It was a grand week for defenses as the Los Angeles Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, respectively, during two high-profile matchups in Week 11.
Both the Ravens and Bengals possess elite offenses—they rank second and sixth, respectively, in points per game. But playing defense still matters in the NFL, as Baltimore and Cincinnati have found out this season.
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There’s an argument to be made that the Ravens are the fifth-best team in the AFC. They don’t have as balanced a roster as the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Steelers or maybe even the Chargers.
It’s too early to rank the Chargers above the Ravens in the AFC pecking order—these two teams play each other next week in the Harbaugh Bowl. But we can at least say Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers appear to be a different team this season. Let’s start winners and losers by examining whether the Chargers have finally put away the ghosts that have long haunted them in late-game situations.
Chargers in the clutch
I have a friend named Dan who never misses an opportunity to let others know that their favorite team is cursed if I pick them to win a game.
The bit started because his Chargers weren’t very good when I covered them for a few seasons as a beat reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and Orange County Register. Me being around the team daily was the sole reason why the Chargers kept blowing leads and losing one-score games, as if they weren’t doing that long before I was born.
I thought it was his way of avoiding the possibility that maybe it was his team that was cursed and I’m just bad at making game picks. (He rarely gives me credit when I’m right!)
I was quick to remind Dan that I was one of the few people who picked the Chargers to beat the Bengals. He responded by saying, “No wonder they almost blew this.” Gotta love his commitment to the bit, but deep down he and other Chargers fans have a strong inclination that their days of losing one-score games in the worst way possible might be over because Jim Harbaugh is their head coach.
Yes, the Chargers shouldn’t have allowed three touchdowns in just over eight minutes to surrender a 27–6 lead in the second half of a bonkers Sunday Night Football game. But perhaps the Chargers (7–3) needed a near collapse to fully cleanse themselves of past failures.
Chargers players kept saying this is a different team after they escaped Sunday night with a 34–27 victory. Even the players who have only been around this year are well aware of the team’s reputation for losing in heartbreak fashion.
Harbaugh excels at quickly improving offensive lines, running games and defenses. But closing games for the Chargers is a whole different beast, as Harbaugh was reminded of while standing on the sideline for one of the wildest games this season. You never know with Harbaugh’s facial expressions, but he had a look of “Oh, crap, it’s happening” when Joe Burrow was in the midst of a memorable rally.
But these Chargers took a step forward to proving why they’re different when Justin Herbert, Ladd McConkey and J.K. Dobbins put the finishing touches on the game-winning drive. Many Chargers fans likely need to see more one-score victories to fully believe they’re a different team. Maybe Dan will stop believing my picks are cursed if the Chargers beat the Ravens on Monday night.
Geno Smith and Mike Macdonald
The Seattle Seahawks also exorcized some demons Sunday by beating the San Francisco 49ers for the first time in three years. It was Geno Smith’s first win against the 49ers since becoming the team’s starter in 2022.
This game went under the radar a bit because both teams are 5–5 and there were many high-profile games to break down this week. But the Seahawks needed this 20–17 win to know the drastic changes they made in the offseason were the right move to finally be taken seriously in the NFC West.
Coach Mike Macdonald, who replaced the beloved Pete Carroll, was partly hired as a counter move to slow the offenses of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Rams coach Sean McVay. They probably didn’t anticipate the Arizona Cardinals (6–4) being in first place heading into Week 12, but the Seahawks can lean on Macdonald’s defensive expertise to contain Kyler Murray & Co. when the two divisional foes meet twice in the next three weeks.
The drastic changes haven’t stopped during the season, however. Macdonald needed to make defensive adjustments during the bye week after the team lost five of six games to erase the 3–0 start this season. That led to trading for linebacker Ernest Jones IV and cutting linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who turned out not to be a right fit after the team signed him to a one-year deal in March.
Also, Smith was forced to work with a new center after the surprising retirement of Connor Williams last week. (Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer had a few good notes about Smith communicating with Williams before and after Sunday’s upset win.)
Seattle adjusted to the changes and responded with Smith’s game-winning rushing touchdown and defensive effort that held the 49ers’ star-studded offense to 277 total yards. After an extended rough stretch, the Seahawks have an opportunity to regain first place in the division by beating the Cardinals next week.
Bills’ Super Bowl contender credibility
The MMQB staff has been asked twice since September to make Super Bowl LIX predictions and no one picked the Buffalo Bills to win it or even make it to New Orleans.
And, honestly, it wasn’t surprising because of the Bills’ past postseason failures against the Kansas City Chiefs. It didn’t help that they had a meltdown in the final minutes against the Houston Texans and were crushed by the Ravens earlier this season. But Buffalo (9–2) rid itself of the pretender label by handing the Chiefs their first loss of the season.
It’s understandable to not overreact to one regular season game, especially one involving a team that saves its best performances for when it truly matters. But the way Josh Allen and his offense put up 30 points against the best defense in the league has to count for something. Now there’s pressure on Patrick Mahomes to get his offense in sync in case of a potential rematch in January. Maybe this was the wake up call the Chiefs needed, similar to how the Las Vegas Raiders beat them on Christmas Day last year before they won another Super Bowl.
But the Bills shouldn’t fear poking the bear. Allen probably wants to face the Chiefs in the playoffs and doesn’t want any excuses of them having a sluggish offense if it gets to that point. The Bills gained plenty of confidence by beating the team that has given them plenty of heartbreak over the years. That has to count for a lot moving forward.
Mike Tomlin’s attention to detail
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin put on a masterclass for how to seal a win against a high-scoring offense.
Pittsburgh’s defense did its job by containing Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the rest of the Ravens’ explosive offense for three-plus quarters. But Tomlin knew he had to make a move in the final minutes amid a down performance from his offense—they were held to six field goals. It’s nearly impossible to beat the Ravens by only producing field goals and asking the defense to be near perfect for four quarters wasn’t going to be enough.
As expected, the Ravens had one final attempt to steal the victory in Pittsburgh after Jackson connected with Zay Flowers in the end zone to trim the deficit to two points with less than two minutes left in regulation. That’s when Tomlin essentially forced the Ravens to show their hand on the gotta-have-it two-point conversion. He perfectly called a timeout right before the Ravens were going to run their play, which appeared to be a jump-pass.
The Steelers (8–2) got the stop on the second two-point attempt against the Ravens’ second-best play. That was followed by Tomlin inserting Justin Fields in the game to throw off the Ravens’ defense, which still had timeouts. Fields nearly iced the game on a run, but he began his slide before the first down marker. Eventually, the Steelers killed the clock to pick up the signature 18–16 win and thrust Tomlin into the Coach of the Year race.
Do yourself a favor and check out Conor Orr’s column on Tomlin’s elite attention to detail. He’s on a heater right now and it’s wild to think many believed his coaching had gotten stale in Pittsburgh around this time last year.
Taysom Hill’s annual offensive explosion
I was starting to get worried we wouldn’t get Taysom Hill’s annual monster game because I enjoy seeing fantasy football managers lose their minds about whether Hill should be listed as a tight end.
But Hill didn’t disappoint after rushing for 138 yards and three touchdowns, and adding eight catches for 50 yards during the New Orleans Saints’ 35–14 victory against the Cleveland Browns. He even had two pass attempts for 18 yards and one interception no one cared about because Hill made the Saints and his fantasy managers happy. Imagine facing Hill unexpectedly this week because Sam LaPorta was inactive and seeing that statline from a supposed tight end to lose your fantasy matchup this week.
I don’t know the answer to the endless debate about whether or not Hill is a tight end. (The Saints go back and forth with listing him as a tight end and quarterback. He’s really like what baseball calls a utility player.) But he’s a very good football player and his epic performance against the Browns now has the Saints (4–7) two games behind the Atlanta Falcons (6–5) for first place in the NFC South. Imagine saying that right after New Orleans fired coach Dennis Allen in the wake of a seven-game losing streak.
Ravens and Bengals
I was a bit annoyed at how many overlooked the poor defensive performances that took place in the Week 10 Thursday night thriller between the Ravens and Bengals.
I get it. It was awesome to watch Jackson and Burrow trade touchdowns. But it was the second time both defenses didn’t do much to slow these high-scoring offenses. You’d think there would be better defensive adjustments after the two teams combined for 79 points in Week 5. I guess there was some progress after these AFC North defenses only allowed 69 combined points in the second meeting.
I picked the Chargers and Steelers to win in Week 11 with hopes of them helping me prove my point that defenses will matter down the stretch. I’m not going to lie, I did get a little worried seeing how many picked the Bengals and Ravens to win last week. But my point was proven and I’m definitely going to enjoy the victory lap. The NFL’s two best scoring defenses prevailed against two teams averaging more than 27 points per game.
The Chargers should have cruised against the one-sided Bengals, but they at least had enough stops down the stretch to force Cincinnati to punt or settle for missed field-goal attempts. The Steelers’ defense, meanwhile, almost completely shut down the Ravens’ offense, and that game wouldn’t have been close had Russell Wilson produced a touchdown or two against Baltimore’s up-and-down secondary.
Baltimore (7–4) could easily be 5–6 right now if it didn’t pull out the close wins vs. Cincinnati (4–7). And maybe the Bengals would be 7–4 had they gotten better defensive performances against the Ravens and Chargers.
Cincinnati’s playoff hopes are slim and the Ravens have major defensive issues to address before the postseason.
Commanders’ contender status
This is where the victory lap ends for my Week 11 picks.
The Commanders are 0–2 since I picked them to win the Super Bowl during our midseason roundtable with the MMQB staff. (Maybe Dan was right about my cursed picks.)
Jayden Daniels appears limited by the rib injury he sustained in Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers. That was overlooked by his memorable Hail Mary game-winner against the Chicago Bears and beating the struggling New York Giants the following week.
The Commanders need Daniels at his best to account for the bend-but-don’t-break defense of coach Dan Quinn. I’ll own it. I should have put more stock into Washington piling up wins against subpar opponents. While the 42–14 win in Week 4 against the Cardinals looks impressive today, Arizona isn’t as experienced and as talented as the Ravens, Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles—three teams that have beaten Washington this season.
It was way too soon to expect the Commanders to take over the NFC East and challenge the best teams in the conference, but this surprise season is far from over in Washington. The Commanders (7–3) have two upcoming get-right games against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints before a much-needed bye week for Daniels and his ribs.
Kickers not named Chris Boswell
It was generally a rough week of games for kickers not named Chris Boswell, the Steelers special teamer who drilled six field goals to account for every Pittsburgh point in the 18–16 win vs. the Ravens.
That game might have had a different outcome if it weren’t for Justin Tucker’s two missed field goals for Baltimore. Tucker, one of the greatest kickers of all time, has struggled this season and has only made 16 of his 22 field-goal attempts.
Bengals kicker Evan McPherson also had two costly misses in the loss to the Chargers. He’s now 15-of-21 on field goals this season. Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos had a blocked field goal as time expired to seal the 20–19 win for the Green Bay Packers. Oh, and Los Angeles Rams kicker Joshua Karty had the shortest missed field goal this season when he failed from 26 yards against the New England Patriots.
It was going so well for kickers earlier this season. Every TV analyst kept saying “50 yards is nothing for kickers nowadays.” Maybe they’ll stop saying that after whst happened across the league in Week 11.
NFL games on Netflix
Don’t expect Netflix to fix the technical issues that occurred during the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight last Friday before the two NFL games on Christmas Day. I’m still mad about all the buffering during the Love is Blind live reunion show last year.
Why would Netflix fix its issues now with live events? I guess to avoid upsetting all of Beyonce’s fans that will tune in to watch her halftime show during Ravens vs. Houston Texans. But as SI’s Jimmy Traina pointed out, there’s no urgency for Netflix to improve because they already have our money, including mine because I can’t get enough of Love Is Blind, Cobra Kai, boxing spectacles and crime docs.
Jets’ 2024 season
By now, you know where the New York Jets stood before they fired Robert Saleh as head coach. They fancied themselves as Super Bowl contenders who could turn their season around if they only had a better coach at the helm. Instead, since Saleh’s firing the defense has drastically regressed, Aaron Rodgers has continued to operate a bad offense and the Jets couldn’t be further from playing in a first-place game in the AFC East.
Who knows where the Jets would be if they didn’t fire Saleh before their Week 6 game against the Bills. Regardless, the 3–8 Jets have now become an afterthought before getting to Thanksgiving.
