Week 11 of the NFL season certainly had its surprises in store. The Detroit Lions became the first team to win a game by more than 10 points in the final five minutes of regulation this season (the teams were previously 0-84), and the Cleveland Browns pulled off a thrilling victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in one classic AFC North defensive exchange.
For the first time since 1969, both the Browns and Lions won at least seven of their first ten games to start the season. If you include the 7-3 Jacksonville Jaguars, it’s the first time ever that all three Browns, Lions and Jaguars have each won seven of their first 10 games. Of the four teams that have never reached the Super Bowl (Lions, Browns, Jaguars and Houston Texans), they are a combined 28-12.
This has been a wild season, which makes deciding what’s real and what’s not even more daunting. So which findings from Sunday are overreactions and which are reality? Let’s take a look.
Browns will make the playoffs
Overreaction or reality: reality
There was perhaps no team in the NFL that needed a win more on Sunday than the Cleveland Browns. As if playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers wasn’t difficult enough without their starting quarterback — after Deshaun Watson was sidelined this week with an injury — Dorian Thompson-Robinson wanted to avenge the disaster of his first start (he found out). He started against the Ravens an hour before game time and threw three interceptions.
Thompson-Robinson was far from perfect (24 of 43, 165 yards, no touchdowns, interceptions), but he led the Browns with 1:18 left in the final game and set up the game-winning field goal. Without spikes, Thompson-Robinson was 4 of 4 for 39 yards on the final drive — supporting a top-two defense that is more than good enough to get Cleveland into the postseason.
The win puts Cleveland two games ahead of Indianapolis and Cincinnati for the final AFC playoff spot and 1.5 games ahead of Buffalo. The Browns are currently No. 5 in the AFC, a half-game behind the Baltimore Ravens and lead the AFC North.
Since the Browns only play two teams currently over .500 the rest of the way, they should be a playoff team — even with Thompson-Robinson at quarterback.
Daron Bland is the Defensive Player of the Year
Overreaction or reality: reality
Bland continued his dominant season in the secondary with his fourth interception return for a touchdown of the season, tying Eric Allen (1993), Jim Kearney (1972) and Ken Houston (1971) for the most scores in a single season in the NFL history. His touchdown was part of a dominant defensive performance by the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday’s stunning win over the Carolina Panthers, as the unit allowed just 187 yards and 10 points.
Bland is having one of the best coverage seasons in recent memory, as opposing quarterbacks targeting him are completing just 43.1% of their passes for 231 yards with one touchdown and six interceptions, for a passer rating of 17.5 .
While it is very difficult for defensive backs to win Defensive Layer of the Year, Bland’s coverage stats show that he is worthy of the honor. Bland has scored as many touchdowns as Travis Kelce! Myles Garrett and teammate Micah Parsons have their cases, but Bland deserves some consideration for the award.
Bland’s only passing touchdown allowed was against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 9, his worst game of the year. He was dominant over everyone else.
Brandon Staley was scheduled to be released this week
Overreaction or reality: reality
How many of these bad losses will the Chargers endure? Los Angeles has lost two straight games to NFC North opponents, each by a point. The Chargers lost on Sunday to a Packers team that had lost five of six games entering the game – and the only win came against a quarterback not currently on the team they beat (Brett Rypien, Los Angeles Rams) .
The Chargers have five losses this season by a margin of three points or less – no one else in the NFL has more than two. They are the first team since the San Diego Chargers in 2000 to lose five of their first 10 games by allowing a decisive score in the final three minutes of regulation or overtime. They have suffered 14 losses by a margin of three points or less since 2020 – the most in the NFL.
The late game situations could be attributed to Justin Herbert (29-30 as a starter), but the problems lie far beyond him. This is Staley’s third season as head coach and the same issues remain as the Chargers continue to fall out of the AFC playoff race.
It’s time to leave Staley behind. Maybe the Chargers can create a spark with a different coach toward the end of the season. Ask the Las Vegas Raiders how it works.
Ron Rivera should be fired this week
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction
Losing twice to the New York Giants should be a red-hot offense, especially for a team that (thanks to new ownership) will begin a rebuild with a new head coach and front office. The Commanders are 4-6 and are simply not a playoff team, as evidenced by two poor losses to a Giants team that can’t seem to get its act together (the Giants scored more than 20 for the first time since Week 2). Points). ).
Why isn’t Rivera fired this week? The Commanders play the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, a short week with no opportunity for an assistant coach to develop a game plan or leave his mark on the roster. It’s just irrational to make a drastic change in a short week.
Maybe there will be a change after the Thanksgiving game, but not this week.
Bills will make the playoffs
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction
Sunday’s win over the New York Jets was impressive, but the Bills need to do more than destroy a team that has almost no offense and benched its quarterback because of poor performance. Buffalo has a very tough schedule ahead of it: traveling to Philadelphia, hosting Kansas City after the bye and hosting Dallas in the next three games. All three are Super Bowl contenders and the toughest stretch for any team in the NFL (the Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys have a combined record of 22-6).
The offense was very promising in Joe Brady’s debut, as Josh Allen threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns (the Bills had 393 total yards). There are a lot of positives to take from this game, but the Bills are still half a game behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans for the final playoff spot.
Bottom line: Buffalo needs to go 2-1 in its next three games to have a good shot at the postseason.
Jets shouldn’t go back to Zach Wilson
Overreaction or reality: reality
It took a long time to bench Wilson in the third quarter, especially since Aaron Rodgers has been supported terribly all year. After going 7 of 15 for 81 yards with a touchdown and an interception (57.9 rating), the Jets had enough and decided to give Tim Boyle a chance.
Boyle wasn’t good either, completing 7 of 14 passes for 33 yards and one interception (26.5 rating). But he went into the game to do cleanup duty because of a bust. Maybe a full week of first-team offense will help someone waiting for the Jets to finally end the Wilson experiment.
Garrett Wilson had two catches for nine yards. The Jets didn’t convert a single third down and had 155 yards of offense. Zach Wilson has completed 59.2% of his passes this year with 6 touchdowns and 7 interceptions for a 73.8 rating…and that’s after two years of terrible football.
The Jets can’t go back to him, no matter how poor the alternative. Time to move on.
Brock Purdy is the league’s MVP
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction
After Sunday’s performance, which saw us go 21 of 25 for 333 yards and three touchdowns, no interceptions and a perfect passer rating of 158.3, it’s hard to argue against Purdy’s case for league MVP. This is just another strong performance from Purdy, who has crept back into the MVP conversation.
Purdy leads the NFL in passer rating (115.1) and yards per attempt (9.7) by a wide margin. He has the second-highest yards per attempt of any quarterback in 10 team games since 1950 and the highest passer rating in a two-game span (157.3) of any quarterback in league history.
It’s fair to put Purdy in the conversation for MVP, but there are many candidates for that honor. Purdy hasn’t been the MVP in 11 weeks, but he’s definitely in the conversation. Leading the 49ers to a comeback win in the fourth quarter from a deficit of eight or more points will boost his record – something neither he nor his head coach has ever done.