Cowboys’ stock rising as Eagles fall
Entering Sunday, the Eagles hadn’t trailed in a game since Week 6, the longest such streak in franchise history. They didn’t trail in Dallas until the clock read zero.
But the Cowboys’ stunning comeback, from down 21-0 early in the second quarter to the 24-21 final score, spoke to a resilient group that’s now 2-0 since the tragic loss of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland. Wideout George Pickens was again tremendous with nine catches and 146 yards, and the Cowboys — now 5-5-1 on the season — are alive in the NFC playoff race.
Matt Eberflus’ defense is getting better. Dak Prescott (25 touchdowns this season) is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the game. Pickens is playing the best football of his career. And give coach Brian Schottenheimer credit: After falling into the 21-0 hole, and after three costly drops from CeeDee Lamb, his team found a way to knock off the NFC’s top team entering Sunday.
The 21-point comeback tied the biggest in franchise history. Quite a story considering the Cowboys will be playing with heavy hearts the rest of the season.
“He’s one of a kind, man,” Schottenheimer said of Prescott, a key figure in guiding the Cowboys through the last few weeks and, as of Sunday, the franchise’s all-time passing leader. “His leadership, his poise, the way he plays the game, the way he always believes … that’s a pretty cool record he broke, and the way he did it, I’m sure makes it even sweeter.”
The Eagles, meanwhile, continue to be one of the league’s most confounding teams. Philly’s offense looked unstoppable early. Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 16-yard touchdown, then DeVonta Smith for a 41-yard gain. Hurts ran in two scores. The champs looked like the champs again.
Then the unit went ice cold and couldn’t do much of anything the rest of the way. After halftime, the Eagles went punt-punt-punt-missed field goal-fumble-punt. Saquon Barkley didn’t have a single run of 10 yards or more on 10 carries. For a team that peaked at just the right time last season, ripping through the NFC playoff field before routing the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the signs aren’t there at the moment. The offense sputters too much. Barkley is too often a non-factor. So is the downfield passing attack.
The Eagles have a big one coming Friday against a Bears team that hasn’t lost since before Halloween.
Should Colts be concerned?
With their season on the line, the Chiefs saved themselves. Or did the Colts just crumble?
Give Kansas City credit — staring at a 5-6 record, which would’ve put their playoff chances in serious jeopardy — the conference’s three-time reigning champs made the plays they had to down the stretch to rally from a 20-9 fourth-quarter deficit and escape with a had-to-have-it overtime victory. After going 0-5 in one-score games to start the season, Kansas City finally won a close one.
The rest of the AFC couldn’t have been thrilled: Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce live to fight another day.
But just as significant was the Colts’ collapse. Indianapolis led this one by double digits at two separate times and still couldn’t close thanks to a tired defense and a high-powered offense that disappeared with the game on the line. The Colts entered leading the league in points, yards and goal-to-go efficiency. After two first-half touchdowns and two third-quarter field goals, Indy couldn’t do a thing.
The Colts piled up just 18 total yards and no first downs in the fourth quarter and overtime combined, while the Chiefs had 236 total yards and 13 first downs. Indy’s offensive ineptitude put too much pressure on the defense, which looked exhausted by the end. It also raised the question: Where was Jonathan Taylor? The MVP candidate saw just one carry in the fourth quarter and two in overtime.
The Colts couldn’t complete a pass or move the sticks. It was both ugly and concerning for a team that has now folded twice in three games, with disconcerting losses on the road to Pittsburgh and now Kansas City. The loss will continue to fuel doubts about a contender that’s defeated just two teams currently on pace to make the postseason. Are the Colts for real? Or just the beneficiaries of a soft early schedule?
The next month doesn’t ease up: the Colts will host the Texans and one of the league’s best defenses next week, then travel to Jacksonville, where they haven’t won since 2014. Then Indy is at 8-3 Seattle.
