What do we make of some strange Week 12 results?
The Browns beat the Steelers in the snow. The Cowboys beat the Commanders in the DMV. The Titans stunned the Texans in Houston. The Cardinals stumbled in Seattle.
Even some expected outcomes came in unexpected ways. The Vikings blew an 11-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation and needed overtime to win in Chicago. The Chiefs had trouble putting away the Panthers, although that's not exactly weird for the back-to-back defending champions these days.
The Packers blowing out the Brock Purdy-less 49ers might need its own category, but that could do it for the reigning NFC champs' season.
Some of these teams can be shuffled up and down freely. Not many teams have built up enough Power Rankings cred to be slide-proof. The Chiefs typically fall into that category, but it's OK to admit they're not in peak form right now. The Eagles' Sunday night dominance convinced me to jump Philadelphia over Kansas City. On the one hand, a team as established as the Chiefs sweating out a close win is neither new nor alarming. But how long can they keep living this way? Some of the descriptions of K.C.'s postgame locker room were than of celebration.
Can the Chiefs win the Super Bowl? Absolutely. Last year proved they can turn it on when necessary. They lost to the Raiders on Christmas Day. The vibes were bad. Less than two months later, they hoisted the Lombardi Trophy (again).
But what is the league hierarchy right now? Where do all 32 teams stand on Thanksgiving week, as we hurtle into the stretch run of the 2024 regular season? Feast your eyes on the updated pecking order.
NOTE: Up/down arrows reflect movement from the Week 12 Power Rankings.
That's now 10 straight quarters in which the Lions have not allowed a touchdown. The defense had a few shaky moments defending some deep passes against the Colts -- and more accurate throws might have hit home. But overall, Detroit has proven doubters wrong by continuing its defensive success in spite of some key injuries. Offensively, the approach was death by a hundred butter knives. The David Montgomery-Jahmyr Gibbs duo remains the NFL's best 1-2 RB punch, assuming Montgomery's shoulder is OK, as he indicated is the case . The Lions' next three games are at Ford Field, where they've only played twice since September. The run starts on Thanksgiving and a little mini-bye before a huge matchup with the Packers in Week 14. After that, a possible Super Bowl preview against the next team listed here ...
Buffalo got to sit back on its Week 12 bye with a 9-2 record, having won six straight, culminating with a big win over Kansas City. Part of the Bills' bye-week viewing likely included the Chiefs' struggles to put the Panthers away, which had to make the week of rest even better. Buffalo all but has the AFC East wrapped up, and it still has a puncher's chance to wrestle away the AFC's top seed from Kansas City, thanks to the head-to-head win and a stretch run that is far easier than the Chiefs'. Buffalo will come out of the bye with a home game against the suddenly sinking 5-6 49ers. There also are games left against the Rams, Jets and Patriots (twice), as well as a showdown against the Lions in Detroit that could serve as a Super Bowl sneak peek. All told, the Bills are in great shape, and they appear to be getting , too.
The Eagles put on a show Sunday night. Saquon Barkley hit a few bombs on his way to a top-10 all-time rushing game, and the defense racked up five sacks. These two factors -- Barkley and the pass rush -- are, for me, what make the Eagles far more dangerous now than they were at this point last year, despite Philly's superior record (10-1) through 11 games in 2023. Barkley won't win MVP, but he deserves to be in the discussion, and I'd vote for him for Offensive Player of the Year over Derrick Henry right now. The Eagles have outgained their opponents over the past seven games by an average of 180 yards (!), and Barkley is a big reason why. But so is Philly's defense. The Rams moved the ball well in the early going, but Vic Fangio adjusted, and the Eagles erased them for the remainder of the first half. It's hard to remember how ugly things were defensively, because those vibes are long gone. Losing Brandon Graham to a season-ending triceps tear this late in what could be his swan-song campaign really stings; we're also waiting to see about the seriousness of the hamstring injury that kept DeVonta Smith out. Even with those issues, the Eagles are one of the very best teams in football.
The Chiefs' offense has made some steady improvements since their Week 6 bye. Against the Panthers on Sunday, they played a turnover-free game, scoring on their first five possessions, and Patrick Mahomes led the winning drive in crunch time. But the defense has tapered off in the other direction over that same span, nearly bottoming out -- by Kansas City's standards, at least -- in a victory that almost felt like a loss. Panthers QB Bryce Young enjoyed surprising success, and he made the Chiefs pay when they played man defense against him. Carolina scored six times, including via a 70-yard march that bled more than half the third quarter, and K.C. blew a 14-point lead. That's not what we've come to expect from this D, and it's a worrying sign that this unit has allowed opponents to drive for the decisive or tying score three times in the past four games -- and it would have been four times had Leo Chenal not blocked a potential winning field-goal try by the Broncos . This trend must change fast.
No player and no team go from preheat mode to nuclear hot faster than Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. The Chargers controlled the first quarter on Monday night, running the ball right through the heart of Baltimore's defense, where Roquan Smith (inactive due to a hamstring injury) would have lined up, taking a 10-0 lead. That's when the Ravens gave the Chargers a dose of their own meds, handing it to Derrick Henry three times in short succession for 19, 14 and 11 yards, setting a new tone for the night. With that, the gutsiest call of the year (Mark Andrews converting fourth-and-1 from Baltimore's own 16) and a helping of Lamar magic, the Chargers were pretty much toast. Henry ran for 140 yards. Jackson recreated on his TD run. Justice Hill even had a 51-yard TD to put the game away. Just a three-quarters assault in a battle of AFC heavyweights, and the Ravens -- even with their usual slew of penalties -- were a class above the Chargers in this edition of the Harbowl.
The game against the Bears never should have gotten to overtime. It happened thanks to the Vikings' terrible approach to the onsides kick and some defensive lapses -- without which we also wouldn't have had the chance to see one of the best drives of the season from Sam Darnold. He led the Vikings straight down the field in OT, overcoming a sack and hitting all six of his pass attempts for 90 yards to set up the winning kick, providing a silver lining to the collapse by delivering in the clutch on the road with the game on the line. Losing would have been pretty horrific, given that Minnesota was ahead by 11 points with less than 30 second left in regulation. Darnold threw for 330 yards and two TDs, working around a quiet day for Justin Jefferson (one 7-yard grab in the first 64 minutes of the game). Jordan Addison had a career-best outing to offset the attention the Bears paid to Jefferson.
Jordan Love led an offensive attack on Sunday that was 5-for-5 in the red zone, ran efficiently and didn't turn the ball over. It was a bummer that Christian Watson dropped Love's perfect deep ball before the half; the miscue left the door open for the 49ers. Of course, it was closed by San Francisco's turnover on downs early in the third quarter. All in all, this was a solid stomping of a beat-up Niners team. The victory even featured a late Lukas Van Ness strip-sack, so pretty much everything was going right for the Packers. There should be some concern ahead of the short-week game against a suddenly scary Miami team, however. WR Romeo Doubs suffered a concussion Sunday, and if he is to play on Thanksgiving night, he'll have clear the protocol very quickly. The Packers could also be without Jaire Alexander (knee) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring), who both missed the win over San Francisco.
There were obvious signs the Steelers were walking into the ultimate trap last Thursday -- and yet, they still succumbed, in Cleveland of all places. The offense has been spotty since the Week 9 bye; Russell Wilson's brilliance on third down against the Browns was undone by his fumble and the four sacks he took. And for all the correct moves Mike Tomlin has made this season (and over the years), that loss was not his finest. He mishandled the game and clock at the ends of both halves, costing the Steelers valuable time. Throw in a subpar performance from the defense and a missed field-goal try, and we've covered just about every box on our trap-game bingo card. The AFC North tour continues with the Bengals next, followed by a rematch with the Browns in Pittsburgh. These two dates will speak volumes about the Steelers' playoff-run viability -- and whether a division crown still remains in reach.
After a great start, the Chargers really struggled to contain the run game of the Ravens, namely Derrick Henry. Henry helped get the Ravens out of an early funk, and the Bolts helped Henry get going by missing several tackles, although they're hardly the first team to struggle with that against Baltimore. Still, this has to worry Jim Harbaugh. His defense now has been taken apart a bit over the past six quarters against the Bengals and Ravens. But the problems weren't relegated to the defense. The offense has plenty to worry about, starting with RB J.K. Dobbins' knee injury. The Chargers just couldn't get the ground attack going after he left, and Justin Herbert's receivers let him down. Incredibly, all five starting offensive linemen were also flagged. Trey Pipkins' hold offset a 27-yard pass interference on third-and-6 in a 23-16 game. Instead, the Chargers ended up punting, and Justice Hill cribbed it a few minutes later. No time for the Bolts to cry over the four-game win streak ending; they go to Atlanta and Kansas City over the next two Sundays.
The Broncos trailed the Raiders 13-9 at halftime, but then the defense and Bo Nix wrested control of the game back in their favor in the second half. Brandon Jones' third-quarter interception helped Denver take the lead, and Nik Bonitto's strip-sack with just over two minutes left finished off Las Vegas. Nix and the offense finally logged two second-half TDs after settling for three first-half field goals. The Nix-Courtland Sutton connection has really developed nicely, helping the Broncos solidify their playoff standing. Ever since Sutton turned in the first zero-target game of his career back in Week 7, he’s been hot -- and a huge factor behind Nix’s development. Sutton has 36 catches for 467 yards and three TDs (as well as a TD pass to Nix) in the five games since. That said, are the Broncos legitimate contenders? Even with Nix’s steady play and a good defense, it feels like this team is a few pieces short of seriously challenging the AFC’s heavyweights.
This summer, I had a rosy view of the Commanders and thought they could win seven or eight games. They've been stuck on seven since Nov. 3, and the way things have gone recently, I'm not sure how many more they'll add. It's tough to unpack everything that happened at the end of Sunday's defeat to the Cowboys, a game in which Washington trailed 10-9 with nine minutes left before ultimately losing 34-26. You can write off the events of the final few seconds -- the missed extra-point try, the onsides kick returned for a Dallas touchdown -- as flukes if you choose. But prior to the Terry McLaurin miracle TD, the Commanders were averaging 5 yards per play offensively. Jayden Daniels and Austin Seibert, two of Washington's best players this season, had tough moments. The special teams were abysmal after halftime. The defense wasn't great, either, allowing a backup QB to lead four scoring drives -- and it easily could have been more. This is not how contenders typically perform in November. If the Commanders can't reel it in against a suddenly plucky Titans team this coming Sunday, it will be time to sound the alarm bells even louder.
The Texans are flirting with disaster, having lost four of their past six games, but it says something about the AFC South that Houston remains the overwhelming favorite to host a playoff game come January. The problem is, this just doesn’t look like a playoff operation right now. Can we talk about C.J. Stroud's struggles? His two interceptions against Tennessee came on poor throws made as the result of bad decisions. The first one gifted the Titans a field goal right before half. That plus a Ka'imi Fairbairn miss (from 28 yards -- it was the second kick under 30 yards he's missed this year) cost them a net six points in a five-point loss. The defense sacked Will Levis eight times and ran back a pick-six but also allowed Levis to semi-carve Houston up when he wasn't getting hit. There are more imposing challenges on the horizon (, at Chiefs, vs. Ravens in Weeks 15-17), so the Texans have to tighten things up.
The Buccaneers exited their Week 11 bye with a fairly clean, take-care-of-business victory over the Giants, ending their four-game losing streak and thrusting them back into the playoff mix. The offense was lifted by Mike Evans’ return, and the defense received reinforcements with the returns of CBs Jamel Dean and Zyon McCollum, along with recent signee Mike Edwards, who for Jordan Whitehead after Whitehead suffered a fourth-quarter injury. Baker Mayfield also was banged up with a stinger, but he carved up the Giants to the tune of 9.8 yards per pass and ran in a TD. This team is not only better than its 5-6 record but looms as a dangerous group down the stretch. The schedule is about as appealing as a contender could hope for, with only one current remaining opponent (the Chargers in Week 15) sitting above .500. With the Falcons falling off, don’t forget about this Bucs squad.
Even after beating the Cardinals, the Seahawks have a lower chance (44%) to make the playoffs than Arizona (51%), according to Next Gen Stats' . Nonetheless, they outplayed the Cards and deserve to be ahead of them in the playoff-seeding picture for now. The defense has really gummed up these past two games, helping Seattle earn critical NFC West wins. Leonard Williams might have been the best player on the field Sunday, doing as much (six tackles, 2.5 sacks) to key the victory as the Seahawks' pick-six did. Geno Smith's red-zone pick was his third of the season and another reminder that he can make some frustratingly bad throws from time to time. But Seattle put together just enough big pass plays, with a lot of help from the ascendant Jaxon Smith-Njigba, to finish it off. Mike Macdonald's first season has been a wild ride, and it's still going.
The Cardinals rolled out of their Week 11 bye with a thud, unable to get the ground game going and allowing way too much pressure in their loss to the Seahawks. Kyler Murray had been great with ball security this season, but on Sunday, he threw a horrific fourth-down pick that was run back for a score, and Arizona never really recovered. The defense made some plays to keep the Cards in the game, although the interception of Geno Smith really just resulted from a bad decision by the QB. The Cardinals now have to go up to Minnesota in Week 13, then face this same Seahawks team in Glendale in a few weeks. Prior to the bye, they provided one of their best offensive showings of the season. Is the offense now a cause for concern, or was this a one-week blip? Teams that take away the run game early have had success slowing the Cardinals down so far.
The Dolphins are only 4-3 going back to Week 5, but the three losses came by a combined 10 points (including narrow defeats to the Bills and Cardinals) and now they've ripped off three straight wins. Miami clearly has been a much better team since Tua Tagovailoa's return, operating more of a controlled passing game that was on display in the quarterback's four-TD performance against the Patriots. Even with the run game stalling Sunday, there have been other positive developments, such as the breakout of Jonnu Smith, a player the Patriots never figured out how to use properly. Miami's big test comes on Thanksgiving night. A narrative from last season -- that the Dolphins -- will hold until they prove otherwise. The weather up in Green Bay is expected to , with snow possible. If Miami can spoil the Packers' Turkey Day, it'll give us an indication that this team might be reversing last year's trajectory, when it started 9-3 then withered down the stretch.
Going into their Week 12 bye with two straight losses was bad news for the Falcons, and there are two more tough assignments coming up: vs. the Chargers at home and a road test against the Vikings in Week 14. Atlanta retains of making the playoffs, with a division title still very much in the team's sights. The Falcons surprisingly haven't made the playoffs since 2017, so getting into the postseason would be a success, but it will be hard to feel too good if they end up backing in while the Bucs get hot enough to steal the NFC South. The way the Falcons played coming into the bye opens them up to fair criticism. Kirk Cousins certainly will be under the microscope down the stretch (with Michael Penix Jr. waiting in the 'pen), joining the defense, Raheem Morris and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake. Oh, and Younghoe Koo, too, while we're at it. There are a few too many loose ends right now to feel great about the overall picture in Atlanta.
On the one hand, the Niners are 5-6, haven't won games in consecutive weeks this season and have a road trip to Buffalo staring them in the face. On the other hand, San Francisco remains in the playoff race because of the sardine-tin-packed nature of the NFC West, with one game separating all four teams -- although the Niners' 1-3 division mark puts them at the bottom for now. Things are certainly grim, and San Fran has not looked like a playoff team for most of the season, if we’re being honest. Injuries have sunk their teeth into every aspect of the roster, starting with the offensive stars and trickling down elsewhere. This is feeling more and more like the 2020 season, when things went off track for the 49ers early and never really got back on. Brandon Allen filled in for the injured Brock Purdy and played fairly ably. Really, the performances by the backup QB's teammates -- and not the backup QB -- were the biggest reason that the Packers ran roughshod over the Niners in the second half Sunday.
The near-constant reshuffling of the NFC West deck has kept Los Angeles in business for the playoffs, but that’s now two straight home games in which the Rams have gotten their quarterback pummeled, losing to the Dolphins and Eagles, falling to 3-3 at home and 5-6 overall. Allowing five sacks and 11 QB hits just isn’t going to cut it for the Rams and the nearly 37-year-old Matthew Stafford. He and the receivers give the team its best shot at reaching the playoffs and making a little noise, so they can’t have this kind of pass-protection leakiness down the stretch, still facing multiple tough games. I love that the Rams somehow have a Byron Young-Kobie Turner rookie thing going for a second straight year with Braden Fiske and Jared Verse, but you can’t allow your opponents to run for 314 yards and three TDs and hope to win.
Hovering around to make the playoffs, the Colts probably need to run the table -- or get darned close to doing so -- to get in. The Week 15 game in Denver looks to be by far the toughest, and the Colts will have a bye right before, in Week 14. But they have made their own bed by losing four out of five and failing to draft off the dramatic win over the Jets to carry over some momentum against the Lions. Losing to the best team in the NFL is no shame, but the Colts missed a golden opportunity to flip the script early in the third quarter after Detroit turned it over on downs, up only 14-6. Instead, the Colts punted four straight times and never had a realistic chance again. There were dropped passes. Back-breaking penalties. Misfired passes from Anthony Richardson. The Colts never turned the ball over, but it was just a listless performance after hitting on a few big plays early.
The Week 11 loss to the Chargers highlighted several issues that have plagued the Bengals this season, but arguably the biggest one -- and maybe the hardest to find a cause for -- is the inability to finish. Cincinnati fell to 1-6 in one-score games, and even the one win comes with an asterisk, as the Bengals led the Browns 21-6 prior to them tacking on a cosmetic score with 87 seconds left in Week 7. The first four losses of the season -- three of them at home -- were by a combined 15 points. The past two losses, both on the road, were by a combined eight points. Every one of those painful defeats seemed to boil down to one or two critical plays late that went against the Bengals. The obvious default is to broadly point the finger at "coaching," but the Bengals had winning records in one-score games in each of the past three seasons. This year's defense has struggled in most of those one-score losses, and there also have been special teams breakdowns. The question is whether the Bengals will continue losing this way or if they can pull out a few wins against mostly evenly matched opponents down the stretch.
Give Cooper Rush some credit. Not many expected the Cowboys to pull off this shocker, and Rush was a big part of it. His teammates didn’t help much early, with two missed field-goal tries and a fumble on their first three possessions, but Rush was steady, leading key scoring drives on both sides of halftime to take the lead for the first time. The final product was a hot mess, with both teams making some wild mistakes, but the Cowboys were the more buttoned-up group late. Dallas’ defense hung tough, and the two late kick returns were shockingly clutch plays of awareness. The Cowboys haven’t always been the toughest or smartest team on the field this season, but they were Sunday, playing without a slew of their best players. The season has gone awry, and they have virtually no chance of making the playoffs, but the Cowboys knocked off a division rival on the road and deserve their praise.
The Bears’ fifth straight loss -- and third straight at Soldier Field -- delivered a new twist on an old favorite. This time, after seeing yet another field-goal try blocked, they roared back in improbable fashion, erasing an 11-point lead in less than two minutes, needing the NFL’s third recovered onside kick of the season (and, yes, a made field goal) to do it. They also needed (and received) another wildly encouraging performance from Caleb Williams, who made some spectacular plays Sunday against a quality defense. Thomas Brown called a near-beauty of a game, too, getting DJ Moore and Keenan Allen involved more frequently. But then overtime happened, and the Bears punted and watched their defense melt away. It’ll be a short turnaround before facing Detroit on Thanksgiving.
Every year or so, we seem to have one interim head coach who takes over after a midseason firing and rallies his underachieving team to competency. This year’s version is Darren Rizzi, a mostly unknown career special teams coach whose last head-coaching job was at Rhode Island in 2008 and before that, Division-II New Haven from 1999 to 2001. (Fun trivia: The three head coaches at New Haven prior to Rizzi were Tony Sparano, Mark Whipple and Chris Palmer, who also went on to coach in the NFL.) Can Rizzi make a claim for the permanent job? There’s always the worry this becomes another Rich Bisaccia situation. Bisaccia took over the Raiders from Jon Gruden in 2021, going 7-5 down the stretch and making the playoffs, only to see Josh McDaniels get the job in 2022. Making the postseason isn’t likely for the Saints, but Rizzi’s purposeful approach and 2-0 start give him a shot to convince the powers that be he deserves a shot at keeping the job. Can going 4-2 down the stretch get it done?
I’m starting to softly buy in on the idea of Jameis Winston as a bridge quarterback. This suggestion could fabulously backfire and be a career-ender for me, but I’m taking my cues more and more from his on-field approach these days. He’s by no means perfect. But has Winston not pumped some life into this team? That and double the victories Deshaun Watson led Cleveland to. The Browns obviously would want to find a young quarterback with some pedigree to challenge Winston, but either way, he’s looking good enough to bring back right now. Most of the remaining games down the stretch are prime upset opportunities and more chances for Winston to state his case. For me, it’s been the little stuff. Like, I love that he went right back to David Njoku (after his third-down drop) on the two-point conversion in Thursday's win over Pittsburgh. You know, after Jameis helicoptered into the end zone.
Even the bye week raised the stress level, with GM Joe Douglas being let go in yet another drastic in-season change. It’s hard to imagine a more thorough failure, top to bottom, than this Jets season. Realistic folks might have doubted Gang Green, given the tough history of this franchise, and known to temper expectations for 2024. But even the most pessimistic observer could have assumed the Jets would do better than last year's 7-10 mark, achieved mostly with Zach Wilson at quarterback, given the return of Aaron Rodgers and most of a seasoned defense. Somehow, New York's 3-8, with few clear victories ahead. It’s hard to figure out a path forward for the Jets, with Rodgers' future cloudy and no obvious veteran or draft quarterbacks who appear to be the savior types at their disposal.
³§³Ü²Ô»å²¹²â’s hard-fought loss to the back-to-back Super Bowl champions was another positive step for embattled QB Bryce Young. Down 20-6, Young led gutsy scoring drives on both sides of halftime, pulling the Panthers to within four points. Carolina would end up tying the game late, and Young’s strong play against a very good Kansas City defense was a big reason why. The Chiefs sent the dogs after Young, but he responded by completing 11 of his 14 passes against blitzes for 123 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, per Next Gen Stats. He was also sacked twice, but Young’s play in that game -- in line with his recent upswing -- means he deserves to get the starting opportunities down the stretch. Alex Smith, the player I thought Young most resembled coming out of college, struggled early in his career before finding his groove. So did Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford. Things weren’t looking great for Young as recently as a month ago, but even in ³§³Ü²Ô»å²¹²â’s loss, he’s shown that not all paths to success are direct and swift.
After being held to 20 or fewer points in their previous six outings since the Week 5 bye, the Titans exploded with a gaudy 32 in the upset of the Texans in Houston. Even with two more Will Levis turnovers (including a pick-six) and eight sacks taken, the Titans had three pass plays of 30-plus yards and averaged a healthy enough 4.0 yards per run. Levis could have avoided at least three of those sacks, and he nearly choked the game away with his interception, staring down Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on the play. His toughness isn’t in question; he has bounced back from nearly every tough hit this season. Levis hit Chig Okonkwo on the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter and finished with big numbers, but his sacks and turnovers continue to limit the expectations of this team, even after a gutsy effort Sunday.
After a relatively encouraging 2-2 stretch with wins over the Jets and Bears, the Patriots looked more like they did in Weeks 2-7, when they made mental errors, were outcoached and outplayed and often slogged through all three phases. Against the Dolphins on Sunday, they were bad on defense and worse on offense. The game stayed scoreless into the second quarter, only for New England to quickly be boat raced before halftime. Seven first-half penalties (six of them pre-snap) will do that to a team. The Patriots were down 31-0 by the fourth quarter before adding a couple meaningless late scores. Look, the Pats appear to have misevaluated the offensive line and wide receiver position entering the season, and they brought back a lot of holdovers from a team that fell into the abyss in 2023. There is not much to do about that now. And they did get the hard part right, landing Drake Maye (and spurning tempting draft-day trade offers). But this Patriots team has a lot to figure out in the offseason, from coaching on down to the bottom of the roster.
On Thursday, Daniel Jones was playing scout-team safety. On Friday, he was released. On Sunday, the Giants were blasted at home by the Buccaneers, who built a 30-0 lead and outgained them by more than 200 yards. That about sums up last week. What might this week bring? Tommy DeVito purportedly will reprise his role as starting quarterback even after having the same number of completions (three) as sacks taken in the first half. DeVito might have been the talk of Jersey last year, but his 2023 magic was nowhere to be found on what looked like a mentally defeated Giants team. The Jones hangover appeared to affect everyone, as even the fairly reliable defense turned in one of its worst showings of the season. Baker Mayfield dropped back to throw 30 times Sunday. He was hit twice. Six passes were incomplete. Six completions went for 18 or more yards. Football in New York has been pretty bad this season, but this might have been the lowest of low points.
The season-ending injury to Gardner Minshew is just the latest sour note in an increasingly tough campaign, especially at quarterback. Yes, Aidan O’Connell is returning from injured reserve -- and NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reports that the second-year pro is heading right into the starting lineup. Expectations must be tempered, as with many things Raiders-related. Desmond Ridder replaced Minshew late Sunday and promptly was strip-sacked; it was the sixth sack Ridder has taken in 34 dropbacks for the Raiders this season. Up next: the Chiefs at Arrowhead on Black Friday. Woo! The Chiefs won a close one in the first meeting -- and, hey, a Raiders team that was struggling as much as this year's squad stormed Kansas City and shocked the Chiefs on Christmas Day last year, so anything is theoretically possible. Though I'm thinking O'Connell will have to throw for more than 62 yards -- his total in that enormous upset nearly a year ago -- to log a win this time around.
There's a real chance the Jaguars could pick first in the NFL draft for the third time in a five-year span, and history appears to be playing out all over again. After reaching the 2017 AFC Championship Game, the Jaguars fell hard and fast, totaling just 12 wins over the next three years. They tore it down and rebuilt it with Trevor Lawrence and Travon Walker. After a hot finish in 2022 and a strong playoff showing that season, they crashed and burned again, having lost 14 of their past 17 games as we stand now. Is another major teardown looming? Doug Pederson and Trent Baalke appear to be fighting for their jobs. There are even questions about Lawrence being the quarterback to lead this team back to respectability. If the Jaguars keep losing down the stretch (against a pretty soft schedule), it could put all possibilities on the table this offseason. It would be hard to imagine this team making just minor changes and hoping to run it back similarly next season.