11 Thoughts from Sunday's Week 13 Games
Deebo Samuel said the 49ers would have won by double digits against the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game if Brock Purdy didn’t get hurt. Who knows if that’s actually true. What’s undeniable is that in Week 13 of the 2023 season, the 49ers were the much better team. They took it to the Eagles with a 42-19 blowout win on the road. Deebo backed up his talk with 138 yards and 3 touchdowns on 7 touches. San Fran has now beaten the Eagles and Cowboys by a combined score of 84 to 29. They’re a serious football team.
Matthew Stafford has 7 touchdown passes in his last 2 games and the Rams are now ready to make a playoff push at 6-6. Here’s my prediction: In the Wild Card round, the Lions will host a playoff game for the first time in 30 years. And Matthew Stafford will be there to play in it.
Speaking of the Lions, they bounced back from an unexpected Thanksgiving loss to the Packers with a 33-28 win over the Saints. They are now 9-3 for the first time since 1962. More importantly, Jared Goff played a clean game after two straight 3-turnover performances.
As of about 15 days ago, many were leaving the Packers, Matt LaFleur, and Jordan Love for dead. Things change quickly in the NFL. The Packers have now won 3 in a row and suddenly appear likely to make the playoffs given their easy schedule down the stretch. More importantly, their young quarterback is putting things together. Over his last 3 games, Love is completing 68.5% of his passes with 8 TDs and 0 INTs.
The Broncos entered Week 13 as the AFC’s hottest team, winning 5 in a row on the strength of protecting the ball and forcing turnovers. Against the Texans, Denver lost the turnover battle 3-0 and the game 22-17.
Mike Evans caught 7 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown, and he became the first player to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in each of the first 10 years of his career. It’s been a struggle for Tampa this season, but they’re just a game out of first place and trailing only the Falcons at 6-6. They’ll travel to Atlanta next week for a huge NFC South showdown.
The Jets lost their 5th straight game, as well as the hope of seeing Aaron Rodgers return in the final weeks. Many in New York are now calling for sweeping changes in the offseason. I don’t know what they’ll do, but that doesn’t make much sense to me. As long as Rodgers returns, they should keep the same coaches and systems on both sides of the ball in place. The offensive line needs to be addressed, but it would be crazy to act like this year was a systemic failure. They lost their QB. The season ended 4 plays in. It’s no one’s fault. Run it back next year with Rodgers returning and personnel improvements to the one area in dire need, and this team will be in the mix in 2024. Panicking and making sweeping changes for the sake of making changes (which would totally be a Jets thing to do) would be the worst possible move.
For the third straight game, the Patriots lost despite allowing 10 points or less. It’s the first time that’s happened since the Chicago Cardinals accomplished the feat in 1938. On the bright side for New England, 7 of their 10 losses have come by 7 points or less. In each of those games, they had the ball with the chance to tie the game or take the lead in the final minutes. With even slightly competent quarterback play, this team would be somewhere near .500.
The Washington Commanders took the bold approach of not covering Tyreek Hill on Sunday. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t go well. Hill finished with 5 catches for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Dolphins trounced Washington 45-15. I know a quarterback will likely get the MVP, but I’m not sure there’s a player more valuable to his team than Hill.
The Steelers laid a giant egg against the 2-win Cardinals, losing 24-10 at home. More concerning is that they lost Kenny Pickett for what appears to be at least a couple of games. They’ll have to lean on Mitchell Trubisky to make a playoff push in an ultra-competitive AFC.
Gardner Minshew threw for 312 yards and 2 touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime. The Colts are a surprising 7-5 and are right smack in the middle of the playoff mix. At the end of the day, I don’t know how good of a team they are, but they’re definitely one of the most fun to watch.