BEST TEAM
NFL Week 14: New England, Washington on a roll, but about those Vikings ...
The Patriots have won seven in a row and Washington has an NFC-leading four-game win streak.
December 7, 2021 at 6:29PM
Patriots (9-4): Too windy to throw the ball? No problem. The Patriots went into Buffalo and beat their toughest division threat with Mac Jones completing two of three passes for 19 yards. With Buffalo's defense knowing exactly what was coming play after play, New England ran for 222 yards on 46 carries. The Patriots are the league's best-coached, most malleable team on both sides of the ball. They've won seven straight and they're getting better.
MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM
Vikings (5-7): Sorry, Cam Dantzler and Xavier Woods, but the execution on the Lions' walk-off touchdown was probably the worst these old eyes have ever seen.
RANKING THE VIKINGS
No. 22. And that's being overly kind this week. If the Vikings were in the AFC, they'd rank 14th out of 16 teams this week. Last week: 17.
THREE UP
Taylor Heinicke: The former Viking has completed 70% of his passes in four straight games — the longest current streak in the NFL. He also has Washington riding an NFC-leading four-game win streak.
Brian Johnson: Six days after being signed by Washington, the undrafted rookie and Washington, D.C., native kicked a game-winning 48-yard field goal to beat the Raiders.
Dolphins: Not only are they 6-7 after starting 1-7, they also have held four of their last five opponents to 10 or fewer points. The other one scored 17.
THREE DOWN
49ers running game: A week after pounding the Vikings with 208 yards, three touchdowns and a 5.3-yard average, San Francisco's running game was held to 71 yards and a 2.8 average in an upset loss at three-win Seattle.
Andy Dalton's career: With four more interceptions in the Bears' loss to Arizona, the 34-year-old veteran now has 28 interceptions while going 8-18 in his last 26 games.
Ditto for Mike Glennon: Somehow, Glennon is on his sixth NFL team. The Giants' 20-9 loss to Miami Sunday dropped him to 0-6 with four teams the last four years. He hasn't won since 2017 and is 6-22 since entering the league in 2013.
THREE STATS OF WEEK 13
3.9: Average yards of separation for Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on 14 targets in Sunday's win over the Vikings. Believe it or not, he had 4 yards of separation on the walk-off touchdown.
126: Career touchdowns for former Viking and current (for now, at least) Seahawk Adrian Peterson. His 1-yard touchdown run in Seattle's upset of the 49ers tied him with Jim Brown for 10th in NFL history. Brown did it in 118 games. Peterson has played 184 games.
.800: Completion percentage for Eagles backup quarterback Gardner Minshew in Sunday's 33-18 win over the Jets. He went 20-for-25 with a 133.7 passer rating.
THREE STATS TO WATCH
18: Total points allowed by the Chiefs' formerly-woeful defense in the last two games. They surrounded a bye week with a 19-9 win over Dallas and a 22-9 win over Denver.
12: Total QB pressures, including 3 ½ sacks, by Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt in Sunday's win over the Ravens. Next up: At the Vikings on Thursday night.
16: Rushing touchdowns for the Colts' Jonathan Taylor. That ties Hall of Famer Lenny Moore's franchise record set in 1964.
GAME OF WEEK 14
Bills (7-5) at Buccaneers (9-3)
This is one of two games this week that pits two teams with winning records. Rams (8-4) at Cardinals (10-2) is an intriguing NFC West matchup. But there's nothing more fascinating right now than the roller coaster the alleged Super Bowl-contending Bills are on. For seven straight games now, they've alternated between ugly losses and bounce-back wins. They're 3-4 in that stretch. It's time for them to step up or go away in a packed AFC playoff race. The Bucs have rebounded from a two-game losing streak to score 30 or more points in three straight wins.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
