2021 NFL season, Week 17: What we learned from Sunday's games

01/02/2022

Around The NFL breaks down what you need to know from all of Sunday’s action in Week 17 of the 2021 NFL season. Catch up on each game’s biggest takeaways using the links below:

Los Angeles Rams 20, Baltimore Ravens 19
Chicago Bears 29, New York Giants 3
Cincinnati Bengals 34, Kansas City Chiefs 31
Las Vegas Raiders 23, Indianapolis Colts 20
Tennessee Titans 34, Miami Dolphins 3
New England Patriots 50, Jacksonville Jaguars 10
Buffalo Bills 29, Atlanta Falcons 15
Philadelphia Eagles 20, Washington Football Team 16
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28, New York Jets 24

FULL BOX SCORE

Chase Goodbread’s takeaways:

Next Gen Stat of the game: The Rams’ win probability jumped from 15.0% to 62.7 on Beckham fourth-and-5 reception (+47.7) on the Rams’ final drive, then from 62.7 to 98.4 on his TD on the next offensive play (+35.7). That’s a combined jump of 83.4% across two straight offensive plays by Beckham.

NFL Research: Rams WR Cooper Kupp, with 95 receiving yards, climbed to No. 5 all time in the Super Bowl Era for single-season receiving yards. He passed Isaac Bruce (1,781) and now has 1,829, along with the Rams’ single-season team record.

FULL BOX SCORE

Kevin Patra’s takeaways:

Next Gen stat of the game: The Bears compiled a 53.3 QB pressure rate on 15 Glennon dropbacks.

NFL Research: Robert Quinn broke the Bears’ single-season sack record with 18.0 on the season, passing Richard Dent’s mark of 17.5 set in 1984.

FULL BOX SCORE

Nick Shook’s takeaways:

Next Gen stat of the game: Joe Burrow completed 18 of 22 passes outside the numbers for 361 yards and four touchdowns Sunday. The 361 yards were the most yards gained by a quarterback on passes outside the numbers in the Next Gen Stats era (dating back to 2016).

NFL Research: Ja’Marr Chase set a rookie record for most receiving yards in a game (266) and now has the most receiving yards by a rookie in the Super Bowl era (1,429).

FULL BOX SCORE

Kevin Patra’s takeaways:

Next Gen stat of the game: Derek Carr went 12 of 12 for 100 yards on quick passes; 19 of 19 for 138 yards on passes of fewer than 10 air yards; and 5 of 12 for 117 yards, a TD, 2 INT on passes of 10+ air yards.

NFL Research: Jonathan Taylor scored a 1-yard rushing TD at the end of the first half (his 20th scrimmage TD of the season). Taylor (age 22) became the youngest player in NFL history with 2,000-plus scrimmage yards and 20-plus TD in a single season (HOFer Eric Dickerson was the previous youngest at age 23 in 1983).

FULL BOX SCORE

Chase Goodbread’s takeaways:

Next Gen stat of the game: Titans QB Ryan Tannehill was blitzed on a whopping 68.4% of his dropbacks, completing 7 of 12 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown on those plays.

NFL Research: The Titans clinched back-to-back division titles for the first time since the 1960-62 Houston Oilers won three straight AFL East titles.

FULL BOX SCORE

Adam Maya’s takeaways:

NFL Research: Bill Belichick tied Hall of Famer Don Shula’s record for 10-win seasons with 20. This is Belichick’s 27th season as an NFL head coach, a role Shula served in for 33 seasons.

FULL BOX SCORE

Nick Shook’s takeaways:

Buffalo Bills 29, Atlanta Falcons 15

Next Gen stat of the game: Josh Allen completed 7 of 18 passes for 75 yards, three interceptions and a 12.3 passer rating on passes with more than 2.5 seconds to throw. He was 3 for 8 for 26 yards and an interception on throws attempted on the run.

NFL Research: Josh Allen is the first player with two-plus rushing TDs and three-plus interceptions in a game since Cam Newton in Week 11, 2011 at Detroit. Allen is the first player to hit each of those marks in a win since Drew Brees in Week 7, 2009 at Miami.

Source: Read Full Article