Eagles excel; three AFC West teams don’t
The NFL schedule is into December, which means most games have playoff implications.
Week 13 featured some major injuries from the quarterback position, a tie, the Cincinnati Bengals defeating the Kansas City Chiefs for the third time in the calendar year and the Dallas Cowboys lighting up the scoreboard for 54 points.
Fourteen teams are above .500 through 13 weeks, led by the 11-1 Philadelphia Eagles, while the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans have been eliminated from playoff contention.
How much of an influence did coaches have on the outcomes in Week 13? USA TODAY Sports examined the performances of NFL coaches. Here are their grades for Week 13:
Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff: A
Earlier this season, USA TODAY Sports highlighted Philadelphia’s ability to consistently win the battle at the line of scrimmage each week. The Eagles did so again against a physical Titans squad. Quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Miles Sanders both had a rushing touchdown in Philly’s 35-10 win.
The Eagles lead the NFL with 23 rushing touchdowns this season, a stat that illustrates their ability to win the battle in the trenches.
Through the air, the Eagles made sure they made Tennessee regret trading wide receiver A.J. Brown. Brown compiled eight catches, 119 yards and two touchdowns against his former team.
The Eagles ran a fake bubble screen on one play as Brown ran a go route. Hurts passed to Brown in one-on-one coverage, and the wideout made an excellent play on the football for a 29-yard touchdown.
Defensively, the Eagles held Titans running back Derrick Henry to 30 yards on 11 carries.
Las Vegas Raiders coaching staff: B
The Chargers’ top cornerback (J.C. Jackson) is out for the season and the team came into Week 13 with the NFL’s 28th-ranked run defense. What did the Raiders do to exploit it? Las Vegas passed to wide receiver Davante Adams and handed the ball off to running back Josh Jacobs.
Adams amassed eight receptions for a season-high 177 yards and two touchdowns. He was targeted 12 times.
Jacobs produced 26 carries, 144 yards and one touchdown.
The pair combined for 321 yards and three touchdowns in the Raiders’ 27-20 win over the Chargers.
The Raiders have won three in a row. Adams has seven games this season with 100-plus receiving yards, tied for most in the NFL. The wideout leads all players with 85 touchdown receptions since entering the NFL in 2014.
Cleveland Browns coaching staff: C
In his first NFL game since Jan. 3, 2021, Deshaun Watson was predictably rusty in his 2022 debut. Watson had a 53.4 passer rating in his return. But the Browns got the victory because their defense and special teams picked up the slack for the struggling Watson-led offense.
Cornerback Denzel Ward had a fumble return touchdown, linebacker Tony Fields had a pick-six and wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones took a punt to the house in Cleveland’s 27-14 win against the Houston Texans.
The Browns are the first team with two defensive touchdowns and a special teams touchdown in a game since the Green Bay Packers accomplished the feat in Week 11 of the 2014 season, per NFL Research.
Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff: D
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and the defense deserve the low grade. The Bengals, for the third time in the same calendar year, torched Kansas City’s defense. On Sunday, the Bengals picked apart the Chiefs defense on the way to 431 total yards.
Spagnuolo’s defensive scheme typically requires Kansas City’s secondary to play man-on-man coverage, which is a huge advantage for Cincy’s explosive receivers.
On 3rd-and-11 with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Tee Higgins’ slant beat single coverage and Joe Burrow delivered an accurate pass for a first down. The third-down conversion sealed the victory for Cincinnati.
Burrow only had six incompletions in the Bengals’ 27-24 win. Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd combined for 192 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Denver Broncos coaching staff, Los Angeles Chargers staff: F
The Broncos again had another listless offensive performance. They were kept out of the end zone in a 10-9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Denver went 2 of 12 on third down and never entered the red zone. Offensive-minded head coach Nathaniel Hackett, Russell Wilson and the Broncos have the worst scoring offense in the NFL, averaging a paltry 13.8 points per game.
Chargers defensive-minded head coach Brandon Staley hasn’t been able to design a defense capable of stopping the run. The Chargers were gashed for 154 rushing yards in Week 13. Running back Josh Jacobs registered 144 yards and one touchdown.
There was no defensive resistance on the 20-yard TD run by Jacobs. The running back wasn’t touched as he ran through an open highway to the end zone.
The Chargers defense is giving up a league-worst 5.4 yards per carry.