Watch the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Houston Texans on Sunday from 6pm live on Sky Sports NFL, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles against the Buffalo Bills at 9.25pm on a stacked Thanksgiving weekend slate of games.
Sunday 26 November 2023 17:37, UK
Happy Thanksgiving weekend! One of the busiest and best weeks on the NFL calendar continues on Sunday as the race to the playoffs really begins to gather meaning and momentum. We guide you through some of the latest news lines, stats and build-up from a stacked Week 12...
The AFC's quarterbacks arms race has a new player at the table. Welcome along, CJ Stroud. Settle in for the long haul.
In the NFL minefield that is quarterback expeditioning, the Houston Texans can afford to snigger with smug satisfaction having plucked one of the league's most gifted young passers and coupled him with a pair of Shanahan disciples in DeMeco Ryans and Bobby Slowik.
The beautiful touch and precision that flourished at Ohio State has translated to the next level with absurd ease, he is dicing opponents from the pocket, he is pushing the ball downfield with veteran bravado, he is creating off-script and maintaining unerring accuracy off-platform, he is holding defenders with his eyes, he is acing timing patterns, he is shrugging off mistakes and sponging off their lessons. Pre-Draft chatter would have you believe teams burdened themselves with fears over his S2 Cognition exam results; meanwhile, Stroud has started his NFL career with the look of one of the NFL's smartest and most conscientious minds.
It has accelerated the Texans project at a rate that neither Ryans nor general manager Nick Caserio could have envisioned, feeding a mix-and-match ensemble of receiving targets within an offense ranked 10th in EPA/play and catapulting Houston into unlikely playoff contention.
His emergence has also extended the list of quarterback duels the league can look forward to marketing for the next decade, continuing Sunday as Stroud and Trevor Lawrence meet for the second time as the faces of an absorbing AFC South in which Anthony Richardson and Will Levis also want in on the fun over the coming years.
The 'would you rather Stroud or Lawrence if you were starting a franchise?' questions have crept in ahead of this weekend's game. Stroud, the new and trendy kid on the block, spearheading Houston's rebirth. Lawrence, the most highly-regarded quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck, fronting a quest for perennial postseason relevance under Doug Pederson.
Houston have won 10 of their last 11 games against the Jags, who are 4-0 on the road this season.
Sign us up for 10 years of these two going at it.
Jacksonville Jaguars (7-3) @ Houston Texans (6-4): While eyes turn to two of the league's most gifted young play-callers in Lawrence and Stroud, two former college foes meet again when former Georgia man Travon Walker and former Alabama star Will Anderson Jr seek to lead their team's pass rush. There are fascinating grounds for comparison between the pair as they strive to make their way in the NFL, Walker burdened with enormous expectations as a No 1 overall pick and Anderson similarly tipped for greatness as a man that might well have gone No 1 ahead of Walker and Aidan Hutchinson had he left college a year sooner. The two represent the modern pass rush mould with the flexibility to drift across the defensive line.
Buffalo Bills (6-5) @ Philadelphia Eagles (9-1): The Bills offense can fluctuate between dunk-on-them brutality and stale predictability, even if it remains among one of the most efficient and most potent in the league. There has long been a feeling of the need to re-spice and re-vitalise what Josh Allen has ahead of him; Dalton Kincaid has contributed to as much as Buffalo's contribution to a receiver-in-a-tight-end-body society, but could Khalil Shakir be a consistent wrinkle on which to lean. With Gabe Davis flattering to deceiver as a No 2 to Stefon Diggs, Shakir has started to find a home in the slot and teed up an expanded role with his 81-yard catch-and-dash touchdown against the Jets. Keep an eye on the 2022 fifth-round pick.
Baltimore Ravens (8-3) @ Los Angeles Chargers (4-6): Short-term memory can reign supreme in football at times, and so it need be said that Marcus Williams is a perfect example of not letting one moment define a career. He is the man that was at fault during the Minneapolis Miracle, but so too the man that has asserted himself as a staple of the modern NFL safety and formed one of his position group's most dynamic tandems alongside Kyle Hamilton. It's hard not to look at Sunday's matchup between the Ravens and Chargers and think about how much a seat-heated Brandon Staley would love a Williams with whom to shift in post-snap coverage rotations. Baltimore's defense enter the game ranked third in EPA, the Chargers arrive down in 28th.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on whether Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe will start this week: "I've told everybody to be ready to go."
Raiders interim head coach Antonio Pierce ahead of his side's clash with the Chiefs: "I'm calling on Raider nation, our fanbase, our alumni to show up and show out. Bring that energy, bring that passion. Watch these guys play hard, give their effort, execute at a high level and play with the intention to win every game at home. Allegiant Stadium has to be ours. That Black Hole has to be real."
Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady in an interview on The Stephen A. Smith Show: "I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL. I don't see the excellence that I saw in the past. I don't think the coaching is as good as it was."
Injured Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers discussing the benching of Zach Wilson on The Pat McAfee Show: "It was going to be me and my show, and Zach getting to learn and watch it first-hand, and not having the pressure to go out there and play. So, obviously, this is disappointing. I have some personal guilt around the whole thing."
Texans quarterback CJ Stroud after throwing a career-high three interceptions in Week 11: "Man, Steph Curry don't ever stop shooting. I'm going to keep letting it ride. And I've got no shame in my game. I've definitely got to be smarter. No confidence is taken away from me. I'm going to keep letting it fly."
Travis Kelce tells The Wall Street Journal he thinks about retirement "more than anyone could ever imagine": "That's the only thing I've never really been open about, the discomfort. The pain. The lingering injuries, the 10 surgeries I've had that I still feel every single surgery to this day."
Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson on fan messages about his fitness: "My health is wayyyy more important than you winning your fantasy games. It doesn't matter how many times y'all flood my dms talking about me selling your team. I DON'T CARE."
Neil Reynolds and Jeff Reinebold discuss the biggest talking points from Week 11 of the NFL season, including the Eagles' win over the Chiefs and mounting pressure in Los Angeles.
Justin Herbert's time is being wasted and Brandon Staley's time is almost up as the Los Angeles Chargers swallow another painfully familiar dose of one-score torment. The NFL's festive period has begun, and so too the countdown for some of the league's most under-pressure figures.
The Chargers could be likened to the friend that turns up at five-a-side sporting Copa Mundials, with a hairband on, sock tape hugging their next-to-non-existent shin-pads and black Nike gloves to top off the ensemble. The optics point to a gifted technician, until they sky the five-yard gimme teed up by the Justin Herbert of the team following a marauding run during which he has slalomed beyond three defenders.
From NFL anonymity to lock-and-key secret-keeper. Earlier this season Jason Kelce was telling brother Travis Kelce about the "Scottish guy" with whom the Philadelphia Eagles had consulted in order to gain a rugby outlook on the team's 'brotherly shove/tush push' play.
That 'Scottish guy' was Richie Gray.
In the latest episode of Her Huddle, Phoebe Schecter speaks to Ukrainian flag footballer Olha Hariacha, who shares the story of how her country appeared at the European Flag Football Championships despite the backdrop of war in her homeland.
"When my husband and I have practice together and our daughter is home alone and the siren goes, she takes her cat and her favourite book and goes to the shelter in our house."
Jevon Holland scored a remarkable 99-yard interception return from a Hail Mary attempt as the Miami Dolphins cruised to a 34-13 victory over the New York Jets in the NFL's first-ever Black Friday game.
Christian McCaffrey rushed for 114 yards and two more touchdowns while the San Francisco 49ers sacked Geno Smith six times on the way to a 31-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thanksgiving Thursday.
Before then DaRon Bland set a new NFL record as he scored his fifth pick-six of the season as the Dallas Cowboys cruised to a 45-10 victory against the Washington Commanders.
Jordan Love starred in the night's opening game when he threw three touchdown passes to guide the Green Bay Packers to a 29-22 upset win over the high-flying Detroit Lions.
Watch the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Houston Texans on Sunday from 6pm live on Sky Sports NFL, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles against the Buffalo Bills at 9.25pm on a stacked Thanksgiving weekend slate of games
