Exiting Week 11, it can feel like the direction of the season is clear. But context. In Week 14, 2021, the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals lost their second consecutive game to drop themselves to 7-6. The Bills sat 2.5 games behind the 9-4 Patriots, while the Bengals were a game back from the 8-5 Ravens. The Las Vegas Raiders were worse off, at 6-7 behind 11 other teams.
Those teams combined to finish the season 11-1 with the lone loss in a Week 18 game by the Bengals backups with the AFC North clinched.
There is a lot of football left.
Signs of turnarounds are present around the league.
The Lions looked done at 1-6 after a close loss to the Dolphins in Week 8. They have not lost since, winning their third straight game and taking down the Giants 31-18. Jamaal Williams was the main story, with three rushing touchdowns. Williams may be THE running back surprise story of 2022; his 15.4 PPR points per game puts him at RB15, a league-shifting return on his RB48 ADP. The Giants may be headed in the opposite direction as an early feel-good story. The loss drops them to 7-3, and they play five of their final seven games against the NFC East, arguably the toughest division with a combined 29-12 record.
The Commanders are another turnaround story. The team was 1-4, and Carson Wentz had stalled after a bright start. Injury necessitated a shift to Taylor Heinicke, and the team responded with a 5-1 run. Two of their next three are against the Giants, and that stretch will create separation in the NFC playoff hunt.
Flipping to the AFC East shows two more teams headed in opposite directions.
Coming out of Week 7, the Patriots were reeling after an embarrassing prime-time loss to the Bears 33-14. Rumors of a quarterback controversy permeated the team, and it looked like attrition had finally caught up to Bill Belichick’s team. A month later, they have not lost since, continuing their three-game run by topping the Jets 10-3 in the ugliest game of the week. It was a sliding door moment as the Jets, an early season story, now find themselves at a crossroads facing a potential quarterback controversy of their own and in last place in the AFC East.
Zach Wilson’s struggles are the real story coming out of the weekend with a 9-22 77-yard performance that saw the Jets gain just two yards of offense in the second half. Asked if the offense let the defense down, Wilson simply replied, “no .”Reality hit fast for a team riding high following a surprising upset of Buffalo in Week 9, and the franchise was forced into some complicated soul-searching.
There is a lot of football left.
Blind Resume
| Player | Rushes | Yards |
|---|---|---|
| A | 18 | 86 |
| B | 28 | 87 |
| C | 11 | 86 |
| D | 22 | 84 |
| E | 20 | 90 |
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