There’s a new sheriff in the NFL.
Baltimore’s gritty victory over San Francisco in rainy conditions and New England’s loss to Houston vaulted the Ravens into the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They both have 10-2 records but Baltimore has the tie-breaker because of its victory over the Patriots.
Meanwhile, the surprising Bills boosted their record to 9-3 with a victory at Dallas and still play the Patriots in the second to last game.
In the NFC, it now appears to be a three-team race for the top seed with Saints, 49ers and Seahawks all at 10-2. The 49ers go to New Orleans this week.
A look at what happened last weekend:
Positives:
—Baltimore showed it could win a low scoring defensive game in bad weather in beating the 49ers. Now they face another test at the surprising Bills.
—Seattle vaulted into contention for the top seed with the victory over Minnesota. It is now one of three 10-2 NFC teams with the Saints and 49ers.
—The Rams are still alive in the wild card race at 7-5 after routing the Cardinals as Jared Goff threw for 424 yards.
—Deshaun Watson outdueled a frustrated Tom Brady with three touchdown passes as the Texans beat the Patriots. The Texans have a game lead in the AFC South over the Titans, but play the Titans twice in the last three weeks.
—Cincinnati went back to veteran Andy Dalton at quarterback and beat the Jets to post their first victory after an 0-11 start. The Bengals, despite the win, are still in lead for the top pick in the draft.
Negatives:
-/Kirk Cousins lost another big prime time game as the Vikings lost to Seattle. Cousins is now 0-8 on MNF.
—Cleveland coach Freddie Kitchens wore a Pittsburgh Started It T-shirt and the Steeler finished it by beating the Browns. Kitchens ill-advised move raised more questions about whether he is destined to get a second year as the Browns’ coach.
—Carolina coach Ron Rivera became the second coach to be fired after the Panthers fell to 5-7 with a loss to Washington, which was the first team to fire its coach, Jay Gruden, this year.
—The Jets lost to 0-11 Cincinnati after earlier losing to 0-8 Miami. The 4-8 Jets would be 6-6 if they had been able to beat two winless teams.
—There is a chance the NFC East winner could have a losing record after the 6-6 Cowboys lost to Buffalo and the 5-7 Eagles lost to Miami. One of these teams will win the division and host a playoff game. The two teams play at Philadelphia in the second to the last game of the season.