Month: November 2025

NFL Week Eleven Winners and Losers

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The eleventh week of the NFL season was both chaotic and fun by various turns. The upsets rocked not just the football world but the expected playoff pictures in both conferences. There is still a lot to process and breakdown because most fans and analysts didn’t expect so many storylines. It is time to break down the best and worst of week eleven.

Winners: Davis Mills

After C.J. Stroud IV was injured two weeks ago, many wondered if Houston could salvage their playoff chances with veteran backup quarterback Davis Mills named starter. Mills is now undefeated after both his starts. Those wins were both against divisional opponents.

Davis Mills completed 26 of 41 passes for 274 yards, a touchdown and a 90.9 quarterback rating. His scoring pass to receiver Nico Collins gave the Texans their first lead of the game. Mills also led two critical scoring drives in the fourth quarter to tie and then take Houston’s second and last lead.

The AFC South now has an opportunity to have two teams make the playoffs. The Texans winning two important division games without their starting quarterback keeps them in the postseason picture before December.

Sean Tucker

Tampa Bay’s controversial loss in Buffalo (more on that later) dampened a lot of positive talk on the Buccaneers’ running game. Since Bucky Irving’s absence for a few weeks, Tampa Bay couldn’t afford a one dimensional performance in a pivotal road game at Buffalo. A runningback like Sean Tucker had to step up and play well.

That is exactly what Tucker did. The sophomore had 19 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns. He also had two catches for 34 yards and another score. Sean Tucker had 18 of the Buccaneers 32 points before the Bills pulled ahead and forced Tampa to commit more mistakes.

If the Buccaneers are going to have a solid playoff run, they need the running game to step up more. Sean Tucker brings a lot of skill and grit many teams covet in a starting back. Once Bucky Irving returns, Tampa Bay should use both to throw more teams off balance.

Pittsburgh Steelers

It has been a rough last four weeks for Pittsburgh. The Steelers were able to beat the NFL-best Colts, but lost to Cincinnati, Green Bay and Los Angeles. In all three losses, Pittsburgh’s defense gave up at least 25 points and the offense was either great or terrible. On Sunday, the good Steelers showed up.

Both quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph combined for 243 yards, two touchdowns and a 112 quarterback rating. Runningback Kenneth Gainwell had seven catches on eight targets for 81 yards and both scores. The offense played well against a historically bad Bengals defense.

Pittsburgh’s defense played their best game of the season. While they sacked veteran quarterback Joe Flacco once, the Steelers gave up less than 200 passing yards. Safety Kyle Dugger sealed a win with an interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Cornerback James Pierre also returned a Noah Fant fumble for a touchdown.

Many wonder if Pittsburgh can keep both their division lead and win the AFC North late in the season. If the Steelers heat up or play like they did Sunday, there is no doubt they win the division.

Mark Andrews

Baltimore’s second game against Cleveland was almost unwatchable. Any updates that appeared showed the Browns and Ravens in a slugfest. No matter which team won, it was a big deal if Baltimore tight-end Mark Andrews either scored or set the franchise record in receiving yards. He did both on Sunday.

Andrews broke former Raven great Derrick Mason’s receiving yards record with three catches for 32 yards. Given how tough Cleveland’s pass defense is, Mark Andrews wasn’t going to have a breakout performance. Yet he did clinch the record five plays into the game. Andrews also had the play of the game when he lined up for a Tush Push play, but faked the run up the middle, and ran for a 35 yard touchdown. It shocked audiences and sealed the Ravens fourth straight win.

Losers: Washington Commanders

Watching Washington play American gridiron football the past two weeks heading into week eleven was awful. Two playoff favorite teams went into the DMV and pummeled the Commanders. Washington dealt with serious injuries and ejections from fighting. Sunday’s loss in Madrid was another low, but in different ways.

Commissioner Roger Goodell decided audiences in Spain should be treated to a lowly Washington versus Miami matchup. In the first NFL game played in Iberia, the Commanders played the Dolphins to a deadlock until a breakout third quarter. Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota’s 20 yard touchdown pass to Deebo Samuels finally gave the team some hope and their first lead of the game.

Washington’s defense had a better game, but they gave up a tying touchdown to start the fourth quarter. Despite some breakout plays by Mariota the next two possessions, the Commanders couldn’t score because of a turnover on downs and a missed field goal attempt. That meant overtime. Miami intercepted Marcus Mariota the first play of overtime, and finished their only drive of the quarter with a field goal.

It’s one thing to get blown out two straight weeks in the worst ways possible. To go overseas and lose an unwatchable, close game against another bad team in overtime feels worse.

NFL referees, beginning with Alex Moore and his crew

Here it is. Overall officiating was a hot mess in most of Sunday’s games, but there was none worse than referee Alex Moore and his crew in Buffalo. Most pundits will laud Bills quarterback Josh Allen for his six touchdown performance and conveniently ignore certain parts of the game that led to some of those scoring opportunities.

The errors and bad calls started late in the second quarter. A questionable roughing the passer penalty on Tampa Bay gave Buffalo a fresh set of downs a minute left in the half. The Bills offense capitalized with a 52 yard touchdown three plays after. On the Buccaneers first drive of the second half, tight-end Cade Otton had a nine yard gain that was close to the first down marker. CBS’s J.J. Watt said it looked like a first down to him, and audiences saw the side and overhead views. It looked like a first down. Not only did the referees not look into the play past a digital camera measurement, head coach Todd Bowles let them off the hook by not challenging the play.

The most egregious call came late in the fourth quarter when the Buccaneers defense finally stopped a crucial Buffalo drive. On a third and four, Tampa Bay held the Bills to what should have been a field goal attempt. However, Alex Moore threw a flag for a facemask penalty, and that led to an automatic first down and 15 yards for Buffalo. Everyone who saw the replay all said the same thing: there was no penalty because the hands never went inside the mask. The defender’s hand hit the helmet screw on the side. Two plays later, Allen and the Bills scored another touchdown.

Yes, there are always calls with which viewers, refs and fans in the stands will disagree. Loudly. NBC and NFL broadcasters disagreed on referee Alex Kemp’s pass interference call on Detroit cornerback Rock Ya-Sin against Philadelphia receiver A.J. Brown late Sunday night that sealed an Eagles win. The call was considered so bad that Yahoo!’s Jay Busbee wrote an article on how receivers drawing pass interference calls is their revenge for the NFL’s complicated catch rules. John Hussey’s crew missed several holding calls in Los Angeles could have impacted Seattle’s last field goal attempt. When sports outlets like ProFootballNetwork show disproval over calls like Otton’s failed first down conversion, it can only make the audience’s distrust of the officials grow.

Jonathan Gannon

One would think after November ninth’s brutal loss in Seattle, head coach Jonathan Gannon may have found ways to inspire confidence against a division rival Arizona tends to play their hardest and best games against the following week. Apparently, Gannon did nothing to inspire confidence with his roster, since the Cardinals were blown out again in another embarrassing loss to San Francisco. This time it was at home.

The 49ers had a double digit lead for almost three quarters. While the score was terrible, the worst part for Arizona was the number of penalties. The Cardinals committed 17 penalties for 130 yards. According to Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic, it was a new record in over a century of the team’s franchise history. Broadcaster Kevin Kugler said close to half-time that the Cardinals committed 13 in one half. The mistakes gave San Francisco more scoring opportunities and nullified touchdowns and positive plays for Arizona.

Two blowouts against division rivals certainly should have Jonathan Gannon on the hot seat and fighting for his job the remainder of the season. If the Cardinals can’t improve and continue playing like this heading into Christmas, there will be no doubt about Gannon’s job status.

Klint Kubiak

The same people who heaped praise on Bills quarterback Josh Allen for a six touchdown game and did not consider the officiating issues sound like same ones dumping vicious criticism on Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold for a four interception game without considering it wasn’t all on him. It is most certainly true Darnold’s four turnovers were a headache and held Seattle back in what may have been the most important NFC west divisional game all season. However, a lot of Seattle’s game plan should not have involved him throwing the ball on five step drop-backs or in shotgun formation.

Serious analysts said prior to Sunday’s game that the Seahawks dual running game and offensive line would determine which team won. Both areas have been serious concerns every time Seattle has played Sean McVay’s Rams. Backup center Olu Oluwatimi’s first start of the season was in the most important NFC West game this year. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak should have emphasized that runningbacks Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker III get the ball two of every three downs. The running game is great for offensive linemen because they go into attack mode and lead with pushes against the defense. Two quality running backs make the ground game harder to stop. It also leads to play action passes (where the quarterback fakes the hand-off to runningbacks and then settles in to pass), which could have and should have been encouraged.

Kubiak also casually ignored high risk throws. Sam Darnold has thrown in triple and quadruple coverage a few times the last few games, and while accuracy and luck have bailed him out, that should have been stressed weeks ago. It wasn’t until the third quarter and the last two drives of the game that Darnold was more careful with the ball. Coincidentally, that’s when the running game got going and gave Los Angeles issues.

Seattle will regret not winning Sunday’s game for a lot of reasons. The possibility of rookie offensive guard Grey Zabel landing on injured reserve is season altering. If there had been a better offensive game plan from the offensive coordinator, a lot of upcoming issues would be non-existent.

Note: NFL’s Winners and Losers will not be published next week due to writer, editor and publisher personal reasons and necessary time off. Publications will resume around the conclusion of week 13.

NFL Week Nine Winners and Losers

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We are now officially in the second half of the NFL 2024-2025 regular season. Some teams are rising in draft position while others inch closer to the playoffs. Postseason hopefuls want higher seeding further into November. Here are the winners and losers after week nine.

Winners: Drake London

It’s rare someone on a losing team gets featured in the winners section, but Atlanta wide receiver Drake London deserves this spot after a career day in New England. London also doesn’t share blame for the Falcons taking a loss.

Drake London was most of Atlanta’s offense on Sunday. He had nine catches for 118 yards and all three touchdowns. No matter which Patriot defender covered London, he found a way to get open and keep the Falcons in the game. New England only won because John Parker Romo missed the game-tying extra point after London’s third touchdown.

Atlanta’s playoff chances hinge on their star wide receiver. The more offensive coordinator Zac Robinson utilizes Drake London and makes him the focal point each possession and game, the better chances the Falcons have of winning.

Carolina Panthers

Anytime a team wins a low-scoring game, it’s due either to both teams playing great defense or they’re bad. Carolina played the 5-1-1 Packers in Lambeau Field and did the impossible; won a low-scoring defensive game.

The Panthers offense used everything they had to pull out a win. Runningback Rico Dowdle ran 25 times for 130 yards and both touchdowns. Dowdle’s four carries for 21 yards on Carolina’s last offensive possession got kicker Ryan Fitzgerald into position for the game winning 49 yard field goal. Fitzgerald did miss an extra point earlier in the game, but when his team needed three winning points, he delivered.

Carolina’s defense had one of their best games of the season. Although Green Bay lost dominant tight-end Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL, the Panthers frustrated quarterback Jordan Love throughout the game. They recorded one sack and four passes knocked down. Safety Tre’von Moehrig intercepted Love and returned the ball 36 yards midway through the third quarter. Eight plays later, Dowdle ran for Carolina’s second touchdown.

Many viewers don’t want to watch a barebones Panthers roster stack hard-fought wins. They should, because head coach Dave Canales has the team bought in and playing hard every game. Do not be surprised to see the Panthers as a dark-horse playoff candidate throughout November.

Cam Little

Jacksonville’s Cam Little might be the first kicker who’s ever made the winners and losers section on this website at separate times during an NFL season. Although Little cost the Jaguars a home win earlier in the season against Seattle, he was dialed in and a reason Jacksonville won Sunday in Las Vegas.

Cam Little now holds the NFL record of longest field goal completed in a regular or postseason game. His booming 68 yard make helped the Jaguars earn their fifth win of the year. Guess everything worked out.

Seattle Seahawks

In too many previous years, Seattle came off the bye week slow, with sloppy and sluggish play. This was a road game in Washington where a desperate Commanders team had to win. Simultaneously, they retired the number of a beloved Hall of Fame wide receiver. It felt like a trap game for Seattle. Instead the Seahawks dominated all 60 minutes.

After a fast first possession from Washington, Seattle’s offense went 12 plays, 90 yards and eight minutes for the game’s first score. The Seahawks then scored two touchdowns a minute apart in the second quarter after the Commanders committed a special teams blunder.

Star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had over 100 yards receiving at halftime. Starting quarterback Sam Darnold completed all 16 of his passes for over 250 yards and four touchdowns before half-time (his 17th straight completion tied a franchise record with Warren Moon). Darnold finished with over 325 passing yards, four scores, three incompletions and was never sacked. According to NFL Network’s Dante Koplowitz-Fleming, the only other quarterback to do this in the Super Bowl era was Johnny Unitas against the Atlanta Falcons in 1967.

Seattle also enjoyed a stellar defensive performance. The Seahawks sacked Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels four times and pressured him each snap. Daniels threw an interception to safety Ty Okada on the Commanders second possession of the game, which led to Seattle’s second touchdown and quickly put the game out of reach. Even when Daniels tried running for a late touchdown in the fourth quarter, Seattle stood firm and accidentally ended the sophomore’s season by dislocating his left elbow on a goal-line tackle.

There has been constant criticism by serious fans that the Seahawks need to be talked about more for how hard, physical and dominant their play is on every side of the ball. It’s safe to say everyone within the NFL world will be hearing about them this whole week.

Losers: Tennessee Titans offense

Anyone who watched Los Angeles play in Tennessee knew the only reason the Chargers squeaked out a win was because the Titans have the NFL’s worst offense. Halfway into the season, Tennessee has proven it and left no doubt.

Two of the Titans three sides of the ball scored a touchdown Sunday. The defense recorded an interception returned for a touchdown to grab an early lead, and the special teams returned a punt for a touchdown to get the lead back. The offense needed to score one and gain some confidence. After a four down series at Los Angeles’ goal-line resulted in a turnover on downs, it became apparent the best Tennessee could hope for was multiple field goals. The Titans made one field goal before the Chargers closed the game out with 4:19 left.

Tennessee is approaching territory no team should be in. They’re tied with the 1975-76 New York Jets for fewest touchdowns in a season with 14. Defunct or rebranded teams like the Dayton Triangles, 0-14 1976-77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 1942-45 Chicago Cardinals somehow scored more touchdowns than the 2025 Titans. One has to think there is nowhere to go but up.

Detroit Lions

No team has dominated the NFL the last few years like Detroit. Head coach Dan Campbell knows how to get the best out of his team almost every week. Sunday was a rare day where almost everything the Lions did looked bad, sloppy and unprepared.

Detroit’s offense was dominated against the line of scrimmage. Quarterback Jared Goff was sacked five times and star offensive tackle Penei Sewell left at one point because of an eye injury in the second quarter. Runningbacks David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs were held to 65 yards. While Montgomery did score a touchdown, he also lost a fumble that led to a Minnesota touchdown. Two receivers almost had 100 yards, but that was because the Vikings led by double digits most of the game and didn’t play as hard.

The Lions defense did the best it could without starters in the secondary. They sacked quarterback J.J. McCarthy five times and intercepted him once. They also gave up three touchdowns including a wide- open rushing score to the sophomore passer that gave Minnesota another double-digit lead. McCarthy and runningback Aaron Jones Sr. found ways to get critical first downs when it mattered most.

Still, Detroit battled and came close to taking the game to overtime. Their special teams also committed a blunder. Kicker Jake Bates missed a pivotal field goal that could have taken the Lions to overtime and a shot for a win. A second loss to a divisional rival is worrying in a tight NFC North race. The Lions will look back at this home loss and wish they had played better.

Stephen Ross

As bad as Sunday’s loss was for Detroit, it was worse for anyone who doubted Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, past and present. Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is easily the biggest name that comes to mind.

If we compared Miami in the seasons after Flores was fired as Dolphins head coach to how Minnesota’s defense has fared since last year, it’s obvious which team is better. Yes, a few one-and-done playoff appearances for Miami stands out, but the Vikings play hard enough that even well-seasoned division rivals struggle to fare them off. Minnesota should be out of the playoff race and a non-factor in the NFC North. Yet the Vikings’ defense is the main strength that keeps them in the postseason conversation.

It’s clearer each week that Brian Flores is and should be the most coveted head coaching candidate for any team both this year and next. Owners like Stephen Ross are too impatient to recognize true talent when it stares them in the face. Whichever team hires Flores and whichever head coach Miami hires next, should remind audiences once again who will succeed.

The NFL rule on not challenging intentional grounding

The NFL has odd rules on what can or cannot be challenged, especially when penalties are involved. Over the years, some rules have changed on what can be challenged (one example is 12 men on the field). One that many audiences learned about Sunday afternoon was the penalty of intentional grounding.

Intentional grounding is a complicated penalty that is worded in many ways (seriously, read the whole definition on the NFL’s official website to learn more), but not many players or even coaches like Kansas City’s long-tenured Andy Reid knew it couldn’t be challenged, especially in pivotal moments.

The case to make the rule challengeable came in the Chiefs-Bills game late in the third quarter. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes II threw an odd pass that made the refs call a penalty. Even in replays, the ball looked like it was tipped. Commentators, coaches and even former head referee Gene Steratore concluded the ball was tipped. That should take away an intentional grounding call because of something (a finger for instance) interfering with the ball’s natural motion. Audiences then learned the officials cannot consider nor accept a challenge because it’s based off the on-field call.

Since the ruling could not be challenged, the Chiefs dealt with a longer third down. That led to Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau and Michael Hoecht sacking Mahomes for a nine yard loss. The Bills scored a touchdown the next possession. Buffalo won by seven.

Best believe the NFL will take a look at and review the protocol for challenging intentional grounding plays in the offseason. Like the reforms to overtime rules over the years, this could be the difference in which team advances in the playoffs.

Note: NFL’s Winners and Losers will not be published next week due to writer, editor and publisher personal reasons and necessary time off. Publications will resume around the conclusion of week eleven.