Week 11 of the 2024 NFL season is here and the race for the playoff spots are beginning to heat up.
As well as key clashes at the top of each conference, there are meaningful games between teams vying for wild-card places with some franchises knowing that a defeat might just end their campaign and bring about sweeping change.
The week’s action began with the Philadelphia Eagles winning their sixth game in a row, beating their NFC East division rivals Washington Commanders on Thursday.
Four teams are on bye in Week 11 as the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers all get some well-earned rest.
Here’s a look at three of Sunday’s standout matchups.
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Baltimore Ravens (7-3) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-2) – 1:00 p.m. ET
In any other week, a clash between two seven-win AFC North division rivals would be the standout match-up.
As it happens, the Kansas City Chiefs-Buffalo Bills tilt later in the day will take the headlines, but that doesn’t take away from what is a pivotal clash in Pennsylvania.
Both the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers are almost certain to make the playoffs after promising starts to the season, and Sunday’s clash could go a long way in deciding who ends up with the top seed in the AFC North.
The Ravens arrive at Acrisure Stadium off the back of a thrilling one-point victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which Lamar Jackson reemphasized his case for back-to-back NFL MVP trophies.
Jackson has consistently been No. 1 in NFL.com’s quarterback power rankings as he’s now thrown 2,669 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and just two interceptions, as well as adding 538 rushing yards and two running scores through 10 games.
Paired with running back Derrick Henry – second in the league in rushing behind Saquon Barkley, who has played a game more – the Ravens offense continues to operate at an almost unstoppable level, scoring more than 28 points in seven of their games this season.
They will face a stiff test against a talented Pittsburgh defense, which has been a key reason for the Steelers’ recent four-game winning run.
They held the Raiders, Jets and Giants to 13, 15 and 18 points respectively before coming up with enough game-changing plays in their one-point victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 10.
A change at quarterback has been key for Pittsburgh, with head coach Mike Tomlin turning from Justin Fields to Russell Wilson in Week 7 and going undefeated over that stretch.
And Wilson pointed towards the whole team effort for getting Pittsburgh into the place they are at the moment, sitting atop the AFC North.
“I think that we can definitely score points, and we can do some special things,” Wilson told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve got a great defense, we trust each other as a team and everything else.
“We’ve just got to play one play at a time. Nobody’s trying to predict scores. You just play the moment. You just be in the moment. Do whatever it takes to win, and our goal is to score more points than they do.”
The two teams will face off again in Week 16 to offer Sunday’s loser the chance at redemption, but in terms of mid-season momentum, Week 11’s clash could be vital.
Kansas City Chiefs (9-0) vs. Buffalo Bills (8-2) – 4:25 p.m. ET
Week 11’s game of the week comes from Buffalo, where the AFC’s marquee rivalry is renewed when the Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs.
The seven previous clashes between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen have come to define the recent era in the NFL. Allen and the Bills have dominated regular season meetings with three straight victories, while Mahomes and the Chiefs have prevailed in playoff matches, winning all three postseason matchups, including last season’s AFC Divisional game in Buffalo.
“You’re playing the best – I mean, the best of the best,” Mahomes said of Allen. “That’s what you want in this league, and I’ve been able to go up against Josh a multitude of times. Every single game, it seems like it comes down to the very end.
“He’s a guy that competes and he has that fire. I think you can see that fire that he plays with and that kind of goes through his entire team. We know it’s going to take our best football.”
The Chiefs arrive in Buffalo as the last undefeated team in the NFL after their dramatic last-second block against the Denver Broncos in Week 10.
Kansas City has now won 15 straight games, including the playoffs and a Super Bowl title, and could become the fifth team since 1990 to win 16 consecutive games with victory on Sunday, joining the 2003-04 New England Patriots (21 consecutive wins), 2010-11 Green Bay Packers (19), 2007-08 New England Patriots (18) and 1997-98 Denver Broncos (18), per the NFL.
It’s not been convincing for the Chiefs this season, as they’ve needed some special teams and defensive heroics to maintain their perfect record. But as it stands, they are the team to beat in the AFC, sitting with a two-game lead over the Bills at the top of the conference.
The Bills, meanwhile, are riding a five-game winning run of their own in which they have displayed an array of qualities.
Not only is Allen performing at an MVP-caliber, but Buffalo’s defense is also rounding into form as the season progresses.
The breakouts of Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa have added another element to head coach Sean McDermott’s defense, as they’ve already got 5.5 and five sacks respectively.
And they could enjoy productive afternoons on Sunday playing against a struggling Chiefs offensive line, with particular issues at left tackle.
Both rookie Kingsley Suamataia and second-year Wanya Morris have been tried at the position but have struggled to protect Mahomes’ blind-side.
Not only does Sunday’s clash see two of the NFL’s top quarterbacks face off, but it could also be a pivotal game in terms of playoff seedings with a crucial tie-breaker on the line.
However, Allen isn’t putting added emphasis on Sunday’s game.
“It’s a Week 11 game,” he told reporters. “It’s no bigger and no less than the last 10 games that we’ve had. I know the media perception and the fan perception of what this game means. But for us, it’s just a Week 11 for us.”
Cincinnati Bengals (4-6) vs. Los Angeles Chargers (6-3) – 8:20 p.m. ET
The Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers will line-up at SoFi Stadium on Sunday with very different feelings around their seasons so far.
Having lost narrowly to the Ravens yet again last time out, the Bengals face an uphill battle to reach the postseason despite the excellent play of quarterback Joe Burrow.
Burrow and the offense haven’t struggled to score points this season but have had issues converting those points into wins. This season, the Bengals are 2-3 when scoring at least 33 points. The rest of the NFL is 39-1 in such games.
With their 4-6 start to the season, the Bengals’ hopes of reaching the playoffs are increasingly slim. According to the NFL, they have a 26% chance of making the postseason at the moment; a victory on Sunday increasing those odds to 39%, while defeat reduces them to 14%.
And this week, Cincinnati faces a stiff test against a Chargers defense which hasn’t allowed more than 20 points all season.
That defensive solidity has been a big part of Los Angeles’ steady improvement under Jim Harbaugh in his first season as head coach, with his team winning four of their last five and three in a row.
The sophomore improvement of two key defensive players – Tuli Tuipulotu and Daiyan Henley – has been vital to that uptick, with Tuipulotu recording 5.5 sacks in the last three games and Henley providing an anchor in the middle of the defense.
Harbaugh called facing Burrow and the Bengals offense a “huge challenge” while defensive coordinator Jesse Minter says he’s had “sleepless nights” thinking about how to prepare for the upcoming challenge of slowing them down.
“Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow … that tandem, I don’t know if there’s anybody playing better,” Minter told reporters. “Burrow is just a quarterback that’s in complete control, has a really good understanding of how you’re trying to play him, sees the coverages well.
“Not a whole lot of trick-ems going on with Joe, he’s such an elite player, elite quarterback.”
Quarterback Justin Herbert is also thriving under Harbaugh’s tutelage, having not thrown an interception since Week 2 and building connections with his young core of receivers as he’s helped lead LA to a 6-3 record with strong playoff ambitions.
Full Week 11 Sunday schedule
Away @ home
Green Bay Packers (6-3) vs. Chicago Bears (4-5) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8) vs. Detroit Lions (8-1) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Las Vegas Raiders (2-7) vs. Miami Dolphins (3-6) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Rams (4-5) vs. New England Patriots (3-7) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Cleveland Browns (2-7) vs. New Orleans Saints (3-7) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Baltimore Ravens (7-3) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-2) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Minnesota Vikings (7-2) vs. Tennessee Titans (2-7) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Indianapolis Colts (4-6) vs. New York Jets (3-7) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Atlanta Falcons (6-4) vs. Denver Broncos (5-5) – 4:05 p.m. ET
Seattle Seahawks (4-5) vs. San Francisco 49ers (5-4) – 4:05 p.m. ET
Kansas City Chiefs (9-0) vs. Buffalo Bills (8-2) – 4:25 p.m. ET
Cincinnati Bengals (4-6) vs. Los Angeles Chargers (6-3) – 8:20 p.m. ET
