THERE were very few surprises in Week 11 of the 2023/24 National Football League (NFL) regular season as almost every team that was expected to win delivered on the promise. Didn’t predict the Denver Broncos getting the better of the Minnesota Vikings though…and a week that appeared normal was finally played.

The feature game of the week was the closer on Monday night which saw a rematch of February’s Super Bowl combatants, but the result was a lot different.

In Super Bowl LVII it was the Kansas City Chiefs who overcame a 10-point deficit to win their second NFL title in four years, but the tables were turned last Monday as the Philadelphia Eagles overcame a hal-time deficit (7-17) to secure a 21-17 victory.

While the match provided a lot of offensive highlights the game was dominated by defence as Philadelphia’s quarterback (QB) Jalen Hurts was sacked five times, and the Eagles defence showed up in the second half to prevent the Kansas City offence from adding any points to their first-half total.

The Kansas City offence fell flat in the second half for the third game in a row, and their once high-flying offence has been sputtering since the start of the season.

Since 2017 — the year before Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting QB — the Chiefs have ranked in the top six in the league in both points and yards, and last season they led the league in both categories. This year they are ranked eighth in yards per game and 14th in scoring, which is not exactly terrible but that is way below the expectations from Mahomes and his cohorts.

Specifically, their second-half offence has been atrocious. Entering Monday’s game averaging a league-worst 5.9 points in the second half of games, and following the most recent meltdown, that average has dropped to 5.3.

The Chiefs have scored five second-half touchdowns in their 10 games this season, same number as

the New York Jets, and their receivers have dropped a league-leading 26 passes for the season — five

on Monday — which includes one by Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the goal line of the Eagles that would have most certainly won the game.

The Chiefs (7-3) visit the Las Vegas Raiders (5-6) on Sunday afternoon and, despite the failings of the

Kansas City receivers, their highly ranked defence is more than capable of holding off the Raiders, which is the expectation.

These teams have played 128 times, with the Chiefs winning 72 games (including 10 of the last 12) and the Raiders winning 54. The other two were ties. The Chiefs are (justifiably) heavy JustBet favourites entering the weekend, and this appears to be a foregone conclusion.

Having mentioned the Jets (4-6), they travel to South Florida this afternoon to tackle the Miami

Dolphins in the NFL’s first-ever Black Friday game.

The Jets are coming off a 6-32 mauling by the Buffalo Bills last weekend and they have benched QB Zach Wilson in favour of Timothy Boyle for the encounter, with Wilson being relegated to third string, behind Trevor Siemian. Not much resistance is expected from the Jets today but the idea of football on a Friday afternoon is very enticing.

The Houston Texans (6-4) host the Jacksonville Jaguars (7-3) early Sunday afternoon for an expected

nail-biter. The Texans have played Jacksonville 42 times in franchise history and boast a 28-14 record in those encounters but they split the season series last year, with Houston winning 13-6 on the road in week 5 but falling 31-3 at home on New Year’s Day. Since week 17 of 2010 the Texans are 20-5 in the series, with 12 of those victories coming by 10 points or more.

JustBet odds for the game have this as a toss-up, and with the recent exploits of both QBs — C J Stroud

and Trevor Lawrence — and their recent win-streaks, it’s easy to see why.

The Texans won the matchup in September (37-17) but the Jaguars are 7-1 since then (losing only to

the San Francisco 49ers in that run) so this is expected to be a totally different experience. This is

really too close to call but it is expected to be a humdinger.

The marquee matchup of week 12 has the league-leading Eagles (9-1) welcoming the Bills into

Lincoln Financial Field at the same time as the Kansas City game, during which it is expected that

Philadelphia will improve on their NFL-best record. However, while the Eagles are the obvious

JustBet favourites, having taken down the defending champions last Monday, the Bills are nothing to

scoff at.

The Eagles were holding teams under 67 rushing yards per game up until Monday night, then the

Chiefs exposed chinks in their armour by amassing 168 yards on the ground. Buffalo has a run-first

offence, and they would have watched with interest how the Philadelphia defence matched up and were

run over for the better part of the game.

In the same breath, the Eagles got their rushing attack going against the Chiefs last Monday and they

will look to carry that over into this game against a team who is allowing 4.53 yards per carry, the

fourth worst in the NFL.

This rivalry has been played 14 times, with Buffalo winning six games and Philadelphia winning eight.

The Eagles have won four of the last five encounters between these teams, including their last meeting

in October 2019, with a 31-13 scoreline.

On the plus side the Bills have Stefon Diggs, who has led the team in receiving by a wide margin

every season since his arrival in 2020, and the team has allowed the second-fewest sacks in the NFL

this year (14) behind only the Chiefs (13). However, QB Josh Allen — tied with Sam Howell — has the

most intercepted passes this season (12), and fumbles have been a familiar theme over Allen’s career. He had 13 fumbles in 2022, and he has 56 fumbles in 88 career games. Against the Eagles, the focus of the Bills must be protecting the ball, while the Philadelphia defence must be salivating on the prospects…..Are you ready for some football?