Plenty of interceptions in Week 11
Chiefs QB Smith has 2 passes picked off in loss to the Giants
The 40 things we learned from Week 11 of the NFL season.
1. Interceptions came in bunches in what was a very ugly weekend for a handful of quarterbacks. In all, there were 28 picks thrown in the first 12 games of Week 11, including four from Titans QB Marcus Mariota on Thursday, and they came in weird ways and from unexpected players. It was the most interceptions in a weekend this year since Week 6, when there were 35.
2. The most unlikely pick came courtesy of Giants DT Damon Harrison, who swiped a shovel pass from Chiefs QB Alex Smith. It was only the second interception Smith had thrown all year.
3. Smith’s third came later in the day when New York CB Janoris Jenkins got him.
4. Entering Sunday, Kansas City had suffered two interceptions all season, one from Smith and one from WR Tyreek Hill on a gadget play. The Giants pilfered three passes, including one from TE Travis Kelce. Hey, Andy Reid, maybe let Smith throw the ball. Maybe. 5. Maybe Sunday’s most predictable interception was from Jay Cutler, who misfired into the end zone to kill Miami’s first drive. By halftime, he had thrown two more picks and was ruled out with a concussion. At least he knows Adam Gase’s offense, right?
6. Dishonorable mention on the interception roll call goes to Giants RB Shane Vereen, whose halfback option pass was terribly executed. To make it worse, the Giants were in the red zone when Ben McAdoo made that head-scratching decision.
7. No more obvious signs of McAdoo’s desperation than calling a fake punt (successful) and that Vereen play in the first quarter of a home game.
8. Maybe McAdoo should’ve gotten desperate earlier. He only needed two weeks to notch two wins in 2016.
9. Texans QB Tom Savage lost a fumble and was intercepted by Arizona’s Patrick Peterson. Savage has 10 turnovers in three starts since he took over for injured Deshaun Watson.
10. But Savage also picked up his first win of 2017 on Sunday and also threw multiple TD passes in a game for the first time in his four-year career. 11. Dilly Dilly > Omaha.
12. That said, if anything could lure Peyton Manning out of retirement, it’s the possibility of sponsored audibles.
13. Speaking of retirement, whenever 32-year-old Panthers TE Greg Olsen chooses to hang ’em up, the broadcast networks will line up to hire him. Olsen was a guest analyst in the Fox broadcast booth for the Rams-Vikings game — despite Minnesota’s protests — and earned rave reviews on social media for his astute analysis.
14. But Olsen is set to return to his day job this week after being out with a broken foot since Week 2.
15. The Cardinals became the first team to start three different quarterbacks this year. Sunday, Blaine Gabbert replaced Drew Stanton, who’d replaced Carson Palmer.
16. Gabbert threw three TD passes in the loss to Houston, the first three-TD game of the former first-rounder’s sevenyear career. Sunday was his 41st start.
17. The next team to start its third quarterback of 2017? The odds-on favorite has to be the Broncos, who had 2016 firstrounder Paxton Lynch active for the first time this season after he suffered a preseason shoulder injury.
18. Among the most notable injuries Sunday was to Saints rookie CB Marshon Lattimore, who was sidelined by an ankle injury. He is a leading rookie of the year candidate and major reason the Saints defense has been so good lately.
19. New Orleans certainly seemed to miss Lattimore. The defense had allowed 12.3 points per game over its last four contests but gave up 31 to the Redskins on Sunday.
20. But the Saints escaped with an overtime win to extend their winning streak to eight games and became the first team with such a streak in the Super Bowl era following a 0-2 start.
21. Channeling Blair Walsh, Kai Forbath missed two field goals for Minnesota. Fortunately for the Vikings, it didn’t matter.
22. Memo to Sean McVay: Todd Gurley is good, give him the ball. Baffling decision to reduce the role of Gurley, who had a season-low 37 rushing yards, even before the game in Minnesota got out of hand.
23. Quarterback controversy coming at Tampa Bay? Probably not, but the Bucs are 2-0 since Ryan Fitzpatrick replaced injured Jameis Winston.
24. After NBC used the SkyCam for much of its Thursday night broadcast of the SteelersTitans game, it was almost disappointing to watch Sunday’s games with the traditional camera angle. Note to networks: More SkyCam, please.
25. Tough to top Thursday’s performance from Steelers WR Antonio Brown (10 catches, 144 yards, 3 touchdowns), but Minnesota’s Adam Thielen gave it a shot. He had six catches for 123 with a touchdown in the Vikings’ win over the Rams.
26. Thielen now has three 100-yard games this year — Brown has an NFL-best five — but no games with double-figure catches. However, Thielen has at least five grabs in all 10 games, and no other player can say that in 2017.
27. Yep, Green Bay misses Aaron Rodgers. The Packers were shut out at Lambeau Field on Sunday for the first time since 2006, two years before Rodgers made his first NFL start. (That last shutout, to the Patriots, was exactly 11 years ago Sunday.) Rodgers’ backup, Brett Hundley, threw three interceptions, lost a fumble and was sacked six times by the Ravens in a 23-0 loss.
28. Giants and Chiefs fans didn’t witness one TD Sunday, even though their teams played into overtime. New York, ahem, won 12-9.
29. Props to Lions K Matt Prater, whose game-winning 52-yard field goal in Chicago was drilled right down into a stiff Soldier Field headwind.
30. The Jaguars have a special feel given the way their defense is able to dominate and close games. Sunday against Cleveland, Jacksonville scored a touchdown in the game’s final minutes by forcing a DeShone Kizer fumble that was recovered in the end zone.
31. Now 7-3, it’s the latest the Jags have been alone atop the AFC South since 1999.
32. Officials should have been extra vigilant about concussion protocol this week after issues involving Russell Wilson and Jacoby Brissett in Week 10. And yet Washington QB Kirk Cousins was not evaluated after what appeared to be a hard hit to the head against the Saints.
33. The NFL announced Sunday that it has committed to play a game in Mexico each year from 2019 to 2021. While London gets a lot of (deserved) attention as a potential future home for a franchise, Mexico City might be an even more intriguing international destination. 34. Bengals CB Dre Kirkpatrick returned an interception by Broncos QB Brock Osweiler 100 yards but didn’t score,
thanks to a late fumble that he recovered at the Denver 2-yard line. It was the longest return in NFL history that didn’t result in a TD.
35. Bills rookie QB Nathan Peterman threw three INTs in the first quarter of his first NFL start and had five by halftime. Tyrod Taylor, whom coach Sean McDermott benched last week, had three INTs in nine starts this season.
36. The Bills have been outscored 101-34 in the last two weeks and have lost three in a row, a sign the team’s issues are far greater than the quarterback play.
37. It was a great day for the Chargers, whose 54 points were the most ever in one game in the Philip Rivers Era. The Bolts outscored the rest of the AFC West 54-34 Sunday.
38. On Sunday in Mexico City, Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch sat during The StarSpangled Banner but stood while the Mexican national anthem played at Estadio Azteca.
39. Despite giving up the most yards in the league, the Patriots held the Raiders to eight points — and haven’t allowed more than 17 during a six-game winning streak.
40. Mexico City’s altitude didn’t bother Patriots QB Tom Brady, though several of his teammates dealt with dehydration despite spending the week practicing at a similar elevation in Colorado Springs. Nonetheless, Brady, who threw for 339 yards and three TDs, became the first quarterback in NFL history to have a 300-yard passing game in three countries (Mexico, England and USA).