Big Ben and the Pittsburgh Steelers also fall to demoralising defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Green Bay Packers defenses shines against the Los Angeles Rams, and Dalvin Cook is dealt an injury setback - Week 12 concludes with the Seahawks @ Washington in MNF from 1.15am.
Monday 29 November 2021 12:31, UK
Leonard Fournette hit the Indianapolis Colts for four, Deebo Samuel and Cordarrelle Patterson produced more 'in their own category' magic, a Dolphins duo continued to blossom, Joe Mixon ran riot, Vita Vea lost a tooth and Lincoln Riley packed for LA - we look back on Sunday's NFL action.
Chicago Bears 16-14 Detroit Lions
Las Vegas Raiders 36-33 Dallas Cowboys (OT)
Buffalo Bills 31-6 New Orleans Saints
Pittsburgh Steelers 10-41 Cincinnati Bengals
Atlanta Falcons 21-14 Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans 13-36 New England Patriots
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-31 Indianapolis Colts
New York Jets 21-14 Houston Texans
Philadelphia Eagles 7-13 New York Giants
Carolina Panthers 10-33 Miami Dolphins
Los Angeles Chargers 13-28 Denver Broncos
Los Angeles Rams 28-26 Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings 26-34 San Francisco 49ers
Cleveland Browns 10-16 Baltimore Ravens
Seattle Seahawks @ Washington Football Team (MNF, live on Sky Sports NFL)
Playoff Lenny? Lombardi Lenny? How about regular season Lenny?
'Jonathan Taylor' this, 'MVP frontrunner' that. Bucs running back Leonard Fournette wanted no part of it, as much of an advocate as he may quietly be for a running back winning the league's top individual accolade - Adrian Peterson being the last to achieve the feat in 2012.
Instead he lured end zone camera men in his direction in scoring four touchdowns, compensating handsomely for a fluidity-lacking passing game with 100 rushing yards for three scores off 17 carries while also reeling in seven catches for 31 yards and another six points to lift the Bucs to victory over the Colts.
His performance may have been crowned by a 28-yard burst to the house to seal the win with 29 seconds left, but it was perhaps better defined by the galvanising speech he delivered in the locker room at half-time with Tampa trailing 24-14.
"He definitely said some stuff that got us going," said outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. "He said we were a special group, that's one of the reasons he came back. And we know we can play [like] a special group. We've just gotta show it. Show it and play out."
It isn't so much redemption for Fournette after seeing his career stall in Jacksonville, but more so reignition of a reputation that placed him in the company of Dalvin Cook as the nation's two leading backs coming out of college in 2017.
He has discovered new purpose and fulfilled an expectation of accountability in a Bruce Arians team that refuses to carry passengers; on a day when Tom Brady and his aerial attack encountered rare hiccups, Fournette was there to offer assurance over a ground game capable of shouldering the load and providing the balanced offense needed in January.
Fournette now has 621 rushing yards for seven touchdowns and 51 catches for 354 yards and one score on the year. He is taking full advantage of his second coming.
Where the Steelers offense hobbled, Joe Mixon feasted; the Bengals running back continued his fine run with 165 rushing yards for two touchdowns to follow up his 123 yards against the Raiders in Week 11 while making it three successive games of two rushing scores.
The Cordarrelle Patterson story resumed as he returned from injury to remind that he remains the heart and soul of the Falcons offense with 16 carries for 108 yards and two touchdowns in addition to two catches for 27 yards against the Jaguars. He has gone from filling a 'not sure how to use him' category to owning a category of his own.
Tua Tagovailoa might be the most polarising quarterback in the NFL. The same critics that are so quick to pounce on mistakes seem reluctant to tip their hat to the positives he manages to conjure behind a turnstile offensive line. He went 27 of 31 for 230 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's win over the Panthers as he brought up his 16th career start, at the end of which he has posted a career 67 per cent completion rate for 3,515 yards, a 90.5 passer rating, 27 total touchdowns and 12 turnovers. Those are the numbers of a starting NFL quarterback.
Among the leading components to the Dolphins' four-game winning streak has been his blossoming relationship with rookie receiver Jaylen Waddle, who racked up a career nine catches for 137 yards and a score at 15.2 yards per reception. In the meantime, rookie safety Jevon Holland continued to look like a gem of a find.
And here is a nod to the Packers defense that continued to quash its much-maligned reputation of 2020 by making Matthew Stafford and the Rams, barring a Van Jefferson 79-yarder and Odell Beckham Jr. 54-yarder here or there, ordinary. Rasul Douglas finished with six tackles, four pass defenses and a pick-six, timing his jump on Cooper Kupp's hitch route to perfection to run in his first career interception return for a 36-17 late in the third quarter.
New York football meanwhile celebrated two wins on Thanksgiving weekend as the Jets beat the Texans, during which John Franklin-Myers had two sacks and an interception, while the Giants held off the Eagles following the fifth interception of the season for second-year safety Xavier McKinney.
Undrafted Patriots revelation J.C. Jackson built on his exceptional season with a forced fumble and end zone interception to help New England pick up their sixth straight win against the Titans. Broncos rookie cornerback Patrick Surtain II also had two interceptions including a pick-six against the Chargers.
Nobody wants to watch this Steelers offense - nobody. They drafted the best running back in the nation and are yet to find a way to unleash him, while Ben Roethlisberger's arm looks more rickety by the week. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada probably pays the price without ever really knowing what his orbiting and motioning, disguising and diverting scheme - which isn't void of blame - would look like with a quarterback better suited and more immersed in it than Roethlisberger.
What has been evident for some time this season seemed grimacingly obvious in Sunday's 41-10 humiliation against the Bengals; Big Ben's NFL career, and what a career it has been, is drawing to a close. Two Super Bowl rings, six Pro Bowl selections, an Offensive Rookie of the Year award, two single-season passing yards titles and top 10 in all-time passing yards is some haul.
Where one door closed by another inch, the 49ers' postseason credentials continued to march in the opposite direction with a 34-26 win over the Vikings. Kyle Shanahan's coveted run game was back to its vibrant, zesty best behind Elijah Mitchell's 133 rushing yards for a touchdown from 27 carries and an all singing and dancing Deebo Samuel, who ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns as well as making one catch for 12 yards.
Samuel now has a combined 181 yards and four touchdowns on the ground to just 124 receiving yards and one touchdown catch over his last three games. He also has 1,006 receiving yards for five touchdowns and 203 rushing yards for five touchdowns on the year. He and Patterson are two for the 'in their own category' category.
What you may have missed during Sunday's slate was the rather significant news that Lincoln Riley has left his post at Oklahoma after five years to fill the head coaching vacancy at USC.
Riley has long been linked with head coaching openings at both collegiate and NFL level having mentored former No 1 overall picks in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray as well as coaching Eagles starting quarterback Jalen Hurts. This season had seen him work with Caleb Williams after the five-star recruit quarterback won the starting job under center from Spencer Rattler, who struggled early on having been widely-projected as a first-round pick come April's Draft.
His arrival in California immediately boots the programme's hopes of securing the services of local quarterback talent, with Alabama's Bryce Young, Ole Miss' Matt Corral, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud and Clemson's D.J. Uiagalelei having all left the state in recent years.
Might one of Williams or Rattler follow Riley to Los Angeles? Could Malachi Nelson, the No 2 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class, retract his verbal commitment to Oklahoma in favour of a Riley union? Either way, there's a future USC starting quarterback coming to an NFL team near you.
Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea lost his front tooth after taking a helmet to the face while engaging Colts guard Mark Glowinski. He walked off smiling, which tells you all you need to know about Vita Vea.
The Vikings were dealt a major scare when star running back Dalvin Cook had to be carted off with a shoulder injury in the third quarter of Minnesota's defeat to the 49ers, who also lost receiver Deebo Samuel (groin) and linebacker Fred Warner (hamstring).
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported after the game that Cook suffered a dislocation and is due to undergo an MRI to determine the full extent.
Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb meanwhile suffered a game-ending groin injury against the Rams having recorded his best figures so far this season.
The Jaguars lost tight end Dan Arnold to a knee injury against the Falcons, Bucs guard Aaron Stinnie exited with a knee problem against the Colts, Giants cornerbacks Adoree' Jackson (quad) and Darnay Holmes (chest) picked up knocks versus the Eagles and the Jets saw defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins (knee) and linebacker Quincy Williams (calf) leave their win over the Texans.
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