The takeaways for Week 14 are here. And we have more on the Steelers and Packers, too, as part of our Monday package. Let’s jump in with both feet.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars are now the AFC South favorite? Or co-favorite with the Texans?
When the sun sets on Week 14 on Monday night, Jacksonville will stand alone atop its division. The Jaguars are there after a 36–19 win over the Colts on Sunday at rainy EverBank Stadium, a win that pushed their mark to 3–1 in the AFC South, and put this feisty group a game up on the division’s field at 9–4.
They’re also unsurprised by any of it.
That’s mostly because, when Liam Coen arrived in January, alongside new EVP Tony Boselli and GM James Gladstone, a real and clear vision for what the Jaguars were building was put in place. Before Coen’s arrival, edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen hit up folks at his alma mater, Kentucky, where Coen did two stints, to try to get a handle on that vision.
“They said he’s a great competitor, first off,” Hines-Allen told me, “and his offensive mind is on another level, compared to a lot of people that they’ve had in the past.”
Which, it turns out, was just the start of it.
“Once he got hired, we were on calls, we were having dinner, and just the way he talked, the way he carried himself, it was just confident,” Hines-Allen continued. “And so, for me, as a player, to know the trajectory that we were going on, you try to take that new ownership. We were going and turning in the right direction. So it was just, How well can I buy into what’s going on, and how well can I buy into myself, playing at an elite level? And for me, that’s what coach needs from me, and that’s what this team needs.”
It’s fair to say that, at this point, plenty of guys are working to give Coen that.
With games against the Jets and Titans sandwiching matchups with the Broncos and Colts ahead, there’s enough there to think 11 wins is now (incredibly) the baseline Coen’s first regular season. It’s a new reality, yes, but mostly the result of a team playing high-level complementary football week in and week out.
Sunday’s was the ninth 100-yard rushing performance by the team this year, with the Jaguars at 8–1 in those games. It perfectly paired with an efficient 244-yard, two-touchdown performance by Trevor Lawrence. And the defense, which rode big turnovers through the early stages of the year, got picks from Greg Newsome II and Devin Lloyd, and a safety from Hines-Allen.
Yes, Daniel Jones’s injury (which we’ll get to) was a big part of the story, too—the Colts had to turn to rookie Riley Leonard, whose last significant game action came for Notre Dame in January. But by the time Jones went down with the torn Achilles, at the very end of the first quarter, Lloyd’s pick had already set up one touchdown, and Lawrence had driven the offense 74 yards for another to put the home team up 14–7.
It was, in other words, going the way a lot of things have for the Jaguars this year.
“I think it’s just guys being in the right spot and having fun about doing it,” Hines-Allen said. “We trust the cause, we trust the coach, we trust each other, and we play fast and physical, and that’s what happens. So if we continue to play at a high level, good things are going to happen.”
Plenty of good things already have, way before most (myself included) expected.
Buffalo Bills
There was something Sean McDermott said to me a couple of weeks ago that popped back into my head this Sunday, as the Bills put away the Bengals. The Buffalo coach was describing the feeling he had as the Buccaneers looked like they were getting their footing in Orchard Park, and may create some separation.
“These guys are resilient,” McDermott told me. “You felt it a little bit. It was like, We’re not going to let this happen. They were doing a good job, so give them credit. But it was, How strong is our will?”
Even cooler, it wasn’t an isolated thing. Consider:
• In that Week 11 game against the Buccaneers, down 26–21, the Bills outscored their visitors 23–6 over the game’s final 21 minutes.
• In Pittsburgh for Week 13, the Bills went into the half down 7–3. They outscored the Steelers 23–0 after the break, running away with the 26–7 win.
• Down 28–18 midway through the fourth quarter this week against the Bengals, the Bills outscored Joe Burrow & Co. 21–6 from there on out.
That’s three good teams, with good quarterbacks, getting run out of the building late by Josh Allen’s crew. Now, I’m sure if you asked him or McDermott, they’d tell you they need to stop digging those holes for themselves—and that’s true.
But in a wide-open AFC, watching them pull these Houdini acts is a pretty spectacular illustration of who that team can be when it hits the gas.
Indianapolis Colts
The Daniel Jones injury is a tough pill to swallow for the Colts. The 28-year-old quarterback, who’d effectively resurrected his career in Indianapolis, will undergo surgery after rupturing his Achilles in Jacksonville on Sunday. That’ll end his 2025 season and could take a chunk out of his 2026 season as well, depending on how his rehab goes.
First, his injury leaves an 8–5 team that’s lost three straight in a lurch. For now, they’re going with the sixth-round rookie Leonard. Former first-rounder Anthony Richardson Sr. is eligible to return this season from IR, but is still resting his eye after orbital surgery, and there’s no timetable for his return. And if/when Richardson is ready, it’s not like he’s presented evidence that he can save the season.
The bottom line: It’s tough to see the Colts hanging onto a playoff spot, with the Seahawks, 49ers, Jaguars and Texans left on the schedule.
Then, there’s the longer-ranging issue, and that’s what to do at the position for 2026 and beyond. Indianapolis’s expectation, even without a contract in place, was to make Jones the team’s quarterback for the foreseeable future. Would his injury change that plan? I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure.
The Colts could franchise tag Jones in 2026 to see how the rebab goes, but that won’t be cheap. Last year, the quarterback franchise tag number was $40.241 million. Next year, it projects to be around $46 million. That’s not only triple what Jones is making now, it’d also give Jones the leverage to land a deal in the range of $50 million per year. Are the Colts prepared to do that sort of a deal with a quarterback coming off an Achilles tear? Or would they rather pay the lump sum? Or maybe try to find common ground at a lower number by letting Jones hit the market?
All of these questions will have to be asked now.
That’s a shame, too, because he was having a heck of a year.
New Orleans Saints
Sunday was a good day for Kellen Moore’s Saints. It was also a bad day for Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers, who are now in a 1–4 rut after starting the season 6–2 with very real Super Bowl aspirations. Now, somehow, they’re in a dogfight with Carolina for the NFC South title, with both teams 7–6 and four weeks to go.
That doesn’t open the door for anything wild for the Saints, who are still 3–10. But the simple fact that New Orleans was able to pop its rival from Florida on Sunday, and do it on a sloppy Tampa track, gave Moore a nice checkpoint on the way to where his staff is hoping to take a franchise that’s been a little wayward since Sean Payton walked away five years ago. They’re not there yet, of course. But there are signs it’s coming, and those signs finally added up to a win Sunday, 24–20, over the Bucs.
As we talked, Moore pointed to his run game, which churned out 139 yards on 32 carries, and rugged veteran defenders such as Demario Davis and Carl Granderson, who were bringing to life Moore’s play style. And it’s those guys blending with younger guys such as corners Kool-Aid McKinstry and Alontae Taylor, and tailbacks Devin Neal and Audric Estime.
“Credit to our players. We got the right kind of guys in the locker room,” Moore told me. “I think it says a lot about the veterans, the leadership of those guys, because to me, your young guys, they don’t know any better. They’re excited about the opportunity, but with these vets, to see Demario, to see Cam [Jordan], to see Cesar [Ruiz], Juwan Johnson, these older guys who’ve been in this league for a number of years, to see these guys battling each and every week, we’re preparing the right way, so credit to those guys.
“The energy is right, the focus is where it needs to be.”
And it shows in that the team had only one win in the past two months, and stayed engaged enough to catch the Bucs like they did Sunday. Obviously, there’s a lot more work to do. But also four games to make more progress and build some momentum toward 2026.
Tennessee Titans
While we’re there, an interim coach finally won a game. Between the Giants’ Mike Kafka and the Titans’ Mike McCoy, interim coaches were 0–9 this year going into Week 14. However, McCoy finally broke that dry spell on Sunday, with Tennessee edging out the Browns, 31–29.
It was McCoy’s first win as a head coach since he was fired as the final head coach of the San Diego Chargers after the 2016 season. But that, of course, was the last thing he was thinking about, as his Titans stopped a gadget play on a failed two-point conversion to salt away the win in Cleveland. This, to him, was about the players, and the guys who gave him the chance to run a team again, even if it’s for a little while.
“When I sat down with [GM] Mike [Borgonzi] and [president of football operations] Chad [Brinker] early on the first week, the big thing was growth of the football team,” McCoy said after the game. “We were going to play some younger guys, we continue to play younger guys. The great thing about it is that Mike and I, we talk about everything, and there’s nothing hidden. There’s been game day activations, moving the roster around, whether he made a decision moving somebody, or a decision I make for game day to say this player will help us more, it’s been unbelievable. That’s what made this so easy for me: our relationship.
“With Chad, the three of us together communicate about everything, and it’s awesome, and that’s what it’s all about. I’ve got a great group of players here, some veterans, Jeffery [Simmons] has a very high standard for how this team should be run and winning games and it’s tough on him. He has a standard set for everybody, and he’s not afraid to speak up, but that’s what you need.”
And that it finally paid off Sunday isn’t insignificant to Brinker or Borgonzi, with a half dozen rookies playing major roles, quarterback Cam Ward most prominent among them.
The Titans need those guys to grow, regardless of who’s leading the way next year.
Sundays like this one will help.
Shedeur Sanders
Shedeur Sanders is earning his way to more opportunities. I can’t tell you whether Sanders will be the Browns quarterback on January 1, much less September 1. But there’s one thing that’s undeniable just in watching the Cleveland rookie—it’s not too big for him. He plays with fearlessness and has some instincts and feel for the position, which gives him a chance to figure things out as he goes along.
And to be fair, while I’m a little tired of the story (not Sanders himself), only because he’s a fifth-round pick, and I don’t think treating this like it’s the moon landing is helping anyone (including, and maybe even most especially, Sanders himself), I do find myself watching every week and wanting to see more.
The Browns do, too.
They’d thought, coming into the season, that it would be good to get an honest look at both rookie quarterbacks, Sanders and third-rounder Dillon Gabriel, who made six starts. Sunday was Sanders’s third start of the season, and the Browns have four games left. So by leaving Sanders in there, they’d get him one more start than Gabriel, and they’d have a good body of work to evaluate with both.
Now, I’d be surprised if the Browns’ 2026 quarterback is on the roster right now. But Cleveland has both Gabriel and Sanders on the cheap and under team control through 2028. If either emerges, and Sanders is obviously getting his shot now, then great. If not, that’s fine, too.
They are, most certainly, already knee-deep in their study of the quarterbacks who could be in the 2026 draft class, having taken trips to see some of them.
That, of course, is an effort to gather as much information as possible.
Which is also what they’re doing by giving Sanders playing time now.
Kansas City Chiefs
I can’t quit the Chiefs entirely—but I’m getting close. The operative number for me here is 24, after their 20–10 loss to the Texans on Sunday night. From the last Sunday in September through the end of October, Kansas City scored more points than it did in every single game but one, as part of a 5–1 stretch. Weirdly enough, they followed that by failing to score 24 points in all but one of the five games to follow, going 1–4 through that stretch.
Conclusion: Somehow, the offense is the problem.
Part of it is injury, to be sure. The offensive line that started Sunday night was without starters Josh Simmons, Trey Smith and Jawaan Taylor, and the Chiefs lost replacement left tackle Wanya Morris on the first series on Sunday night. Travis Kelce isn’t what he once was, and Rashee Rice, while dangerous, isn’t quite reliable enough yet.
As a result, Patrick Mahomes has to do more, which means running more and taking more risks. And against Houston, it added up to three interceptions, and a 19.8 QB rating, the worst single-game rating of Mahomes’s nine-year career (44.4 was the previous low).
Now, the Chiefs have the Raiders and Titans left, and they should beat both. They also have the Chargers, who aren’t what they were before their tackles got hurt, so that’s a winnable game, too, which leaves Denver on Christmas as a potential make-or-break game to get to 10 wins and possibly sneak into the playoffs.
Would they be dangerous if they got there? Of course, you’d fear any team piloted by Mahomes. But this one might be flawed enough—far more flawed than I thought—to make advancing in January a chore for the Chiefs. Because, if we’re being honest, everything Kansas City is doing right now does feel like a chore.
Miami Dolphins
Mike McDaniel is winning his way. The Dolphins have won five of six, and are 4–0 since the dismissal of GM Chris Grier—a beloved, loyal and longtime figure in the organization whose firing clearly got everyone’s attention.
Over those six games, here are Tua Tagovailoa’s yardage sums: 205, 261, 173, 171, 157 and 127.
Over the past four of those games, he’s thrown the ball 21, 20, 23 and 21 times.
And the Dolphins’ rushing yardage in those six games: 141, 87 (the loss), 197, 169, 164 and 239 yards.
My interpretation since Grier’s firing: Everyone was put on notice and, really, they’d been on notice for a couple of weeks by then. At that point, it’d become clear that while McDaniel and his staff had a chance to survive the year, the status quo wasn’t going to cut it. So McDaniel did what he had to in a situation like that: He went looking for answers.
He found them in a youthful backfield, a revamped line and his vaunted run scheme.
As a result, the team’s winning, the locker room’s stayed aboard, and McDaniel is still alive to be the one in charge when the dust settles after 2025.
Rams and Seahawks
The NFL’s two best teams may be in the NFC West. Let’s take a look at the Rams and Seahawks in Week 14, with both turning the corner and racing down the stretch.
• The Rams finished with 45 points, 30 first downs, 530 yards and an average of 7.9 yards per offensive snap. Matthew Stafford had a 131.2 rating. The team rushed for 249 yards.
• The Seahawks had three second-half takeaways that led to 17 points, after midseason acquisition Rasheed Shahid went 100 yards for a kick return score out of the break.
The Rams blew out the Cardinals, 45–17. The Seahawks routed the Falcons, 37–9.
Setting aside what it might mean for the teams on the business side of those beatdowns (both could make changes come January), the two administering the whoopings have the look of playoff teams that’ll still be standing at the very end.
The Seahawks are now 5–1 since their Week 8 bye, with their only loss, 21–19, to the Rams. Four of those five wins have come by more than 20 points.
Meanwhile, L.A. is also 5–1 over that stretch, with four of the five wins, Seattle being the only exception, coming by 16 or more points.
These two teams, in case you’re wondering, play one another again Thursday of Week 16.
Quick-hitters
And it’s time now for the quick-hitters. So let’s go …
• Like I said, we have more on the Bears and the Packers on the site. But one thing I’d say here is that I feel better about Chicago now than I did a couple of days ago, because they held up in a street fight at Lambeau and looked no worse for the wear. Caleb Williams even made a few big-time plays at the end despite the interception.
• Denver’s 11–2, and Sean Payton’s preseason prophecy that he had a Super Bowl contender has come true. The Broncos also locked up the tiebreaker (a common opponents formula) over the Patriots by beating the Raiders. Which could be significant, since those two are now 11–2, and no other AFC team has fewer than four losses.
• The Texans are thrilled with how C.J. Stroud has come along, particularly since coming out of the concussion protocol. In particular, they love how he’s improved while facing pressure.
• The way Sunday’s game went for the Vikings against the Commanders was ideal for Kevin O’Connell to start rebuilding J.J. McCarthy’s confidence. The 10th pick in the 2024 draft went 16-of-23 for 163 yards, three touchdowns and a 129.2 rating. Minnesota, meanwhile, rushed 162 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries, and the defense pitched a shutout.
• The Lions’ 44–30 win over the Cowboys on Thursday night is a perfect embodiment of how the NFL is a week-to-week league—and why so many declarative statements made on Monday mornings (maybe even in this space, on occasion) wind up looking very dumb.
• What’s wrong with the Buccaneers? No Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs and Cody Mauch; Chris Godwin still isn’t himself yet; and Haason Reddick, Ben Bredeson and Tykee Smith all got nicked up on Sunday. That, pretty much, has been the story of Tampa’s season, too.
• It’s too bad we won’t get to see Bills-Bengals in the playoffs. For the record, Joe Burrow’s played only three NFL seasons in which he didn’t lose time to injury. He got to the AFC title game in two of those seasons, and in the third, last year, led the NFL in yards and touchdowns while nearly carrying a historically bad defense to the playoffs.
• The Commanders will be in a fascinating spot coming out of this season, given the need to get younger in some key places and the dearth of draft picks to do that with. I’d expect Adam Peters to try and acquire some more picks in the months leading up to April.
• Also, get well, Jayden Daniels.
• Eagles-Chargers on Monday Night Football is super interesting, in that, based on the way those two are talked about right now, you’d have no idea that both are 8–4.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Week 14 NFL Takeaways: How the Jaguars Achieved Their New Reality Under Liam Coen.
