The NFL Week 16 Recap drops grudge matches, a “butt pick” and more misadventures with replay in your Christmas stocking.
Eagles 19 It’s like the Ghost of Christmas Future descended upon this game; at one point both teams combined to commit three turnovers in a span of four plays and neither team appeared capable of getting out of their own way long enough to win the game. Alas, the Eagles did … and now the road to the Super Bowl must come through Philadelphia, where the home team is 7-0 this season. If Nick Foles keeps playing like he did Monday night, that won’t count for much in the playoffs. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
AP Photo/Michael Perez
Come on.#PITvsHOU pic.twitter.com/B0yFMBbhQs
— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2017
Cowboys 12 Dallas choked hard; they failed to reach the end zone in Ezekiel Elliott’s return, Dak Prescott tossed his NFL-high fourth Pick 6 of the season (and then verbal barbs at Dez Bryant), and fell to 3-5 this season at Jerry World. This was the best Christmas present I’ve received in years. Meanwhile, Seattle became the first team since 1966 to win a game despite racking up more penalty yards (142) than total yards (136). This is either a mediocre team getting a helluva lot of breaks or a team of destiny about to bust up the NFC playoff bracket. We’re about to find out which. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
49ers 44 Hark! Jimmy Garoppolo looks like the difference in San Francisco; he’s now 4-0 as their starter, the first QB to win his first six starts since Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, and Jimmy G. is the only QB to hang 40 points on the league’s best defense. The 49ers might have found gold. While the Niners enjoy their treasure, Jacksonville has to be worried about their “trash;” Blake Bortles made Jadeveon Clowney right — in more ways than one:
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)Thank you @Jaguars fans for sending trash cans to NRG! It inspired me to fill them and an entire truck with toys to turn a negative situation into a blessing for some deserving women and children at @MissionOfYahweh #turningtrashintotreasure #merrychristmas pic.twitter.com/LamHoDSLEk — Jadeveon Clowney (@clownejd) December 22, 2017
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Cardinals 23 There are only two reasons to watch Arizona anymore: Larry Fitzgerald’s climb up the all-time receiving list and to see if Bruce Arians makes good on his shot at setting a new franchise record with a 50th coaching victory next week. And with Eli Manning staying in the Giants lineup, there are no reasons to watch him rearrange deck chairs on this sinking Titanic. The best thing you can give a Giants fan for Christmas is an end to this season from hell. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The only Skins-Broncos game I want to watch today happened 29 years, 11 months and 1 week ago. #SuperBowlXXII pic.twitter.com/J2JHvPLxaH
— Joe Yasharoff (@JYash) December 24, 2017
Forget the butt fumble, we’ve got a butt pick.#SaintsGameday | #ATLvsNO https://t.co/LRt5eykuMU
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 24, 2017
Panthers 22 Jameis Winston is physically gifted but my god he’s got a lot of maturing to do if he’s ever going to win more than six games a season … or get more than a lump of coal in his stocking. That said … wouldn’t it be the most 2017 thing yet if Tampa throws a wrench in the NFC South by eating a ‘W’ against the Saints next week? (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Pats 37 Buffalo’s holiday plans for vengeance were spoiled by more misadventures in properly defining a catch. So the Bills’ playoff drought is dangerously close to extending to 18 years and New England clinches an NFL-record eighth straight 12-win season. If there’s any justice, the Patriots’ precious home-field advantage will last only one week. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Titans 23 Though the Jeff Fisher Bowl was a bit overshadowed by these asinine comments from the football Grinch himself, Sean McVay showed who really deserves the credit for the Rams resurgence. The 31 year-old is the youngest coach to reach the postseason and did something the 59 year-old Fisher never could: Get the most out of Todd Gurley and lead the franchise to the playoffs for the first time since 2004. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)
AP Photo/Mark Zaleski
Chiefs 29 Kansas City has won back-to-back AFC West titles for the first time in franchise history, meaning Andy Reid is good for two things: Looking like Santa Claus all year round and winning divisions (and little else). (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
AP Photo/Orlin Wagner
Jets 7 I have no idea if Christian Hackenberg is any good … but the Jets won’t either if they never unwrap the present and find out what’s inside. I mean, he can’t be worse than the tie and socks gift of Bryce Petty, right? Right?! (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Bengals 26 Though I want to say Dallas was the biggest choker of the day, it was really Detroit. If you can’t beat a mediocre Bengals team clearly playing out the string under a lame duck coach, you have no business making the playoffs. So they won’t. And now their coach might be spending his Christmas updating his resume. (Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images)
Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images
Bears 20 I don’t know what’s the biggest Christmas miracle: Chicago getting their first win as the favorite this deep into the John Fox era or Mitchell Trubisky’s modest passing record. I sincerely hope the next Bears coach deals Trubisky to Cleveland so these comments come back to bite him. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)
Photo by David Banks/Getty Images
Packers 0 Minnesota pitched their first-ever shutout at Lambeau Field to snap a streak of 386 games without one (3rd-longest such streak in NFL history) and notch the most wins by a team hosting the Super Bowl (12). Now that Case Keenum has his first cold weather game behind him, he can focus on making sure the Vikings gift their fans the chance to participate in the first Super Bowl home-field advantage. Meanwhile, Brett Hundley is making unenviable history; his 162 passes at home without a TD pass is an NFL record. Ouch. That hurts more than Aaron Rodgers does. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps
Ravens 23 In this ugly game between Baltimore franchises past and present, Joe Flacco has seemingly left his struggles in the past. Once the worst QB in the league, Flacco has thrown seven touchdowns and just one interception over his last four games. Nobody wants to start the new year battling the Ravens in the playoffs. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
