NFL The Final Word: Jared Goff's Detroit Lions show Super Bowl credentials as Los Angeles Rams keep playoff hopes alive

nfl Tuesday 19 November 2024 16:32, UK

From more Detroit Lions destruction to Josh Allen's big moment, Sky Sports NFL presenter Neil Reynolds has his final say on Week 12 of the 2024 season on the road to Super Bowl LIX...

Week 11 in the NFL was always going to be instructive, with huge games - especially in the AFC as the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers got together, as well as the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.

While they were key wins for Pittsburgh and Buffalo, they don't complete the picture in the AFC because those other teams are not going away...

That was an incredible win for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills as they showed how you can beat the Kansas City Chiefs. You have to take the fight to the Chiefs and can't wait and hope things will go your way down the stretch.

That's why, fourth-and-two with 2.27 remaining, Bills head coach Sean McDermott decided to put the ball in the hands of his best player in quarterback Josh Allen. He was not giving the ball back to Patrick Mahomes with a chance to score a touchdown to win the game for the Chiefs, who had won seven of nine by one score.

That was the right play. The Bills were aggressive throughout the game and got what they deserved, but this is just the first of what will probably be two meetings. The one that really matters will be in January.

Heading into Week 11, Lamar Jackson had a quarterback rating of 123.2. If that were maintained until the end of the year then it would be the highest in NFL history, but he posted a rating of just 66.1 in Sunday's loss to the Steelers. Pittsburgh were aggressive, making everything so difficult for the Ravens, who looked out of sync for much of the game.

It came down to a two-point conversion play, as it had done a couple of years ago when these teams met. I didn't like the call. While the Bills gave Josh Allen the opportunity to throw and then take off, it didn't look like Lamar had two options on that play. It was a designed run to the left and the Steelers shut it down to escape with the win.

I think the Detroit Lions are the best team in the NFL and I don't think it's close anymore. Their 52-6 trashing of the Jacksonville Jaguars was complete domination from start to finish; they scored on their first seven drives and the first non-scoring drive came when Jared Goff was removed from the game and Hendon Hooker came in at quarterback. Effectively, every time they tried to score, they scored.

Goff was perfect with a rating of 158.3 as he threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns, the Lions racked up 645 offensive yards and even ran for close to 200 yards, with 43 carries for 196 yards and three scores.

There are weapons everywhere you look and Dan Campbell has this team absolutely rolling. At the moment it doesn't look like there is any team that will stop them reaching the Super Bowl.

The NFC West is wide open at the moment. The Arizona Cardinals are top with a 6-4 record, followed by the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams all at 5-5. When you are looking at the playoffs, why not the Rams? As long as they have their three biggest stars then they have a chance.

Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes against the New England Patriots on Sunday, Puka Nacua went for over 100 yards and had a touchdown, and Cooper Kupp went over 100 yards with two touchdowns.

They kept making big plays for their quarterback, who remains one of the outstanding passers in the game. If they have all three on the field, the Rams can beat anybody in the NFL on their day.

I think we should all applaud the job Sean Payton has done in developing Bo Nix as quarterback of the Denver Broncos. The rookie threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns on Sunday in an easy 38-6 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

I think his growth has been one of the stories of the season. He looks more and more comfortable with each week, the Broncos play well on defense and they are alive in the AFC playoff race at 6-5.

I'm going to split this between Jared Goff and Saquon Barkley. Goff looked absolutely perfect against the Jacksonville Jaguars, completing 24 of 29 for no interceptions in a complete and clean game for him again.

Saquon Barkley had 146 rushing yards and two touchdowns in Philadelphia's win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday. That was his sixth 100-yard rushing day of the season; in four years with the New York Giants from 2020 to 2023 he only had six in that period. He is on fire.

I'm going for Josh Allen's 26-yard touchdown run to seal Buffalo's win over the Chiefs. It was a great play-call in terms of occupying so many of those defensive backs with so many receivers running routes, and then Allen having that ability to turn what was a passing play quickly into a run downfield, breaking tackles and bullying his way into the end zone.

It was an incredible way to cap a huge game for the Bills.

I love what Jim Harbaugh is doing with the Los Angeles Chargers - there is such a good vibe about this team. They are tough on defense and they are growing on offense.

They started out running the football early in the season and are now unleashing Justin Herbert on the rest of the NFL as he gets healthy, having had an ankle injury earlier in the campaign and been injured in training camp.

They do not flinch. The Bengals came back into the game on Sunday night and the Chargers responded by going out to win it.

Their 7-3 record deserves more attention. They fly under the radar way too much and Harbaugh is doing exactly what he did last time he was in the NFL: producing a consistent, tough winner.

I wrote another column on Monday and expected it to be outdated very quickly with the firing of Doug Pederson in Jacksonville. That hasn't happened.

I'm writing this on a Tuesday and he is still in place, and I'm surprised. I'm not wishing ill on him, but I'm surprised he is still in control of that team because it looks like Jacksonville gave up the fight against Detroit. No comeback whatsoever, nothing.

An outstanding performance offensively would be 450 yards in a game; Jacksonville allowed 645 yards. That was an embarrassing outing and I'm sure it's heaped more pressure on Pederson - but he is still in position as of the time of me writing this.

Week 12 begins on Thursday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Cleveland Browns from 1.15am in the early hours of Friday, live on Sky Sports NFL. Stream with NOW.