The Departed: Maclin Shines For Chiefs

A pair of former Eagles playmakers faced off on Sunday when LeSean McCoy and the Bills battled Jeremy Maclin and the Chiefs in a fight for playoff picture relevancy. Maclin and Kansas City prevailed, 30-22, on the back of an impressive outing from the wideout.

Maclin caught nine passes for 160 yards and a touchdown, propelling the Chiefs’ offense, while McCoy had 101 total yards and a receiving TD.

“[Maclin] made the Bills pay for their decision to single-cover him early in the game,” ESPN’s Adam Teicher writes. “He caught a 37-yard pass to set up Kansas City’s first touchdown and scored their second one on a 41-yard catch. He finished with nine catches and a season-high 160 yards.”

Maclin now has 57 catches for 772 yards and three touchdowns this year. He has over 140 receiving yards more than the Eagles’ leading pass-catcher, Jordan Matthews, and has already eclipsed Kansas City’s leading receiver from last year, Dwayne Bowe.

McCoy is averaging 128 total yards over his last three games and has scored three of the last four weeks.

— Meanwhile, DeSean Jackson got loose for a 63-yard touchdown against the Giants to help division-leading Washington pull out a win. More from the Washington Post.

Though Jackson only made an impact with the ball in his hands on the touchdown play, his mere presence on the field helped the rest of the offense operate freely. The quick strike put pressure on Eli Manning and the Giants, who had to play from behind the rest of the afternoon; Manning threw three interceptions on Sunday after throwing just six interceptions in the first 10 games.

The Redskins’ offense racked up 407 total yards without a turnover. Cousins completed 69 percent of his passes for 302 yards and one touchdown. Although their 2.8 yards per carry is far less than they would like, the Redskins only ran for more than 105 yards their total on Sunday, once in their past five games — and they did it against a New Orleans Saints defense that had given up the most yards per game entering this week.

“Getting a guy like that back in your offense, it does wonders for everybody,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “Even if he doesn’t touch the ball, just the fear that he puts in opposing defenses. [He]’s not like any receiver in the league. He’s the best deep threat that this league has seen in my opinion.”

— After losing the Rams’ quarterback job to Case Keenum because of poor play, Nick Foles was thrust back into the starting lineup on Sunday because Keenum suffered a concussion last week and was still going through the concussion protocol come game time against Cincinnati.

According to Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis-Dispatch, Foles’ Week 12 didn’t change many minds on his value with the team.

“Once again Foles was awful,” Gordon writes, “reminding us why coach Jeff Fisher benched him.”

Foles finished 30-of-46 for 228 yards and three interceptions as the Rams lost, 31-7.

St. Louis trailed by just 10 points before the half, and Foles even had a chance to bring the Rams within three points before the break, according to Gordon, but Foles decided to target tight end Jared Cook, who was double-covered, and threw an interception in the red zone.

From there, writes Gordon, it just got worse.

“[Foles’] second half was a nightmare, low-lighted by his egregious pick-six on an ill-advised scramble and throw against the grain. His third interception was a balloon floated downfield toward Kenny Britt under pressure.”

Foles was replaced by rookie quarterback Sean Mannion late in the fourth quarter. Mannion completed six of seven passes for 31 yards.

In 10 games this season, Foles has thrown seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, throwing zero touchdowns and four interceptions in his last three games.

— According to some guy by the name of Sheil Kapadia, Cary Williams was inactive for the Seahawks against the Steelers on Sunday.

The 2015 season has taken a turn for the worse for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Cary Williams.

Signed during the offseason as a free agent, Williams started the first 10 games for the Seahawks. But he was benched during the second half of last week’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers after allowing a 36-yard completion to tight end Vance McDonald.

Coach Pete Carroll said Williams and cornerback DeShawn Shead would battle for the starting spot in practice this week. It appears now that Shead will start opposite cornerback Richard Sherman.

— Trent Cole didn’t start for the Colts in Sunday’s 25-12 win over the Bucs, but he had a big game against Tampa Bay, writes Ira Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune.

In his five previous games, [Jameis] Winston had been sacked only six times, but the Colts roughed him up on Sunday, blitzing often and dropping him on five occasions. DE Trent Cole, who did not start, finished with a sack and four QB hits.

— Evan Mathis played Sunday night despite missing a couple of practices during the week, and the Broncos ran for 179 yards, including a winning 48-yard touchdown run, in a 30-24 win over the Patriots.

— Brandon Boykin finished the Steelers’ 39-30 loss to the Seahawks with one tackle, according to the box score.

— On the coaching front, former Eagles quarterbacks coach-turned Dolphins offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was fired Monday. More from ESPN.com.

Lazor’s departure isn’t a surprise as Miami’s offense failed to produce enough points or balance to be successful. The Dolphins were held scoreless Sunday until the 2:30 mark of the third quarter and had just 12 total rushing yards in the 38-20 loss.

Miami’s pass-to-run ratio was an astounding 58-to-9 against the Jets, and the Dolphins went 4-of-15 on third-down attempts after entering Sunday’s game ranked 31st in the league in that category.

The Dolphins (4-7) have lost four of their last five games and averaged just 15.6 points per game during that span with Lazor calling the plays.

Tim McManus contributed to this post.