A week where over half the games were decided on the last possession of the game is always a good week!

But most of these games were close because teams were settling for field goals rather than getting touchdowns. If you look at Minnesota, Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, Las Vegas, and last night’s game between Pittsburgh and the Giants, you’ll find teams that either lost, or should have lost (Washington, Pittsburgh) because they couldn’t get touchdowns. The Jets kicked field goals but missed them, which is worse.

I’m not saying that field goals shouldn’t be attempted, or that they aren’t valuable points. But there are some good teams that lost games they shouldn’t because they couldn’t score touchdowns. To be successful long term, teams need to find ways to be successful in the red zone. Now as teams have more film to study, the gameplans from coaching staffs will not hold a lot of surprises. It’s going to take execution on the field to make these scores happen.

Here’s what I saw this week:

MIN @ LAR
The return of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua made a huge difference for the Rams offense. I’ve been a big fan of Brian Flores and the defense he’s put on the field for Minnesota. But this week, something became very clear about why Minnesota has been struggling in the second halves of games.

The Vikings defense isn’t very complicated. They load the box with six or seven players. From there, they only run three different fronts: they blitz everyone, they blitz no one, or they run a zone blitz where they overload a side and drop a defensive lineman into coverage. Now these are very broad categories and there are several intricate details that still go in to each defensive call. But their keys are easy to read. And when you have a quarterback like Stafford, who has seen every defense and every blitz, on the other side, those keys are devastating. Stafford knew exactly where the pressure was coming from and he exploited it.

If the Vikings are going to get back on track, they need to do some self scouting and find new ways to disguise their blitzes.

BAL @ CLE
Very weird game. It’s like these teams reversed roles. Cleveland was the ball control efficient offense and Baltimore kept missing on big plays with either overthrows or penalties.

Winston was chucking the ball all over the field for the Browns. He was accurate and confident, which is a big upgrade for this team at the quarterback position. Against a better defense, some of those balls would have been intercepted, but in this game he looked great. The biggest thing I saw though, was that Winston’s confidence spread throughout the team. The run game was better, the offensive line was better, and the defensive line was better in this game. This was the version of the Browns we were expecting to see at the beginning of the year.

Baltimore looked like a team that wasn’t ready to play. It can be hard to play at an elite level every week, especially against a team that has played as badly as the Browns this year. But this was a division game, there’s really no excuse for what the Ravens put on the field Sunday. Lamar looked like he was playing hero ball early – too many runs instead of handoffs, too many late passes deep over the middle. He helped give the Browns defense confidence.

TEN @ DET
Games like this are hard to evaluate. I think Tennessee had a good game plan coming in. They kept it close early. But the special teams plays and the turnovers were too much to overcome. The Titans got hit with a tsunami and the game was over before they really had a chance.

I’d like to point out a flaw or a weakness in Detroit’s game. But this is one of those weeks where we can just sit in awe over their dominance.

IND @ HOU
I’m getting concerned about the development of Anthony Richardson. We’ve seen the rookie quarterbacks this season and how they have developed. We’ve seen CJ Stroud develop. But Richardson is still late on his reads and late on his throws. He has trouble getting the ball to his receivers against zone coverage. He’s athletic, and he can be a weapon in the run game, but he’s not able to get the ball consistently to his outside receivers except on deep balls against man to man coverage. That’s not good enough at this stage of his career.

Houston should have won this game easily with the struggles on the Colts offense. But the offensive line for the Texans could not keep the Colts out of the backfield. That’s an issue that is going to need to be resolved quickly if this team wants to make noise in the playoffs.

GB @ JAX
Before being a downer on Jacksonville, I just want to point out that Thomas is a great young receiver who is not getting enough attention out there. It’s unfortunate that he may be out for a while with an injury. Lawrence and the offense did some good things out there in this game. But a couple of turnovers cost them. This is not a good enough team to overcome these mistakes.

The Green Bay defense is extremely aggressive. I was trying to figure out how a good defense like this could give up so many points and yards to a Jaguars offense that hasn’t been very good. They were overly aggressive in this game. It generated some big plays for them, but more often it opened up areas of the field where Jacksonville was able to move the ball and get their own big plays. That aggression works well when you are playing with a lead. Depending on the status of Jordan Love, they might not be playing with leads as much the rest of the season.

ARI @ MIA
Wow, Miami came out with a ton of energy on both sides of the ball in this game. Tua gave the offense a boost, getting the ball to the wide receivers. But after the energy wore off, this game settled into a back and forth with the Cardinals. Kyler Murray showed a lot of poise keeping his team in the game and making plays down the field to his tight end McBride and their star rookie receiver Harrison. By the end of the game, Miami’s defense looked gassed and Connor was able to seal the win with a couple of tough runs to setup the final field goal.

Watching Miami’s offense, I noticed there wasn’t much pre snap motion. But more importantly, when there was motion it was rarely Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle in motion. Last year, that motion action helped free up the wide receivers to get big plays down the field. It forced defenses to declare what they were running and got free releases for Tyreek. Is this a one off or a trend? I’ll keep watching, but if you want to know why there aren’t many big plays in the passing game, this could be one reason.

NYJ @ NE
A week after being called soft by their head coach, the Patriots came out and played a far better game against the Jets. For most of the game, the Patriots were more physical in all aspects. There wasn’t a lot of big plays, I think the punt return in the third quarter was the biggest yardage they gained. But they made the crucial plays when they had to. Converting on third down, holding the Jets to field goal attempts rather than allowing touchdowns. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.

Rogers continues to underwhelm for the Jets. He might have completed some big passes to Garrett Wilson, but all they did was pad his stats. They weren’t plays that decided the outcome of the game. And for whatever reason, the Jets refuse to get Breece Hall the ball. I think there were only two or three times when he touched it that he didn’t get at least five yards. Why didn’t they simply keep giving him the ball until the Patriots found a way to stop it? The offense wasn’t the only problem in this game – the defense missed a lot of tackles. In fact, I’d put more of the blame for the loss of this game on the missed tackles than the mistakes on offense. This team is a mess, and it keeps finding new lows every week.

ATL @ TB
Going in to this week I was really wondering how the Tampa Bay offense was going to handle the loss of Evans and Godwin. In turns out they have some decent young talent at wide receiver. But also, they started using a two back set, getting both White and Irving on the field at the same time. Tight end Cade Otton also stepped up big in this game to provide a much needed target for Baker Mayfield. Overall, though, the offense showed some creativity not just in personnel groupings but in play calling. It was the kind of creativity that is vital to keep an offense fresh and the kind of creativity that gets stifled when you have talented guys like Evans and Godwin out there running routes. So these injuries might be good for Tampa Bay down the road, if they can win enough to make a playoff run.

Atlanta’s secondary saved the game for them. If they can’t get more of a pass rush, this defense won’t be enough to compete in January.

PHI @ CIN
The Bengals offense is completely different with and without Tee Higgins. They looked like the same offense that played the first couple of weeks. Unable to sustain drives, struggling on third down and short yardage plays. But more than that, the defense let the team down on Sunday. The defense stacked the line of scrimmage to stop the Eagles run game. For three quarters it worked, but Jalen Hurts was able to attack the defense through the air. By the fourth quarter, the Eagles were running the ball without any problems and that’s when the score got out of reach. This is a good team, but only when they have all their pieces. For whatever reason, (coaching maybe?) they just can’t put together complete games.

Jalen Hurts finally had a breakout game. He was accurate with his throws and spread the ball around. This version of the Eagles offense will go far this season.

NO @ LAC
New Orleans continues to struggle on offense without starters at key positions. Still they played hard in the first half and kept this game close. A couple of bad breaks in the second half allowed the Chargers to break away and turn a competitive game into a blowout.

The Chargers are still fighting for every yard they get. It would be nice if the coaching staff could scheme up some plays where the receivers are running open across the field. Try to give them some easy yards? A little bit of a concern that the defense couldn’t shut down the Saints’ run game even knowing that it was the only way they could move the ball.

BUF @ SEA
It’s hard to say that a team can lose a game in the first half, but boy did Seattle try hard to lose this game in the first half! Two drives inside the five yard line and they end up with a bad snap that stops the drive and a turnover on downs. With a halftime score of 14-3, those two possessions were the difference in the first half. The Seahawks should have gone into halftime tied. Again they went pass first on the offense, all but forgetting they have one of the top five running backs in the league. Defensively, they again struggled to get off the field stopping neither the run game nor challenging receivers. Tough home loss for the Seahawks.

Josh Allen threw an interception and almost lost two fumbles in this game. But it was a good thing for the offense. Instead of playing stiff and conservative, these mistakes seemed to finally open up Allen’s game and he started playing aggressive. This was one of the best showing for the Bills all season.

CHI @ WAS
The Hail Mary gets the headline. It was incredible. But the Commanders shouldn’t have needed it. This was a big game. The hype was the two rookie quarterbacks, but it also could impact playoff seeding. The offense was good enough, but it wasn’t scoring touchdowns. Too many field goals, and it kept the Bears in the game. For a team that has been aggressive all season, this wasn’t the game to go conservative. They got the win, they played better, but they can’t feel good about how this game went.

Williams continues to have the same problems: holds the ball too long, takes sacks, doesn’t pull the trigger when receivers come open. But he also showed great poise in the fourth quarter leading the team back. T

CAR @ DEN
Bryce Young came out firing in the first drive of this game. He looked confident and the ball came out clean and on target. This could have been a redemption arc for him. Get himself back the starting job, or maybe audition for a mid season trade to a team that needs a quarterback. But after that drive, the offense did absolutely nothing the rest of the game until the score was out of reach. It’s unfortunate, but at this point we have to believe this is who Young is as a quarterback.

Bo Nix had a good game and Denver looked fairly dominant after an early stumble in the first quarter. But the Broncos are stacking wins against bad teams, making them seem better than maybe they really are. I’m not buying them as a playoff team yet.

KC @ LV
Kansas City is playing good football. The defensive line might be the best in the NFL. The defense doesn’t miss many tackles either. It’s tough to watch, because you expect the high flying Chiefs of old that run up the score with explosive offensive plays. But that’s not this team. In the third quarter, the Raiders intercepted Mahomes and returned the ball to near the goal line. The Chiefs defense held and forced a turnover on downs. That is the big plays for this Chiefs team. Allowing a touchdown there might have been enough to change the outcome of the game.

The Raiders continue to struggle running the football. It really cost them this game, not being able to punch it in for touchdowns when they got down to the goal line multiple times in this game.

In this game, the Chiefs double teamed Brock Bowers on most plays. The Raiders were fine with that – and that explains the frustration with Getsy as the offensive coordinator. Bowers is one of the only true weapons this offense can rely on. Not only does he run good routes, but he is very good at yards after the catch. Most teams would design plays to get him the ball. To make things easy on the quarterback. To get big plays. But not Getsy. He was fine with the double teams so they could get the ball to other players who were wide open. Players who fall down after they catch the one yard pass. Unforgiveable.

DAL @ SF
Dallas’ lack of a running game is their achilles heel. The defense is not playing up to their standards, but it was built to play with a lead. Dak is struggling to be consistent because he’s constantly under pressure and the defenses he faces don’t have to respect the run game. CeeDee Lamb had a great game, but it was from necessity. The offense works better when it’s balanced, not dependent on player.

San Francisco finally showed a physical component to their defense last night. They were still struggling on offense, with Purdy running being some of their most impactful plays. Once Deebo is fully healthy again this offense should be a little better. But it’s the return of McCaffery that will decide whether this team wins the division or not. The guys they have now just aren’t getting the job done any more.

NYG @ PIT
For a game Pittsburgh seemed to control from start to finish, the score didn’t reflect their dominance. Russell Wilson hit some very big throws in the second half and it sparked the offense. The issue I have, though, is that it came at the expense of the run game. The Steelers are still built for a power run game and playing strong defense. If they fall in love with the big plays from Wilson, they’ll enter the same trap that Seattle and Denver dealt with.

The Giants have some good young pieces on this team. The future is bright if they can fix the coach/quarterback issue.