NFL: DEC 01 Steelers at Bengals
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It's December, and that means high-leverage, cold-weather football. In frigid, snowy Buffalo, Josh Allen dashed through the snow and the 49ers defense to the tune of two touchdowns passing, one touchdown rushing and one touchdown receiving -- on a pass he threw, not to himself but also kind of to himself!

Allen is the second player in NFL history with multiple touchdowns passing, a touchdown rushing and a touchdown receiving in a single game. The other is Tony Canadeo, a Hall of Fame halfback/tailback/fullback/defensive back who did so for the NFL-champion Packers in ... 1943. Canadeo was nicknamed "The Gray Ghost of Gonzaga." Gonzaga hasn't had a football program since 1941. So yeah, Allen is doing things that haven't been done in a long time.

But "a long time" isn't "never," and Allen would gladly trade individual accomplishments for Buffalo's first Super Bowl triumph. In a 35-10 win over San Francisco, Allen and the Bills lived up to the idea that they're the best bad-weather team in football, and you'd better believe no one will want to go to Buffalo in the postseason. That was one of many things we liked in Week 13.

Here's what else we liked:

Five things we liked

1. Russell Wilson checks it down

Russell Wilson has done wonders for the Steelers' downfield passing attack, but Sunday, he sprinkled in -- well, more like poured in -- running backs in the passing game. Wilson went 13-for-13 for 146 yards when targeting running backs. The 13 completions were the fourth-most in a game in his career, and the 146 yards were far and away the most in a game in his career.

Despite posting season lows in air yards per attempt (5.1) and seconds to throw (2.75), Wilson had a season-high 10.9 yards per attempt. His 414 yards passing were second-most in his career.

This, of course, was possible thanks to a vanilla Cincinnati defense. The Bengals played 70% zone, hoping to not give up deep throws, and Wilson was more than happy to take advantage short.

There's a fine line between taking what defenses give you and being too scared to throw the ball downfield. When Wilson was in Denver, he targeted running backs a lot, partly because Sean Payton's attack features that, but more so because Payton didn't really trust Wilson downfield. Now, with the threat of Wilson going deep -- he hit on more deep shots in the second half -- those quick, short throws are actually effective.

No one will confuse this Bengals defense with the '85 Bears, but seeing Wilson smoothly counter Cincinnati's game plan has to be encouraging for Pittsburgh.

2. Terry McLaurin moves around

Last week, I wrote about what was going wrong for the Commanders during their three-game losing streak, and Terry McLaurin's lack of involvement was a major issue. He had five first-half targets during the skid.

In Washington's 42-19 thumping of the Titans, McLaurin had six targets for six catches, 52 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone. He was targeted on Washington's very first play from scrimmage, in fact, a simple 10-yard gain.

That may not seem like much, but it was. The Commanders made it a point to get McLaurin involved ASAP. But maybe more importantly, McLaurin lined up on the right side of the formation. Kliff Kingsbury's offense doesn't feature a ton of motion, and McLaurin has been static this season: 76% of his snaps have as the outside left receiver, by far the highest rate in the NFL. Against Tennessee, McLaurin got a season-high 29% of his snaps on the right side, including his first touchdown of the day.

 This is good stuff from McLaurin, Kingsbury and Jayden Daniels, and it's a positive development going into the bye.

3. Workhorse Bucky Irving

Bucky Irving's 5-foot-10, 195-pound stature may lead some to assume he's a third-down back, scatback, change-of-pace back or whatever "not primary back" euphemism you prefer.

That would be wrong. Irving's measurements belie a guy who can be a workhorse, as seen in a 28-touch, 185-yard effort against the Panthers. Both were career highs.

Irving is fourth in the NFL in yards per rush. He is ninth in yards rushing over expected. He's not just a home run hitter. He's dependable down to down. His 41% rushing success rate is 17th in the NFL, and his 42% rushing success rate on runs up the middle is 14th, just behind bigger-bodied thumpers Brian Robinson Jr., Kyren Williams and Jordan Mason and ahead of Saquon Barkley.

4. Nik Bonitto is awesome

The Broncos have been one of the most pleasant surprises this NFL season, and while Bo Nix has been at the forefront, the defense has been magnificent. You probably know the name Patrick Surtain II, the lockdown corner who might just be the league's best.

You should know the name Nik Bonitto, who had a 71-yard pick six and a sack in Denver's 41-32 win over the Browns.

Bonitto is the only player in the NFL with double-digit sacks and a pick six this season and only the second Bronco ever to have such a season, joining Von Miller (2012). Bonitto is also the first player with 11 sacks and a pick six within his team's first 13 games of a season since Chris Jones in 2018.

Bonitto, predominantly a right outside linebacker, can jump to the left side and is also good for a few defensive end snaps. When you have a guy who can cover and run like seen above and rush the passer, it's easy to see why Denver's defense has presented so many problems for so many teams. 

5. Bo Nix throws a laser beam

I was stunned when Bo Nix threw this ball -- on third-and-11 from his own end zone, mind you -- and downright gobsmacked when it resulted in a touchdown.

Nix barely completed over half of his passes. He threw two interceptions. He probably had Sean Payton wanting to rip his hair out many times. But that, my friends, was awesome.

Five things we didn't like

1. This is why bad teams are bad

There was a lot of NFL this week. Three games Thursday, one game Friday, 11 games Sunday, one game Monday. But don't think we forgot about you, Bears and Raiders.

I cannot comprehend what was going through Matt Eberflus' mind as the clock ticked down in the Bears' 23-20 loss to the Lions. If you somehow forgot in your post-turkey tryptophan-induced haze, Caleb Williams took a sack with about 30 seconds left, trailing 23-20, with one timeout left. Williams has taken a ton of bad sacks in this area of the field this season, but that's a discussion for another time.

The Bears -- with a timeout, let me remind you -- ran one more play: a desperation heave to Rome Odunze as the clock expired. They never used the timeout. It's the most mind-boggling clock management job I've ever seen. Eberflus, who then defended the process, was fired.

One day later, this happened:

It's a similar situation: young quarterback, new quarterback/offensive coordinator duo, struggling coach, bad team. The Raiders said they heard a whistle. The NFL issued a statement.

When you're a bad team, the little things are hard, and the little margins are devastating.

2. Kirk Cousins

If you've already seen Kirk Cousins' four-interception performance, I'm sorry. If you haven't, don't go looking them up. And for the truly curious, well, here they are:

I've waffled on Cousins this year. He makes some really good, difficult throws from collapsing pockets. But when it's bad, it's really bad, and it tends to snowball. I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses, but Cousins is 36 years old and coming off a torn Achilles. He has been almost exclusively a pocket passer, and the ball isn't coming out with the same zip it did pre-injury. That's a disastrous combination. The pick six to Tarheeb Still was one of the worst throws you'll see.

Using expected points added, Cousins' four interceptions cost the team nearly 17 points ... in a 17-13 loss ... Atlanta's third straight defeat. Gross.

3. Taysom Hill's season-ending knee injury

We never like any sort of injury, but Taysom Hill's is particularly tough to swallow because ...

  1. He has such a long injury history and such a remarkable journey back from it
  2. He's 35 years old, and ACL tears at 35 years old are not great
  3. He was breaking out as the Saints were rallying under interim coach Darren Rizzi

For this to come just after a 188-yard, three-touchdown performance is such a heartbreaker, too. Hill is a remarkable athlete -- a smooth-yet-powerful, instinctual player with the ball in his hands who does everything. Usually when you have a "Swiss Army knife" type of player, he's really just OK at a few things and is used on trick plays or as a potential distraction for defenses. Hill isn't that. He's a legit tight end, a legit running back/fullback and a legit running quarterback, especially in short-yardage scenarios.

The Saints have been ravaged by injuries to their receivers, so Hill stepped up at tight end in particular recently; his eight receptions in Week 11 were a career high, and he had five more in Week 13 before getting hurt. In the underwhelming NFC South, the Saints were/are somehow still in the picture. And now this. It's just a bummer.

4. Titans carry no momentum

One would think the Titans could carry over at least a few things from their surprising Week 12 win over the Texans. The defense flustered C.J. Stroud. The offensive ripped off a ton of big plays, and Will Levis -- despite eight sacks and awful pick six -- made some awesome plays.

Then the Titans fell apart before they could even blink. Across the first eight possessions of the game, Tennessee was ...

  • outscored 28-0 and outgained 187-24
  • fumbled twice, including once on a kickoff return
  • committed six penalties -- two on offense, two on defense, two on special teams

Tennessee ended the game with 12 penalties for 93 yards and added four drops. Washington ran for 267 yards, its most in a game since 2012.

"Really, all the way around, nothing was good enough today," Brian Callahan said postgame. "That was tough to watch."

Agreed.

5. Jerod Mayo's field goal decision

Trailing 25-24, Jerod Mayo opted to have Joey Slye attempt a 68-yard field goal at the end of the game. This would have been the longest field goal in NFL history. Slye missed. The Patriots lost.

Mayo said he was "not sure what the numbers are on Hail Marys versus the field goal there, but that's what I felt was right."

My colleague John Breech sums it up perfectly.

The biggest number is zero: That's how many 68-yard field goals have been made in NFL history. Having Drake Maye attempt a Hail Mary would definitely have been the higher percentage play.

We have seen Hail Marys happen this season, in fact. And what's more frustrating is that the Patriots had executed perfectly to get into Hail Mary range. Maye hit Hunter Henry for 11 yards with four seconds left and 9 more yards with one second left. Given his mobility and arm strength, Maye fits the "buy time and heave it" Hail Mary strategy. He should have gotten that chance.