Terrion Arnold added to injury report with groin issue, logged limited practice
Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold was added to the team’s injury report Thursday with a groin injury.
The good news is Arnold did not miss practice because of the injury. He was listed as a limited participant. We’ll certainly know more Friday but this doesn’t sound like a huge concern.
Another piece of good news: no Lions player on the active roster missed practice Thursday. Arnold was the only one who wasn’t a full participant. That’s a very good sign going into Week 12.
That group includes tight end Sam LaPorta, who missed Sunday’s win over the Jaguars with a shoulder injury. He logged a full practice Thursday, meaning he is trending to playing Sunday against the Colts.
Want to watch the Lions vs. Colts battle in person in Week 12? Tickets start as low as $240.
The Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts feature in a cross-conference NFL clash in Week 12, one that still weighs heavily for both sides.
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to check it out live.
The Lions (9-1) are fresh off a blowout victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars to tune of a 52-6 final. While Detroit only has a lone blemish on their record in 2024, the Lions still sit on top of the tight NFC North standings by just one game (Minnesota Vikings). Detroit wants to keep on rolling.
On the flip side, the Colts (5-6) just went back to quarterback Anthony Richardson and the spark he provided snapped a three-game losing skid. Indy beat the New York Jets in a late 28-27 contest in Week 11.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lions vs. Colts tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1101l3wQsP/pubref:SMGNFLLionsvsColts112424/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Findianapolis-colts-indianapolis-tickets-11-24-2024%2Fevent%2F153075033%2F”]
The game kicks off on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 1:00 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.
While there is still time left for both sides in the 2024 NFL season, this contest will factor into the way both feature in the NFC and AFC postseason pictures, respectively.
The Lions want to keep their divisional lead and potentially land home-field advantage, meanwhile, the Colts are in a packed AFC conference on the outside looking in.
Want to watch the Lions vs. Colts battle in person in Week 12? Tickets start as low as $240.
The Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts feature in a cross-conference NFL clash in Week 12, one that still weighs heavily for both sides.
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to check it out live.
The Lions (9-1) are fresh off a blowout victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars to tune of a 52-6 final. While Detroit only has a lone blemish on their record in 2024, the Lions still sit on top of the tight NFC North standings by just one game (Minnesota Vikings). Detroit wants to keep on rolling.
On the flip side, the Colts (5-6) just went back to quarterback Anthony Richardson and the spark he provided snapped a three-game losing skid. Indy beat the New York Jets in a late 28-27 contest in Week 11.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lions vs. Colts tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1101l3wQsP/pubref:SMGNFLLionsvsColts112424/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Findianapolis-colts-indianapolis-tickets-11-24-2024%2Fevent%2F153075033%2F”]
The game kicks off on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 1:00 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.
While there is still time left for both sides in the 2024 NFL season, this contest will factor into the way both feature in the NFC and AFC postseason pictures, respectively.
The Lions want to keep their divisional lead and potentially land home-field advantage, meanwhile, the Colts are in a packed AFC conference on the outside looking in.
Want to watch the Lions vs. Colts battle in person in Week 12? Tickets start as low as $240.
The Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts feature in a cross-conference NFL clash in Week 12, one that still weighs heavily for both sides.
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to check it out live.
The Lions (9-1) are fresh off a blowout victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars to tune of a 52-6 final. While Detroit only has a lone blemish on their record in 2024, the Lions still sit on top of the tight NFC North standings by just one game (Minnesota Vikings). Detroit wants to keep on rolling.
On the flip side, the Colts (5-6) just went back to quarterback Anthony Richardson and the spark he provided snapped a three-game losing skid. Indy beat the New York Jets in a late 28-27 contest in Week 11.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lions vs. Colts tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1101l3wQsP/pubref:SMGNFLLionsvsColts112424/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Findianapolis-colts-indianapolis-tickets-11-24-2024%2Fevent%2F153075033%2F”]
The game kicks off on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 1:00 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.
While there is still time left for both sides in the 2024 NFL season, this contest will factor into the way both feature in the NFC and AFC postseason pictures, respectively.
The Lions want to keep their divisional lead and potentially land home-field advantage, meanwhile, the Colts are in a packed AFC conference on the outside looking in.
Golden Tate believes the Seahawks can ‘shock the world’
It is simply amazing the world of difference even a single win can mean in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks likely saved their season from going under with their 20-17 upset win over the San Francisco 49ers. It may only be a single win, but it was the difference between falling to 4-6 or improving to 5-5, which puts them right back in the middle of the NFC West hunt.
Folks around the league are noticing it, such as former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate. On Good Morning Football, Tate explained how this team can potentially “shock the world” given the opportunity presented to them in the near future.
Namely, the Arizona Cardinals, who Seattle faces twice in the next three weeks. Including this weekend, for a crucial divisional showdown.
When Tate says the next few weeks could “make or break” the Seahawks’ season, he is not exaggerating. Arizona is the only team in the NFC West with a winning record, but they are only 6-4. Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco are all close behind with identical 5-5 records. In fact, the NFC West is the only division in football where not one team is below .500 on the year.
Facing the Cardinals twice in a three-week span is a tall order, but an excellent opportunity to potentially find a way to get back into first place.
Right now, the NFC Playoff picture looks like the North is going to send three teams to the postseason – Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota. In the East, the Eagles look back to their usual winning ways, but the Washington Commanders are perhaps the shock team of the conference. Should all those teams qualify for the playoffs, then the only path for a West team to get in the dance would be to win the division outright.
So, why not Seattle? Like Showtime Tate said, it’s make or break time.
Breaking down the game film and scouting report on new Lions LB David Long, signed to the practice squad to help replace Alex Anzalone
Despite demolishing the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the Detroit Lions did receive some bad news regarding linebacker Alex Anzalone. It was confirmed yesterday that Anzalone will miss the remainder of the regular season with a broken forearm.
The injury occurred while Anzalone was making a tackle on Jaguars running back Travis Etienne with 2:32 left in the second quarter. As Etienne was getting near the sidelines, his left arm got caught between the running back and his teammate Brian Branch.
Fortunately, it does sound like Anzalone could return for the playoffs as he’s expected to only miss 6 – 8 weeks. To fill the void, the Lions will need players such as Malcolm Rodriguez and Jack Campbell to step up for the defense. In addition to that, the Lions signed linebacker David Long to their practice squad.
Rated as one of the best linebackers in football in 2023, Long being available was somewhat surprising last week. However, Long had lost his starting job on the Dolphins defense and he ended up being released on November 13, 2024.
Prior to playing a season and a half with the Dolphins, he had spent four seasons with the Tennessee Titans. Originally, he was drafted by the Titans in the 6th round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of West Virginia. Let’s dive into some film to see what the Lions are getting with linebacker David Long!
LB 11 David Long appears to be effective when blitzing. Would have to think the Lions envision some type of role like that for him on their defense. #OnePridepic.twitter.com/M5OFN5vD8S
Starting with where I think Long could be best suited for Detroit and that would be whenever blitzing. As we know, the Lions have had to get creative in generating pressure with the loss of Aidan Hutchinson. Using different blitzes and line stunts, the Lions could get creative to get Long in the backfield.
Looking at the play above, you can see a clear blitz from Long (LB 11). He times the snap well and blitzes through the B-gap. In the process, he slips under the right tackle, who is trying to pull and kick him out. However, Long does a great job ripping underneath and making a tackle in the backfield.
Through the first four weeks of the season, Long was ranked 3rd in PFF’s tackle-for-loss rate database. In 65 run-defense snaps, he had earned a 6.15% tackle-for-loss rate. The hope for Detroit is that they can tap into some of what he was doing so well to start the season.
Staying with Long’s performance against the Bills from earlier this season, we go to my favorite play from him on tape. Through the four games that I watched, there were certainly some head scratching reads and plays from Long. However, the play above is a perfect example of Long playing with conviction and violence.
Looking at the play above, Long (LB 11) is aligned in a ’10’ (between guard and center) and he makes a great read. As he begins to trigger downhill, he’s met by Bills LT 73 Dion Dawkins. Rather than waiting for Dawkins to get square and seal him off, Long shocks and sheds the blocker.
As he creates separation, he’s able to see on either side of the blocker. Once he sees the running back make his cut, he slips underneath and makes a terrific tackle at the hole. This was textbook from Long, and the hope is the Lions can get him back to playing like that.
I think he just needs to trust his ability and remain patient.
Clip 1 vs Arizona: In great position but he plays too fast into the cutback lane and the RB is able run through his arm tackle.
While the previous play was a great highlight, I do want to reiterate that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows when watching Long play. There are times that he looks hesitant, plays too slow or too fast or he simply just makes the wrong read.
When you’re a younger player, you can get away with that. However, when you’re a 6-year veteran and ranked as one of the top run defenders in the league over a period of time, it’s hard to justify bad performances when they stack up. That happens to be the case for David Long.
For example, when you look at the two clips posted above, we’ll start with the first one against Arizona. Long reads the zone blocks being executed by the Cardinals offensive line but as the play continues, he gets impatient and gets burned. Assuming that the running back is going to cut back, Long would have looked like a stud.
Instead, he looks somewhat foolish for trying to get around 3 players. He then goes for the tackle but instead of a good form tackle, he arm tackles and the running back continues up field from there.
Lastly, the second clip is against Jacksonville. Aligned in a ’20’ (head up over the guard), you can see Long’s initial steps go to his right. Much of that is due to him falling for the “eye candy” that is the pulling right guard. Fortunately, he recovers nicely due to his ability to change direction, get over the top and meet the running back in the C-gap.
So as you can see, there’s some pretty good play from Long and then there’s some head scratching plays. That tends to be the case for any player who ends up getting released during the middle of the season.
Early in the year against the Jaguars and Bills, it’s evident that Long was playing like his old self. However, he suffered a hamstring injury against the Seattle Seahawks in week 3 and he hasn’t looked right ever since. That could be causing him to play with that hesitation or that could be why he just looks slow on tape at times.
Fortunately, Long comes to a place like Detroit where they just get the best out of their players. They made it work with Charles Harris for two years. Defensive lineman John Cominsky looked like he was on his way out of the league but he’s been with the Lions for three seasons. It’s just how this team is coached and you better believe that David Long will be held to a high standard.
The Lions play the Indianapolis Colts this week and then have a quick turnaround to play the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving. If I had to guess, it’s unlikely that we’ll see Long play for the Lions during those two games. However, we could see him suit up against the Green Bay Packers in three weeks or potentially the Buffalo Bills the game after that. Regardless, it’ll take some time for him to get adjusted to the Lions defensive scheme.
While the Lions continue to battle through injuries on defense, they still push forward to the best record in the NFL and NFC. By adding David Long, the Lions could certainly use him for that late season push.
A former Spartan spotted in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams’ touchdown celebration on Sunday
The Detroit Lions absolutely drubbed the Jacksonville Jaguars inside of Ford Field on Sunday afternoon. A good day for those Lions fans in the Spartans fan base. It was also a good day for a noted Michigan State alumnus.
During a celebratory leap into the stands by Lions wide receivers Amon Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, they were seen jumping into the seats of a former Spartan and Detroit Red Wing, Justin Abdelkader.
Abdelkader is known as a Stanley Cup winner with the Red Wings, while winning a National Championship at MSU.
The Jaguars exhausted most of their resources in their 52-6 loss to the Lions in Week 11, deploying all but two players, backup quarterback C.J. Beathard and practice squad call-up wide receiver Velus Jones Jr., amid the bludgeoning.
Find Jacksonville’s team-wide snap counts and playing time splits against Detroit below.
Jaguars offense
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – NOVEMBER 17: Mac Jones #10 of the Jacksonville Jaguars throws a pass in the second quarter of a game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on November 17, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
OL Anton Harrison: 48 (100%)
OT Walker Little: 48 (100%)
OG Brandon Scherff: 48 (100%)
QB Mac Jones: 48 (100%)
OG Ezra Cleveland: 47 (98%)
WR Brian Thomas Jr.: 45 (94%)
C Mitch Morse: 39 (81%)
TE Evan Engram: 36 (75%)
RB Travis Etienne Jr.: 36 (75%)
WR Parker Washington: 28 (58%)
WR Gabe Davis: 26 (54%)
TE Brenton Strange: 24 (50%)
WR Devin Duvernay: 14 (29%)
TE Luke Farrell:14 (29%)
RB D’Ernest Johnson: 13 (27%)
C Luke Fortner: 9 (19%)
WR Tim Jones: 4 (8%)
OG Blake Hance: 1 (2%)
Jaguars defense
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – NOVEMBER 17: David Montgomery #5 of the Detroit Lions runs the ball for a touchdown in the second quarter of a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Ford Field on November 17, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
S Darnell Savage Jr.: 78 (99%)
LB Devin Lloyd: 71 (90%)
CB Tyson Campbell: 71 (90%)
LB Foysesade Oluokun: 65 (82%)
DE Travon Walker: 57 (72%)
S Andre Cisco: 52 (66%)
CB Jarrian Jones: 49 (62%)
CB Ronald Darby: 47 (59%)
DT Jeremiah Ledbetter: 44 (56%)
DT DaVon Hamilton: 43 (54%)
DE Josh Hines-Allen: 43 (54%)
CB Montaric Brown: 40 (51%)
LB Ventrell Miller: 37 (47%)
DT Tyler Lacy: 36 (46%)
DT Jordan Jefferson: 35 (44%)
DE Arik Armstead: 33 (42%)
S Antonio Johnson: 29 (37%)
DE Myles Cole: 27 (34%)
LB Chad Muma: 12 (15%)
Jaguars special teams
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – NOVEMBER 17: Head coach Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions talks with head coach Doug Pederson of the Jacksonville Jaguars after the Lions defeated the Jaguars, 52-6, at Ford Field on November 17, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
On Thanksgiving Day, the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will resume a rivalry that spans decades. Between them, these two franchises have won nine Super Bowls. They’ve faced each other 124 times, a history that helped convince the NFL to keep Dallas in a division called the NFC East despite whatever offense that may have caused for geography teachers.
The other end of the NFL’s Thanksgiving tradition belongs to the Detroit Lions. The Lions have spent 95 seasons as a pro team. They’ve never been to a Super Bowl. Between 1985 and 2015, while the Cowboys and Giants combined for seven world titles, Detroit won exactly one playoff game.
This has shifted the balance of those Thanksgiving staples. The Lions played the game you could ignore while prepping sides. The Cowboys were for beers and couch-assisted digestion, the game folks at least appeared to care about.
This will not be the case in 2024.
Sources: The New York Giants are expected to replace Daniel Jones with Tommy DeVito as their new starting quarterback. pic.twitter.com/pVLVWVNDBY
This year’s Giants-Cowboys tilt was always going to be moderately underwhelming. Dak Prescott struggled this fall despite signing the league’s richest contract extension last summer. Daniel Jones remained unable to capture the balance that led him to an honest-to-god playoff win in 2022.
2024’s Thanksgiving game won’t feature either. Instead, it will be a showdown between Cooper Rush and Tommy DeVito.
DeVito has thrown for more than 200 yards once in six NFL starts. Rush has been in the league since 2017 and started seven total games. If you take every quarterback to have played at least 98 snaps since 2023, you get a list of 62 players. When it comes to expected points added (EPA) per snap, neither DeVito nor Rush would crack the top 55.
via rbsdm.com and the author
This isn’t merely bad luck. This is the football gods showing us the sport is a zero sum game. The sudden or prolonged spirals of the Cowboys and Giants are a cantilever. They lay the base so the Detroit Lions can soar. And so, we’re getting the NFL’s most explosive offense on Turkey Day, not from CeeDee Lamb or Saquon Barkley (who New York let leave in free agency for a different NFC East rival), but from a Detroit team that’s scored 40 points or more in four of its last seven games.
The Lions are bottled excitement. But to hammer home the DeVito news they needed a worthy opponent. That’s not quite the Chicago Bears, but it *could* be. The Bears sacrificed offensive coordinator Shane Waldron in an effort to revive Caleb Williams’s potential as a franchise quarterback. We’ve only seen one game of what that looks like, but the early returns are positive.
This means the early game could be a shootout between the NFL’s top offense and an electric young passer capable of whipping darts downfield or taking off and jetting past linebackers for big gains. That’s all very important, because the best quarterback on Thanksgiving’s late afternoon game may be this guy:
"it's Cooper Rush time" Cooper Rush whispered quietly to himself before stepping up in the pocket and delivering a perfect strike to the turf two yards in front of his fullback pic.twitter.com/7JX3F5OsL7
Plus, Aaron Rodgers gets outplayed by the NFL’s worst QB, the 49ers window tightens and Bo Nix broke the Falcons.
The Buffalo Bills did what the Buffalo Bills do. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season.
2024 marks the fourth straight year in which the Bills have beaten the Chiefs before the playoffs. As encouraging as these wins have been, none have led to a Super Bowl breakthrough; two of them simply served as window dressing for a Kansas City win in the postseason. Will this January serve more of the same? Or was it the precursor to Buffalo’s inevitable glory?
Chiefs-Bills wasn’t the only gave with major playoff implications played Sunday. The Baltimore Ravens ceded control of the AFC North to the Pittsburgh Steelers, for now. The San Francisco 49ers continued what’s become a troubling slump. And the New York Jets continued to spelunk in a reverse-Sisyphus quest to find rock bottom.
What stood out most from a busy slate? Let’s talk about it.
[Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past couple weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.]
Brad Penner-Imagn Images
1. The New York Jets, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, are cooked
Let’s start with the good news. The Jets scored more than 24 points for the first time this season. They scored more points against the Indianapolis Colts than they had the last two weeks combined. Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes without an interception and led his team back from a 13-0 deficit.
This did not matter. The Jets still lost to the Colts at home, despite their opponent starting the player who’d been the NFL’s least efficient quarterback by a long shot. Rodgers’s offense remained stuck in neutral far too long:
Games with no first down on first four opening drives:
New York Jets: 3 Rest of NFL: 3
Games with no first down on first FIVE opening drives:
A defense that’s been mostly aimless since firing head coach Robert Saleh after Week 5 continued to flounder. Anthony Richardson came into Week 11 having completed just 44.4 percent of his passes. He’d been benched in favor of a nearly 40-year-old Joe Flacco. He’d never before played an NFL game in which he threw at least five passes, completed more than half of them and had a passer rating better than 99.0.
Richardson was a menace through the air and on the ground, where he scored the majority of Indianapolis’s touchdowns. Sunday marked the first time in his career where he’d thrown at least 30 passes and completed two-thirds of them. It was the second time in his career where he’d thrown for at least one touchdown without an interception. This could have been a statement game for interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich’s defense; instead it was further evidence Saleh was the haggard thread keeping everything from unraveling.
The Jets have given up at least 23 points in five of the six games they’ve played without Saleh on the sideline. The 26.2 points per game they’ve allowed in that stretch would rank 26th in the league this winter, right next to the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars. In terms of expected points added (EPA) allowed per snap, no one in the NFL has been worse than Ulbrich’s guys.
via rbsdm.com and the author.
This was not what Rodgers signed up for. His legacy was supposed to be secured by a defense that had finished in the top five in yards allowed the last two seasons. Instead, that group has crumbled despite the presence of stars like Quincy Williams, Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. They were the balm that could soothe his aches on the rough days certain to chase down a soon-to-be 41-year-old man coming off major injury.
Instead, it’s placed the onus of victory right on Rodgers’s shoulders, creating the kind of environment that helped fuel his dissatisfaction in Green Bay. Rodgers played a perfectly fine game. Statistically, his 114.1 passer rating makes this one of the three best performances of his 2024.
On the field, however, it was a much more generic game than we’ve grown accustomed to from a special player:
via nextgenstats.nfl.com
Rodgers had a single completion that went more than 11 yards downfield. He ran the ball just once for seven yards. He robbed us all of the opportunity to watch one of his glorious Hail Marys by taking a sack at the worst possible time.
This is, effectively, who Aaron Rodgers is now. He’s only had two games with more than two passing touchdowns since 2022. His yards per scramble have dropped from 7.8 in his last pre-injury season (2022) to 4.8 this fall. His 3.2 deep balls per game are his lowest since an injury-marred 2017.
Father Time has come for Rodgers’s game. While he’s been able to mitigate that with his vision and a still lively arm, there’s no denying he’s not the consistent terrifying presence he once was. He’s nearing the game manager stage of his career, albeit with more zip on his passes than Ben Roethlisberger or Drew Brees before him.
Roethlisberger and Brees still made it to the playoffs because they had stout defenses and playmakers around them. Rodgers has Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams, each of whom can create short-term magic on their own. What they cannot do, apparently, is overcome the curse of what’s somehow become the NFL’s worst defense in recent weeks.
That leaves Rodgers in search of a six-game winning streak just to snap New York’s eight-year span of losing seasons. The Jets are a mess right now in a way that extends beyond the issues of a veteran quarterback for whom they paid dearly.
New York piled up expectations this offseason just to smash them back into dust. All their efforts to rebuild on the fly this fall have failed mightily. But hey, at least they got a head start on their 2025 coaching search.
Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
2. Firing Shane Waldron didn’t fix the Bears, but it reminded us how great Caleb Williams could be
The Chicago Bears didn’t defend their home turf Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. This was not Caleb Williams’s fault.
Williams, playing under interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown after former play-caller Shane Waldron’s firing, thrived in an offense that prioritized getting the ball out early and turning upfield at the first sign of pressure. The offensive line that had gotten him run over in a 19-3 Week 10 loss to the New England Patriots held up well enough to limit Williams to only one sack in the game’s first 57 minutes.
After one half, Williams had 145 yards of total offense. Chicago as a team had gained just 142 total yards through the entirety of Week 10’s 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots. 60 of those yards came on the ground — a career high after just 30 minutes of play. When his pockets shrank, he made a concerted effort to drive forward rather than dance where a loss was almost guaranteed.
Sometimes that led to big gains on the ground. Others, clean strikes to open targets downfield.
this one didn't count because DJ Moore's motion moved toward the line, but nice to see Caleb Williams step up and deliver an on-target strike here, even if it looks ugly pic.twitter.com/WchdSSnMdr
His impressive play wasn’t limited to quick hits and drive-extending scrambles. He showcased the vision and touch that made him a Heisman Trophy winner in situations where his legs limited the Packers’ willingness to blitz. When given a clean pocket, Williams looked great.
One week after being sacked 10 times by a bottom-five pass rush, Williams was sacked thrice against a Green Bay team whose 6.7 percent sack rate is right in the middle of the pack among NFL defenses this year. The lone sack before Chicago’s scuttled game-winning drive was the result of a very Bears miscommunication where they seemed to forget Brenton Cox Jr. existed.
The Packers blitzed on obvious passing downs and failed to crack a quarterback who looked broken just seven days earlier. Williams completed 10 of 12 passes on third or fourth down for 112 yards. He ran four times for 40 more yards to pick up four more vital first downs. He did stuff like this:
to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, there are special traits to his game that give him a higher upside than Fields or Trubisky before him.
Barry Reeger-Imagn Images
3. Justin Tucker is aging all at once
Some NFL kickers age gracefully. Morten Andersen and Adam Vinatieri were both reliable contributors well into their 40s. Others age all at once. Mike Vanderjagt was the most accurate kicker in league history in 2005. By 2007, he was unemployed.
Tucker is trending toward the second category. The soon-to-be 35-year-old had never missed a kick in the often swirling winds of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Acrisure Stadium. In Week 11, he started his day 0-for-2, prompting earnest concern from the CBS broadcast booth.
This isn’t a one-off; a bad game that can be brushed aside. 2024 has been the backdrop of a great kicker regressing to merely good. Tucker hasn’t missed more than two kicks from 40 to 49 yards away in a season since he was a rookie in 2012. His first miss Sunday from 47 yards means he’s already at two with six games left in the season.
Tucker built his reputation as one of the league’s deadliest kickers from long range — someone who handled long bombs like extra points. Between 2012 and 2021 he converted 73 percent of his kicks from 50-plus yards. Cracks began to show in 2022 when he made nine such field goals but on 14 attempts (64 percent). In the season-plus since, he’s connected on only four of 12 kicks from long range (33 percent).
Justin Tucker field goal percentage over expected per @NextGenStats:
The thing is, Tucker’s been so great it’s mind-boggling when he isn’t. His struggles are real, but they don’t obscure the fact he hasn’t missed a field goal from under 40 yards out since 2020. He’s been a model of consistency on the kicks you’d expect an NFL kicker to make, but getting left behind in an era where makes from 55-plus yards are commonplace.
That’s a bummer for Tucker, arguably the first kicker to earn the universal benefit of the doubt whenever he lined up from his opponent’s 50-yard line or deeper. But sometimes the wheels come off. That doesn’t mean Tucker’s 2024 will define what happens next — just that it might be time to rethink his approach now that he’s staring down his mid-30s.
Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union
4. Farewell, Doug Pederson
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport broke the news Friday that Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson needed a win in Week 11 to avoid a mid-season firing. That was a big ask; not only was he on the road against the NFC’s best team, he’d also been reduced to starting Mac Jones at quarterback thanks to an injury to Trevor Lawrence.
As grim as that seemed, things somehow got worse from there. The Lions scored touchdowns on each of their first seven drives. Pederson’s fate was seemingly sealed in a 52-6 loss.
The Jaguars tried, but not really. This was a team hung out to dry. They were challenged by their ownership to rise up and save their head coach’s job if they truly wanted Pederson in the fold. They responded by taking a beating the likes of which hasn’t been seen in the NFL in more than four decades.
The Lions out-gained the Jaguars by 475 yards today. That's the biggest yardage differential in an NFL game since 1979.
This was a silent vote of no confidence with a deafening effect. It wasn’t the mere outcome of a talent disparity or Jones’s presence behind center. This is a team that leaned into the skid knowing the only way out of the ice cave of defeat in which it’s been trapped is to go deeper into the crevasse and start over.
Thus, the Doug Pederson era likely ends not with a bang but with the volumeless screech of a black hole set down upon a bustling town. Pederson, should he be fired Monday, finishes his Jaguars career on a 3-14 slide owed partially to injuries to Trevor Lawrence, partially to the drafting and talent acquisition around him and partially to Pederson’s own inability to create something more valuable than the sum of its parts.
USA Today Sports
5. David Montgomery properly respected a legend
Montgomery scored a touchdown to open the Detroit Lions’ scoring Sunday. This itself is not newsworthy. The last time the Lions failed to find the end zone on the ground was back in 2022 (24 games ago). The veteran back is thriving once again alongside Jahmyr Gibbs and running behind one of the NFL’s best offensive lines.
Week 11’s touchdown celebration, however, deserves further scrutiny.
While other dance trends have been a staple in the league — most notably Justin Jefferson’s griddy — Montgomery threw it back to a true legend of the game. He channeled fellow stars like Brandon Graham, Steve Smith and, uh, Jared Odrick by putting on his big shoes, humming the riff to The Champs’ hit Tequila and paying homage to the one and only Pee-Wee Herman.
Hell yeah.
Montgomery’s Pee-Wee dance was one of seven Lions touchdown celebrations Sunday afternoon. Was it better than Jameson Williams copying Marshawn Lynch (and almost certainly drawing a league fine for grabbing his nethers)? You be the judge.
6. Sam Darnold is dancing on a razor’s edge at the circle of trust
The Minnesota Vikings had a wonderful offseason. Week 11 was proof.
Pass rushing veterans Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard bullied Will Levis into two sacks, three quarterback hits and four tackles for loss. In-season acquisition Cam Akers had a receiving touchdown. Veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore continued to provide valuable coverage along the boundary.
None of these additions, however, has had the lasting impact of the journeyman quarterback whose $10 million contract has quickly flipped from a minor overpay to a significant bargain.
Sam Darnold continued his streak of big games for the Vikings, tossing a pair of touchdown passes and running for a third to keep Minnesota in the hunt for the NFC’s top seed. He continued to showcase why he isn’t quite trustable at the same time.
Darnold is a chaos engine thanks to his penchant for big throws downfield. He also sows doubt about his abilities thanks to occasional brain farts that lob balls into double coverage or whip toss sweeps hard and behind his tailback for a drive-killing turnover.
Darnold has exactly one game this season in which he hasn’t fumbled or been intercepted. He holds onto the ball longer in the pocket than any starter but Jalen Hurts or Lamar Jackson. That’s led to a bottom five sack rate despite a merely below average pressure rate. Darnold has been given the freedom to be the quarterback he believes himself to be. Sometimes, that’s wonderful!
Often times, the border between those two nations is razor thin. Anyone who saw him fall off despite flashes of… well, not greatness, but pretty-goodness as a Jet or Carolina Panther knows he’s always a few missed coverages away from spelunking into the caverns of his own mind and overthinking his way back to the bench. Head coach Kevin O’Connell has been quick to cut off those notions, however.
That’s part of Darnold’s long leash — understanding his past makes him vulnerable to spiraling if asked to adjust his game too harshly.
This is the trust that’s turned Darnold into the league’s most accurate deep ball thrower through 11 weeks. O’Connell can deal with that because he’s got Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison (and, eventually, a fully healthy T.J. Hockenson) to bail him out of tough situations. That doesn’t mean Darnold could be the answer for another quarterback-needy team, but he’s been one hell of a pickup for O’Connell and the 8-2 Vikings.
Minnesota’s going to keep giving Darnold the green light to dance in the pocket and take risks because he’s proven he can return a worthy reward. Also, because we’ve seen what tweaking his game in-season can do to his overall level of play. The Vikings keep gambling and winning; they have no choice but to ride it until that hot streak comes to an end.
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
7. The Atlanta Falcons are making us feel stupid for believing in them (as is tradition)
Oh dang, another “stop if you’ve heard this before” headline. Ah well, cliche though it may be, this is exactly where we’ve landed.
The Falcons began their season 6-3. With two close wins over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they appeared to have sewed up the NFC South title halfway through the 2024 season. After starting slowly while recovering from a torn Achilles, Kirk Cousins emerged as a top 10 quarterback occasionally eye to eye with this season’s MVP candidates.
via rbsdm.com and the author.
Then, things got familiarly frustrating for Falcons fans. First, a loss to arch rival New Orleans days after the Saints had fired head coach Dennis Allen. But that’s fine; losing a tight rivalry game against a fired-up team getting a post-coach bounce is understandable.
Getting shredded into breakfast hash by Bo Nix? That’s… something else.
The defense that held three of its first five opponents to fewer than 180 passing yards collapsed against the sixth quarterback selected in last spring’s draft. Nix had:
the first 300-plus passing yard performance of his career
the first four-touchdown performance of his career
his first single game passer rating above 125.0
all in a 38-6 destruction of a once competent Falcons defense. Primaries like Jessie Bates, Justin Simmons and A.J. Terrell were all in the lineup and it did not matter because Atlanta had no answer for the most composed version of Nix we’ve ever seen on Sundays.
Credit where it’s due; Nix’s growth this season has been impressive if not linear. When he’s given time to set his feet and drive the ball downfield he’s proven he can be the difference between a win and a loss. On Sunday, that manifested in eight completions on nine attempts that traveled at least nine yards downfield — racking up 184 yards, one touchdown and a 155.8 passer rating in the process.
via habitatring.com
The Falcons may have been able to counter this if Cousins could even approached Bo Nix at Mile High Stadium. Instead, top wideouts Drake London and Darnell Mooney had just five catches on 11 targets. Kyle Pitts had one catch for nine yards. Cousins was sacked in one in 10 dropbacks and turned in his second-straight zero-touchdown, one-interception performance.
The good news is there’s plenty of room to work through growing pains. Atlanta is still 1.5 games ahead of the second-place Buccaneers in the NFC South. But it’s easy to see the cracks and assume they’ll spread when you’re dealing with a veteran quarterback with a lack of lasting postseason success and a franchise that, well, same.
This is the sword dangling over the Falcons’ throne. Atlanta has spent 2024 proving it can hang with great teams but also implode spectacularly at the smallest sign of resistance. Which version will show up in the playoffs? That’ll be the fun part for non-Falcons fans to figure out and torture within the state limits of Georgia.
David Gonzales-Imagn Images
8. Geno Smith might have closed the 49ers championship window
Geno Smith had never beaten the San Francisco 49ers as a starting quarterback. This year’s 49ers team, however, is very different from the perennial NFC title game invitees that preceded it.
On Sunday, Smith overcame some early struggles to shred the Niners defense when it counted most. After opening the second half with an interception, he completed 14 of his final 16 passes for 130 yards, erasing a pair of late deficits to earn his first win in San Francisco and keep Seattle alive in a turbulent race for the NFC West crown.
Smith was, as is his hallmark, accurate as hell to maximize his offense on a day where his running backs averaged only 3.2 yards per carry. His 16.4 completion percentage over expected (CPOE) was his highest of the season — impressive stuff for a player who has ranked in the top 10 in that category each of the last two years.
That’s all great for the Seahawks, but it could be closing the blinds on a championship window San Francisco would stay open at least a few months longer. The 49ers have slumped before, but those losing streaks either quickly dissipated or were the result of devastating quarterback injuries (and sometimes even that didn’t make a difference). 2024, so far, feels different.
Over the last two years, San Francisco was undefeated against division foes with the exception of a meaningless 2023 Week 18 game that pit Sam Darnold against Carson Wentz. This year Brock Purdy is 1-3 against those rivals. The young quarterback was 2023’s most efficient quarterback but has backslid from “great” to merely “above average” in the Niners’ 5-5 start.
What’s the culprit there? Kyle Shanahan’s offense has always been able to glean the most from an underwhelming quarterback thanks to a cache of dynamic playmakers who could turn short targets into long gains. The 49ers have led the league in yards after catch (YAC) five of the last six years and never finished lower than third place in that stretch.
This season, they rank 17th, dropping from 6.6 YAC to 5.2. Not having Christian McCaffrey in the lineup most of the season and losing a rusty Brandon Aiyuk to injury played a role there. Even so, Shanahan’s offense isn’t hitting the way it once did.
San Francisco averaged 3.5 yards of separation between intended target and nearest defender in Purdy’s first two seasons in the league — a figure that was slightly above average compared to other offenses. His 2024 targets average 3.0 yards of separation per throw — the lowest number in the NFL this fall.
As a result, Purdy’s had to look downfield for bigger gains rather than rely on higher-percentage dump-offs to now-covered players. His average throw distance has gone up (from 8.2 yards to 8.9) and his accuracy has gone down (from 69 percent to 64 percent). Those are all modest drops, but it’s been enough to blow gaskets in the Niners’ high-octane offense.
Further complicating things is a defense that’s gone from elite to average. San Francisco ranked first in scoring defense in 2022 and third in 2023. It sat at 17th coming into Sunday’s game with the Seahawks. The team’s once relentless pass rush has dropped from 10th to 15th in pressure rate this fall. Dre Greenlaw and Tanaloa Hufanga have been hurt and De’Vondre Campbell is looking like a 31-year-old off-ball defender.
The final product are two pieces that aren’t quite good enough. The 49ers are 5-5, and while they’ve come back from worse spots to create headaches for the NFC — they were 3-5 before rallying to the NFC title game in 2022 — this year’s problems feel different. Returns from Greenlaw and Hufanga (playing in a cast) will help, as will getting McCaffrey and Ricky Pearsall in tune with the offense.
Even so, 2024 has been a clear step backward for San Francisco. With a bunch of tough contract decisions looming, this may be the end of their title hopes as currently constructed.
Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
9. Josh Allen continued the Buffalo Bills’ regular season mastery of the Kansas City Chiefs
For the fourth straight season, the Bills beat the Chiefs in the regular season. Now Buffalo has to hope it can break the streak on the other side of that mirror — the one that’s seen Kansas City end its season in the playoffs three of the last four years.
The Bills did exactly what needed to be done to beat the Chiefs. They learned from mistakes of the Denver Broncos (settled for a field goal) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (chose not to go for two in a one-point game and opted for overtime). Rather than await the inevitable and give Patrick Mahomes the ball with a five-point deficit and more than two minutes to play, head coach Sean McDermott trusted Josh Allen on fourth-and-two.
You should always trust Josh Allen on fourth-and-two.
Allen did what he did best, embracing a running style best described as “marauding” and dusting the Chiefs’ defense for a game-sealing touchdown in a moment that could have been a precursor to Kansas City’s 10-0 start. Instead, Mahomes took the loss, Taylor Swift haters quietly fist bumped (weird) and someone dropped off a bottle of champagne at Mercury Morris’s grave in accordance to his last will and testament.
Importantly, Sunday’s win felt like a moment where the Bills stole Mahomes’s magic. They took away his comeback opportunity. They held him to 181 total yards on 35 dropbacks (5.2 yards per pass play). They pressured him just enough to make him rely on a group of playmakers that isn’t the hydra it once was.
here's the Mahomes deep miss to Xavier Worthy that had the QB saying "i have to be better" postgame pic.twitter.com/n9alAyD5Vb
Mahomes threw three touchdown passes but countered that with a pair of interceptions. He continued a good season that doesn’t quite live up to his level of greatness — a designation that didn’t matter when he was 9-0 and barely does now that he’s 9-1. This may not make a difference in the long run for Kansas City.
For Buffalo, however, it’s huge. It’s yet more hope the nail can at some point defeat the hammer. More importantly, it’s validation after an 8-2 record came devoid of impressive wins. Before Sunday, the Bills had one victory over an opponent with a winning record and that was against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1. After an offseason of roster turnover, it was fair to wonder if this hot start was merely the product of an easy schedule.
Being the first blemish on the Chiefs’ resume changes that. A defense that unloaded several key veterans rose to the occasion.
