NFL Week 12: Notes and observations

With all but the Monday night affair between the Baltimore Ravens and the Los Angeles Rams in the books for Week 12 of the NFL season, here are some notes from the games that were:

• The Houston Texans took control of the AFC South, but don’t sleep on the Tennessee Titans. Houston took care of business in its must-win on Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts. With the win, the Texans moved to 7-4 and a game ahead of Indianapolis. However, the Titans are making some noise after beating the Jacksonville Jaguars, 42-20. Tennessee is 6-5 and still has two games left against Houston, including a Week 17 matchup. This isn’t over.

• The New York Giants have to fire Pat Shurmur at season’s end. New York lost its senveth straight game on Sunday, falling 19-14 to the listless Chicago Bears at Solider Field. Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones looks lost midst defeats and turnovers, while the supporting case does little to inspire — outside of Saquon Barkley — on a weekly basis. All that being said, Jason Garrett is not the answer.

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• Speaking of Garrett, the Dallas Cowboys lost to the New England Patriots but retained a one-game lead in the NFC East with the Philadelphia Eagles losing to the Seattle Seahawks. With Philadelphia or Dallas all but guaranteed to land the No. 4 seed in the NFC playoffs, either one will face a brutal task in the Wild Card round. In all likelihood, said team will draw the loser of the NFC West between the San Francisco 49ers and Seahawks. Have fun with that.

• Don’t look now, but the Cleveland Browns are finally making the playoff push we all expected from the beginning of the season. The Browns handled the Miami Dolphins with ease on Sunday, taking a 28-3 halftime lead before finishing off the fish, 41-24. At 5-6, Cleveland still has to play great football down the stretch, but sweeping a three-game homestand is a good place to start. If the Browns can win next week in Pittsburgh against the Steelers, they’ll vault into second place of the AFC North.

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• Finally, the Cincinnati Bengals. By the week, it appears more and more of a lock the Bengals will have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since selecting USC quarterback Carson Palmer back in 2003. At 0-11, Cincinnati might become only the third team in league history to go 0-16. The remaining opponents include the Browns twice, Miami, New England and the New York Jets.