Philly Falter in Texas & Patrick Saves Chiefs – Top Highlights from National Football League Week 12

Week 12 delivered an epic Cowboys comeback, or was it an epic Eagles collapse?

Playoff Patrick Mahomes showed up to salvage the Kansas City's campaign as the Bears keep to surprise while they continue their winning streak.

And did Shedeur Sanders do sufficiently on his debut professional start to earn the starting job in Ohio?

We’ll examine at the pick of the action in the league.

The Breakdown – Dallas Rally or Philly Fail?

Dallas were trailing badly at 21-0 behind versus the defending Super Bowl champions, so how on earth did they engineer their joint-best comeback in history?

The emotions of a initial home fixture after a teammate’s tragic passing may have been a factor, however it was a combination of Prescott’s determination and a defensive unit that pounced on uncommon errors by the Philadelphia.

Prescott eclipsed Romo’s records for passing yards (now 34,378) and game-winning possessions (25) with an all-action performance – his plunging score personifying his energetic display.

Philadelphia wasted a lead of 21 points or more for the initial time since 1999, with just their second game with several turnovers this year – the other being another bad NFC East defeat at the Giants.

In addition to 14 penalties for 96 yards, the offensive malaise that affected Jalen Hurts after what – for him – was an explosive beginning was significant. He had only passed for over two hundred yards in 4 games before Sunday, he had more than one hundred fifty in the opening two quarters by himself in Dallas.

However from the time Philadelphia went 21-0 up their offence derailed dramatically – with four straight punts, a missed field goal and then a turnover handing opportunity after opportunity to the Dallas.

The Eagles defense is brilliant, it truly is, but an offence that's not surpassed twenty-one points in five of seven games (3 losses) is now a major concern, as the pieces are all there but it's simply not clicking.

Nick Sirianni game is all about securing the key moments, the defence keeps them in it and what offense there is manages barely enough – if it cannot even do that and now the discipline and ball protection is breaking down, there could be trouble in the future.

In Focus – Playoff Patrick Shows Up Prematurely to Save Kansas City

It wasn’t quite as extreme, but the Chiefs’ eleven-point recovery in the final period versus a powerful Indianapolis team was very impressive – and could have just rescued their season.

How big was it? Indeed, the league’s Next Gen Stats now assign the Chiefs a fifty-eight percent chance of reaching the playoffs, whereas a defeat on Sunday would have dropped that number to twenty-eight percent.

It’s no surprise the postseason version of Mahomes turned up, passing for two hundred thirty-five yards in the second half alone and leading 3 point-scoring possessions in their final four possessions to seal it in overtime.

A few big passes and swashbuckling runs are commonplace for Patrick in the postseason, but currently the Kansas City are in post-season form – at six and five and just tenth in the AFC standings.

This was closer to the old Kansas City though, with a first one-score win of the year after dropping five previously – they won eleven of them the previous season so, if that belief comes back, this Kansas City faithful may not be done so soon.

Discussion – Can Bears Become Rulers of the North?

You just can't overlook the Bears any longer. A win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, without Rodgers, maintained them first of the NFC North and at 8-3 – sharing the same record as the Philadelphia.

They look dangerous on each side of the field, with a defense that tops the NFL in picks and total takeaways and, in Caleb Williams, a young player now accustomed to winning tight games.

He can still be inconsistent, surrendering a score after a fumble in his own goal area – but he also threw 3 scores and, with already five final period rallies this season, he understands how to finish the game.

The Green Bay Packers are in hot pursuit in the division after dominating the Minnesota and the Lions are right there after beating the New York in overtime with a huge game from Gibbs.

The Bears are interestingly the most consistent with eight wins in 9, but as they travel to the championship winners on Thanksgiving we'll discover just how good they truly are.

Look Ahead – Thrilling Thanksgiving in Prospect

This looks among the best holiday schedules for a long time, with each game loaded with postseason consequences.

The Lions welcome the Packers in the classic curtain-raiser in Detroit, before a unusual trip return to Texas for the Kansas City, who began life as the Dallas Texans long ago in the 1960s before moving to Missouri.

Sunday's comeback teams are both holding on to playoff aspirations but have very little margin for error – so this will have a post-season atmosphere.

And how about the Baltimore Ravens? An unattractive win over the New York actually has them top of the AFC North after starting one and five and appearing dead and buried.

Thanksgiving and Shopping Day Games (all times GMT)

  • Thursday, 27 November: Packers @ Lions (6:00 PM)
  • Thursday, 27 November: Kansas City Chiefs @ Cowboys (9:30 PM)
  • Friday, twenty-eight November: Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens (01:20)
  • Friday, 28 November: Bears @ Eagles (8:00 PM)

Can Sanders Retain His Starting Role?

Cleveland Browns coach Stefanski batted away questions on whether Sanders had done enough in his debut NFL start to keep the first-team job when Dillon Gabriel returns.

Yet the question will continue to be asked as Shedeur became the first Cleveland signal-caller to secure his first NFL game after Eric Zeier in 1999 – with seventeen other rookie quarterbacks failing to do so since.

It came only the Las Vegas, and with the assistance of an almost feral Browns defense recording 10 sacks, but the Browns’ offence requires a leader, a figurehead to build belief.

Moreover confidence is something not missing in Shedeur, who told a CBS {

Kellie Johnson
Kellie Johnson

Elara Vance is a data engineer with over 8 years of experience in building scalable data pipelines and analytics platforms, passionate about sharing knowledge in the tech community.