In Orchard Park, N.Y., the Payments put the remainder of the AFC on discover. Writing them off midseason was a mistake.
So was assuming the AFC East race was over.
In Jacksonville, the Jaguars’ shedding streak reached three video games, permitting the Colts and Texans to affix them in a tie atop the AFC South. And with one other convincing win, the Ravens inched a bit of nearer to the AFC’s prime seed.
In New Orleans, the Tommy DeVito story cooled — for one week, not less than — and with it, so did the Giants’ three-game win streak.
In Cleveland, Bears receiver Darnell Mooney had a Hail Mary fall into his lap — a 50-yard heave from Justin Fields, which was batted right down to Mooney, sprawled out in the long run zone, arms out — however, one way or the other, he couldn’t maintain on. What would’ve been a shocking end, and a 3rd straight win for Chicago, as a substitute ended as Joe Flacco’s second straight victory because the Browns’ starter, nudging Cleveland a bit of nearer to a playoff spot.
In Miami, the Jets couldn’t even get Zach Wilson’s harm proper. Irrespective of. Their 30-0 loss to the Dolphins cemented the franchise’s thirteenth straight season with no playoff berth, the longest in soccer, and will successfully squash any notion of an inconceivable Aaron Rodgers’ return this season.
“Yeah,” coach Robert Saleh admitted after the sport, requested if what he’d simply witnessed was embarrassing.
Rinse and repeat for the Jets the final a number of years.
In Arizona, the 49ers clinched their second consecutive NFC West title and have become the NFC’s first 11-win group — the Eagles can be a part of them Monday night time — with one other convincing victory, this one 45-29 over the Cardinals. With each Dallas and Philadelphia trying beatable of late, San Francisco has separated itself as the category of the NFC. The 49ers have been untouchable since that three-game skid midseason, ripping off six wins in a row, every by double digits. They’ve additionally routed each the Cowboys and Eagles.
Right here’s all that stood out from Week 15, and an up to date take a look at the playoff image within the AFC and NFC:
Ravens keep in entrance in AFC
In some way, it appears, the Ravens have flown underneath the radar this season, overshadowed in their very own convention by Miami’s splashy offense, the Chiefs’ pedigree (and extensive receiver points) and the Payments’ turbulence.
However Baltimore has, slightly quietly, raced to a sterling 11-3 document and stays within the pole place for the convention’s prime seed with three video games to play. The Ravens’ protection — probably the most underappreciated teams within the league — held Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars to only one landing in Sunday night time’s 23-7 win in Jacksonville. Lamar Jackson pulled off probably the most spectacular performs of the season late within the third quarter, and after the Ravens added a landing and compelled a Lawrence fumble halfway by the fourth, this one was successfully over.
Lamar avoids the sack after which Isaiah Probably makes the catch over two guys 😮
📺: #BALvsJAX on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/8fWNSGquwb pic.twitter.com/TwinvfqMVz— NFL (@NFL) December 18, 2023
The New Yr’s Eve recreation between the Ravens (11-3) and Dolphins (10-4) in Baltimore could very effectively find yourself deciding the convention’s prime seed and coveted first-round bye. However first, for the Ravens, one other stiff take a look at: they’re at San Francisco subsequent week.
With Jacksonville’s loss, there’s now a three-team tie atop the AFC South: the Jaguars, Colts and Texans are all 8-6. The Jaguars at present personal tiebreakers over each — they swept the Colts this season and, after splitting their head-to-head conferences with the Texans, edge them out with a greater convention document. However with three weeks left, the division title is up for grabs, and the Jaguars are struggling.
Jacksonville, as soon as 8-3, will shut with the Bucs, Panthers and Titans.
The Colts end with the Falcons, Raiders and Texans.
The Texans end with the Browns, Titans and Colts.
Don’t depend out the Payments within the AFC East
All however left for useless after a disastrous residence loss to the Broncos on Nov. 13, coach Sean McDermott fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey a day later with the criticism amplified after to a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty price the Payments a one-point win.
The uproar was swift. Buffalo’s issues ran deep.
However 4 weeks later, McDermott’s gamble is paying off, and the Payments out of the blue are a scary AFC playoff contender.
Buffalo is 3-1 since Dorsey’s firing, its solely loss coming in additional time to the Eagles. Over that span, new offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s unit has put up video games of 32, 34, 20 and 31 factors — two of which have been wins over the Chiefs and Cowboys.
Sunday’s 31-10 beatdown over Dallas spoke to a revived group getting sizzling on the proper time. That is what the Payments have been speculated to be all season, and definitely confirmed flashes of amid a 3-1 begin that included a 48-20 rout of the Dolphins in Week 4. Then got here some befuddling losses, inconsistencies from Allen, a protection decimated by accidents and 4 losses in a six-game stretch, together with one to the lowly Patriots.
The Cowboys entered as one of many hottest groups in soccer, contemporary off a convincing win over the Eagles, with Dak Prescott enjoying higher than he ever has. It wasn’t merely that Buffalo embarrassed the Cowboys, however how they did it, racing to a 31-3 lead by the tip of the third quarter with Josh Allen finishing simply seven passes. James Prepare dinner hadn’t rushed for over 100 yards all season; on Sunday he completed with 179 and a landing. Make no mistake, the Payments received this with their physicality. They dominated Dallas up entrance.
All of which units up an intriguing race for the AFC East title. The Dolphins (10-4) are up two video games on the Payments (8-6) however face a a lot stiffer schedule the remainder of the way in which. Miami will face the Cowboys and Ravens the following two weeks; Buffalo will see the Chargers and Patriots.
Then Buffalo visits Miami in Week 18 for a recreation that would resolve the division title and decide who will get a house playoff recreation. Buffalo entered this season having received three straight AFC East crowns.
Steelers, Broncos fall behind in AFC wild-card race
With three weeks to go, the underside half of the AFC playoff image stays as jumbled as ever, with seven groups successfully preventing for 3 spots. Amongst those that helped themselves over the weekend, begin with the Browns, who moved to 9-5 after climbing again from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, then survived the aforementioned Hail Mary scare from the Bears to win 20-17. That’s six wins for Cleveland this season by 4 factors or fewer.
“We’ve been by 4 quarterbacks,” Browns defensive finish Myles Garrett stated after the win. “Being down 10 just isn’t going to shake us as a result of we’ve actually been by all of it with accidents and the whole lot else. So that is simply one other step in our journey, one other alternative for us to put in writing a really peculiar however nice legacy.”
Joe Flacco has now led two straight victories, and regardless of being on their fourth beginning quarterback of the 12 months, the Browns seemed primed for his or her first playoff bid for the reason that 2020 season.
Kevin Stefanski, who ought to most likely be main the Coach of the Yr dialog, has accomplished an unbelievable job.
Simply behind the Browns within the standings, the Bengals, Colts, Texans and Payments all received to maneuver to 8-6. The Steelers’ and Broncos’ possibilities took a substantial hit with losses — each at the moment are 7-7. And for Pittsburgh, following a disappointing 30-13 loss in Indianapolis on Saturday, which led coach Mike Tomlin to label his group “a basically poor soccer group proper now,” it feels just like the season might be slipping away.
“I don’t essentially have the solutions as we sit right here at present,” Tomlin stated after the sport, requested about all that went flawed. “If I had the solutions, we might’ve performed in a different way at present.”
That’s not one thing you need to hear from the top coach 15 weeks into the season, particularly as skilled as Tomlin is. And it’s by no means good whenever you race to a 13-0 lead then surrender 30 unanswered.
Identical as Stefanski, each the Colts’ Shane Steichen and the Texans’ DeMeco Ryans need to be within the Coach of the Yr dialog. Indy received 4 video games final season and dropped 10 of its remaining 11. Steichen has guided a revamped group led by a backup quarterback in Gardner Minshew and with out its prime offensive weapon (Jonathan Taylor) for half the season. In some way, the Colts management their very own future of their pursuit of their first playoff berth since 2020.
In Houston, Ryans has remade the Texans in only one season, and he proved Sunday their success is greater than the rookie quarterback. With no C.J. Stroud — and no Tank Dell or Nico Collins, for that matter — the Texans gutted out a 19-16 additional time victory over the Titans.
The Bucs are surging, the Packers are fading
Issues have modified rapidly within the NFL’s worst division. The Falcons — NFC front-runners simply two weeks in the past, seemingly accountable for the division — suffered a backbreaking defeat Sunday in Charlotte, shedding to the woeful Panthers 9-7. Atlanta’s second straight division loss sends them to 3rd within the NFC South. And it was Carolina’s first win since October.
In the meantime, Todd Bowles’ Bucs are surging. A convincing 34-20 win over the Packers at Lambeau Area on Sunday was their third in a row, transferring them to 7-7 and in a tie atop the division with the Saints, additionally 7-7 following their 24-6 win over the Giants. The Bucs personal the tiebreaker due to a Week 4 win over the Saints, however the two groups will meet once more in Week 17.
A giant purpose for Tampa Bay’s late-season run has been Baker Mayfield, who threw for 381 yards, 4 touchdowns and simply six incompletions in Sunday’s win.
As for the NFC wild-card race, the Packers may’ve performed their approach out of the playoffs the final two weeks. After upsetting the Chiefs on the primary Sunday in December to climb into the No. 7 seed within the NFC, Inexperienced Bay has misplaced consecutive video games to the Giants and Bucs.
Outdoors of the eventual NFC South winner, six groups are scraping for the ultimate two wild-card spots. The Vikings and Rams personal the ultimate two spots as of now.
An early take a look at the head-coaching jobs opening up
A 3rd head-coaching job opened Friday when the Chargers fired Brandon Staley nearly three years into his tenure.
Staley joins Frank Reich (Carolina) and Josh McDaniels (Las Vegas) as head coaches let go earlier than the 2023 common season has come to an finish. The Athletic’s Diana Russini reported this week that it’s all however been determined in Washington that Ron Rivera will meet the identical destiny; “another entrance workplace members” may be a part of him, she added. “It’s probably not a secret anymore.”
Sunday’s dismal 28-20 loss to the Rams received’t assist any slim likelihood Rivera may’ve been holding onto to maintain his job. Underneath the brand new possession group led by Josh Harris, it is smart for the Commanders to need to begin new. Rivera is 26-37-1 in 4 seasons in Washington. This season, with a brand new offensive coordinator in Eric Bieniemy, began off promising, with two wins to open the 12 months. However Washington has regressed noticeably, and shipped off a number of outstanding gamers earlier than the commerce deadline, basically a waving of the white flag. The Commanders have dropped 10 of 12 since that 2-0 begin and have been outscored 118-45 of their final three losses.
In the meantime, rampant hypothesis trails Invoice Belichick as he wraps up his twenty fourth season in New England, with The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reporting that “indicators have pointed towards this being the ultimate 4 video games of Belichick’s unprecedented tenure with the Patriots.”
The group fell to the Chiefs 27-17 Sunday to drop to 3-11 on the season and is headed for its first top-five draft decide since 1994.
So, if the Commanders’ and Patriots’ jobs do certainly open up, that makes 5 vacancies: the Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, Commanders and Patriots. Most would assume the Chargers is essentially the most interesting due to Justin Herbert; whereas which may be true, it’s an overrated roster front-loaded with dear veterans.
Moreover, two basic managers have been fired midseason, the Raiders’ Dave Ziegler and the Chargers’ Tom Telesco, including one other layer to the hiring cycle.
(High picture: David Rosenblum / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)
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