With Week 11 in the books, the playoff race is underway and it has thrown up some surprises. Take a look at the AFC West for instance. Who would have thought that the Los Angeles Chargers would be sitting in last place at 4-6 while the Denver Broncos insane turnaround has them sitting in second at 5-5?!
As it stands today neither of the teams mentioned hold a postseason berth in the AFC, and the road won’t get any easier. Expect the playoff race to come down to the wire this season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from Week 11.
Winner – Denver’s Looking Dangeruss
Last time that we talked about the Denver Broncos Sean Payton was being roasted by the entire Jets roster. Since their abysmal 1-5 start, this team has done a complete 180 and has seemingly found their stride. The biggest turnaround has been on defense – go ahead and hand Vance Joseph his flowers. This unit went from surrendering 70 points to Miami in Week 3 to allowing just 16 points per game over the last three.
One of the team’s biggest changes has been winning the turnover battle. During their four game win streak, the Denver Broncos are +11 in turnover margin. This isn’t just big for the defense, but the offense as well. Russell Wilson has not thrown a single interception during this spell.
The team isn’t perfect though, as Sean Payton has pointed out. They managed to squeak out a win on Sunday thanks to some late game heroics. They struggled on third down, converting just two of twelve attempts. Next they face a stifling Browns defense, but it is a winnable game nonetheless.
Loser – The Chargers come unplugged
Yikes, what a year it has been for the Los Angeles Chargers! Brandon Staley’s seat is red hot and it feels like his days are numbered. This team is a mess and it feels like they are wasting some of Justin Herbert’s prime years. They are 4-6 and occupy last place in the AFC West, with their playoff chances starting to look very slim in a competitive AFC race.
Head coach Brandon Staley has had a rough few weeks and tensions nearly boiled over during Sunday’s presser. His ability to call defensive plays came into question, and he didn’t take kindly to it. Staley reiterated that he will continue to call the plays and that the reporter can just stop asking questions.
Rookie receiver Quentin Johnston also struggled in this one. The rookie has faced questions about his route running, but on Sunday it was his ability to catch the football that essentially cost the Chargers the game. Keenan Allen also had an uncharacteristic drop in the endzone before halftime. Both of these proved costly as the Chargers fell to a 23-20 defeat to the Green Bay Packers. Something is going to have to change and soon if the Chargers are to salvage their season.
Winner – Jordan Love and the Packers
Jordan Love may be a polarizing quarterback, but on Sunday he showed that he can overcome adversity and lead his team to a hard fought victory. Love threw for 322 yards and had two touchdowns, one of which came late in the game for the win. It has become apparent that when Love doesn’t turn the ball over, the Packers win games. Three of their four victories have come in games where Love did not throw an interception.
The Packers have a ton of heartbreaking defeats this season, and nearly had another on Sunday after the offense failed to close the game out. Luckily the defense came up big with a fourth down stop, deflecting Herbert’s pass to secure the victory. Rashan Gary deserves particular praise for his performance in this game and he was one of the main reasons that the Packers managed to secure their second straight home victory.
Gary came up huge on a sack that got the Packers the ball again after the two minute warning. The defensive end also recovered a huge fumble earlier in the half. The Packers have now moved to 4-6. They could still make some last minute noise in a fairly weak NFC.
Loser – Seattle Seahawks slipping?
On Sunday the Seattle Seahawks failed to close out against the Los Angeles Rams in a game that they should have won. The defense played brilliantly, despite the late score by the Rams to go up 17-16 with just over a minute to go. They held Matthew Stafford to under 200 passing yards and forced an interception as the Rams managed just 267 total yards of offense in this one.
One of the biggest killers to any Seahawks momentum though was all the penalties. Seattle would end up recording season highs in both penalties (12) and penalty yards (130). Winning games whilst doing that feels like a difficult ask. They also weren’t helped by Geno Smith momentarily exiting the game with a tricep injury, leaving them temporarily with Drew Lock under center.
Smith returned for the final drive of the game and set up Jason Myers for a 55-yard field goal which he subsequently missed. Seattle now sit at 6-4 and their schedule is about to see an uptick in competition. Over the coming four weeks they will see the 49ers twice, as well as the Cowboys and Eagles. If Geno Smith is not good to go, then it is looking grim in Seattle.