Drama in Philadelphia? The ‘igniter’ leading the Rams to the playoffs? NFL Week 14 takeaways
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — Between one team booking their spot in the playoffs and others being eliminated from contention, the end of the regular season is beginning to take shape.
Week 14 could signal a turning of the page for three teams – the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets – as their potential playoff participation was mathematically ruled out following losses; for the Jets, it was their 14th season in a row without reaching the postseason.
The week of action also saw the highest-scoring game of the season and plenty of players hit historic milestones.
Here are the main takeaways from the past week in the National Football League.
Drama in Philadelphia?
The Philadelphia Eagles are riding a nine-game winning run and have booked their spot in the playoffs, but it appears all is not well in the City of Brotherly Love.
Issues began to arise after the team’s narrow Week 14 victory over the Carolina Panthers, a game which Philly arguably should have lost if rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette had caught what would’ve been a game-winning touchdown in the final few seconds.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts finished the game with just 108 passing yards as the offense struggled to move the ball outside of running back Saquon Barkley.
After the victory, the team’s star receiver, A.J. Brown, was asked about what areas the offense needed to work on going forward and his answer was simple: “Passing.”
The situation escalated on Monday when defensive end Brandon Graham said that Brown could “could be better with how he responds to things” when talking on SportsRadio 94WIP. Graham added: “They were friends, but things have changed.”
Graham did later row back on his comments and say he has apologized to Hurts and Brown for them, telling ESPN: “”I made a mistake and I assumed that it was something that it wasn’t.
“I just want to win so bad that I don’t just want to use the media when we need to talk about something and we can fix the problem ourselves. I didn’t add to it in a good light, so that’s my bad,” the 36-year-old told ESPN.
“I just assumed, and it made me out to look even worse because I had it all wrong and now people are going to run with that part. I really just want to win, man, and I want brothers to be able to just hash it out.”
Even Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has commented on the situation.
“All I can judge things on is what I see on a daily basis,” Sirianni said on SportsRadio 94WIP. “When I see AJ and Jalen communicating about the game plan, eating lunch together every single day, praying with each other before the game. There’s going to be speculation, and I get it – rightfully so based on what has happened the last couple of days – but all you can do is judge what you see.”
For the Eagles to continue their Super Bowl contention, the passing game will have to improve, but at 11-2, they are in prime position to make a deep playoff run.
The ‘igniter’ leading the LA Rams to the playoffs?
After a historic rookie season, 2024 has been somewhat of a disappointment for Puka Nacua.
The wide receiver exploded into the NFL last year, breaking multiple records in his debut campaign for the Los Angeles Rams, a remarkable achievement for a fifth round pick out of BYU.
But the 23-year-old has dealt with injuries this season, spraining his PCL in his knee in LA’s opener and missing the next five Rams games.
Nacua’s absence coincided with fellow receiver Cooper Kupp also missing time and LA’s downtick in fortune.
However, the pair returned in Week 8, and since then, the Rams have gotten back on track. They are 5-2 in the last seven games, with the most impressive victory coming on Sunday as they beat the Buffalo Bills 44-42 in the highest-scoring game of the season.
Nacua specifically has been on a tear since returning, surpassing the 100 receiving yards mark four times, including on Sunday where he had 162 and two touchdowns – one receiving and one rushing.
More impressive was the high difficulty level of some of Nacua’s catches, including one over the shoulder grab with his toes just landing in bounds.
“That’s just kind of who he is,” Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said afterwards. “He’s a physical player and made some big plays in the pass game, obviously a big touchdown there late to help give us the lead again. I love the way that he played. I love the way that he prepared. I thought all our guys at the skill spots did a really nice job.”
Sunday’s game showed that the Rams can hang with any explosive offense in the league, despite struggling to produce regularly throughout the season. Between Nacua, Kupp and running back Kyren Williams, Stafford has plenty of weapons at his disposal.
Against the Bills, the Rams were able to go blow-for-blow with whatever Josh Allen and company threw at them, with Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay calling Nacua an “igniter.”
“He was awesome. First player in Rams history to go over 160 receiving and have a rushing touchdown,” McVay told reporters. “He was awesome.
“He’s so physically and mentally tough. (I) love him. Igniter is one of the biggest compliments I can give somebody. You elevate everybody around you, you bring an energy to this football team, and he certainly did that today.”
But when McVay’s praise was put to him, Nacua said he’s still got plenty to work on.
“Shoot, thanks coach McVay,” Nacua told reporters with a smile. “I feel like I got to give all the credit to the guys around me. It continues to be an all-11 effort in everything that we do in this offense. I know there are still parts in this game that I can improve on, especially in the run game.”
If the Rams have any hopes of reaching the postseason – per NFL.com, they have a 30% chance of making the playoffs with a 7-6 record – Nacua is going to be vital to maintaining a productive offense down the stretch.
Full Week 14 scores
Away @ home (winners in bold)
Thursday
Green Bay Packers 31-34 Detroit Lions
Sunday
New York Jets 26-32 OT Miami Dolphins
Atlanta Falcons 21-42 Minnesota Vikings
New Orleans Saints 14-11 New York Giants
Carolina Panthers 16-22 Philadelphia Eagles
Cleveland Browns 14-27 Pittsburgh Steelers
Las Vegas Raiders 13-28 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jacksonville Jaguars 10-6 Tennessee Titans
Seattle Seahawks 30-18 Arizona Cardinals
Buffalo Bills 42-44 Los Angeles Rams
Chicago Bears 13-38 San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Chargers 17-19 Kansas City Chiefs
Monday
Cincinnati Bengals 27-20 Dallas Cowboys
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
