NFL – 2024 WEEK 12 – STATS THAT STICK OUT & WEEK 13 THANKSGIVING GAMES PREVIEW

PASSING – CALEB WILLIAMS (QB, BEARS) MIN 30 at CHI 27 – OT

Despite the Bears’ overtime loss at home to the Vikings in Week 12 (and the team’s fifth straight loss), struggling first-year Bears QB Caleb Williams had a very good game and even broke a franchise record.  Williams had come into the game without a TD since Week 6, but in Week 12 the rookie completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards, threw 2 TDs and no interceptions in addition to rushing for 33 yards on 6 attempts.  With his 340 passing yards in this game, Williams surpassed Mitchell Trubisky as Chicago’s record holder for most passing yards in a rookie season (2,356).  This performance was an encouraging sign for the No. 1 draft pick amidst a very up and down season.  Considered a “gifted passer”, Williams has had a hard time finding his groove behind an oft-injured offensive line that has allowed 44 sacks this season, the most in the league.  He also has struggled to find consistency, going several weeks without any TDs.  The result has been a Bears 4-7 record and last in the NFC North division.  But since Chicago’s passing game coordinator Thomas Brown was brought in after Week 10 to replace the fired Shane Waldron (Williams’ first offensive coordinator), there have been signs that the former Oklahoma/USC QB has improved.  In only two week’s time, Williams’ average passing yardage, completion percentage and passer rating has significantly improved in addition to the 2 TDs he threw in Week 12.  This past week Williams credited Brown with the uptick in play.  He said of Brown, “Our connection — my playing ability and his coaching I think so far has connected pretty well… He’s done a great job understanding me even though we have not had many talks in the past, many opportunities to do something like that. I think he has done a good job understanding me and the players we have on this team. I think that is going to keep growing. Us going into this week and facing this challenge will be another testament to that.”  The next test for this duo’s relationship will be a big one when the Bears face the team with the No. 1 pass defense on Thanksgiving Day: the 10-1 Detroit Lions.  

RUSHING – SAQUON BARKLEY (RB, EAGLES) PHI 37 at LAR 20 

For the second week in a row, RB Saquon Barkley is the weekly rushing leader and this time, by a wide margin.  In Week 12, he carried the football for 26 yards and scored 2 TDs to help the Eagles beat the Rams on the road.  But his career-high 255 rushing yards was the ninth-most in a single game in NFL history.  (The next closest rusher in Week 12 was Derrick Henry who had 140 rushing yards.)  Barkley’s 255 rushing yards was only 41 yards short of Adrian Peterson’s record of most rushing yards in a single game (296 yards) which he set as a rookie for the Vikings.  Speaking of Peterson, he was the last non-QB to win the NFL MVP award.  He also won the Offensive Player of the Year Award that same year (2012) when in 16 games, Peterson had 348 attempts, 2,097 yards, 12 TDs and averaged 131.1 yards per game plus 217 receiving yards totaling 2,314 yards from scrimmage.  Additionally, Peterson’s performance helped move the Vikings into the playoffs that 2012 season.  Barkley’s 2024 campaign is on par with Peterson’s MVP year, as the elite WR has helped the Eagles moved across the finish line in several games this season.  In the very least, the 27-year-old RB is largely the reason Philadelphia is the best rushing team in the NFL this year.  The team averages the most yards on the ground per game (150.8), has the most rushing TDs (22), most attempts (409) and most rushing first downs (114) in the league.  Meanwhile, the Eagles have the tenth lowest passing yards (2,381), eleventh lowest passing TDs (13) and the lowest numbers of passing completions (198) in the league.  And while the Eagles offense is not completely out of balance, no one can deny that Barkley has been the main reason this team sits atop the NFC East division with a .818-win percentage.  This makes him deserving of early MVP conversation in my book.

RECEIVING – JORDAN ADDISON (WR, VIKINGS) MIN 30 at CHI 27 – OT

In Week 12, sophomore WR Jordan Addison became the week’s receiving leader with a career-high 162 yards on eight catches and a TD including a 69-yard catch.  The 22-year-old’s best career game was made possible by superstar teammate and fellow Vikings receiver, Justin Jefferson who was caught up in double and triple coverage in Minnesota’s overtime win against Chicago.  The former Offensive Player of the Year was also able to draw 2 pass interference flags which all resulted in diverted attention away from QB Sam Darnold’s favorite target and towards Addison and TE TJ Hockenson who also had a season’s best 7 receptions for 114 yards.  While Jefferson was held to only 2 catches and 27 yards in the game, the good news is that Week 12’s game displayed the depth in offensive weapons Minnesota has in addition to the three-time Pro Bowler.  This will be more important as the season wears on in the very tight NFC North division.  The 9-2 Vikings will need to find multiple ways to win games instead of relying upon the talents of their choice receiver especially during the last two games of the season when they will face division rivals Lions and Packers.  In the meantime, it will all come down to what Darnold said after the game, “One play at a time… I think I tell the guys that every single time in the huddle.”

DEFENSE – MYLES GARRETT (DE, BROWNS) PIT 19 at CLE 24

There were several memorable takeaways from Week 12’s Thursday Night Football snowy divisional thriller between the Browns and Steelers.  But one that stood out for me was the performance of the reigning DPOY Myles Garrett.  The eight-year DE had a wrecking-ball type of night that added to his already immense reputation with a 3-sack performance plus a forced fumble on opposing QB Russell Wilson, 5 combined tackles (3 solo for a loss) and 3 QB hits that earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week award.  The five-time Pro Bowler also moved into a tie for third in league-wide sacks (10) and he’s the only active player to have 7 consecutive seasons of 10-plus sacks.  Additionally, Garrett is 1.5 sacks shy of moving into the 100 career sacks club, a giant milestone for the 28-year-old.  After the game, Browns HC Kevin Stefanski put in perspective just how menacing Garrett is to opposing teams, “I think the thing that you have to remember is he’s doing all that with getting an insane amount of attention from the offense… They are aware of where he is every play. They’re designing plays to not go his way. As play callers, you one-way things on your call sheet because I’m not going to run it at him. Or on third down, we’re going to make sure there’s a tight end over there, we’re going to slide the protection to him or whatever it may be.”  Safe to say, we’ll all be looking forward to the next rematch between the Browns and Steelers (and Garrett versus Russell Wilson) in Week 14 when Cleveland goes on the road at Pittsburgh. 

SPECIAL TEAMS – WILL LUTZ (K, BRONCOS) DEN 29 at LV 19

There are two areas of the Denver Broncos that second-year HC Sean Payton must feel confident about:  The Defense (which is at or near just about every major defensive category in the league) and the team’s apt kicker Will Lutz.  The eight-year veteran (2 with Denver) has been a key ingredient all season long in the recipe as to why the Broncos are thriving.  And he showed his skills in Denver’s Week 12 game on the road in Vegas when he tied a career high conversion of all 5 of his field-goal attempts (33, 38, 45, 53, 54) and was 2-2 on extra points, combining for 19 of Denver’s total 29 points.  Lutz also helped manufacture all 9 of Denver’s points in the first half of the game and his two kicks over 50 yards were the longest he’s made this season.  For this special performance, the 30-year-old earned his second Special Teams Player of the Week award this season, joining only 3 other Broncos ever to win 2 of these weekly honors in 1 year.  The accolade is also the sixth of Lutz’s career.  Overall this season, Lutz has made 24 of 27 field goals (88.9%) and is 100% on extra points (26-26).  Lutz said on Wednesday about his performance, “It’s really cool… I’ve been fortunate to play for quite a while now. I think anytime you get an award for the work you put in, you kind of take a step back and cherish it for a little bit. … Obviously, multiple 50 yarders in a game is a cool feat. But I think you see that more and more these days. I think it’s a testament to the specialists in general. We’re getting better.”

For the Broncos, Week 12 was the fifth time this season a player was acknowledged with a Player of the Week award.  The team only had two in all of 2023.  Is this a sign of how much the team has improved under Payton’s direction despite a 7-5 record?  

WEEK 13 – THANKSGIVING GAME WEEK PREVIEW

THURSDAY, NOV 28 – BEARS at LIONS (12:30PM ET) CBS

I, for one, am grateful for Turkey Day football… And I’m grateful for this matchup.  It should be one of the most competitive of the Thanksgiving games.  What I’m looking forward to most is if the Lions offense will continue to score well in the Red Zone against Chicago’s stingy Red Zone defense.  I’ll also be watching Bears QB Caleb Williams to see if he can make further improvements under his new offensive coordinator.  But it may be tough for him because (speaking of stingy RZ defenses…) Detroit has held opposing defenses to 40% inside the RZ on average this year.  

THURSDAY, NOV 28 – GIANTS at COWBOYS (4:30PM ET) FOX

It’s hard to look forward to much in this game.  Neither team has its starting QB and neither has much to play for as both are out of playoff contention.  However, as the world will be watching and this is a divisional matchup, we should expect some extra motivation by the players.  That said, the Cowboys have a better roster overall and snapped a five-game losing skid in Week 12… I look forward to seeing a lot of rushing offense from both teams here and the Giants may challenge the Cowboys in the Red Zone more than we might think.  Dallas’ RZ defense has been the worst in the league so far this year.   

THURSDAY, NOV 28 – DOLPHINS at PACKERS (8:20PM ET) NBC

There may not be many of us still motivated to stay up for this one after stuffing our faces with turkey and pie, but this should be a fun contest between 2 teams that have the rosters (and chops) to vie for a playoff berth.  I’ll be looking for how the Dolphins perform in the cold weather at Green Bay (temps expected to be below 40 degrees).  They haven’t won a cold game like this since 2016.  Also, Miami hasn’t beaten the Packers since 2014 and haven’t won at Lambeau since 2010.  However, Miami has won 3 straight and seem to be getting into a groove since QB Tua Tagovailoa returned from concussion protocol in Week 8.  As for the Packers, I’ll be looking at how the team performs overall against a team that is surging now.  GB has only lost 3 times this year, but they’ve done it against top teams (Eagles, Vikings, Lions).  The other 8 teams they’ve beat have been lesser competition and/or struggling in general.

FRIDAY, NOV 29 – RAIDERS at CHIEFS (3:00PM ET) AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

This is obviously a lop-sided looking contest between a team that has won 2 Super Bowls in a row and have only 1 loss on the season against another that has only 2 wins this year.  But can we expect the game to be more competitive than we think?  Eh, probably not.  If Raiders QB Gardner Minshew was in the lineup, we’d likely have at least a decent game in spurts.  But Minshew broke his collarbone in Week 12 and his replacement will be Aidan O’Connell who just recovered from a broken thumb on his passing hand. Reports are that’s it’s “not 100%”.  Our only hope for a fun one is for Vegas to come out fighting as Raiders HC Antonio Pierce suggested Wednesday, “Let’s change the narrative. Let’s go out there and make it a dogfight. Let’s make it ugly, let’s make it scrappy. It’s Black Friday. Let’s create a little chaos and get back to Raider football and have some personality and let it loose.”  

Enjoy the games. Happy Thanksgiving!

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