10 awards, superlatives from Week 11: Chaos in Orchard Park, Darnold's giving spirit, and an old rotator cuff

Week 11 gave us some of the best matchups that we’re going to see this season. We got the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Buffalo. We got the Seattle Seahawks in Los Angeles. We got the Kansas City Chiefs in Denver. We got the Detroit Lions in Philadelphia. 

Aside from the Bills/Bucs, those games didn't exactly deliver the fireworks that anyone was hoping for. They were still awesome, but not what we were expecting. That’s what makes the awards and superlatives for this week even more fun.

Darnell Washington: The Bull(y)dog

When you look at the schedule and see that Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield, two guys who are weekly in the running as architects for Game of the Year of the Week-type games, you know you’re going to get a banger… and we got a banger.

Game of the Year of the Week: Bills/Buccs

The Bills played like the team that the Bengals wish they could be: if their defense is going to give up 30 points, the offense is going to need to score 40. The Buccaneers dropped 32 on the Bills' defense, but Josh Allen and the Bills’ offense returned the favor by dropping 44.

This game had everything: 10 lead changes, five(!) turnovers, 121 plays, 781 yards of total offense, and only nine penalties.

We had Josh Allen playing out of his mind. After going three-of-seven for 20 yards and an interception in the first quarter, he went 16-of-23 for 297 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception for the rest of the game. On top of that, he had six carries for 40 yards and three touchdowns.

All the while, Sean Tucker, the Buccaneers’ RB3, had 19 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Baker Mayfield had a handful of carries and a touchdown, but he was kind of lackluster through the air. 

There were big kick returns, a big fumble on a kick return, and also an illegal forward pass. Every minute of this game gave you something new. It was wire-to-wire carnage. 

Energy bringer of the Week: Jameis Winston

Giants fans got excited when they finally got to see Jaxson Dart play football. Non-Giants fans got very excited when the Giants announced that Jameis Winston was going to be their starting quarterback in Week 11. It wasn’t his 497-yard, four-touchdown, and three-interception game from last season, but it was still pretty solid.

You got a shimmy for a touchdown celebration, one of the most accidentally effective QB sneaks ever, an interception off an uncatchable pass, and a strip sack to end the game. It was chaotic, and it was beautiful.

Bully of the Week: Darnell Washington 

For the better part of the last decade, Derrick Henry’s been the guy who truly punishes anyone who tries to tackle him in the open field. I’m not trying to say that Darnell Washington has usurped King Henry from that throne, but he’s giving it a hell of a shot.

On Sunday, the Steelers’ third-year tight end decided to flex his chonko-sized six feet, seven inches, and 270-ish pound frame on the Bengals defense… which is definitely considered bullying.

He punched a grown man in the ear hole, took another grown man’s legs out, and slapped a third grown man to launch him five yards. Sure, those guys were trying to tackle him, but it’s Cincinnati; they lead the league in missed tackles… that’s kind of their whole thing. He didn’t have to sock a guy in the face… but he did, and now he’s a bully. It was awesome. 

The Holiday season: The NFL

There’s no set time for when you’re supposed to start celebrating the holidays. Home Depot starts selling trees on Labor Day, CVS starts selling Christmas decorations before Halloween, and apparently, quarterbacks got in the giving spirit the week before Thanksgiving.

On Sunday, quarterbacks threw 21 interceptions. Marcus Mariota popped off when he threw his in overtime, and Jared Goff closed it down when he got pick-sixed by Cooper DeJean.

In the middle, Jacoby Brissett, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and J.J. McCarthy all threw a pair… but those guys paled in comparison to Sam Darnold’s selflessness; he threw four of them in the Seahawks' 21-19 loss to the Rams.

There was a minute there where Darnold was getting some MVP talk. After this game, he’s probably more of a frontrunner for the PFWA’s Good Guy award. That award is supposed to go to the player who helps the writers do their jobs, but the Comeback Player of the Year award is supposed to go to someone coming back from an injury; Joe Flacco and Geno Smith both won it in the past three years. Maybe they can change the award to acknowledge Darnold’s Oprah impression.

Gravity Victim of the Week: Chargers

Going into Sunday, the Chargers were sitting at the top of the AFC West with a 7-3 record and a three-game winning streak. Aside from not having an offensive line, they seemed like they were on the up-and-up… but it’s the Chargers, and while they haven’t really Chargered a game yet this season, they’re ripe for Chargering their season. 

On Sunday, they played the Jaguars, who were coming off a devastating Week 10 loss to the Texans. It turns out, the Jags were angry about that, and that’s not what you want.

The Chargers walked into Jacksonville, and that’s just about it. They were out-physicaled by the Jags with every step and didn’t remotely look like they came to compete. 

Jacksonville had 345 total yards (153 passing, 192 rushing), and the Chargers had 135 total (93 passing, 42 rushing). It was the ultimate mix of a comedown game for L.A. and the bounciest of bounce-back games for the Jaguars.

The Chargers lost 35-6, with their only points coming off two field goals, one of which came after an interception and a short field. It was a beatdown of pretty massive proportions.

The bad part of Football: a bunch of guys

Football is a collision sport, and guys get injured. That’s part of the game. There have been a handful of pretty bad injuries this season, but in the first 10 weeks, they were all kind of spread out. 

In Week 11, the injury bug came through like the eighth plague of Egypt. Josh Jacobs left the game with a knee. Jordan Love missed time with a shoulder. Michael Penix left with a knee (and it might be season-ending). Drake London messed up his knee. Dillon Gabriel got a concussion. Lane Johnson hurt his foot. Aaron Rodgers broke his wrist. Jaylen Warren left with an ankle. Calvin Ridley broke his fibula. Eddy Piñeiro got a hammy.

And that’s just guys who are on offense and special teams. It was an ugly day for a lot of players. 

Count your blessings that no one hates you as much as Aaron Rodgers hates the Bears. The Steelers play in Chicago next week, and apparently, Rodgers is pushing to play in that game, despite being one-handed. He hates Chicago. 

You could’ve played anywhere you wanted: Myles Garrett

For the fourth time this season, Myles Garrett is getting an award for showing that he’s the best defensive player in the NFL, and still losing.

On Sunday, he sacked Lamar Jackson four times… and the Browns lost 23-16. The only touchdown that the Browns had was off a pick-six. 

I cannot, and will not, stop bringing up Super Bowl media week back in February: Myles Garrett asked to be traded. He said that his "desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won't allow me to be complacent."

So, naturally, he re-signed with the Browns for $40 million per year. You have to imagine that other teams were offering him $35+ million. That means his “desire to win and compete” was worth roughly $5 million per year. 

So, congratulations to you, Myles Garrett. Congrats on being the first player in NFL history to have at least 12 sacks in six consecutive seasons. Congrats on your 15 sacks this season. You’re one away from tying your career high and 8 away from setting the single-season sack record. The Browns are 2-8. You had a chance to get out, but you stayed. It doesn’t make sense. 

Domestic SAM Battery: Eagles' defensive line

It’s tough to stop the Lions’ passing game. The brains in charge of it are great at scheming guys open, their pass catchers all have very unique talents, and Jared Goff is great at dealing the ball to everyone. 

One way to stop them is to make sure the ball doesn’t get past the line of scrimmage, and that’s one of the ways the Eagles' defense decided to shut down Detroit.

On Detroit’s first drive, Jordan Davis showed his hand, literally and figuratively, when he tipped Goff’s pass for a Cooper DeJean interception. That carried on for the rest of the game. Davis totaled three passes defended, and Jalen Carter got two. 

Goff ended up going 14-of-37 (37% completion rate) for 255 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. He had a 9.5 QBR and a 60.1 passer rating. That’s the lowest completion rate of his career, his lowest QBR since Week 5 of the 2022 season, and his lowest passer rating of the season.

He was in hell, and the Eagles’ defensive line turning the line of scrimmage into a No Fly Zone made him and the Lions’ passing game completely worthless. 

Rookie of the Week: Tetairoa McMillan

Bryce Young had the game of his career on Sunday. He was 31-of-45 for 448 yards and three touchdowns. No small part of that was because of his rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who caught eight of his 12 targets for 130 yards and two touchdowns. 

He drew a lot of attention, which ended up helping Xavier Legette, who had four catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. It was kind of cool to see the Panthers' offense flow like it never really had. 

It’s been a minute since McMillan’s popped off like that (99 yards in Week 8, 100 yards in Week 2), and if he can keep popping off and helping Young, there’s a real world where the Panthers could overtake the Buccaneers and win the NFC South. That’d be fun.

The Paxton DeLaurent Old Guy of the Week: Jacoby Brissett

There’s no reason you should know this, but in the first round of the 2024 FCS Championship, Southeast Missouri State University played Illinois State. SEMO’s quarterback, Paxton DeLaurent, was 48-of-85 for 557 yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions. 

He threw a football 85 times in one game. I don’t care how old, young, in shape, or out of shape you are… that kind of motion has got to make you the sorest person in the entire world.

Jacoby Brissett, the Cardinals’ quarterback, went 47-of-57 for 452 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. That’s not quite 85 times like DeLaurent, but it’s still very impressive for the 32-year-old.

But those 47 completions? That’s an NFL record, baby. You get to be the Old Guy of the Week for breaking a record like that. 

Before Sunday, Jared Goff and Drew Bledsoe were tied with the most completions at 45. For the 25-year-old Goff, it was Week 4 of the 2019 season when he was 45-of-68 for 517 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions in a 55-40 loss to the Bucs. For the 22-year-old Bledsoe, it was Week 11 of the 1994 season when he was 45-of-70 (70 is the NFL record for attempts) for 426 yards and three touchdowns in a 26-20 overtime win against the Vikings. 

Once Brissett ices down that rotator cuff and gets a new cybernetic arm, you have to think he’ll be coming for Bledsoe’s other record. 

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