NFL Week 11: It's a trap

A few playoff hopefuls were almost caught sleeping this weekend.

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us. And every year in the NFL, the schedule over the holiday weekend is packed with a ton of rivalry games. 

That makes the week before Thanksgiving a bit treacherous for any teams that might be looking ahead, particularly for those who are in the thick of the playoff hunt. 

In Week 11, several teams narrowly avoided falling into a trap game, while a couple of others more or less saw their postseason dreams dashed. Below, I’m going to mostly focus on the former because it’s more fun to celebrate the Lions and Browns accomplishing something that they hadn’t done since the days of Woodstock. But I saved room at the end for the latter, if you can’t get enough of the Chargers and Jets finding new, and sometimes the same old, ways to fail.

The Lions woke up late and rallied to beat the Bears

The Lions entered the week with a 1.5-game lead in the NFC North over the second-place Vikings, but with five more divisional matchups left to play this season, this was no time to get complacent. That’s especially true when you remember that Detroit hasn’t claimed a divisional title in 30 years, back when it was called the NFC Central. 

The Bears were on the schedule on Sunday, only the Lions’ second NFC North opponent of the year. Chicago hadn’t won a divisional game since a win in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day 2021 and was looking to end the streak in that same stadium.  

For most of the afternoon, the Bears were poised to do just that. Justin Fields, who was back in the lineup for the first time since injuring his thumb, was making plays with his arms and legs from the start. On the opening drive, he went 3 of 4 for 38 yards and ran the ball three times for 28 yards. The Bears took an early lead on a D’Onta Foreman rushing touchdown and went ahead again in the third quarter when Fields bought some time, stepped up in the pocket, and fired a 39-yard strike to D.J. Moore in the end zone.

While Detroit’s defense had its hands full trying to slow down Fields, the other units weren’t doing their part. Jared Goff, who had just a 1.5% interception rate before Sunday, was picked off three times. Special teams also fumbled the ball away on a kickoff return, which led to the Fields-to-Moore touchdown. 

Once the Bears went up 26-14 late in the fourth quarter, it seemed like the Lions had wasted a golden opportunity to expand their lead in the division. After all, no team trailing by double digits in the final four minutes of a game had come back to win this season. 

Well, not until the Lions did it in Week 11. Goff orchestrated a quick six-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass to Jameson Williams. The Bears then went three-and-out after rookie Tyler Scott misjudged a deep ball from Fields and couldn’t bring it in — pretty much the one play that OC Luke Getsy called in the final 10 minutes that wasn’t conservative. 

From there, Goff and former Bears running back David Montgomery ate up Chicago’s defense for the go-ahead score. 

There’s a lot to nitpick about the Lions’ sluggish performance for the first 55 minutes: the turnovers, the one-sided time-of-possession battle, the defense allowing a 100-yard rusher for the first time this season (Fields). In the end, though, the Lions came together when it mattered most and showed the kind of resiliency that a contender needs to have. Now, coupled with Minnesota’s loss on Sunday night, Detroit holds a 2.5-game lead in the NFC North and can take another step toward clinching the division on Thanksgiving, when the Vikings come to town.

The Texans’ defense had C.J. Stroud’s back

Like Jared Goff, C.J. Stroud had been one of the least turnover-prone quarterbacks heading into Week 11. Stroud had an NFL-best 0.6% interception rate while also leading all quarterbacks in yards per game (291.8). And like Goff, Stroud threw three interceptions on Sunday alone. 

Not every pick was Stroud’s fault, but they all potentially cost the Texans points. The first two occurred in the red zone, and the third came at Arizona’s 26-yard line with five minutes to go and the Texans leading 21-16. 

Stroud played the late-game hero two weeks in a row, but Houston’s defense came to the rescue this time. One week after Kyler Murray led a game-winning drive in his first game back, he threatened to do the same in Texas. Four straight completions, including a 31-yard gain by Greg Dortch, moved the Cardinals to Houston’s 35-yard line at the two-minute warning. 

At that point, the defense clamped down. Notably, Christian Harris tackled James Conner for a 5-yard loss on first down and Steven Nelson batted away a ball headed for Hollywood Brown on fourth down. The Texans survived, and even though they probably should have put the Cardinals away earlier, I think it’ll help the team’s confidence to know that they can win when Stroud isn’t at his best. 

That’s not to say that Stroud was bad against Arizona. He still threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was patently ridiculous for a rookie. But he won’t stop being aggressive, and sometimes that means risking turnovers. The risk is worth the reward, though, when you have a defense that has your back, as it did for Stroud this weekend.

The Texans improved to 6-4 after the win and can turn their attention to next week’s pivotal clash with the Jaguars, who hold a one-game lead in the AFC South, for now. 

The Browns stuck to their plan against the Steelers

Rivalry week came a little early in the AFC North. After the Ravens’ win over the Bengals on Thursday night, the winner of Steelers-Browns would be within striking distance of the top spot in the division. 

The problem for the Steelers? Their offense. They have yet to gain more yards than their opponent in any game this season. 

The problem for the Browns? Their quarterback situation. Last week against the Ravens, Deshaun Watson left the game right before halftime with an ankle injury. When he came back in the second half, probably pumped full of Toradol, he looked like a completely different quarterback than the one who struggled through the first half (and most of the season). Days after that miraculous comeback, however, the team announced that Watson was done for the year with a shoulder injury. 

So it goes for the Browns. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson got the nod to take over for Watson, and though he was more prepared than in his first start, the fifth-round rookie wasn’t expected to shoulder too much responsibility. Fortunately for the Browns, they have plenty of experience leaning on their defense to overcome their quarterback’s shortcomings. 

DTR wasn’t great on Sunday; he averaged just 3.8 yards per pass and also threw a pick. Still, he showed a lot of improvement in the six weeks since his previous start, and more importantly, he was a lot more clutch than Kenny Pickett late in the game. 

When Cleveland got the ball back with just over a minute remaining and the score knotted at 10-10, DTR did his job. He completed all four of his passes, each to a different receiver, for 39 yards and got the Browns within field goal range. Dustin Hopkins proceeded to make the 34-yard field goal with two seconds left to give the Browns their seventh win — and fourth by three points or fewer. 

The good news for both the Browns and Steelers is this: They’d be in the playoffs if the season ended today, and neither one has to face many more tough defenses this year. They have a similar plan of attack, too, that should be able to get them to the postseason, one that asks the defense to carry the load and the offense not to make too many mistakes.

I’m not sure if that’s a sustainable approach in today’s NFL once January arrives, but for now, it seems to be working. At least it did for the Browns this week, anyway. 

Well, it’s pretty much over

For the three teams below, a win this week wouldn’t have saved their season and a loss didn’t end it. But, unless they go on an unexpected hot streak to end the season, any realistic hope they had for a playoff berth is basically gone.

The Commanders let Tommy DeVito light them up

The Giants had been one of the worst teams in the NFL even before Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor were injured. Since undrafted rookie QB Tommy DeVito has been in the lineup, they are the clear No. 32 ranked team in the league, per DVOA and anyone with eyeballs who was subjected to their games the last few weeks.

In his three appearances, DeVito attempted seven passes against the Jets (completing two of them for -1 yard), threw two picks against the Raiders, and averaged 3.2 yards per pass against the Cowboys. He was also sacked 13 times, some of which were his own fault. In no way did he look capable of playing a competent game, let alone winning one. 

Then he went to Washington and started setting franchise records — good ones! DeVito threw for 246 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Although he was sacked nine times, he never fumbled the ball. Instead, he let the Commanders handle all of the turnover business. They coughed it up six times: three fumbles and three Sam Howell interceptions. 

Washington would have been a playoff long shot even with a victory, but this was as close as the Commanders had to a gimme win the rest of the season. Now 4-7, those chances are down to 1 percent. Talk about pouring cold water on their season!

The Chargers made Justin Herbert visibly angry

Almost every time the camera pans to Justin Herbert on the sideline of a Chargers game, he has the same stoic look on his face. That’s true when his team is ahead or when it’s on the verge of losing yet another one-score contest.

That wasn’t the case halfway through the fourth quarter in Green Bay, however. The Chargers were trailing the Packers by three and Herbert was trying to get his center to snap the ball before they got hit with a delay-of-game penalty. He didn’t and they did, leading a frustrated Herbert to angrily spike the ball and yell at his teammate.

Herbert did end up throwing a touchdown on that drive, though predictably, LA’s defense immediately gave up the lead again while allowing Jordan Love to throw for a career-high 322 yards. 

Then, when the Chargers had one more chance to win, rookie receiver Quentin Johnston badly dropped a great ball from Herbert, who at this point was probably dead inside.

The Chargers could not afford to lose to the Packers, considering their remaining schedule (games against the Ravens, Bills, and Chiefs) and the crowded AFC wild card race. Since they did, that likely spells the end for the Brandon Staley era.

The Jets are reliving the same nightmare

It’s deja vu for the Jets, who benched Zach Wilson in November and replaced him with a quarterback who you have only vaguely heard of and couldn’t pick out of a lineup. Last year at this time, it was Mike White. This year, it’s Tim Boyle.

Wilson was yanked near the end of the third quarter, when he had completed 7 of 15 passes (none to a wide receiver) for 81 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He was also sacked five times. Boyle wasn’t much better in limited action of a blowout loss to the Bills.

Though Wilson ended the Jets’ offensive touchdown drought, he was a big part of the reason they had gone 13 quarters and 41 drives without getting in the end zone. Robert Saleh hasn’t committed to a starting quarterback for their upcoming game against the Dolphins, but it’s hard to imagine it’ll make much difference who is under center.

The Jets’ best chance to make the postseason was to follow the Browns’ approach of riding the defense and hoping the offense could do the bare minimum. If the Jets could’ve done that until mid-December and kept themselves in the playoff race, there was an outside shot that Aaron Rodgers would return. That doesn’t seem plausible anymore. But to be honest, a 40-year-old returning three months after tearing his Achilles was always a bit far-fetched.