Five talking points from Week 14

There are only four weeks left of regular season football and with the playoff picture beginning to take shape for some, for the rest there was still so much to play for in Week 14.

The Bills and Chiefs appear to have solid leads in their respective AFC divisions with the pair both holding 10-3 records with at least a two game lead over those in second place. Whilst over in the NFC, despite Minnesota’s defeat this week they are still sitting comfortably atop the North whilst the Eagles and 49ers victories see them in charge of the East and West respectively.

By my reckoning that still leaves nine spots left to play for and there will no doubt be more surprises in store for us all as we head into a packed festive period of football.

That being said, all of that is yet to be decided and before we get too ahead of ourselves here are my five talking points from Week 14: 

49ers not faltering yet

When we heard that Brock Purdy would need to be the starting quarterback in San Francisco, the majority would have expected nothing more than a game manager. His college play at Iowa State left a lot to be desired and whilst being recognised as being an accurate QB, there was little evidence of his athleticism or arm strength.

In Sunday’s game against Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it was more than fair to assume Purdy would be the second best QB to take to the field. How wrong we all were. It was hard not to be impressed at Purdy’s poise and touch, taking all of the attention away from Brady and his return to the Bay Area.

Purdy completed 16 of 21 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns of over 25 yards, which is more than Jimmy Garoppolo has had in the last three seasons, as well running in for his own TD. Brock Purdy is the first QB to beat Tom Brady while making his first career NFL start, with Brady 6-0 previously in those situations. Those other six QBs had a combined QB rating of 79.1 compared to Purdy’s 134.0 rating on Sunday.

The Niners still primarily won this game because of their defense and run game – they shut out the Bucs for 43 minutes, rushing for over 200 yards – but Purdy can run the Niners’ basic playbook and also make the odd throw here and there that haven’t really been a part of their offense for a while.

Lions continue playoff push

At the beginning of November the Lions were 1 -6, coaches were being fired, the offense appeared to lack any creativity and it looked to be another bleak season for the Detroit faithful. Fastforward and the team have won five of their last six games, beating the Jaguars by 26 points last week which is their biggest win in four years, culminating in this week’s comfortable victory of division rivals Minnesota.

The Lions still have a ton of work left, and no team has made the playoffs after a 1-6 start, but they have an outside shot now following Sunday’s win.

Detroit’s offense has scored at least 25 points in the team’s past five games, and even though their defense is one of the worst in the league, they now have a positive point differential. (The 10-3 Vikings do not.)

Even though they have one of the easiest remaining schedules, the odds aren’t in Lions favor. But as exciting and thrilling as a good offense and win streaks are, Lions fans know that the future is what matters most.

With rookies Aiden Hutchinson and James Houston locked in, the team now seeing the return of wide receiver Jameson WIlliams from his ACL injury and with a likely top five pick in the next draft that the team acquired as part of the Matthew Stafford trade, the future once again looks bright for the Motor City. 

Concussion protocol continues to lack consistency

Sunday’s Steelers-Ravens game once again raised questions about whether the league is following its own (recently updated) concussion rules.

Pittsburgh starter Kenny Pickett left the game at the end of the Steelers’ first drive, having thrown just one pass. Replays showed Pickett hitting the back of his head on the ground after a hit by Baltimore LB Roquan Smith. Pickett went into the medical tent, was evaluated for a concussion and reportedly cleared.

He came back into the game for Pittsburgh’s next series, handed the ball off twice and threw an incomplete pass. It was only then, after being cleared and coming back into the game, that Pickett was pulled and ruled out for the rest of the game due to a concussion.

In the Monday night game between the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals, Pats receiver DeVante Parker left the prime-time game after taking a hit in the first quarter. He caught a 10-yard pass on a slant with 4:19 left in the first frame before being tackled by Cardinals defensive back Antonio Hamilton.

After the play, Parker struggled to get back to his feet but was lined up for the next where Nelson Agholor and QB Mac Jones appeared to signal to the referees that Parker needed to be checked. Thankfully Arizona stopped play by challenging the receiver’s catch. Parker was then removed from the game and eventually ruled out with a head injury.

The NFL and NFL Players Association already rewrote part of its protocols earlier this season after Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa was allowed to return to a game against the Bills in September after exhibiting gross motor instability, only to be knocked unconscious in his next game four days later.

After Pickett’s exit on Sunday, the game went on only for Baltimore’s quarterback, Tyler Huntley, to also suffer a concussion, forcing Ravens third-stringer Anthony Brown to make his NFL debut.

When the NFL can’t figure out how to keep its players safe from brain injuries, it feels cruel to continue watching.

Tank for Texas

The Houston Texans entered Sunday with the worst point differential in the NFL after allowing three defensive/special teams touchdowns last week against the Browns. The Cowboys have Super Bowl hopes; Houston hopes to seal the top pick in the draft.

Davis Mills started the game at QB and the Texans also gave several drives to Jeff Driskel, a run-first backup who hadn’t thrown a pass in an NFL game since serving as Drew Lock’s backup in Denver in 2020.

Houston put up 23 points, their second-highest scoring performance of the season, and forced three Cowboys turnovers, including two interceptions off Dak Prescott. This team came to play in all phases for the first time arguably all season.

The Texans lost the game 27-23, covering the massive 17.5 point spread by two touchdowns and are just three losses away from sealing the top pick in the draft. If they can overperform as they did on Sunday and still pull out losses like this one, I have no doubt that they can do it.

Does anyone want to win the NFC South?

The NFC South is easily the worst division in football with not a single one of its four teams over .500 after having played fourteen weeks of professional(ish) football.

When the Buccaneers knocked off New Orleans in a comeback win on Monday night in week 13, things appeared to be sorting themselves out. The Saints looked dead and buried and Tampa was back at .500 at the top of the division. 

Since Carolina parted ways with Matt Rhule and handed the job (albeit temporarily for now) to Steve Wilkes, the Panthers have found a spark of new life and have won three out of their last four games, putting them within striking distance of the Bucs. Their remaining four games could go a long way to deciding who will take the underwhelming title of division champions as they face off against the Steelers, Lions, Bucs and Saints.

The Falcons and New Orleans were on their respective bye’s this week and will head into week fifteen facing one another. Atlanta will look slightly different after naming rookie QB Desmond Ridder as their starter with the hope being that they can compound the Saints misery at the foot of the table and resign them to double digit losses for the season.

The Buccaneers and Falcons will close out the season against one another and maybe it will head down to the wire with everything still to play for. The likelihood is that the Bucs squeak out a few more wins, retain their division title status and thrust old man Brady into the playoff picture for possibly one last time. 

Nothing in football is certain of course, except for the fact that this is the most mediocre division in football and should the winner do so by being under .500 then whoever it is should be an easy out for the NFC’s number five seed come January.