Sunday Rundown: Instant takeaways from Week 12 slate
Sunday Rundown recaps the most important developments from the day's action and examines their significance moving forward.
Late-afternoon games
Cowboys defense trending up
I wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea of the Cowboys adding at the trade deadline. Quinnen Williams is a blue-chip player that should be a cornerstone of the roster for years to come, so this wasn't a situation where they were buying irresponsibly. Given the way this defense started the year, though, it was tough to imagine any move being enough to salvage the season. The last two weeks have challenged that perspective. Matchups with the Raiders and this version of the Eagles don't exactly provide the best barometer, but Dallas completely erasing Saquon Barkley in the run game (10 carries, 22 yards) is an especially notable development after the defense's early struggles. A league-average defense is all the Cowboys need to complement an elite scoring unit. The next two games (vs. Chiefs, at Lions) should tell us whether they are truly on the path to getting there.
Browns win Shedeur's 1st start
The Browns laying a beatdown on the Raiders was far more about a dominant defensive performance than it was a new quarterback. And that's no slight to Shedeur Sanders. He just didn't have to do much outside of the one really impressive 52-yard strike on a rollout late in the first quarter. That being said, he certainly looked more comfortable than he did last week when he was thrown into the fire in the second half against the Ravens. And while nobody should be surprised if a healthy Dillon Gabriel keeps the No. 1 job given their respective draft positions, I'm not sure what that accomplishes. Why not let Sanders start the rest of the season to see what he can do with more reps? We've seen more than enough to be comfortable saying Gabriel won't be keeping the Browns from drafting a quarterback next year. Sanders also faces an uphill battle on that front, but you won't know for sure until he gets an extended look. At the very least, his downfield accuracy could open things up and finally allow for a watchable offense.
Garrett closing in on history
Myles Garrett led the charge as the Browns' defensive front overwhelmed the Raiders, getting to Geno Smith for three of Cleveland's 10 sacks on the day. The latest outstanding performance puts the perennial All-Pro up to 18 on the year, just 4.5 shy of the single-season record shared by Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021). Sacks are tough to predict, so nothing is guaranteed, but it almost feels inevitable that he gets there at some point down the stretch. Because while playing from in front certainly helped the Browns stuff the stat sheet this week, game scripts haven't stopped Garrett putting up numbers all season. He somehow racked up five sacks in a blowout loss to the Patriots in October and brought down Lamar Jackson four times in defeat last week. It's fun to think about what those numbers could look like if he was actually in a situation that regularly allowed him to pin his ears back and get after the quarterback late in games. Either way, the race for Defensive Player of the Year has been over for weeks.
Raiders need to blow it up (again)
Pete Carroll was supposed to be the coach that helped the Raiders start trending back in the right direction. The roster clearly needed work, but it was easy enough to see the vision, given his track record. Well, so much for that. The first year of Carroll's tenure has been an absolute disaster, and it's only getting worse with every passing week. Getting embarrassed by the Browns is a new low for a franchise that knows the feeling all too well. Mark Davis will likely resist the idea of starting over again - he's already on his sixth head coach since stepping into the lead ownership role in 2011. But sticking this out for no other reason than to avoid another reset may only make things worse. Carroll's win-now mentality, still alive and well as he continues to play veterans over young players in a lost season, runs completely counter to everything the organization should be aiming to do at this point. His defensive background has also done nothing to create any semblance of a foundation on that side of the ball, and Chip Kelly joining him as the NFL's highest-paid offensive coordinator is looking like all-time finesse job. Will the Raiders be bold enough to do the right thing and start fresh with a coaching staff that may actually fit with the new front office?
Early kickoffs
Chiefs stay alive
I was just about ready to give up on the Chiefs. Sunday's game at home against the Colts was an absolute must-win to maintain any sort of realistic playoff hope, and it wasn't looking good early. Somehow, even those stakes weren't enough for the offense to snap out of its funk. It did just enough to scratch and claw its way to overtime, though, and we all knew how it was going to end once Patrick Mahomes got the ball in his hands in the extra frame. The crucial win isn't nearly enough to take the pressure off in the weeks to come, as previous letdowns have put the Chiefs in a position where they'd lose head-to-head tiebreakers to the teams they're chasing for a wild card (Chargers, Bills, Jaguars). With that in mind, they probably can't afford anything more than one more loss down the stretch. That'll be a tough ask with games against the Cowboys, Texans, Chargers, and Broncos still ahead. And yet it feels like we can never truly count this team out. No matter what it looks like throughout the regular season, there's a real chance that the rest of the AFC would regret allowing the Chiefs to sneak in.
McCarthy needs to sit
Understanding that there was simply no world in which the Vikings were going to save their season with J.J. McCarthy playing at the level he has, I had basically concluded that the rest of this year would be about getting him the reps he needs. I'd like to make a slight alteration to that take after Sunday's game against the Packers. The new stance: it's time for McCarthy to take a seat. That's not to say he doesn't still have a chance at being the quarterback of the future in Minnesota. We're only six starts into his career. It would be far too early to write him off. But he's simply unplayable right now. If you want to look at this from a team perspective, the rest of the roster (and staff) deserve better than to be weighed down by a quarterback who is currently in over his head. Focusing specifically on McCarthy, it's also easy to see how these kinds of early failures may only do more damage. Why not give him some time to reset? Sunday's performance against the Packers - completing 12 of 19 passes for just 87 yards and a pair of interceptions - is his worst game by EPA/dropback, according to TruMedia. By that same metric, McCarthy now owns the single worst six-start stretch to open a career since at least 2000. Considering the favorable situation he was stepping into, it doesn't get much more disappointing than this.
Lions avoid disaster
Anyone who had mounting concerns about the Lions is unlikely to be moved by a narrow overtime victory over the Giants. For a team that has so consistently bounced back from the occasional disappointing loss under Dan Campbell, this should have been a spot where Detroit dominated. Instead, we've got major questions about both the defense, which allowed a season-high 517 yards to the two-win Giants, and an offense that continues to look like a completely different unit without Sam LaPorta. Thanks to Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions can at least continue their search for answers with a relatively comfortable 7-4 record. The star running back put the team on his back with one of the best individual performances we'll see all season, posting 264 total yards and three scores, including a 69-yard touchdown on the first play of overtime.
Jameis doing it again
The Giants giving the Lions a scare wasn't just about the home side struggling. New York also deserves credit for the way the offense was able to move the ball up and down the field. We probably shouldn't be too surprised that Jameis Winston gave his team a chance. The former No. 1 overall pick has long been written off as a journeyman backup. The turnover issues are a big part of that equation, but his ability to push the ball downfield - often with a subpar supporting cast - has consistently shined through in his opportunities over the last few years. Even if we're long past the point that he gets a look as a low-level starter, Winston having to settle for the No. 3 job to start this season in New York was always a little bizarre. The Giants getting him on a two-year, $8-million deal is a steal, and they should be proactive about a potential extension to lock in a reliable veteran as a backup for Jaxson Dart.
JSN on record pace
What else can we say about Jaxon Smith-Njigba? The superstar wideout continued his incredible campaign with a 167-yard day against the Titans, breaking the Seahawks' single-season receiving record with six games still left to play. He's also currently on pace to surpass Calvin Johnson for the NFL single-season mark of 1,964. We've spent a lot of time talking about Jonathan Taylor's potentially historic season, and for good reason. But JSN might be a lock for Offensive Player of the Year honors if he can make that kind of history.
Patriots will be tested
The Patriots managing to avoid any sort of major injury losses had been a crucial part of their impressive start to the season. While the new staff had done some impressive work in bolstering the roster, it certainly helps when the depth isn't truly put to the test. That might change over the next few weeks. New England lost a pair of starting offensive linemen in Sunday's win over the Bengals, as rookies Will Campbell and Jared Wilson were carted off with injuries. If both are forced to miss time, that would push Vederian Lowe into the starting lineup for Campbell at left tackle and Ben Brown at left guard in place of Wilson. That's going to be a storyline to watch for an offensive line that has already surrendered 37 sacks, tied for the fourth-most league-wide. Next week's Monday night matchup with a stacked Giants pass-rush should give us a good idea about this group's chances of holding up down the stretch.
Dan Wilkins is theScore's senior NFL writer.