Sunday’s Past 13 video games adopted probably the most developments we noticed on Thursday and Friday — closely liked groups making slender escapes.
BACK ON TOP!
: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/ULrtwvSvoZ
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 1, 2024
What to construct of the ones groups that sweated out victories, in particular the Jim Harbaugh-led Chargers? The Athletic NFL writers Mike Jones, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei percentage their ideas on all of those storylines and extra.
Making an allowance for their taste of play games (and its relative good fortune up to now), do you purchase the Chargers as a group that would exit into AFC contender condition when the elements will get unsightly in January?
Jones: Robust protection and speeding assaults most often translate into good fortune within the postseason. However till Sunday, the Chargers hadn’t crushed a group with a successful report; Atlanta used to be only a sport above .500 and now drops to 6-6. However in opposition to the groups they’ll most likely face within the postseason (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Kansas Town), the Chargers are 0-3, getting outscored via a mixed 67-43 and give up a median of 354 yards in line with sport. The Chargers capitalized on Kirk Cousins making some actually unholy choices on Sunday, which ended in 4 crippling interceptions. They may be able to’t be expecting Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson and even Josh Allen, who they don’t face this familiar season, to be as reckless with the soccer. And 14.3 issues in line with sport (the Chargers’ scoring reasonable in opposition to the ones AFC front-runners) received’t get the activity carried out within the postseason. This can be a admirable substructure that Jim Harbaugh and his avid gamers are laying, however they aren’t but AFC contenders.
Nguyen: They’re a group that can want dominant efforts from their protection each moment, and even supposing they have been lighting fixtures out in opposition to the Falcons, they’ve faltered in opposition to lead offenses. Earlier than this moment, they gave up a mixed 57 issues to the Bengals and Ravens. Their offense has progressed however they aren’t a unit that may win in a batch of shootouts. Their operating sport used to be explosive with J.Ok. Dobbins however very inefficient. Additionally, they’ve one of the most worst inner offensive traces within the league and surrender a batch of pressures. Their simplest receiver who can catch the ball persistently is Ladd McKonkey. If defenses may just prohibit him, they simply don’t have plethora playmakers. How the protection plays in opposition to the Chiefs and Buccaneers within the then two weeks will let us know a batch extra about how official their protection is, and this group is as a playoff contender.
Pompei: The Chargers play games the type of soccer that interprets effectively in unsightly climate. They run the ball effectively. They may be able to play games the type of protection that forces offensive errors. They’ve a quarterback who can win when the clock is ticking ailing. Their lecturer has been there ahead of and has received heavy video games. The Chargers have received 5 of six, and it’s conceivable they’ve no longer performed their perfect soccer. Beating the Falcons at the highway used to be a observation win, however their greatest problem will probably be in Kansas Town then Sunday night time. A win over the Chiefs may just construct the Chargers imagine they are able to beat any opponent.
Let’s get forward of ourselves for a year: Has free-agent-to-be Russell Wilson earned himself a multi-year loyalty from the Steelers?
Pompei: What’s the definition of “multi-year”? Wilson is 36 years worn, and the problem is what number of extra years he can carry out the best way he’s appearing now. Given how Wilson has lifted his group, the Steelers no doubt must need him to be their quarterback in 2025. In a really perfect international, they might signal him for another season and notice how that is going. However Wilson will probably be searching for extra of a loyalty, and if the Steelers aren’t prepared to construct it, every other group most certainly will probably be. A 3-year trade in could be an even compromise, so long as the Steelers have a technique to withdraw from it nearest two years.
Jones: We’re no longer speaking five-year trade in right here, however a two-year trade in — or maaaaybe a three-year trade in with an out for the Steelers — feels real looking. Wilson appears to be like at ease on this offense, and that relief would most likely building up in Age 2 with the group. However he has bodily boundaries. The Steelers stock sprinkling in Justin Farmlands when they would like the blackmail of a speeding quarterback as a result of they perceive the will to offer protection to Wilson. I don’t assume a long oath for Wilson, who simply became 36, is most likely.
Nguyen: A decrease expression, team-friendly trade in would construct sense. Locking in Wilson with a plethora oath at his life wouldn’t be sensible. This group continues to be constructed across the protection and operating sport. Wilson has carried out a admirable activity of supplementing the offense and distributing the ball, but when his cap collision on a possible extension hurts their skill to stock in combination a robust protection, that would manage to hassle ailing the street. Moreover, if his mobility ever takes the kind of collision that Aaron Rodgers’ has, Wilson’s sport may just fall off a cliff. Accidents need to be considered with used quarterbacks who need to develop out of doors of the patch.
We noticed most likely playoff groups within the Chiefs (two issues), Texans (3) and Vikings (one level) win narrowly as favorites once more. Do you imagine tight wins in opposition to shaky (or worse) combatants a purpose for worry, or one thing to be inspired via going into the postseason?
Nguyen: The Vikings beat a good-looking excellent Cardinals group however as I’ve written on this column ahead of, this Vikings group is shaky. In the event you type out their blitzes — which isn’t any simple process — that secondary will also be uncovered. Additionally, I’m no longer totally offered on Sam Darnold’s skill to accomplish in a natural passing sport script simply but, even though he performed a good-looking blank sport nowadays. The Chiefs have primary problems in go coverage they usually’re having a troublesome date pressuring the quarterback, which is why they’ve performed in such a lot of similar video games. I’d usually say a group that has received this many coin flips is fraudulent however we’ve not hidden the Chiefs turn the transfer such a lot of occasions ahead of, they get the advantage of the hesitation. The Texans are an especially incorrect group as a result of their offensive layout is so unholy. I don’t know if I’m extra all for any of those groups nearest this moment. The problems that stored the video games similar had been the similar ones that experience plagued those groups all over 2024.
Jones: You’d indisputably like to look contenders weigh down vulnerable combatants. However in truth, it’s manner tougher to win video games on this league than we ceaselessly lend a hand to recognize. There’s ceaselessly a fantastic layout between 7-5 and 5-7, and every now and then between 9-2 and 2-9, particularly if it’s a divisional matchup like we noticed between the Chiefs and Raiders and Texans and Jaguars. Sure, admirable groups every now and then shiny up scoreboards and ship breathtaking performs. However alternative occasions, admirable groups merely top to stock self-inflicted wounds — particularly underneath strain — to a minimal. We noticed the Raiders burn themselves in high-pressure conditions, and that’s why they’re the Raiders. I don’t in any respect fault the Vikings for no longer blowing out the Cardinals. Arizona is a superb, well-rounded group with an offense that assists in keeping defenses off stability, and a protection that assists in keeping strain on opposing offenses. The Vikings must be inspired via the resilience they confirmed as they compelled the Cardinals to accept a garden function past due instead than surrendering a landing within the pink zone, and nearest marched downfield and scored on that Darnold landing go to Aaron Jones to win the sport.
Pompei: A dominating win all the time is preferable to a similar win, however tight video games are a lot more habitual within the NFL. That’s why the league is so unpredictable and so watchable. And each group has flaws. There’s something to be mentioned for figuring out how one can win and developing excellent good fortune; it separates the contenders from the pretenders each season. Victories develop self assurance, even flimsy victories. All 3 groups, however in particular the Chiefs and Vikings, must be assured within the ultimate weeks. So long as they’re successful, it actually doesn’t topic how they’re successful. But when there are constant problems which are enabling inferior combatants to play games it similar (and there could also be with all 3), the ones problems may well be terrible in opposition to extra proficient combatants.
(Manage photograph: Todd Kirkland / Getty Photographs)
