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The good, bad, and ugly from NFL Week 13
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees had three picks against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, an ugly turn on what should have been a record setting day for the quarterback. AP Photo/Bill Feig

The good, bad, and ugly from NFL Week 13

All the indicators seemed to be there for the New Orleans Saints to dominate a hapless Detroit Lions defense at home on Sunday. Detroit headed into the game yielding a 106-plus quarterback rating and allowing a 74 percent completion mark to signal callers. Meanwhile, Drew Brees was in the midst of what might very well have ended up as a historical statistical season.

He was leading NFL quarterbacks in completions, attempts, completion percentage, passing yards and touchdowns. If that had continued, Brees would have been the first signal caller to accomplish this feat since John Brodie back in 1965.

Brees was going to absolutely dominate here, right?

Little did we know.

Brees was intercepted three times and lost a fumble in a disastrous 28-13 loss to the suddenly surging Lions. Those three picks represented the most Brees has thrown since Week 17 of the 2014 season. With them came an end to the Saints' already fledgling playoff hopes. Now at 5-7 on the season, they are two games back in both the NFC South and the wild card.

And so begins the bad from NFL Week 13.

"Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck."

* Speaking of interceptions, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles simply can't get out of his own way. The struggling signal caller threw two more picks Sunday against the Denver Broncos and has now totaled a NFL-high 15 through 12 games.

Interceptions are one thing. Throwing picks that are returned for touchdowns is a completely different thing. And for the 11th time in his career, Bortles did just that in a 20-10 loss to Denver. This time it came in the form of a 51-yard return from Broncos corner Bradley Roby.

Now at 2-10 on the season and in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, there should definitely be some concern that Bortles is not the Jaguars' long-term answer at quarterback. Add in the likely firing of Gus Bradley following the season, and the Jaguars are right back at square one.

* "Square one" would probably be the best way to describe the dysfunction we have seen from the Los Angeles Rams this season. Fresh off signing Jeff Fisher to a two-year contract extension (yes, that happened), the Rams fell to the vastly superior New England Patriots by the score of 26-10 on Sunday.

Not only did this guarantee the Rams would again fail to finish above .500 for the fifth time in Fisher's five seasons as the team's head coach, it was a downright brutal all-around performance. In fact, the Rams tallied a combined 25 total yards in the first half.

It's been 20-plus years since Los Angeles has had a NFL football team. Unfortunately for fans in the nation's second-largest media market, that hasn't changed in 2016. It might sound a bit absurd, but the Rams are now officially a laughingstock. Eric Dickerson thinks so, as does Snoop Dogg. That's pretty much all we need to know here.

* Cam Newton was benched for the first play of Sunday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks for violating the Carolina Panthers' dress code. Seriously.

Ron Rivera sat Newton for the first play in a must-win game. He then proceeded to have backup Derek Anderson throw an actual pass on the game's first play. Predictably, it was intercepted by Seattle's swarming defense, ultimately leading to the home team's first points of the game.

And so began the Panthers' 40-7 blowout loss to Seattle in front of a national television audience.

And so begins the absolute ugly from NFL Week 13.

"It was an ideal day for football - too cold for the spectators and too cold for the players." 

* The San Francisco 49ers didn't just embarrass themselves on Sunday. They embarrassed the entire NFL. They embarrassed their fan base. They embarrassed the great Bay Area. If you think that's an overreaction, get a load of this.

By the time Colin Kaepernick was benched for Blaine Gabbert to start the fourth quarter, he had completed 1-of-5 passes for four yards. Considering the Chicago Bears sacked Kaepernick five times in those first three quarters, San Francisco entered the final stanza with negative-21 net passing yards. By the time the game came to a conclusion, the 49ers had put up a total of six net passing yards.

Let's put this into perspective here. San Francisco had as many passing yards (six) as it had points against a bad Bears squad that entered Week 13 with two wins. The team also committed almost twice the amount of penalties (11) as it had passing yards in its 11th consecutive loss.

How bad are the 49ers? The Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders have won a combined 20 games since Chip Kelly's squad last tasted victory. Yeah, the Cleveland browns might not be the worse team in the NFL.

* Without A.J. Green and Giovani Bernard on the field, the Cincinnati Bengals' offense absolutely manhandled a Philadelphia Eagles defense that entered Week 13 as one of the top units in the NFL. Sure we can focus on how well the Bengals played here. But we're talking about a 4-7-1 squad. We really can't give Marvin Lewis and Co. much credit considering just how poorly they've performed this season.

Instead, the focus has to be on just how poorly Philadelphia played. Not just in this game, but over the past two months. Once 3-0 on the season, Philly has lost seven of its past nine games. And in reality, Sunday's performance was about as bad as it gets from a coaching perspective.

How in the world can Doug Pederson and the Eagles justify having rookie quarterback Carson Wentz toss the ball around the yard 60 times in a regular season road game? How can the coaching staff do so knowing how much he's struggled and considering he's less than a calendar year away from starting for North Dakota State?

Predictably, Wentz responded by throwing three interceptions in the 32-14 loss. That's the type of performance that can stunt a quarterback's growth. The Eagles should be ashamed of themselves for putting him in this situation.

* Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, making his return to the field after missing last week's game with a hamstring issue, suffered a broken leg in the team's win over the Panthers on Sunday night. It was an absolutely unflattering play, one in which you could see Thomas' leg bent in an awkward position.

Shortly after being carted off the field, Thomas sent out a couple cryptic tweets. He thanked supporters and well wishers while specifically mentioning retirement as an option.

We recognize Thomas' greatness. Football fans and journalists the world over. Not just those covering or rooting for the Seahawks.

"Big dreams create the magic that stir men's souls to greatness."

Growing up a San Francisco 49ers fan, this one scribe wasn't exactly fond of the Seahawks when he got into this business. In the years that have followed, I've come to respect the talent and winning culture built in the Pacific Northwest.

Thomas was a prime reason for this. His ball-hawking ability and absolutely brilliant coverage skills have been a treat to watch on a never-ending loop since he entered the league back in 2010.

From football fans and journalists the world over, I personally wish Thomas a speedy recovery and hope that the finds his way back on the field. The NFL would not be the same without you, kind sir.

* With his Oakland Raiders trailing 24-9 about midway through the third quarter, it was looking like Derek Carr wouldn't be able to lead his latest comeback. That's when Carr and the rest of his first-place Raiders caught absolute fire against the Buffalo Bills.

Starting with a three-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with just over five minutes remaining in the third, Oakland would go on to score the game's final 29 points to win going away. It came against a Bills team that had won two consecutive. And it helped the Raiders maintain their standing as the top seed in the AFC.

On the defensive side of the ball, Khalil Mack continued his MVP-worthy performance. He put the game on ice with a strip sack and fumble recovery late in the final stanza. That came just a few minutes after the pressure Mack put on Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor led directly to a Nate Allen interception and eventually a Raiders touchdown to put the team up by two scores.

By virtue of their 38-24 win over Buffalo, the Raiders have now won six consecutive games and boast an absurd 10-2 record. Talk about a shock.

And so begins the best from NFL Week 13.

* After suffering through two horrendous injuries following a surprising rookie campaign with Seattle, Thomas Rawls is finally back in the mix for his Seahawks. The 2015 un-drafted free agent from Central Michigan averaged a league-best 5.6 yards per rush as a rookie before going down with a broken ankle. After rehabbing from that during the offseason, Rawls then injured his fibula Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams.

In just his third game back from that latest injury, Rawls absolutely dominated the Carolina Panthers in a 40-7 win Sunday night. He tallied 106 yards and two touchdowns, including this amazing 45-yard scoring scamper in the second quarter. It's mighty nice to see Rawls back in the mix and showing his truly elite play-making ability.

* Speaking of being back in the mix, it's pretty darn awesome to see Eric Berry perform like the All Pro talent that he is. Spearheading an amazing Kansas City Chiefs performance that saw the team overcome a late-game deficit against the Falcons on Sunday, Berry was responsible for two defensive scores in the 29-28 win.

The first came late in the second quarter with the game tied at 13. Berry picked off a Matt Ryan pass and returned it 37 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Then, after Atlanta had scored a late-game touchdown to take a one-point lead, the team decided to go for two. That's when Berry picked off Ryan again, this time returning it 100 yards for two points and the one-point Chiefs win.

Following the game, an emotional Berry talked about this performance and his return to Georgia. It was about as emotional of a scene that we will ever see following a regular season game. And it came just a couple years after Berry himself overcame cancer. It's just tremendous to see him back on the field and making an impact like what we saw on Sunday.

* Think about this for a second. The Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders are a combined 21-3 on the season. That's a combined nine more wins than last year's Super Bowl participants have on the season. It also leads us to believe that there's a decent chance Dallas and Oakland will meet in the Super Bowl in Houston this upcoming February.

We touched on the Raiders above, but it makes more sense to conclude this article praising the 11-1 Cowboys. Sure Thursday's performance against the Minnesota Vikings left a lot to be desired. Dallas couldn't stop kicking itself in the back end with dumb penalty after dumb penalty. It couldn't get a lot going against a dominant Vikings defense.

But when it counted the most, Dallas came through big time. Whether it was Dak Prescott connecting with Dez Bryant multiple times or Ezekiel Elliott bleeding the clock on the ground, the Cowboys simply found a way to get it done.

Good teams find a way to win despite bad performances. That's exactly what we saw from this young Cowboys team on the road this week. It sure does tell us a lot about what Jason Garrett and Cowboys have built in Big D this season.

Can you name every prominent quarterback in the history of the New Orleans Saints?

While many quarterbacks have thrown passes for the New Orleans Saints over the years, this quiz only lists the signal callers who led the team in passing yards in the years displayed. 

SCORE:
0/19
TIME:
5:00
1967
Gary Cuozzo
1968-1970
Billy Kilmer
1971
Ed Hargett
1972-1975
Archie Manning
1976
Bobby Douglass
1977-1981
Archie Manning
1982-1983
Ken Stabler
1984
Richard Todd
1985-1986
Dave Wilson
1987-1989
Bobby Hebert
1990
Steve Walsh
1991-1992
Bobby Hebert
1993
Wade Wilson
1994-1996
Jim Everett
1997
Heath Shuler
1998-1999
Billy Joe Tolliver
2000
Jeff Blake
2001-2005
Aaron Brooks
2006-2019
Drew Brees

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