“Sometimes I think they b makin us lose on purpose”
There were comebacks from Dallas to Detroit and a few places in between. The King added another crown. One brother passed another, the division races got tighter. And some teams are looking back at some bad decisions.
It was week 12 in the NFL and it was another in which some crazy stuff happened. Here are some of the highlights.
Here Comes Houston
Before the season the Texans were the odds on favorite to win the AFC South, as they had done the previous two seasons under head coach DeMeco Ryans.
Then Houston started 0-3.
Well, the Texans are now 6-5 after last week’s win over Buffalo as they head to Indianapolis for a meeting with the first-place Colts (8-3).
A Texans win and all of a sudden the South is wide open again.
In those three losses to start the season, Houston averaged 12.7 points per game and turned the ball over five times. In the eight games since the Texans have averaged 25.6 points per game and have just four turnovers.
A Matter of Time
A few weeks ago it was pointed out here that Baltimore would catch and eventually pass Pittsburgh in the AFC North.
It happened Sunday when the Ravens (6-5) beat the Jets and the Steelers (6-5) lost to the Bears. Technically they’re tied, but the Ravens have the tie-breaker. In a strange schedule this year the two have not met yet. When they do, Baltimore will move further ahead.
Over 30 Club
Speaking of the Ravens, running back Derek Henry had his 30th two-touchdown game in the win over the Jets. Only two other backs have accomplished that LaDanian Tomlinson (38) and Emmitt Smith (36)
Henry also moved past Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James and Marcus Allen into 12th place on the all-time rushing list with 12,294 yards. He needs 19 more to pass Jim Brown for 11th.
Oh Brother
Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt recorded his 115th sack in the Steelers loss, Sunday. That moved him past brother J.J. (114 1/2), who was broadcasting the game for CBS.
T.J.’s sacks have come in a total of 132 games, while J.J.’s were in 151.
Perfect 10s
One team in the league has 10 wins — New England. One team in the league has 10 losses — Tennessee.
Hmm. Is there a connection between those two teams? Oh yeah, Mike Vrabel is in his first year as head coach of the Patriots. Vrabel used to coach the Titans before he was fired after the 2023 season.
Since they fired Vrabel, the Titans are 4-24.
Trying to Lose?
It’s not fair to judge interim head coach Mike Kafka of the Giants until he has Jaxson Dart as his quarterback.
Kafka, however, didn’t help himself in trying to remove the interim tag with his decisions in Sunday’s come-from-ahead loss to Detroit.
Injured wide receiver Malik Nabers wondered on social media if his team was trying to win.
“Sometimes I think they b makin us lose on purpose,” Nabers wrote, via ESPN. “Cause it’s no way, bro you throw the ball instead of running it to make em burn 2 timeouts?? then you don’t kick the field goal?? Then they have to go down and score!!! Football common sense!!!! Am I missing something?”
Nabers later deleted the post without explanation.
What Nabers was writing about was the sequence late in the fourth quarter with the Giants on the Lions 2-yard line with 3:11 to play and ahead by three points. The Giants passed incomplete, which stopped the clock and saved Detroit a time out. On third down the Giants ran a sweep outside that lost four yards. Then on 4th-and-goal from the 6, instead of kicking the easy field goal for a six-point lead, they went for it, threw incomplete again and stopped the clock again.
The Lions drove for a tying 59-yard field goal and then won in overtime on a 61-yard TD run by Jahmyr Gibbs.
Parsons Table
Micah Parsons, who has been worth both of the No. 1 draft picks the Packers traded to the Cowboys, recorded his 10th sack of the season in Green Bay’s 23-6 win over Minnesota, Sunday.
Parsons has recorded at least 10 sacks in all five of his seasons in the league. The only other player to have 10 sacks, or more, in his first five seasons was Reggie White, who also left a NFC East team to go to Green Bay.
Bad Choice
The more J.J. McCarthy plays quarterback the more perplexing it is that the Vikings let both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones leave their building to go with McCarthy.
How bad has the former Michigan QB been. Well, Justin Jefferson, who with almost any other QB is one of the two best wide receivers in the league, hasn’t had a 100-yard game in six weeks and has gone nine of his last 10 games without a touchdown. And Jordan Addison, another good WR and a first-round pick, has been held under 50 yards in five straight games. In the loss to Green Bay, Sunday, Addison did not have a catch.
Come Back and Comeback
Dallas’ comeback from a 21-point deficit against Philadelphia matched the biggest comeback in Cowboys history. They had come back from 21 down three other times.
The blown 21-point lead is tied for the second worst in Eagles history. They blew a 23-point lead against Minnesota in 1985. This was their worst blown lead since opening day 1999 against the Cardinals, which happened to be Andy Reid’s first-ever game as a head coach.
