Burrow, Allen, Prescott. Three unbelievable quarterback performances this week. All three were the main reason their teams came away with big division wins.
The NFC now has five teams who have clinched playoff spots: Green Bay, Dallas, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, and Arizona. The final two spots will be some combination of San Francisco, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Minnesota. Sorry Atlanta, it’s not happening.
The AFC is a different story with only Kansas City having clinched. Tennessee, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Indianapolis, and New England all seem like the safe bets. That leaves one spot between Baltimore, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Miami, and Cleveland. The Chargers absolutely screwed themselves by losing to the Houston Texans when they entered the weekend holding the final spot.
By this time next week, the playoff picture should be much stronger with more focus being towards what the final seeding will be. For now, here’s the takeaways from Week 16.
Burrow’s Historic Day Buries Ravens
Two games between Baltimore and Cincinnati and two dominant performances by the Bengals. Cincinnati road the back of Joe Burrow this time on their way to a 41-21 victory. Burrow threw for a Bengals’ record 525 yards and four touchdowns on 36-47 passing. The magnificent game also put Burrow’s name in NFL history books as the fourth highest passing total for a single game in NFL history. It was a near perfect performance from last year’s number one overall pick as he spread the ball around to his entire offense, including Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase who both went over 100 yards receiving. Joe Mixon also paced the offense with 135 all purpose yards. The win now puts Cincy, the only AFC North to miss the playoffs last season, one win away from a division title. With their young offensive core, the Bengals’ future is certainly bright, but this season might have more in store than anyone expected.
Chiefs Make Steelers Their Plaything, Hold Top Seed in AFC
No Travis Kelce, but it didn’t matter as Kansas City continues to look like they are completely back after a 36-10 reckoning of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers looked lifeless for a team that is still hanging around in the AFC playoff race. I mean, at one point Diontae Johnson fumbled the football away to Kansas City without even being contacted. It’s been said before, but Ben Roethlisberger looks like the sport has passed him by. He’s had a couple good moments this season, but this was one of the many that was hard to watch. Let’s not take away from the Chiefs though. They are on a NFL leading eight game win streak, on top of the entire AFC with two games to play, and their defense that was one of the worst in the league to open the season has now played mostly well over the span of their run. Patrick Mahomes has also cleaned up his game by throwing only four interceptions during the winning streak compared to the nine in the first seven games of the season. The Chiefs will end the regular season with two good road tests to prepare for the playoffs as they travel to Cincinnati and Denver. With Tennessee still only one game back and holding the head to head tie breaker, the Chiefs may need to extend that win streak to 10 games to clinch that first round bye.
Turnovers the Difference in Green Bay Win Over Cleveland
The Green Bay Packers snuck away with a 24-22 win over the Cleveland Browns and their most important player came from the quarterback position, but it wasn’t Aaron Rodgers. Baker Mayfield threw four interceptions in a game that Cleveland had played well enough to win. By almost all accounts, the Browns outplayed the Packers. They finished with more total yards, possession time, and first downs. The old adage “Turnovers lose games” was never more true though, as Mayfield’s four interceptions were four more than the Packers. Aaron Rodgers was clinical, but not dominant, finishing with 202 yards and three touchdowns. The Packers continue to pull out close games with wins more often than just about any team in the NFL which is a big reason they still own the number one seed in the NFC. They will play the Minnesota Vikings, the last team to beat them, next week on Sunday Night Football. The Browns need to go 2-0 at Pittsburgh and then at home against Cincinnati for any chance to make the playoffs. The bigger question for Cleveland might start to be whether Baker Mayfield is actually a longterm solution at quarterback.
Colts Continue Rise While Cards Continue Slide
It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the Indianapolis Colts have put together their second three game winning streak in seven games after handing the Arizona Cardinals their third straight loss by the score of 22-16. Jonathan Taylor rushed for 108 yards with a decimated offensive line, but was mostly held in check by the Arizona defense. Carson Wentz was forced to make some big plays, including a beautiful 14 yard touchdown pass to Dezmon Patmon as Wentz was escaping the pocket. The Colts defense also made some big stops down the stretch to hold the Kyler Murray led Arizona offense to only 16 total points. Murray and the Cards have continued to have a hard time finding the chemistry they had to start the season when they looked like one of the best teams in the league. This particular game served a lot of plays for Chase Edmonds in both the rushing and passing game. Edmonds looked good, but Murray still seems like he doesn’t feel as comfortable without the safety belt of a premier wide receiver like DeAndre Hopkins. The Cardinals already have a playoff spot clinched, but if head coach Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t fix his team’s recent issues soon, they will be one and done. On the other hand, the Colts are still technically in a crazy AFC wild card race. With their final two games against the Raiders and on the road against Jacksonville, they should remove any doubts of their post season legitimacy soon.
Bills Get Revenge Over Pats
Heading into the weekend it looked like the Buffalo Bills would likely need to go 3-0 to ensure they make the playoffs. Considering the amount of inconsistency from the Bills and one of the games being against the New England Patriots, it seemed like Buffalo may miss out on the post season. The Bills did a lot for their playoff picture after a 33-21 win over the Patriots on Sunday. Josh Allen looked like one of the MVP favorites he was expected to be with 314 yards passing for three touchdowns while also including 64 yards rushing. The Bills defense also played well, giving Mac Jones one of his toughest performances in his rookie season as he threw for only 145 yards and completed less than half of his attempts while throwing two interceptions. The win allowed Buffalo to swap places with New England for top dog in the AFC East. It seems like more than ever the AFC East will find two teams in the playoffs. If the Bills can play like they did on Sunday on a more consistent basis, they could make a return to the AFC Championship.
WFT Turns to WTF in Blow Out to Cowboys
There was the Dak Prescott we saw at the beginning of the season. Prescott, who has struggled recently, was on fire in the Dallas Cowboys’ 56-14 massacre of the Washington Football Team on Sunday Night Football. The Dallas quarterback finished with 330 yards passing and four touchdowns against the division rival. Washington forced the Cowboys to punt on their first series, but a Taylor Heinicke interception on WFT’s first offensive play led to Dallas dominance the rest of the way. The Cowboys took a 42-7 lead into the half. Beyond Prescott throwing all over the field at will, Dallas also had an interception and blocked punt that were both returned for touchdowns. Although WFT may not be the most elite of competition, it is the type of win that can get people to believe that Dallas is a serious contender in the NFC playoffs. The Cowboys still have a chance at a first round bye if they can go 2-0 against Arizona and on the road against Philadelphia, while the Green Bay Packers would need to lose one of their final two games against Minnesota or Detroit.
Looking Ahead to Week 17
There are only two weeks left in the NFL regular season and although the playoff picture is looking clearer, there’s still some questions we need answered. There’s a good chance we get at least a few of those answers next week.
Kansas City vs Cincinnati will be great game to start off Sunday between two teams that can absolutely fill up a scoreboard. The Chiefs will carry their eight game winning streak to Cincy, while the Bengals will be coming off of Joe Burrow’s amazing performance this week. The game will also be important for both teams’ playoff position. Kansas City is still hoping to clinch a 1st round bye, while Cincinnati wants to clinch the AFC North title.
Miami travels to Tennessee to hopefully extend their seven game win streak. This Miami season has been one of the strangest in recent memory by having a seven game losing streak and winning streak in the same season. Tennessee is coming off a big win over San Francisco and still has hopes of jumping Kansas City for the number one seed in the AFC.
The Baltimore Ravens will look to end their four game slide when they welcome the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams are coming off an ugly win in Minnesota, but now lead the NFC West so they will look to keep that spot. The Ravens have the last spot in the AFC playoffs as of right now and with so many suitors behind them, another loss would be devastating to their post season hopes.
Arizona is also looking to end a three game losing streak, but will have to travel to Dallas to do it. That won’t be easy against a Cowboys team that is coming off of one of their best overall performances of the season. Dallas still has hopes of catching Green Bay for the number one seed, but they will likely have to win out to do so.
Speaking of Green Bay, they will get a rematch against Minnesota and have an opportunity to avenge their last loss. Since the first game, Green Bay has had plenty of close games, but hasn’t experiences another loss. Minnesota has gone 2-3 since then. Green Bay should expect the best Minnesota has to offer though, as another loss will likely end any hopes of a Vikings post season berth.
The Monday Night Football game will likely be an ugly, but important game between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. Both are coming off bad losses for different reasons. Baker Mayfield basically gift wrapped a Packers victory with his interception frenzy game. The Steelers had barely any fight as Kansas City threw them around like a rag doll. One thing is certain though. The loser of this game will not be in the playoffs while the winner may still have a sliver of hope.
We are three weeks from playoff football but considering the urgency some teams are feeling and the continuous wild card races in both conferences, it feels like playoff football already. Enjoy it folks. Before we know it, it will be the offseason.