32 things we learned from NFL Week 13: Why miss out on the playoff controversy fun?
The 32 things we learned from Week 13 of the 2023 NFL season:
1. Sunday was a wild affair in the football universe, starting early with the controversial announcement of the College Football Playoff field. Thank the pigskin gods that the NFL’s postseason bracket isn’t constructed so, uh, subjectively? Nevertheless, it makes for a fun thought exercise regarding how that might work in 2023, given eight teams entered Week 13 with at least eight victories – suggesting the pros, as with the college ranks, have an unusual number of bona fide contenders this year.
2. Put the San Francisco 49ers No. 1 in my NFL CFP after they dismembered the Philadelphia Eagles 42-19 at Lincoln Financial Field in a much-hyped – if highly disappointing – rematch of last season’s NFC championship game.
3. Philly holds a 50-49 scoring advantage in a pair of games that were expected to be quite close and compelling … but neither was.
4. Niners QB Brock Purdy may well have bypassed Eagles QB Jalen Hurts in the MVP race after throwing for 314 yards and four TDs on Sunday. Of course, Purdy’s elbow injury in the NFC title game was the point where San Francisco’s Super Bowl hopes – at least for the 2022 season – evaporated.
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5. The 49ers improved to 9-1 this season in games when WR Deebo Samuel has played, the lone loss coming at Cleveland when a shoulder injury knocked him out. Sunday, the trash-talking Samuel backed up the yak with 138 yards from scrimmage and three TDs.
6. San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey’s 2-yard TD run made him the third player in NFL history with 50 TDs on the ground and 25 more via reception. He joins Hall of Famers Lenny Moore and Marshall Faulk.
7.Rough afternoon for the Eagles, yet they still qualify for this NFL CFP – their 10-2 record remaining the league’s best … even if they failed to join the 1972-73 Miami Dolphins as the only clubs to win at least 11 of their first 12 games in successive seasons.
8. Matters may not improve in Week 14 for the reigning NFC champs, who visit the Dallas Cowboys for “Sunday Night Football.” Lose that game, and Philly surrenders first place in the NFC East to “America’s Team,” which has won 14 in a row at AT&T Stadium
9. But after facing Dallas, Philadelphia isn’t currently scheduled to face another squad with a winning record for the remainder of the regular season.
10. And the Eagles still have chief security officer Dom DiSandro. You don't.
11. Philadelphia and the Denver Broncos, who entered Week 13 as the NFL’s hottest teams, both saw their five-game winning streaks snapped.
12. Speaking of the Cowboys, would you put them in the NFL CFP? They don’t currently own a win against a team with a winning record – though that’s only true because they knocked the Seattle Seahawks from 6-5 to 6-6 after Thursday night’s 41-35 roller coaster.
13. But, hey, we’re including “Dem Boyz” amid QB Dak Prescott’s MVP-caliber play – which has helped WR CeeDee Lamb evolve into an All-Pro-caliber weapon – and a defense that’s so often dominant and racks up splash plays left and right.
14. I acknowledge no AFC teams have yet been picked for this NFL CFP – my committee and rules, not yours. But an invite will be issued to the defending Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs. Anyone else going to bring Taylor Swift to the party and drive up our ratings?
14a. And Sunday night's loss to the officiating-assisted Green Bay Packers does not sway that decision.
15. The Dolphins, quite likely the league’s most explosive team, seem like the odd team out in this scenario – essentially because they’ve beaten up on non-Power Five teams but haven’t hung with the elite. The Fins did improve to 9-3 for the first time since 2001 on Sunday, when they lashed the Washington Commanders 45-15, and now sit atop the overall AFC standings.
16. Miami WR Tyreek Hill finished with five catches for 157 yards and two TDs. His league-leading 1,481 receiving yards are the most ever through a dozen games during the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
17. The “Cheetah,” who has expressed his desire to become the first 2,000-yard receiver in NFL history, is now on pace for 2,098.
18. Huge game in Houston on Sunday, the Texans roping the Broncos in a game that could determine which of these teams qualifies for a “New Year's Six,” er, playoff spot.
19. Denver, which entered Sunday converting nearly 39% of its third downs, went 0-for-11 … though it must be noted the Broncos were perfect on three fourth-down attempts.
20. Of more importance, a Denver defense that had 15 takeaways over its previous four games didn’t get one from Houston.
21. However the Texans suffered a major blow, rookie WR Tank Dell going down with a season-ending ankle/fibula injury.
22. Congratulations to Mike Evans. On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Bowler became the first player in NFL history to start a career with 10 consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
22a. Evans’ seven grabs for 162 yards and a score were pretty much the difference in the Bucs’ 21-18 win over the Carolina Panthers, who remain stuck on one win even after the ouster of coach Frank Reich.
23. Congratulations to James Conner. The Arizona Cardinals may not have much left to play for in 2023, but he was scintillating – 105 yards, 2 TDs rushing Sunday – in his return to Pittsburgh, where he overcame cancer while playing for the Pitt Panthers and later starred for the Steelers, who drafted him in 2017.
24. New Orleans Saints QB Derek Carr is dealing with shoulder, back and concussion issues and has now failed to finish three games this season – his new team falling a full game behind the first-place Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South standings after Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions.
25. The NFC North-leading Lions’ 9-3 record represents their best start since 1962.
26. Saints RB Alvin Kamara scored his 52nd and 53rd career rushing TDs on Sunday, breaking Mark Ingram’s franchise record.
27. Looks like Jets players are doing everything they can to ensure QB Aaron Rodgers doesn’t rush back from his Achilles injury … and even GM Joe Douglas didn’t bother to re-sign Joe Flacco.
28. Speaking of Flacco, he passed for 254 yards and two TDs for the Cleveland Browns, who lost Sunday to the resurgent Los Angeles Rams. Still, think the Jets coulda maybe used that kind of production from the Super Bowl 47 MVP?
29. Three days after the Cowboys and Seahawks combined for zero punts – just the fifth time that had happened in NFL regular-season history – the Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots teamed up for 15 in the Bolts’ 6-0, uh, victory.
29a. But give credit to Chargers P JK Scott, who was a bona fide weapon amid Gillette Stadium’s miserably rainy conditions. Scott landed seven of his eight kicks inside New England’s 20-yard line in a game ultimately defined by field position.
30. The Patriots have suffered multiple home shutouts in a season for the first time in their almost 64-year existence.
31. Game of the day? Not 49ers-Eagles, y’all. We’re talking about the one which the nation just couldn’t wait to see: Colts-Titans. Indianapolis beat Tennessee 31-28 in overtime on WR Michael Pittman Jr.’s 4-yard TD catch from QB Gardner Minshew II two plays after Alec Pierce’s 55-yard reception.
31a. Prior to that? Titans K Nick Folk missed his first PAT of the season in a game that ended 25-25 in regulation. Tennessee QB2 Ryan Tannehill held on the misfire after regular holder Ryan Stonehouse was injured while punting.
31b. Folk had to punt twice in Stonehouse’s stead, averaging a respectable 40.5 yards.
31c. The Colts turned two blocked Stonehouse punts into 9 points, including Grant Stuard’s 18-yard TD return. It would have been 10 points … yet Minshew threw a rare “pick-two” to Amani Hooker on a failed two-point attempt following Stuard’s score.
32. Wanted to end this week with a tip of the cap to the NFL – and most definitely to its players – for the ever-growing expansion of the “My Cause My Cleats” program, which allows for unique footwear that spotlights and raises money for so many worthy causes. Wouldn’t mind seeing the league relax its stringent uniform rules beyond this weekend given the good that can come of it.
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.
