Chargers Down Steelers, AFC South Drama, Jackson Shines, And Mahomes Makes History
While watching the later afternoon games on Sunday, I couldn’t help but notice how it seemed like the Minnesota Vikings inevitable meltdown was nearing vs the New England Patriots.
Minnesota tied the game in the third quarter 10-10 after appearing as if they would be blown out early in the second quarter. The Vikings entered the game with the third ranked defense in NFL, and for almost 45 minutes, the defense held its own.
Until they didn’t.
After a 12-play, 41 yard drive that positioned kicker Dan Bailey to tie the game on a 39-yard field goal, the Vikings defense let the air out of the balloon.
The New England Patriots motored down the field in just four plays, covering 75 yards to take a 17-10 lead before the end of the third, and at that point, the game was over.
The Vikings are 6-5-1, a perfect record for a team that’s as far away from being a consistent team as any with enough talent to make a possible Super Bowl run. Kirk Cousins was added so that games like yesterday, when a team takes back control of a game, doesn’t happen.
Instead, the Vikings are learning why the Washington Redskins were inclined to use franchise tags on him rather than sign him to a massive contract like Minnesota did back in March.
Here are my biggest takeaways from the Week 13 action.
Chargers Comeback Latest Proof They Can Win Anywhere
The Los Angeles Chargers allowed themselves to fall into a huge hole on the road vs. a team that plays its best football in front of their home crowd, but that wasn’t enough to put them away.
The Los Angeles Chargers edged the Pittsburgh Steelers 33-30 on Sunday night at Heinz Field as the Chargers rallied back from a 16-point second half deficit.
In as funky as a finish as you’ll see, the Chargers needed some luck and mistakes from the Pittsburgh Steelers to win on a time expiring field goal by Michael Badgley.
Badgley missed a 39-yard field goal as time expired, only for that to be negated by an offsides penalty. On the next play, Pittsburgh blocked a field goal, but once again was offsides, which allowed Badgley to attempt and hit a 29-yard field goal to give Los Angeles a huge road win.
The Chargers improved to 9-3, but the most important part about that 9-3 record is that they’re 5-1 on the road.
Anthony Lynn’s team has a huge showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 on a Thursday night, one in which they could tie them for first place in the AFC West. If they don’t happen to win that game, this team has the confidence and the edge to go on the road and win three playoff games to advance to the Super Bowl.
In the history of the NFL, only three teams have been able to accomplish that feat, with the 05′ Steelers, 07′ Giants, and 10′ Packers doing it.
But with Philip Rivers — who finished the game with 296 passing yards and two touchdowns — at the helm, a healthy Melvin Gordon, an excellent receiving corp and a strong defense that can matchup with teams with their athleticism, the Chargers are arguably the scariest team in the AFC as the NFL playoffs near.
Watson, Texans Roll While Luck, Colts Fold
Any anticipation for a AFC South showdown in Houston in Week 14 went out of the window thanks to one team staying hot and another going backwards in a futile way.
The Houston Texans took care of the Cleveland Browns in a 29-13 victory at NRG Stadium to win their ninth straight game,
Deshaun Watson threw for 224 passing yards and a touchdown while the Texans forced Baker Mayfield into three interceptions. Following their win, Houston soon got unexpectedly good news out of Jacksonville.
The Indianapolis Colts — who were riding a five-game winning streak into Jacksonville — saw their winning streak come to an end in a 6-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road.
While the Texans were busy making life difficult for rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, Jalen Ramsey and a revived Jaguars defense did the same to Andrew Luck and company.
Luck — who had eight straight games with three touchdowns or more — experienced his first career shutout loss as he threw for just 248 yards on 52 pass attempts while throwing an interception.
Indianapolis’ run game was completely neutralized, as they averaged a woefully low 2.6 yards on 16 attempts.
Entering at 6-5 and a matchup in Houston next week, Indianapolis had an opportunity to win the AFC South with a victory over their division foes next week and some help over the final three games.
Now at 6-6, Houston is in the driver’s seat and could damage Indianapolis’ playoff chances even further with a win next week over them, which would complete a season sweep of Indianapolis.
Lamar Jackson Makes His Case For Starting Quarterback
The past three weeks have been the Lamar Jackson experience, rather than a show, but the Baltimore Ravens are undefeated with him at quarterback.
The Baltimore Ravens handled the Atlanta Falcons 26-16 on Sunday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to win their third straight game.
Lamar Jackson threw for 125 passing yards while running for 75 rushing yards and a touchdown as he has yet to lose a game to begin his NFL career.
The Baltimore Ravens’ rookie quarterback is plenty raw as a passer, and he’s got work to do on protecting the football as he has four turnovers in three starts, but the Ravens have a new swagger and attitude that’s permeated through the locker room during this current stretch.
Jackson’s dynamic as a rusher has allowed Baltimore to run over their opponents, as the Ravens rushed for 207 yards on Sunday vs a battered Falcons defense.
The Falcons offense struggled against Baltimore’s tough defense, but it’s hard to score points vs. a defense of this caliber when you lose the time of possession battle 39:39 to 20:21.
Just a few weeks ago, the Baltimore Ravens rushed for a season-high 267 yards and won the time of possession battle 38:09 to 21:51 in a 24-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
While skeptics will point to Baltimore’s defense being just that good, the Ravens lost four out of their past five games prior with the defense looking completely lost at times.
Jackson in just these three starts has transformed an offense that couldn’t run the football into a team that’s the best in the NFL over the past three games at running the football.
Lamar Jackson is a work in progress, but for a Baltimore Ravens team looking for their first playoff appearance since 2014, he’s made a strong case to be the starting quarterback even with the pending return of Joe Flacco.
Mahomes, Chiefs Hold Off Surprising Raiders
The Kansas City Chiefs were expecting the Oakland Raiders to play with pride in their visit to the Oakland Coliseum, and that they did.
Still, it wasn’t enough to keep Kansas City from coming off their bye week with a win.
The Kansas City Chiefs held off the lowly Oakland Raiders 40-33 on Sunday afternoon to improve to 10-2.
Patrick Mahomes continued to thrill as he threw for 295 passing yards and four touchdowns, becoming the youngest quarterback in NFL history to reach 40 touchdowns.
The Chiefs raced out to an early lead and took advantage of Oakland’s fumbles in the first half to add to it, as they took a 33-16 lead into the fourth quarter.
Oakland fought back, cutting Kansas City’s lead to three with 6:46 to go on a touchdown pass by Derek Carr to Marcell Ateman, but Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs put the game away late as he threw for his fourth touchdown of the game with 1:54 remaining.
Just days after releasing running back Kareem Hunt, the Chiefs were forced to alter their gameplan. That gameplan led to Patrick Mahomes rushing for a team-high 52 yards.
Kansas City added former running back Charcandrick West on Monday, as he will complement Spencer Ware in the backfield.
Ware rushed for team-high 921 rushing yards back in 2016, and the Chiefs will be hoping for him to carry the load on the ground.
What are your biggest takeaways from Sunday’s action? Leave your comments below!
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