Week 17 is upon us, with Christmas and Saturday taking a few dishes off the Sunday football table.
But Sunday’s slate on FOX still features five matchups, with four of them having pretty major playoff implications. One of the games also includes a potential Super Bowl preview. The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills meet up in Orchard Park for “America’s Game of the Week,” with Tom Brady, Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi on the call.
Here are the stats and storylines to watch in the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
The Jaguars have thrived under first-year coach Liam Coen, and if they can simply beat the Colts and Titans in their last two games, they’ll have their best record since going 14-2 in 1999. The AFC’s top seed is still in play for them, though they’re a better team away from home, scoring at least 25 points in every road game. The Jaguars have beaten the Broncos, Chargers and Texans, so they’ve proven themselves against AFC playoff teams.
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Can 44-year-old Philip Rivers play as well as he did Monday against the 49ers? He threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns. But, as a warning, the Jaguars are second in the NFL in interceptions (19) and takeaways (28). Rivers’ next lost fumble will move him into a tie for third-most all-time, with Matt Ryan’s 49.
The Buccaneers risk elimination if they lose here and the Panthers win against the Seahawks, and Tampa Bay is trying to get out of a slide that has seen it lose six of seven games.
Miami has turned to seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers at quarterback. The Dolphins actually had a 14-10 lead on the Bengals just before halftime last week and then gave up 35 straight points. Ewers went 20 of 30 for 260 yards, but threw two interceptions.
Can Tampa Bay’s struggling defense keep running back Devon Achane in check? Miami has done that pretty well itself lately. Achane had 20-plus carries in three straight wins, totaling 428 rushing yards, but has 34 total in the last three games.
Keep an eye on Bucs rookie corners Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish, who will play key roles on the back end.
The Jets have a real chance to be the first NFL defense in the Super Bowl era to finish an entire season without an interception. They have none in 461 passes thrown by opponents, and the closest any team has come to that was the 2018 49ers, but they still had two interceptions that year. What’s amusing is that head coach Aaron Glenn had 41 interceptions in his NFL career. For reference, Vikings safety Harrison Smith has the most among any active player with 38.
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New England had to rally to beat Baltimore on Sunday night and is battling for the top seed in the AFC. Drake Maye threw for a career-best 380 yards and now faces a Jets’ defense bad enough that defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was fired. They’ve given up 34 points per game in their last three. Somehow, the Jets have held the Patriots to only three points in two of their last four meetings, albeit both before Mike Vrabel’s arrival.
Remember how the Bengals’ defense wasted an MVP-caliber season from Joe Burrow last year? They somehow got worse. They’re dead last in the NFL in points (30.5) and yards (403) allowed per game.
This game has a point total of 52.5, the highest in the league this week. That number might still be too small. The Cardinals have given up 40-plus points four times in the last two months, and the Bengals just scored 45 on the Dolphins. The league-high for combined points is 89 this year, and the Bengals have been in two of the top scoring non-overtime games.
Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett leads the NFL with seven games of at least 40 pass attempts this season. If this is eight, it’ll be the most in a season since Sam Howell had that many with the Commanders in 2023. Don’t fret, the NFL record is 13, which was set by Matthew Stafford in 2012 and matched by Tom Brady in 2022.
Philadelphia Eagles at Buffalo Bills (4:25 p.m. ET)
Do you like to see lots of running plays? This is your game. Buffalo has the NFL’s No. 1 rushing attack, averaging 159 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry, but the Bills also have the league’s third-worst run defense, giving up 144 yards per game and 5.4 yards per carry.
That Bills’ defense gets to go up against the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley, who’s starting to look more like his 2024 self of late. He’s rushed for over 120 yards in two of the last three games.
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The Bills’ James Cook has an NFL-best 1,532 rushing yards with two games left and a 43-yard lead on the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, who might not be playing with the lead much these final two games.
The Bills are one game behind the Patriots for the AFC East lead and are likely on the road in the playoffs. That’s significant because Buffalo has lost its last eight road playoff games, the last road win coming in 1993.
The Eagles will at least start the playoffs at home. They’ve won five straight home playoff games and are 7-1 at home in the last decade.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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