Fubo News presents five NFL storylines to watch for Week 13. Watch the NFL on Fubo this weekend live and for free.
NFL Week 13 brings us across the divide from November to December, meaning it’s coming up on crunch time in the playoff races. The week offers a desperate Seattle Seahawks team traveling to Jerry Jones’ Playland on Thursday night to face an 8-3 Dallas Cowboys squad that has yet to beat a team that currently has a winning record.
But the schedule also gives us an NFC Championship rematch, with the San Francisco 49ers visiting Destiny’s darling, the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles. There are several other matchups with playoff implications.
The Detroit Lions try to bounce back from a Thanksgiving Day turkey when they visit the New Orleans Saints. In the collection of dreck known as the NFC South, the Saints — at 5-6 — play the role of actual contenders.
Then there’s the big game everyone circled on their calendars back when the schedule was released: The Denver Broncos at the Houston Texans.
The storylines in Week 13 are myriad. Here are the top five.
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5. Broncos-Texans showdown in oil country
The Denver Broncos take a five-game winning streak to NRG Stadium to take on the Houston Texans in a matchup dripping with bottom-of-the-AFC-bracket playoff implications.
Both teams come in at 6-5, with Denver’s opportunistic defense forcing 15 turnovers in its last four games. The Texans come off a soul-crushing loss to the AFC-South leading Jacksonville Jaguars that snapped a three-game run of victories.
The Bronco defense still ranks 30th in the NFL (giving up 700-plus yards and 70 points in a game will do that). Houston played turnover-free last week after six in its previous two games, both wins.
Neither team holds a playoff spot coming into NFL Week 13. The Texans are behind the seventh-place Indianapolis Colts on the same conference-winning-percentage tiebreaker that has them ahead of Denver.
It’s the big game no one thought would be one in the spring, but here we are.
4. Joe Flacco? Starting an important game for a playoff contender?
Joe Flacco rose to No. 2 on the depth chart at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns this week. That has the 38-year-old in line for a possible start Sunday in Tinseltown against the Los Angeles Rams. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the erstwhile QB1, remains in concussion protocol and didn’t practice on Wednesday.
The well-rested Flacco last started a game on Jan. 8 for the New York Jets and didn’t have a training camp this year. He joined Cleveland’s practice squad when Deshaun Watson went down for the year with a broken bone in his shoulder.
Flacco’s last full season as a starter was six years ago and he’s 11 years removed from his Super Bowl MVP award after the 2012 season.
The Browns, at 7-4, hold the sixth playoff spot in the AFC and take on a Rams squad that is a playoff contender in the top-heavy NFC, a half-game behind the seventh-place Minnesota Vikings.
But if your playoff hopes rest on Joe Flacco in 2023? Yes, it does seem like an enormous leap of faith.
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3. Desperate Seahawks at unproven Dallas
The Dallas Cowboys own an 8-3 record and the top point-differential in the NFL, winning by an average of 14.7 points per game. But none of those victories have come against an opponent that holds a record better than .500. Two of Dallas’ three losses came to teams better than .500, a 42-10 shellacking by the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5 and a 28-23 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 9.
On Thursday night, the Pokes host the Seattle Seahawks, who have dropped two straight games and three of their last four. That includes a 31-13 humbling at home at the hands of the 49ers on Thanksgiving night.
Geno Smith finds himself under the microscope in NFL Week 13 after Seattle’s offense scored six points in 10 drives a week ago. Smith, the Comeback Player of the Year last season after a 30-touchdown campaign while replacing Russell Wilson, has just 12 TD tosses against eight picks this season.
With running back Kenneth Walker III doubtful for Thursday night, Smith must step up. Seattle’s playoff hopes depend on it.
2. Rematch at the Linc
The top two teams in the NFC collide at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon when the San Francisco 49ers return to take on the Philadelphia Eagles. The NFC Championship rematch pits the 10-1 Eagles, who keep finding ways to win, against the 8-3 49ers.
Save for a three-week stretch in October when star offensive weapon Deebo Samuel was banged up, San Francisco has rolled through its opposition like a hot knife through butter. Seven of their eight victories are by double-digits and the Los Angeles Rams made their Week 2 loss a one-possession game with a field goal on the final play.
So how many miracles does Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts have left? He pulled the Eagles out of the fire on Sunday, accounting for all five Philly touchdowns in a 37-34 come-from-behind overtime win over the Buffalo Bills.
Offensive coordinator Brian Johnson trended on social media for all the wrong reasons Sunday after a first half that saw his offense gain 99 yards and go 0-for-4 on third down. Johnson moved up from quarterbacks coach to OC when Shane Steichen left for the Indianapolis Colts’ head coaching post.
The 49ers, meanwhile, have a new big-play duo in Brock Purdy and Brandon Aiyuk. The fourth-year receiver averaged a career-best 19.6 yards per catch this season with five touchdowns. He was more of a possession receiver in 2022 with 78 grabs at 13.0 yards a pop.
San Francisco had to finish the NFC Championship without a functioning quarterback after Purdy tore his ACL and backup Josh Johnson went down. The Niners want to show what they can do when healthy and an Eagles team that wobbles but doesn’t seem to fall makes an attractive target.
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1. Aaron Rodgers won’t play but will be everywhere
Never let it be said that Aaron Rodgers didn’t learn some things in his three-year apprenticeship under Brett Favre with the Green Bay Packers. Like Favre, Rodgers knows how to dominate a news cycle.
While barely moving, Rodgers returned to practice on Wednesday just 11 weeks after surgery to repair his torn right Achilles tendon. Reportedly, the four-time NFL MVP is targeting the New York Jets’ Christmas Eve matchup with the Washington Commanders for a miraculous return.
But here’s the thing … and there’s no way around it: Rodgers making himself a medical miracle does nothing for the Jets, who are 4-7 with the 31st-ranked offense in the NFL and an offensive line that has surrendered 47 sacks, including the one upon which Rodgers was injured.
Two young, more mobile quarterbacks in Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle already hit the turf at an alarming rate. So how in the world does a 40-year-old, basically on one leg, stand to fare?
Someone in the Jets’ organization needs to be the grownup in the room and tell Rodgers that they will see him at minicamp next spring. Will head coach Robert Saleh do it? Will general manager Joe Douglas? Owner Woody Johnson just wants to sell the tickets, so he’s not going to do it.
Rodgers masterfully manipulates the media via his lucrative “friendship” with punter-turned-tanktop-aficionado Pat McAfee. He gets his voice out there every week to better control the narrative around himself. But he is not immunized from criticism and this attempt to make some sort of historically rapid comeback simply isn’t in the best interests of the organization.
Even if you’re a four-time MVP.
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