It’s the next-to-last week of the regular season, 14 of the 16 games are played on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and 13 of the games overall have playoff implications. That includes every prime-time game, and one that will end in prime-time, Baltimore at Pittsburgh on Christmas night. There’s also one important distinction on the line, a historical one, determining a legacy that no one wants a part of....
The move was originally met with skepticism. After all, the NFL has, arguably, the best playoff format of any of the four major sports, so why change something that’s working? But soon after, NFL fans realized that the expanded postseason meant there would be two extra NFL games. So, they stopped complaining and the first 14-team postseason came and went without a major hitch. The 14-team postseason does have some key differences from the 12-team playoff of old....
With Super Wild Card Weekend all but in the rearview mirror, things aren’t much clearer than they were prior to it. In the AFC, all four top seeds advanced, while the NFC’s two juggernauts top the divisional round. The Eagles (No. 1 seed) will face a familiar foe in their divisional matchup as they take on the Giants. New York dispatched the high-powered Vikings in the wild-card round, continuing their surprising maiden voyage under Brian Daboll....
There are still 10 more games to pick in January and the biggest one of them all in February: Super Bowl 51. So what’s the deal with the wild-card weekend games? Here’s taking our best picks. MORE: NFL playoffs predictions | Playoff schedule NFL playoffs 2017: Wild-card picks against spread Raiders at Texans (-3.5) Saturday 4:35 p.m. ET, ESPN This QB matchup has gone from Derek Carr vs. Brock Osweiler to Matt McGloin vs....
Surely, NFL fans will hope for better action in the divisional round of the 2022 NFL playoffs. Luckily, the matchups are a pretty good-looking bunch, and the highest-rated teams in each conference will join the fray as well. Both the Titans and Packers will be in action this week after getting a bye week last week. The Packers get to face the upstart 49ers, who upset the Cowboys to earn the right to play the Packers, in a series that has been entertaining over recent seasons....
More of the same should be expected this season, with the two teams looking to go deep in the playoffs, while the Washington Redskins and New York Giants are in rebuild mode. Philadelphia Eagles The bookmakers’ favorites to win the divisional title at 19/20, the Eagles need Carson Wentz to stay fit. Philadelphia has gone all-in on the quarterback, signing him up to a four-year, $128 million contract extension with $107 million guaranteed....
Players like Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and even Christian Kirk helped to reset the receiver market in the early stages of the offseason with massive, long-term contracts. That opened the door for players like Cooper Kupp, A.J. Brown and Hunter Renfrow to get high-value extensions too. The latest receiver to get a lucrative contract is Terry McLaurin. The Commanders star signed a three-year, $71 million contract with a $28 million signing bonus, the largest ever for a wide receiver....
WR Darryl Stingley, Patriots One of the most tragic moments in all of sports, much less football. In 1978, Stingley was entering his sixth season and was coming off of his best year, when Raiders safety Jack Tatum (notoriously nicknamed The Assassin) hit him on an incomplete pass with what was then a legal blow to the head. Stingley suffered two broken vertebrae and was paralyzed for the rest of his life; he died in 2007, at age 55....
Brent remained suspended for the first 10 games but was allowed to rejoin his teammates at the practice facility Monday, two weeks earlier than the original ruling. He can attend meetings and do individual workouts but can’t practice. The league originally said Brent could practice in Week 9, but he would have missed the next week while the team was in London preparing to face Jacksonville. Brent was sentenced to 180 days in jail but avoided a prison term over the 2012 crash that killed practice squad player Jerry Brown....
That’s at home. Oakland will go six weeks without a home game at Oakland Coliseum — a stretch that begins after the Week 2 home game against Kansas City on Sept. 15 and ends when it returns home on Nov. 3 against Detroit. The NFL schedule-makers did not do much to make Jon Gruden’s second season with the Raiders easier. MORE: Raiders’ schedule toughest based on 2018 records In fact, it’s a remarkable work of art when it comes to unfortunate scheduling for a West Coast team....
Who was eligible? Four players were in this year’s pool after not being eligible for the regular 2014 draft in May. Unfortunately for them, no one in the group – SMU running back Traylon Shead, North Carolina linebacker Darius Lipford, New Mexico wide receiver Chase Clayton and Virginia-Lynchburg defensive tackle Lakendrick Ross – had his named called. How many typically get drafted? The most players selected in a single supplemental draft was five, 25 years ago in 1989....
The suit, filed in March, moved Thursday to U.S. District Court in Illinois. According to Law360, Advanced Physicians S.C. alleges that the NFL has for several years been instructing insurer Cigna to deny claims submitted by the clinic. The suit says Advanced has treated more than 200 former NFL players since 2007, but beginning in mid-2015 Cigna began subjecting all claims to an audit process. Cigna administers the NFL Player Insurance Plan....
The Vikings tight end reportedly was left unsettled and wanted “clarity” from the team after it selected tight end Irv Smith in the second round of this year’s draft. The situation worsened Friday, when negotiations between Rudolph and the Vikings were broken off that morning, per NFL Media. When asked about the situation during his golf outing Monday, coach Mike Zimmer expressed that he wanted Rudolph to stay, but that’s not always the nature of the NFL....
The ninth overall pick of the 2012 draft, Kuechly announced his decision to quit professional football in a video message that was posted on social media on Tuesday night. Fighting back the tears, the 28-year-old revealed he decided to retire after realizing he was no longer capable of playing the kind of “fast, physical” football that was his calling card since he entered the NFL. “There’s only one way to play this game since I was a little kid—play fast, play physical and play strong,’’ he said....
This makes splitting hairs in the diluted slate even more critical. I peruse Sporting News’ Week 10 fantasy football rankings and determine which players I believe to be overrated (Danger!) and underrated (Sleepers). FULL WEEK 10 RANKINGS: QB | RB | WR | TE | DEF | K Danger! QB Cam Newton, Panthers (Ranked No. 10 at position) @ Eagles: It’s hard to bank on on top-10 production when Newton took such a huge step back on Thursday night, notching the lowest accuracy percentage among starting quarterbacks in Week 9, via Pro Football Focus data....
Here are the early Week 16 betting lines from Las Vegas. The point spreads listed are from the Westgate SuperBook, with numbers posted at other bet shops noted. Totals are from CG Technology. For updated spreads and totals, visit our live odds board. Thursday, December 18 Titans at Jaguars -3, 41 We can’t think of an isolated, prime-time game with less appeal. Nevertheless, the total was bet down from 41....
Before we get into the Week 6 forecasts, here’s a reminder that if you have any questions about sports weather or how weather could impact play (and, potentially, your fantasy, DFS, and gambling decisions), don’t hesitate to reach out to Rotogrinders’ meteorologist Kevin Roth on Twitter (@KevinRothWx) or check out the hourly NFL weather forecasts on RotoGrinders. To take your game to the next level, subscribe to RotoGrinder’s exclusive WeatherEdge tool and see how different weather conditions have impacted historical scoring....
