Unique playoff field foursome brewing
The 32 things we learned from Week 11 of the NFL season:
1. Tip of the cap to the NFL’s research department here, but what a singular playoff field we might have coalescing. Only four teams in the league have never reached the Super Bowl: the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. If the season ended today, the entire quartet would qualify for the postseason.
1a. This is the first time all four of those clubs have had a winning record this late in a season.
2. The Lions, who have never won the NFC North crown nor ever hosted a playoff game at Ford Field, are 8-2 to start a season for the first time since 1962. This is the first time since 1969 that both Detroit and Cleveland are at least 7-3 or better to launch a season – and the futility is much more acute in those proud cities given their franchises each won four league championships prior to the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, all of those titles also obviously predating the Super Bowl era, which began in 1966.
3. The Texans and Jags have existed for a combined 51 seasons, though Houston’s pain extends to the days when it was home to the Oilers, who won the AFL’s first two crowns in 1960 and ’61. The Texans have never reached the AFC title game, a round that’s seen Jacksonville vanquished three times since its inaugural season in 1995.
4. Unsurprisingly, improved quarterback play is a key component for all of these turnarounds – though the Browns’ fortunes are now pinned to rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson following Deshaun Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury. Still, credit DTR for recording his first NFL victory in Week 11 – a massive win against the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
5. In Detroit, QB Jared Goff overcame three interceptions in the first three quarters and engineered a 17-point final period as the Lions salvaged a 31-26 win against the Chicago Bears, putting his team alongside the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens as the league’s only eight-win clubs going into the “Monday Night Football” game. Philly won its ninth by beating the Chiefs in that game.
6. In Houston, breakout rookie QB C.J. Stroud threw for 336 more yards and two touchdowns as the Texans improved to 6-4 with a 21-16 defeat of the Arizona Cardinals.
6a. Stroud matched Joe Burrow’s rookie record with three consecutive games with at least 300 passing yards.
6b. However, Stroud, who entered the game with two interceptions, served up three. He had been on pace to smash Dak Prescott’s rookie mark for touchdownto-interception ratio (23-to-4).
6c. But Stroud looked good in Week 11 … given those “Battle Red” Texans helmets present much better when paired with the “Steel Blue” Color Rush jerseys.
7. Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence became the first player in team history with multiple passing and rushing TDs in the same game as the AFC South leaders rebounded from an embarrassing Week 10 loss to lash the Tennessee Titans 34-14.
8. Been a lot of great quarterbacks in the history of the San Francisco 49ers: Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Brodie, Jeff Garcia, Alex Smith, Jimmy Garoppolo and Colin Kaepernick among them. In Week 11, Brock Purdy became the first one to post a perfect 158.3 passer rating in a game that required at least 20 throws.
8a. Purdy torched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by completing 21 of 25 balls for 333 yards and three TDs in a 27-14 victory.
8b. (Montana did post a 158.3, too, in 1989 but attempted only 19 passes in a 45-3 rout of the Atlanta Falcons.)
9. Haven’t been a lot of great quarterbacks in the history of the New York Jets, who lost 32-6 to the retooled Buffalo Bills. Zach Wilson was benched in favor of QB3 Tim Boyle on a day when the NYJ went 0-for-11 on third downs.
10. Jets head coach Robert Saleh wasn’t prepared after the game to announce who would be behind center when his team hosts the AFC East-leading Miami Dolphins on Black Friday, but he reportedly decided at press time to go with Boyle.
11. (Might we suggest veteran Thomas Morstead, who completed an 18-yard throw for a first down on a fake punt
for the Jets?)
12. But things looked much better for Bills Mafia, interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady overseeing an attack that posted 32 points, Buffalo’s most since Week 4, and 393 yards.
13. Defensive Player of the Year dark horse? The Dallas Cowboys already have a former one (Stephon Gilmore) at the cornerback position, where injured AllPro Trevon Diggs also seemed to be emerging as a potential candidate in future seasons. But who foresaw this campaign from sophomore corner DaRon Bland, who tied the NFL record in Week 11 with his fourth pick-six of the season?
13a. Bland joined Hall of Famer Ken Houston (1971), Jim Kearney (1972) and Eric Allen (1993).
14. It obviously helped Bland’s cause to be lining up opposite Panthers rookie QB Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick of the 2023 draft serving up this third interception taken the other way for a score this season. Young also fumbled and was sacked seven times in Carolina’s 33-10 loss.
15. New York Giants undrafted rookie QB Tommy DeVito was sacked nine times in Week 11 … yet also threw a career-best three TDs against the Washington Commanders, notching his first NFL win.
16. Washington committed six turnovers, its most in a game since 2014 … also against the Giants. New York had no giveaways in Week 11.
17. A stinker of an effort by the Commanders was exacerbated by the fact there was no hot water for showers afterward at FedExField.
18. Cowboys rookie K Brandon Aubrey has now converted all 21 of his field goal tries, a record to start a career in the NFL. Ironically, he missed his second extra point of 2023 in Week 11.
19. The Minnesota Vikings’ loss snapped their five-game winning streak ... meaning their vanquishers, the Denver Broncos, are now the league’s hottest team after prevailing a fourth consecutive time.
20. Monday night’s Super Bowl 57 rematch – Super Bowl 58 preview? – between the Eagles (entering at 8-1) and Kansas City Chiefs (entering at 7-2) was the ninth-ever regular-season Super Sunday redux from the previous season and, this year, featured each conference’s projected No. 1 playoff seed.
21. However, that slot changed for Kansas City when Philadelphia won and the Ravens assumed the AFC’s top spot.
22. Good news for Chiefs fans: The reigning Super Bowl champions had won the past four such rematches and were 6-2 overall entering Monday night.
23. Bad news for Chiefs fans: Taylor Swift wasn’t at Arrowhead Stadium and the Eagles won.
24. What a damaging week for the AFC North, which was recently on track to become the first division to send all four of its members to the same postseason. But season-ending injuries to Watson, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Burrow, and Ravens TE Mark Andrews suggest it’s far more likely two of those teams ultimately advance.
25. Not only have the Steelers still failed to outgain any of their opponents this season, nearly 30% of their 249yard output in Week 11 occurred on RB Jaylen Warren’s 74-yard TD run.
26. Warren’s backfield mate, RB Najee Harris, had 36 yards from scrimmage and has clearly reached a breaking point with the offense. “I’m just at a point, where I’m just tired of this (expletive),” he said. Harris later added, “Is it fixable? Yeah. Are we going to fix it? (Expletive.)”
27. Pittsburgh’s 77 net passing yards were its fewest in nearly four years, matching the total of a 2019 contest started by former QB Devlin Hodges.
28. But good Week 11 for Browns DE Myles Garrett, arguably the DPOY front-runner, as he added two sacks to push his league-leading total to 13.
29. Total yards in the RamsSeahawks game? Seattle had 291, Los Angeles had 267 and the penalty flags had 222. There were more combined infractions (21) than points scored by either team in a 17-16 LA victory.
30. The Dolphins outlasted the Las Vegas Raiders 20-13, preventing the Silver and Black’s Antonio Pierce from becoming the first interim head coach to go 3-0 since 2000.
31. Memo to Los Angeles Chargers coach Brandon Staley: When your league-worst pass defense breathes life into a stagnant Green Bay Packers offense in what could ultimately be a crippling loss for the 4-6 Bolts, it’s fair to question your role as the play-caller.
32. Who’s got the best name in the NFL, Dolphins WR River Cracraft or Stone Smartt? We’re going with the latter – this week – after the Chargers tight end rumbled 51 yards for his first career TD.
33. Apologies to our fine friends north of the border, but Canadian football doesn’t rate in “32 things.” Nevertheless, let’s acknowledge the Nov. 19 thrilling Grey Cup, the Montreal Alouettes upsetting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a go-ahead touchdown in the final seconds of a 28-24 victory – Montreal securing the Cup for the first time since 2010. A win would have conferred a third Cup to the Bombers in the past four seasons.