The Baltimore Ravens needed overtime to defeat the Los Angeles Rams 37-31 for their tenth victory of the season. The play of the game came down to special teams, as Tylan Wallace scored the game-winning touchdown on a 76-yard punt return. Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes, as many as his counterpart Matthew Stafford. But he stood out with 316 yards through the air and 70 through the rush. Two of his three paid passes were on long gains of 54 yards and 46 yards, captured respectively by Isaiah Likely and Odell Beckham Jr. For the Rams, Kyren Williams stood out with 114 rushing yards, and Cooper Kupp was productive with 115 yards and a touchdown on 8 catches. Jackson is 18-1 in his career against National Conference teams.
When the Cincinnati Bengals lost quarterback Joe Burrow for the rest of the season, few people were giving their all. The day Jake Browning was appointed to take over from Burrow, there was no more hope among Bengals fans. But Browning’s performance reignited the flame in Cincinnati, especially after the 34-14 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 14. Browning generated 275 passing yards and had three touchdowns: two passing and one rushing. The former University of Washington has two wins and one loss in three starts this season. With two consecutive wins, the Bengals are part of a group of six teams with an identical record of 7-6 in the American. Including the Colts, who hold the seventh and final place giving access to the playoffs.
The Buffalo Bills inflicted a second straight loss on the Kansas City Chiefs (8-5) and remain in the playoff race with a 7-6 record. It’s a good victory for head coach Sean McDermott. The latter made headlines for using the example of the September 11, 2001 terrorists to motivate his troops to be more united and more coordinated in a speech in 2019. McDermott apologized in the hours before the duel against Kansas City. For the Chiefs, the 20-17 defeat is difficult to digest as they were deprived of a touchdown from Kadarius Toney on a lateral pass from Travis Kelce at the end of the game. Toney was penalized for offside during the throw-in. An unforgivable penalty. After the game, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid said the officials had been harsh on Toney and that they should have warned the receiver before the throw-in instead of giving him a penalty.
With their 28-16 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers are now first in the overall standings on the Goodell Tour, with the advantage in the tiebreaker. The Niners are one of four teams with a 10-3 record. Kyle Shanahan’s men signed their fifth victory in a row thanks to their main players. Brock Purdy finished his day with 368 passing yards and two touchdown passes. Deebo Samuel rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown on seven catches. He also scored a rushing touchdown. Samuel became the second player in NFL history with at least 100 yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown in two consecutive games. Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk had over 100 yards each.
The Niners’ next opponents are the poor Arizona Cardinals (3-10).
