NFL Week 13 Thanksgiving TAkeaways.
The NFL Really Cooked With This Thanksgiving Schedule(Pun intended) Or At least Events Played Out, Or The Script Fell into motion For A Few Brilliant Games To Land On Football’s Favorite holiday in Week 13. The Chiefs and The Ravens Entered Thanksgiving at 6-5, needing every win in the future to Pull Themselves Away from the Field in Their Respective Playoff Pictures, And Left 6-6 in a Precarious Spot With Five Weeks Left In The Season.
Packers Vs Lions
The Packers Roll Past The Lions 31-24 In A Playoff-Level NFC North Contest. Both Teams Needed. Matchups and Tendencies Don’t Control Every Football Game. Still, The Lions' Affinity For Man Coverage Played A Role In Jordan Love Beating The Lions' Secondary On Multiple Bucket Like Throws With Four Throws Of 20 Air Yards in The Game. A welcome Shift From A Guy Generally Reliant On Yards After catch, Most Of This Season Found His Wings downfield. Jordan Love Finished 18/30 For 234 Passing Yards, Passed Four Touchdowns, Including a 51 Yarder To Christian Watson and another 22 Yard Pass To Dontayvion Wicks. The Packers Lack Elite Receiver Talent, Which Explains Why Green Bay doesn’t Generate Consistent Big Plays, But Have Equally Capable Receivers Across The Board Who Can Spread Out Defense Without Depth At Corners. For the Lions, the Green Bay Push Really Disrupted Goff With Pressures And Sacks, 13 total pressures and Four Sacks On 31 drop-backs. Goff lost his top receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown, early in the Game, and the Lions entered the Game Without Their top Tight End, Sam Laporta. Goff Finished 20/26 For 257 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, and A 133.0 Passer Rating. Without St. Brown, Jameson Williams Stepped Up with 145 Receiving Yards On Seven Catches, 87 Yards After The Catch. Even With Those Big numbers, Love’s Conservative Play Style, 0 Attempts Over 20 Air Yards, Restricts The Lions From Maximizing Williams.
As A deep Threat. Over The Pass, Three Games, Goff Ranks Just Above Dilon Gabriel In Deep Pass Attempts Per Game. Goff’s Reclamation With The Lions Moving Over The Rams Became A Celebratory Narrative For The Lions, But More and More We Witness Why Goff and Sean MvJahmyr Gibbs Couldn’t Bail The Lions Out Of A Slow Start. He Finished With 68 Yards On The Ground On 20 Carries. Facing a 10 Point Deficit In The Third, the Lions ran Their Standard Offense, but Without Those Quick Hitters From Jahmyr Gibbs, The Offense Exhausted A lot Of Time Before Handing The Ball Back to A Still Hot Jordan Love. Dontayvion Wicks 94 receiving on 6 Catches, One Touchdown, and Christian Watson 80 receiving, On Four Catches And One Touchdown. Jordan Love lacks the consistency needed to convert doubters into believers, even after a standout performance like this one. However, he reminds me a lot of Eli Manning, who can go on a hot streak and appear unstoppable for a stretch. This potential makes the Packers dangerous in the playoffs. The Lions drop to 7-6, far off the pace they set last year when they finished with the best record in the NFC.
Cowboys Vs Chiefs
The Cowboys Shake Off An Early Dak Prescott Interception and Four Touchdowns For Patrick Mahomes To Knock Off The Chiefs 31-28. If you’re the Chiefs, This Game played Out Nearly as Well As You Could Have Imagined For A Game Plan. Kansas City took the lead and kept the game close. Their run game was effective, averaging 5.3 yards per carry, and they achieved five explosive pass plays, with a positive gain of 0.30 on pass plays and 0.240 over 60 plays. The Chiefs finished 5 for 16 on third downs. When you aim to shorten the game, keeping drives alive makes all the difference. The Chiefs suffered A Stretch Of offensive ineptitude Between The Second and third Quarter When They Punted Four Straight Drives. The Chiefs HAd Five Of Their Nine Drives end in Punts. The Other Drives Ended In Touchdowns. Sacks and Prove The Difference On Those Drives as The Cowboys Registered 29 Pressures And Three Sacks as Dallas’s Defense Consistently Straddled KC’s Momentum Throughout The Game. Outside of the Pressure Numbers, Mahomes was 23/34 for 261 Passing Yards, 4 Touchdowns, and a Passer Rating of 129.7. So the Cowboys' Defense won’t Get Credited With a Big Game, but not Getting Eviscerated By Patrick Mahomes on A Thursday Night matters. Beyond An Early Interception, the Cowboys' Offense Played Like The Number One Offense In Football. Dak Leads The Cowboys To 458 Total Yards Of Offense, 7.0 Yards Per Play, +0.247 EPA Per Play, 41.6 Yards Per Drive. In The Pass Game, Dak Lit into The Chiefs’ Defense 27/38 For 320 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns, One Pick 186 Passing Yards On Explosive Plays Show casing His Accuracy and Touch All Across The Field. Ceedee Lamb matched up with Chiefs Star Corner Trent McDuffie and Cooked Him, four Catches For 44 Yards And Three Penalties Forced For 50 Yards. In McDuffie, Ceedee Bounced Back From His Drops Against The Eagles, 7 Catches For 112 Receiving Yards. The Chiefs Suffered A lot of Penalties, 10 for 119, A Few Holding Calls Because Of The Packers' Pass Rush, which helped negate potential Field Goal Drives. The Cowboys Improved Their Road To The Playoffs With The Win, But They Probably Have To Win Out because Both The NFC West and North Have Three Teams With Winning Records.
Bengals Vs Ravens
Joe Burrow Returned To the Bengals Following A Toe Injury That had Sidelined Him Since September To Face A Division Rival and Help Lead The Bengals To A 32-14 Upset of the Ravens as the Cincy Defense Forces Five Turnovers Of Lamar Jackson And The Ravens' Offense. The Ravens started The Season 1-5, one of the most shocking Developments Of The Early Season. They had Won Five Straight games To Land At 6-5, putting Baltimore in a Fighting Position In The Division. Lamar Jackson Returned to Lineup, He Lead The NFL In Passer Rating (130.5) Before His Injury, Deliver Four Of The Fives Games Into The Ravens Win Streak but The Offense has Ranked 18th In EPA Per Play (-0.037), Against The Bengals defense Jackson Look To Get Back on Track and Early with Seven Play 69 Yard Drive cashed In By a 28 Yard Derrick Henry Run And A 7-3 Ravens Lead. Lamar Produced A 17 Yard Pass Play and a Yard Run, and No Signs Of Issues With The Offense looking visible. The Ravens Were Hitting Their Stride Before The Offensive Situation Turned Doom And Gloom, as the Ravens' Offense suffered six Straight Drives With No Points, Including Three fumbles and Three Punts. Lamar’s rushing Ability Would Betray him As He Suffered Two Fumbles, One In the First quarter of the Game In His Own Red Zone, one that the Bengals couldn’t Capitalize On. Tight End Isaiah Likely suffered The Next Fumble. This one directly cost the Ravens A Touchdown as Likely had The Ball Knocked Out Before Breaking The End Zone plane. Lamar Started The Game Pretty strong As A Passer Before Ultimately Tailing Off and finishing -0.73 Per Pass Play, 17/32, 246 Passing Yards, One Interception, and 65.4 Passer Rating. Lamar Played A Little Too Aggressive Downfield, Just 1/6 On Passes Of 20 Or More Air Yards Downfield, and That’s Where the Ravens Died In This Game On Turnovers And Hunting Knockout Blows. Facing One Of The league’s worst defenses, I Suspect The Ravens Believed The Bengals Would Just roll over and surrender. The Bengals Really Didn’t Get Much from The Early streak of Ravens’ turnovers in the Game. However, The Bengals' Defense Played Feisty, Generating 21 Pressures and Three Sacks Of Lamar. Without The Team’s Top Edge Rushers, Joseph Ossai came Away With Two Sacks. Joe Burrow, In His First Game, week two, 24/46 for 261 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, including a Nice Dime in the End Zone To Tight End Tyler Hudson, on 50 drop-backs and 83.7 Passer Rating As The Bengals Put His Arm To Work. Jamar Chase, The Ravens Killer, 7 Catches For 110 Receiving Yards In the Win. The Division Win Won’t Save The Bengals Season at 4-8, They Needed That Chicago’ Or Patriots Game To Make The Season Interesting. Cincinnati still has one of the most mismanaged rosters in football, and an offseason reshaping looks necessary to avoid another Loss Season. The Ravens missed a chance to Rise In The division ranking. Baltimore would’ve cleared Pittsburgh With A Win and A Loss By The Steelers, Who Face The Chargers on Sunday. The Ravens' Defensive Effort Improves Over The Stretch Of Games Without Lamar—Remember They Were One Of The League’s Worst Defenses—And The Thought Existed That Once Lamar Returned, The Ravens Offense Would Regroup and The Team Would Ascend To Their Preseason Super Bowl Winning Expectations, and So Far Baltimore Haven’t Risen To That Level Thus Far.
The NFL Really Cooked With This Thanksgiving Schedule, Or At least Events Played, Or The Script Fell In Place For A Few Brilliant Games. The Chiefs and The Ravens Entered Thanksgiving at 6-5, needing every win in the future to Pull Themselves Away from the Field in Their Respective Playoff Pictures, And Left 6-6 in a Precarious Spot With Five Weeks Left In The Season.
Packers Vs Lions
The Packers Roll Past The Lions 31-24 In A Playoff-Level NFC North Contest. Both Teams Needed. Matchups and Tendencies Don’t Control Every Football Game. Still, The Lions' Affinity For Man Coverage Played A Role In Jordan Love Beating The Lions' Secondary On Multiple Bucket Like Throws With Four Throws Of 20 Air Yards in The Game. A welcome Shift From A Guy Generally Reliant On Yards After catch Most Of This Season, Found His Wings downfield. Jordan Love Finished 18/30 For 234 Passing Yards, Passed Four Touchdowns, Including a 51 Yarder To Christian Watson and another 22 Yard Pass To Dontayvion Wicks. The Packers Lack Elite Receiver Talent, Which Explains Why Green Bay doesn’t Generate Consistent Big Plays, But Have Equally Capable Receivers Across The Board Who Can Spread Out Defense Without Depth At Corners. For the Lions, the Green Bay Push Really Disrupted Goff With Pressures And Sacks, 13 total pressures and Four Sacks On 31 drop-backs. Goff lost His Top Receiver Amon Ra St Brown Early In The Game, and the Lions entered the Game Without top Tight End Sam Laporta. Goff Finished 20/26 For 257 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, and A 133.0 Passer Rating. Without St. Brown, Jameson Williams Stepped Up with 145 Receiving Yards On Seven Catches, 87 Yards After The Catch. Even With Those Big numbers, Love’s Conservative Play Style, 0 Attempts Over 20 Air Yards, Restricts The Lions From Maximizing Williams.
As a deep Threat. Over The Pass, Three Games, Goff Ranks Just Above Dilon Gabriel In Deep Pass Attempts Per Game. Goff’s Reclamation With The Lions Moving Over The Rams Became A Celebratory Narrative For The Lions, But More and More We Witness Why Goff and Sean MvJahmyr Gibbs Couldn’t Bail The Lions Out Of A Slow Start. He Finished With 68 Yards On The Ground On 20 Carries. Facing a 10 Point Deficit In The Third, the Lions ran Their Standard Offense, but Without Those Quick Hitters From Jahmyr Gibbs, The Offense Exhausted A lot Of Time Before Handing The Ball Back to A Still Hot Jordan Love. Dontayvion Wicks 94 receiving on 6 Catches, One Touchdown, and Christian Watson 80 receiving, On Four Catches And One Touchdown. Jordan Love's inconsistency continues to leave doubt among fans, even after a standout performance like this one. However, he reminds me a lot of Eli Manning, who can get on a hot streak and appear unstoppable for a period of time. This potential makes the Packers a dangerous team in the playoffs. The Lions drop to 7-6, far off the pace they set last year when they finished with the best record in the NFC.
Cowboys Vs Chiefs
The Cowboys Shake Off An Early Dak Prescott Interception and Four Touchdowns For Patrick Mahomes To Knock Off The Chiefs 31-28. If you’re the Chiefs, This Game played Out Nearly as Well As You Could Have Imagined For A Game Plan. Kansas City Got A Lead and Kept The Game Close As The Run Game Contributed, 5.3 Yards Per Carry, Five Explosive Pass Plays, +0.30 On Pass Plays, +0.240 On 60 Plays. The Chiefs finished 5-16 On Third Down, and when You Play To Shorten The Game, Keeping Drives Alive makes the difference. The Chiefs suffered A Stretch Of offensive ineptitude Between The Second and third Quarter When They Punted Four Straight Drives. Five of the Chiefs' Nine Drives Ended In Punts. The Other Drives Ended In Touchdowns. Sacks and Prove The Difference On Those Drives as The Cowboys Registered 29 Pressures And Three Sacks as Dallas’s Defense Consistently Straddled KC’s Momentum Throughout The Game. Outside of the Pressure Numbers, Mahomes was 23/34 for 261 Passing Yards, 4 Touchdowns, and a Passer Rating of 129.7. So the Cowboys' Defense Won’t Get Credited With a Big Game, but not Getting Eviscerated By Patrick Mahomes on A Thursday Night matters. Beyond An Early Interception, the Cowboys' Offense Played Like The Number One Offense In Football. Dak Leads The Cowboys To 458 Total Yards Of Offense, 7.0 Yards Per Play, +0.247 EPA Per Play, 41.6 Yards Per Drive. In The Pass Game, Dak Lit into The Chiefs’ Defense 27/38 For 320 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns, One Pick 186 Passing Yards On Explosive Plays Show casing His Accuracy and Touch All Across The Field. Ceedee Lamb matched up with Chiefs Star Corner Trent McDuffie and Cooked Him, four Catches For 44 Yards And Three Penalties Forced For 50 Yards. In McDuffie, Ceedee Bounced Back From His Drops Against The Eagles, 7 Catches For 112 Receiving Yards. The Chiefs Suffered A lot of Penalties, 10 for 119, A Few Holding Calls Because Of The Packers' Pass Rush, which helped negate potential Field Goal Drives. The Cowboys Improved Their Road To The Playoffs With The Win, But They Probably Have To Win Out because Both The NFC West and North Have Three Teams With Winning Records.
Bengals Vs Ravens
Joe Burrow Returned To the Bengals Following A Toe Injury That had Sidelined Him Since September To Face A Division Rival and Help Lead The Bengals To A 32-14 Upset of the Ravens as the Cincy Defense Forces Five Turnovers Of Lamar Jackson And The Ravens' Offense. The Ravens started The Season 1-5, one of the most shocking Developments Of The Early Season. They had Won Five Straight games, LAnding In At 6-5, putting Baltimore in a Fighting Position In The Division. Lamar Jackson Returned to Lineup, He Lead The NFL In Passer Rating (130.5) Before His Injury, Deliver Four Of The Fives Games Into The Ravens Win Streak but The Offense has Ranked 18th In EPA Per Play (-0.037), Against The Bengals defense Jackson Look To Get Back on Track and Early with Seven Play 69 Yard Drive cashed In By a 28 Yard Derrick Henry Run And A 7-3 Ravens Lead. Lamar Produced A 17 Yard Pass Play and an 11-yard run, and No Signs Of Issues With The Offense. The Ravens Were Hitting Their Stride Before The Offensive Situation Turned Doom And Gloom, as the Ravens' Offense suffered six Straight Drives With No Points, Including Three fumbles and Three Punts. Lamar’s rushing Ability Would Betray him As He Suffered Two Fumbles, One In the First quarter of the Game In His Own Red Zone, one that the Bengals couldn’t Capitalize On. Tight End Isaiah Likely suffered The Next Fumble. This one directly cost the Ravens A Touchdown as Likely had The Ball Knocked Out Before Breaking The End Zone plane. Lamar Started The Game Pretty strong As A Passer Before Ultimately Tailing Off and finishing -0.73 Per Pass Play, 17/32, 246 Passing Yards, One Interception, and 65.4 Passer Rating. Lamar Played A Little Too Aggressive Downfield, Just 1/6 On Passes Of 20 Or More Air Yards Downfield, and That’s Where the Ravens Died In This Game On Turnovers And Hunting Knockout Blows. Facing One Of The league’s worst defenses, I Suspect The Ravens Believed The Bengals Would Just roll over and Surrender. The Bengals Really Didn’t Get Much from The Early streak of Ravens’ turnovers in the Game. However, The Bengals' Defense Played Feisty, Generating 21 Pressures and Three Sacks Of Lamar. Without The Team’s Top Edge Rushers, Joseph Ossai came Away With Two Sacks. Joe Burrow, In His First Game, week two, 24/46 for 261 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, including a Nice Dime in The End Zone To Tight End Tyler Hudson, on 50 drop-backs and 83.7 Passer Rating As The Bengals Put His Arm To Work. Jamar Chase, The Ravens Killer, 7 Catches For 110 Receiving Yards In the Win. The Division Win Won’t Save The Bengals Season at 4-8, They Needed That Chicago’ Or Patriots Game To Make The Season Interesting. Cincy also remains One Of The Most Mismanaged Rosters in Football, and The Offseason Reshaping Looks In Order. The Ravens drop The Ball On A Chance To Push Further Up The Division Ranking. Baltimore would’ve cleared Pittsburgh With A Win and A Loss By The Steelers, Who Face The Chargers on Sunday. The Ravens' Defensive Effort Improves Over The stretch Of Games Without Lamar—Remember They Were One Of The League’s Worst Defenses—And The Thought Existed That Once Lamar Returned, The Ravens Offense Would Regroup and The Team Would Ascend To Their Preseason Super Bowl Winning Expectations, and So Far Baltimore Haven’t Risen To That Level Thus Far.
