The NFL Sunday Review: Week 13

As football was beginning its long journey home through the Knockout Stages in Qatar, other football was beginning to reach the apex of its regular season across the pond. Week 13 of the NFL season was loaded with a number of intriguing games and solid matchups, and plenty of late-game drama. Let’s dive in and take a look at all the big stories from another exciting Sunday.

The Bengals Beat The Chiefs... Again!

Is it too late to suggest Joe Cool might be in the MVP discussion!? Burrow’s Bengals beat Mahomes’ Chiefs for the 3rd straight time yesterday, meaning that the presumptive MVP of every season has a guy who SEEMS to have his number… and that should mean something. Cincinnati have thrown the AFC wide open, with this week’s results giving us a new #1 seed (Buffalo), and 4 teams in the chasing pack who are no more than a single game behind. It’s extremely exciting.

Kansas City however will rue letting this one slip away, with a costly Travis Kelce fumble helping the Bengals turn the tide back in their favour. But are we giving Joe Burrow enough credit? I’m not sure we are. This was a Bengals team that were 0-2 & struggling mightily at the start of the year, who have won 8 of their last 10 and made sure anyone thinking their run to the SuperBowl last year was a fluke have had to eat their words.

Ja’Marr Chase’s return was important, but it was an unsung hero, Chris Evans, who eventually scored the game winning TD. Burrow found his targets efficiently, going 25/31, and picking his moments to run against the Kansas City defense. If this Joe Burrow is hear to stay for the rest of the season, don’t be surprised if the Bengals find a way to be there or thereabouts when all is said and done in the AFC Championship Game. 

Will Mahomes get a chance to avenge this job? Perhaps! I wouldn’t be surprised to get a Bengals Chiefs AFC Championship Game 2 this year. Obviously, Buffalo, Baltimore, and perhaps even Tennessee and Miami may have a say, but these two teams are high quality. Invariably, when the Chiefs lose it’s down to a small individual mistake or turnover. Harrison Butker’s missed 55yd FG attempt was by no means a gimme, but pushing that wide right was the key play that allowed Cincy to run the clock out.

Was Mahomes at his mercurial best? No, but that needs to be a credit to the Bengals defense, as opposed to a detraction on Mahomes, who continually performs at such an outrageous level that anything below that feels like a disappointment. The Chiefs will surely get back on track with games against the Texans & the Broncos twice in the next 4 weeks. I’d still back them to wind up as the AFC’s Number 1 seed, but Mr. Burrow has shown repeatedly that they are fallible… Andy Reid has some work to do. 

Jimmy G Goes Down As Niners Hold On

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Arguably the biggest win of the 49ers season, and yet they leave this game with a huge question mark in the backfield. Jimmy G started this game, but suffered a broken foot, leaving “Mr. Irrelevant” Brock Purdy to steer the 49ers ship to victory against an usually profligate Dolphins team. Tua Tagovailoa had by far his worst performance of the season – despite throwing two long TDs – as 2INTs and a fumble meant the Fins couldn’t muster a late comeback.

Tagovailoa allegedly suffered an ankle injury, but it’s not feared to be serious, as the Dolphins will look to bounce back next Sunday Night against the Chargers. The Dolphins were hot out of the gate, with an immediate 75yd TD strike to Trent Sherfield to get things going, but before the Half Tagovailoa had lost a bit of his zip, and it took until the 4th quarter for him to throw his 2nd TD of the day, an impressive deep shot to the ever-unguardable Tyreek Hill.

Hill continues to be an MVP candidate as a receiver, but after Cooper Kupp didn’t do so last year in his Triple Crown effort, I find it hard to see Hill being able to claim it this year. Miami have now fallen into a wildcard spot, but must string a couple more wins together before they can feel comfortable in their Playoff aspirations. Following the Chargers, Miami reignite hostilities with the Bills before hosting the Packers on Christmas Day.

For Brock Purdy, this was an impressive introduction to the big leagues, going 25 of 37 for 210yds, 2TDs & 1INT. The 49ers Achilles heel has always been the QB, and if Purdy can replicate this performance week in, week out, then San Francisco still has a chance to be a playoff team. If they get anything less, then it may be curtains again. The scoreline of 33-17 massively flatters the Niners, who were really quite fortunate to lead this game at the Half, and even more fortunate to run out winners by that margin.

McCaffrey will surely get even more of a run now that Garoppolo is down, but with Samuel, Aiyuk and Kittle still able to make plays for Purdy and this defense playing very well right now, the Niners are not quite dead yet. Kyle Shanahan has had some bad luck in losing both Trey Lance and not Jimmy Garoppolo this year. If he can be successful with Brock Purdy, then perhaps he will manage to shake off the criticisms of him being unable to win the big one.

Cowboys Decimate Colts

The Jeff Saturday “New Coach Bump” … is seemingly firmly over and done with. The Dallas Cowboys pulled away from the Indianapolis Colts in the 2nd half, as Tony Pollard, CeeDee Lamb & Michael Gallup did the damage offensively. This ended up a blowout, with the Cowboys pouring it on in the run game in the 4th Quarter. However, the story of this win was without a doubt the Dallas defense continuing to impress, with Micah Parsons the ring-leader, but Malik Hooker – a former Colt – having himself a huge game.

A handful of turnovers will always help, but Dallas’ ability to take advantage of them, and make explosive plays when needed, keep them firmly entrenched in the upper echelon of the most dangerous NFC teams. Obviously the Eagles still lead the way, but the Cowboys can definitely still usurp them for the division if something breaks their way. Dallas will surely right the wrongs of last season, when they didn’t win a Playoff game. This team COULD make a run. I’d expect Odell Beckham Jr. to be a Cowboy before the next two weeks are up.

The Colts’ season is now firmly over, and Jeff Saturday will likely leave in the spring, leaving a new face to come in and probably draft the Franchise’s next QB. The Colts are certain to be picking in the Top 10, and perhaps may even attempt to improve that position further in the coming weeks. Jonathan Taylor has looked more like himself since the change of coaching staff, but Matt Ryan has not been able to prove he can be the Colts’ guy moving forward.

Michael Pittman was almost anonymous, with Alec Pierce and Parris Campbell seemingly more likely to make a big play in the receiving game. The Colts’ defense has suffered some tough injury luck this year, but generally have a young and talented core, who can feel good about the future. They need to stop this carousel of QBs, and maybe trading up a couple spots to go get one in the draft is the way forward for Indy. 

Quick Hits

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  • I didn’t see much of the Thursday night game, as I was on a flight to the UK at the time, but there was no surprise in waking up in London to a comprehensive Buffalo Bills victory over the New England Patriots. Josh Allen continues his stranglehold over Bill Belichick’s evil empire in the North East. Buffalo ends the week as the #1 seed in the AFC.
  • By the way, in case you’ve forgotten, the Philadelphia Eagles are still the team with the best record in the entire league, and Jalen Hurts should absolutely still be an MVP candidate. The Eagles soundly defeated the usually very good Tennessee Titans, and continue to look like the SuperBowl favourites, albeit from a weak NFC.
  • Give Mike White some credit man… He’s tough and a gamer. The Jets came oh so close to defeating the absolutely ridiculously charmed Minnesota Vikings. I cannot fathom how on earth THIS Vikings team is 10-2. All of their wins have been extremely narrow margins of victory, and I remain convinced this cannot continue to be the recipe, and will implode soon enough. Shoutout Garrett Wilson for another great performance for the Jets.
  • Lamar Jackson’s injury could be the biggest storyline of this week. That said, Tyler Huntley did just enough for the Baltimore Ravens to remain in control of their own destiny. The Broncos are just atrocious.
  • The Browns’ new QB was poor, but their Defense and Special Teams picked up the slack. The Texans could not get their desired “revenge win.” Cleveland is still just about alive in the Playoff picture, but is gonna likely need to run the table and get some help from elsewhere if they want to sneak into a Wildcard berth. 
  • Who loves a tie!? I love a tie! The NFC East continued to be weird as the Commanders and Giants shared the spoils. It’s not a loss for either team, but it’s potentially going to be harmful for the Giants, who really should have won this game, with Graham Gano’s attempted FG for the win falling a couple of yards short. 
  • Hey, remember when the Detroit Lions were a bad team? Those days are gone. The Lions hung 40 on the Jaguars, with Amon-Ra St. Brown continuing to be the breakout star of this season for Detroit. When Jameson Williams gets back to full speed, the Lions will have a top 5 receiving duo in the league.
  • Aaron Rodgers’ injury wasn’t deemed bad enough to keep him from making Chicago Bears fans miserable again. Christian Watson and AJ Dillon did most of the damage in the Packers’ comeback victory, leaving Soldier Field with a modicum of Playoff hope… but they’ll need to run the table, continuing after their Bye week against the Rams.
  • Two wins in a row for Kenny Pickett and Mike Tomlin’s Steelers! Are they going to find a way to somehow keep Tomlin’s “no losing season” record alive? Unlikely, but in keeping themselves alive they are hurting their draft stock a little. You wonder what most Steelers fans would prefer. The Falcons are finally falling away after overachieving earlier in the year. 

MNF Prediction: (Season Record: 9-7)

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To say that the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers do not like each other would be a gross understatement. If any bookies were offering odds on number of penalties for taunting, or unnecessary roughness, we should all be hammering the over. Mike Evans is going to play for Tampa, and I expect his nemesis Marshon Lattimore to do so as well for New Orleans, despite Lattimore being listed as questionable on the final injury report.

The Saints’ insistence on persisting with Andy Dalton at QB over Jameis Winston is both baffling and frustrating, as what could be an exciting offense – with Chris Olave, Alvin Kamara, and others – has been ponderous throughout the year, including being shut out by San Francisco last weekend. What’s even more baffling is that the Saints are 4 games below .500, and yet not quite out of the playoff race, due to how atrociously bad the NFC South has been (and continues to be). A win on Monday could vault them back into contention, closing the gap to the Bucs to just a solitary game. That said, a Tampa Bay win and any faint hopes of a Saints playoff berth would be completely dead.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible for me to pick the Saints, simply because Tom Brady has found a bit of his mojo lately and with Chris Godwin seemingly back to his best, it feels like the Bucs are primed to start building towards another postseason run with the GOAT. Tampa Bay to win.

Week 14 Preview

Week 14 begins with a fairly underwhelming Rams vs Raiders matchup on Thursday night, but after a couple of successive wins Las Vegas is still just about in the playoff hunt. Derek Carr, Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs are trying to grind their way into the postseason, and beating the Rams will be essential if they are to do so.

Then, on Sunday, the Lions and the Vikings clash in the NFC North, the Bengals & Browns and Steelers & Ravens face off in the AFC North. The best game in the late window is clearly the 49ers against the Buccaneers, before the Dolphins and Chargers face off on SNF. Lastly, on Monday night, it’s the Cardinals against the Patriots, in what is an absolute last-chance saloon game for both of those teams with extremely slim Playoff hopes.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this article. I’m @CallumJDSquires on Twitter & Instagram. Come say hey. Hope you all have a great week. Cheers.

Callum Squires

NFL/CFB ANALYST

CALLUM IS FROM LONDON, BUT PLAYED COLLEGE SOCCER AT TRINITY UNIVERSITY IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. CALLUM IS A LONG-SUFFERING DOLPHINS FAN WHO BELIEVES THE TUA HYPE. NOW BACK STATESIDE, HIT HIM UP ON TWITTER @CALLUMJDSQUIRES!

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