NFL Report Card Week 13: Bills and Eagles earn top grades

With the Thanksgiving weekend, and countless portions of Turkey and all the trimmings behind us, it's time to return to cold hard reality. And what better way to do that than by grading every NFL team's performance from week 13?

The Lions looked to be on course to blow out the Bears early in their Thanksgiving Thursday matchup before needing a bit of luck, and a lot of terrible Chicago coaching to get the win. The Detroit offense was efficient but struggled to score as many touchdowns as we're seeing which nearly cost them.

The Bears, and specifically Caleb Williams, put up a great fight against the best team in football. Were it not for coaching incompetence, this game would have almost certainly gone to overtime at least.

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When you're 5-7 and essentially out of the playoff race already, it's tough to get too excited about a one-score win over the Giants. However, the Cowboys did enough to get the win, and that's worth celebrating, especially over a divisional rival.

Drew Lock tried his best but given his treatment by the Giants this year, it's not a surprise he wasn't perfect. This season has been an embarrassment for the Giants, but this loss could help them get in position to pick a new QB in next year's draft, so it's not all bad.

This was a statement win against a surging Dolphins team and showed just how tough an opponent Green Bay will be in the playoffs. Josh Jacobs couldn't get anything going on the ground, so Jordan Love put the offense on his back and played one of his best games of the season.

We're getting a little tired of the Dolphins schtick at this point. Every time they play a team in Super Bowl contention, everything seems to fall apart, especially when it's a cold weather game. Whether it's a mentality issue, or they simply aren't built to compete against the best teams, we aren't quite sure. Either way, it's not good enough.

The Chiefs continue to win, and we continue to be a little unimpressed with them. In the back of our mind, we know that it won't matter come playoff time, and they could still win the Super Bowl. This two-point win over Las Vegas was not convincing, though.

Aidan O’Connell played probably the best game of his young career against the Chiefs on Black Friday, and were it not for a fumbled snap (and some strange refereeing), the Raiders probably would have won. We're not sure what's next for the Raiders, but we presume it's time to start scouting QBs in Sin City.

After Trevor Lawrence was the victim of one of the worst hits you'll see on a football field, the Jags played hard in his absence. Per John Breech for CBS Sports, “Mac Jones threw for 134 yards and two touchdowns in the FOURTH QUARTER to get Jacksonville back in the game,” which shows this team hasn't quit, yet.

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Joe Mixon put the Texans’ offense on his back in the second half and helped kill the game with some impressive carries late in the game. The Texans are en route to the playoffs, but with how they’ve been playing recently, we can’t see them making too much of an impact this season.

This was sort of the perfect result for New England. They played well, with young players having an impact on both sides of the ball, before losing and not hurting their chance at top-fine pick in the 2025 draft. Drake Maye is a stud and great fun to watch.

Shane Steichen has earned our respect after going for two, and the win, when many coaches would’ve been happy to go to OT. Watching Anthony Richardson is like being on the most entertaining rollercoaster that leaves you wondering if any of it was any good when it ends.

Kirk Cousins threw four picks, including one of the worst pick-sixes we have seen in a while, as the Falcons failed to get anything going against the Chargers. As John Breech writes for CBS Sports, “The Falcons have now lost three in a row and they're suddenly on the verge of choking away the NFC South.”

It wasn’t always pretty, but it was eventually effective as the Chargers ground their way to another win. Worryingly, the Chargers gave up four sacks to the Falcons, which accounts for more than a quarter of their season’s total.

The Jets just don’t have it this season. Aaron Rodgers is neither efficient nor creating enough explosive plays, which is a bad sign for his future given the weapons around him. He still tries to play like he’s in his early 30s, which he just can’t do anymore.

Leonard Williams accounted for two sacks and a 92-yard pick-six against his former team, in what was one of the best individual performances of the week. Outside of that, this was a sloppy performance by Seattle, who looked on course to lose for most of the game. Still, they got the win, which was all-important.

It’s hard to say anything negative about the Commanders’ performance against Tennessee on Sunday, as Washington ran out 42-19 winners. After a three-loss slide, a win was needed to ensure they still control their fate in the wild card race, and they returned to form in stunning fashion.

Before the Titans could react, they were 21-0 down, and things didn’t improve from there. Will Levis continues to look a little better week-by-week, but it wasn’t enough as the Titans fumbled the ball away multiple times.

Same old, same old for the Bengals who, outside of a few players, were completely overmatched by Pittsburgh. The score looks close, but this was never really a contest after the second quarter. Something needs to change in Cincy, as they are currently wasting Joe Burrow’s prime.

Russell Wilson went 29/38 for 414 yards, three TDs, and a pick on the day, per ESPN, as the Steelers’ offense exploded against the Bengals. The Steelers lead the AFC North with five games to play, which is not something we expected at the start of the season.

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Sam Darnold turned a bad performance into a good one, throwing for 107 yards and a TD in the fourth quarter, per CBS Sports. For the most part, this wasn't a good game by Minnesota, but sometimes, you take the win and don't think about it too much, this feels like one of those games.

The Cardinals threw away a 19-6 lead late to the Vikings, in part due to Jonathan Gannon's decision to kick a field goal rather than go for the kill late in the game. Kyler Murray's pair of interceptions proved costly as Arizona slipped further behind in the NFC West.

Any hope of a late-season emergence in NOLA is all but over after a tough loss to the Rams. They looked in control for most of the game before Matthew Stafford et al. exploded late, putting up 21 points in the second half.

It looked a little shaky early in the game, but ground out the win off the back of an impressive Kyren Williams game and some clinical Matthew Stafford throws late. The Rams have kept themselves in the playoff race and what is setting up to be one of the most fun divisions to watch late in the season.

Mostly out of pity, we found ourselves rooting for the Panthers as this game went on. Bryce Young has turned a corner and is now playing some solid ball, but it wasn't enough on the night, despite a great drive late to give them a chance to win. After looking like a completely incompetent team for most of the year, their recent performances should give Carolina fans some optimism.

The Bucs' victory saw them go to 6-6 and a share of the lead in the NFC South. Given the Falcons' recent struggles, Tampa Bay looks best placed to capitalize. It wasn't always pretty against Carolina, as they needed some luck to get the win, but that's just how the NFL works at times.

The Ravens started strongly against Philadelphia before struggling to score despite some solid drives. Justin Tucker let his team down on Sunday, missing three kicks on the night, but the Ravens' offense should be looking at themselves instead of blaming the kicker.

The Eagles didn't dominate this game by any means, but they mostly shut down the vaunted Raven's offense and were able to lean on their ever-reliable running game to grind out the win late. Jalen Hurts and the offense played second-fiddle to the defense, who held Derrick Henry to just 82 yards and no scores on the ground, per ESPN.

The Bills looked right at home in the heavy snow on Sunday night, and are in position to make the AFC go through them if Kansas City slip up in their remaining five games. Josh Allen is all that's stopping Saquon Barkley from winning the MVP at this point, and with the way he's playing, it's hard to argue he doesn't deserve it.

We thought that the Niners would turn around their season at some point, but we were incredibly wrong. Christian McCaffrey left the game with a knee injury in what could have been the final nail in San Fran's season.

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