Takeaways From NFL Week 13
Note: This is a special contribution to POINTSPREADS.CA by Sammy Action.
Here are some takeaways from week 13:
(1) Tom Brady is still king.
370 yards passing, 4 TDs, and a road win further separates him in the 2021 NFL MVP race. It’s insane that is still playing at this level.
(2) The Arizona Cardinals look healthy – and dangerous.
Being able to rest your best players and still pick up wins is a strategy more teams will employ in future years, that is, if Arizona makes a deep run. They look tough to beat.
(3) Congrats to the Detroit Lions for getting a win in one of the best thrillers of the day.
Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell inexplicably going for the first down deep in his own territory up by less than a field goal should have been another nail in his coaching coffin. Instead, everyone can forget that bonehead play and celebrate for a week. This was Jared Goff's first win without Sean McVay and the Lions first win without Matt Stafford since 2011. Wow.
(4) Hell of a win for Washington and the LA Chargers / Terrible losses for Las Vegas and Cincinnati.
In the only matchups where both teams needed wins for the playoffs, Washington with a nice drive to win the game after giving up the lead late on the road was impressive. Meanwhile, the LA Chargers withstood a huge rally from the Bengals and beat them up on the road.
(5) The Ravens go for 2? Really?
I always believe if you’re the best team, then you play for the tie. I'm shocked the Ravens didn’t send the game into OT. They claim their secondary was hurt, but that is no excuse. Let's also credit Pittsburgh which showed heart and played with guts. But this was a really bad decision by John Harbaugh.
(6) Welcome back Minshew mania!
What a nice win for the Philadelphia Eagles to keep them in contention for a wildcard spot.
(7) The Ancient Mariner scores.
RB journeyman Adrian Peterson scored a TD with his 6th NFL franchise. Hmm, can we get Ryan Fitzpatrick and Peterson on the Raiders next year?
(8) The LA Rams and Indianapolis both beat up on bottom feeders and looked dominant.
Winning versus any opponent in the NFL is good, however both still need to win big games against good teams.
(9) The Packers and Titans late bye weeks will be very beneficial to them going forward.
This is especially true if either gets the first-round bye in the playoffs.
(10) The NFL is so hard to predict – DEN at KC on Sunday night, for example.
If someone told me these would be the final stat lines of the Chiefs' star players, I would bet every dollar I had on Denver to cover +7.5: Patrick Mahomes: 15-29 184 0 TDs 1 int....Edwards Helaire: 14 carries 54 yards 0 TDs....Tyreke Hill: 2 catches 22 yards 0 TDs....Travis Kelce: 3 catches 27 yards 0 TDs....Kansas City wins and covers 22-9. How!?
On to NFL Week 14.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and an exciting December. What a season, so far!
