If you’re 2020 bingo card had a team quarterbacked by a wide receiver facing off against a team quarterbacked by a tight end then congratulations, you win. The rest of us near sighted mortals could have never seen the situation that unfolded in Denver happening, even with the craziness of COVID-19. Below the Mile High, there were plenty of other headlines to take note of during week 12’s Sunday, including another calamity by the Jets, a collapse by Vegas, and a shocker in Foxborough. Keep on reading for all that and more in the twelfth edition of the Sunday Sprint.
Buffalo Bills 27- LA Chargers 17
It may be early to call but it’s looking more and more like Anthony Lynn could be the next NFL coaching casualty. And for the sake of Justn Herbert’s career, that would probably be for the best. The fact of the matter is that the Chargers had the talent to stay in this game but the play calling was so inept that it didn’t matter who was out there executing, they were not going to get past the well oiled machine that is the Buffalo Bills. In spite of Lynn’s questionable coaching, Herbert went off for 316 yards, furthering his case for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Tennessee Titans 45- Indianapolis Colts 26
The Titans ran to the top of the AFC South thanks to King Henry and his three touchdowns. Not to say that this was an upset, but nobody was expecting the Titans to beat up on one of the best defences in the league, afterall they’ve only given up 100+ rushing yards three times over the last three years, and yes all three have been to Henry. Regardless of what Rivers and the offence did (which wasn’t much) the Colts were never gonna win this one with their defence bending to the will of the reigning rushing champion. All hail King Henry.
Minnesota Vikings 28- Carolina Panthers 27
Everything was going right for Carolina: rookie Jeremy Chinn returned back to back defensive plays for touchdowns, Teddy Bridgewater was on point, and their defence made Dalvin Cook a non-factor, all of this despite them being without their team MVP in Christian McCaffery. Everything that is, until Joey Slye had the game on his foot in the final seconds. Slye sliced the 54 yarder wide and handed the Vikings their comeback win. The Purple People Eaters are still in the playoff hunt, whether or not you think they should be.
Cleveland Browns 27- Jacksonville Jaguars 25
The Browns looked like the Jets on Sunday afternoon as they barely snuck past the incompetent Jaguars. Don’t let the stat line fool you, Baker Mayfield had some inexplicable misthrows despite his 258 yards and two touchdowns. Mayfield, a former first overall pick, barely outperformed the 2013 73rd overall pick, and Jags new starter, Mike Glennon. If you’ve never heard of Glennon, you’re not alone, but allow me to introduce you to the Mike Glennon Cycle. In 2017, Glennon was benched in Chicago for Mitch Trubisky. This year, Trubisky was benched in favour of Nick Foles, who last year was benched in Jacksonville and replaced by Gardiner Minshew, who in turn was replaced by Jake Luton, who has now been benched for Glennon. Dizzy yet?
New York Giants 19- Cincinnati Bengals 17
There’s a new Trash King in town as the Giants take sole possession of the NFC East lead. The big win for the Giants didn’t come without a loss, because duh it’s the Giants. Their franchise QB, a discount Eli Manning named Daniel Jones exited the game in the third quarter with a hamstring injury and did not return. There is optimism that the second year pivot will be under centre when the Giants take on the Seahawks next weekend. The Giants might not need to overly worry about that if their defence can play at the same caliber they did today. With the exception of one bad fourth quarter drive, the Giants defensive unit exposed Bengals’ QB Brendan Allen as the backup that he is. From the line to the secondary, they were simply exceptional, and good enough to keep their team at the top of the NFC Least even if Danny Dimes misses time.
New England Patriots 20- Arizona Cardinals 17
Just when everybody is ready to count the Patriots out, they pull something like this off: a listless first quarter before having Nick Folk kick the walk off field goal for the win. The Cards cut through the Patriots in the first quarter, starting with their blitz forcing an interception on Cam Newton’s first pass attempt. Arizona put up 10, and then gave up 17 unanswered through the second and third quarters. It wasn’t as though they didn’t have their chances, the Patriots ran a clinic on goal line stands at the end of the first half. But the stage was set for another folklore ending, and Nick delivered with the kick.
Miami Dolphins 20- New York Jets 3
Gase has been playing Russian Roulette with his job, but after this week it looks like his luck may have run out. There aren’t enough words in any language to aptly describe the dumpster fire that the Jets have become, and this week was no different. They made veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick look like a spring chicken, yet their QB looked like a journeyman on his way out of the league. The only question that remains is how does this get worse? Because you know with five weeks left the jets will find a way to be even more humiliating.
Atlanta Falcons 43- Las Vegas Raiders 6
The Raiders may have ran out of gas after their infamous victory lap and boy oh boy did it show today. To call their performance a meltdown would be generous. Derek Carr had been quietly having an MVP caliber season, and was just starting to earn the recognition for it. That is until he loudly crashed and burned out of that conversation, with four turnovers and no touchdowns. Not to take away from the Falcons, who put in a complete game on both side of the ball, but this game was so lopsided primarily due to Carr just looking lost on the field, and nobody in the black and silver seemed to have a map to success.
New Orleans Saints 31- Denver Broncos 3
No matter who you cheer for a part of your heart has to go out to the Denver Broncos who were forced to take on a ferocious Saints defence with all four of their quarterbacks unavailable to play. Their solution surprisingly didn’t consist of bringing Elway down from the management box to suit up, rather they turned to practice squad wideout Kendall Hinton to lead the team from under centre. In case you were wondering how that went, his final stat line was 1/9 for 13 yards, two interceptions, and no touchdowns. He also picked up seven yards on the ground. Listen, nobody expected this to be much of a contest once the quarterback situation came to light, which is probably why many Vegas bettors took the game off of the books.
San Francisco 49ers 23- LA Rams 20
The 49ers have been decimated by injuries up and down their lineup this season, something that is clearly reflected in their record. But they were given a boost on Sunday afternoon as their division rivals came to town with the return of Richard Sherman, Deebo Samuel, Raheem Mostert, and Jeff Wilson. To say this injected new life into the team doesn’t say enough. Samuel was their leading receiver with 133 yards, Mostert and Wilson both had 43 yards rushing, and Sherman had six tackles and a pick. Without these guys, this could have been a very different game, but the bolstered 49ers took the previously surging Rams to overtime before breaking their hearts with a game winning field goal.
Kansas City Chiefs 27- Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
First off, I would like to extend my condolences to anyone who was playing against Tyreek Hill in fantasy. I hope you’ve recovered by now. The only critique one could make of anyone on the Chiefs offence would be that Hill needs to work on landing his backflips. For context, the Cheetah couldn’t stick the landing after he backflipped into the endzone for his second touchdown of the first quarter. The same quarter in which he amassed over 200 yards. Hill feasted on the man coverage Tampa tossed him in the first half, causing many to wonder whose idea that was in the first place as Carlton Davis never had a shot at shutting down Hill. The Bucs bounced back after a dismal first half, yet they continue to prove that there are reasons we play the season, after many were ready to hand them the Lombardi before a ball was kicked off in 2020.
Green Bay Packers 41- Chicago Bears 25
Remember when the Bears were 5-1? Yeah…let’s just say that if you looked up “pretenders” right about now a picture of the 2020 Chicago Bears would pop up. The Bears offence was back under the guise of Mitchell Trubisky and it was just as lacklustre as it has been during the time it was turned over to Nick Foles. On the other hand, you had Rodgers and the Pack who made deep balls look like practice and touchdowns like taking candy from a baby. The rivalry may be the NFL’s oldest but the tale of recent memory has been all Green Bay all the time and if these teams keep heading in the directions they look to be, that won’t be changing any time soon.
And that’s the cap on Sunday’s action! Were you a winner or loser this week? Or did you play against Tyreek Hill in fantasy and have now quit football? Let us know down below!
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