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Week 12 of the NFL season gave fans an absolutely wild Sunday of action to follow up a crazy Thursday night victory for the Houston Texans over the Buffalo Bills.
Sunday featured a pair of overtime games in the early window, with the Lions and Chiefs coming away with big wins in the playoff picture. In the afternoon, the Cowboys came back from down 21-0 to beat the Eagles and stay in the hunt in the NFC.
Who won the week, and who is left licking their wounds going into Thanksgiving weekend? Let’s get into the list.
The Cowboys looked like the same old Cowboys for much of the first half on Sunday, falling into a 21-0 hole against the Philadelphia Eagles just six days after playing well enough in prime time to get fans excited for the NFC East battle. Dallas was plagued by simple mistakes for nearly the whole half, and a loss would have dropped them to 4-6-1, effectively ending their playoff hopes.
The Cowboys got back to their feet just in time, scoring 24 unanswered points to get a 24-21 win on a Brandon Aubrey field goal as time expired. With the win, the Cowboys are back to 5-5-1 and are still on the fringes of the playoff picture in the loaded NFC.
Dak Prescott has been leading one of the best offenses in the NFL all season long, and George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb have become the best wide receiver duo in football. Pickens continues to make his case for a new contract this offseason, finishing this game with nine catches for 146 yards and a touchdown.
The key for this Dallas team is the defense, which is starting to play a lot better after adding Quinnen Williams and getting DeMarvion Overshown back from injury. That will be tested once again on Thanksgiving against the Chiefs.
The Vikings chose to let Sam Darnold go this offseason and usher in the JJ McCarthy era. McCarthy missed all of last season with a knee injury after the Vikings drafted him in the first round in 2024, and things have not gone to plan so far.
After two subpar starts, McCarthy missed five games with an ankle injury that lingered around. Since coming back, he has only gone downhill since a promising start against the Detroit Lions.
On Sunday, things hit a new low. McCarthy finished a 23-6 loss to the Green Bay Packers 12-for-19 with 87 yards and two interceptions. His EPA per dropback, minus-0.75 for the game, is the fifth-worst single game by a starting quarterback this season. Now, McCarthy is in concussion protocol again and may miss Week 13 as his injury history continues to pile up.
McCarthy will almost certainly get more chances this season to prove he can be the guy in Minnesota, but if things don’t improve, it’s been bad...
