Packers Trying to Close Out a Game: They went three-and-out on all four of their fourth-quarter drives and if not for Jesper Horsted’s poor decision might have been defending a two-point conversion to try to hold on. It was a blueprint for how to blow a 21-3 fourth-quarter lead.
Jesper Horsted Takes Matters Into His Own Hands: Granted, he probably hasn’t run a whole lot of option in his life, but on the Bears’ last-ditch play at Lambeau a pitch to Allen Robinson seemed like a pretty sure path to a touchdown.
That Baker-to-Odell Chemistry: They’re like the original Odd Couple, but instead of one being clean and one being messy, one misreads coverages and airmails throws and the other runs routes so that his quarterback has no idea where he’ll end up.
49ers Take the Week Off: Though the loss to Atlanta has little impact if they beat the Rams and Seahawks each of the next two weeks. You get the feeling Kyle Shanahan kept a lot in his pocket on Sunday.
The Drew Lock Sequel: Regardless of the conditions, Arrowhead has been a tough place for opposing quarterbacks the past two seasons. You can give him a pass for Sunday’s performance, but it did little to soothe the jangled nerves of anyone in the Broncos front office who thinks they should be looking at quarterbacks again next spring.
Titans’ Non-Cody Parkey Kickers: They’re a combined 5-for-15 on field goals this year, including Ryan Succop’s 0-for-5 from beyond 35 yards, after Succop’s first-quarter 45-yard attempt was blocked (it was technically a block, but the trajectory of the kick was approximately driven through the Earth’s crust).
Raiders Offense in the Second Half: They’ve now been shut out in back-to-back second halves, and put up 16 points against the Jaguars despite having the ball in Jacksonville territory in nine of their 10 possessions. That’s truly difficult to do.
Josh Norman on the Wrong End of One More Highlight: It’s been a brutal year for the vet, and giving up a touchdown to a 5’ 10” converted quarterback on a back-pylon throw probably signaled an all-but-official end.
The Regrettable Acquisition of Mohamed Sanu: Maybe an offseason in the system will get him caught up, but then again, physically he has looked terrible so far. Along with issues creating separation, he had another fourth-down drop and managed to cough up a fumble when protecting a two-touchdown lead late (he was saved by four Bengals penalties on that one).
Jameis Has Linebacker Blindness: The linebacker level has been an issue going back to Florida State. Jahlani Tavai’s opening-drive pick was Jameis’s ninth interception to a linebacker this season.
Muppets Shilling for Facebook: “Rainbow Connection” was sacred, you monsters.
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Moments We’ll Tell Our Grandkids About
Justin Reid and Whitney Mercilus Join Forces to Save Christmas: This was a huge swing in a scoreless game, not only taking points off the board (this was a first-and-goal from the 5) but Mercilus’s 86-yard return setting up the Texans’ first touchdown of the day.
Lonnie Johnson, Like Roger Daltrey, Won’t Get Fooled Again: To be fair, I don’t know if Lonnie Johnson was ever fooled a first time. But the Titans have gotten a few teams on special teams trickery over the years, and Johnson played the ball on this fake punt perfectly.
Julio at the Buzzer: Well, not quite the buzzer (as anyone who bet under the 49 total will tell you), but still very late:
Randy Bullock With the Perfect Onside Kick: No one got hurt, and it ended in the obvious outcome. If the NFL continues to be too stubborn to do away with the onside kick, root for this to happen every time.
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What We’ll Be Talking About This Week
Another Sad Farewell to Oakland: Their last “last game in Oakland” ended with a 23-6 loss to the Bears, with future Raider Vince Evans throwing three touchdowns. This time, it ended with getting shut out in the second half for a second straight week, while allowing two late touchdown drives to a quarterback who had engineered one touchdown drive—in a 35-point game—in his previous two starts. When you’re abandoning your fanbase, might as well leave them with the worst taste in their mouths possible.
Texans Take Control of the AFC South: It wasn’t beautiful—Deshaun Watson mixed some bafflingly poor throws in with his usual brilliance, though the Titans proved to be just as mistake-prone (a third-down drop then blocked field goal on their first drive, a deflected red-zone INT and 86-yard return in the second quarter). Due to their 4-1 mark within the division, the Texans’ magic number is 1.
Eagles-Cowboys for All the Marbles: Or at least eight wins worth of marbles, at the Linc next Sunday.
The Ugly End of the Bob Quinn Era in Detroit: The Lions have undergone as bad a four-year roster-building run as any team in football under the GM Quinn; the Quandre Diggs giveaway and subsequent collapse of the secondary provided an exclamation point. The defensive head coach he brought in is now overseeing the worst unit—arguably on either side of the ball—in the NFL. Matt Patricia is probably out too considering he was Quinn’s hand-picked guy. What a mess Quinn made.
Urban Meyer Watches a Football Game: With Dan Snyder! Right next to him! Maybe even on his lap! No, not on his lap? Well, who knows for sure what did happen? All we know is that Urban is champing at the bit to be a part of that well-run organization.
The NFL officiating department stepped in Sunday to reverse the team set for the second-half kickoff in Sunday's Rams-Cowboys game, an unusual move that corrected a mistake during the pregame coin toss.
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