It was an interesting week for quarterbacks across the National Football League. The long-awaited return of Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson took place in front of his former team. Lamar Jackson and Jimmy Garappolo suffered injuries and are expected to miss time. And Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts continue to make their case for league MVP. Let’s take a look at the action from across the NFL in Week 13.
Bills 24, Patriots 10
BUF – The Buffalo Bills would love to see more performances like this from the running back duo of Devin Singletary and James Cook, who combined for 115 yards rushing on 27 carries. A running game like that to go with the exceptional play from Josh Allen is a winning formula for this Super Bowl contender.
NE – To be fair, the defense looked far better against Allen than in previous encounters. Unfortunately, the offense did generate enough scoring opportunities to capitalize.
Packers 28, Bears 19
GB – The Green Bay offense has looked completely different since the emergence of a healthy Christian Watson. Too bad the Packers’ offense can’t play the Chicago Bears every week.
CHI – Although Justin Fields continues to flash his potential on weekly basis, he is still working through some growing pains in his sophomore season. Despite another loss, the arrow feels like it’s pointing in the right direction for this organization.
Steelers 19, Falcons 16
PIT – Don’t look now, but the Steelers have quietly won 3-of-their-last-4 games. Over the next four weeks, the Steelers face the Ravens twice (who are likely to be without Lamar Jackson for at least one those games), Panthers and Raiders. Their chances of making a run at a wild card spot are slim, but not completely dead quite yet.
ATL – The loyalty to quarterback Marcus Mariota is confusing to say the least. It’s nothing against him personally, but this team feels like it has reached its ceiling with the former number two overall pick.
Vikings 27, Jets 22
MIN – It’s hard to think of any team in recent memory that has generated less buzz around a 10-2 start. The safety play of Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum was exceptional, while Dalvin Cook shouldered the offensive load with one of his better games of the season.
NYJ – The Mike White hype train hit an unexpected speed bump in his second start of the season. Oddly enough, the Jets’ offense produced 199 more total yards than the Vikings, but White’s two interceptions proved costly in a close game.
Lions 40, Jaguars 14
DET – The Lions continue to be one of the most difficult teams in the league to figure out. On one hand, they are two games below 500. On the other hand, they’ve won 4-of-their-last-6 games, with their two losses coming against the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins by a combined point differential of 7 points. If they manage to beat the Vikings or Jets over the next two weeks, they could find themselves in real contention for a wild card spot in the NFC.
JAX – A week after an eye-opening win against the Baltimore Ravens, the Jags quickly reminded us that they are a team that can’t be trusted on a weekly basis. On the plus side, they appeared to avoid what looked like a potentially devastating injury to quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Eagles 35, Titans 10
PHI – For the first time in a while, the Philadelphia Eagles put forth a dominant effort on both sides of the ball for 60 minutes. Hurts was magnificent, putting forth perhaps his best game of the season. While the defense should be applauded for holding Derrick Henry to 2.4 yards per carry.
TEN – Losing Treylon Burks in the early goings of this contest certainly didn’t help matters, but the limitations of the passing offense when quality teams load the box to slow down Derrick Henry feels like a formula the Titans will surely see again in the postseason.
Browns 27, Texans 14
CLE – The return of Deshaun Watson to the football field was underwhelming from a performance standpoint. He was clearly rusty, evident by his mere 131 yards through the air against one of the weaker defensive units in the NFL. Luckily for him, the Texans’ offense is also one of the worst units in the league. As they simply leaned on their excellent rushing attack and a stingy defensive performance to stay in the wild card picture for another week.
HOU – Whether it’s Kyle Allen or Davis Mills under center, the Texans’ offense continues to struggle to put up points. If this continues, the Houston Texans may be on the clock come January 8th.
Commanders 20, Giants 20
WAS – After a 1-4 start, it’s quite remarkable that the Commanders are sitting at 7-5-1 heading into their Week 14 bye. When they return, they are expected to see the season debut of Chase Young, which could make an already formidable defensive unit up front… elite.
NYG – After a 6-1 start, the Giants are 1-3-1 through their last five games. To be quite honest, outside a fumble, Daniel Jones was pretty efficient yet again…. going 25-of-31 for 200 yards and a score with one of the weaker wide receiver groups, while adding an additional 71 yards on the ground. You have to wonder how far could this team go if they had a true number one wide receiver to make life easier on Daniel Jones…
Ravens 10, Broncos 9
BAL – The injury to Lamar Jackson is so tough to stomach for a multitude of reasons… However, you have to tip your hat to the defense and Tyler Huntley for finding a way to win an ugly game.
DEN – Do you think the Broncos already have buyer’s remorse on Russell Wilson through his first 12 games? This marks the 10th time this season the Broncos have failed to score 17 points in a game… Woof.
49ers 33, Dolphins 17
SF – When Trey Lance was injured earlier this season, there was a weird feeling of optimism surrounding the return of Jimmy Garoppolo returning as the starter. Fast forward to Jimmy G breaking his foot in Week 13 and being ruled out for the rest of the season, now the feeling around the team is a bit more on the concerned side. Sure, the team rallied around rookie quarterback Brock Purdy who put forth an admirable performance in spot duty, but we’ll see what he’s really made of when he faces off against the Buccaneers and Bengals over the next two weeks.
MIA – It felt inevitable that Tua would eventually come crashing back to earth at some point. Don’t get me wrong, Tua still made enough plays to give them a fighting chance to win this road game against a quality opponent, but objectively it was probably his worst game of the season. It will be interesting to see how he responds next week against the Chargers.
Raiders 27, Chargers 20
LV – Forgive me for writing off this team after their three-game skid against the Saints, Colts and Jags… but they’ve responded by winning three straight one-score ball games. This makes them a very interesting team to watch over the next four weeks. The Raiders’ next four games are against the Rams, Patriots, Steelers and 49ers… which will consist of three backup quarterbacks and one quarterback in the midst of a sophomore slump.
LAC – Speaking of the Chargers, they’ve now lost 3-of-their-last-4 and now sit at 500 on the season and are currently outside looking in at the AFC playoff picture. I know they have been bitten by the injury bug on multiple occasions this season, but they still have enough talent to beat any team on any given week. Their upcoming games against the Miami Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans may end up making or breaking their 2022 season.
Seahawks 27, Rams 23
SEA – It is absolutely remarkable to watch Geno Smith continue his magical season. His game-winning touchdown throw to D.K. Metcalf to beat All-Pro Cornerback Jalen Ramsey couldn’t have been more perfect. No one knows exactly when the clock will strike midnight for this 2022 Cinderella story, but it is certainly fun to watch.
LAR – I imagine that a defending Super Bowl Champion who currently sits at the bottom of the division with a 3-9 record isn’t going to celebrate moral victories, but the fact that Sean McVay did have his shorthanded, injury-riddled team ready to play this week, nearly stealing a game against a division rival in the process, should count for something.
Bengals 27, Chiefs 24
CIN – Joe Burrow is making some real noise in the MVP race. It’s also worth noting that he is 3-0 against Patrick Mahomes, which is something no other quarterback in the league can say. Burrow’s throw into a tight window on 3rd & 11 to Tee Higgins slammed the door shut on any possibility Patrick Mahomes might have to pull off another late-game comeback. Bravo Joe.. Bravo.
KC – The Chiefs actually ran the ball quite well against the Bengals… but it’s just not very often that you see Travis Kelce held to 4 receptions for 56 yards.
Cowboys 54, Colts 19
DAL – If the Dallas Cowboys can capture whatever gear they hit in the fourth quarter where they put up 33 points… then we could be talking about the best team in the NFC.
IND – Say what you will about the hiring of Jeff Saturday… but of the 16 quarters he’s been an NFL head coach, his team has been competitive for 15 of them. Also, I know Matt Ryan is a former MVP in this league, but it’s been tough to watch him continue to struggle this season.
Derek Tate was born and raised in the Tampa Bay Area. He has been covering the NFL for the last five years and is currently the Sports Director and Play-by-Play Announcer for the TV station in northern Michigan, NewsNet. When he isn’t watching, analyzing, living, eating or breathing NFL Football, he enjoys spending time with his one-year-old daughter, Kennedy.