Each week of the NFL season, The Baltimore Sun will recap the best and worst from around the league. Here are our winners and losers from Week 13:
Loser: Ravens
It’s so hard to get a read on these Ravens.
One minute, they look like the best team in the NFL. The next, the defense can’t get off the field, the offense struggles to finish drives and the best kicker in franchise history looks hopeless. Sometimes, all of that happens in the same game.
That was the case Sunday in Baltimore’s 24-19 loss to the Eagles, yet another disappointing result in a season full of them. The Ravens (8-5) rolled to a 9-0 lead with points on their first two drives, and they got the ball back near the end of the first quarter after allowing a grand total of 2 yards on Philadelphia’s first three possessions. This was shaping up to be a statement win for a team with eyes on a Super Bowl title.
But the Ravens went three-and-out on their next three possessions, allowed back-to-back touchdown drives and settled for a 50-yard field goal before halftime that cut the deficit to 14-12. They wouldn’t score again until there were three seconds left in the game.
Yes, Justin Tucker missed two field goal attempts at the end of two long drives to open the second half that would have swung the game back in the Ravens’ control, but the offense shouldn’t be left off the hook for its inability to finish drives. In five trips to the red zone, the Ravens scored just two touchdowns.
“That was a pretty good team, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like we left stuff out there,” Jackson said. “We should have put more points on the board. We shouldn’t have even put ‘Tuck’ [Justin Tucker] in those kinds of situations, but it’s football. Everything is not going to go right.”
That’s what makes this team so frustrating. Outside of dominant wins over the Bills and Broncos, the Ravens have not put together a complete game. When the offense was on a record-setting pace in the first half of the season, the defense was one of the league’s worst. Now that the defense has started to rebound, the offense has struggled to score consistently.
Playing without outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and defensive tackle Michael Pierce, Baltimore bottled up star running back Saquon Barkley and limited big plays. Jalen Hurts’ longest completion went for 15 yards. But it couldn’t hold up long enough, as Barkley ripped off a 25-yard touchdown run with 7:56 remaining that effectively sealed the game. Then after the Ravens turned the ball over on downs, they allowed the Eagles to bleed 5:08 off the clock on an 11-play, 25-yard march that included conversions on fourth-and-1 and third-and-7. When it came to late-game execution, the Ravens were simply outclassed.
There are still plenty of reasons to believe in the Ravens as a Super Bowl contender, especially if this late-season resurgence by the defense can be trusted. On most days, Jackson is good enough to go toe-to-toe or even outplay Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and some of the league’s other elite quarterbacks. But even he admitted Sunday that he failed to play up to his standard.
The question remains, as always, whether the Ravens can put it all together at the right time in the postseason.
READER POLL: Should the Ravens replace kicker Justin Tucker this season?
Winner: Buffalo Bills
The 49ers simply adopted the snowy conditions in Buffalo. The Bills were born in it, molded by it — and it showed Sunday night.
Josh Allen made one of the best plays of the year so far, taking an impromptu lateral from wide receiver Amari Cooper and diving for the pylon to score a receiving touchdown on a pass he threw. Allen accounted for three touchdowns in a 35-10 rout, building his case for NFL Most Valuable Player and helping Buffalo (10-2) secure the AFC East title for the fifth straight season with five games remaining.
Outside of an early-season blip that included back-to-back losses to the Ravens and Texans, the Bills have been steady, rolling to seven straight wins by an average of nearly 14 points per game. Not even the Chiefs could stop them.
With Kansas City looking vulnerable and few legitimately scary teams in the AFC playoff picture, it’s starting to feel like this could be Buffalo’s year.
Loser: Kirk Cousins
Maybe the Falcons’ much-maligned draft was actually genius.
Cousins threw four interceptions — two to rookie cornerback and former Maryland star Tarheeb Still — in a deflating 17-13 loss to the Chargers on Sunday, raising questions about whether Atlanta should turn to its first-round pick, Michael Penix Jr.
“We’ve got no issues with that man,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said of Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million deal this offseason. “I don’t think that’s gonna be the issue around here. That guy’s carried us. That guy’s got us to the point. We’re 6-6 and first place in the division. We’ve still got everything in front of us.”
That’s true, but Sunday’s performance did not inspire much confidence that Cousins can carry the Falcons to the NFC South title, let alone a playoff run. The Buccaneers are also 6-6 after an overtime win over the Panthers, and Baker Mayfield has been the better quarterback this season. Atlanta holds the tiebreaker after winning both head-to-head matchups against Tampa Bay, but the Falcons have to prove they can pull out of their current tailspin before making any postseason plans.
Turning to Penix this late in the season would be a bit of a surprise, but it might be Atlanta’s best shot to get the most out of its talented offense. If Cousins is clearly past his prime, the rookie could be the spark the team needs to get over the hump and an interesting wrinkle to throw at opposing defenses.
Winner: Pittsburgh Steelers
Maybe this section should just be about how bad the Bengals’ defense is.
Russell Wilson threw for 414 yards and three touchdowns in the Steelers’ 44-38 win over the Bengals on Sunday, the second-most passing yards of the 13-year veteran’s career. Not even a pick-six he threw in the first quarter could dampen the spirits of a Pittsburgh team that bounced back from a Thursday night loss to the Browns to stay 1 1/2 games ahead of Baltimore in the AFC North race while effectively eliminating the Bengals (4-8) from postseason contention.
“I thought our group smiled in the face of it, particularly [Wilson],” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
Wilson is now 5-1 as the Steelers’ starter, reviving a career that looked to be over after a disappointing tenure in Denver. Most metrics and analysts consider the Steelers (9-3) a tier below the Chiefs, Bills and Ravens to reach the Super Bowl, but they continue to exceed expectations largely because of their rejuvenated quarterback and a defense that, while picked apart by Joe Burrow and the Bengals on Sunday, still ranks as one of the league’s best.
But for as good as Tomlin has been at keeping his team in the mix, he’s been equally as bad of late at winning playoff games. Pittsburgh has advanced past the divisional round just once since losing the Super Bowl at the end of the 2010 season, and it would take a major upset for the team to get to the conference title game this year. This time, though, the experienced Wilson could make the difference.
Have a news tip? Contact sports editor C.J. Doon at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/CJDoon.
