10 takeaways from Week 13

Sunday Rundown recaps the most important developments from the day's action and examines the significance of those events moving forward.

Oh, wow, the Giants

Six of the New York Giants' first seven losses were by 10 points or less. To note that after Week 8 - back when New York was 1-7 - would have been a bit like saying it was almost a bad team instead of merely an awful one that plays hard. But the Giants have since won four in a row, including Week 13's huge road game against the Seattle Seahawks - Colt McCoy's first NFL victory in six years - so maybe it's time to start taking them seriously.

The most encouraging aspect for the Giants was how physical they were, especially on defense. New York sacked Russell Wilson five times, and Seattle was just 4-for-13 on third down. Defensive tackle Leonard Williams had 2.5 sacks, including a huge one on third-and-10 in the last minute, just after the Seahawks crossed midfield. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom and safety Jabrill Peppers made big plays in coverage in the red zone. The former knocked away a pass on fourth-and-1 after Wilson was chased into a bad throw by linebacker Carter Coughlin, who was all over the field.

Make no mistake: The Giants earned this win, which was the first this season for anyone in the NFC East against a team with a winning record.

At 5-7, New York is alone in first place in the NFC East. The Washington Football Team can pull even with a win Monday at the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Giants possess the tiebreaker after beating Washington twice. The way this season has gone in that division, it suddenly feels like the Giants have a stranglehold on things.

QB controversy in Philly

By the third quarter, with the Philadelphia Eagles down 20-3 at the Green Bay Packers and on their way to a defeat that would drop them to 3-8-1, head coach Doug Pederson made the decision to bench Carson Wentz for rookie Jalen Hurts. So, for the first time since Nick Foles left town after the 2018 season, Philly has itself a big ol' quarterback controversy again. It almost feels like the universe is properly aligned.

Pederson wouldn't say whether Wentz or Hurts will start when the Eagles host the New Orleans Saints next week, but it's a disaster that it's even reached this point. The Eagles gave Wentz a massive contract extension just 18 months ago, and the structure of that deal makes it prohibitive for them to move on from him anytime soon. But the franchise did use a second-round pick on Hurts back in April, and here we are.

It's easy to second-guess the wisdom of selecting Hurts, but at the time it seemed like a sound use of draft capital in a league in which quarterbacks have so much value as a position - backups included, especially given Wentz's history of injuries. It's doubtful anyone in the organization figured Wentz would become this bad this quickly, and it's clear the front office thought too highly of much of the rest of the roster. Now there's no easy solution.

Saints clinch

The Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons to win their ninth in a row and become the first team in the league to secure a playoff spot. New Orleans has a three-game lead in the NFC South with four to play - and it possesses the tiebreaker advantage over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to boot. The race is all but over: one more win or one Bucs loss gives the Saints the division title.

New Orleans won again with Taysom Hill starting in place of the injured Drew Brees, and it's now 8-0 without the future Hall of Famer during the last two seasons. Hill averaged just 19.5 pass attempts in his first two starts, but he threw the ball 37 times against the Falcons, completing 73% for 232 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He also rushed 14 times for 83 yards, though he got most of that on a 43-yard scramble in the first quarter.

Hill has beaten the 4-8 Falcons twice and a Denver Broncos team that had to start a practice-squad wideout at quarterback on 24 hours' notice, so the jury is still out when it comes to his abilities at the position. Hill's expected points added per play (EPA/play) in those three starts has been just 0.09, minus-0.49, and 0.14, according to Ben Baldwin's database - figures that would put him in the bottom third of the league over the course of a season. For now, however, being 3-0 as Brees' replacement is all that matters.

Browns finally win a big one

It's been easy to prematurely overhype the Cleveland Browns. And though the Browns haven't actually clinched anything other than their first winning season in 13 years, they did make a rather emphatic statement by beating the Tennessee Titans on the road.

The final score wound up being within a touchdown, but this one wasn't that close. Cleveland led 38-7 at halftime, with quarterback Baker Mayfield playing out of his mind, in large part because he was pressured on just one of his 25 first-half pass attempts:

All QBs play better with a clean pocket, but Mayfield entered Week 13 with a passer rating of just 33.3 when pressured, ahead of only Drew Lock, according to PFF. It's clear Mayfield can make things happen if he gets some time to work, but that's sometimes a rather big if.

At 9-3, Cleveland controls its own destiny in the AFC wild-card race, with home games against the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens sandwiching visits to the New York Jets and Giants. The Browns haven't made the playoffs since 2002 - the longest drought in the league. Reaching the postseason is by no means assured, but it's certainly within sight.

Raiders save face

That was almost a total disaster for the Las Vegas Raiders. Instead, they remain in striking distance of a playoff spot. That's how thin the margin for error is in this league.

The Raiders survived a back-and-forth affair at the winless Jets - the game featured five lead changes - when Derek Carr connected with Henry Ruggs for a 46-yard touchdown with just five seconds remaining. That game-winner came one play after Carr overthrew a wide-open Nelson Agholor deep up the seam for what would have been a touchdown. The Jets made their own dumb mistakes to gag this one up (which we'll discuss), but the Raiders also got it done with a little creativity of their own.

Tight end Darren Waller caught 13 passes for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. However, he was left in to pass protect on the fateful play, with Hunter Renfrow and Bryan Edwards joining Ruggs with deep vertical routes.

To say the Raiders needed this win would be an understatement.

AFC wild-card race heating up

The Browns entered Week 13 in line for the AFC's top wild-card spot and No. 5 seed. They held serve, but so did all three of the teams behind them: the Miami Dolphins (8-4), Indianapolis Colts (8-4), and aforementioned Raiders (7-5).

After that, it's the Ravens - who are 6-5 and don't play until Tuesday - and the New England Patriots, who (don't look now) won for the fourth time in five games to improve to 6-6, which puts them just two games off the pace for the last playoff spot.

It should be noted the Tennessee Titans are also 8-4, but they currently hold the AFC South tiebreaker over the Colts because of a better record within the division (3-1 to 2-2).

Here's a look at the remaining schedules for the AFC wild-card contenders, starting with the Ravens' home game against the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET:

Jets win by staying winless

The Jets pulled ahead of the Raiders with 5:34 remaining, just as the Jacksonville Jaguars were coming back to eventually force overtime in their own game. Was New York really about to win and potentially biff its chance to draft Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence? Never underestimate the Jets' potential for ineptitude.

With many of their own fans rooting for a screw-up, the Jets came through, though it wasn't easy. A defensive holding call on third-and-5 was followed by another on fourth-and-8, but the Raiders were unable to capitalize. New York got the ball back with 1:37 to go and promptly went three-and-out, though not before it forced Las Vegas to burn its last two timeouts.

After the Raiders took over at their own 39 with 35 seconds remaining, things got extra Jets-y. Carr connected with Waller for 15 yards before spiking it to stop the clock. He then overshot Agholor before hitting Ruggs one play later for the game-winner, with the Jets sitting in a Cover 0 defense that left all three defenders in coverage singled up with no safety help.

Of course, there's no reason to think defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is in on the tank, since he won't be around after this season and likely doesn't care what the organization does in the future. That said, there is every reason to think Williams was stubborn enough to make the call he did because he likes to coach with aggression even when it isn't warranted. Either way, the Jets did what they had to do to lift their record to a perfect 0-12.

The brutal Bears

It's not just that the Chicago Bears lost again - that makes six straight, for those keeping score at home - so much as that it happened at home against the Detroit Lions the way it did.

The Bears were ahead by 10 points with a little more than two minutes remaining. Then, just after Detroit got within three, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky took a sack on third down and fumbled. The Lions recovered on the Bears' 7-yard line and Adrian Peterson was in the end zone two plays later.

There was still 1:37 remaining for Chicago to pull this one out. A very on-brand Lions penalty guided the Bears to Detroit's 20-yard line only to have David Montgomery stopped by defensive tackle Kevin Strong on fourth-and-1. Everything about it seemed fitting.

It's a foregone conclusion that Chicago is set to move on from Trubisky after this season. But if it wasn't apparent already, it may soon be time for the Bears to fire head coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace, too.

Vikings in playoff mix?

The answer is yes, actually. As things now stand, the Minnesota Vikings would be the No. 7 seed in the NFC. They've got the same 6-6 record as the Arizona Cardinals, who are a Hail Mary away from having lost five straight games since beating the Seahawks at home back in Week 7, when the Vikings were 1-5.

It seems ridiculous. The Vikings needed overtime to stave off a one-win Jaguars team that's lost 11 in a row and is quarterbacked by Mike Glennon, but since when is anything about 2020 supposed to make any sense?

Anything goes in the NFC West

One week, the Seahawks look like the division's best team. The next, it's the Cardinals. Right now, it's the Los Angeles Rams, who have won three of four. That could change again by the end of next week, because that's how this has been going.

Los Angeles and Seattle are tied for first at 8-4, but the Rams just beat the Seahawks in Week 10, so the tiebreaker is theirs - at least for now. Also, for as poorly as the Cardinals have played, they're 6-6 and still just two games back. And let's not forget the San Francisco 49ers, who, despite all their injuries, can also improve to 6-6 with a win Monday night at "home" in Arizona against the Buffalo Bills.

All four teams have identical 2-2 records against the other three, with two more in-division games each to go. The Rams host the Patriots on Thursday night, while the Seahawks host the Jets, the Cardinals visit the Giants, and the 49ers "host" Washington next Sunday. Anything can happen.

Dom Cosentino is a senior features writer at theScore.