Was the NFL’s latest attempt to claim ownership of the Christmas sporting space the kind of present worthy of a spot under the tree? Depends what was on your list.
There’s little question that all four teams that played Wednesday were deserving of the holiday scheduling slot, with each headed to the playoffs next month. And the games were plenty consequential, with the Kansas City Chiefs clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs thanks to a 29-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, which allowed the Baltimore Ravens to seize control over the AFC North with a 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans. But with neither game ending up particularly close – and the same foursome playing just four days earlier, albeit in different matchups – any viewer would be justified in feeling as though they had been regifted something that should have been a White Elephant present.
Still, there’s no denying that there was substantial fallout from the doubleheader. Here are the winners and losers of the NFL Christmas slate:
He surpassed 1,000 career receptions Wednesday, joining Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten as the only tight ends to ever hit that benchmark. Kelce also caught his 77th career TD pass, breaking a tie with Gonzalez as the Chiefs‘ all-time leader in that department. Kelce paid tribute to his Hall of Fame forebear by dunking the ball over the goalpost following the score, a celebration that draws a flag nowadays but didn’t when Gonzalez played for K.C.
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Could Ian and Noah Eagle become the Mannings of the broadcast booth? Perhaps premature, but the father and son play-by-play voices (Ian was in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Noah at Houston) are unfailingly smooth, informative and generally keep the spotlight where it belongs – whether on the field or when teeing up their analysts. Like Archie Manning, Ian Eagle, 55, is probably never going to work a Super Bowl as his profession’s version of QB1, but it feels like he’s getting some belated appreciation later in his career. However don’t be surprised if Noah Eagle, 28, continues to get plum assignments, and he might just rise to the top of the profession as some of the NFL’s older leading men on the mic cycle out.
Not that they needed it, but two of the world’s most recognizable female entertainers got some heavy exposure on Wednesday’s afternoon-long presentation. Carey’s pre-produced rendition of her hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” ran prior to kickoff of both games. Beyoncé put on quite a show at halftime in Houston, her hometown – with quite a mix of her musical catalog and some appearances by some other heavy hitters – and basically provided the only thing Texans had to cheer all day.
Wednesday marked the fourth consecutive game that the Chiefs’ rookie receiver set a new high for receptions, this time hauling in eight catches for 79 yards – also a personal best – and a touchdown. With nine scores on the year, the NFL’s fastest man – at least if you go by his record 4.21-second 40-yard dash at this year’s NFL scouting combine – is now tied with Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Brian Thomas Jr. for the most among first-year players. After initially struggling to adapt to the pro game and establish himself in a shifting receiving corps, Worthy now has emerged as a key weapon on quick hits for an offense navigating significant protection problems, especially with Hollywood Brown’s return helping further clarify his role. He did land on the naughty list, though, for capping off a holiday-themed touchdown celebration by appearing to mimic showing a holstered gun, earning him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
They reclaimed the AFC North lead Saturday – before whacking the Texans – and have clearly re-emerged as Super Bowl threats after a bumpy midseason stretch. Yet while so much of the attention around this team is focused on QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry, the team’s 2024 resurgence has largely coincided with a defensive rebound. Since its Week 14 bye, Baltimore has allowed 33 points – which was more typical of a single game earlier in the season. But rookie DC Zach Orr has his unit on track, in large part thanks to multi-talented S Kyle Hamilton exerting his various talents of late and a pass rush being led by veteran LB Kyle Van Noy. It’s starting to look like this team could actually survive a playoff game even if Jackson and Henry aren’t dominating.
It couldn’t have been easy for Broncos fans to cheer on their rival, especially when a win secured such a favorable playoff setup for Kansas City. But the outcome opens up the possibility – or perhaps likelihood – that the Chiefs will be resting their most significant contributors for the regular-season finale against Denver. Sean Payton and Co. would obviously prefer to end the NFL’s second-longest active playoff drought on Saturday by beating the Cincinnati Bengals. But the Broncos can rest a bit easier knowing the Chiefs won’t have anything to play for and might be opting for some R&R.
The pregame scrutiny ahead of the streaming service’s regular-season NFL debut was certainly high – largely due to some notable hiccups during last month’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson “fight.” But Wednesday’s productions seemed to basically go off almost without a hitch. Should be interesting now to ponder Netflix’s future involvement with the NFL given how the breadcrumbs seem to point to some kind of annual Christmas broadcast package.
It’s generally almost better to retire a year too early than a year too late. And while the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year could probably still be playing meaningful snaps in the league, he’s made a really nice transition to broadcasting – including Saturday’s turn as an in-game analyst, when Watt’s insight, sense of humor and ability to be a team player in a three-man booth all shone.
Last year’s Christmas rout of the San Francisco 49ers served as the unofficial coronation of his second MVP campaign. While Jackson isn’t the runaway favorite now, this game could end up being an inflection point for the award. After Derrick Henry led the way early, Jackson tossed two touchdowns and ran for another by outracing the entire Texans defense. Josh Allen, meanwhile, won’t have meaningful matchups in the final two weeks, leaving Jackson – who on Wednesday became the NFL’s career leader in rushing yards by a quarterback – as the one with late-season sizzle. And with the Ravens moving atop the AFC North – and the chance to clinch next week – as perhaps the team in the conference no one wants to face, Jackson’s case for a repeat is gaining some serious steam.
For those who can’t be with their families, have too much time with families, just can’t get enough pro football – and perhaps with fantasy football championship implications at stake, particularly given the caliber of players in action Wednesday – and/or simply can’t get invested in NBA games this early in their season, then the flag the NFL has apparently planted on Christmas is a very welcome development that seems destined to continue in perpetuity considering the league is now willing to manipulate its schedule to accommodate Wednesday games.
The Steelers, Texans, Chiefs and Ravens have all played three games in 11 days in order for the NFL to shoehorn Wednesday football into its schedule. And while that might be a win for ravenous football viewers, it’s most certainly not for those between the lines – and also runs counter to the narrative the league so often cites regarding the importance of player safety. Maybe this proves to just be the rare one-off when Christmas falls on a Wednesday and necessitates this level of schedule doctoring – playing on a Tuesday or Friday would be easier to build into the lineup. But this certainly doesn’t feel like it’s in the best interest of the players, and most certainly not at this late stage of the season – and it’s worth wondering if they’ll be sufficiently recovered even with the 11-day layoff they’ll get before Week 18. (It’s also an especially tough ask of the Chiefs and Ravens, who also played on Christmas last year. Tuesday will be the only day of the week that Kansas City does not have a game during the 2024 season.)
In addition to an ankle issue, we also learned on the Netflix stream Wednesday that Pittsburgh’s All-Pro pass rusher is dealing with a bum thumb – which might further explain why he’s been next to invisible in the past two games. Not a good development give how closely the struggling Steelers’ fortunes so often mirror Watt’s.
This isn’t so much a criticism, but it must be noted that Wednesday’s success occurred with quite a few guardrails in place – notably Netflix’s ability to borrow so much established NFL broadcast and production talent as well as infrastructure, namely NFL Network’s broadcast studio. If Netflix aspires to do more than just a handful of games per season – i.e. competing with, say, rival Prime Video’s Thursday night package – then it’s still basically untested regarding its ability to pull off this level of coverage with in-house assets.
The football world already knows what the Chiefs, in possession of the AFC’s No. 1 seed yet again, are capable of – and certainly when the road to the Super Bowl goes through Arrowhead. But Kansas City’s victory Wednesday was deflating elsewhere for several reasons. The Buffalo Bills lost their shot at home-field advantage throughout. Flawed teams like the Broncos, Steelers, Texans and Los Angeles Chargers must all come to grips with the likelihood that one of them is headed to Kansas City after the Chiefs have effectively had two-plus weeks off. And while the fact that the reigning champs may have nothing to play for in Week 18 when the Broncos come to town – potentially great news for Denver as previously noted – that reality also could very well further undermine the already faint playoff hopes of the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins, all needing a lot of help (including two Denver losses) to get in.
It wasn’t the 2022 Christmas debacle, in which the infighting Broncos’ implosion in a 51-14 no-show against the Los Angeles Rams led to first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett being fired the next day. But this wasn’t the smoothest sleigh ride for Wilson. His first-quarter interception after a Jaylen Warren touchdown was called back was deflating, and he gift-wrapped at least a couple of his five sacks. And even with George Pickens back after missing three games with a hamstring injury, Wilson couldn’t get much going downfield, with a season-low 5.5 yards per attempt. With both the 13-year veteran and the Steelers facing an uncertain future beyond the final year of the signal-caller’s contract, Mr. Unlimited sure looked … limited.
But Pittsburgh’s troubles go well beyond Wilson at this point. No team suffered more over the past 11 days than the Steelers, who went from 10-3 to 10-6 – retrograding from a squad with a shot at the AFC’s No. 1 seed … to a team with a shot at winning the AFC North. Maybe. And while they’ve probably already exceeded the expectations many outside their locker room had over the summer, the Steelers also don’t look like a team that’s going to break an eight-year drought since its last postseason win given the way Wilson’s play has deteriorated – to say nothing of the defense at large. And with the quarterback position already an open question for 2025, there’s also no certainty that Pittsburgh’s current iteration is building in a holistically meaningful way toward next season.
To be fair, the season-ending injuries to receivers Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs were major hits to the well-being of this offense, with the former’s gruesome incident particularly weighing on Stroud. But it’s worth wondering if Stroud would be the subject of heavier scrutiny in his sophomore campaign if he played for a franchise afforded the spotlight more often. Whether it was holding onto the ball too long, his ugly interception thrown to Hamilton at the start of the second half or just missing open targets, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year was routinely responsible for drive-killing plays. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik bears some responsibility for the ongoing issues, with last week’s repeated failed screens against the Chiefs serving as the latest ill-fated attempt to address the rampant protection problems. But it’s clear that this performance – which would have been only the second shutout of the NFL season if not for the defense getting on the board with a second-quarter safety – is untenable for a team now locked into the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs.
It’s certainly a stretch to assume the Texans will become a Christmas Day staple the way Jones’ Dallas Cowboys have long starred in the late-afternoon slot on Thanksgiving. But, in terms of 2024 anyway, Houston has Texas’ better NFL team and – far more important – Beyoncé’s Lone Star State-inspired halftime show completely overshadowed … whatever the Cowboys did at intermission on Turkey Day this year. Guess the Texans were just “all in.”
That San Antonio Spurs-New York Knicks game at noon ET looked pretty good. And there was a time when a lot of people would’ve watched it and more of the compelling matchups the Association has historically served up on Christmas. Now? Pretty much a ghost of Christmas past.
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