NFL Week 14 Previews.

NFL Week 14 Previews

At First Glance, I Thought The Week 14 Slate Of Games was Weak, Considering The Playoff Implication Packed into Every Game This Late In The Season. Saved Only By The Bears, Packers, A Seismic Thursday Night Game Between The Lions and Cowboys, and A Monday Night Matinee. Maybe You Care About What Happens Up In The AFC North in that Snooze Fest Division, Or The South, where you can't trust the Jags Or The Texans, but you don't look Away From The Colts' Implosion. A Few Teams In No Man’s Land, Like The Dolphins, Winners Of Three Straight Games, and The Helthier and Always Dangerous To Trepass Bengals Remain alive for The Playoffs, But Dont Have Playoff Caliber Aura. The Dolphins have stumbled into a couple of wins in recent weeks without trying. The Saints and Commanders both Choose To preserve their top-five draft Odds, pushing the Dolphins outside. The Bengals Remain in Play In The AFC North If They Can Upset the Bills. With The Two Teams In Front Of Cincy in the Division, One Way or the Other, Will Tumble.

Eagles Vs Chargers

Justin Herbert Started His Week 13 Contest Against The Raiders 7/7 before He Threw A Second Quarter Red Zone Interception In The Chargers' 31-14 Thorough Wiping Of The Floor With The Raiders. Herbert Ended his Week 13 Contest 15/20, 151 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns One Pick and A Passer Rating of 108.5, And Left With A Hand Injury Which Resulted In Hand Surgery. Herbert Needs Doctor Clearance To Play As The

The Chargers need to win every game while playing keep away with their Wild Card spot in the AFC, with the Texans surging and the Chiefs still in contention. The Chargers' Next Contest won't Feature A Team In The Same Caliber as the Raiders, But An Offense That Has Played Very Raider-like in Recent Weeks. On Black Friday, AJ brown Registered two touchdowns, and the Eagles' Defense Held the Bears' Quarterback Caleb Williams To A -0.23 EPA Per Pass Play, 56.9 Passer Rating, 47.2% Completion Percentage, and 3.8 net yards per pass attempt. Usually, Numbers Of That Variety constitute an Eagles Win. However, Chicago's offense was dominant against the Eagles, averaging +0.21 yards per rush. Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift, two less-than-elite backs, totaled 255 yards and two scores on 40 carries, 6.3 yards per Carry. The Eagles' Offense Suffered Two Turnovers, Including A Fumbled “Tush Push,” and Consistently Failed to Sustain Drives, 33% on third-down conversion. As Passer This Season, Jalen Hurts Has Faced Third and Long (7 Or More Yards To Go) 53 Times With Some Success On 3rd and Ten Plus 118.8 On Such Drop-backs. The Chargers' Defense Ranks 4th in third-down conversion Percentage, Against The Pass 35.8% Success Rate, -0.2 EPA Per Drop, and 16 Sacks On Passing Third Downs. Overall, the Chargers' Defense Ranks 9th Overall, 4th In Pressure Rate, and 34.42% generated. Jalen Hurts' 54.2 Passer Rating When Under Pressure this Season. If Trey Lance Steps in for Lance, he’ll Face An Eagles’ defense Fresh Off Of Strapping Up Caleb Williams, But One That Dak PRESCOTT carved The Week Prior In Week 12. Lance’s Play Style Steers Closer To That Of Caleb Williams Than that Of Prescott and Herbert. The Statistical Differences between a Starter and A Backup -12.6% in Win percentage points and -4.7 points Per Game. An injured player Also Poses A Threat To The Chargers' Success In Week 14 and Beyond. Without Much Of An ARun Game For Much of The Season, The Eagles Have This Season Switched To A Heavier Pass-Influenced Operation With The Eight-Highest Pass Rate On A Positive Script( 46%) With Jalen Hurts At Quarterback, A Boom OR Bust Passer. The Eagles have one of the weakest second-half and fourth-quarter offenses in football. However, they play at a slower pace, which limits scoring opportunities for both themselves and their opponents. This strategy increases the likelihood of tighter finishes at the end of games. The Chargers Offense Rushed For 191 Yards, 4.4 A Rush +0.05 EPA Per Rush against the Raiders, a Top Five Run Defense On The Season( 3.79 Yards Per Carry Allowed, -0.09 EPA Allowed Per Rush). The Chargers Can Run The Ball, Control The Clock, And Force Philly To Lean More Into Their Passing. The Chargers Should Escape With The Upset.

Bengals Vs Bills

The Bengals Look Entertaining Again For The Third Time This Season. The Bengals Started The Season As A Team To Watch With Two Wins, Then Joe Burrow Got Injured. Jake Browning Took Over and nearly burned the Season to a Ground Before Joe Flacco Came In On Short Notice and Caught Fire as He Finished Three straight Of His Six Starts With A Passer Rating Over 100 and 200 Yards Or Better. Flacco stands Single-handedly Responsible For Bengals’ Jamar Chase’s Ranking Second Place In Receptions and Fourth In receiving Yards. The Bills' Offense Has Hit A Stride Over The Past Few Weeks, Excluding The Texans Game, Because Every Offense Struggles Against The Texans. Buffalo Has Generated Positive EPA Per Plays In Both Matchups Against the Bucs and The Steelers, +0.266 And +0.100, Respectively, And +0.056 Over The Past Three Games. The Bengals Enters Week Not Only No Longer The Representative Of The Worse Defense In Football By Hot For A Change, Since Week 11 The Bengals Rank 17th In EpA Per Play Allowed (-0.033) Not Great But Remember They Ranked Dead Last at One Point(Still Dead Overall For The Season) and Their Run Defense Ranks 12th In Success Rate Allowed Without Top Edge Rusher Trey Hendrickson in The Lineup. The Josh Allen Offense Comes In Off of an effective But Less Spectacular Game against The Steelers +0.343 EPA per play, +0.246 EPA Per Dropback, 15/23 (65.2%), 123 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT but The Bills Offense Didn’t Allen To Wi With his Arm When The Run Game and James Cooks Go Off for +0.06, 241 Rushing Yards, 8 Explosive Runs, 137 Yards For Cooks. The Bengals have produced some Success Against The Run In Recent Weeks, but still Surrender 150.6 Per Game On The Season, and Outside Of The Fumbles, Derrick Henry Ran For 60 Yards On Ten Carries with No Negative Runs and one 28 Yard Rush. The Bills Stay With The Run In This Game and Help Bolster Their Ball Control Play Style Over a Dangerous Team? The Bills' Defense Remains Famously Bad against The Run 137.3 Rushing A Game but Excellent Against The Pass, 163.2 Yards Per Game Allowed. With Joe Burrow, Without Joe Burrow, The Bengals Want To Pass The Ball +2.44 Pass Rate Over Expected. Plus and Second Star Receiver Tee Higgins Returns From Injury, So the Bengals' recent Success in Rushing( fifth in EPA Per Rush Since Week 8 +0.051) May Become a Thought in a Must-Win Game for Cincinnati, Whose Offense Wants the Ball in Joe Burrow.

Bears Vs Packers

So What Makes The

9-3 A Good Team Or A Team Worthy To Sit At The Top of the NFC Standing. Outside of forcing Turnovers, which bears the league, Nothing about Chicago’s Profile Stands Out As Dominant. The Broncos are Flawed, But The Defense Keeps Them in Games, and The Quarterback Plays Unflappable. The Rams Quarterback Played So Well that he started getting Bored and played recklessly. Bears' Defense ranks 29th in points Per Drive on Drives That don’t End In An Interception or Fumble and 20th in turnover Rate. The Bears’ run Game Shocked The Eagles, Rushing For Nearly 300 yards Before The Eagles' Performances. The Bears ranked 8th in EPA Per Rush With A Negative EPA (-0.027) in Weeks 1-12. The Packers' Defense Shut Down The Lions' Rushing Attack, which features One Of The Best Backs In Football and Another Back Who Could Bookend Any Other Offense In football. The Packers' Defense Has The Speed To Roam To Cover Outside Runs that the Eagles failed To Cover In Week 13. If the Bears' Hopes To Maintain As The Top Dog In The Conference and Division Rest On Caleb Williams' Shoulders, Can He Deliver Against This Green Bay Pass Defense? Jordan Love Struggles Against Zone Coverage 92.5 Passer Rating On the Season, But Against Man Coverage Versus the Lions, Love finished with A 106.9 Passer Rating, and 138.2 Passer Rating Against Detroit’s Zone. The Bears Have Gotten Healthier In The Secondary With Jaylon Johnson and Tyler Gordon Back, and They Need all The Coverage Personnel. Love Finished With four touchdown passes on 18/30, 2/ 2 In The Red Zone, 234 Passing Yards, a 124.2 Passer rating, seven Completions Of 15 Or More air yards, Two Of Them were Touchdowns. Can Chicago Count On Caleb Williams To Out-duel Jordan Love With The Division On The Line?

Jags Vs Colts

In Week 13, the Jaguars Clobbered The Titans 25-3. Not That Beating The Titans served as A Statement victory, But For The Jags Winning By Three Scores Against One Of The worst teams In Football. With The Jags, You Have To Aim At The Low End And Not The Median. When The Jags Played Bad Teams, So The Blowout Win Serves As A Step In The Right Direction For The 8-4 Jags, Who Have Looked Like the Worse Team With a Winning Record In The Sport. The Battle For The South Commences As The Jags Face The Colts, Who Once Sat Unchallenged at the top of the AFC South at 7-1. They have lost two straight, Coming Off Losses To Houston and the Chiefs, and Now Sit 8-4. Their Once Powerful and feared offense scuffed

At just 36 Points Scored, -0.027 EPA Per Play, and A 38.5% Success Rate, and The Game, The Engine Of The Offense, -0.262 EPA Per Rush Over Those Two Games. Jonathan Taylor, an MVP Candidate, 37 Rushing Attempts for 143 yards, 3.9-yard-per-carry against The Texans Run Defense, 10th In Yards Per Rush, and The Chiefs, 19th In Yards Per Rush. Both Defenses Kept Taylor From Breaking Off a Big Gain. Just Four Explosive Runs, No Breakaway Runs against Either Defense, and the Volts, Who Run A Practically Back System, have the fifth-highest stuff Rate Over The Last Five Weeks (21.23%). With More Onus On the Passing Offense to Generate Points, Daniel Jones Hasn’t Crumbled, But He Hasn’t Risen To The Occasion. Both the Texans and Colts played a fair amount of man coverage, and Daniel Jones struggles against man defense, with an 84.1 passer rating versus man, ranking 21st in the league, compared to his second-highest rating against zone defenses, which is 100 and a passer rating of 116. When the Texans played zone, A passer Rating Of 71 When Facing Man Coverage. The Jags Defense Ranks Fifth In EPA Per Play, and Eighth According To ESPN Efficiency. The Unit Doesn't Turn Teams Over At The Highest Rate In League anymore, and Rank 21st In Third Down Conversion Allowed. Even Worse in Man Coverage, the Jaguars’ Defense allows Passers to Generate A 110.3 Passer Rating. On Offense for the Jags, Quarterback Trevor Lawrence Registered His First Passer Rating Over 100 since October of 2024 against the Packers. The Jags' Passing Game Needs Lawrence to Play More Than A complementary role On Offense. The Colts Defense Held Mahomes and Lawrence To Sub-80 Passer Ratings(the Same For Four Of The Last Five Passers They’ve Faced) While Not Surrendering A Touchdown To Either. Stroud and Mahomes Generated A positive dropback EPA (0.20 and 0.149), and That Reflects that the Offense has started To Attack The Colts downfield, 10.9 Average Depth Of Target Over The Last Three Weeks, CJ Stroud 12.7 and 12.6 Per Completion.

Saints vs Buccaneers

The Saints have functioned as the thought of most contests they play in, now and for the rest of this season, with a 2-10 record. Facing The Bucs In week 20, The Media Speculates When The Bucs Will Get Healthy, When Did The Baker Mayfield Magic Evaporate, and Will The Run Game Wake Up For Tampa? The Saints Quietly Have A top-five pass Defense. Since Week 10, the Saints Rank Second in EPA Per Dropback and EPA Per Play. Yes, Second Overall Despite A Roster flushed With Players The Average Fan Wouldn’t recognize and A Team Whose Biggest Headline surrounds benching their 24-year-old second-fifth-year quarterback For A 25-year-old rookie second-round quarterback, the Saints' Defense Has Come a Long way. The Saints' Pass Rush Ranks 10th in Pressure Rate over the past three Weeks, 33.3%, 68 Passer rating Allowed In That Span, and the Saints Completely Wreaked Havoc On Tua and the Dolphins. In A 21-17 loss to Miami, the Saints' Defense Held Tua To A 53.8 Passer Rating, 50% Completions, -0.32 EPA Per Play, 18 Pressures, and Four Sacks, 12/23 for 157 Passing Yards. The Buccaneers have a better offense than the Dolphins, right? Actually, that’s not the case. Since Week 10, Miami ranks 11th in EPA (Expected Points Added) per play, while the Buccaneers rank 20th. This means Tampa cannot underestimate this matchup, as some fans might assume. The Buccaneers need to bring their A-game—something they failed to do against Arizona, where they recorded -0.02 EPA per pass play, 201 passing yards, and a passer rating of 97.1 for Baker Mayfield. The Bucs received an outstanding performance from wide receiver Chris Godwin, who had three catches for 78 yards, and Bucky Irving, who had 17 carries for 61 yards. This is not considered next-level production based on Irving's performance from last season.

The Saints' Defense Got Rollled On The Ground By Miami Back Devon Achane 134 yards on 22 carries, 11 Rushes Of Five Or More Yards. The Saints Offense Still Lags, but Tyler Shough Has Delivered Steady Production In The Pass Game With Three Straight Games Of 239 Yards Or And Completion Percentages At Or ABOVE 68% Delivering Four Touchdowns and Two Picks In That Span. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Defense Has Fallen To 21st In The League. Surrendering Six Touchdowns To Josh Allen One Week and 300 Passing Yards, 100.0 Passer Rating, 72.5% Completion Percentage, +0.13 EPA Per Play. The Bucs' Pass Defense Has Surrendered 11.9 Yards Per Completion Over The Past Three Games and Seventh In Adjusted Air Yards Per Attempt. The Bucs Have Veered Into Dangerous Territory With Their Recent Decline In Play Quality On Both Ends Of The Ball. The Ingredients Remain In Place For A Super Bowl Contender, But The Cohesion Of Program and Production Has Worsened. The Saints Have Nothing To Gain By Winning, But The Opportunity To Play Spoiler For A Division Rival And A Heated Divisional Rival May Prove Too Enticing To Turn Away.