The Philadelphia Eagles' defence is rounding into form.
One week after holding the Green Bay Packers to just seven points, the Eagles completely stymied the high-powered Detroit Lions' offence in a 16-9 win on Sunday night.
Lions QB Jared Goff completed just 17-of-34 passes to finish with the worst completion percentage (37.8) of his entire career. Detroit was also 0-for-5 on fourth-down conversions in the game, something they're not very used to in the Dan Campbell era.
Bolstered by some new additions at the trade deadline, that's now two straight weeks the Eagles have made the offence of a fellow NFC contender look broken.
Now 8-2, the Eagles have five more wins than any team in their division and are tied with the Los Angeles Rams for the best record in the conference.
Are there still some major question marks on the offensive side of the ball?
Absolutely.
Expect some more A.J. Brown chatter in the week ahead as the receiver had just 49 yards in the win after he complained about his role in the offence leading up to Sunday.
But despite the offensive struggles, the Eagles' defence is starting to look like a unit that could carry Philadelphia to a second straight Super Bowl.
Broncos take full control of AFC West
The Denver Broncos are no longer the little brother.
Hosting a desperate Kansas City team that's won the AFC West division the past nine seasons, the Broncos once again took care of business in crunch time and secured an eighth straight win to move to 9-2.
With the 22-19 win on a last-second field goal, the Broncos have now won five of their past six games by three points or less and are 7-2 in one-score games this season.
It's not always pretty, and that's led to some Broncos skeptics. But eight wins in a row in the NFL is no easy feat, and it's time to consider Denver a legit Super Bowl contender.
“We've just got a resilient team that believes we're going to win, and at the end of the game when it's close, that belief goes a long way,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said after the win.
Meanwhile, for the team that's been to three straight Super Bowls, it's officially panic time.
With the loss, the Chiefs fell to 5-5. Forget winning the division; they are in danger of missing the playoffs altogether for the first time since 2014.
Kansas City is now a full game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars for the final wild-card spot in the AFC, and the Jags have the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Recent history would say it's always wrong to bet against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, but the clock is ticking to turn this thing around.
Rams' defence, special teams come up huge in massive divisional win
In one of the marquee matchups of the season, it was some unsung heroes that led the Rams to a key division win over the Seattle Seahawks in a battle of 7-2 teams.
While Rams QB Matthew Stafford dominated the headlines coming into the game, it was the Los Angeles defence that played the starring role on Sunday.
The Rams picked off Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold four times in by far his worst game of the season.
Safety Kamren Kinchens had two of the Rams’ four interceptions, while Cobie Durant and Darious Williams each had one.
For a team that features stars like Stafford, Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, just to name a few, those aren't players who usually get a lot of recognition in L.A.
The Rams also got contributions on special teams as a perfect punt by Ethan Evans pinned the Seahawks at the one-yard line on their final drive, one of the key plays of the game.
It all adds up to the Rams moving to 8-2 and first place in the NFC West.
A rematch with the Seahawks comes on Dec. 18, but on this Sunday in November, the Rams proved they are far more than just a team with a great offence.
Josh Allen gets Bills back on track
Sunday was a great reminder that the Buffalo Bills will always be a threat as long as No. 17 is on the field.
One week after losing to the Miami Dolphins in one of the most shocking results of the season, Josh Allen did it all in a much-needed win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Allen threw for three touchdowns and ran three in himself as the Bills moved to 7-3 with a 44-32 win over the Bucs. He's now the first player in NFL history to have three passing and rushing touchdowns in multiple career games.
Adding to his feat on Sunday was that he did it without two of his top weapons on offence. Tight end Dalton Kincaid was out with an injury, and wide receiver Keon Coleman was benched after he missed a team meeting.
“Starting off 4-0, and we're the best team in the world. And we lose two in a row, and now we're the worst team in the world,” Allen said to reporters after the game. “We don’t want to ride that. We want to stay here, stay consistent.”
That lack of consistency Allen mentioned does have the Bills in a bit of a hole in their division, as, despite the win, they still trail the New England Patriots by 2.5 games for the AFC East lead.
But if this is a sign of things to come from Allen, the division race is far from over, especially with a Week 15 showdown between the Bills and Patriots still looming.
Young's career day has Panthers thinking playoffs
Speaking of stellar QB performances, Bryce Young certainly deserves some recognition.
While he didn't account for six touchdowns like Allen, the third-year pivot had unquestionably the best game of his young career to lead the Carolina Panthers to a 30-27 overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Young threw for not only a career high, but a Panthers franchise record 448 yards
— a whopping 120 yards more than his previous best.
His favourite target on Sunday was Tetairoa McMillan, as the rookie wide receiver hauled in eight catches for 130 yards and two out of Young's three touchdowns in the game.
Young's whole career has been a bit of a rollercoaster, and it's been no different this season. But Sunday was a glimpse of the potential the Panthers saw when they traded up to the No. 1 pick to select the Alabama product.
With Sunday's win to move to 6-5, combined with the Buccaneers' loss to the Bills, Carolina is now just a half-game behind Tampa Bay in the division.
That means the pressure on Young to do more of what he did on Sunday is only going to increase, as they suddenly find themselves right in the race for the NFC South title.
Da Bears? Da Bears!
Don't look now, but after the Lions' loss to the Eagles, there's an unfamiliar name at the top of the NFC North.
The Chicago Bears went on the road and beat the Minnesota Vikings 19-17 on a last-second field goal to move to 7-3 and atop the division. They've now won seven of their past eight games on their quest for their first NFC North title since 2018.
The Bears still have to play the Green Bay Packers twice and the Lions once, so there's still a long way to go.
But one thing that all Bears fans can feel good about is that the entire team culture has definitely changed under first-year head coach Ben Johnson.
Sunday's win over the Vikings was a perfect example of a game that past iterations of the Bears would've found a way to lose.
But second-year QB Caleb Williams now leads the league this season with five game-winning drives, and these Bears just keep finding ways to win.
It's a promising sign for a franchise that hasn't had a lot to cheer about for a few years.
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