Things took quite an unfortunate turn for the Seattle Seahawks this week. They lost a winnable game against the New York Giants while the Los Angeles Rams moved into first place in the NFC West with their victory over the Arizona Cardinals, holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.
However, it was not all bad for Seattle, as Arizona suffered its third consecutive loss and is two games behind the pair of leaders, and the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football and are out of the race barring a miraculous sequence of events.
The division victor is still far from decided, as there are still four games left in the 2020 season. Let’s dive into the specifics of how Seattle’s rivals fared in Week 13.
Los Angeles Rams 38, Arizona Cardinals 28
Arizona started off hot with Kyler Murray throwing a 59-yard touchdown pass to Dan Arnold on the opening drive for a 7-0 lead, but would subsequently give up 17 unanswered points to the Rams. The Cardinals would not go away quietly, continuing to score and cutting into the Rams’ lead with persistence, until Darrell Henderson Jr. broke off a 38-yard rushing touchdown with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to make the score 31-21.
Murray threw a pick-six to Troy Hill to give the Rams their last points, and Arizona would subsequently score a garbage-time touchdown to make the final score 38-28. Jared Goff completed 37 of his 47 passes for 351 yards and no interceptions, while Kyler Murray went 21 of 39 for 173 yards, three touchdowns, and a pick-six.
The Rams improved to 8-4 and will play the Patriots on “Thursday Night Football” on a short week. The Cardinals dropped to 6-6 and will play the Giants on Sunday for a hopeful bounceback game.
Buffalo Bills 34, San Francisco 49ers 24
This game started out in a somewhat similar fashion to the Rams-Cardinals game, with the 49ers striking first near the end of the first quarter with a touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk, and then surrendering 17 unanswered points to Buffalo in the second quarter, facing a 17-7 deficit at halftime. After San Francisco managed a field goal, the Bills would score another 10 unanswered points to make the score 27-10. The two teams would trade touchdowns before Tre’Davious White made a contested interception to all but put the game away.
Like Arizona, San Francisco scored a garbage-time touchdown to lose by 10 points. Nick Mullens threw for 316 yards and 3 TDs (including the garbage-time TD), but also two interceptions. Josh Allen was phenomenal, throwing for 375 yards, four TDs, and no INTs. The 49ers will play Washington next week to try to get their season out of critical condition.
