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NFL Week 13 Takeaways: Giants defy the odds, Bears stay in hibernation

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NFL Week 13 Takeaways: Giants defy the odds, Bears stay in hibernation

On paper, this seemed like a near-impossible game for the Seattle Seahawks to lose.

They were at home, where they’d won five in a row. They were facing backup quarterback Colt McCoy, who was making just his fourth start in the past five seasons. And they were pitching a shutout at halftime.

And yet, when the final seconds ticked away, the Seahawks wound up on the wrong side of an ugly 17-12 loss to the New York Giants.

Yes, the Giants are the leaders of the NFC East — but that means a lot less when you consider that they’re 5-7, with four wins coming against Washington (twice), Philadelphia and Cincinnati (9-24-2 combined record).

So how the heck did this happen?

The Giants punished the Seahawks on the ground, rushing for 190 yards on 31 carries. That’s not usually how teams beat Seattle — which ranks 32nd in pass defence and third in run defence — but the absence of Daniel Jones necessitated a change of plans.

Defensively, New York swarmed Russell Wilson (i.e. he was prohibited from cooking), sacking him five times. He threw one touchdown pass, but also had an interception and failed twice to convert on fourth down.

Seattle is now 3-4 since its Week 6 bye, and only two of its wins this season have come by double digits. But it’s too early to be worried about the Seahawks, so instead let’s look at what else happened around the NFL in Week 13:

Goff gets right against favourite foe

We should all aspire to be as good at anything as Sean McVay is at holding halftime leads.

The Los Angeles Rams’ fourth-year head coach improved to 33-0 when leading at the halfway mark, as his team moved into a tie atop the contentious NFC West with a 38-28 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

More than anything, it was a get-right game for quarterback Jared Goff, who committed three turnovers and had no touchdowns last week in a loss to the 49ers. This week, Goff was turnover-free, with 351 yards and two scores (one rushing, one passing). He spread the ball out to nine receivers and let ’em do the rest.

I haven’t asked him, but my guess is Goff loves playing against Arizona. He’s 7-1 against the Cardinals (more wins than against any other opponent), with 11 touchdown passes versus three interceptions and 280 passing yards per game.

On the other side of the ball, the Rams’ top-ranked pass defence held Kyler Murray and Co. to 173 passing yards on 39 attempts, which is downright ugly.

These teams will see each other again in Week 17, when there are bound to be some serious playoff implications.

Jets’ jaw-dropping ineptitude preserves “perfect” season

From the jaws of victory, the New York Jets pulled out yet another defeat. And this one was particularly tank-friendly for the team with the inside track on next year’s No. 1 draft pick.

The Jets (0-12) were in great shape to wiggle into the win column when the Las Vegas Raiders, down by four, turned the ball over on downs with 1:42 left.

New York punted it back a minute later after a three-and-out, but all that meant was they had to keep Las Vegas from driving 61 yards in the final 40-ish seconds. No problem, right?

OK, maybe it is a problem when you don’t drop anyone deep in coverage for an obvious deep pass situation. Seriously, what is this?

Prior to that play, ESPN gave the Jets a 96.8 per cent win probability. Perhaps ESPN was expecting too much from the NFL’s only winless bunch.

While the Jets lost the battle, they continue to win a very sad war: the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft is still theirs for the taking. Clearly, they’re doing what they can to earn it.

Baker cooks Titans in marquee matchup

Baker Mayfield looked like a former Heisman winner and No. 1 overall pick on Sunday, dicing the Titans for 334 yards and four touchdowns in an impressive road win. Now Cleveland has a two-game cushion on non-playoff teams, seeking its first post-season berth since 2002.

Gee, Baker, how do you do it?

“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think to myself, ‘Would an idiot do that?’” Mayfield told reporters. “And if they would, then I don’t do that.”

Words to live by, truly.

Mayfield made the Titans look like idiots early on, completing all four of his touchdown passes in the first half. That’s the first time he’s done that in his career, which is particularly impressive given that he had just two touchdowns in his previous 16 quarters.

Cleveland’s offensive strength is its run game, led by the two-headed monster of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. If Mayfield can demonstrate some consistent success through the air, this could be a scary group to face in the playoffs.

Bears stay in hibernation against Lions

Once upon a time, the Chicago Bears were 5-1, spinning a precarious quarterback carousel and clinging to the narrative that defence wins championships.

Flash forward to present day, where the Bears have now lost six straight — for the first time since 2002 — and no longer feel relevant in the post-season picture (kinda hard for defence to win championships if you miss the playoffs, am I right?).

On Sunday, the Bears brought a 10-point lead into the waning minutes. Detroit trimmed it to three with 2:18 left, but that meant Chicago could run out the clock with a couple of first downs.

Instead, Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky dilly-dallied in the pocket long enough for Romeo Okwara to force a fumble. The Lions recovered the ball at the Bears’ eight-yard line and Adrian Peterson used his old man strength ™ to punch it in two plays later.

For Matthew Stafford, the win counts as his 31st career fourth-quarter comeback (though you could debate how much of the coming back should be attributed to him). That’s the most in the NFL since he entered the league in 2009, and it ties him with John Elway for seventh most all time.

In a tale of two coaches, Detroit’s interim boss, Darrell Bevell, earned a victory on his first try after taking over for the ousted Matt Patricia this past week. On the other sideline, Chicago’s Matt Nagy is sitting on one of the league’s hottest seats.

Bad Beat of the Week

Cincinnati Bengals fans have very little to root for at this stage in the season — is it too much to ask their team to cover a 10-point spread?

The Bengals took a 7-0 lead in the first four minutes of Sunday’s matchup with the favoured Miami Dolphins, but they failed to score again after that.

Cincinnati was still leading on the spread entering the fourth quarter, despite trailing 16-7 overall. Then Miami added its fourth field goal of the game to take the against-the-spread edge.

If not for the Bengals’ anemic offence — which gained only 30 yards in the entire second half — they could’ve definitely covered in this game. The hopes of a ticket-saving garbage time touchdown were dashed with 1:50 left, when Ryan Finley threw a pick in the end zone.

Good teams win, great teams cover and … the Bengals are neither of those.

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