NFL Analysis
11/17/24
10 min read
Biggest Winners, Losers From 2024 NFL Week 11
NFL Week 11 delivered on a great slate of games, with several divisional games being decided on the last drive. It was a big moving day in the NFL, but what players stood out the most?
And which coaches and teams should be highly disappointed coming out of Sunday? Here are the biggest winners and losers after Week 11:
NFL Week 11 Winners, Losers
Honorable Mentions
Winner: Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills
Winner: Vance Joseph, DC, Denver Broncos
Loser: Doug Pederson, HC, Jacksonville Jaguars
Loser: Tony Pollard, RB, Tennessee Titans
⬆️Winner: Jared Goff, QB, Detroit Lions
It’s not a surprise that Jared Goff had a bounce-back performance after throwing five interceptions against the Texans. Goff is too good of a quarterback to have another game like that, and this was a favorable matchup for Detroit with a reeling Jacksonville team coming to town. But for as bad as Goff was in Week 10, he was that good in Week 11.
Goff threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns against the Jaguars, as the Lions scored touchdowns on their first seven drives. The offense racked up 645 yards and took its foot off the gas by the fourth quarter.
The Lions quarterback averaged 14.2 yards per attempt on 29 attempts, which is absolutely absurd. This wasn’t even the first time this season that Goff averaged more than 14 yards per attempt. He had another game this year against Seattle where he averaged more than 16 yards per attempt in another big win.
Goff and the Lions did what you are supposed to do to bad teams: crush them. Don’t let them hang around and steal a game they don’t belong in. This game was over by halftime, and Goff deserves a ton of credit for his performance after a dreadful outing last week.
How Ben Johnson Makes the Lions Offense Work
⬆️Winner: Taysom Hill, TE, New Orleans Saints
Taysom Hill is one of the most unique players in the NFL, but we need to start appreciating him more. Even at the age of 34, Hill continues to find ways to impress, and his Week 11 performance against the Browns might be the best of his career.
Hill had 15 touches from scrimmage for the Saints but managed to record 188 yards, including 138 rushing yards. He scored three rushing touchdowns, including a 75-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Saints.
Hill is listed as a tight end on the depth chart, and he broke his own record for the most rushing yards by a tight end in a single game. The previous record was when Hill rushed for 112 yards and three touchdowns in 2022. No other tight end in NFL history has recorded 100+ rushing yards in a game, according to Pro Football Reference. In fact, only four other tight ends have ever had a single game with 60 or more rushing yards.
We might not see a game from a tight end like this again, and the fact that he was able to create so many big plays on limited touches makes it all the more impressive. Coming out of Sunday, Hill was one of the biggest winners in the NFL, and he remains one of the coolest players in the league.
⬆️Winner: Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts
It’s certainly been an up-and-down sophomore season for Anthony Richardson, who was benched in favor of Joe Flacco. The former No. 4 overall pick has not taken the step forward that many expected, and you can even argue that his play has regressed in Year 2.
However, Richardson returned to the starting lineup in Week 11 and looked like a rejuvenated player.
He completed 20 of 30 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown. He also added two rushing touchdowns and made nearly every big play down the stretch for the Colts to get the road win. This was just the second time in Richardson’s career that he completed 17 or more passes, and the first time that he did was in Week 1 of the 2023 season.
He looked far more comfortable in the pocket, and you could tell that the time off was beneficial for him. Richardson still needs to work on his accuracy, but his ability to deliver a game-winning touchdown drive with just seconds left on the clock will go a long way in restoring his confidence.
The Colts aren’t quite out of the playoff hunt in the AFC with a record of 5-6, and the division is still in play after some recent losses by the Texans. If this version of Richardson shows up every week, no one will want to play the Colts in the postseason.
⬇️Loser: New York Jets
The New York Jets haven’t been in the playoff picture for several weeks now, but their loss to the Colts made that crystal clear.
This was another loss to a sub-.500 team in the AFC and a game that the Jets thought they would win. Instead, they allowed 28 points to a recently benched Anthony Richardson, including a winning touchdown drive. They are now 3-8 on the season and have no tiebreakers against any other viable contenders in the AFC.
The Jets' season is obviously over, but the next step is figuring out what to do at quarterback. Aaron Rodgers briefly mentioned that he would like to return in 2025, but he looked old and inaccurate for most of Sunday's game. The Jets did not get a first down in the first 28 minutes of the game. The offense was basically non-existent, and Rodgers didn’t do the offense any favors.
The Jets are likely to draft inside the top 10 in the 2025 NFL Draft, and that pick should go to a future quarterback. If Rodgers wants to return, things will certainly be complicated in New Jersey. However, with the way that he has played in the last few weeks, that decision shouldn’t be hard for the Jets.
The most concerning and discouraging aspect of the Jets' defense is how much it has regressed this season. Although the Jets had a top-10 defense by most metrics last year, they have now allowed 25 or more points in five of their 11 games this season. It would be one thing if Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes were shredding them. Instead, it's been Russell Wilson, Anthony Richardson, and Drake Maye.
This is just a bad team all around, and it's not going to get better anytime soon. Sorry, Jets fans. The next seven weeks are going to be pretty rough.
⬇️Loser: John Harbaugh, HC, Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens believe they can be a legitimate Super Bowl contender this season. They have a two-time MVP at quarterback and arguably the league’s best running back.
However, they consistently find ways to lose games that they have no business losing. Their losses to the Raiders and Browns were completely mindboggling, and they did again in Week 11, facing the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
The key to winning in the division is getting off to a fast start. But Baltimore did anything but in Week 11. Here is how their first eight drives of the game went against Pittsburgh on Sunday:
Fumble
Punt
Missed Field Goal
Missed Field Goal
Punt
Punt
Touchdown
Fumble
The Ravens had a chance to put the Steelers away going into halftime. Instead, they turned the ball over four times, twice inside their 30-yard line. Pittsburgh’s offense did nothing in the first half, yet they held a 9-7 lead. Harbaugh deserves to be on this list because, again, his team was not prepared for the moment and made key mistake after key mistake on Sunday.
Baltimore had 12 penalties in this game, in addition to the missed field goals, lost fumbles, and an interception on what should have been a big play to Justice Hill down the sideline. The Ravens have now lost eight of their last nine games to the Steelers and, at times, look overwhelmed in these games.
The Ravens can look fantastic in any given week, but their sloppiness on both sides of the ball remains a massive issue. And until Harbaugh gets that fixed, it’s tough to trust this team to ever win a big game when it really matters.
⬇️Loser: Brock Purdy, QB, San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers did not have all of their weapons in Week 11, and that is a built-in excuse for Brock Purdy.
Brandon Aiyuk (torn ACL) and George Kittle were out of the lineup, leaving the 49ers more short-handed than usual. However, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Jaun Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall were all on the field, and the 49ers scored just 17 points at home in another tough loss.
One of the biggest questions surrounding Purdy is how he would look without an all-star cast around him. While he certainly has improved this season, there have been too many games where he has failed to deliver when one or more of his superstars is out of the lineup.
Purdy had a chance to end this game late in the fourth quarter with a 17-13 lead. On second and 11 from the Seahawks 47-yard line, Purdy threw a pass over the middle of the field to an open Deebo Samuel that would have essentially ended the game. The clock would have been under three minutes, and the 49ers would have a fresh set of downs inside the 32-yard line of the Seahawks. Instead, Purdy airmailed the pass and didn’t even give Samuel a chance to bring down the ball.
The 49ers failed to pick up the third down, and they were forced to punt the ball away up four with 2:45 left on the clock. Those are the types of throws that Purdy hasn't made this season, and it’s killed them against divisional opponents. Now, they sit at 5-5 and are at the bottom of the NFC West coming out of Week 11.
Purdy has been solid this season, but there has been a clear dip in his production whenever he doesn’t have his full cast of receivers at his disposal.
The 49ers don’t have much of a choice when it comes to paying him this offseason, but this surely hasn’t been an encouraging season for the third-year quarterback from Iowa State.
