An eventful and busy Thanksgiving weekend in the NFL produced plenty of drama with 16 games across the holiday period.
Detroit’s struggles on Turkey Day continued with their eighth straight loss in their traditional timeslot, before Dallas and San Francisco recorded statement wins.
There was no shortage of material and events to dissect so check out our recap of the week that was in the National Football League.
1 – It’s go time for the contenders
We are two-thirds of the way into the season and to quote a Super Bowl winning coach who is not having a very enjoyable 2023, “the season starts after Thanksgiving.”
That statement remains true for the contending teams with the playoff races looking wide open in each conference.
No one team has the look of a 2013 Seahawks, a 2004 Patriots, 2000 Ravens or the 1995 Cowboys who you just knew were going to end up in the Super Bowl.
Just about every team in 2023 has enough red flags that you have to be a little bit apprehensive about taking them to win it all in a couple of months’ time.
Last season’s Super Bowl participants look like they are preparing to make another run at the Vince Lombardi trophy and overcame a pair of challenges in Week 12.
Kansas City fell into an early hole in Las Vegas, which was not a great place to be in for a team that had been struggling to score after halftime.
But as they almost always do, they found a way back into the game thanks in large part to the efforts of Patrick Mahomes, eventually coming away with their eighth win of the season.
As for Philadelphia, they had to deal with their own slow start, as Josh Allen went off in the first half of their wet weather game.
Just like the Chiefs though, Philadelphia fought back into this game and turned it into a classic.
There were big plays both ways in the second half as Allen and Jalen Hurts traded highlight reel moments.
With Buffalo leading late in the fourth quarter, Jake Elliot was able to send the game to overtime with this clutch kick.
Overtime was a back and forth proposition with the Bills managing a field goal on their possession, before Hurts and the Eagles called game.
At 10-1 the Eagles are well placed to have home field advantage in the NFC once again but they will have to deal with their share of challenges.
While the AFC remains wide open with all four division leaders having three losses.
This is the time of the year teams need to be playing well because everything is carrying a bit more importance as we reach the festive season.
2 – Dallas is a different team at home
Over the last 30 or so years, when you make that statement it tends to come back and bite you in January, but Dallas produced a statement win over Washington on the national stage on Friday.
We’ve all had plenty of laughs at their expense on Thanksgiving, getting blown out at times, losing to bad teams and finding creative ways to screw it up, but that performance put everyone on notice.
Dak Prescott has a great day throwing the ball going for over 300 yards and three touchdowns for the fourth time in his last five outings.
Tony Pollard came into the season expected to be the feature back but he has taken a back seat to the passing game, while also finding the end zone.
And if that wasn’t enough, they have a hungry secondary that is headlined by breakout star Daron Bland, who has the second most touchdowns on the team this season with five.
That win moved them to 8-3 on the season but they still have a bit of work to do, trailing the Eagles in the race for the division and a couple of home games in the playoffs.
Sure pretty much all of their wins have come against teams with losing records but it’s one thing to stumble over the line and a whole other thing to belt the ever loving daylights out of them.
As it stands, if they can beat the Eagles in a couple of weeks and get a favour from one of Philadelphia’s other opponents, they could set themselves up for a run.
3 – Coaching is a great gig to get into
Nobody likes to see a person lose their job, even if they weren’t doing very well at it, but for a head coach there is one factor that makes the parting of the ways a bit more bearable.
Just ask Frank Reich who was fired by the Panthers after posting a 1-10 record this season.
Despite doing everything he could to give Bryce Young a favourable landing spot, this coaching staff couldn’t overcome a roster devoid of talent and shortchanged in terms of future assets.
For his troubles, Reich is walking away with a hefty payout which, when combined with his Colts payout from when he got fired last season, means he might not be rushing to take the next available gig.
After selling their soul to trade for Young, they now face the prospect of “earning” the first overall pick in 2024, which will go to Chicago as part of that deal 12 months prior.
Which also means that Carolina won’t be the most sought after job this January and David Tepper might have overpay to get his guy.
Although one former player might be interested in the vacancy.
4 – A loss can be a win for some
While plenty of teams will be looking at going on a playoff run in the next month or so, others are going to have different priorities.
The highlights of the Giants 10-7 win over the Patriots are incredibly short because it was two bad teams, however there is a case that New England would have felt better coming out of that game.
In the reverse standings, which is also known as the NFL Draft order, New England was able to stay in the race for a top-two pick in April’s draft.
Pretty much every team picking in the top seven will be looking at Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels but you don’t need to be a mathematician to work out those three quarterbacks can’t be split across six teams.
For teams that know they are closing in on a hard reset of the franchise, putting themselves in the best position for a difference maker at quarterback is a great way to turn things around.
Just ask Cincinnati, Houston and others.
5 – There’s still no clear cut MVP favourite
The league’s voters are going to find themselves in a tough spot if the season continues to play out the way it has through 12 weeks.
Over the last two plus decades, when there’s no clear cut MVP favourite, they had the ability to just give it to Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers since their team had earned home field advantage and the quarterback had played a big role in that achievement.
In 2023 the “just give it to him” guy is Patrick Mahomes who has been a bit off all season and not up to his usual superhuman standards.
So if not Mahomes, then who should get the award?
We know it is pretty much a quarterback exclusive award and it will go to a player on a successful team so that does narrow the field a bit.
Jalen Hurts is getting plenty of love and while some may view his passing numbers as suboptimal, he at least has the added benefit of his rushing touchdowns via the Brotherly Shove play.
He didn’t need any assistance to find the end zone on his two rushing touchdowns as he out-duelled Josh Allen in an overtime epic to help his case.
Lamar Jackson has to be in the mix as well, leading the dominant Ravens but he is not quite as dominant as his unanimous win of this award in 2019.
He was far from perfect against the Chargers but we all know how he can take over a game and he will have plenty of chances to mount his case over the coming weeks.
We’re all waiting for Dak Prescott to implode but right now he is just rolling along, continuing to impress.
Tua Tagovailoa’s talent has never been in question, just his durability and he has been able to stay on the field while putting up some video game numbers.
But the biggest mark against him this season is the fact Tyreek Hill and company are doing such a good job they would have a case to win MVP themselves.
Hill might actually have the best case of the non quarterbacks but you can’t discount Christian McCaffrey given his propensity for finding the end zone.
So who wins it from here?
It’s really anyone’s guess.