Since their opening-week shootout victory against the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles have been the class of the 2022 NFL season.
Week 13 was no different.
With wide receiver A.J. Brown matching up against his former team, the Tennessee Titans, the Ole Miss product had himself a day, catching eight passes for 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
In other news, star quarterback Lamar Jackson sustained a knee injury and was forced to exit the Baltimore Ravens’ win against the Denver Broncos, the Minnesota Vikings held on (once again) for another close victory, and Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers proved, despite their recent struggles, they still “own” the Chicago Bears.
Here’s a roundup of the Week 13 action.
Eagles 35, Titans 10
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts strengthened his MVP bid by throwing for 380 yards and three touchdowns and running for another score, and A.J Brown caught two touchdown passes against his former team to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 35-10 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Hurts has led the Eagles to an 11-1 start, their first time with that record since 2004 and the fourth time in franchise history. The 1949 Eagles won the NFL championship. The 1980 and 2004 teams lost in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles look every bit like a team that can win the Super Bowl.
Hurts was all they really needed to inch closer to a playoff spot.
The speedy, sure-armed QB set a career high with 29 total touchdowns and had his third career game with four total TDs. His first half alone was a pretty good game for most quarterbacks: 268 yards passing and two touchdowns with one rushing score.
The Eagles’ defence was first-rate, too, bottling up Derrick Henry — who had 11 carries for 30 yards — and limiting Ryan Tannehill to 141 yards passing and a touchdown. The Titans (7-5) lost their second straight but still have a comfortable lead in the AFC South.
Ravens 10, Broncos 9
BALTIMORE (AP) — Tyler Huntley capped a 91-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 28 seconds remaining, and the Baltimore Ravens overcame Lamar Jackson‘s injury to edge the Denver Broncos 10-9 on Sunday.
Jackson left after the first quarter with an injured knee, and the Broncos mostly shut down Baltimore after that. But on their final possession, the Ravens drove 16 plays, aided by a couple big Denver penalties. Huntley converted on fourth-and-2 from the Denver 18 with a short run, then Kenyan Drake caught a 13-yard pass.
Huntley scored on the next play for the Ravens (8-4).
Russell Wilson led the Broncos (3-9) back into Baltimore territory, but Brandon McManus came up short on a 63-yard field goal as time expired.
Baltimore wasn’t moving the ball much when Jackson was in, and although Huntley completed his first six passes, the Ravens didn’t reach the end zone until the very end. That one big drive was enough to keep them atop the AFC North.
Vikings 27, Jets 22
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Justin Jefferson’s touchdown catch with 8:33 left gave the Minnesota Vikings enough of a lead to hang on for a 27-22 victory despite a relentless rally by the New York Jets on Sunday.
Camryn Bynum’s interception at the 1-yard line with 10 seconds left finally sealed it for the Vikings (10-2), who completed a four-game sweep of the AFC East in their typical nail-biting fashion.
Mike White, who was picked off twice, was 31 of 57 for 369 yards in his second start this season for the Jets (7-5). He scored on a fourth-and-goal sneak from the 1 to pull within five points with 6:45 to go after a replay review reversed the initial ruling that he was stopped short.
With 1:43 remaining, White’s fourth-and-goal pass from the 1 was incomplete when Braxton Berrios bobbled it and the ball hit the turf. The Jets had all three timeouts left and got the ball right back at the Minnesota 43, but with White under plenty of pressure they stalled out at the 19.
Commanders 20, Giants 20 (OT)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Giants kicker Graham Gano came up well short on a 58-yard field goal attempt as time expired in overtime, leaving New York and the Washington Commanders tied at 20 Sunday in a deadlock between teams on the periphery of the NFC playoff picture.
Taylor Heinicke threw two touchdown passes for Washington and hit a crucial fourth-down pass on a tying 90-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
The Giants (7-4-1) ended a two-game losing streak, while the Commanders (7-5-1) are unbeaten in four (3-0-1) and have only one loss in their last eight games. The teams held the final two NFC postseason spots as the standings stood at the final whistle.
Heinicke was 27 of 41 for 275 yards and threw touchdown passes of 19 yards to Terry McLaurin (8 catches, 105 yards) and 28 to Johan Dotson that tied it with 1:45 to play. That drive featured Heinicke rolling to his left to hit Curtis Samuel for 20 yards on a fourth-and-4 play from his own 27 with less than three minutes to play.
Daniel Jones threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Hodgins, and Saquon Barkley scored on a 13-yard run. Gano kicked two field goals for the Giants, who are trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Packers 28, Bears 19
CHICAGO (AP) — Aaron Rodgers led three fourth-quarter scoring drives, receiver Christian Watson took an end-around 46 yards for a touchdown in the closing minutes after Jaire Alexander intercepted Justin Fields, and the Green Bay Packers rallied to beat the Chicago Bears 28-19 on Sunday.
The Packers (5-8) looked like they were on their way to another loss after dropping seven of eight, trailing 19-10 through three quarters. But they made enough plays down the stretch to come away with their eighth straight win over the Bears (3-10), who lost their sixth straight.
AJ Dillon ran for a 21-yard touchdown in the opening minute of the fourth and Mason Crosby kicked a 32-yard field goal to give Green Bay a 20-19 lead with just under five minutes left.
The Bears drove to the Packers 33 before Alexander stepped in front of a pass intended for Equanimeous St. Brown. Three plays later, Watson sprinted untouched to the end zone, and Rodgers completed a 2-point conversion pass to Mercedes Lewis. That made it 28-19 with 1:51 remaining.
Fields was then intercepted at the Green Bay 5 by Keisean Nixon.
Browns 27, Texans 14
HOUSTON (AP) — Deshaun Watson struggled in a sloppy performance in his first game in 700 days but a punt return for a touchdown by Donovan Peoples-Jones and two defensive TDs were plenty enough to give the Cleveland Browns a 27-14 win over the lowly Houston Texans on Sunday.
In the same stadium where he played his previous game, a rusty Watson threw for 131 yards with an interception in his debut for the Browns (5-7) against his former team in his return after serving an 11-game NFL suspension for sexual misconduct allegations.
Plenty of fans attended the game wearing Watson’s No. 4 jersey from both the Texans (1-10-1) and the Browns, but there were also detractors with loud boos raining down on him every time he touched the ball.
Steelers 19, Falcons 16
ATLANTA (AP) — Kenny Pickett tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Connor Heyward, Matthew Wright kicked four field goals and the Pittsburgh Steelers made it two wins in a row for the first time this season, holding off the Atlanta Falcons 19-16 Sunday.
Coming off a Monday night victory at Indianapolis, the Steelers (5-7) finally put together a winning streak in what has been a tough rebuilding year in Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile, Atlanta (5-8) squandered an opportunity near the goal line for the second week in a row.
After having a deflected pass picked off in the end zone at Washington, which preserved the Commanders’ 19-13 victory, the Falcons had first-and goal from the Steelers 10 with another chance to pull out a victory with a touchdown.
But a clear holding penalty on Parker Hesse wiped out Cordarrelle Patterson’s apparent TD run around left end, and the Falcons wound up settling for Younghoe Koo’s third field goal of the day from 28 yards with 5:27 remaining.
The Steelers ran off all but the final 42 seconds before Pressley Harvin pinned a punt at the Falcons’ 2-yard line. In desperation mode with no timeouts remaining, Marcus Mariota’s pass was picked off by Minkah Fitzpatrick to seal the victory and send a hefty contingent of towel-waving Steelers fans into a wild celebration that made Mercedes-Benz Stadium look like Pittsburgh South.
Lions 40, Jaguars 14
DETROIT (AP) — Jamaal Williams ran for his 14th touchdown to help the Detroit Lions get off to a strong start and they did not slow down in a 40-14 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The Lions (5-7) scored on all five of their drives in the first half to take a 17-point lead, and their first three possessions of the second half to pull away.
The Jaguars (4-8) had a scare on the last play of the second quarter when quarterback Trevor Lawrence was sacked and grabbed his left knee, but their defense made his return moot.
Lawrence, coming off the best performance of his two-year career, was taken out in the fourth quarter with his team trailing by 26 points. He finished 17 of 31 for 179 yards with a touchdown.
Detroit’s Jared Goff, meanwhile, had one of his best games of the season by completing 31 of 41 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns.
