Admin December 9, 2024
The 32 things we learned from Week 14 of the 2024 NFL season:
0. The number of touchdown passes thrown by Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins since Week 9. Over that same stretch, he has eight interceptions – including two more in Sunday’s 42-21 loss against his former team, the Minnesota Vikings, who knocked the Dirty Birds out of first place in the NFC South.
0. The number of teams, per NFL Media, to score six touchdowns while committing zero turnovers and lose a game during the Super Bowl era (since 1970) … before Sunday, that is.
1. The Buffalo Bills made such clubs’ record 245-1 after falling 44-42 to the Los Angeles Rams and seeing their seven-game winning streak come to an end. The Bills had never lost a game in which they’d scored at least 42 points.
1a. The number of players to throw and pass for at least three touchdowns apiece in a game in NFL history – Bills QB Josh Allen doing so during Sunday’s defeat. Regardless, he might’ve actually given his MVP résumé a nice boost.
1b. Allen is also the first player in league annals with five career games in which he passed for and rushed for multiple TDs.
2. The Rams’ place in the NFC West after their miraculous effort to upset the Bills. Though LA is one game behind the surging Seattle Seahawks, if the Rams can remain that close, they’d win the division by completing a season sweep of Seattle in Week 18.
2a. The Vikings’ place in the NFC North despite their remarkable 11-2 record – which leaves them one game behind the conference-leading Detroit Lions, who beat the Vikes in Week 7. The rivals meet again in Motown in the regular-season finale.
3. The number of teams mathematically eliminated from postseason contention Sunday – the New York Jets, Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns all seeing their already remote chances extinguished.
4. Back to that Vikings win. WRs Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison became the first duo in team history to post at least 100 receiving yards with multiple TD catches apiece. Both cleared 130 yards, and Addison hauled in three scoring strikes. And let’s not forget this franchise has had some very accomplished pass catchers over the years.
5. The number of touchdown passes thrown by Vikes QB Sam Darnold – the most in a game during his seven-year career – in the victory over Atlanta. Darnold’s 347 passing yards Sunday were also the most he’s ever posted in an NFL game, and his 157.9 passer rating was a personal best, too. Good thing the Jets got rid of him … in order to pivot to Zach Wilson and, later, Aaron Rodgers (more on him later).
6. The number of teams on bye – Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and Washington Commanders – in Week 14. Here’s hoping you didn’t need Derrick Henry, Nico Collins, Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, etc., etc., etc. to qualify for your fantasy playoffs over the weekend.
7. With four games still to play, Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley has already broken the 91-year-old franchise’s single-season rushing record – his 124 yards on the ground Sunday giving him a league-best 1,623.
8. Barkley is the first player in a decade to exceed 1,600 rushing yards through 13 games in a season.
9. He needs to average 120.8 per game over the final month to break Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105.
10. Barkley would need to average 161 over the next three weeks to eclipse Dickerson in 16 games, the number the NFL played in 1984 when he set the mark.
11. The number of consecutive games the New York Giants had gone without intercepting a pass – another NFL record – before picking off New Orleans Saints QB Derek Carr on Sunday. That didn’t prevent the Giants from avoiding an eight-game losing streak. They have not won a home game this season.
12. Carr, who injured his left (non-throwing) hand, could be headed for the shelf with his 5-8 team still clinging to hopes of winning the NFC South.
12a. Carr’s former team, the Las Vegas Raiders, could also need yet another signal-caller after Aidan O’Connell injured a knee Sunday in Tampa. The Silver and Black have already lost Gardner Minshew II to a busted clavicle.
13. What isn’t busted is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ playoff hopes after topping Vegas 28-13 and overtaking the Falcons in the NFC South … which the Bucs have won every season going back to the 2021 campaign.
14. The number of consecutive seasons the Jets have missed the playoffs, extending what is currently the league’s longest drought.
15. The team with the second-longest postseason absence, the Broncos – they last appeared when Peyton Manning and Co. won Super Bowl 50 – have a 74% chance to qualify this season, per NFL.com.
16. The number of total points scored – fewest in the league this season – in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 10-6 defeat of the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
16a. The Jags entered Week 14 with the lowest-ranked defense in the league.
17. Meanwhile, a few time zones away, the Rams and Bills combined for 86 points – the most in a game this season.
18. The number of tackles made Sunday by the Arizona Cardinals’ Budda Baker.
18a. Any time a safety is making 18 tackles, it’s a near-surefire sign your defense is getting torched – and the Cards were for more than 400 yards in a 30-18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, who completed a season sweep of Arizona and put the Cardinals’ playoff aspirations on life support.
19. The Raiders’ Brock Bowers now has 87 receptions, breaking the rookie tight end record the Lions’ Sam LaPorta didn’t hold for even a year. Bowers is on pace for 114 catches and has a shot to pace the league overall in 2024.
20. Ironically, Las Vegas TE2 Michael Mayer, a second-year player, outshone Bowers on Sunday with a career-high seven receptions and team-leading 68 receiving yards.
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21. The number of consecutive seasons in which the Browns have lost at Pittsburgh.
22. The Steelers’ Chris Boswell drilled two more field goals in the 27-14 triumph, tying his single-season team standard with 36 three-pointers this season.
23. Rodgers cracked 300 passing yards Sunday, the first time he’d done that in the past three seasons.
24. Rodgers threw for 339 yards – nearly three years to the day since he last hit the benchmark – though it wasn’t sufficient for the NYJ to end their losing skid, the Miami Dolphins prevailing 32-26 in overtime. The Jets haven’t won in South Florida in nine years.
25. The Fins have scored at least 30 points thrice in their past four games – the only occurrences this season in which Miami has topped 30, a benchmark the Jets have yet to clear at all in 2024.
26. Detroit WR Tim Patrick caught a pair of touchdowns in Thursday night’s win over the Green Bay Packers, one that secured a playoff spot for Detroit. It marked the first time in nearly three years that Patrick had reached the end zone, missing the entire 2022 and ’23 seasons as a member of the Broncos with injuries.
27. Per OptaSTATS, Patrick was one of the Lions’ half-dozen receivers to catch at least five passes Thursday, a first in league history.
28. Raiders RB Sincere McCormick received his first NFL start Sunday and responded with a career-high 78 rushing yards. He’s led Las Vegas, which had the league’s least-productive ground game entering Week 14, in rushing each of the past three games.
29. San Francisco 49ers rookie RB Isaac Guerendo received his first NFL start Sunday and responded with 128 yards from scrimmage and two TDs.
30. However after Guerendo suffered a foot injury late in the 38-13 victory over the Chicago Bears, it’s worth wondering if the Niners will have to field their fourth-string tailback in Week 15.
31. A depleted San Francisco defense sacked Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams seven times Sunday, meaning he’s now been taken down a league-leading 56. Williams would have to be sacked 21 more times to break David Carr’s single-season “record.” 32. How close have the games been this season? According to the league, 98 so far have been decided or six or fewer points, the most at this point of a season ever.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.