9 things we learned in NFL Week 16: Browns’ secret weapon; Bills’ bumpy ride

National Football League

Updated Dec. 26, 2023 1:49 p.m. ET

FOX Sports NFL Staff

What have we learned in Week 16? FOX Sports’ staff of NFL writers joined forces to deliver insight and analysis from around the league.

In this weekly story, we’ll tell you what we noticed, what we heard and what to keep an eye on next.

1. Browns WR Amari Cooper remains one of the NFL’s most underrated players

It feels like Amari Cooper gets lost in the shuffle of great NFL receivers.

There’s the superstar group, which includes the likes of Tyreek Hill and Justin Jefferson. Cooper isn’t on that level, but he’s right below them on the second tier of No. 1 receivers — and he has been for years.

His performance in the Browns’ 36-22 victory over the Texans on Sunday was a reminder of that standing. Cooper had 11 catches for a career-best and franchise-record 265 yards and two touchdowns, plus a two-point conversion — the best performance we’ve seen by a receiver in 2023. Entering the final two weeks of the regular season, Cooper ranks sixth in the NFL with 1,250 receiving yards.

On Sunday, he caught four passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns on seven targets with less than a 33% completion probability, the most such yards in a game since at least 2016, according to Next Gen Stats.

That’s a testament to his elite route-running and separation ability, which highlighted a terrific play he made in the third quarter against Houston. With 4:30 left in the period, Cooper ran a comeback route to haul in a fourth-and-8 throw for a toe-tapping conversion. He had just 0.8 yards of separation from the defender and was a half-yard from the sideline when he made the catch, per NGS.

The Browns offense has been ravaged by injuries this season, but in Cooper Cleveland has a No. 1 receiver whom the resurgent Joe Flacco can depend on. Cooper has proven to be consistently productive regardless of the quarterback, team or scheme. The former No. 4 overall pick has had at least 1,000 receiving yards in seven of his nine NFL seasons. He’s had two 1,000-yard seasons with each of the three teams he has played for — the Raiders, Cowboys and Browns. —Ben Arthur

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2. More Bijan Robinson seems like a good thing for the Falcons

Atlanta put up a season high in scoring in Sunday’s 29-10 win over the Colts, and by no coincidence, the Falcons remembered that they have a talented and versatile rookie in running back Bijan Robinson.

Robinson had a 32-yard catch on Atlanta’s opening drive, and while he didn’t get in the end zone, he finished with 122 yards from scrimmage, including season highs for catches (7) and targets (10).

It’s still only 12 carries for 72 yards and seven receptions for 50 yards, but that counts as an increased role for Robinson, who has shared the workload with Tyler Allgeier and Cordarrelle Patterson. Robinson played in 75% of the Falcons’ offensive snaps, back to traditional primary back usage for a player the Falcons selected No. 8 in this year’s draft.

Robinson’s season totals aren’t the gaudy numbers some had predicted, but he’s up to 1,246 yards from scrimmage, second among all rookies behind Rams receiver Puka Nacua. With 873 rushing yards, Robinson needs 127 in the final two games to become just the third rookie in Falcons history to run for 1,000 in a season.

At 7-8, the Falcons have just an 11% shot at making the playoffs, per the New York Times playoff simulator, but they’ve matched their season total for wins from the past two years under coach Arthur Smith. If they can beat the Bears and Saints to close out the year, they’ll have a winning record. And if they can just get the Bucs to lose their last two, Atlanta would win the NFC South. —Greg Auman

3. Will the Bills ever do what they’re expected to do?

The 2023 Buffalo Bills have a habit of doing exactly the opposite of what you think they’re going to do. So while the Los Angeles Chargers looked like an easy opponent for Buffalo heading into Week 16, the game was — obviously — much tighter than everyone expected.

Let the record state that I tried to tell everyone that the Chargers could be a trap game for the Bills. L.A. had just fired coach Brandon Staley and teams tend to be dangerous after a coaching change. And while the Bills have tremendous potential and high-end talent, they are also staggeringly inconsistent. Buffalo wins big games. The Bills often drop seemingly small ones. And that’s how they’ve gotten themselves into their current situation, where they essentially need to win out to make the postseason.

Quarterback Josh Allen has 40 total touchdowns for the fourth consecutive season, the first time that’s ever happened. What doesn’t he have yet? A Super Bowl appearance, or even an AFC Championship Game appearance. And that’s because his team can’t consistently string together wins.

So it’s hard to determine what this 24-22 victory over the Chargers says about the Bills’ playoff hopes.

On one hand, they did win. They figured out how to win ugly. And they’re still on track to have a huge Week 18 matchup against the Miami Dolphins. You could even argue that this win was a sign that the Bills are finding their way to consistency. Championship teams have to learn how to win ugly. So perhaps they’ve just added that to their résumé.

On the other hand, they remain inconsistent. Their defense let backup quarterback Easton Stick nearly engineer a wild underdog victory.

The Bills make for great television. They are a great story. It isn’t just that Allen is one of the most electric players in the NFL, for better and for worse. It’s also that his team sort of embodies his chaotic spirit, with high highs and low lows.

The thing that seems different this year is Joe Brady. Since he took over the offensive coordinator job after Ken Dorsey was fired, the Bills and Allen have enjoyed more high highs than low lows. And because of how well Allen can play at his best, he erases all of his own mistakes — along with those of his teammates.

The Bills’ playoff hopes will come down to whether Allen can keep making two incredible plays for every bad one. —Henry McKenna

4. The Raiders have their final answer: It’s time to give Antonio Pierce the job

The Las Vegas Raiders have seen this movie before. It was just two years ago when they fired a coach midseason, then watched an interim coach rally their team down the stretch. Rich Bisaccia even got the Raiders to the playoffs in 2021, nearly knocking off the Super Bowl-bound Bengals.

Bisaccia didn’t get the permanent head-coaching job after that season.

Raiders owner Mark Davis can’t make that mistake again.

It is clear to everyone, and should be crystal clear to Davis, too, that Antonio Pierce should be the permanent head coach. He took over a Raiders team that looked dead on Nov. 1 when Josh McDaniels was fired, and has them playing inspired, competitive football. And they fought off elimination from the playoff race on Sunday with a shocking 20-14 win in Kansas City over the defending-champion Chiefs.

“I think the one thing everybody is seeing with this Raider team is a group that’s playing together, having fun with one another, loving one another, playing with a bigger purpose, a will to win, a fight to win,” Pierce said. “And not ever giving up.”

And that’s because of Pierce, who has always been a natural and powerful leader. He was once the heart and soul of the Giants‘ 2007 Super Bowl championship team — the one that upset the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. It comes as no surprise to any of his former teammates that he has become a head coach — and so far a successful one, too.

“This win [over the Chiefs] was a statement towards how great he is as a coach and as a motivator and leader of men,” said Michael Strahan on the “NFL on FOX” pregame show on Monday, “which is what he did for me with the Giants [and] is what he’s doing now for the Raiders.”

Pierce’s Raiders are only 4-3 and they’re not without problems. Their current quarterback, Aiden O’Connell, hasn’t been good. He even failed to complete a pass on Sunday after the first quarter, missing on his last 10 attempts. But that just reinforced what Pierce said was one of his team “mantras” — to win “by any means necessary.”

His players seem to believe they can do that. That’s a huge first step for any team. So just imagine next season — with a better quarterback, more players, and his own staff — what Pierce might be able to do.

Those possibilities should be more than enticing for Davis, who needs to resist every urge he has to overspend on a big splash like Bill Belichick or Jim Harbaugh, or to go on a needlessly protracted search. Davis may have had the answer to his franchise’s problems in his hands two years ago when he let the popular and productive Bisaccia go.

Pierce gives Davis a rare second chance to do the right thing. —Ralph Vacchiano

5. Rams can thank crosstown-rival Chargers for Puka Nacua

Chalk up another victory for the Los Angeles Rams over the Chargers in the battle of L.A.

Rams GM Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay landed productive rookie receiver Puka Nacua in the fifth round of the 2023 draft in part due to the Chargers signing former Rams defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day during free agency in 2022.

The Rams allowed Joseph-Day to become an unrestricted free agent in March of last year, and he signed a three-year, $24 million deal to join former Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley in his rebuilding of the Bolts defense.

That transaction resulted in the Rams receiving a fifth-round compensatory pick in the 2023 draft, which they used to select BYU wide receiver Nacua.

Puka Nacua on historic rookie season: “I’m so grateful to be here”

After the firing of Staley and general manager Tom Telesco on Dec. 15, the Bolts released Joseph-Day from an underperforming defense that allows 372 yards per game, fourth worst in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Nacua is on a historic run for the Rams. His 1,327 receiving yards rank second in the league only to Tyreek Hill’s 1,542. Nacua has 96 receptions and five total touchdowns this season. He needs just 129 receiving yards to break Ja’Marr Chase‘s rookie record in a single season (1,455 receiving yards) and nine catches to break Jaylen Waddle‘s rookie record for receptions in a single season (104).

“He’s playing at a very high level right now,” Rams receiver Cooper Kupp said about Nacua. “I think the game has slowed down for him. … He’s been getting open and making big plays from the start.” —Eric D. Williams

6. Panthers rookie Bryce Young offers a rare flash of promise

The result was frustratingly the same — a 33-30 loss to the Packers on a last-minute field goal — but perhaps more so than any other time this season, the Panthers saw an exciting glimpse of what they hope quarterback Bryce Young can become.

The No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft had gone seven straight games without so much as 200 passing yards, but Carolina’s offense woke up in the second half Sunday against Green Bay, moving the chains and finding the end zone at a rate it hadn’t shown all year.

The Packers had scored on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 30-16 lead, something insurmountable by 2023 Panthers standards. But Young led the team on back-to-back touchdown drives, both capped with throws to receiver DJ Chark, to tie the game at 30-30 with four minutes remaining.

The Panthers defense gave up a long pass that led to a go-ahead field goal with 19 seconds left, and Young nearly pulled off another drive. Without any timeouts, he completed a pair of 22-yard passes to get the ball to the Green Bay 31, but he couldn’t spike the ball before the final second came off the clock.

Young’s fourth quarter was prolific: 13-for-16 for 167 yards, giving him a career-best 312 yards for the game and a personal-best 110.0 quarterback rating. He threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, after having only one multi-touchdown passing game in his first 14 tries.

Carolina is still 2-13, but the season high in points, immediately following a 9-7 win over the Falcons, shows some signs of positive momentum to end a difficult season. On Sunday, the Panthers will face a struggling Jaguars team that has lost four in a row, giving them another shot at a win before closing the year at home against the Bucs. —Auman

7. Mike Tomlin still finding ways to win late in the year

Despite benching Mitch Trubisky in favor of third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph, who started for the first time in two years, the Steelers throttled the Bengals 34-11 on Saturday.

The victory improved Pittsburgh’s record to 8-7 on the year and kept the team in the hunt for a playoff spot in the hotly contested AFC.

Head coach Mike Tomlin notably does not have a losing season in his 17 years as the leader of the Steelers. However, he has been under scrutiny of late because he has not led the Steelers to a conference championship since the 2016 season, which is also the last time Pittsburgh won a playoff game.

Tomlin usually has his team performing well at the end of the year — his Steelers are 54-30 during the months of December and January in the regular season. This season, however, Pittsburgh was an underwhelming 1-3 in December.

The win over the Bengals snapped a three-game losing streak, and now the Steelers will travel out West to face the Seattle Seahawks this weekend. With four teams tied at 8-7 in the AFC, Pittsburgh needs a victory to stay in the playoff conversation.

“It feels good to get back on the winning side, but this is only one game,” Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith said after the game. “We’ve got to close out these last two, win these last two. So, we’ve got to build on this.” —Williams

Could Mike Tomlin leave Steelers? Jay Glazer on NFL coaching carousel

8. Sam Howell‘s slide is dragging Eric Bieniemy down with him

There was only one reason why Eric Bieniemy left his great situation in Kansas City for the chaos and uncertainty in Washington. He saw it as a necessary step on his long, tortured quest to become a head coach. He could run his own offense, develop his own quarterback and prove his worth outside of Andy Reid’s shadow.

It might have worked, too — if only his quarterback and offense hadn’t collapsed.

The 54-year-old Bieniemy will soon be out of a job, along with the rest of Ron Rivera’s staff, and with new owner Josh Harris apparently intent on a total housecleaning, he’s unlikely to be Rivera’s successor. And the way things have gone with quarterback Sam Howell and the Commanders over the past month or so, it’s hard to imagine many of the teams looking for a new head coach this offseason will be knocking on Bieniemy’s door.

That was always the risk when he chose to leave a Super Bowl contender for a Commanders team in transition. But Rivera promised him total control of the offense, an “assistant head coach” title and real responsibilities that would help prepare him for the top job.

But his résumé will now include a five-week regression from Howell, a 2022 fifth-round pick who spent the first half of the season looking like a potential franchise quarterback. He has completed just 55% of his passes in the past five games, while throwing only two touchdown passes and eight interceptions. He’s also been benched in each of the past two games, only to watch backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett come in and make the offense look much better.

That offense isn’t good, though. It’s extremely one-dimensional — unsurprising for a team that’s lost six straight and eight of nine. The Commanders have averaged an anemic 262.3 yards per game over the past three weeks and they rank in the bottom half of the league in both total offense (327.5 yards per game) and scoring (20.6 points per game).

None of that is going to help a coach who has already interviewed with 16 different teams for head-coaching vacancies over the past five years and went to Washington solely to revive his prospects. What will stand out is that the offense he’s running got worse as the year went on.

That’s not all on Bieniemy. Maybe no one could have stopped Howell’s regression, especially since he plays behind one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines (he’s been sacked an NFL-high 60 times). But it still goes on Bieniemy’s résumé. And it probably means that he’s going to have to go somewhere else and prove himself again to get another shot at pursuing his dream of becoming a head coach in the league. —Vacchiano

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9. On the day it was announced the coach and GM will return, how did the Jets (almost) give their game away?

The New York Jets were riding high with nine minutes left in the first half against the Washington Commanders in Week 16. The Jets were up by 20 points. Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas surely saw the headlines before the game — and probably heard the news directly from owner Woody Johnson: The coach and GM will keep their jobs for 2024.

Surely, it would be sweet to justify that job security with a big win over the Commanders.

But the Jets started Jets-ing. They made boneheaded mistakes, including a botched snap. Washington worked its way back into the game. And with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Commanders had a one-point lead.

All of a sudden, it felt foolish for Johnson to promise job security to the leaders of a team that couldn’t protect a 20-point lead against an opponent going nowhere. A team that couldn’t figure out its quarterback situation all season long. A team that just finds ways to disappoint.

Thankfully for New York, third-string QB Trevor Siemian dispelled the doubt. He ran the 2-minute drill and managed to get his team into field-goal range with five seconds left.

And the Jets won 30-28.

“It was freakin’ fun,” Siemian said postgame from MetLife Stadium. “It was fun, then it wasn’t fun, then it was fun again.”

The Jets are now 6-9. They were eliminated from postseason contention last week. They’re just playing for respect — and maybe with an eye on getting ready for 2024.

“Overall, it was a resilient [effort],” Saleh said postgame. “It was a fight. We were resilient. Obviously, we made the second half more interesting than it needed to be. Credit to the guys, defense getting the ball back in a four-minute situation. Offense taking the ball down and kicking a field goal for the win.”

It could have been bad.

Like … really, really bad.

But the Jets did their leadership a favor by getting their act together just in time to avoid even more embarrassment. —McKenna

This story was compiled by:

AFC South reporter Ben Arthur (@benyarthur)

NFC South reporter Greg Auman (@gregauman)

AFC East reporter Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis)

NFC West reporter Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams)

NFC East reporter Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano)

NFC North reporter Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV)