2022 NFL: Week 12 Review

Allow me to be the last to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.

One thing NFL fans had to be thankful for was a great Week 12 of NFL action. Let’s take a look at what happened across the league.

Bills 28, Lions 25

BUF: The Buffalo Bills continue to be a team that doesn’t put it together for all four quarters consistently. When they do, they look like a Super Bowl frontrunner. When they don’t, they look like a team that relies heavily on their superstar to be great to beat mediocre football teams.

DET: Different week. Same Detroit Lions. They are a team that battles and gives good teams all they can handle, but they fail to make big plays in big moments consistently to make noise where it really counts… The win column.

Cowboys 28, Giants 20

DAL: The Dallas Cowboys appear to be peaking at the right time of the season. Dak is back, Zeke actually looked like the best running in the Dallas backfield, and the pass-catching options all complimented what was another stellar defensive performance put forth by the Cowboys. 

NYG: Two straight subpar performances by Saquon Barkley = Two straight New York Giant losses. The formula to beat the Giants is pretty simple… slow down Saquon. The weapons in the passing game simply scare you far less than Barkley running wild over your defense.

Vikings 33, Patriots 26

MIN: I am aware wide receivers don’t win league MVP, but Justin Jefferson is certainly attempting to make an argument. The Vikings responded in a big way after their embarrassing performance against the Cowboys.

NE: On the bright side, Mac Jones threw for 382 yards, two scores, and no interceptions. Unfortunately, the running game didn’t show up in this one, because the Patriots were held to just 52 yards rushing on 12 carries by their running backs. 

Dolphins 30, Texans 15

MIA: This one was over by halftime. The offense is firing on all cylinders and the defense had one of it’s best performances of the year by registering 5 sacks and 2 INTs against the woeful Texans’ offense.

HOU: Houston… we have a problem. Quite clearly, it’s the offense. There is no kind way to put this, if Dameon Pierce doesn’t get going on the ground early, this offensive unit looks anemic. Kyle Allen didn’t fair a whole lot better than Davis Mills under center, meaning this team could find themselves in the Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud sweepstakes this upcoming NFL Draft.

Bengals 20, Titans 16

CIN: The offense might not look the same without Ja’Marr Chase, but Joe Burrow is still the engine that makes this offense go. Tee Higgins proved once again why he’d be most teams top wideout if he wasn’t playing alongside Chase. Even without Chase and Joe Mixon to draw attention away from him, he still tallied 114 yards on receptions with one TD to lead a depleted offense to a muchly needed victory.

TEN: When Derrick Henry’s receiving yardage output is double that of his rushing total, it likely means the Titans struggled to do what they do best… run the football. Henry posted his lowest rushing total since the Week 2 disaster against the Buffalo Bills. Rookie Treylon Burks posted another nice stat line, but veteran Robert Woods will likely need to pick up his production if the Titans hope to make any real noise in the postseason.

Panthers 23, Broncos 10

CAR: Oddly enough, the Carolina Panthers have three different quarterbacks who have started and won a football game this season. Sam Darnold made the most of this starting opportunity by picking up the win to keep the Panthers in the race for the NFC South.

DEN: What exactly would be considered rock bottom for the Denver Broncos? Russell Wilson posted a season-low 142 passing yards… the defense gave up 185 yards on the ground… and the Broncos are all but eliminated from postseason contention. I’m not sure anyone has the answer to that question, but the Broncos’ season is officially lost.

Jets 31, Bears 10

NYJ: Has the Mike White era officially begun in the Big Apple? Who knows…. but it was a magnificent performance that certainly makes the Jets a very intriguing team to watch over the final six games of the season. Robert Salah read the room correctly by sending Zach Wilson on the bench in an effort to save his locker room.

CHI: The retooling process continues and the Bears 100% made the right decision to play it safe with Justin Fields this week. 

Commanders 19, Falcons 13

WAS: After a 1-4 start, the Washington Commanders currently reside at 7-5 led by none other than Taylor Heinicke. This improbable run likely means it’s Heinicke’s job to lose moving forward and things could get very interesting in the NFC Wild Card picture if edge rusher Chase Young comes back healthy enough to make an instant impact.

ATL: The Falcons’ offensive struggles continued in the tough D.C. conditions this Sunday. Oddly enough, they are still neck-and-neck with the Bucs atop the NFC South. Marcus Mariota feels like he is pressing and one has to wonder if a quarterback change should be considered.

Browns 23, Buccaneers 17 (OT)

CLE: The question heading into the 2022 NFL season for the Cleveland Browns was… Could they stay in AFC Wild Card contention until Deshaun Watson returns? Well, the Browns upset overtime win over the Bucs may have been just enough to keep the Browns’ outside chances at a playoff berth alive for another couple of weeks.

TB: One has to wonder if Todd Bowles is in over his head. When you claim that you didn’t spend one of your three timeouts with 26 seconds remaining in a tie ball game because quarterback Tom Brady, who is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time and one the best clutch performs in all of sports history, could have thrown an interception… then one must really call into question his judgment. 

Jaguars 28, Ravens 27

JAX: Trevor Lawrence may have just played the best game of his young NFL career by engineering a late game-winning drive against a Super Bowl contender. Kudos to Doug Pederson too for pushing his chips to the center with the two-point conversion attempt at the end of the game. 

BAL: The Baltimore Ravens continue to be a team that is hard to trust. Turnovers (Gus Edwards fumble), missed scoring opportunities (dropped touchdown by Demarcus Robinson) and crucial missed assignments defensively have led to multiple missed chances to take a stranglehold on the AFC North division.

Raiders 40, Seahawks 34

LV: The Las Vegas Raiders kept their slim postseason chances alive by grinding out an improbable victory in front of the dreaded 12th man. Josh Jacobs continues to be the most reliable aspect of this offense. 

SEA: As great of a season that Geno Smith is having, the Seahawks running backs going for 36 yards 17 carries likely isn’t a winning formula.

Chargers 25, Cardinals 24

LAC: Justin Herbert displayed why many already consider him one of the future superstars of this league with a comeback win to keep this team above .500 on the season. On a day where the running game was essentially non-existent, he was the difference.

AZ: In many ways, the Cardinals offense looked explosive in this contest. Marquise Brown complemented DeAndre Hopkins perfectly, James Connor had his best game of the season and Kyler Murray made a handful of special plays… Yet, the Cardinals still lost a game they really needed to have. The season is on the precipice of being lost. 

49ers 13, Saints 0

SF: The 49ers can beat you in so many different ways. This time, they leaned on their dominant defense who completely bottled up Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and the rest of the Saints’ offense in a shutout performance. Impressive.

NO: I understand Andy Dalton has looked decent at moments this season, but one has to wonder why they aren’t giving Jameis Winston another look at this point.

Chiefs 26, Rams 10

KC: If you watched this one from the beginning, you would of thought the Chiefs were the defending Super Bowl champs. They were in complete control from the opening kickoff. Patrick Mahomes continued his bid for NFL MVP with a casual 320-yard and one-touchdown day at the office.

LAR: I can’t remember the last time a defending Super Bowl champion looked this hopeless. I understand that Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp weren’t available, but this offense looks like one of the worst units in the league… That is a sentence I never thought I would say for a Sean McVay led team.

Eagles 40, Packers 33

PHI: It’s not everyday that you see a quarterback run for over 100 yards…. in the first half. The Packers had absolutely no answer for Jalen Hurts. He and Miles Sanders combined for 200 yards rushing to with another two scores through the air. Even without Dallas Goedert, this was arguably the best offensive game of the season for the Philadelphia Eagles.

GB: Is there such a thing as a feel good loss? Even with a hobbled Aaron Rodgers, the Packers were competitive throughout this game. That includes when Rodgers went to the bench with an injury, which pushed Jordan Love into action and saw him complete six passes for 113 yards and a score. It will be interesting to see if the Packers decide to play it safe with Rodgers’ injury, which would give the Packers a chance to get their first real look at Jordan Love to ponder their future.