National Football League

Russell Wilson cooks for Steelers. Kirk Cousins on thin ice with Falcons?

Published Dec. 2, 2024 12:07 p.m. ET

The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs secured playoff spots with five weeks left in the season and will now fight it out for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. And in a battle of two other top teams, the visiting Philadelphia Eagles outlasted the Baltimore Ravens, winning their eighth straight game.

As those teams make a push for the Super Bowl, one of the participants in last year's big game appears destined for a reset. The San Francisco 49ers were throttled for the second straight week, this time in the snow by the Bills. Making matters worse, the 49ers potentially lost star running back Christian McCaffrey for the rest of the season due to a PCL knee injury.

Week 13 also brought us the most hotly contested games of the season. According to FOX Sports Research, 12 of the 14 games were decided by one score, which ties the league record for a single week.

The New England Patriots were eliminated from postseason consideration, the first time the storied franchise has been eliminated this early since 2000.

Let's take a closer look at who's hot and who's cold from Week 13.

WHO'S HOT

Russell Wilson, QB, Steelers

The Steelers continued their winning ways with a 44-38 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, pushing their record to 5-1 with Wilson as the team's starter.

On Sunday, the 36-year-old QB played like the younger version of himself with the Seattle Seahawks. His 414 passing yards were the most since his Legion of Boom days, and the second-most in his NFL career. Wilson also threw three touchdown passes, tying the most he's had in a game in three years.

According to FOX Sports Research, Wilson is the first Pittsburgh quarterback with at least 400 yards passing in a game since Ben Roethlisberger in 2018.

Leonard Williams, DE, Seahawks

The USC product makes his second straight appearance on the Heat Index after another dominant performance. Playing against the Jets, his former team, Williams posted two sacks, a blocked kick and a 92-yard interception for a score.

His second sack of 40-year-old New York quarterback Aaron Rodgers sealed a 26-21 win for Seattle. The Seahawks earned their third straight victory, moving to 7-5 and sole possession of the top spot in the NFC West. Seattle needed Williams' heroics to win because the Seahawks had two fumbles recovered by the Jets on kickoffs, a 99-yard kickoff returned for a score by Kene Nwangwu and a blocked extra point.

Seahawks' Leonard Williams on his dominant performance in win over Jets

Tarheeb Still, CB, Chargers

A fifth-round selection by the Bolts in this year's draft out of Maryland, Still finished with two interceptions in a win over the Atlanta Falcons, including one returned 61 yards for a score.

He is the second rookie in franchise history to notch multiple interceptions and return one for a touchdown in a game, joining defensive back John Hendy, who accomplished the feat in 1985 against the Bills.

Still has three interceptions this year and the Chargers have 13 interceptions on the season, tied for fourth in the NFL.

DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Cowboys

The second-year linebacker finished with nine combined tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception returned 23 yards for a score in Dallas' Thanksgiving Day victory over the New York Giants.

According to Next Gen Stats, Overshown has generated 21 pressures on 74 pass rushes this season (28.4%), tied for third in the league by an off-ball linebacker. At 5-7, the Cowboys still have a glimmer of hope to get back into the playoff hunt. Dallas hosts the scuffling Bengals in Week 14.

James Cook, RB, Bills

The Georgia product totaled 107 rushing yards and a score in Buffalo's big home win over San Francisco. Cooks now has 11 rushing touchdowns this season.

Most of Cook's production came on a 65-yard touchdown run in the first half. According to Next Gen Stats, Cook reached a top speed of 21.85 mph, the seventh-fastest by a ball carrier on a play this season, and the fastest of Cook's career. And, oh yeah, he was running in the snow.

WHO'S COLD

Kirk Cousins, QB, Falcons

Atlanta's starting quarterback threw four interceptions and posted a 40.0 passer rating, dropping the Falcons to the .500 mark for the first time since Week 4.

According to Next Gen Stats, since Week 10, Cousins has posted three straight games with a negative EPA. Cousins' minus-24.6 EPA in that span ranks third-lowest among quarterbacks. His struggles could have Atlanta mulling a change to rookie QB Michael Penix Jr.

Azeez Al-Shaair, LB, Texans

With Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence sliding to protect himself, the Houston linebacker delivered a forearm blow to the quarterback's head that left him down on the field, igniting a melee between the two teams.

Lawrence left the field on a golf cart and was ruled out for the remainder of the game. Al-Shaair was ejected for the vicious, illegal hit, which will likely warrant a suspension. He later issued an apology for the late hit via X.

Chuba Hubbard, RB, Panthers

With Carolina in field-goal position at Tampa Bay's 30-yard line for a potential game winner in overtime, Hubbard was stripped of the football by Buccaneers linebacker Anthony Nelson, with the loose ball recovered by YaYa Diaby. Carolina kicker Eddy Pineiro also missed field goals of 38 and 45 yards that could have won the game in regulation for the Panthers.

Tampa Bay's offense moved the ball into position for the winning score, a 30-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin. Hubbard's miscue negated another strong performance by Carolina quarterback Bryce Young and veteran receiver Adam Thielen.

Antonio Pierce, Head Coach, Raiders

Las Vegas had a chance to defeat the back-to-back champion Chiefs, but Pierce's curious decision-making in the final moments of the game contributed to the Raiders' eighth straight loss.

With the ball on Kansas City's 32-yard line — in position to kick a field goal to win the game — Pierce instead chose to snap the ball one more time to take seconds off the clock to negate a potential Patrick Mahomes comeback. But quarterback Aidan O'Connell fumbled the shotgun snap and Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton recovered to seal the win for Kansas City.

Pierce, who called his team the worst in football, has five more games to prove he should be the guy to coach the Raiders beyond this season.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.

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