In this series of articles, I will highlight the best NFL games of the week. In week 14, there were multiple high-scoring, offensive-heavy games. Here are the highlights.
Rams vs Bills
The Rams eke out a win over the Bills in an electric, high-scoring game.
86 points, 902 yards, 11 touchdowns, zero turnovers. All these stats were from this one-game split between the two teams.
The Rams set the tone with an opening drive touchdown. Puka Nacua contributed 43 yards, and Kyren Williams capped it with a three-yard rushing touchdown.
The next Rams’ offensive drive ended on the Buffalo three-yard line when they couldn’t convert and had to settle for a field goal. Next came the turning point of the first half.
On third down, Josh Allen looked for Amari Cooper deep, but the pass was broken up leading to a punt. The punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown giving the Rams a ten-point lead.
This was a pivotal moment because of how close the game was the whole time, a ten-point lead was huge for the Rams who couldn’t stop the Bills from scoring.
Each team scored another touchdown in the second quarter.
Up 10 coming out of the half, Nacua made first-down catches on multiple third downs to extend the drive. Cooper Kupp also made a one-handed 37-yard catch despite a pass-interference penalty. Kyren Williams then made it into the endzone to take a 17-point lead.
Puka came up big again on Los Angeles’ next drive by converting on third down. Kupp then caught a 17-yard touchdown pass against his leg. Up 10 points, the Rams went three and out and had to punt, putting the ball back in Allen’s hands.
On the Rams’ next drive, they got down to Buffalo territory and went for a gutsy fourth-down due to how well the Bills' offense had been playing. They got the first down and two plays later Stafford found Nacua in the endzone to go up by nine points.
With 59 seconds left and the ball back, the Rams ran three run plays to cut the clock down to seven seconds. Los Angeles punted the ball, and the game ended with no time left on the clock.
Josh Allen put up a historic performance in this game, but it was not enough to get the win. Allen contributed six touchdowns to the offense, three rushing and three passing. He is the first quarterback to do that in NFL regular season history. However, Buffalo’s seven-game win streak came to an end on Sunday afternoon.
The Bills had two touchdowns in the first half on their four drives. The big mistake for them was the blocked punt that got returned for a touchdown. The Rams were able to go up 10 points because of that and the Bills gave up a possession to the Rams, which became important when both teams were scoring on almost every drive.
Buffalo got the ball back before the half with a little over two minutes left and they aimed to score on back-to-back possessions because they were receiving the second-half kickoff. They had to punt on both of these possessions, coming away with no points.
On a third and eight in the third quarter, Allen found Khalil Shakir for a 51-yard receiving touchdown, but the Rams kept pushing. On another third down later in the quarter, Allen ran for 20 yards and drew a horse collar penalty on top of the run. On the next play, Shakir made a tight window catch for 34 yards and Allen ran in for a touchdown at the one-yard line.
After a Los Angeles punt, Allen led a 91-yard touchdown drive that ended in a Mack Hollins touchdown. The Bills were now only down three points.
Los Angeles scored to go up by two scores once again, putting the pressure on Buffalo to score twice with only two minutes left. The Bills got down to the one-yard line and Allen failed to break the plane for a touchdown, forcing Buffalo to use a timeout. Allen got the touchdown on the next play, but because of the timeout, they had to attempt an onside kick to have any chance at getting the ball back.
The Rams recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock to survive the thriller.
Lions vs Packers
The Lions clinched a playoff spot with their season sweep over the Packers.
Detroit scored first with a long drive capped off by a David Montgomery rush touchdown. After two punts, the Lions forced a fumble to set them up for a field goal. Before the half, Detroit put together a drive where they scored on a fourth and goal to take a 17-7 lead into the half.
Coming out of the half, Goff threw a pick that set up the second touchdown for the Packers in less than five minutes. Detroit was now trailing 21-17.
On another fourth and goal touchdown, Jared Goff lasered a pass to Tim Patrick. That was Patrick’s first touchdown since 2021.
Despite gaining two touchdowns on fourth downs, the Lions failed to convert a crucial fourth and 1 later in the third quarter. Facing a three-point deficit, Detroit drove down the field again and Patrick notched his second touchdown of the night.
With the game tied and under four minutes to go, the Lions once again orchestrated a long drive down the field.
In a crazy moment, Dan Campbell elected to go for it on fourth and inches despite Detroit being in field goal position to take the lead. Jared Goff fell after being stepped on after the snap but was still able to get the handoff to Montgomery to convert. Jake Bates then hit the game-winning field goal as the clock hit zero.
David Montgomery finds the gap in the line to convert on 4th and inches. Photo Courtesy: detroitlions.com
The Packers fought hard in this game but ultimately took the loss. In an extremely competitive division, the NFC North, this loss has big playoff implications.
Green Bay did not put points on the board until five minutes left in the first half. Two punts and a costly fumble in the first half did not do any favors for the Packers.
Despite the slow start, the Packers came out of the half on fire. They scored back-to-back touchdowns in less than five minutes to take the lead for the first time this game. They scored again early in the fourth quarter to combat the Lions offense.
Green Bay tied the score at 31 with three and a half minutes to go. Green Bay’s defense could not stop Detroit’s high-powered offense on their last drive. The Lions won on a field goal as time expired.
Steelers vs Browns
The Steelers got the best of the Browns in the rematch between the two division rivals.
The Steelers punted four times in the first half. They were without their best receiver, George Pickens, and were facing a strong defense in the Browns. But the Steelers defense has also been very efficient all year and was in this game. Their first touchdown of the game came off an interception. The pick put them in Cleveland territory and allowed Pittsburgh to score from a great field position.
Following a Chris Bowell field goal, the Steelers took a 13-7 lead into halftime.
Coming out of the half, Russell Wilson put together a drive ending in a touchdown catch from Van Jefferson. On the ensuing drive, Pittsburgh stuffed the Browns offense on a pivotal fourth and one conversion. Taking advantage of the turnover on downs, the Steelers scored again to go up by 20 points.
Late in the fourth quarter, Cordarrelle Patterson fumbled, giving the ball to the Browns with just under five minutes left in the game. Immediately after the fumble, the Steelers defense comes up big and intercepts Winston for the second time.
Pittsburgh went three and out after the pick and punted. On the punt, Kadarius Toney couldn’t control the ball, and the Steelers recovered the muffed punt. They were able to kneel out the clock and win the game.
The Browns only had two trips to the red zone in the entire first half. One was a successful touchdown drive that ended in a Jerry Jeudy touchdown reception and the other was a missed field goal.
Coming out of the half, there was another missed field goal. The next drive ended after they couldn’t convert on fourth and one. They found the endzone again with David Njoku, but at this point, they were down by 13 points.
The Browns defense forced a fumble to provide a spark, but Winston was picked off shortly after. Hopeful to get the ball back and put some points on the board, the Browns were receiving a punt after a three and out. Toney muffed the punt and ended the game.
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