NFL Week 13: Brock Purdy leads 49ers to victory over Dolphins
The San Francisco 49ers continued their impressive form with a big victory over the Miami Dolphins, despite losing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to injury.
The 49ers had to ask Brock Purdy to fill in after Garopplo’s injury, but the rookie led them to a 33-17 victory over the Dolphins and join Miami on 8-4 for the season.
Purdy, who carries the nickname as this season’s ‘Mr Irrelevant’ having being chosen with the 262nd and very last pick of the 2022 NFL draft, passed for 210 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the win.
Garoppolo becomes the second 49ers quarterback to be ruled out for the season, with Trey Lance ending his year in Week Two.
Controversial Watson returns, injury woes for Lamar
Deshaun Watson was booed on his return to the NFL as he made a winning debut for the Cleveland Browns against his former team, the Houston Texans.
Watson, who was returning from a 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy over sexual misconduct allegations.
On debut for the Browns, Watson failed to lead a touchdown drive, but Cleveland’s defense scored two touchdowns and a special teams punt return in a 27-14 victory. It was the first time since 1989 that a team scored three times in one game without any of those scores coming with the offense on the field.
Elsewhere, John Harbaurgh told reporters that Lamar Jackson would return to the field this season despite the star QB suffering a knee injury in the first quarter and later being ruled out in Sunday’s 10-9 win over the Denver Broncos.
Jackson’s injury is a knee sprain based on initial tests and is being assessed on Monday.
In the race for the NFC playoffs, the Minnesota Vikings are now 10-2 after beating the New York Jets. The Dallas Cowboys meanwhile put up 33 points in the fourth quarter as they thrashed the Indianapolis Colts 54-19
Burrow continues great form over Chiefs
Joe Burrow made it three wins out of three against the Kansas City Chiefs after leading the Cincinnati Bengals to a fourth-quarter comeback to pip Patrick Mahomes’ team to 27-24 victory.
The Bengals, who beat the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game back in January, relied on the brilliance of Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Samaje Perine to beat the Chiefs, moving into AFC contention at 8-4.
Elsewhere, the Washington Commanders and New York Giants settled for a 20-20 tie in overtime as they remain in the hunt for the playoffs, while Aaron Rodgers led his Green Bay Packers team from behind to net another victory over the Chicago Bears in a NFC North clash.
There were other big-score wins for the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles, with the latter dominating the Tennessee Titans to improve to 11-1 as the #1 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
Full results of Sunday 4th December games:
Chicago Bears 19 – 28 Green Bay Packers
Atlanta Falcons 16 – 19 Pittsburgh Steelers
Minnesota Vikings 27 – 22 New York Jets
Detroit Lions 40 – 14 Jacksonville Jaguars
Philadelphia Eagles 35 – 10 Tennessee Titans
Houston Texans 14 – 27 Cleveland Browns
New York Giants 20 – 20 Washington Commanders
Baltimore Ravens 10 – 9 Denver Broncos
San Francisco 49ers 33 – 17 Miami Dolphins
Los Angeles Rams 23 – 27 Seattle Seahawks
Las Vegas Raiders 27 – 20 Los Angeles Chargers
Cincinnati Bengals 27 – 24 Kansas City Chiefs
Dallas Cowboys 54 – 19 Indianapolis Colts
