32 things we learned from Week 14 of 2022 NFL season: Tom Brady outclassed by 49ers, rookie QB

The 32 things we learned from Week 14 of the 2022 NFL season:

1. Who's better than the Philadelphia Eagles? Well, to quote, Jim Harbaugh, "Noooooobody." Philly, now 12-1, became the first team this season to clinch a playoff berth – demolishing the NFC East rival New York Giants 48-22 – and has two more wins than any other club. The Eagles are going to be awfully hard to reel in, and the Dallas Cowboys (10-3) may have the only realistic shot of doing so.

2. One reason for Philadelphia's dominance is its breadth of weapons. The Eagles are going to the playoffs for the fifth time in the past nine seasons, but this year is the first in that stretch when they'll have either a 1,000-yard rusher (Miles Sanders) or a 1,000-yard wide receiver (A.J. Brown). But QB Jalen Hurts' options go much deeper given his own dual threat ability plus the presence of WR DeVonta Smith and expected return of TE Dallas Goedert – to say nothing of what's probably the league's best offensive line. No way to look at Philly as anything less than the NFC's Super Bowl 57 favorite at this point in time.

2a. Sunday, Hurts became the first quarterback to rush for double-digit TDs in consecutive seasons – yet another bullet point on his growing MVP résumé.

2b. Sanders also rushed for his 10th touchdown of 2022, the first Philadelphia RB to hit double digits in 11 years (LeSean McCoy).

3. And let's not discount the defense of the NFC frontrunners. The Eagles D ranked second overall in the league entering Week 14 before hanging seven sacks on the Giants, who got a late cosmetic TD after pulling their starters.

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4. In the other conference, the Kansas City Chiefs just about locked down their seventh straight AFC West championship – and one more win or loss by the Chargers (they beat Miami on Sunday night) will seal the deal. Whenever it's official, in terms of league history, the Chiefs' divisional reign will trail only the New England Patriots' 11-year dominance (2009-19) of the AFC East.

5. K.C. outlasted the Broncos 34-28, running its winning streak against Denver to 14 – matching the Patriots' 14-game grip over the New York Jets for the league's longest current run of superiority by one franchise over another.

6. Chiefs TE Travis Kelce's 71 receiving yards gave him 10,045 for his career. Only four other tight ends in the NFL's 103 seasons have surpassed the 10,000-yard plateau: Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe and Jason Witten.

6a. Kelce also reached 1,000 yards for the seventh consecutive season, extending his own record among tight ends.

7. And yet Sunday was not the finest hour for Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who matched a career high with three interceptions.

7a. Though he did do this ...

8. Otherwise, Mahomes was being outplayed by Broncos counterpart Russell Wilson, who was having what was probably his finest game (247 yards and 3 TDs passing, 57 yards rushing) in a Denver uniform until he was knocked out in the fourth quarter after getting driven headfirst into the turf at the end of a 14-yard scramble that appeared to leave him dazed.

9. Wilson's day was ruined by an unfortunate injury. Tom Brady's homecoming to Northern California was ruined by the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners pillaged the NFC South-leading Bucs 35-7, leaving them with a precarious one-game lead over the Carolina Panthers and idle Atlanta Falcons in the division. Brady threw a pair of INTs ... and, dare we say it, occasionally looked like a player who should consider not playing in 2023.

10. Sunday's loss to Niners rookie Brock Purdy was TB12's first to an opposing quarterback making his first NFL start. Brady had previously been 6-0 in such instances.

10a. The defeat was also Brady's first to a top-ranked defense after victories in his first seven matchups.

11. And while Brady's emotional histrionics continued, he did sign the footballs intercepted by Niners LB Dre Greenlaw and S Tashaun Gipson. "He’s a good guy to sign that ball after he threw those picks," said Greenlaw. "He’s the greatest. He’s the GOAT. I appreciate that."

12. For his part, Purdy continued to perform as a more-than-capable replacement for injured QB1 Jimmy Garoppolo. In that maiden NFL start, he completed 16 of 21 throws for 185 yards and two scores, keeping an efficient and occasionally devastating Niners offense on the rails.

12a. Purdy became the first rookie in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) with multiple TD passes, a rushing TD and a passer rating of at least 125.0 in his first start.

12b. “It was surreal just standing there like, man, that’s Tom Brady talking to guys and dapping guys up. For him to have respect for what I did, it was pretty cool. I’m not going to lie,” Purdy said. “Being a little kid, watching that guy kill it throughout all these years in Super Bowls, to be able to give him a high five at the end was pretty cool.”

13. And despite what looked like a painful injury that left All-Pro playmaker Deebo Samuel in tears on a medical cart, it appears San Francisco avoided a second catastrophic injury in two weeks – coach Kyle Shanahan indicating after the game that Samuel likely has a high ankle sprain.

14. The Minnesota Vikings (10-3) failed to join Philadelphia in the NFC playoff field – for now – and missed a chance to sew up the NFC North by losing to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. The Vikes will almost certainly claim the divisional throne, but their Week 2 loss to the Eagles effectively puts them three games behind in the race for home-field advantage and the first-round postseason bye.

15. Yet big day from an individual perspective for Vikings WR Justin Jefferson, who caught 11 balls for a career-high 223 yards – his first 200-yard game in the NFL.

16. Jefferson now has an even 1,500 yards on the season and must average 125 per game over the final four weeks to become the league's first 2,000-yard receiver. He hasn't yet completed three full NFL seasons but already has 13 games of 125+ yards.

16a. Jefferson became the first player with at least 1,400 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons.

17. And welcome back to Lions rookie WR Jameson Williams, who caught his first NFL pass Sunday and took it 41 yards to the end zone. The 12th overall pick of this year's draft, the former Alabama star likely would have been picked sooner had he not torn an ACL in last season's national championship game against Georgia.

18. Keep an eye on Detroit (6-7). Winners of five of the past six, the Lions can become the first team since the playoffs expanded in 1990 to reach the postseason despite a 1-6 start.

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19. Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals, who beat Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski for the first time in six attempts.

20. And congratulations also to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who won in Nashville for the first time in nine years.

21. The expected ascendance of Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence continues, the top pick of the 2021 draft throwing for a career-best 368 yards on a bad wheel and matching his personal best with a trio of TD strikes in the victory over the Tennessee Titans.

22. A horrid 36-22 loss to the Jags capped an ugly week for the Titans, who had five turnovers – four Sunday to go along with the AFC South leaders' surprise firing of GM Jon Robinson.

23. Way too soon to know if QB Mike White is the Jets' long-term answer under center given the continued presence of former No. 2 overall draft pick Zach Wilson and White's own expiring contract. But no discounting White's toughness. He absorbed a slew of vicious shots Sunday, two that folded him like a cheap Bills Mafia table and landed him in the hospital after the game as a precautionary measure. Yet he came back from both hits and missed only a few snaps despite his barbecued ribs.

24. Otherwise, the Buffalo Bills' 20-12 win over the Jets was fairly forgettable. In fact, it was the first game in six years to open with 10 straight punts – the teams' collective offensive offenses hindered by rain and snow.

25. In a battle of former Jets quarterbacks, Sam Darnold's Panthers got the better of Geno Smith's Seattle Seahawks 30-24.

25a. Darnold only passed for 120 yards in a ground-bound Carolina attack that held the ball for nearly 40 minutes but improved to 2-0 as the Panthers' starter in 2022.

26. Now in control of their playoff fate, if the Panthers (5-8) prevail in their final four games, they'll win the NFC South.

27. Incidentally, both Darnold and Smith, a leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, will be free agents in about two months. Maybe the Jets should look at signing one of them, especially if White continues to get treated like a tackling dummy?

28. Very nice Sunday for the Washington Commanders. Heels up during their bye week, they rose from eighth to sixth place – good for the second wild card – in the NFC standings courtesy of those losses by the Giants and Seahawks.

28a. If the season ended today – it doesn't – the entire NFC East would be playoff-bound.

29. With 10 points Sunday, Baltimore Ravens K Justin Tucker became the franchise's all-time leader with 1,473, surpassing another great kicker, Matt Stover.

30. Maybe we've been giving Hall of Famer John Elway too much credit all these years. Both the Cowboys and Baker Mayfield's Los Angeles Rams mounted 98-yard fourth-quarter drives to lead their teams to come-from-behind victories in Week 14.

30a. But maybe not. According to the NFL, this was the first time in the last 45 seasons with multiple game-winning touchdown drives of at least 95 yards with the game-winning score coming with under two minutes remaining in regulation.

30b. And in Mayfield's case, it also helped to play the Las Vegas Raiders – who squandered a lead of at least 13 points for the fourth time this year, tying an NFL record for most in one season.

31. Per NFL Research, Mayfield's two-day stint with the Rams was the shortest for a new starting quarterback in at least 27 years.

31a. Also worth noting that QB John Wolford was credited with the win for LA ... because he merely took the first three offensive snaps (and didn't throw a pass) before giving way to Mayfield on Thursday night.

32. Week 14 marks the conclusion of bye weeks, a half-dozen teams (Atlanta, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints and Washington) on the couch Sunday.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL scores, more Week 14: 32 things we learned; Tom Brady struggles