The Denver Broncos got the NFL Sunday started off by blowing out the St. Louis Ra... wait, what? The Rams won? And they held Denver's offense to just one touchdown and pressured Peyton Manning into two picks? Yea, Week 11 is getting weird.
Not only did the Rams beat the previously 7-2 Broncos, 22-7, but they throughly dominated the game. St. Louis built a 13-0 lead by the second quarter and, outside of a 42-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, shut down Manning's scoring machine.
Perhaps the biggest development of the day was the Cardinals going into Detroit and strengthening their argument as the league's best team. In what was viewed as a potential NFC Championship Game preview, Drew Stanton proved he could lead the Arizona offense in the wake of Carson Palmer's season-ending injury, throwing for 306 yards and two scores against the league's best defense.
Earlier, the Chiefs knocked off the Seahawks, who were riding a three-game win streak and looked to be gearing up for a big second-half surge. Instead, Jamaal Charles torched their Brandon Mebane-less run defense for 159 yards and two touchdowns to fuel a 24-20 win.
Elsewhere, the Bears finally got back in the win column (albeit against the Vikings), the Texans stopped the Browns hype machine in Ryan Mallett's long-awaited first NFL start, the Packers hung 53 on the Eagles and the Falcons, left for dead weeks ago, incredibly ascended to first place in the horrible, horrible NFC South.
In the nightcap on NBC, the Patriots handled the Colts and are now sitting pretty for a top seed in the AFC. They've taken care of the Broncos and Colts in their last two games, the other so-called elite of the conference. There's no question they're the best team in the AFC right now, and they're becoming more and more versatile, as Sunday's victory was done largely on the ground with Jonas Gray.
Here's the full schedule for Sunday. Check back throughout the day for updated scores and results.
Chicago Bears 21, Minnesota Vikings 13 (final)
Houston Texans 23, Cleveland Browns 7 (final)
Atlanta Falcons 19, Carolina Panthers 17 (final)
Cincinnati Bengals 27, New Orleans Saints 10 (recap)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, Washington 7 (final)
St. Louis Rams 22, Denver Broncos 7 (recap)
San Francisco 49ers 16, New York Giants 10 (recap)
Kansas City Chiefs 24, Seattle Seahawks 20 (recap)
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San Diego Chargers 13, Oakland Raiders 6 (final)
Arizona Cardinals 14, Detroit Lions 6 (recap)
Green Bay Packers 53, Philadelphia Eagles 20 (recap)
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