From a record-breaking touchdown to another thrilling last-minute score that brought an otherwise underwhelming game to life, it has been a chaotic opening to Monday’s [AEDT] slate of NFL games.
Injuries have also hit one of the league’s early surprise packets in a big way. Here is a full wrap of the Week 11 action.
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The New York Giants have been an early season surprise packets but a horror day of injuries and three touchdowns from Jamaal Williams saw them fall 31-18 to the Detroit Lions.
All the good stuff the Giants crammed into their surprising and resurgent season did not make it to the field Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Wan’Dale Robinson was injured in the loss. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
They accomplished little on offence, as Saquon Barkley was stuffed, repeatedly, forcing Daniel Jones to fling it in the wind. Jones went six consecutive games without throwing an interception but that streak came to a crashing end. On defence, they had to absorb the loss of Adoree’ Jackson, their best cornerback, who went down with a knee injury while returning a punt. The special teams’ units were shaky.
It all combined to produce the worst performance of the season by the Giants under Brian Daboll, their first-year head coach. They led, briefly, in the second quarter but could not sustain quality play on their side of the ball in a dreadful 31-18 loss to the Lions that inflicted a heavy physical toll.
In addition to Jackson, the Giants lost four other starting players to injury: Right tackle Tyre Phillips (neck), centre Jon Feliciano (neck), wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (knee) and cornerback Fabian Moreau (ribs).
This does not bode well for what comes next, as the Giants have a short turnaround this week before facing the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, on Thanksgiving Day.
At 7-3, the Giants have not lost back-to-back games all season, but they will be undermanned going into a key NFC East matchup.
The Lions, on the other hand, improved to 4-6 and now sit 2nd in the NFL North with winnable games down the stretch.
Quarterback Jared Goff completed 17 of 26 passes for 165 yards in the win but did not throw a touchdown pass, with the Lions doing all their damage on the ground.
Williams had three rushing touchdowns to go with 17 carries for 64 yards while DeAndre Swift also had a score in the win.
NEW COACH CONTINUES TO DEFY CRITICS, EVEN IN DEFEAT
Elsewhere, Jeff Saturday’s Indianapolis Colts almost caused a boilover for a second-straight week and this would have been his biggest in yet.
But in the end a late Jalen Hurts touchdown was enough for the Philadelphia Eagles to steal a late 17-16 win and improve their season record to 9-1.
Jalen Hurts came up clutch late. (Photo by ANDY LYONS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP
The Colts had been widely criticised for bringing in Saturday as interim head coach despite having no coaching experience in the NFL or college football.
That did not prove to be any impediment though as Indianapolis took a 25-20 win last week over the Las Vegas Raiders in Saturday’s first game at the helm.
In saying that, Saturday and the Colts were expected to come crashing back to earth on Monday morning against a fired-up Eagles side coming off a surprise loss to the Washington Commanders.
The surprises kept coming for Philadelphia though, who struggled to get its offence moving as Indianapolis turned up the pressure after taking an early 7-0 lead.
Jonathan Taylor, who carried the ball 22 time for 84 yards, had Indianapolis’ only score of the game, with kicker Chase McLaughlin adding three field goals.
The Eagles, on the other hand, did not have a touchdown on the board until the final quarter but Hurts showed his improvement as a passer to find Quez Watkings for their first of the game.
Already a noted rusher, Hurts then scored the running go-ahead touchdown as the Eagles escaped with a tight win.
Jalen Hurts scores a touchdown. (Photo by Justin Casterline / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP
LATE DRAMA AS 84-YARD TOUCHDOWN LIGHTS UP FIZZLER
Elsewhere, the New York Jets lost a heartbreaker to the New England Patriots after allowing an 84-yard punt return with five seconds remaining in the game.
The return by Marcus Jones broke a tie and gave the Patriots their 14th straight victory over the Jets, an improbable 10-3 win.
This game featured very little offence as both defences dominated. The teams were tied 3-3 for most of the game. The Jets got the ball with 1:52 left to play at their own 20.
A defensive holding call on third down wiped out a sack by the Patriots and gave the Jets a new set of downs.
On third-and-1 at the Jets 34, Zach Wilson threw a pass to running back Micheal Carter that went behind the line of scrimmage for a 2-yard loss when Kyle Dugger drilled him.
That forced a punt from Braden Mann with 26 seconds left. Jones took the ball and went up the sideline, beating Tyler Conklin and then Mann on his way to the end zone.
The punt return continued Bill Belichick’s mastery over the Jets and dropped Gang Green to 6-4 this season. The Patriots are also 6-4.
The Jets had a chance to grab first place in the division but instead ended the day in last place.
