First running back MVP in over a decade? What’s wrong with Houston? What next for wide-open NFC West? NFL Week 12 takeaways

First running back MVP in over a decade?

Not since 2012 has the NFL had a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award-winner come from the running back position.

The last rusher to lift the trophy was Adrian Peterson after the then-Minnesota Vikings star had the second-most rushing yards in a season with 2,097 in a truly dominant year.

There have been strong contenders during that time – most notably, Derrick Henry in 2020 where he rushed for 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns, winning NFL Offensive Player of the Year as a result.

But this season could arguably see the most likely challenger since Peterson in 2012 in the form of Saquon Barkley.

Barkley has taken to life with the Philadelphia Eagles like a duck to water in his debut season since moving back to Pennsylvania; he was born in New York but moved to Pennsylvania when he was young, going to Penn State University before being drafted to the New York Giants in 2018.

His skillset has blended well with the Eagles’ already existing strengths; Barkley’s ability to evade defenders paired with quarterback Jalen Hurts’ running power and Philadelphia’s offensive line has caused headaches for opposing defensive coordinators.

Barkley rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in the Eagles’ Week 1 victory over the Green Bay Packers. He also caught another score.

Since then, he has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game six times. He broke that mark most emphatically on Sunday in Week 12, running for an Eagles franchise-record 255 yards on just 26 carries, finishing with over 300 total yards to become just the 13th player in NFL history to reach the mark.

The 27-year-old is the NFL’s rushing leader through 12 weeks with 1,392 yards – 67 yards ahead of Henry – and 10 touchdowns. He also has 27 catches for 257 yards and two more scores.

He is well on course for over 2,000 rushing yards this season. But more than the statistics, Barkley has captured the imagination with some of his feats of athleticism.

His reverse no-look hurdle over a defender in Week 9 was described as the “best play” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had ever seen, with even Barkley’s teammates not believing of what they had seen. Barkley’s reverse hurdle was so jaw-dropping that it was added to the video game Madden 25.

And now the clamor for Barkley to be among the MVP candidates is building, with no clear quarterback frontrunner yet to emerge through 12 weeks.

“He’s the best in the league. He’s the best at what he does,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said in his postgame interview. “He’s a bad man.”

A victory for Barkley could come hand-in-hand with an Eagles postseason run and bring further hurt to an already struggling Giants season.

What’s going on with the Houston Texans?

After a season full of promise in 2023, 2024 was seen as a year to move on up for the rising Houston Texans.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans had brought a change in energy to the long-suffering organization in his first year in Texas, rookie quarterback CJ Stroud had a historic rookie year in the NFL and the rest of young roster had shown plenty of signs to be hopeful about.

And after an offseason of big moves – most notably, the acquisitions of running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Stefon Diggs – it looked as if last season’s division round defeat in the playoffs could be improved upon.

While that still might be the case, it’s not been smooth sailing for the Texans through 12 weeks of the season.

Despite opening 5-1, Houston has since gone 2-4 in that time, with arguably their worst performance of the season coming on Sunday at home in a 32-27 loss against the Tennessee Titans.

Stroud, who set countless records last year for his throwing accuracy, continued to be wayward with his throws as he was intercepted twice by Titans defenders. He has struggled behind a porous offensive line and that affected the running game on Sunday with Mixon only having 22 yards on 14 carries.

The Titans – who were seen as one of the favorites for a top pick in next year’s draft after having only two wins this season before Sunday – were able consistently slice through Houston’s defense, with running back Tony Pollard having 119 yards and a score on the ground.

But come the end of the game, Houston had a chance to steal a win despite their miscues. A 65-yard interception return touchdown from Jimmy Ward and a Ka’imi Fairbairn field goal gave the Texans a four-point lead in the fourth quarter.

On the very next play though, Tennessee QB Will Levis connected with his tight end Chig Okonkwo and the 25-year-old ran 70 yards for a touchdown to give the Titans a shock late lead.

Even then, the Texans could have sent the game to overtime, but Fairbairn – who has long been seen as one of the more reliable kickers in the league – missed a 28-yard attempt to cap off a forgetful afternoon at NRG Stadium for the home team.

All-in-all, the loss at home to the lowly Titans incapsulates the 2024 Texans – promising signs but key moments and plays going against them.

Ryans called the defeat “disappointing” as he admitted that his players “weren’t ready to go as a team.”

“The most frustrating part about it is out of all the bad things that happened, we still had a chance to finish the game, right?” he told reporters after Sunday’s game. “Everything that could go wrong, it went wrong. We still had a chance there to tie it up and finish the game, and we didn’t.”

The Texans have a favorable matchup in Week 13 as they travel to face the two-win Jacksonville Jaguars before going on their bye in Week 14 which allows them plenty of opportunity to right the ship.

They still sit atop the AFC South at 7-5 and have a 94% chance of reaching the playoffs according to NFL.com, but will need to have a drastic improvement on the field if they have any hopes of a deep postseason run.

What next for wide-open NFC West?

Through 12 weeks of the season, there is no division tighter than the NFC West.

All four teams are separated by just one game, with the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals sitting at 6-5 and the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers at 5-6.

In recent years, the 49ers and Rams have dominated the division, but through a combination of injuries and bad form, both have undergone sub-par years as their playoff hopes slip away with every defeat; per NFL.com, the Niners and Rams have a 15% and 10% chance of reaching the postseason respectively.

The Seahawks currently lead the division having gotten the favorable tiebreaker thanks to their Week 12 home victory over the Cardinals.