Tom Brady’s No. 5 seed Buccaneers travel to take on Aaron Rodgers’ No. 1 seed Packers in Lambeau Field in the first contest (3:05 p.m. ET, Fox). Then it’s Josh Allen’s No. 2 seed Bills playing at Patrick Mahomes’ No. 1 seed Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium (6:40 p.m. ET, CBS). Based on tight game spreads, these penultimate matchups were meant to be. Based on recent play and some current injuries, the on-paper pregame advantages are pretty much down to the natural edges that come with home fields....

Five AFC teams are pushing for the last two playoff spots, and the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Chargers and Raiders is a play-in game that should be a fun way to end the regular season. The Steelers and Ravens also play, but they need the Colts to open the door with a loss. The NFC picture is more focused, and San Francisco needs a victory against the Rams to slip into the wild card round....

Such eagerness is the result of a seven-month buildup capped by an increasingly excessive preseason. NFL teams, players and fans alike are ready for real games that will begin to shape the 2019 season. For half of the league, the elation of a new year will be met with the optimism associated with a season-opening win. Teams that lose in Week 1, of course, will be sent back to the drawing board immediately in an effort to avoid the dreaded 0-2 record....

The league made the move from 12 teams qualifying to 14 for the 2020 season. A lot of the reasoning comes back to interest and money, but it also creates a different playoff picture than NFL fans may be used to. There’s now a No. 7 seed to play for in each conference. There’s only one bye instead of two on each side, too. It forces a recalibration of how late-season results are viewed....

MORE: Week 17 opening lines | Must-see images | Steelers vs. Bengals moved to prime time AFC Who would be in No. 1 seed: Patriots (12-3). The AFC East champions clinched this top seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with their win Sunday over the Jets and the Broncos’ loss Monday night to the Bengals. With it, the Patriots become the heavy favorites here to get to the Super Bowl....

If the Patriots move on to the eighth Super Bowl of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era (and their 10th ever), it would be a fully-expected validation of their dominance. If they don’t, it would assure that the magnitude of the Jaguars’ achievement can never be diminished. MORE: Stream Jags-Pats live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) That gulf is overwhelming, even compared to the one between the Jaguars and the team they buried to get here, the Steelers....

ESPN reported Friday that the star wide receiver had told the Raiders he would retire from professional football if the NFL insisted on making him wear a new helmet. Brown has worn the same helmet for 10 years, which is no longer certified by the National Operating Committee for Standards and Athletic Equipment. Given the NFL has a policy of not allowing players to wear helmets that are not certified by NOCSAE, Brown would have to wear a different helmet to the one he prefers....

With Packers’ star wide receiver Jordy Nelson’s injury sending shockwaves through the NFL, many coaches are publicly expressing displeasure over the number of preseason games. Bettors should approach this week’s games cautiously, as teams appear ready to sit starters sooner than in Week 3 of years past if any danger of injury exists. Many position battles are won or lost this week, making for exciting storylines and compelling preseason wagers....

The play in question came after Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott ran for a first down on a second-and-1 quarterback draw. Prescott slid down with about nine seconds left on the clock and the Cowboys, who had no timeouts, scrambled to the line to spike the ball to preserve one second to run a final play. 49ERS-COWBOYS: San Francisco survives wild ending However, as they prepared to spike it, the umpire appeared to get in the way, bumping Prescott and Cowboys center Tyler Biadasz and causing a brief delay....

That might raise a question for fan bases on the wrong end of those decisions: How much are these folks in stripes being paid to mess up a team’s season? It’s not a simple question to answer, though. The NFL doesn’t release public information on officiating salaries, and it’s rarely reported on. But there’s some data out there that can at least give us a ballpark idea of how much those whistles are worth....

“This was a failure of due process,’’ Vincent told Sporting News after Berman overturned Goodell’s four-game suspension of Tom Brady on Thursday. “In other words, it wasn’t what Goodell did, but how he did it. (The judge) took Goodell’s word for it and said, for the purpose of this opinion, the arbitration was correct. The reversal, then, was on constitutional grounds.’’ MORE: A long, strange trip: The Deflategate timeline | So, Roger, whose balls are deflated now?...

Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports that the league’s 32 teams were forwarded a list of potential rule changes that includes a radical proposal for teams to retain possession after scoring. Rather than attempting an onside kick, the team could choose to take a shot at converting a first down from its 25-yard line by reaching or surpassing the 40. That’s it: 15 yards, and that team gets to keep the ball....

The best game of the Week 14 schedule is a battle between two NFC powers, with the 49ers visiting New Orleans looking to keep pace in the NFC West. The division-leading Seahawks face the Rams in the Sunday night game. MORE: Watch NFL Week 14 games live with fuboTV (7-day free trial) Baltimore has another test with a trip to face the Bills, a team hungry for what would be a statement win that, along with the Patriots recent struggles, could further tighten the AFC East....

After a doubleheader on Saturday, on the docket for Sunday is a full slate with playoff seeding on the line. The early window of Sunday afternoon’s action is headlined by the Patriots’, Dolphins’ and Steelers’ pursuit of the AFC’s final playoff spot. New England controls its own playoff destiny with a win (but must do that against the Bills), while Miami and Pittsburgh will need some help due to tiebreakers should that Pats lose....

Part of the reason those teams entered the week undefeated? Offense. MORE: Watch the NFL live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) Scoring continues to trend at a record pace at the onset of the 2018 season. There have been 424 total touchdowns and 3,739 total points scored, both the most in NFL history through the first five weeks of a season. Rams running back Todd Gurley leads the league with nine touchdowns, while Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes paces the NFL with 14 touchdown passes....

After stints on injured reserve and time to rehabilitate, those who never got to finish last season are sure to come out ready to get to work. Here’s a look at some of the biggest injuries from last season and the comebacks to watch heading into training camp ahead of the 2019 regular season. Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers Torn ACL Sept. 23 against Chiefs Jimmy Garoppolo was poised for a breakout season once he escaped Tom Brady’s shadow in New England, but a knee injury four weeks into 2018 cut that short....

Week 11 features a 15-game slate, as just two teams are on bye — the Rams and Broncos. That means there will be a 12-game slate on Sunday afternoon, as three of the games this week will take place in prime-time slots. This week, the game slate tilts a bit in Fox’s favor. They will broadcast seven of the Sunday afternoon games and have doubleheader rights. Meanwhile, CBS will broadcast a single game in each region, and will choose from one of five contests to broadcast....

Games that have moved at least a point since opening lines were posted Sunday night: Patriots (vs. Jets), Redskins (vs. Titans), Browns (at Jaguars), Bills (vs. Vikings), Chiefs (at Chargers), Cowboys (vs. Giants). Jets at Patriots Open: New England -8.5, 46Wednesday morning: New England -9.5, 45Notes: MGM Resorts and CG Technology are dealing the Pats at -10 with less expensive vig. There are some 46s still out there for totals...

The report, citing anonymous sources, said the findings are not a final determination, however, and that the union will continue to investigate. MORE: Robert Griffin III in photos | Steele: Toxic environment has contaminated RGIII’s Washington tenure Griffin has not played since being pulled from an Aug. 20 exhibition against the Lions. In the days following that game, the Redskins said Griffin had been cleared by team doctors for non-contact drills, and he returned to practice....