ESPN recaps NFL Week 13: Jaguars take over first place in AFC South; Colts suffer 2nd straight loss

ESPN recaps NFL Week 13: Jaguars take over first place in AFC South; Colts suffer 2nd straight loss

UFC again. We’ll be in New England for Monday Night Football. Patriots could be the one seed at the moment if they were to win on Sunday night. On Monday night, I should say. Sunday night, the Broncos did win. Here’s Shawn Peyton. That’s nine straight Dubs. Listen, this is this is um pick a Super Bowl team, and I say that respectfully, and then go look at that season. I mean, look at it honestly and I I can I can go back through, you know, the six or seven playoff teams are real good teams. We um you you begin to build some momentum. Yeah, there’s some things you want to clean up, but um just take take a peek at any one of them, you know, and every once in a while you get one of those teams that just rolls right through it all, but it’s it’s this is a tough league. It is a tough league. I’ll say what I said. a couple weeks ago about the AFC. I have no idea who the best team is. Uh just because it’s Denver and New England that we might not have thought when the season began in those lofty places. It could certainly be them. They’ve won nine straight games. At some point, you stop doubting and just accept on face value what it is. You’re 10 and two. Maybe they are a Super Bowl team. Josh Allen in Buffalo would like to be one. We all know that that’s the only step left to take. Aaron Rogers has done it. Of course, it was quite a while ago with Green Bay. This is a windy day in Pittsburgh and it’s a scoreless game early as Allen is looking for Gabe Davis who’s back in Buffalo. Picked by Brandon Eckles. Early turnover there. Still scoreless. James Cook as he goes down kind of loses the football. Recovered by Patrick Queen. Steve another look at this as Cook trying to break the tackle and it hits his right knee. Buffalo turns it over again. Steelers trying to cash it in and they would as they get down there on the one and up the middle goes Jaylen Warren. Pittsburgh grabs a seven to three seven to nothing lead. They led seven to three at the break. Second half Buffalo very first play of the half and Rogers trying to find space and time and he gets absolutely buried by Joey Bosa. Christian Bentford to scoop and score and Rogers who of course is playing with that fractured left wrist here goes down hard on his nose and is in obvious pain bleeding from the nose. Rogers would be taken out of the game. Would return a bit later. Mason Rudolph try to get Pittsburgh back in it here. Sails the pass looking for Washington and Bentford. Christian Bentford is there with the pick. So, he’s made a couple of huge plays. And this is a fourth down and goal. Allen at his very best. Cam Hayward said mean thanks to him but Keon Coleman in Buffalo celebrated. They went for two after the penalty. Didn’t get it. So it’s 16 to7. Now it’s Allen. See where he gets hit. It’s gets hit at about the three or four yd line but he bulls his way into the end zone with some help from his friends. 76th career rushing touchdown. Passes Cam Newton for the most by a quarterback in NFL history. Rough second half in Pittsburgh. And Stiller’s fans did not hold back their feelings. [Applause] All Buffalo in the second half. They move to eight and four. Pittsburgh six and six. Here’s Mike Tomlin afterwards. What goes through your mind when the when the crowd there the crowd chaining to chaining to fire you in your home stadium? Man, I share their frustration tonight, man. We didn’t do enough. Um and that’s just the reality of it. something that’s not being done right from a coaching aspect or preparation aspect that’s kind of freeing you guys in the wrong way. [Music] I know what you’re trying to ask and I’m not going to go down that road at all. Um, I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Mike Tomlin. That’s why I came here. And players need to take accountability, myself included, and I will and I will continue to. I got to play better. I totally understand the frustration. I’ve been booed on offense even in Green Bay over the years. So, that was a booy performance and I understand the frustration. My affinity for Mike Tomlin is pretty well documented. So much so that I openly admit I have a blind spot for the man. But I’m not deaf and the volume of the unrest in Pittsburgh is growing. They have never been bad on his watch and they aren’t now. But they haven’t been great in a long time either. And with a quarterback almost certainly on a one-year rental, I wonder how critical the remaining games are for the longest tenur head coach in the NFL. Fittingly, Baltimore is up next. And Baltimore closes the regular season. Seems almost certain only one team from the North is going to get a playoff spot. And even if the Steelers got in, with six consecutive playoff losses and fan dissatisfaction, this vocal, how much longer is my favorite voice in the sport the voice for that team? That question is going to get asked a lot more in these remaining weeks to the AFC South. And all of a sudden, things are getting very muddled here as Jacksonville and Houston are closing the gap. And Houston had a chance to go headto-head with Indian get one. CJ Strad back after missing some games with that concussion. Daniel Jones playing with a fractured bone in his leg here on a second and nine pass. Fairly innocuous. Jaden Higgins first down. But it’s S Gardner who leaves with a calf injury. He said he was concerned that it was an Achilles. Doesn’t appear to be. It’s a calf issue. The Texans would get a field goal and they led three to nothing after the first quarter. But that was a wrap for Sauce on this day. Early second with Gardner and a walking boot. Straoud sails this one and is picked by Cam Bayham. And Binham is one of the more entertaining fellas to watch in this league. Talented as well. Colts take over possession and Jones. What a pass and what a grab. Alec Pierce had four catches for 78 yards. Perfect throw and a spectacular grab. As I say, extra point was missed. So, it’s six to three. That extra point would prove significant as time moves on. Stout here looking for Nico Collins. And Collins ruled out of bounds at the four right there. Ruled out of bounds cuz he was had five catches, 98 yards. Very next play, Woody Marks has been a significant contributor this year, the rookie out of USC. But here’s the vet Nick Chub blasting into the end zone. Texans lead at the half 10 to six. It’s a 13-6 game more than midway through the third. Jones from the pocket looking. What a throw and an incredible catch. Josh Downs one and then that toe tap with the left toe. both feet in later in the drive. Tyler Warren, who was battling an illness, but here it looks just fine as he grabs this to help tie the game at 13 heading into the fourth. First and goal. Nifty play design and Nico Collins has his first career rushing touchdown. Houston back in front. Is this extra point good? Kimi Fairbar [Applause] giving me a little romo here. I don’t know, Jim. Yeah, the entire football must be inside the outside edge of the upright. Ruled good. So, 20-3 Colts get a field goal and now it’s the Texans driving and Cage Sto the tight end comes up under center and is stopped on fourth down. for the tush push. It ain’t as easy as Philly makes it look. Here come the Colts. Jones to Pierce. Gain of 22. But again, that missed extra point and the Fair Baron extra point that was called good. Significant cuz now you you don’t need a field goal. You need a touchdown. Jones looking for Pitman Jr. It’s incomplete. That’s it. That’s all. Demo Ryan and Houston continue to roll. Outstanding job. At the end of the day, man, we talked about coming here taking what we wanted. It took every second on the clock to finish this thing. But that’s what it’s about. Coming and winning a divisional game versus a tough opponent. And we got to see these guys again. Great job right there getting the first one. Now on to the next one. Most important thing. What we come here for is the dope. One time Texas. [Music] This is a divisional game as well, but the Titans boot town not great. It’s three nothing Titans lead not for long. Trevor Lawrence Parker Washington his one catch of the day gain of 26. That was a third down play. Jacobe Myers has been exactly what this team has looked for after they traded for him from Vegas. And the catch and run are good for 50. A couple of plays later, it’s now third and goal. Meyers line is 60, 90, and one. Six catch, six catches rather, 90 yards, one touchdown. 60 catches would be a lot. Seven to three the score. Lawrence, Brettton Strange on time and that’s worth six. And after a penalty, they went for two and got it. So, it’s 15-3. Final second of the first half. Lawrence gets hit by Ardan Key and things get a little bit chippy and both sides decide it’s time to take it to the limit. The referees decided that some weren’t playing by the rules. Key roughing the passer as it allows the Jags to get close enough to add three via field goal. So it’s 18-3 which is where we are in the third as Lawrence hits Quinton Morris for a gain of 14. Few play few plays later Bashel Tuton the rookie slowly but surely a little bit more of a workload. He takes it in. The Jags get a dominant victory 25-3. Tim Hasselbeck president of that city uh knows this division well. We’re going to eliminate the Titans from conversation because I think they’ve done that on their own. Uh, this Texans team probably has the best singular unit of any of these, that defense, as they go in and they take down a Colts team. As you sort of forecast what you see for that for them the rest of the way, just Houston, what what what do they have to do to continue to ascend? Well, you called it. Their defense is legitimate like and they’re going to be a problem for anybody that they face. And what they are doing, you mentioned in the highlight, Nick Chub’s running well for them. Marks is running well for them. I think what it comes down to for them is how does CJ Strad play? CJ Strad talked about how watching Davis Mills has play how he played, you know, that helped him. Maybe you don’t have to be so aggressive with the football and I think there’s a good example of it. This is a third and nine. Okay, you’re going to get late rotation from the secondary. He’s going to read this inside out. Plays on time. And on third and nine, Scott, you don’t have to throw it 10 yards on third and nine. You can throw a slant that runs for the first down. I think that’s part of how CJ Strad needs to understand how to play because of the defense that he’s playing with. Got man coverage here. The Colts are late lining up to this because of the motion. They end up getting it communicated. But same thing, back foot hits the ground, ball is out right to the face mask, allow for run after catch. that was second 11, not third down. But it’s a similar concept in terms of not feeling like the the down and distance dictates how you throw the football. Then you need to be able to do this type of stuff. If you’re going to play great defense, you’re going to run the football. You got to have move the pocket plays and have him play at a high level doing that. I think if they do that, they can be as good as any team in that division. And but he didn’t play like that at the beginning part of the season. I think it would be important for him to play that way the second or whatever five weeks left in the regular season. So, this is a longer conversation that we had upstairs about the division than we probably have room for here. But in looking at everyone’s schedule, I say, “Who do you like best in the South?” And we look at the Colts schedule and it’s it’s the hardest of any of them. And yet, you tell me you like the Colts more and they’ve got two head-to-head with Jacksonville. Why is that? Because I think they can sweep Jacksonville. I think that would be it. And then I also think when you look at how they played today, some some bad luck with kicks, you know, in a closely contested game against Houston. And Daniel Jones was clearly limited almost in a fight with one hand behind his back because broken leg. And so I think he’s going to get better. If he was able to practice this week and play in the game, I think he’s going to get better. His mobility will help them. I think the Colts are a really good football team all the way around. And I yes, hard schedule to finish, but I think that they are made of the right stuff to get it done. And I’m not trying to talk you off that point. I just figure at Jacksonville, at Seattle, San Francisco, Jacksonville, at Houston, that is a rugged stretch. Listen, if they’re going to prove they’re going to be the best team, then they’re going to have to prove it. Uh, and they’ve got a chance to do just that, as everyone in this division, which is bunched up also has. appreciate the time.

ESPN recaps NFL Week 13: Jaguars take over first place in AFC South; Colts suffer 2nd straight loss