In the first of two weekends with Saturday games, two of the league’s top teams were featured.
Unfortunately, they didn’t play one another. The Bills wrapped the AFC East title for the first time since 1995 with an emphatic 48-19 victory over the Broncos. In the nightcap, the Packers remained atop the NFC playoff standings with a 24-16 win over the Panthers.
That brings us to Sunday, with a big Chiefs-Saints clash and the surprising, fun Browns finishing up the day in prime time.
All times Eastern.
49ers (5-8) at Cowboys (4-9) | ||
Seahawks (9-4) at Washington (6-7) | ||
Bears (6-7) at Vikings (6-7) | ||
Patriots (6-7) at Dolphins (8-5) | ||
Jaguars (1-12) at Ravens (8-5) | ||
Buccaneers (8-5) at Falcons (4-9) | ||
Lions (5-8) at Titans (9-4) | ||
Texans (4-9) at Colts (9-4) | ||
Eagles (4-8-1) at Cardinals (7-6) | ||
Jets (0-13) at Rams (9-4) | ||
Chiefs (12-1) at Saints (10-3) | ||
Browns (9-4) at Giants (5-8) |
1 p.m. games
The Ravens arrive for their game against the lowly Jaguars after a Monday night victory in which Lamar Jackson reminded everyone why he was last season’s MVP with a memorable fourth-quarter performance in a must-win game. Jackson returned to the field in the final quarter after leaving to be treated for cramps. The Ravens emerged with a win that kept them in the running for a playoff berth. “If you wrote a movie script about this, people wouldn’t believe it,” Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said. …
The Washington Football Team continues to demand attention with its four-game winning streak, behind a defense that is ranked sixth in points allowed and third in passing yards allowed. The front seven, led by Chase Young (who had six tackles, a sack, two passes defended, two quarterback hits and a 47-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown against the 49ers last week), is playing well — no surprise given that Coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio were high-level defensive players in their playing days. The downside? Quarterback. Dwayne Haskins will start in place of Alex Smith, who left the game against the 49ers with a calf injury on the same leg that he has had 17 surgeries.
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At this point, they’re not a team the Seahawks want to see, particularly after an earlier East Coast jaunt in which they lost to the Giants. …
Bill Belichick’s Patriots and Tom Brady’s Buccaneers could be headed for opposite fates. Clinging to eligibility for a playoff berth after winning 11 division titles in a row, the Patriots, who face the Dolphins, will win no more than nine regular season games for the first time since 2002.
Brady and the Buccaneers get the chance to prove they are on the right track toward the playoffs with a game against the Falcons. Placing less of a burden on their 43-year-old quarterback makes sense. Over their first 12 games, the Buccaneers had run on just over 36 percent of their offensive snaps. In the first game since their bye, they used running plays 53 percent of the time to beat the Vikings. Is it a trend or an anomaly? …
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The Cowboys find their game flexed, and not in a good way. They may still be a TV ratings juggernaut, but the prospect of televising the 4-9 team against the 5-8 49ers was too much to bear. So their game, which looked so appealing when the schedule was drawn up in the spring, was moved from the “Sunday Night Football” slot. Instead, another NFC East team — the Giants — will play in prime time, against the Browns.
Late afternoon games
The Saints and Chiefs are striving to get a No. 1 seed and the playoff bye it carries in their respective conferences. The NFC lead slipped away from the Saints last week, but the Chiefs maintain the AFC’s No. 1 spot. Drew Brees will return as the Saints’ starting quarterback, according to reports, after missing four games with broken ribs and a punctured lung. The Saints are coming off an upset loss to the Eagles that snapped their eight-game winning streak, but they bring one of the NFL’s best defenses into the game against the AFC’s top offense.
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Tight end Travis Kelce has a league-leading 1,250 receiving yards and could become the first tight end in NFL history to lead the league in the category. His quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, was both human (with a 30-yard sack and three interceptions) and superhuman as the Chiefs pulled out a win at Miami despite committing four turnovers. Kansas City’s running game has gone missing, managing fewer than 100 yards in four of its past six games. …
The Eagles, trying to kick-start their season, have a new quarterback, with Jalen Hurts getting his second start against the Cardinals. In the victory over the Saints, Miles Sanders rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns, marking the first time in 56 games (since Nov. 19, 2017) that a player had rushed for more than 100 yards against New Orleans. Hurts also topped 100 yards, with 18 carries for 106. Only he and Lamar Jackson have rushed for 100 or more yards in their first NFL start. For what it’s worth, the Eagles are 11-3 under Coach Doug Pederson (including the playoffs) in games in which Carson Wentz did not start. With Wentz under center, they’re 35-33-1.
Sunday night game
The preseason odds of a Browns-Giants game being flexed into prime time would have been astronomical, but here we are. And the NFL made the decision before Cleveland’s wild, dizzying loss Monday night to the Ravens in which the teams combined to score 89 points, 20 of them in the final two minutes. Baker Mayfield passed for 343 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another score. More importantly, he was terrific with the game on the line, running or passing for a touchdown on each of the Browns’ final three drives. It ended with a tough loss, but the Browns appear headed for their first playoff berth in 18 years.
As for the Giants, they remain in contention in the NFC East, though their four-game winning streak was ended last week by the Cardinals.
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