NFL week 11: Redemption and domination

Over the weekend, the NFL saw teams or players bounce back from bad starts, bad weeks and bad season starts with big wins. These are the teams and players that had the most impressive bounce back performances this week, along with what they bounced back from.
Adam Thielen: 123 Yards, touchdown

The MSU product had a massive opener, with 157 yards in week one and looked red hot. But the next seven weeks, he failed to top 100-yards receiving and did not score his first touchdown of the season until week eight. He also went under 50-yards in three games over the stretch. In London against the Cleveland Browns, Thielen started to rumble with a 98-yard game and his first score. Last weekend against Washington, his 166-yard game got him his second touchdown and had him looking back to full dangerous, but it could have been another flash. Now his performance against a good Rams secondary that he averaged 20.5 yards per catch against has Thielen consistently potent and officially bounced back.

Los Angeles Chargers defeat Buffalo Bills, 54-24
The Chargers have worked themselves back into the wild card race, using a defining win over the a good Bills defense to revive their season. The Chargers defense forced five interceptions and capitalized on all of them as Philip Rivers finished with 251 yards and two scores. Keenan Allen also had a bounce-back showing, with a slow season thus far, he exploded for 153 yards and two scores in the big victory to move the Chargers to 4-6.

Antonio Brown: 144 yards, 3 touchdowns
The star Pittsburgh Steelers receiver had been held to under 100 yards in the past three weeks, with only one 100-yard performance in the last five games. However, Brown bounced back in a big way, tearing into the Tennessee Titans secondary and grabbing three touchdowns for the second time in his career. He reeled in 10 of his 13 targets, averaging 14.4 yards per reception.

New Orleans Saints defeat Washington Redskins, 34-31
With the seven-game winning streak on the line, the Saints trailed the Redskins 24-13 heading into the third quarter. After weeks of defense and solid running, it was time for vintage action from quarterback Drew Brees. He delivered a 385-yard passing performance with two scores, leading his team back with an 18-point fourth quarter. The Saints grabbed the win in overtime to grab the eighth-straight win for a team that is very playoff dangerous.

Various Saints Players
Both running back Mark Ingram and linebacker Manti Te’o have been on the rise. After a slow start to his career, Ingram had his first 1,000-yard season in 2016. The Saints still brought in running back Adrian Peterson, who messed with the backfield rotation and gave Ingram another slow start, this time to his 2017 season. However, Ingram has had four 100-yard games over the last six and is cruising to another 1,000 yard season.

Te’o too, has started slow in his career and has bounced around from the Chargers to the Saints. He has seemed to have found a home in the latest version of the Saints defense, even making a huge play in the overtime win after bulldozing through the line to make a tackle for loss on third down to give his team the ball. While the search for his girlfriend is still in full swing, Te’o seems to be recapturing some of his Notre Dame defense.