NFL Winners and Losers: Josh Allen beats Patrick Mahomes again while J.J. McCarthy shuts down his doubters

03.11.2025, 16:56 skysports.com

Josh Allen prevailed against Patrick Mahomes yet again, Daniel Jones hit a snag in his resurgence and there is an MVP contender in Seattle. We pick out some winners and losers from NFL Sunday...

There might have been a few people who woke up today and retracted statements of premature doubt over Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy. The second-year quarterback just shook up the NFC North once more by leading the Vikings to a 27-24 victory over their divisional rival Detroit Lions, finishing 14 of 25 passing for two touchdowns and an interception as well as rushing for a score in his return from a five-game layoff with a high ankle sprain. His performance was punctuated by a precision-perfect back-shoulder strike to a back-peddling, tightly-covered Jalen Nailor to ice the game. It wasn't the world-beating performance that would nod towards a place among the league's best, but it was as positive, as assured and as comfortable a display as the NFL has seen from him.

McCarthy had divided opinion across two mixed starts to open the season, leaning on his fiery competitiveness to carry Minnesota through a fourth-quarter comeback win over the Chicago Bears before looking out of his depth in defeat to the Atlanta Falcons. With Carson Wentz ruled out for the rest of the season, McCarthy offered plenty of encouragement to suggest Minnesota are not out of the playoff race. And with production on offense came a spike from Brian Flores' defense as they mustered a season-high five sacks of Jared Goff while limited David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs to 65 rushing yards between them.

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You will not see many more dominant wide receiver performances go unrewarded than that of Tee Higgins and Drake London this season; neither deserved to be on the losing side on Sunday.

Higgins had seven catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns as the Cincinnati Bengals were stunned 47-42 by the Chicago Bears, his night including a blockbuster 'Mossed him' 44-yard scoring snatch at the sideline and a clinic in suction hands to remarkably contort his body inside the end zone under skin-tight coverage. He was untouchable. The Bengals were on the brink of an astonishing comeback win having overcome a 41-27 deficit to lead 42-41 with a minute left, only for Colston Loveland to turn Caleb Williams' pass into a 58-yard game-winning touchdown catch-and-run with 17 seconds left. Joe Flacco had gone 31 of 47 for 470 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Elsewhere London made nine catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns, including a stunning one-hander on a day when he showed every inch of his vertical threat. The latter would sum up his frustration as John Parker Romo missed the ensuing extra point to squander the chance to make it a tied game with 4.40 left. One of his flashpoints was an aggressive contested catch over star corner Christian Gonzalez, London putting his body on the line and delivering one of his best stat lines as a pro for nothing.

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Josh Allen is now 5-1 against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular-season after inspiring Buffalo to a 28-21 victory over Andy Reid's side. It wasn't without late drama as Matt Prater's field goal doink in the closing seconds afforded the Chiefs one last shot; Mahomes, who had earlier converted on fourth-and-17 to keep an eventual touchdown drive to make it a one-score game alive, made it as far as the Bills 40 but could not find the finishing Hail Mary touch. It was a game that brewed beautifully, two quarterback titans quite possibly previewing another playoff showdown.

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Allen finished a near-perfect 23 of 26 for 273 yards and a touchdown as well as rushing for two scores, while Mahomes had a career-worst completion percentage as he went 15 of 34 for 250 yards and an interception, albeit behind a struggling offensive line. The Chiefs man, though, remains 4-0 against Allen in the postseason, which is all that will really matter to the nearly-team Bills. Joey Bosa was a persistent nuisance in the face of Mahomes, who did everything he could to create magic in the face of a crumbling pocket, and James Cook's production on the ground for large parts dictated what Steve Spagnuolo was able to dial up on defense. Round 11 between these quarterbacks feels inevitable in the playoffs - can Allen make it count?

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There isn't another team in the league that plays up or plays down to their opponent quite like the Green Bay Packers, who can beat everybody and lose to everybody. On this occasion it was the latter as they submitted to the Carolina Panthers in a 16-13 defeat and yet another unnecessary slip in the battle to take control of the NFC North. Jordan Love's occasional erraticness remains a talking point in Green Bay's postseason charge, and was underlined when he tossed an interception into triple coverage to derail a crucial drive with a one-score game in the third quarter. A fourth-and-eight call from Matt LaFleur with 11 minutes left was also foiled as the Packers played catch up for failing to capitalise on scoring positions early in the game. Jeff Hafley's defense was undone by Rico Dowdle and the Panthers running game, and to make matters worse, the Packers now look set to miss star tight end Tucker Kraft for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury. The Panthers had been two-touchdowns underdogs entering the game, but now sit 5-4 and second in the NFC South.

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It is official. Sam Darnold is in the MVP race. The Seattle Seahawks quarterback bludgeoned the Washington Commanders in style on Sunday night as he continued his superb season by finishing 21 of 24 for 330 yards, four touchdowns and one interception with a passer rating of 141.0. At half-time he was 16 of 16 for 282 yards and his four end zone strikes for a 158.3 passer rating. With every passing game and week, the New York Jets' failure to develop Darnold some years ago proves more glaring. He is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in football at a consistent rate, showing the poise and comfort of a seasoned winner. Sure, it also helps to have a Jaxon Smith-Njigba by his side, Seattle's star wide receiver posting his sixth 100-yard receiving game of the year with eight receptions for 129 yards to lift his tally on the season to an NFL-high 948.

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Those who know the NFL by now know there was no reason just yet to get carried away with the Indianapolis Colts' 7-1 start to the year; even head coach Shane Steichen partially admitted as much this week. Those who know the NFL by now also know that there is no reason to be too deterred by a one-sided defeat for the Colts to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Mike Tomlin's defense was at its Pittsburgh-best; it can happen. The Daniel Jones resurgence hit its first snag of the campaign as he was intercepted three times and sacked on five occasions while losing two of three fumbles in a 27-20 loss, with the former New York Giants play-caller having turned it over just three times prior to Week Nine. MVP-contending Jonathan Taylor was also bottled up for just 45 rushing yards from 14 carries as Indianapolis struggled to live with the Steelers' ferocity up front; turn the ball over, score from resulting turnover became a pretty familiar formula for Tomlin's side. It lived up to projections as potentially the toughest game of the season so far for the Colts, who will learn a lot about themselves.

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