Michigan has found their man! The Wolverines have named a new head coach. Former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham will now be the head coach at Michigan. Whittingham stepped down from Utah at the end of this season, but made it very clear he was not done with coaching. Andy Staples and Steven Godfrey react to this hire and discuss if they think Whittingham is the right man for the job. Can he succeed immediately at Michigan, and what does immediate success look like?
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Then, the guys turn their sights to the upcoming College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchups. First, they preview the Rose Bowl. Top-seeded Indiana takes on ninth-seeded Alabama. Andy and Godfrey discuss if Alabama can win this game and what they have to do to upset the Hoosiers. They also look at how dominant Indiana has been this year and discuss what Indiana may focus on for this game.
Later, Andy and Godfrey look across the country and preview the Orange Bowl. Fifth-seed Oregon takes on fourth-seed Texas Tech. The crew discusses if Texas Tech can handle Oregon’s offense and what the Red Raiders can do to win this game. On the flip side, they look at how Oregon’s defense can impact this game and what the Ducks’ offense may do differently in the Orange Bowl. Can Oregon make a run in the Playoff like Ohio State did last year?
Get ready for the quarterfinals with College Football Enquirer.
Kyle Whittingham named Michigan head coach Photo by Dustin Markland/Getty Images
Scottie Barnes went off for the Toronto Raptors on Sunday afternoon.
Barnes dropped a monster triple-double to lead the Raptors to a 141-127 overtime win against the Golden State Warriors at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday. He had the triple-double secured before overtime even began, and had a career-high 25 rebounds in the win — which is the most recorded by a player in a single game anywhere in the league so far this season. It also matched the Raptors’ franchise record set by Bismack Biyombo in 2016, too.
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Barnes had 23 points and 10 assists to go with his 25 rebounds. It marked the seventh triple-double of his career, and the first ever 20-20 triple-double in Raptors history. Barnes is now just the second player since 1980 to record a 20-25-10 game anywhere in the league, along with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić.
The Warriors seemed well on pace to grab the win in Canada on Sunday afternoon, and held a four-point lead entering the fourth quarter. But Toronto ended regulation on a 9-2 burst and forced overtime after Barnes tipped in a rebound to tie the game up with about 23 seconds left. Brandon Ingram had a look to win it at the end, but he was off the mark.
By then, the Warriors were done. The Raptors opened the extra period on a 10-0 run and ended up out-scoring Golden State 19-5 in overtime to cruise to the 14-point win.
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Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 39 points, 14 of which came in the third quarter alone. He didn’t score once in overtime, however, and went 4-of-11 from behind the arc. Draymond Green added 21 points and seven assists, and Jimmy Butler finished with 19 points.
The loss snapped a three-game win streak for Golden State, which now sits at 16-16. They’ll face the Brooklyn Nets in New York next on Monday night in the second game of a three-game road trip.
Immanuel Quickly had 27 points and seven assists to go with Barnes’ triple-double. Brandon Ingram added 26 points, too. They shot 51% from the field as a team and scored 35 points off of the Warriors’ 21 turnovers, which is the most points they’ve allowed so far this season.
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Barnes and the Raptors now hold a 19-14 record after the win, which was their second in their last three games. They’ll host the Orlando Magic next on Monday night.
At a different time in my adult life, I was a Tournament Scrabble player. Yeah, that’s a thing. Sometimes, I’d spend a weekend playing games upon games, spinning my mind for hours and trying to scrape out every point I could.
At those long tournaments, I’d generally hope for a fair draw, an even draw. I don’t need all the breaks, just give me a fighting chance. I’ll find a way to make it work for 10 or 20 or even 31 games.
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Until the last round, of course. At that point, forget equity. In the finale, may the tile gods smile on me, may I run pure. Easier on the nerves and the stomach.
My fantasy ethos is the same. Give me a fair draw for the first 16 weeks; sounds good, I can work with that. In Week 17, I’m not opposed to getting lucky. Let’s build a lifetime memory in the championship round.
Derrick Henry managers can relate. Henry was a useful but unspectacular back for most of his age-31 season, sitting at RB11 entering this week. The Ravens didn’t have Lamar Jackson available Saturday at Green Bay, and the Packers needed the game, too. Henry was playable here, but far from a smash pick. His ECR sat at a modest RB12.
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And then Henry broke the slate — 36 carries, 216 rushing yards, four touchdowns. It’s a new personal best for carries, his second career four-touchdown game, his seventh date over 200 yards. It’s also the second-best fantasy game of his career by basic scoring, or his third-best game if you prefer a PPR lens.
Derrick Henry was a league-winner after all in 2025 — if you could navigate to the finals.
Jahmyr Gibbs managers don’t want to hear any of this. Gibbs looked like the best running back in football about a month ago, but his fantasy playoffs were a dud. He was held to the RB33 finish against the Rams in Week 15 (7.8 points), he was passable versus the Steelers (17.8 points, the late touchdown helped) in Week 16 and then bottled up on Christmas at Minnesota. When the Vikings had finished off the Lions, Gibbs was sitting on a modest 64 total yards, no touchdowns, just two catches. He lost a fumble, too. The result, a grand total of 5.4 fantasy points.
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The Minnesota defense was a dangerous matchup, but no rational person was going to rest Gibbs. The top echelon of offensive talent has to be started, no questions asked. But they pay the guys on defense, too.
Maybe the crumbling Detroit offensive line was too much to overcome. Gibbs didn’t top 4.0 yards per carry in any of the past five weeks. Sometimes his passing-game chops bailed him out, sometimes that wasn’t enough.
One additional reason to play Henry or Gibbs this week was that their teams were incentivized to win. We knew they’d at least leave it all on the field, do whatever it takes. Conversely, it can be risky to ride with non-contending teams at this time of the year. Sometimes they’ll rest a bunch of key players; other times, those teams will struggle with focus or motivation. We’d like to think no one ever packs it in for the year, but sometimes that’s the case, which leads me to …
A meaningless game in reality proves key for fantasy
I was hoping the Cardinals and Bengals could give us a pinball game Sunday, no matter that they’re not contending clubs. Jacoby Brissett had been pretty good for two months, although he slumped last week against Atlanta. Joe Burrow obviously returned to action just a month ago. Neither team has much on defense, so let’s line up the players and watch them score.
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The Bengals got the memo — heck, they dictated the memo for three hours. Burrow chucked for 305 yards and two scores, Ja’Marr Chase did his thing (7-60-2), Chase Brown turned 25 touches into 141 total yards and two scores. Cincinnati’s sleepwalking loss to Baltimore two weeks back shook our faith, but the Bengals posted 400-plus yards the next two games, en route to 82 total points. If you survived the fantasy regular season in Cincinnati, The Burrow Show came back just in time.
I wish Arizona had punched back more, although the concentration of the offense saved some fantasy managers. Brissett fell far short of the 400 yards I called for in our Week 17 bold predictions, but at least he threw for two scores and put up some garbage time production. Trey McBride (10-76-1) and Michael Wilson (5-89-1) continued to be volume monsters, absorbing 23 of the 35 Arizona targets.
Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops. Marvin Harrison Jr. is still battling a heel injury and probably shouldn’t have played — he drew just one target, which fell incomplete and left the game early. The Cardinals couldn’t keep the game competitive, which crushed Michael Carter’s case (nine touches, 43 yards).
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There’s no perfect rule for the non-contending teams. For about nine weeks, Brissett was a right answer — but not the last two weeks. McBride was a monster all year, especially after the QB change, and had one of the best TE seasons in recent memory. Wilson proved to be a useful pickup, though he was easier to trust when Harrison wasn’t in uniform.
Other fantasy booms and busts
— It’s a shame the NFC South can’t send the Saints to the NFL playoffs, because it’s pretty obvious New Orleans is the best team in that division right now. New Orleans outscored the Titans, 34-26 and gave us a bunch of fantasy utility. Tyler Shough was super again (333 passing yards, two scores) and he kept pitching the ball to Chris Olave (8-119-1) and Juwan Johnson (4-95-0), just like we want. Olave merely needed a healthy season to pay off, and Johnson was a gettable fantasy sleeper if you focused on his sizable contract extension.
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There was one fantasy downside in the New Orleans huddle — the Taysom Hill number didn’t repeat. Apparently, his smash game last week was a hometown farewell thing, because he hardly played against Tennessee (just three touches). Meanwhile, Audric Estimé (14-94-1) lugged the mail and looked like the pile-mover he was at Notre Dame.
— It was a great day to have Patriots on your roster, as everything gloriously came in during a 42-10 romp of the hapless Jets. TreVeyon Henderson was healthy enough for 19 carries (82 yards), although we would have liked a touchdown. But Rhamondre Stevenson scored twice, and Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry also had receiving touchdowns. Drake Maye had his way with the New York defense, throwing five touchdown passes against just two incompletions. And of course, the Jets didn’t manage an interception — they’re stuck on zero picks through 16 games, an amazing feat of incompetence. Maye is the QB2 on the week; 32.44 fantasy points with just two games left on the slate.
I told half the free world to bench Breece Hall in this likely blowout, but Hall wound up coming in with a 59-yard touchdown in garbage time. Given that the Patriots had a 32-point lead at halftime, I’m not sure how engaged New England truly was when Hall was ripping off his scoring run. But hey, it counts. It’s not the most sustainable business model, but it counts.
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— They say success has many parents but failure is an orphan, yet a lot of the fantasy duds could be traced to poor quarterback play. Bryce Young (54 yards, 2.3 YPA) sunk Tetairoa McMillan (one catch, five yards). Philip Rivers (147 yards, 4.7 YPA) and Aaron Rodgers (168 yards, 4.3 YPA) played like the 40-something quarterbacks they are. Jared Goff (five sacks) was harassed and confused by the Minnesota defense for three hours on Christmas. And of course, Detroit’s offensive struggles enabled Max Brosmer (51 yards passing) to be camouflaged on the other side.
— The Week 17 quarterback leaderboard was a mixture of mobile QBs and pocket guys. Maye’s five scores pushed him into the 30s, so his legs (22 yards) were just a garnish. Malik Willis, Trevor Lawrence and Jaxson Dart each rushed for two scores, and Bo Nix punched in a touchdown. The top real-life quarterbacks generally throw proactively for their best results, but mix in the running as a nice change-up. The running plays can be a key club in your bag, but you don’t want to hit it on every shot.
Whether or not Drake Maye wins MVP doesn’t matter to the New England Patriots. They’re set up at quarterback for a long time. And they might even be good enough to make it to the Super Bowl this season.
Maye completed 19-of-21 passes for 256 yards and five touchdowns for a near-perfect 157 passer rating. Maye is the first quarterback since 1981 with five touchdowns and a completion percentage better than 90%, according to CBS’ broadcast. Maye put up those numbers despite sitting out the final 20:31 of the game because it was a blowout. Had head coach Mike Vrabel wanted to run up the score, Maye could have challenged the single-game record of seven touchdowns. It’s not like the Jets were going to stop him.
The Jets are barely a professional team this season, but it was still impressive to see Maye carve them up like he did. Last week he threw for a career-best 380 yards in a comeback win over the Ravens. In Week 17 he set a career high for touchdown passes in a game. He had never thrown for more than three in a game before Sunday.
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The MVP debate will be interesting. The one thing in Maye’s favor is the Patriots kept themselves in position to win the AFC East with Sunday’s win. A quarterback from a wild-card team hasn’t won MVP since Peyton Manning in 2008. Stafford seems to have the MVP lead, but team success carries a lot of weight with some voters. The Patriots still have a shot at the No. 1 seed as well, which would help Maye’s case.
Theoretically Maye will have more opportunities to win MVP. This is a massive second-year breakout. The Patriots were in the quarterback abyss after Tom Brady’s retirement, but that lasted only a few years before they found their next star. Maye has had a great season and he continues to improve as it goes along. That’s a great sign for the future, and perhaps this postseason as well.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 17 of the NFL season:
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WINNERS
Vic Fangio: Last season the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense, along with Saquon Barkley, were the key strengths to a Super Bowl team.
If the Eagles have any chance of making another Super Bowl, it’s because of their defense, which has become one of the NFL’s best again in the second half of this season under Fangio’s leadership.
Philadelphia’s offense did practically nothing in the second half, but its defense held on for a 13-12 win. Josh Allen scored on a quarterback sneak with five seconds left, but when the Bills went for the 2-point conversion and the lead Allen missed an open Khalil Shakir in the end zone. The Eagles did a good job bottling up Allen for most of the game. Philadelphia shut out Buffalo in the first half, which was useful when its offense disappeared after halftime.
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The Eagles had just 16 yards in the second half. Philadelphia has a major problem on offense that seems unlikely to be fixed. But defense will keep the Eagles in games, if the offense decides to join the party in the offseason.
Joe Burrow: All it takes is some wins for negative narratives to fade away.
Burrow was unhappy a couple weeks ago and expressed that. Every comment he made was taken to mean he wanted to leave the Cincinnati Bengals, even when he said otherwise, which was unfair to Burrow, the franchise and Bengals fans too. Burrow’s state of mind will come up again in the offseason, but for now it’s on the back burner.
He followed up a solid Week 16 game and a win with another productive performance in a 37-14 Bengals win over the Arizona Cardinals. Burrow had two touchdown passes to Ja’Marr Chase in the first half, and that was enough against a depleted Cardinals team that has one win since Week 2. Burrow had 305 yards and those two scores when he was pulled with less than 12 minutes remaining in the blowout win.
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We haven’t heard the last about Burrow’s discontent. But it’s less of a hot topic when the Bengals win.
Cam Ward and Tyler Shough: It’s hard to judge Ward’s rookie season. There have been great highlights, but not much sustainable success. The Titans’ offense has been miserable, but how much of that is a miserable situation around him, including an interim coaching staff for much of the year?
The positive is that Ward is playing better late in the season. He had more of his highlight throws even though the Titans lost 34-26 to the New Orleans Saints. Ward had 251 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the loss.
The Saints have their own rookie success story. Second-round draft pick Tyler Shough has played very well in the second half of the season, and had 333 yards and two touchdowns Sunday. He has earned the right to be the team’s starter to begin the 2026 season. He still has a shot to take NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
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Ward has shown promise too. The Titans’ record is still an awful 3-13, but they have played much better in the second half of the season, including Ward. There’s a lot of work to do in Tennessee but the Titans should feel good about the way their rookie quarterback is finishing the season.
The Steelers needed to beat the Cleveland Browns on Sunday to clinch the AFC North after the Baltimore Ravens won Saturday night to stay alive. But the Steelers’ offense sputtered without Metcalf, their best receiver who was suspended two games for going to the stands and taking a swing at a fan who was taunting him. The Steelers lost 13-6 to a Browns team that did a fine job playing spoiler.
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Pittsburgh’s Week 18 game against the Ravens will be for the division title. And Metcalf will miss that one, too.
The Steelers had a chance at the end when they got to the 7-yard line in the final seconds trailing by a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers threw incomplete four straight times and the Browns had the upset win. Metcalf might have been the difference in that goal-to-go situation. But he was at home watching, as he will when the Steelers try to make the playoffs next week.
New York Giants fans: The reaction on social media from Giants fans over the team’s win Sunday seemed to be almost unanimous. They’d have much rather seen a loss.
The Giants couldn’t help but beat a Las Vegas Raiders team that is completely inept and also was putting star players on IR to ensure they wouldn’t play in Sunday’s game that had major draft implications. The Giants would have clinched the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft with a loss, but they won easily, blowing out the Raiders.
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You can’t tell coaches and players to not try, and the Giants were clearly the better team, which says way more about the Raiders’ situation than anything good about the Giants. New York will still have a top-seven pick in next year’s draft. Giants fans wanted the top pick as a consolation for a miserable season, but the Raiders will clinch that if they lose next week against the visiting Chiefs.
Bryce Young is feeling the pain of not being able to clinch a playoff berth on Sunday against the Seahawks. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
(David Jensen via Getty Images)
NFC South: Nobody wants to win the NFC South. Certainly, nobody wants to see that division’s champion in the playoffs.
The NFC South is sputtering to a sad but dramatic finish. The division will come down to Week 18. On Sunday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered their seventh loss in eight games, this time a 20-17 defeat to a Dolphins team that is being quarterbacked by Quinn Ewers. That opened up the possibility of the Carolina Panthers clinching the division with a win, but they fumbled that away against the Seattle Seahawks, who went on the road and won 27-10 to maintain their lead in the NFC West and for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
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Carolina’s loss means the Panthers-Buccaneers game in Week 18 will likely be for the division championship. There is a scenario in which the Falcons win their final two games (they play the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night), the Buccaneers win in Week 18 and the Panthers take the division title because they have the three-way tiebreaker with Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta all finishing 8-9. The Buccaneers win a two-team tiebreaker with the Panthers.
Either way, no team from the NFC South deserves to make the playoffs. At least the Seahawks are a quality team and the Panthers losing to them isn’t embarrassing. The Buccaneers are losing to everyone lately. There was a report from NFL Media that entirely dismissed the idea that Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles is on the hot seat, but that makes no sense if you’ve seen Tampa Bay play lately. It’s an awful team.
The Panthers aren’t great either, but someone has to win the division. It will be an 8-9 team if Tampa Bay wins next week. Can that team save our time and opt out of the postseason?
Houston Texans: For a while Sunday, it looked like the Texans might control their path to an AFC South title.
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The Indianapolis Colts played hard and well against the Jacksonville Jaguars and led 17-14 late in the third quarter. The Texans, who won Saturday, need the Jaguars to lose one of their final two games to win the division. But the Jaguars stayed calm and got three field goals down the stretch to beat the Colts 23-17. That could be the last start of Philip Rivers’ career; there were reports that Riley Leonard will start Week 18. The Colts were eliminated from playoff contention Saturday with the Texans’ win.
The Texans now need to hope the Titans can pull off an upset of the Jaguars in Week 18. Jacksonville will win the division with a win over Tennessee or a Texans loss to the Colts. They almost got the result they needed in Indianapolis on Sunday.
The 2025 NFL season is quickly winding down, and Week 17 has answered plenty of questions as the playoffs approach. The day was filled with action that shifted the course of the season for teams, including the New England Patriots, who clinched the AFC East division title thanks to a loss by the Buffalo Bills. It marked New England’s first division win since 2019 — the team’s final season with Tom Brady at quarterback.
The New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders also had plenty on the line in Week 17 — albeit not on the playoff front. With each team entering the week at 2-13, both franchises were competing for the rights to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Giants walked away with a 34-10 win over the Raiders, which means Las Vegas is just one loss away from clinching the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Raiders will host the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 18, who are down to their third-string quarterback following season-ending injuries to Patrick Mahomes and his backup, Gardner Minshew.
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Meanwhile, several games injected meaning into the Week 18 game slate, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, who failed to clinch the AFC North title after a road loss to the Cleveland Browns. That means it all comes down to Week 18 for the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens; winner takes all for the division — and the No. 4 seed in the conference.
In the NFC, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers failed to make ground in the NFC South, the last division title left to be decided in the conference. The Carolina Panthers had an opportunity to lock up their first division win since the 2015 season with a win and a loss from the Bucs. They fell to the Seahawks, however, making Week 18’s matchup between the two teams must-see television as each competes for the division title.
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more from Week 17’searly and afternoon Sunday game slates:
Live coverage is over94 updates
Criss Partee
Philadelphia held on to get the win over Buffalo despite being shut out in the second half. Buffalo scored all 12 points in the second half, and the game came down to a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, which the Bills failed to convert.
Jalen Hurts finished the game for Philly with 110 passing yards and one touchdown. A.J. Brown had five catches for 68 yards. Saquon Barkley rushed for 68 yards.
Josh Allen passed for 262 yards and had two rushing touchdowns, but was sacked five times. James Cook III rushed for 74 yards, and Brandin Cooks was clutch with four receptions for 101 yards. Both teams had already clinched playoff berths in their respective conferences but seeding isn’t set yet so there is still something to play for on each side.
Criss Partee
Josh Allen brought the Bills to within one point on this touchdown. Buffalo went for two and failed on the conversion. Eagles lead 13-12 with five seconds remaining in regulation.
Criss Partee
Buffalo uses the tush push against Philly as Josh Allen scores the Bills’ first points of the game late in the fourth quarter. The Bills extra point attempt was blocked. Eagles lead 13-7.
Criss Partee
New York dominated Las Vegas, to the tune of 34-10. Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart passed for 207 yards, rushed for 48, and had two touchdowns on the ground. Wide receiver Wan’Dale Robins had 11 receptions for 113 yards.
The Raiders didn’t have much to write home about in the loss, with Geno Smith passing for 176 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He was also sacked three times. Running back Ashton Jeanty rushed for 60 yards. Michael Mayer had nine catches for 89 yards, and Tyler Lockett caught two balls, with one being a touchdown. The loss makes the Raiders the frontrunner for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft at 2-14.
Criss Partee
After an eventful first half, neither team scored any points in the third quarter. Buffalo’s Josh Allen took a run down to the goal line on fourth down but was kept out of the end zone by Philly’s defense. Eagles lead the Bills 13-0 in the fourth quarter.
Criss Partee
The New York Giants are rolling, and Jaxson Dart strolls in for his second rushing touchdown of the day. That’s his ninth rushing touchdown of the season, and the Giants are on their way to winning the team’s first road game since October of 2024 against Seattle.
Criss Partee
New York wasted no time as Deonte Banks took this kick return 95 yards to the house. Giants lead the Raiders, 27-10.
Criss Partee
Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith finds wideout Tyler Lockett in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. This is Lockett’s first touchdown of the season. Giants lead 20-10 as they prepare to enter the fourth quarter.
Tarohn Finley
The New York Giants can clinch the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft with a loss on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. A Giants’ win next week would not matter as long as they lose this week because no 3-14 team could finish with a lower SOS.
The Raiders would not clinch the No. 1 pick with a loss.
Criss Partee
It’s been all Philly in the first half in Buffalo. The Eagles’ defense held the Bills offense to 122 total yards and sacked Josh Allen three times. Jalen Hurts passed for 115 yards for Philadelphia and one touchdown pass. A.J. Brown caught five balls for 68 yards, while Dallas Goedert had three catches for eight yards and a touchdown.
Josh all completed 70% of his pass attempts for 90 yards, but the Bills were shut out in the first half. Allen also had a costly fumble that the Eagles converted into points. James Cook III rushed for 39 yards on nine carries. Brandin Cooks caught a 50-yard pass, which was the offensive highlight of the first half for Buffalo.
Criss Partee
The New York Giants dominated the first half against Las Vegas, 17-3. Jaxson Dart passed for 134 yards, completed 15 of 20 passes, and had a rushing touchdown. Devin Singletary had the other rushing touchdown for the Giants in the first half. Wan’Dale Robinson had 9 receptions for 97yards.
Geno Smith was 12 of 15 for 100 yards for the Raiders, while Ashton Jeanty had just 16 rushing yards. Tre Tucker had four receptions for 42 yards, and Michael Mayer also had four catches for 31 yards.
Tarohn Finley
Carolina Panthers tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders broke his ankle in Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, according to head coach Dave Canales. Sanders was quickly ruled out after being carted off the field with an ankle injury.
Sanders was injured after being rolled up on the first play of the game. Sanders has 29 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown in his second season.
The Panthers’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday will decide who wins the NFC South.
Criss Partee
The Giants increase the lead on this Jaxson Dart touchdown run. New York is ahead of Las Vegas, 14-3.
Criss Partee
Jalen Hurts finds Dallas Goedert on the one-yard touchdown reception. Eagles lead 7-0.
Criss Partee
Josh Allen fumbles while scrambling on a controversial play, where it initially appears he was attempting to pass the ball, but upon further review, the play is ruled a Bills fumble and an Eagles recovery.
Criss Partee
Bills quarterback Josh Allen hooks up with Brandin Cooks for this 50-yard reception.
Tarohn Finley
Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington broke his arm in Sunday’s 13-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, according to head coach Mike Tomlin. Washington had two catches for 15 yards before he went down.
Washington has 29 catches for 349 yards and a touchdown this season. Washington has also been a pivotal part of the Steelers’ running game as a blocker since coming into the league.
The Steelers will also be without wide receiver DK Metcalf in their next game due to him serving the second game of his two-game suspension. The Steelers’ upcoming game with the Baltimore Ravens next week will decide who wins the AFC North.
Criss Partee
New York Giants running back takes it in from one yard out for the touchdown following the interception by the defense. Giants lead 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Tarohn Finley
Indianapolis Colts rookie quarterback Riley Leonard came in for Philip Rivers to throw the Hail Mary. The Jaguars beat the Colts 23-17 after the interception in the end zone.
The Colts suffered their sixth straight loss and were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday after a Houston Texans win. The 8-8 Colts started the season 8-2.
The Jaguars were led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence finished 23-37 for 263 yards and an interception. He also had 26 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.
Lawrence had his ninth rushing touchdown of the season, which tops his combined total from his previous two years. Only Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts have run the ball more in the red zone than Lawrence.
Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. was also efficient on the ground. He finished with 76 yards on 17 carries. Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington led the way with eight catches for 115 yards.
The Jaguars’ defense slowed down Colts quarterback Phillip Rivers and running back Jonathan Taylor. Rivers finished 17-30 for 147 yards, 1 touchdown and an interception. Taylor had 70 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.
Rookie tight end Tyler Warren led the way with five catches for 43 yards. Michael Pittman Jr. had two catches for 16 yards and temporarily left the game after a calf injury.
The Colts suffered their sixth straight loss and were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday after a Houston Texans win. The 8-8 Colts started the season 8-2.
The Jaguars won their seventh straight game and lead the AFC South at 12-4. The Texans are one game back at 11-5.
After being held off the scoreboard for the first 54 minutes of the game, the Bills rallied to score two touchdowns in the final 5:11. But they trailed 13-12 after the second touchdown thanks to a blocked extra point on their first.
At that point, with both teams exhausted and the game clock almost expired, the Bills opted to gamble with a 2-point conversion attempt instead of kicking an extra point for overtime. The gamble failed when Josh Allen’s pass fell incomplete in the end zone. Fittingly, Allen threw the ill-fated pass under duress from Philadelphia’s pass rush.
The Eagles, meanwhile, entered Sunday locked into the NFC East title and out of the No. 1 seed in the NFC. They didn’t have much to play for. But they improved their chances of moving past the Chicago Bears from the No. 3 seed to No. 2 with Sunday’s win.
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And, perhaps, more importantly, their defense was overwhelming in a game that was billed as a potential Super Bowl preview.
The Bills have long operated as a second-half team and entered Sunday’s game leading the NFL in second-half point differential (+109). They added to that differential with a 12-0 advantage after halftime. But it wasn’t enough to secure the win after a dominant effort from Philadelphia’s defense through most of the game.
Josh Allen spent Sunday under pressure
The Eagles limited the Bills to three punts and a fumble in the first half en route to a 13-0 lead. They set the tone early with a sack of Allen that forced a fumble that bounced from the Buffalo 30-yard line into Philadelphia territory.
Philadelphia recovered and converted the turnover into a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert for a 7-0 lead. From there, the Bills were playing on the their heels against a Philadelphia defensive front that dominated their offensive line.
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When the Bills punted to conclude the opening drive of the second half after a scoreless first, fans who weathered cold rain in the Buffalo stands responded with boos.
Bills squander second-half scoring chances
The Bills didn’t broach the red zone until the final five minutes of the third quarter. When they got to fourth-and-goal, they didn’t convert.
Allen took off for the end zone when he couldn’t find an open receiver in the end zone. He escaped pressure only to be met by multiple Eagles defenders at the goal line. Zack Baun tackled him short of the goal line to force a turnover on downs.
Buffalo’s next possession started at Philadelphia’s 41 after the Eagles punted from their own end zone. It ended with another punt after Allen lost 19 yards on a third-down sack.
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Again, Allen couldn’t find any open receivers. This time he ran backward in a failed effort to buy time from the Eagles’ pass rush before Jalyx Hunt took him down for his second sack of the day.
Philadelphia’s offense was somehow worse in a second half that produced just 17 yards from scrimmage. But the Bills mustered too little too late after failing to score until an Allen touchdown sneak with 5:11 remaining.
Buffalo’s defense gave Bills a chance.
The Bills mounted their late, last touchdown drive after forcing the fourth straight Philadelphia three-and-out of the second half. And they kept hope alive with a fourth-and-10 hook-and-lateral that set up a deep pass from Allen to Brandin Cooks to get into the red zone.
But Philadelphia’s defense ultimately came up with one last stop on the 2-point conversion to secure the win.
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When the day was done, the Eagles had sacked Allen five times for a loss of 51 yards. They hit him six other times and kept the pressure on almost every time he dropped back. And they came up with stops when it mattered most.
The offensive woes that have plagued Philadelphia for much of the season continued as the Bills outgained the Eagles, 330-190. But the defense that anchored the Eagles’ 10-5 start was good enough to secure win No. 11 on Sunday.
Jose Alvarado and Mark Williams threw punches in a very heated altercation on the court Saturday night in New Orleans.
Now, both players are facing a suspension.
The NBA suspended Alvarado for two games on Sunday night, and hit Williams with a one-game suspension, after their fight during the Phoenix Suns’ 123-114 win over the Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday.
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Alvarado and Williams got into it late in the third quarter of the contest after Alvarado tried to get around a screen Williams set on him at the 3-point line. Alvarado shoved Williams — who is a good 13 inches taller than him — with both hands to try and get through it, but he was called for a foul.
Alvarado started to complain to the official, but he suddenly turned to then confront Williams. Almost instantly, things escalated to a fistfight. Several punches were thrown by both players, and Alvarado looked like he hit Williams directly in the face before the two were eventually separated.
Both players were ejected from the game.
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Williams had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench when he was ejected. The 24-year-old, who is in his first season with the Suns, entered the game averaging 13.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Alvarado had seven points and three assists for the Pelicans. He’s in his fifth season with New Orleans, and just signed a two-year, $9 million extension with the team that kicked in before this season.
Though the Pelicans got within a possession late, the Suns led for the entire second half and held on to grab the nine-point win.
Things got chippy again after the final buzzer sounded. Royce O’Neal appeared to confront Zion Williamson near half-court, though that fizzled out quickly.
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Devin Booker led the Suns with 20 points in the win, which pushed them to 18-13 on the season. They’ve won four of their last five now, including back-to-back wins over the Pelicans in New Orleans. Dillon Brooks added 18 points, and Collin Gillespie finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 24 points after he went 6-of-9 from behind the arc. Williamson added 22 points off the bench, and Derik Queen finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds. New Orleans has lost three straight and sits at 8-25 on the year.
Alvarado will be eligible to return on Friday night when the Pelicans host the Portland Trail Blazers. Williams will miss Monday night’s game against the Washington Wizards, and will be able to return on Wednesday when the teak takes on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Maybe the marriage of head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson is coming to an end. Maybe the Super Bowl window as the Baltimore Ravens have known it is closing. And maybe 2025 will be remembered as one of the least productive seasons despite having the most abundant talent.
But not yet.
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Pushed to the brink of playoff elimination only months after many had exalted them as a Super Bowl favorite, the Ravens now have their whole world back in their hands. And while it was the Cleveland Browns who delivered that fate Sunday — by virtue of a 13-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers — it’s now on Baltimore’s familiar pillars to make the opportunity stand up. That means it’s on Harbaugh and Jackson to embrace each other in the midst of a reality that the Ravens’ playoffs start in Week 18 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On the road.
At a time when there is reportedly friction in their relationship.
It’s certainly not ideal, but this is the hand Baltimore earned with a commanding win over the Green Bay Packers and then was gifted by the Browns in their win over the Steelers. All delivering the franchise to a reality that cuts through a considerable amount of drama. Despite the slog of injuries and disappointment that have consumed the Ravens for much of the season, and in the face of a maelstrom of outside noise and speculation in the past week, the team is still poised to chase the Super Bowl that once seemed so achievable back in September.
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Of course, it would mean having to beat the Steelers on the road and then fistfight through a field of AFC playoff teams that will all finish with better regular-season records than Baltimore. Achieving a Super Bowl win while trekking through that kind of adversity is the kind of story that has made the NFL a platinum-wheeled entertainment vehicle. And there is precedent for it being possible.
In 2011, the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys were both 8-7 and tied for the NFC East lead, pitting the two franchises against each other in an all-or-nothing game in the final week of the season. Like next weekend’s tilt between the Ravens and Steelers, the winner of the Giants-Cowboys matchup would move on to host a playoff game in the wild-card round and the loser would go home. The Giants beat the Cowboys to punch their postseason ticket, then went on to beat the 10-6 Atlanta Falcons, knock out the 15-1 Packers and 13-3 San Francisco 49ers (both on the road), and in a feat of wild improbability, topple the 13-3 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
That 9-7 Giants team was the weakest regular-season team (with a 56.3 winning percentage) to ever win a Super Bowl. If the Ravens were to beat the Steelers next week and run to a Super Bowl win, they’d take over that crown with a 52.9 winning percentage.
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To get there, it’s going to take the Ravens either resolving or setting aside whatever internal consternation is happening when it comes to both Harbaugh and Jackson collectively, and both men individually. And it’s hard to know exactly where that is at this point because there continues to be a void when it comes to the Jackson side of the narrative.
Lamar Jackson was in a trolling mood on the sideline in Green Bay, where the Ravens kept their season alive with a victory. Jackson missed the game with a back injury. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
(Patrick McDermott via Getty Images)
It harkens back to 2022 and 2023, when ankle and knee injuries ended Jackson’s seasons early, setting off a wave of speculation about how serious the health issues were and whether his absence was tied to his next contract extension. Much like the past week, the offseasons following the 2022 and 2023 injuries ran rampant with questions about Jackson’s future in Baltimore, his relationship with Harbaugh, his insular training regimens and how he was managing his health and diet. Very little of it was debated in a meaningful way in the media, largely because Jackson has always lacked the type of team around him that typically weighs in when an NFL star finds themselves at a crossroads in their career.
Often, it gets noted in the media that Jackson lacks the necessary agent presence that star players utilize to either rebut or even out the balance of information that is floated about them — info that typically comes from inside a team’s coaching staff or front office. But it’s not that Jackson lacks an agent. Aside from his own social media platforms, which he has utilized directly and cryptically at times, Jackson has often lacked any type of consistent conduit between himself and the outside narratives that get shaped around him.
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That hasn’t changed in 2025. That’s because it has never had to up to this point.
Throughout his career, Jackson has molded himself as a player and shaped his contracts without any real downside — aside from failing to win a Super Bowl. He’s won two league MVPs, been a first-team All-Pro three times, and signed an extension in 2023 that briefly made him the league’s highest-paid player in annual average salary. This all happened through the teeth of all manner of outside criticisms that he beat back with his performance, from his ability to win games from the pocket to the punishment he took as a running quarterback to how he communicated with the team when it came to contract negotiations.
Some residue of that history has always remained with Jackson and particles of it always seem to resurface when he struggles on the field, fails to win playoff games or suffers injuries that jeopardize portion of the Ravens’ seasons. Often, there is an underlying current of whether Jackson is doing everything he needs to do to resolve or avoid issues he’s facing either physically or with his on-field play.
So why is that surfacing again with this latest back injury? Part of it is because the Ravens still have a season that is hanging in the balance, which naturally draws into question his health status and whether Baltimore’s season is going to conclude with him on the field. But there’s also a lingering backdrop of his contract in all of this, too. Jackson has two more years remaining on a deal that now pays him the league’s 10th-highest average salary ($52 million) at the quarterback spot. It lags significantly behind the $60 million average of the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott. Of the nine players ahead of him, only the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen has captured a league MVP award — and Jackson has two of them.
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The issue in play is that the Ravens have been inclined to adjust Jackson’s contract heading into this next offseason. But the way it is addressed would be via another contract extension. The problem with that is there are now growing concerns about the totality of punishment Jackson has taken over the course of his career and how that may have impacted his body this season. Complicating matters further is that sources in the last regime of the NFL Players Association had suggested that Jackson would seek a fully guaranteed contract when he engaged in his next extension. If that’s the case — and once again, Jackson lacks an agent who could speak to it specifically — it’s going to be a difficult move, largely because although Jackson turns only 29 next month, his running ability will eventually be looked upon as a depreciating asset in his repertoire and a potential liability that causes his body and play to decline rapidly (see: Cam Newton).
How this all relates to Harbaugh’s future as head coach ties into what he and Jackson can continue to achieve together. Over the expanse of his career, Harbaugh has earned the reputation among former players as being a head coach who can push you to a breaking point — but also a coach who is seen as fair and likely to get as much out of your performance as possible. If he holds a double standard for Jackson, it’s not something that is constantly harped on by former Ravens players who would be the likely candidates to complain about it. If anything, what the people in the orbit of Harbaugh and Jackson relationship describe is typical of many coaches and quarterbacks who have been with each other over many years and gone through success and failure. There are ups and downs when it comes to frustration, but both Jackson and Harbaugh have been adept at keeping it tamped down over the years while also being outwardly supportive of each other.
The question now is whether that will hold through the latest round of smoke. Certainly there’s no indication Harbaugh has lost the locker room. Especially not after the Ravens’ commanding road win over the Packers, with Tyler Huntley at quarterback and a seemingly rejuvenated Derrick Henry running the football with a ferocity that is reminding everyone of the 2024 season. But what happens now is going to matter. If Jackson’s back contusion sidelines him against the Steelers — and potentially beyond if the Ravens win — it will be the second time in four years that a late-season injury has taken him out of the mix in the postseason (including 2022).
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Conversely, if Jackson plays against the Steelers and Baltimore fights back into the playoffs, the surrounding roster is still at a level that immediately makes the Ravens a threat in the AFC. A Super Bowl run would not be out of the question, especially if the Henry who pounded the Packers in Week 17 is the Henry the Ravens carry into the postseason. Winning and consistency has kept Harbaugh in Baltimore for 18 years. Failing to carry that into the playoffs is what has his future in question now. But the same can be said for Jackson, too.
Right now, both need each other. In Week 18 against the Steelers and any potential playoff ride after it.
T.J. Watt started Sunday with his shared single-season NFL sack record at risk as his Pittsburgh Steelers faced Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns.
The Steelers held Garrett without a sack of Aaron Rodgers, and Watt’s record of 22.5 sacks that he shares with Michael Strahan remains intact. But the Steelers suffered a loss to the last-place Browns and squandered a chance to secure the AFC North title.
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Garrett said after the game that he thinks the Steelers prioritized their game plan around stopping him over actually winning the game. He believes that it cost them in Cleveland’s 13-6 win as the Steelers failed to score a touchdown and didn’t score at all after halftime.
“To an extent, I feel like they were more worried about keeping me away from Aaron than getting the win,” Garrett said. “I think that’s what came back to bite them.”
What Garrett says Steelers did to preserve record
So what exactly does Garrett believe the Steelers sacrificed in order to focus on him?
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He pointed to Rodgers’ quick release and tendency to roll out away from him in addition to the Steelers lining up multiple players specifically to slow him down.
“They kind of fell under the same line of thinking that the Packers did,” Garrett said. “We’ll just throw everything at him. … That’s their M.O. But, of course they’re gonna throw even quicker when I’m lined up. On that side, they had a chipper there, sometimes two chippers.
“Getting it out quick, sometimes they were rolling away. They were doing a little bit of everything. I’ve come to expect that. I know they didn’t want me to be the one to break it against them.”
Tomlin denies that he considered sack record in game plan
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about the speculation in his postgame news conference. He denied game-planning to keep Garrett from breaking Watt’s record.
“We didn’t do anything against Myles that we don’t normally do against Myles,” Tomlin said. “The sack record’s irrelevant.
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“We’ve got to minimize him if we want to engineer victory. We did the same thing the last time we played him. I didn’t think that he had any sacks in that game either. So we didn’t take a different approach because of the gravity of the record. It’s just standard business when you’re playing these guys and him.”
The Steelers didn’t clinch the AFC North because of the loss. They’ll now face a winner-take-all game against the Baltimore Ravens next weekend. The winner will win the division and its only playoff berth. The loser’s season will be done.
Garrett (22 sacks), meanwhile, remains a half sack behind Watt’s and Strahan’s shared record. He’ll have one more chance to tie or break it in Cleveland’s season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.
All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams left Sunday’s showdown against the Chicago Bears with a hamstring injury, leaving the San Francisco 49ers without one of their most important players.
Williams was initially listed as questionable after leaving in the first quarter. The 49ers ruled him out at halftime.
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Williams sustained the injury on San Francisco’s first drive. He was noticeably limping on the sideline and removed his gear to have a seat on the bench after spending several minutes undergoing evaluation in a sideline medical tent.
The injury, if significant, has the potential to impact the 49ers not just for Sunday’s game but as they attempt to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC and into the playoffs. The severity of Williams’ injury wasn’t initially clear, but hamstrings have the potential to linger as multi-week injuries.
A four-time All-Pro, Williams is one of the best to ever play his position. He earned his 12th Pro Bowl selection this season and remains one of the game’s best at 37 years old. He’s critical to San Francisco’s success in both the run and pass games.
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San Francisco entered Sunday’s game already down a key offensive player with All-Pro tight end George Kittle sidelined by a sprained ankle. Kittle sustained the injury in Monday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts and was questionable on Sunday before being ruled out prior to kickoff.
The 49ers have plenty at stake over the remainder of their season. They entered Sunday’s game at 11-4, having already clinched a playoff berth. But with wins over the Bears Sunday night and next week against the Seattle Seahawks, they’d clinch the NFC West and No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs that comes with it.
The bye would be that much more valuable if Williams is facing a multi-week injury. It would also be more difficult to attain.
