In a wild and crazy season, the biggest remaining tumult is
in the AFC South.
Houston leads and takes the division title by beating
struggling Jacksonville. A Texans loss, however, gives the winner of the
prime-time game between the Colts and Titans in Nashville the crown, dropping
Houston into a wild card.
There are two other AFC division crowns to settle, in the
North and West, but at least the Chiefs and Chargers already are into the
postseason. So while avoiding having to suit up next weekend -- and the
likelihood of having the conference's best record -- becomes paramount, Kansas
City and Los Angeles both have a comfort zone.
Baltimore and Pittsburgh do not. If the Ravens win at home
over Cleveland, they take the North. If they lose and the Steelers defeat
spiraling Cincinnati, Pittsburgh advances.
The winner of the night game in Music City will, well, be
making sweet music as a playoff qualifier.
JACKSONVILLE (5-10) AT HOUSTON (10-5)
Watt needs one-half sack to join Reggie White as the only
players since 1982 with four or more seasons with 15 or more sacks. Watt has 4+
sacks and has forced three fumbles in the past four division games.
On offense, Deshaun
Watson had two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores
last week in a loss at Philadelphia. He has nine touchdown passes and no
interceptions in his past four home games.
Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles,
who was benched after a loss to Buffalo on Nov. 25, will start, perhaps for the
last time for Jacksonville. Bortles has 13 TD passes and 10 interceptions this
season.
INDIANAPOLIS (9-6) AT TENNESSEE (9-6)
Advantage Andrew Luck in
this rivalry: he is 10-0 in his career starts vs. the Titans. He could become
the only player since 1970 with an 11-0 mark against one team.
Colts K Adam
Vinatieri can break a tie with Jeff Feagles (352) for
third-most games played in league history and can join George Blanda, Morten
Andersen and John Carney as the only players to appear in a game at age 46.
Titans QB Marcus
Mariota is recovering from a stinger that knocked him out of
the last game against Washington. Backup Blaine
Gabbert has started twice and come off the bench in three other
games this season for Mariota and fared relatively well.
But Tennessee's route to the playoffs likely is Derrick Henry toting
the ball. Nobody has more yards rushing or TDs in December than Henry, who has
532 yards rushing and eight TD runs.
CINCINNATI (6-9) AT PITTSBURGH (8-6-1)
Pittsburgh has won 10 of the past 11 meetings with Bengals,
while the Bengals are 8-25 vs. the Steelers under Coach Marvin Lewis. But last
year, the Bengals won at Baltimore 31-27 in the final game, knocking the Ravens
out of contention and giving a playoff berth to Buffalo. Of course, those Bengals
were a lot healthier than this injury-wrecked group.
Pittsburgh is hopeful Pro Bowl running back James Conner returns
after a three-game absence (sprained left ankle).
"It's out of our control," says guard David
DeCastro. "You're going to feel a lot worse than you do now if
you were to go out there and see Baltimore lose and us lose, too. It's
definitely deflating; it's been a long season. We've put forth a lot of
effort."
CLEVELAND (7-7-1) AT BALTIMORE (9-6)
Cleveland certainly has lots of incentive, including a
winning record after going 0-16 in 2017, and making an emphatic statement about
the work of interim coach Gregg Williams.
That doesn't likely trump the motivation of making the
playoffs, especially in a season with no overwhelming favorites. The Ravens are
9-1 against Cleveland at home under John Harbaugh, who took over in 2008.
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is
5-1 in his first six career starts, tied for third-best start in NFL history.
RB Gus Edwards leads
Baltimore with 642 yards rushing, with Jackson second at 605. Both are rookies.
PHILADELPHIA (8-7) AT WASHINGTON (7-8)
With last year's hero, Nick Foles,
taking over once more for an injured Carson Wentz,
the Eagles have made a late playoffs push. They win here and Minnesota fails
and the Eagles get a chance to defend their crown.
Foles threw for a franchise-record 471 yards last week vs.
Houston. He's the only QB in franchise history with multiple 400-yard passing
games and has averaged 279.5 yards passing in his past four starts vs. the
Redskins.
In a strong comeback season, Adrian
Peterson rushed for 119 yards last week to surpass 1,000 for
the season. Peterson's 13,259 yards rushing are eighth on the career list.
CHICAGO (11-4) AT MINNESOTA (8-6-1)
A huge challenge for the Vikings, because a loss could ruin
their season one year after making the NFC title game. But the Bears have lost
six straight games in Minnesota and doing so again likely sends the Vikings to
Soldier Field the following week.
Matt Nagy is the first Bears coach with a winning record in
a debut season since Paddy Driscoll went 9-2-1 in 1956, when George Halas took
a two-year hiatus.
The Vikings lead the league with 50 sacks and have allowed
the fewest TD drives (25) in the league for a second straight season after
giving up 23 in 2017.
OAKLAND (4-11) AT KANSAS CITY (11-4)
The Chiefs can clinch the AFC West and No. 1 seed in the
playoffs with a win and they have handled Oakland in seven of the past eight
meetings. But a loss and Chargers win drops Kansas City to fifth seed.
KC's top-ranked offense could be challenged a bit by a
Raiders D that has not allowed an opposing QB to throw for 300 yards in nine
straight weeks. Raiders QB Derek Carr has
an NFL-best streak of 325 passes without an interception.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (11-4) AT DENVER (6-9)
LA has in large part made its rush to the playoffs away from
its temporary California home: The Chargers have won five straight on the road,
tied for the franchises longest since the merger. Although QB Philip Rivers is
12-15 vs. Denver, including the playoffs, he's having a special season.
The Broncos are assured back-to-back losing seasons for the
first time since 1971-72. They lost Pro Bowl selection Philip Lindsay, an
undrafted free agent who has 1,037 yards rushing and nine TDs, to a wrist
injury.
SAN FRANCISCO (4-11) AT LOS ANGELES RAMS (12-3)
A win or tie gives LA a wild-card round bye. But the Rams
haven't been as dynamic with the ball recently, and star running back Todd
Gurley is battling knee issues, though Anderson filled in well last week
against Arizona. DT Aaron Donald leads
the NFL with 19+ sacks, and is in striking distance of Michael Strahan's record
of 22+. Donald had four sacks in the Rams' first meeting with the Niners.
San Francisco has had seven takeaways; the record for the
fewest in a season is 11, previously done by Chicago in 2016.
CAROLINA (6-9) AT NEW ORLEANS (13-2)
With nothing to accomplish as a guaranteed top NFC seed, the
Saints could rest people. Drew Brees leads
the NFL in completion rate at 74.4 percent (364 of 489), putting him in
position to break his own single-season record of 72 percent, set in 2017. New
Orleans never has won 14 games in a season, though such an achievement might
not be high priority.
Carolina goes with rookie quarterback Kyle Allen for
his first career start. He completed all four pass attempts last week after
starter Taylor
Heinicke left with an injury. No. 1 QB Newton was shut
down after 14 games.
NEW YORK JETS (4-11) AT NEW ENGLAND (10-5)
A victory would clinch New England's 13th first-round bye in
the AFC playoffs since 2001. The Patriots would also earn a first-round bye
with losses by Baltimore, Houston and Tennessee. New England also can clinch
home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win and losses by
Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers. New England has won five in a row
over Jets, who have been feisty the past few weeks as rookie quarterback Sam Darnold improves.
New England is the only team without a loss at home (7-0)
and is looking to complete an undefeated home regular season for the seventh
time since 2002. A win would be the Patriots' 500th in the regular season and
extend the team's NFL record to nine straight years with at least 11 victories.
ARIZONA (3-12) AT SEATTLE (9-6)
The Seahawks' superb retooling has landed it an NFC wild
card. Coach Pete Carroll signed a contract extension through 2021 season this
week.
A Cardinals loss would lock in the No. 1 pick in next
April's draft.
DALLAS (9-6) AT NEW YORK GIANTS (5-10)
Good chance for the Cowboys to get folks healthy as they are
locked into the fourth seed and will host a wild-card game next week. Dallas
won six of its past seven overall and has won three straight against the Giants. Ezekiel
Elliott leads the NFL with 1,434 yards rushing and has 2,001
yards from scrimmage. He's looking for a ninth straight game with 100 yards
from scrimmage, but how much action will he see?
Giants RB Saquon
Barkley ranks third in rushing (1,198 yards) and yards from
scrimmage (1,886). He needs 114 yards from scrimmage to join Eric Dickerson
(2,212 yards in 1983) and Edgerrin James (2,139 in 1999) as the only rookies
with at least 2,000 scrimmage yards in NFL history.
MIAMI (7-8) AT BUFFALO (5-10)
A December road game in Orchard Park never is enviable and
the Dolphins have lost five of the past six games there. This could be QB Ryan
Tannehill's final game as Miami's quarterback given his
inconsistency and frequent injuries.
Bills RB LeSean McCoy's
488 yards rushing are 149 shy of his career low set in his rookie season with
the 2009 Eagles.
ATLANTA (6-9) AT TAMPA BAY (5-10)
The Falcons have won four straight in this NFC South rivalry
that has little meaning Sunday. Falcons WR Julio Jones leads
the NFL with 1,539 receiving yards and has 104 catches.
Bucs WR Mike Evans averages
a league-leading 17.7 yards per catch (minimum 50 receptions) and ranks third
in the NFL with 1,418 receiving yards.
DETROIT (5-10) AT GREEN BAY (6-8-1)
Two of the NFL's most disappointing teams play out the
string. Detroit is trying to win consecutive games at Lambeau Field for the
first time since 1990-91.
Packers WR Davante Adams has
111 catches, two shy of breaking Sterling Sharpe's single-season franchise
record (112 in 1993). Adams needs 134 yards to break former teammate Jordy Nelson's
single-season yardage record of 1,519 in 2014.
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