{"id":385222,"date":"2025-11-17T12:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T12:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/385222\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T12:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T12:50:15","slug":"what-we-learned-in-nfl-week-11-eagles-defense-dominates-broncos-stake-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/385222\/","title":{"rendered":"What we learned in NFL Week 11: Eagles\u2019 defense dominates, Broncos stake claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drama isn\u2019t the only thing the Philadelphia Eagles major in. Winning, too.<\/p>\n

After another week of discourse and debate, after star wideout A.J. Brown again vented his frustrations about his role and the team\u2019s sagging offense, the reigning Super Bowl champs stifled the Detroit Lions Sunday night<\/a>, 16-9, in a win that returned the Eagles to the top of the NFC with seven games to go in the regular season.<\/p>\n

The offense remains a work in progress. But if Philly\u2019s defense plays like that the rest of the way, a repeat is absolutely on the table.<\/p>\n

The Eagles\u2019 opponent in February\u2019s Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs, are going to have a much tougher time making it back. Or even making the postseason at all. That\u2019s because the AFC\u2019s reigning kings may have already been dethroned, and it\u2019s not even Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Sean Payton\u2019s red-hot Denver Broncos, who along with the New England Patriots are riding league-best eight-game win streaks, are in firm control of the AFC West after Sunday\u2019s 22-19 victory over the Chiefs. Andy Reid\u2019s team has won the AFC West every year since 2016. It seems that stretch is about to end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best,\u201d Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said after the win. \u201cIf you\u2019re scared, go to church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nix\u2019s Broncos are now atop the AFC<\/a> at 9-2. Included in their eight-game win streak: wins over both of last season\u2019s Super Bowl teams, the Eagles and Chiefs. Denver is for real.<\/p>\n

In the battle of the NFC West\u2019s top teams, the Los Angeles Rams picked off Sam Darnold four times<\/a> in a 21-19 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams, 8-2, are tied with the Eagles for the NFC\u2019s best record, but Philly has the tiebreaker due to a head-to-head win in Week 3.<\/p>\n

Just behind the Rams \u2014 believe it or not \u2014 are the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears, who moved in front of the Lions with another last-second win Sunday. The Bears\u2019 19-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was Chicago\u2019s fifth fourth-quarter comeback of the season<\/a>, tying a franchise record. That uninspiring 0-2 start feels like a decade ago. Ben Johnson\u2019s team is now 7-3 and has won three straight one-possession games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter when; it doesn\u2019t matter how; it doesn\u2019t matter who,\u201d said quarterback Caleb Williams, 7-1 in his last eight starts. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the guys; we\u2019ve got the coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Minnesota, now 4-6, J.J. McCarthy\u2019s struggles continued<\/a>: He finished 16 of 32 for 150 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.<\/p>\n

The team behind the Bears in the NFC North, the Green Bay Packers, avoided fading further in the standings<\/a> with a 27-20 win over the New York Giants on a windy day at MetLife Stadium. Christian Watson snared his first two touchdowns of the season, including the game winner with a little more than four minutes left. Jameis Winston threw for 201 yards and an interception in his first start of the season as the Giants (2-9) dropped their first game under interim coach Mike Kafka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Say this much for DeMeco Ryans\u2019 Houston Texans: That team never stopped fighting. Now they\u2019re winning, despite star quarterback C.J. Stroud being sidelined with a concussion. After starting 2-4, the Texans have climbed to 5-5 after Sunday\u2019s 16-13 win over the Tennessee Titans. The Texans, division champs each of the past two years, remain alive in a competitive AFC South and still have two games against the Colts before it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

Take a minute and appreciate how far Bryce Young has come<\/a>: from a disastrous rookie season to a benching in Year 2 to Sunday, when the 2023 No. 1 overall pick threw for a franchise-record 448 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Carolina Panthers\u2019 30-27 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons. It was Young\u2019s finest game as a pro, and it moves Carolina to 6-5, the team\u2019s best record this late in the year since Ron Rivera\u2019s final full season as coach way back in 2018.<\/p>\n

Speaking of turnarounds, how about Liam Coen\u2019s Jacksonville Jaguars? One of the more hectic hirings of last winter\u2019s coaching cycle \u2014 Coen turned down Jacksonville at first, only to later change his mind \u2014 has proven one of the best. The Jaguars are now 6-4 after routing the Los Angeles Chargers 35-6 on Sunday. It was the most lopsided loss of the Jim Harbaugh era<\/a> in L.A. Currently, the two teams are holding on to the last two AFC playoff spots.<\/p>\n

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers got one they needed, rolling the Cincinnati Bengals 34-12. The concern will be Aaron Rodgers\u2019 non-throwing hand after the 41-year-old exited the game late in the second quarter and didn\u2019t return. Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey was ejected from the game after lobbing a punch at Bengals wideout Ja\u2019Marr Chase, whom Ramsey alleges spit on him. Chase denied it, but video of the incident backed up Ramsey\u2019s claim<\/a>. Chase could be hearing from the league this week about a potential suspension.<\/p>\n

The win keeps Pittsburgh a full game in front of the Baltimore Ravens, who rallied late to beat the Cleveland Browns 23-16, with two head-to-head meetings to come. Shedeur Sanders, in relief of Dillon Gabriel, went 4-for-16 and threw an interception, but had a tying touchdown pass dropped in the end zone. Not to be overlooked, Myles Garrett is having another all-world season. The Browns\u2019 All-Pro is now the first player in NFL history to have at least 12 sacks in six straight seasons. The Ravens, winners of four straight, are back at .500 and have games coming up against the Jets and Bengals, who have a combined five wins.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco 49ers pummeled the Arizona Cardinals 41-22, thanks to another stellar outing from Christian McCaffrey, who totaled three touchdowns. Brock Purdy was sharp in his first start since September<\/a>, finishing with 200 passing yards and three touchdowns. Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett completed an NFL regular-season record 47 passes in the loss.<\/p>\n

In the NFL\u2019s first-ever game in Spain, the Miami Dolphins breathed more life into a season that looked to be on life support just a month ago. Sunday\u2019s 16-13 overtime victory over the Washington Commanders was Miami\u2019s third win in four games, and a strong finish won\u2019t hurt Mike McDaniel\u2019s chances of returning to South Beach for a fifth season. Washington, meanwhile, has collapsed without quarterback Jayden Daniels, who\u2019s started just six games this season. The Commanders are now 3-8 and have dropped six straight. At least last season was fun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we learned across Week 11 in the NFL:<\/p>\n

Eagles grind out another one<\/p>\n

Lions coach Dan Campbell kept going for it on fourth down, and Vic Fangio\u2019s defense kept reminding him why that was a bad decision.<\/p>\n

That was the story Sunday night in Philadelphia, where the Eagles\u2019 defense put together its finest performance of the season in a 16-9 win \u2014 one that was so good it echoed February\u2019s dominant outing in their Super Bowl rout of the Chiefs. The front consistently beat a stout Lions offensive line, which sped up Detroit quarterback Jared Goff and led to myriad bad throws and batted passes. The linebackers tackled well. The secondary was excellent in coverage, routinely winning 50-50 balls to stunt drives and keep Philly in front.<\/p>\n

It was one of Goff\u2019s worst games in years: At one point in the second half, he completed one throw across 12 attempts. He finished 14-for-37 for 255 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The Lions were 3-for-13 on third downs and 0-for-5 on fourth down, three of which came on Philadelphia\u2019s side of the field. The Eagles owned the money downs.<\/p>\n

For a Lions offense that erupted for 44 points after Campbell assumed play-calling duties last week, this was a significant step back. Outside of some chunk plays from Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit never looked in sync. At 6-4, the Lions are currently outside of the playoff picture looking in.<\/p>\n

New blood atop AFC West?<\/p>\n

For nine successive seasons \u2014 all the way back to the end of the Alex Smith era \u2014 the AFC West ran through Kansas City. No more.<\/p>\n

Barring a miraculous late-season run and stunning collapses from both the Broncos and Chargers, the Chiefs\u2019 division-title streak is all but history. In fact, it\u2019s been a year of firsts for Kansas City in the Mahomes era, and not in a good way. It\u2019s the first time since 2015 the Chiefs are at or under .500 through 10 games. They\u2019ve never trailed the division by this much (four games). And until this year, they\u2019ve never suffered multiple losing streaks in the same season.<\/p>\n

Uncharted waters, indeed.<\/p>\n

The biggest swing has come in close games. A year ago, the Chiefs thrived in crunch time, going 12-0 in one-possession games, including the playoffs. This season, the law of averages has caught up to them. KC is 0-5.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s going to be tough to get back in the division race,\u201d said Mahomes, who went 29-for-45 for 276 yards, a touchdown and an interception. \u201cAt the end of the day, the goal is to get in the playoffs and try and make a run at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not done, but the Chiefs have been humbled. Instead of being the team everyone\u2019s chasing this time of year, they\u2019re going to be fighting for their playoff lives the rest of the way. Next up: a visit from the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts.<\/p>\n

With six games to go, the AFC West is the Broncos\u2019 to lose.<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s offense has sputtered at times this season, but Nix always seems to shine when needed most. Think back to the thrilling 33-point fourth-quarter against the Giants. Or the last-second win over the Texans. Sunday was no different. On a second-and-8 with 54 seconds left and the score tied, Nix hit wideout Tony Franklin for a 32-yard gain. It was a gutsy call from Sean Payton and a gorgeous throw from Nix, who rifled it inside because that\u2019s where Franklin had earned leverage. Wil Lutz\u2019s 35-yard field goal two plays later won it. Vance Joseph\u2019s defense was stifling again, never letting Mahomes get comfortable. The Broncos lead the NFL in sacks with 49, the most through 11 weeks since 1989.<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 late-game fortune has flipped, as well. After going 1-6 in one-score games a year ago, Denver is 7-2 this season.<\/p>\n

Rams pull ahead in NFC West<\/p>\n

Maybe Sunday\u2019s loss was strangely encouraging for the Seahawks: Despite Sam Darnold throwing four interceptions, Seattle still had a chance to win it. Mike Macdonald\u2019s defense deserves credit. That was quite an effort.<\/p>\n

But Jason Myers\u2019 61-yard field goal as time expired fluttered right.<\/p>\n

The Rams escaped, in large part due to the 14-3 lead they built early in the game \u2014 and a jaw-dropping punt from Ethan Evans that bounced out of bounds at the 1-yard line with 1:41 left.<\/p>\n

Outside of Matthew Stafford, who threw for two more touchdowns Sunday, the impetus behind Los Angeles\u2019 five-game winning streak has been the defense. Chris Shula\u2019s young unit has quietly become one of the best in football. The Rams have held three of their last four opponents under 20 and rank second in the league in points allowed. In a game between potential playoff teams \u2014 two teams good enough to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl \u2014 Darnold\u2019s mistakes were the difference.<\/p>\n

The division race is far from over. The Rams are in front at 8-2, but the Seahawks are just a game back at 7-3, and the 49ers \u2014 who are starting to get healthy again \u2014 are 7-4.<\/p>\n

Feel better about the Bills?<\/p>\n

The best game of Sunday\u2019s early window came in Orchard Park, N.Y., where Josh Allen shook off some early mistakes to put together another MVP-worthy performance in the Bills\u2019 44-32 victory over the Bucs. Allen\u2019s absurd talents again proved the difference in a tight game. He finished with three touchdowns through the air and three more on the ground, marking just the third time in NFL history a quarterback\u2019s done that.<\/p>\n

Allen has two of those performances. Otto Graham had the other \u2014 in 1954.<\/p>\n

But for all of Allen\u2019s ability, Buffalo\u2019s run defense remains a major concern heading into the stretch run. Tampa Bay piled up 202 rushing yards on 5.2 per carry, the eighth time in 10 games the Bills have allowed 100 or more on the ground. Needing Allen to play like Superman every week is not how this team\u2019s going to win in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Another story coming out of this one is how much the NFC South has tightened up in recent weeks. The 6-4 Bucs, the four-time defending division champs, are still in front by a half a game, but the 6-5 Panthers are lurking and playing their best football in years. Carolina has won five of seven and is eyeing its first postseason berth since 2017.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay will travel to Los Angeles next week to face the Rams, while Carolina is in San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drama isn\u2019t the only thing the Philadelphia Eagles major in. Winning, too. After another week of discourse and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":385223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-385222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115565128695776550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}