🐺 Wolf Sports Weekly

Good morning! We hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving and enjoy a full day of football on Thursday.

🏈 Former Giants star in Week 12

Eagles RB Saquon Barkley broke touchdown runs of 70 yards and 72 yards as Philadelphia again pulled away from their opponent, handling the Rams on Sunday Night Football. Barkley set a franchise record and career-high with 255 rushing yards, which is the ninth-best single-game rushing performance in NFL history. While it should be put into context that the Eagles offensive line is opening massive holes for the superstar runner, it remains difficult to wrap your head around Giants GM Joe Schoen letting a special player like Barkley walk over a few million dollars, as we saw on Hard Knocks.

The Packers blew out a depleted 49ers squad that was without QB Brock Purdy (shoulder), OT Trent Williams (ankle), and DE Nick Bosa (hip/oblique)—while also getting a great outing from a former Giant. S Xavier McKinney, who was another 2024 free agent addition, intercepted his seventh pass of the year for Green Bay and is a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate. The Packers’ big free-agent signing on offense, RB Josh Jacobs, scored three touchdowns in the 38-10 victory.

Harbaugh Bowl: Ravens RB Derrick Henry (24 carries, 140 yards) paced the Ravens to a 30-23 win at the Chargers, with John Harbaugh moving to 3-0 in his career versus brother Jim Harbaugh. Lamar Jackson is up to 22 passing touchdowns and no interceptions in his career on Monday Night Football. Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins left the game with a knee injury after testing it out with a brace.

AFC North Football: The Browns won a Thursday night thriller over the Steelers, 24-19, in snowy conditions that really picked up in the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh erased a 12-point deficit to take a late 19-18 lead on a Russell Wilson touchdown to WR Calvin Austin III before RB Nick Chubb scored the game-winner with under a minute remaining.

Other Week 12 results:

• Cowboys 34, Commanders 26: 41 points were scored in the fourth quarter of one of the craziest games of the year, which included a missed extra point that would have tied things for Washington following an improbable 86-yard touchdown from Jayden Daniels to Terry McLaurin. Cowboys KR KaVontae Turpin had a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown, and the win was capped by a return touchdown by Juanyeh Thomas on an onside kick attempt.

• Lions 24, Colts 6: Detroit’s defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters, and they’re at 10-1 ahead of a Thanksgiving matchup with the Bears.

• Chiefs 30, Panthers 27: Kansas City pulled off another close victory with a walk-off field goal by Spencer Shrader, but Panthers QB Bryce Young’s stellar performance against a tough defense is a big story. The former No. 1 pick made plenty of big-time throws and gave a post-game speech that had teammates wanting to go play another game.

• Vikings 30, Bears 27 (OT): WR Jordan Addison (8/162/1) starred while Justin Jefferson was held to just two catches, as the Vikings survived a tremendous comeback effort from the Bears that included an onside kick recovery to help force overtime.

• Titans 32, Texans 27: Houston’s defense had eight sacks and a pick-six, but Tennessee’s defense shut down RB Joe Mixon and C.J. Stroud threw his first two interceptions in a divisional matchup as the Houston passing game continues to feel off.

• Dolphins 34, Patriots 15: Miami dominated on both sides of the ball, completing the very winnable three-game stretch to get to 5-6 and in the thick of the AFC wild card race ahead of a Thanksgiving Night trip to Lambeau Field.

• Buccaneers 30, Giants 7: Bucs QB Baker Mayfield paid homage to new Giants starter Tommy DeVito with his touchdown celebration, and it was an extremely ugly effort all around by a Giants team that gave up rushing touchdowns to four different players.

• Seahawks 16, Cardinals 6: Another former Giant, Seahawks DL Leonard Williams, recorded 2.5 sacks as the Seattle defense stepped up to help them tie Arizona atop the NFC West at 6-5.

• Broncos 29, Raiders 19: Broncos QB Bo Nix joined Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Patrick Mahomes as the fifth quarterback in the past decade with 20+ total touchdowns and two or fewer interceptions in a 10-game span—and he’s a rookie. And Sean Payton isn’t hearing any talk that Nix didn’t have a strong arm in the pre-draft process.

🔥 Top fantasy performers in Week 12

• Eagles RB Saquon Barkley: 44.2 points

• Commanders QB Jayden Daniels: 30.4 points

• Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes: 28.76 points

• Packers RB Josh Jacobs: 28.6 points

• Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa: 28.48 points

(point totals are for half PPR scoring)

🗽 Football in New York

Football in New York… is not going well. The Jets fired GM Joe Douglas, who went 30-64 at the helm since taking over in 2019.

• Owner Woody Johnson and the franchise are immediately starting the search process for a new GM and head coach, hiring The 33rd Team in a support role.

• Also, QB Aaron Rodgers is reportedly unlikely to return to the team in 2025, and it’s unknown how injured he is because he’s “resisted getting scans done” so that he can continue playing.

• However, multiple reports say the talk of a fractured relationship between Rodgers and Johnson is “overblown.”

After not only benching him but demoting him to fourth string, the Giants honored QB Daniel Jones’ request for a release—and, in response, a ton of his former teammates showed their support with social media posts.

• Jones gave a statement to the media on Thursday, basically saying how it was a a dream come true to play for the Giants.

• On Friday, Jones and team owner John Mara had a meeting, where they mutually agreed it would be best to move on.

• The team then waived Jones, and multiple reports say several teams are interested in signing the former No. 6 overall pick after he cleared waivers—with Minnesota and Baltimore reportedly as two lead destinations.

• Following the Week 12 blowout loss to the Buccaneers, multiple players were not happy with the state of the team—including, most notably, rookie WR Malik Nabers, who said obviously quarterback is not the issue with the team.

🩼 Latest injury news

Out for the season: Raiders QB Gardner Minshew (broken collarbone); Buccaneers S Jordan Whitehead (pec); Eagles DE Brandon Graham (triceps), who was said to be in his 15th and final season but went out with sack if SNF was his final career game.

49ers QB Brock Purdy did some light throwing yesterday, and it went “all good.” Barring issue he’s expected to return this Sunday night against the Bills after missing last week with his shoulder injury.

Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell (thumb) had his practice window activated, and he can start for Vegas on Black Friday if he’s cleared.

Texans S Jalen Pitre is expected to miss multiple weeks due to a pectoral injury.

Titans CB L'Jarius Snead, who has not played since October 13 due to a quad injury, was placed on IR ahead of Week 12 and will miss at least three more games. The Chargers placed TE Hayden Hurst (hip) on IR.

Eagles DE Bryce Huff underwent wrist surgery and is expected back toward the end of the season.

Colts WR Josh Downs (shoulder) is considered week-to-week.

📰 More NFL news and notes

The Chiefs signed veteran free agent OT DJ Humphries to potentially play left tackle. The Ravens waived S Eddie Jackson over the weekend. The Colts brought back G Mark Glowinski on the practice squad. The Panthers claimed CB Akayleb Evans off waivers from the Vikings. The Broncos waived TE Greg Dulcich.

The NFL flexed Broncos vs. Chargers into Thursday Night Football for Week 16, replacing Browns-Bengals.

The Dolphins were set to trade DE Calais Campbell to the Ravens until HC Mike McDaniel stepped in.

The NFL reinstated Patriots S Jabrill Peppers from the Commissioner’s Exempt List. Cardinals LB Markus Bailey was suspended six games for violating the NFL’s PES policy.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame narrowed down the Class of 2025 to Modern-Era Player Semifinalists.

The Commanders are getting closer to a potential new stadium at the old RFK Stadium location in Washington, D.C.

Max released a trailer for the upcoming Hard Knocks In Season featuring the AFC North.

The NFL issued a security alert about organized and skilled criminals targeting pro athletes.

Peyton and Eli Manning are returning as the coaches of the 2025 Pro Bowl Games.

Other Sports Updates

🏈 College football results: No. 2 Ohio State took down unbeaten No. 5 Indiana, 38-15; Florida knocked off No. 9 Ole Miss, 24-17; No. 4 Penn State survived versus Minnesota; Kansas beat No. 16 Colorado; No. 21 Arizona State prematurely stormed the field and took down the goal post and won despite a completed Hail Mary attempt by No. 14 BYU; Auburn upset No. 15 Texas A&M in OT; Oklahoma stunned No. 7 Alabama, 24-3.

⚾️ MLB award winners: AL MVP: Yankees’ Aaron Judge, NL MVP: Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, AL Cy Young: Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, NL Cy Young: Braves’ Chris Sale. Ohtani joined Frank Robinson as the only MVP winners in both leagues, and he joined the exclusive three-MVP club.

🏒 The Blues hired Jim Montgomery as their head coach less than a week after the Bruins fired Montgomery.

🤕 Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who was leading the NHL in goals on his quest to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record, is out four-to-six weeks with a lower leg injury.

👀 Legendary LB Ray Lewis is a candidate to become the head coach at FAU, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

😳 Top high school recruit Bryce Underwood flipped from LSU to Michigan.

📝 2025 draft prospect Shedeur Sanders accepted an invite to the 100th East-West Shrine Bowl.

🤔 Urban Meyer has a habit of not knowing people, as actor Owen Wilson and coach Mike Vrabel—”yeah, I’m the head coach of the Titans and I worked for you for two years.”—both said on the ManningCast.

🐺 Found on wolfsports.com

• Week 12 fantasy awards

• Fantasy ROS rankings (🔒)

• Week 13 waiver wire rankings (🔒)

• Latest college football power rankings