Week 15

ATLANTA FALCONS (29) vs. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (28)

Let’s not dance around what happened on Thursday night: the Bucs choked. In a must-win game against an inferior division rival at home with a potential division title on the line, Tampa Bay choked away a 28-14 fourth-quarter lead and surrendered 15 unanswered points to lose on a walkoff field goal. This loss wasn’t as bad as the one against Peyton Manning in 2003, but it’s a very close second. 

On the last play of the third quarter, Bijan Robinson lost a fumble for the second time in four days. Just two minutes into the fourth, Baker Mayfield found Chris Godwin for a touchdown and the ensuing two point conversion attempt to increase the Buccaneer lead to 14. By that point, their offense returned to full strength. Mike Evans returned from Injured Reserve and caught six passes for 132 yards in his first game back. Jalen McMillan also came back from IR and came through with a couple big catches to give his team a spark. Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka and Bucky Irving also played on Thursday night. Baker Mayfield got sacked five times, but he still threw for close to 280 yards with a couple touchdown passes. All of a sudden, everything just fell apart. 

With 13:34 left in the game, the Falcons had to score on three straight drives to pull off an unthinkable comeback for the ages. Well on their first possession, it only took close to four minutes to go right down the field and make it a one-score game. However, head coach Raheem Morris weirdly kept the offense on the field to go for two and the pass was incomplete, which kept Tampa ahead by eight points. Onto the field came Baker Mayfield and on a drive where you thought he would put the game away, he threw a boneheaded interception to Dee Alford and it gave the Falcons the juice they needed. Once again, their offense proceeded to carve Tampa’s defense down the field and a fantastic touchdown reception from Kyle Pitts made the score 28-26. Now Atlanta had to go for two to tie the game but they once again failed and the Bucs were still ahead! 

Tampa Bay had three minutes left to make their opponent burn their final timeouts and pick up a couple first downs to run out the clock. Well they got the first part of the equation done but on second down and fourteen, Mayfield dropped back to pass and had Emeka Egbuka open crossing the middle of the field, but the ball was behind the intended target and it fell incomplete. That was the last thing the Bucs could afford to do in that situation because it allowed the clock to stop. Eventually, they had to punt and Cousins had 1:49 left to get into field goal range.

On the last drive of the night, a sack from Haason Reddick and a holding penalty from Jake Matthews forced 3rd and 28. Pitts found himself open for a 14 yard pickup but coming up was the biggest fourth down of the night. As Cousins dropped back to pass, he fit the ball in a tight window to Sills for a fantastic 21 yard reception. Once the Falcons picked up the first down, it was game over. Zane Gonzalez put on the finishing touches with a 43 game winning field goal and the choke job was finished. 

Let this sink in for a minute. The Falcons committed 19 penalties for 125 yards, their offense still didn’t have Drake London and their best defensive back AJ Terrell got flagged four times. The Bucs were up 14 points in the fourth quarter and they blew it. 

It’s like Todd Bowles learned nothing from last year. In two matchups against Tampa Bay that season, Kirk Cousins threw eight touchdown passes and just one interception. On Thursday night, he finished with over 370 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Without his best receiver, we all knew there were two guys the Bucs had to slow down: Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts. Both of them had career-defining performances. The running back had 175 total yards from scrimmage on 27 touches, while the former first-round pick tight end caught 11 passes for 166 yards with three touchdowns! Atlanta deserves a tremendous amount of credit for refusing to quit and never backing down when it felt like the game was lost, but Tampa Bay has nobody else to blame but themselves for this situation. They need to clean house pronto if they somehow lose the division to Carolina. 

The Falcons pull off a stunning win to improve to 5-9 and will now travel across the country to take on the Arizona Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Bucs lose for the fifth time in six weeks and slump to 7-7, with a huge trip on the road for a must-win showdown against the Carolina Panthers.

BUFFALO BILLS (35) vs. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (31)

Everybody was hoping the Patriots would lose this game and allow the Bills to stay alive in the hunt for the AFC East. I heard all the comments and opinions on social media, from talking pundits to casual fans. Well, they got what they wanted. 

After the first half, it looked like New England was going to win this game in a heartbeat. Their offense scored on four of its first drives, while the defense held Josh Allen to just 35 passing yards. Through two quarters, the Patriots were up 24-7 and it felt like Drake Maye was going to cement himself as the MVP winner. However, it turned out to be a mirage because the Bills completely flipped the switch to start the third quarter. 

In the final thirty minutes, Allen completed 13 of 15 passes for 158 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Maye, on the other hand, went five of twelve for 47 yards with no touchdowns and a pick against a defense without its best middle linebacker and top cornerback. Despite a 65 yard touchdown run from Treyveon Henderson that gave New England a three-point lead in the fourth quarter, Buffalo had a way better second half and completely stunned their most hated arch rival on their home field. In my mind, the better quarterback won the game. 

The reason why I say that everybody was hoping the Patriots would lose is because the minute the game ended, the national media found the perfect excuse to essentially say “we told you the Patriots were not that good.” All of a sudden, this team fell out of the top five in most power rankings made available to the public, including from Tom Brady of all people! Some of it is justified because there is a fear in the back of my mind that it is going to be like 2021 all over again, where New England just falls apart after the bye week. However, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now and say that they needed this loss to just get refocused, but there’s still so much cautious optimism.

The Bills even the series and are only a game behind from the division lead at 10-4, with a winnable game coming up on the road against the Cleveland Browns. The Patriots choke away a huge lead at home but are still in first place at 11-3 and will take the road for a huge showdown against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football.

BALTIMORE RAVENS (24) vs. CINCINNATI BENGALS (0)

This game was just depressing to watch. We all knew the Bengals had no chance of making the playoffs, but for them to get eliminated like that was just incredibly sad. It wasn’t even that convincing of a shutout win for Baltimore, but Cincinnati just made way too many mistakes. 

For the most part, Lamar Jackson had a solid afternoon, which is what the Ravens needed from him to keep their playoff hopes alive. He only had two incompletions and threw as many touchdown passes. In the second half, he only attempted three more passes, but there is no question his numbers would have been a lot better if it were not for a couple of bad drops from Zay Flowers, one of them leading to Jackson’s only interception of the game. All the offense really needed to do was not turn the ball over for the rest of the afternoon. As a result, they totaled 189 yards on the ground and simply played a game of keep-away. That allowed the defense to get their revenge from two weeks ago and completely shut Joe Burrow down.

In a last-ditch attempt to keep the team’s slim playoff hopes alive, Burrow ended up laying an egg on his home field. He finished the afternoon with just 225 passing yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, which included a pick six in the fourth quarter to officially put the game out of reach. There were certainly more than a few drives where Cincinnati could have scored points, but they failed. The offense went three for fifteen on third down, failed on a couple of fourth down attempts and the irony was that they possessed the ball for 39 minutes! Ja’Marr Chase even caught 10 passes for 132 yards, but without Tee Higgins, the only other guys to step up were both running backs Chase Brown and Samaje Perine. 

Overall, Baltimore was just the better football team and they proved that the less amount of mistakes they made, the better chances they had of winning. It’s amazing to see what a dud on Thanksgiving can do for a team in a rematch. I just wish they could have done this more last week at home against the Steelers.

The Ravens get a huge win on the road to keep their playoff hopes alive at 7-7 and will head back home for a must win matchup against the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. Meanwhile, the Bengals are officially eliminated from playoff contention at 4-10 and will now take the road to play the Miami Dolphins.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (48) vs. NEW YORK JETS (20)

I won’t put too much stock into the Jaguars after this win because they played Brady Cook and the New York Jets, but they accomplished something I never thought they would at the beginning of the year: win 10 games with a first-time head coach. As I said before, that choke job to the Texans lit a fire in that locker room and Liam Coen has this team back in the right direction. 

From a statistical standpoint, this was the best game of Trevor Lawrence’s career. He finished the afternoon with 330 yards, six total touchdowns and no interceptions. Travis Etienne only had 32 rushing yards, but also had three scores on as many receptions. Jacksonville only punted the ball once before the backups took the field and it prompted the Jets to fire their defensive coordinator Steve Wilks after the game. I said the Jaguars would win this game 31-10 and it turned out this was the score at halftime. This was just a simple beatdown and it played out the way many fans expected it to go.

Brady Cook, on the other hand, just looked pedestrian once again. He had his moments, but finished with just 176 yards on 33 pass attempts and threw three interceptions. It looked like this would be a surprisingly close game early on, but after a special teams penalty that took away a return touchdown from Isaiah Williams, Jacksonville inevitably put the game out of reach and proved to be a vastly superior football team.

The Jaguars take care of business at home to stay atop the AFC South at 10-4, but will take the road for a must-watch grudge match against the Denver Broncos. The Jets once again get crushed as they fall to 3-11 and will stay on the road to play the New Orleans Saints.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (16) vs. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (13)

Ladies and gentlemen, what we witnessed on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium was the end of a frustrating and agonizing season for the “model citizens” of the NFL. That is right. The Kansas City Chiefs have officially been eliminated from playoff contention. They will not win the AFC West again, they will not be back in the AFC Championship and a Super Bowl is not even a part of the discussion.

Patrick Mahomes got the ball to start the game and it looked like they were going to show up on their biggest day of the season, the way we thought it would. With close to 30 seconds left in the first half, the Chiefs were up 13-3 and played extremely well on both sides of the ball. However, when Justin Herbert got the ball to close out the period, he launched a couple of dimes that gave the Chargers a huge spark. The first was a 37 yard dart to Tre Harris that set the offense up in field goal, but two plays later, Herbert fired a beautiful touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith that cut the LA deficit to three, rather than just settling for a field goal to make it a seven point game. It turned out that was the momentum-swinging play of the game because what ensued in the second half turned out to be an ugly defensive slugfest. 

Through the final two quarters, the Chargers only scored six more points off of two made kicks from Cameron Dicker. Herbert finished the game with just over 200 passing yards, he got sacked four times and they only averaged three yards per carry on the ground. Normally, that would be enough for Kansas City to win the game, but their offense couldn’t do anything. Mahomes ended up getting sacked five times and finished the afternoon with just 189 passing yards. After LA took their first lead of the day, the Chiefs were in the red zone with a chance to get more points on the board, but their quarterback lofted an interception down the sideline to Daiyon Henley. However, LA punted the ball back with more than five minutes remaining, which was more than enough time for Kansas City to do what they usually do and win the game. Unfortunately, everything fell apart on the first play after the two minute warning.

On a rollout to the right, Mahomes tried to find somebody deep down the field but as he got rid of the ball, he got dragged down from behind and couldn’t get back up. It turned out that he tore his ACL, not only ruling him out the rest of the game, but it means he is out for the rest of the season and he could potentially miss half of next year as well. As soon as Mahomes got carried to the locker room, that was the end of their season. Gardner Minshew took over and threw a couple of decent passes, but he ended the game with an interception to Derwin James and just like that, Kansas City officially got knocked out of the postseason. 

I’m torn right now. Obviously, the face of the NFL suffered a season-ending injury and I think it is absolutely awful for the game. Having said that, this is nothing more than a failure of a season for the Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, one can argue it’s the biggest one in the last 25 years of the league. I get that they were in the Super Bowl the last three years and it’s the first season they won’t be in the AFC Championship. What does anything in the past have to do with right now? Everybody saw this team was completely flawed on all three levels, but nobody on the team wanted to believe they were going to miss the playoffs. They just wanted to enjoy the ride for as long as possible. I honestly don’t blame them. In reality, however, the Chiefs need a complete roster retool. Several changes to be made and if they somehow think it’s wise to bring the band back together again, this is going to be the same fate they suffer. 

The Chargers pull off the sweep and are now 10-4, with a must-win game coming up on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. Meanwhile, the Chiefs season is over as they fall to 6-8 and will take the road to play the Tennessee Titans.

HOUSTON TEXANS (40) vs. ARIZONA CARDINALS (20)

It only took the second play of the game for everyone to know that the Texans were going to win this game. Nico Collins took a simple slant to the house for a 57 yard touchdown and then on the ensuing kickoff, Jalen Brooks fumbled the ball on the return and Houston recovered, which blew the gates wide open. 

CJ Stroud had his best game of the season so far with just seven incompletions, 260 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. You could say it was against a very pedestrian Cardinals defense, but to see him finally look like the quarterback we loved so much after his rookie season was incredibly refreshing. What was more impressive was that the best running back for the Texans was not Woody Marks, but Juwhar Jordan with 101 yards on 15 carries! The offense only punted the ball one time, they were seven for thirteen on third down, fell one yard short of 400 and scored 40 points! There were definitely a couple drives where Houston could have done better, but for the most part, they made next to no mistakes that directly impacted the outcome of the game. 

The only positive I have for the Cardinals is that Trey McBride was the best player on the football field. He caught 12 passes for 134 yards with two touchdowns, yet the team still got blown out by 20. They were down 17-0 after the first quarter and near the end of the third, the score was 30-7. All Arizona proved is that they do better at generating empty calorie stats in garbage time than anybody else in the National Football League. I didn’t think this team would make the playoffs anyways, but I at least thought they’d be decent enough to string together a few upset wins. Instead, they have the same amount of wins as the Jets and Browns. If there aren’t any massive changes in this upcoming offseason, then they don’t deserve any sympathy from me.

The Texans win their sixth straight game to surge to 9-5 and will stay home to welcome the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cardinals lose their sixth game in a row to fall to 3-11 and will head back home to play the Atlanta Falcons.

CHICAGO BEARS (31) vs. CLEVELAND BROWNS (3)

The Bears finally won a blowout game at home against a terrible team? That’s honestly a surprise. Even if you want to say it’s against the Browns, you can’t say that Chicago didn’t play extremely well on Sunday. In fact, you could say it was their best game of the year since week three, when you look at the statistics.

Caleb Williams was sharp with just over 240 passing yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He did get sacked a few times, including two to Myles Garrett, but made sure to hold onto the football. D’Andre Swift continued to carry the rushing attack as he fell two yards short of 100 and scored twice. Personally, I felt like the score should have been a lot bigger, but Chicago’s offense finally showed some consistency. They looked poised, they were efficient and they didn’t let the Browns hang around at any point in the game! There haven’t been a lot of games where the Bears have accomplished that, so to see it finally happen against a team they were expected to beat is just a relief more than anything. 

From Cleveland’s perspective, it was the worst start for Shadeur Sanders this year. In the first half, he completed just four out of ten passes. He finished the afternoon with a decent completion percentage, but threw three interceptions and got sacked five times. The offense couldn’t run the ball at all, they only had two big passing plays the entire afternoon and the only three points they scored came off a fourth down stop near midfield. Guess how many first downs they had in the first half? One! They couldn’t even total 200 yards for the game! I truly didn’t think the Browns would win, but I at least thought they would be competitive! Instead, they got absolutely smacked around and all it did was let the world know that this might be the end for Kevin Stefanski as the head coach. I hate saying this because he is a two time Coach of the Year, but this team is only getting worse and they are going to need a new voice in the locker room just to give them a reason to want to play on Sunday.

The Bears bounce back with a convincing win at home and are back in first place of the division at 10-4, but it will be put to the test as they welcome the Green Bay Packers in a must-win showdown on Saturday night. The Browns get demolished on the road as they fall to 3-11 and will head back home to play the Buffalo Bills.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS (29) vs. NEW YORK GIANTS (21)

Although both teams would have a top ten draft pick if the season ended today, this turned out to be a pretty interesting game to watch. It looked like Washington was going to win in a blowout after leading 22-7 at halftime, but the Giants fought their way back and it turned out to be a scrappy finish. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch and the Commanders ended up hanging on for the win.

On the surface, this looked like a fair fight. Both offenses ran the ball extremely well and their quarterbacks made a lot of huge plays to keep their teams in the fight. They also struggled on third down and had their issues with penalties. But to make a long story short, the special teams turned out to be the biggest difference in the game. Younghoe Koo missed two field goals and Jaylin Lane had a couple of big returns that included one to the house from 63 yards away. Washington was able to score 13 points off of those New York miscues, yet they struggled to put the game away. That was because their offense fumbled the ball on their final two possessions, which gave the Giants a legitimate chance to send the game into overtime! However, when Dart got the ball back with 2:38 on the clock, he only totaled 13 more yards and failed to convert on a huge fourth down attempt that all but sealed the deal.

Should this game have been as close as it was? Absolutely not. Once Marcus Mariota hit Terry McLaurin for a 51 yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, it should have been over there. The Commanders were far from perfect, but at the end of the day, they never fell behind and they made more plays in all three phases to pull away. New York certainly had plenty of chances, but they just failed to take advantage and that’s why they still have a long losing streak.

The Commanders finally get a win and are now 4-10, heading back home to play the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday afternoon. The Giants lose their eighth game in a row to fall to 2-12 and will stay home to welcome the Minnesota Vikings.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (31) vs. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS (0)

I seriously thought the Raiders were going to beat the Eagles. I figured that because Pete Carroll hadn’t lost to this team in a long time that Kenny Pickett would pull a rabbit out of his hat and find a way to stun the defending champions. It turned out that Philadelphia finally lived up to expectations and did not make this a close game. It’s about time!

Jalen Hurts had a much cleaner game than he did last Monday night with only three incompletions and as many touchdown passes. He didn’t turn the ball over, he went ten for thirteen on third down and possessed the ball for 39 minutes! What I was more pleased with is that Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo had him moving around in the pocket more often, which was a huge reason why the Eagles totaled over 180 yards on the ground. This offense finally looked like the promising group we saw last year during the Super Bowl run and while it might have been against the worst team in the NFL, they didn’t fall into the trap. Instead, they wanted to put the league back on notice and let everyone know the NFC still has to go through Philadelphia.

As for Pickett, he looked absolutely terrible. He finished the game with just 64 passing yards; nine of them were in the second half! He threw an interception, got sacked four times and the Raiders couldn’t even crack 100 total yards of offense. Philly’s defense still had a lot of built up aggression over the last three defeats and decided to take it out on the worst offense in the NFL. Even if Geno Smith was healthy enough to play, I don’t believe the outcome would have been different. In fact, I feel like the score might have been worse. Overall, it was an epic mismatch of all proportions and Las Vegas just had no chance of winning whatsoever.

The Eagles finally get a big win to keep their division hopes alive at 9-5 and will take the road for a Saturday matchup against the Washington Commanders. Meanwhile, the Raiders lose their eighth game in a row to fall to 2-12 and will stay on the road to play the Houston Texans.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (18) vs. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (16)

Well, it happened. Philip Rivers played a football game in 2025. How did he look? Like a 44 year old grandfather that hadn’t taken a snap in five years. Let’s not make it any bigger than that. He had a couple big time throws, including a touchdown pass to Josh Downs that gave Indianapolis the lead at halftime, but looked really pedestrian. He only threw for 120 yards on 18 completions and didn’t score a touchdown in the second half. If that was “giving it his all”, then how much did he actually have left? In normal circumstances, this would be a blowout, yet this was a close game from start to finish. That was because their defense didn’t allow Sam Darnold to reach the end zone one single time.

Darnold looked alright with well over 270 yards, but with the lack of a strong running game, the Seahawks were abysmal on third down and didn’t score a touchdown all day. It’s why it took a 60 yard field goal from Blake Grupe just for the Colts to take a late-minute lead. To give Darnold credit, however, five of his six drives in the second half led to points. They just had to come off the leg of Jason Myers, who made all six of his field goal attempts, including one from 56 yards away to take the lead. Rivers had 18 seconds left to pull off a miracle, but on his first pass attempt of the drive, he ended the game with an overthrown interception to Coby Bryant. 

The national media wants to make this more about Rivers and the Colts continuing to fall apart, but my biggest takeaway from this game is that Seattle needs to be worried when the playoffs begin. They have a strong defense, yet their offense has been really inconsistent throughout the second half of the season. Their biggest game of the season is coming up in just four days because if the Seahawks win, they are one step closer to clinching the NFC West. If they lose, then they have to look forward to playing in the Wild Card Round. 

The Seahawks win their fourth game in a row and are now 11-3, but have a short week ahead as they take on the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football. The Colts lose their fourth straight game and are falling out of the playoff race at 8-6, with a trip back home to play the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.

DENVER BRONCOS (34) vs. GREEN BAY PACKERS (26)

Some believed that this should have been America’s Game of the Week and it felt justified. However, despite what the final score might tell you, it was not exactly the back-and-forth matchup we expected. The Packers looked like they were in control throughout the first half. The defense forced a fumble on the opening drive, the offense didn’t punt on either of their four possessions and they led by two at halftime. Sure, they settled for three field goals and the defense started to teeter near the end of the period, but all Green Bay had to do was not mess up and the win would be in their grasp.

Just three plays into the second half, Josh Jacobs surged through a hole for a 40 yard touchdown run and it put the Packers ahead by nine. On Denver’s first possession of the period, they went three-and-out and Green Bay was in a position to turn this game into a blowout. However, on Jordan Love’s very next pass attempt, he chucked an interception deep down the field to Patrick Surtain II and the play unfortunately knocked Christian Watson out of the game due to a chest injury. From that point on, the Broncos flipped a switch on both sides of the ball and went on a 20-3 scoring run to close the game. 

Bo Nix was absolutely phenomenal, throwing for over 300 yards and four touchdown passes with no interceptions. Given the circumstances, it was the best game of his career and he was the biggest reason why Denver clinched a playoff spot at home. The Packers, on the other hand, just simply fell apart. Love ended up throwing another interception to Riley Moss of all cornerbacks, the offense only totaled 55 more yards and they scored just three points. Even when the Broncos tried to keep the game alive with two failed fourth down attempts, Green Bay did next to nothing. Not only did their defense get torched in return, but they lost their best player Micah Parsons due to a torn ACL, officially putting their postseason run in jeopardy. 

Say what you will about the Broncos, but there are two reasons why they have won 11 games in a row. Their defense is incredible and the offense shows up when you need them the most. I’m surprised Sean Payton hasn’t been talked about more often when it comes to Coach of the Year because for him to join this organization and completely turn things around in the span of three seasons is phenomenal. All they need is another win and a Chargers loss to clinch the AFC West for the first time since 2015 and with the Chiefs being eliminated from the playoffs, it is bound to happen soon.

The Broncos win once again to remain the best team in the AFC at 12-2 and will stay home for another grudge match as they take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Packers lose in gut-wrenching fashion but are still in the playoff picture at 9-4-1 and will travel back to the Midwest for a must-win showdown against the Chicago Bears on Saturday night.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ers (37) vs. TENNESSEE TITANS (24)

We all knew the 49ers were going to win this game handily and find a way to put it out of reach, but all I kept thinking about afterwards was that the Titans are showing a lot more upside than they had all year. Their record is still atrocious and they still have way too many holes, but it wasn’t as bad of a blowout as I expected. At the end, however, it was clear San Francisco had a vastly superior football team.

Brock Purdy took care of business as he threw for 295 yards and three touchdown passes. The offense didn’t punt the ball once on eight drives, they went nine for fifteen on third down, four for six in the red zone and they possessed the ball for 37 minutes. Outside of one turnover forced by Jeffery Simmons, the 49ers were near-flawless the entire afternoon.

Cam Ward showed a lot more upside in this game, which is extremely impressive when you consider the degree of difficulty. He didn’t get sacked once, he threw a couple touchdown passes and didn’t turn the ball over. Tony Pollard had his second straight game of 100 yards and it was even a seven point game at halftime! Unfortunately, because the defense couldn’t force a single stop, the offense had to be near perfect just for the game to be close and it did not happen. San Francisco was clearly the better team and all they did was take care of business.

The 49ers get an expected win at home and are now 10-4, with a trip on the road for a Monday night matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. Meanwhile, the Titans are still in purgatory at 2-12 and will head back home to play the Kansas City Chiefs.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (20) vs. CAROLINA PANTHERS (17)

After the Bucs blew a 14 point lead to the Falcons on Thursday night, the Panthers had a chance to beat the Saints on the road and take first place in the division. Entering the fourth quarter, Carolina was ahead 17-10 and all they needed to do was hang on for 15 more minutes to tip the scales of the NFC South. Instead, they also completely gagged away the game. 

With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Panthers head coach Dave Canales decided to keep the offense on the field to go for it on fourth and one at the New Orleans 35 yard line. On a handoff to Chuba Hubbard up the gut, the Saints completely stuffed the run and gave their offense some breathing room. However, as they got into scoring range, they also tried to go for it on fourth down and failed. Carolina had multiple chances to close the deal and put the game away, but punted on their final two drives of the night. Tyler Shough, meanwhile, came alive.

With less than five minutes remaining, Shough carved the Panthers secondary up in just over two minutes and tied the game with a 12 yard touchdown pass to Chris Olave. When he got the ball back with 57 seconds left, not only did the rookie quarterback move past midfield, but he drew a personal foul penalty on Lathan Ransom that set up a game winning 47 yard field goal for new kicker Charlie Smyth. 

This game told me a lot about both teams. For New Orleans, they definitely have their quarterback of the future… for the time being. I still feel Shough needs a lot more development to reach his potential, but he’s currently 3-3 as the starting quarterback and there is plenty of upside. The minute he gets more help around him, I think New Orleans could have a decent season next year. 

Carolina, on the other hand, is in the exact same boat that Tampa Bay is in right now. Both of them had the division in their hands and they let it slip away with nobody else to blame but themselves. This makes their head-to-head series even more intriguing and captivating. One of them is going to barely win it by the skin of their teeth and possibly get sent home in the first round, while the other will miss the playoffs and make us completely disappointed in them. Get your popcorn ready, ladies and gentlemen!

The Saints pull off the sweep to finish the week 4-10 and will stay home to welcome the New York Jets. The Panthers completely lose their composure as they slump to 7-7 and will head back home for a must-win matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (41) vs. DETROIT LIONS (34)

Entering this game, both sides had a lot at stake. All the Rams needed was one win to clinch a playoff berth, but the Lions were more desperate as their playoff hopes were on the line. What we got was essentially a tale of two halves, where one played well in the first half and the other took over in the second. It should be no surprise to find out which side ended up getting the win.

Detroit did not start off strong as Jake Bates shanked a 43 yard field goal wide to the left, but Aidan Hutchinson gave this team a spark with an incredible interception that was returned all the way to the 17 yard line. It wasn’t like the Rams completely shut down after that turnover because they ended up scoring on three of their next four possessions of the half. However, the Lions offense proceeded to score on four straight drives and Jared Goff was responsible for three of them. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were slowed down by a vicious LA front seven, but the secondary had a lot of trouble slowing down Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. At halftime, their defense needed to make a lot of adjustments to string together a couple of stops and the offense would take care of the rest. Spoiler alert: they succeeded.

Throughout the second half, LA’s offense was fluid and near flawless, while the defense really stepped up. Detroit went three-and-out on three consecutive possessions, which allowed the Rams to storm all the way back and lead by as much as 14 with five minutes left in the game. Matthew Stafford finished the afternoon with close to 370 yards, Puka Nacua caught nine passes for 181 yards, while Blake Corum and Kyren Williams combined for nearly 150 yards on the ground. Jared Goff did his best to keep up in the fourth quarter, but the Rams just had more firepower. The Lions still had trouble running the football and it turned out that St. Brown and Williams were the only two receivers that made any sort of impact in the passing game. It was going to take perfection for them to pull off this road victory and unfortunately, this loss has kept them out of the Wild Card picture. LA proved to be the better football team and they finally got some revenge against the team that ended their season a couple years ago.

The Rams officially clinch a playoff spot at 11-3 but will take the road on a short week as they face off against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football. The Lions lose in heartbreaking fashion and are now 8-6, heading back home for a huge game at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS (34) vs. DALLAS COWBOYS (26)

On just the second play of the game, JJ McCarthy threw a pass that was deflected by Donovan Wilson off the blitz and intercepted by Quinnen Williams. That allowed the Cowboys to start at the Minnesota 35 yard line and thanks to a successful fake field goal attempt, they were able to capitalize off the miscue and score a touchdown! Normally, this would give Dallas all of the momentum they needed to make this a blowout, but the exact opposite happened.

If you told me Aaron Jones was only going to total 34 yards on 12 carries and Justin Jefferson would only catch two passes, I would have said the Vikings lost by 30. Instead, McCarthy quickly got over it and he ended up having one of the best games of his young career. Early in the second quarter, the game was actually tied at 14 and afterwards, Dallas failed to reach the end zone the rest of the night. 

It wasn’t like the Cowboys offense had trouble moving the football. CeeDee Lamb totaled 111 yards on just six catches, Javonte Williams had over 90 rushing yards and they reached the red zone five times. However, they were two for twelve on third down and settled for six field goal attempts from Brandon Aubrey. To everybody’s surprise, he missed two of them! The Vikings offense, on the other hand, looked promising!

McCarthy finished the night completing 15 of 24 pass attempts for 250 yards with three total touchdowns. Any time it felt like Dallas was going to seize momentum, Minnesota always found a way to respond and they eventually pulled away in the fourth quarter. Considering McCarthy didn’t have a running game and that his two best receivers were Jalen Nailor and TJ Hockenson, this was an amazing performance. As a result, he might have just crushed any false optimism the Cowboys had left when it comes to their playoff hopes.

The Vikings pull off a convincing upset on the road to improve to 6-8 and will stay on the road to play the New York Giants. Meanwhile, the Cowboys fall flat once again and are now 6-7-1, with a must win game at home coming up against the Los Angeles Chargers.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (28) vs. MIAMI DOLPHINS (15)

Why is anybody surprised that the Dolphins laid an egg like this? They do this every year! They were in a primetime game in cold weather against a team that is currently leading the AFC North. The writing was on the wall the minute this matchup was announced!

The first half was really sloppy and boring to watch. It took until the second quarter for either team to score points and there were only 17 seconds left when Pittsburgh scored their first touchdown to take the lead at halftime. However, it was totally a different story in the second half. The Steelers offense scored on three straight drives to take a 28-3 lead and even though the Dolphins scored a couple of late touchdowns, they were essentially in garbage time as the game was already decided. Aaron Rodgers finished the night with just four incompletions, a bit over 220 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Tua Tagovailoa, on the other hand, threw his league-leading 15th pick of the year and got sacked four times by a Steelers front without TJ Watt. After the game, head coach Mike McDaniel saw enough and decided to bench his quarterback for rookie Quinn Ewers. Tagovailoa is not even going to be the backup and will instead be demoted as the emergency-third string guy, signaling a potential end to his tenure in Miami. 

Pittsburgh got the win they needed to stay in first place in the division and keep Mike Tomlin’s winning streak alive. However, the Dolphins are in serious hell right now. Not only did this loss eliminate them from playoff contention, but Tua’s benching means that this is going to be a bleak offseason for this organization. McDaniel knew he had to make this decision just to keep his job, yet the price is that Tua’s time in Miami is over. He is going to be owed $53 million next year and who knows if anybody wants to eat that contract knowing his injury history. Six seasons ago, Dolphins fans wanted to lose as many games as possible to draft him. Now, they want him out of town. It really sucks because the sky was the moon for this young quarterback. However, his ceiling was incredibly low and the injuries he suffered just made it even more of a wasted tenure. He’ll most likely be starting for another team, but who knows how he will look when it happens?

The Steelers win convincingly at home to improve to 8-6 and will take the road for an intriguing matchup against the Detroit Lions. Meanwhile, the Dolphins are officially out of the playoffs and will now be 6-8, heading back home to play the Cincinnati Bengals.