| |
|
| Friday, December 6, 2024 |
| Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| The Lions have clinched a spot in the playoffs! For most of NFL history, you would get laughed at for saying something so ridiculous, but Dan Campbell has single-handedly flipped NFL history upside down by doing the impossible: Turning the Lions into a perennial playoff contender. |
| The Lions officially clinched a playoff spot following their 34-31 win over the Packers on Thursday in a game where Campbell had his team go for it FIVE different times on fourth down. The Lions might not bite your kneecaps off, but they will break your spirit, and that's what they did by converting four of those five fourth downs against Green Bay. |
| In today's newsletter, we'll be grading both teams from the game, plus we'll be making some picks and bold predictions for Week 14. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. |
| 1. Lions top Packers in thriller: Grades and notes for 'Thursday Night Football' |
| |
| If the Packers had any hopes of winning the NFC North, those basically went down the drain Thursday night. In a game that went down to the wire, the Lions topped the Packers, 34-31, after Jake Bates hit a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the game. The Lions have now won 11 games in a row, which is the longest streak in franchise history. |
| Here are our grades from the game: |
| PACKERS GRADE: B- |
| The Packers absolutely had a chance to win this game, but they had two big issues: Their defense couldn't get off the field and their offense couldn't stay on it. That combination allowed the Lions to hold the ball for more than 36 minutes (NFL teams are 3-30 this year when they allowed their opponent to have the ball for 36 minutes or more). The Packers defense allowed the Lions to convert 7 of 15 third downs and 4 of 5 fourth downs while the offense was just 1 of 5 on third down. The Packers were able to stay in the game despite getting off to a slow start with just 104 yards of total offense in the first half. Josh Jacobs carried the offense with 66 yards and three touchdowns on a night where Jordan Love threw just 20 passes. Christian Watson caught four big passes for 114 yards, but he also lost a fumble in the first half that led to a Lions touchdown. The Packers have proven that they can play with the best teams in the NFC, but they haven't proven that they can beat them with Green Bay now falling to 0-4 against teams who currently have 10 wins or more. |
| Packers notes |
| Packers aren't made for prime time. With their loss to the Lions, the Packers are now 1-7 in prime-time road games since the start of the 2022 season. That's not good news for a Packers team that will be headed to Seattle in Week 15 for a Sunday night game. The Packers could also end up playing a road prime-time game in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Josh Jacobs keeps scoring touchdowns. With three touchdowns against the Lions, Josh Jacobs now has seven touchdowns over his past three games, which is tied for the most in franchise history over a three-game span. With 1,053 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season, Jacobs is the first Packers running back since Ahman Green in 2003 to hit 1,000 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in the first 13 games of the season. |
| LIONS GRADE: B |
| Dan Campbell is definitely the boldest head coach in the NFL, and he showed everyone why in this game. Campbell had his team go for it on FIVE different fourth downs in the game, and a big reason the Lions won is because they were able to convert four of those, including two that went for touchdowns. Campbell also went for it on fourth-and-1 from Green Bay's 25-yard line with 43 seconds left in a tie game. It was a risky decision that could have cost Detroit the game, but David Montgomery gained seven yards to set up Jake Bates' game-winning field goal. Of course, these fourth-down decisions work for the Lions because Campbell has confidence in his offense, and that starts with Jared Goff. The Lions QB threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns with two of those going to the unsung hero of the game, Tim Patrick. One reason the Lions have been the best team in the NFC this year is because they always seem to come up with big plays in the clutch, and this win was just another example of that. |
| Lions notes |
| Lions clinch a playoff berth. Heading into Week 14, all seven NFC playoff berths were up for grabs, but that changed Thursday night after the Lions became the first NFC team to clinch a postseason spot. The playoff berth means the Lions will be headed to the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since 1993 through 1995 when they made it in three straight seasons. The Lions have also now won 12 games in consecutive seasons, which marks the first time in franchise history they've ever done that. Jared Goff spreads the love in historical fashion. The Lions had six different receivers catch at least five passes, which marks the first time that's ever happened in Lions franchise history. Jameson Williams was the yardage leader with five catches for 80 yards, while Tim Patrick was the biggest surprise with six catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Sam LaPorta, Amon-Ra St. Brown, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs also all had at least five receptions on a night where Goff finished 31 of 42 for 283 yards and three touchdowns. |
| Finally, you can check out our full takeaways from the game here. |
| |
| 2. Biggest weakness for each playoff contender |
| Now that we've officially seen three teams clinch a playoff spot this year, we thought now would be a good time to go around the league and take a look at what the biggest weakness may be for each playoff contender as we head into the stretch run, so that's exactly what we had Josh Edwards do today. |
| Let's take a look at a few of the teams on his list: |
| Chiefs: Wide receiver. "Outside of the wide receiver position, Kansas City is in pretty good health. Hollywood Brown, Skyy Moore and Rashee Rice are all on injured reserve. Kicker Harrison Butker was added to injured reserve last month."Ravens: Secondary. "Baltimore is relatively healthy, but should only grow stronger during the bye week. That being said, cornerbacks T.J. Tampa, Arthur Maulet and Trayvon Mullen remain on injured reserve. The Ravens have been susceptible to explosive plays in the pass game this season." Commanders: Running back. "Austin Ekeler is on injured reserve and Brian Robinson Jr. has been limited. They did get good production out of Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Robinson in Week 13." |
| If you want to check out the biggest needs for each playoff contender, you can see Edwards' full story here. |
| 3. Rob Gronkowski says Joe Burrow tried to recruit him to the Bengals |
| |
| With the Bengals struggling this year, here's a fun piece of news that will make Bengals fans feel even worse about everything: Joe Burrow once tried to recruit Rob Gronkowski to the Bengals, and the big reason it didn't happen was because Gronk didn't answer Burrow's text messages. |
| Here's how this went down: |
| Gronk once said he wanted to play with Joe Burrow. During his 11-year career, Gronk only caught passes from one quarterback: Tom Brady. In February of 2022, Gronk was asked if he would be willing to play for any other quarterback and he said Joe Burrow. "If I had to pick a quarterback it'd be the young buck Joe Burrow. He's killing it right now in the game," Gronk said in 2022. Burrow actually texted Gronk. During a recent episode of the "Dudes on Dudes" podcast with Gronk and Julian Edelman, Gronk said Burrow actually texted him about possibly playing for the Bengals. "I get a text message, 'Yo Gronk, what's up man, I saw you talking me about me in the media, it's Joe Burrow. I'd love for you if you would come to the Cincinnati Bengals."Why Gronk never responded to the text. In the end, the two sides never talked and that's because Gronk didn't respond to the text because he thought he was BEING PRANKED. Gronk had gotten pranked back in 2015 when the Patriots drafted Malcolm Brown, and he wasn't going to fall for it again. "When Malcom Brown was drafted to the Patriots, I got a text message that night, the night of the draft," Gronk said. "And it was like, 'Hey Rob, it's Malcom Brown, pleasure to be on your team. It's an honor to be your teammate.' And I wrote back, 'Great to have you on.' And then eventually, that night, called the number and it was NOT Malcom Brown. I got duped. It was just a random fan and they duped me to answer back." |
| The text from Burrow came in 2022 and Gronk eventually retired in June 2022. One month later, the legendary tight end ran into the Bengals quarterback at a party where Burrow confirmed that Gronk did NOT get pranked and that the text had come from him. |
| During the 2022 season, the Bengals made it to the AFC title game for the second straight year, but they ended up losing to the Chiefs. Gronk might have been a help that year since the Bengals lacked a big weapon like him. As matter of fact, Gronk caught six touchdown passes during his final season in the NFL in 2021, which was more than every Bengals tight end combined in 2022. |
| You can read the full story on Gronk and Burrow here. |
| |
| 4. NFL Week 14 picks: Kirk Cousins comes up short in revenge game against Vikings |
| It's officially time for your favorite part of the Friday newsletter, which is where I round up five NFL writers and we all make some picks for the upcoming week. Just in case you've forgotten, our five writers are: Pete Prisco, Jason La Canfora, Jordan Dajani, Tyler Sullivan and myself. In Week 13, we finally turned the corner: We went 4-1 straight-up and 3-2 against the spread. For the season, that means we're now 33-32 ATS and 34-26 straight up. |
| If you're new here, here's how things work: I'll give you one pick from each writer and then direct you to the rest of their picks. That way, if you like their pick, you'll be able to click over and check out all of their Week 14 picks, but if you hate their pick, you can ignore the rest of their picks and move on with your life. |
| Pete Prisco -- Vikings 24-23 over Falcons (+5.5). From Prisco: "The Falcons have been lifeless on offense the past few games. That has to change, but that will be tough as Kirk Cousins comes back to face his former team. The Vikings are good on defense, but something says Cousins will rebound from last week's debacle to play well enough to keep Atlanta in the game." For the rest of Prisco's Week 14 picks, be sure to click here .Tyler Sullivan -- Seahawks (+2.5) 27-24 over Cardinals. From Sullivan: "Currently, I like the way that Seattle is playing, particularly on defense. Over the last three games, they are holding opponents to just 14.7 points per game. Meanwhile, Geno Smith has never lost against the Cardinals in his career (5-0). If both Smith and the defense carry that momentum into Arizona on Sunday, they pull off the upset." For the rest of Sullivan's Week 14 picks, be sure to click here. Jason La Canfora -- Bills (-4) to cover against Rams. From JLC: "Sean McDermott is 12-4 against the spread vs. the NFC on the road; he's covered 10 of those games by 11.5 points or more. Buffalo has covered by 5.5 or more in five of its last seven games overall. The Bills are getting healthier on defense while the Los Angeles offense is super erratic." You can check out the rest of La Canfora's best bets for Week 14 here. Jordan Dajani -- Steelers (-6.5) 24-17 over Browns. From Dajani: "This is the Steelers' first home game in three weeks, and I think the home crowd will have an impact on the Browns offense." For the rest of Dajani's Week 14 best bets, be sure to click here.John Breech -- Chiefs (-3.5) 23-16 over Chargers. "Sometimes, it seems like the Chiefs sleep-walk through the season until December hits, and I'm not sure if you've seen the calendar, but December has hit. In their past 15 December home games that have been played on a Sunday, the Chiefs are 14-1, and their only loss was by three points to the Bills last season. They're also 6-0 at home this season." For the rest of my Week 14 picks, be sure to click here. |
| For more Week 14 NFL picks, you can check out out our CBSSports.com picks hub here. |
| 5. NFL bold predictions for Week 14: Both Los Angeles teams pull off huge upsets |
| |
| After giving you some bold predictions for Week 13 last Friday, Garrett Podell is back with five more for Week 14. Podell is going full Hollywood on us with some big predictions involving the two NFL teams in Los Angeles. |
| Let's take a look at two of his bold predictions for Sunday: |
| 1. Chargers shock Chiefs. "Having a quarterback in Justin Herbert, who has gone over 300 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, and the league's top scoring defense is a winning formula. It's also a formula that will knock off this Chiefs team."2. Rams stun Bills. "Bills quarterback Josh Allen is playing the most efficient football of his career in 2024 with career-lows in turnover rate (1.8%) and sack rate (3.5%) to go along with his shortest average pass length (7.6) and quickest time to throw (2.83 seconds) of his career. However, he will get heated up by Rams rookie edge rusher Jared Verse, whose 55 quarterback pressures rank as the fourth-most in the NFL, and the rest of their youthful pass rush, namely Byron Young (six sacks), Braden Fiske (six sacks) and Kobie Turner (five sacks). Stafford and the Rams defense combine to snap the Bills' seven-game winning streak in Week 14." |
| Podell made a total of five bold predictions for Week 14, and you check out all of them here. |
| |
| 6. Extra points: Belichick interviews for college job |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
| Bill Belichick interviews for North Carolina job. For most of the past 12 months, it's been assumed that Belichick would look to return to the NFL in 2025, but apparently, he's also got his eye on a possible college job. The seven-time Super Bowl winning coach interviewed with North Carolina this week, and you can check out the details here . Our resident expert on all things North Carolina, Will Brinson, believes the interview was just a publicity stunt. He explained why here.Cowboys lose Zack Martin for the season. The Cowboys season keeps going from bad to worse. The latest setback involves All-Pro guard Zack Martin, who will miss the rest of the season due to an ankle injury. At 34 years old, there's a chance Martin has now played his last NFL snap. You can read more about Martin here. Lamar Jackson leads Pro Bowl voting. The NFL released the numbers from the first round of Pro Bowl voting this week and the Ravens are dominating. So far, Lamar Jackson has gotten the most votes with Derrick Henry trailing right behind in second place. Saquon Barkley, Josh Allen and Jahmyr Gibbs round out the top five. You can see the full voting here. NFL undecided on whether players will be able to participate in Olympics. With flag football being played at the Olympics for the first time, there's a chance we could see some NFL players participate, but that's not set in stone yet. CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones recently broke down what's holding things up and why there's at least a small chance that players WON'T be permitted to play. You can check out his full story here. Randy Moss stepping away from ESPN duties. The NFL Hall of Famer is dealing with an unspecified health issue and will be stepping away from ESPN for an "extended time" so he can focus on his "personal health challenge." You can read more about Moss' situation here. |
| |
| | | | | Big Ten Championship | | SailGP | Undefeated Oregon arrives to the Big Ten Championship in their first year as conference members. Will Penn State have what it takes to stop them from claiming the title? Find out in the Big Ten Championship this Saturday at 8 PM ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Watch Live
| | A new season of high flying SailGP action begins with the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix. Team Spain looks to defend its surprising Season 4 title in the first of fourteen stops for the 2025 season this Saturday at 2:30 PM ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Watch Live
|
|
| |
| |
