Tennessee Titans safety Mike Brown shares his thoughts on the penalty that could have changed the game.
The Tennessee Titans are recovering from their 23-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday while many fans across the league continue to figure out how Clete Blakeman’s officiating crew could be so bad.
Many on and off the field were upset with the egregious call, but for safety Mike Brown, it was business as usual and he moved to make an impact. After the game, Brown talked about the play.
#Titans S Mike Brown talks about the bogus penalty after his clean hit.
“I tried to make a play, but the referees thought different,” Brown said about the hit and the subsequent penalty. “No, I did hear any explanation. My teammates on the sideline said good play. They didn’t think it was a flag, but the referees think it’s a flag. Not much you can do once the referees do a flag.”
From the comments, the fact that Brown did not receive any explanation is troubling. Especially considering that Blakeman has doubled-down on the legitimacy of the call after the game. If it was truly unnecessary roughness or a players’ safety measure, why no explanation?
“Some of the players from Minnesota that I know came up to me and thought it was a bad call,” Brown pointed out later in that media availability.
The fact that coaches, fans, and even opposing players in Nissan Stadium knew it was a bad call, and Blakeman could not own up to the mistake even after the game is a problem. Sure the league office will likely apologize later in the week, but real time accountability is needed and in this case would be justified.
The Titans will take on the Houston Texans in Week 12 action and there is likely hope that Clete Blakeman and his crew are nowhere near the stadium.
NFC North watch: Recapping the Lions division in Week 11 including a thriller between the Bears and Packers
A look around the NFC North and their matchups
Detroit Lions
In what seemed to be a lopsided matchup, the Jaguars looked to pull an upset against the Lions.
Jacksonville started the game with the ball and got down the field just enough for kicker Cam Little to kick a 59-yard field goal. The lead would not stand for very long though, as Detroit would score a touchdown on every single one of their possessions in the first half. The Jaguars would tack on another field goal, but they were in a huge 28-6 deficit going into the half.
After that, it was more the same as Jacksonville would not score another point and were plagued by a Mac Jones interception and a turnover on downs. The Lions, on the other hand, continued their touchdown streak, scoring one on every possession except for the last drive, where they settled for a field goal. Detroit put on another sensational offensive performance and won the game 52-6.
The Lions continue their dominance and remain on top of not only the division, but the NFC as well. They will travel to Indianapolis next week to take on the Colts.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings looked to get their groove back against the struggling Titans.
Minnesota began the game with a fumble that set up for a Tennessee field goal for the first points of the game. That being said, the Vikings owned the rest of the half and would follow the mistake up with a three-play touchdown drive to reclaim the lead. That would then be followed by a methodical touchdown drive and a field goal, taking the 16-3 lead at the half. After the half, the Titans’ defense started giving Minnesota problems, forcing two straight punts and having a 3-play touchdown drive of their own, closing the gap 16-10. The Vikings would end up getting those points back on the very next drive, followed by yet another Tennessee field goal. The Titans’ defense looked stellar but their offense scuffled. The next three drives consisted of two turnovers on downs and an interception, and they could not close the gap, losing the game 23-13.
Minnesota keeps the number two spot in the conference but will need to clean up their mistakes going into their next game against the Bears.
Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears
The two conference rivals met for the first time this season after both of them took losses in their last game.
Out of the gate, both teams were very strong on offense, getting points on the board in their first possessions. After the Packers picked off Jordan Love in the red zone, the Bears marched their way down the field and punched in a one-yard touchdown. Finding themselves on top, 10-7 going into the half. After Chicago kicked a 27 yard field goal, both teams scored a touchdown, leaving Green Bay in a 19-14 deficit. With 4:17 left in the fourth quarter, the Bears needed a touchdown to take the lead. Love threw a deep ball to Christian Watson for 60 yards and the very next play it was punched in for the touchdown, the Packers led 20-19. Chicago had a little under three minutes to get a field goal to win the game. After getting down into Green Bay territory, Cairo Santos was set to kick a 46-yard field goal, but it would end up being blocked, sealing the victory for the Packers.
Green Bay improves to 7-3 and sits at third in the division, while the Bears remain in last place with a 4-6 record. Next week, the Packers will head back home and face the San Francisco 49ers, while Chicago will take on division rival, Minnesota Vikings.
The Tennessee Titans lost their Week 11 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Here are the snap counts on offense, defense and special teams.
The Tennessee Titans lost their second straight game on Sunday afternoon at Nissan Stadium, falling to the Minnesota Vikings, 23-13.
The loss dropped the Titans to 2-8 on the season and that’s not even the worst frustration. Rather, that’s aimed at NFL officials who made one of their worst calls — perhaps even the worst call — of the entire regular season.
That will obviously be widely discussed this week but before we look ahead, we’ll quickly look back.
Now let’s take a closer look at the snap counts that contributed to the Titans’ Week 11 loss.
Offensive snaps: 59 Defensive snaps: 73 Special teams snaps: 26
The Titans saw a change at right tackle with Nicholas Petit-Frere being benched mid-series in favor of Isaiah Prince, who ended up taking 49 percent of the offensive snaps. It’s safe to assume that Petit-Frere’s starting days are over. He may have even played his last snap for the Titans period.
There was also a notable rotation on defense — something the Titans have largely avoided this season. While it was still a bit top-heavy, there weren’t six or seven players taking 100 percent of the snaps.
Referee Clint Blakeman doubled-down on the penalty that sent shockwaves throughout Nissan Stadium and the Tennessee Titans’ fanbase.
The Tennessee Titans took on more than the Minnesota Vikings during Week 11, as they took on the officials as well.
The Titans did not pay attention to detail and played a sloppy game overall, but some of the 13 penalties and 93 penalty yards were questionable at best. In fact, every Vikings touchdown drive was influenced mightily by the officials and their objectively incorrect calls.
No call was more egregious than the fourth-down unnecessary roughness call on Mike Brown in the end zone. Not only did it allow the Vikings to get a new set of downs and eventually a touchdown, but it caused outrage throughout the fan base and again brought the officiating debacle into the spotlight,
As the replay showed, Brown made a tremendous and legal play to separate the ball from Jordan Addison. He did not launch himself into the receiver. He made a clean defensive play. It is understandable that the officials approach the game with caution, but in a play of this magnitude, one has to ask if the officials have a complete understanding of the rules of the game.
For head referee Clete Blakeman, who clearly does not understand the rule, here it is.
Article 9, Section b, Subsection 3 of the 2024 NFL Rulebook defines the term: “It is an illegal launch if a player (i) leaves one or both feet prior to contact to spring forward and upward into his opponent, and (ii) uses any part of his helmet to initiate forcible contact against any part of his opponent’s body.”
Brown did not launch himself at Addison or initiate contact with his helmet. It was a terrible call, and to make things worse for fans, Blakeman doubled down on his interpretation of the rule during a post-game press availability.
Explanation from Clete Blakeman on today’s unnecessary roughness penalty against Mike Brown, the repeat illegal formation penalties on the #Titans from my pool report. pic.twitter.com/9Y4HEOtUn6
The NFL is a multi-billion dollar entity and should have better officials across the league or a transparent grading system that holds officials accountable for making improper game-changing calls. Today, Titans fans are upset, but this is not just a Titans problem; it is a huge blunder for the league because these signs of incompetence occur every week.
The Titans were sloppy and could have played better, but their fate was in the hands of an officiating crew that clearly needed extra training and a better understanding of the rulebook.
Starting inside linebacker Jack Gibbens, who has been one of their best players over the past few games, suffered a gruesome ankle/leg injury during the third quarter on Sunday. He was immediately carted off and ruled out.
After the game, head coach Brian Callahan gave an update and confirmed what many feared: Gibbens is likely to miss the rest of the season with an ankle/leg injury.
Gibbens is the second inside linebacker that the Titans have lost during 2024 after trading Ernest Jones to the Seattle Seahawks prior to the trade deadline. In his absence, linebacker Jerome Baker will likely see an increase in snaps moving forward.
The Titans will likely place Gibbens on injured reserve later in the week. More details will come out as they begin preparations for their Week 12 battle with the Houston Texans.
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.
Minnesota benefited from a 13-3 penalty differential to satisfy their substantial away crowd. With the loss, Tennessee starts its third losing streak of the season.
Well…it is what it is…when your franchise is in the #Titans situation, you don’t get the calls.
-Lose by 10
-Penalties 12-2
-2 BS 4th down penalties to give #Vikings a Touchdown
-Ridley TD plus NWI big gain taken away on illegal formations (didn’t look illegal to me)
Well…it is what it is…when your franchise is in the #Titans situation, you don’t get the calls.
-Lose by 10
-Penalties 12-2
-2 BS 4th down penalties to give #Vikings a Touchdown
-Ridley TD plus NWI big gain taken away on illegal formations (didn’t look illegal to me)
Will Levis, the second-year quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, achieved a remarkable feat by throwing a 98-yard touchdown pass to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine against the Minnesota Vikings. This play marked the longest touchdown from scrimmage of…
The #Titans were on the wrong side of some bad calls and didn’t respond well enough to adversity, losing 23-13 to the #Vikings. They are 2-8.
Brian Callahan went crazy on officials after the worst of the calls, an unnecessary roughness on Mike Brown for a fourth-down hit on… pic.twitter.com/mx0avrCPYn
The Tennessee Titans fell to the Minnesota Vikings, 23-13, in Week 11 and WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine is our Player of the Game.
The Tennessee Titans hosted the Minnesota Vikings at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday in Week 11 action.
Before the game ever started, the Titans were fighting an uphill battle. The Vikings have a decent offense and a stout defense with a 7-2 record, while the Titans have struggled to acclimate to Brian Callahan’s scheme.
Still, the Titans fought hard, had two takeaways, and looked like they might be turning into an actual team. But the unforced errors, the penalties, and the turnovers are what truly hurt them today.
Still, there was one player who stood out this week with exceptional play. This week’s Player of the Game is Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
Westbrook-Ikhine may not have caught all of the passes that went his way today, but he did record two catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown reception came on a play where the line of scrimmage was Tennessee’s two-yard line.
Will Levis dropped back into the end zone looking for a deep ball and found Westbrook-Ikhine down the field. Mr. Reliable caught the pass and did the rest.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine with a 98-yard touchdown!!!!
Westbrook-Ikhine has become a favorite target for Levis, right behind Calvin Ridley. They were both targeted six times today with Ridley catching four passes for 58 yards.
The Titans next face the Houston Texans on the road.
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison left Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans in the fourth quarter with cramping issues.
The Minnesota Vikings have had somewhat of a bounce-back game on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Quarterback Sam Darnold has made some big plays with his arm and legs, making several key scrambles to extend plays and keep the Vikings’ offense moving.
That offense has been running more smoothly than we’ve seen in weeks, and one of the key contributors to that has been wide receiver Jordan Addison. Unfortunately for the Vikings, Addison left the game in the fourth quarter with some cramping issues and will likely be out for the rest of the game.
Jordan Addison injury update
It’s unfortunate for the Vikings’ offense to have to operate without one of their key playmakers for the rest of the fourth quarter. According to the CBS broadcast crew, Addison is officially designated as questionable to return with cramps.
How long will Addison be out?
While Addison is being called questionable to return to the game, the Vikings are up 10 with less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Vikings’ defense has held up well, and gave the ball back to the offense. Minnesota will likely play it safe with Addison and keep him on the sidelines for the rest of the game.
On the positive side, cramps are a temporary issue, and Addison should be fine for next week’s game against the Chicago Bears.
Vikings wide receiver depth chart
With Addison on the sidelines, the Vikings will likely look more toward Jalen Nailor and Brandon Powell. Both receivers have already had their name called several times in the fourth quarter. Nailor just missed a touchdown catch, while Powell made a nice catch over the middle that was initially called incomplete but overturned after a challenge by head coach Kevin O’Connell.
