Category: NFL News

Week 16 in the NFL got off to an early start with three games played before a short Christmas Eve slate. Fourteen teams will play on the national television stage thanks to the Christmas holiday, with plenty of games having an effect on the AFC and NFC playoff races. 

The Saturday slate featured the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills heading to southern California to face the Los Angeles Chargers. Three of the four teams will be shaking up the AFC playoff picture, starting with Pittsburgh’s win over Cincinnati. 

With the Saturday slate of games going on, it’s never too early for overreactions to either game. 

Mason Rudolph should start for the Steelers for rest of year 

Overreaction or Reality: Overreaction

The Steelers decided to go with Rudolph over Mitchell Trubisky as the starting quarterback this week while Kenny Pickett has been out with an ankle injury. Naturally, Rudolph goes 17 of 27 for 290 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions (124.0 rating) as the Steelers score 34 points in a blowout victory over the Bengals. 

The 34 points for the Steelers were the most points in a game since Week 11 of the 2021 season and the Steelers haven’t scored 30 points in a win since the 2020 season. Pittsburgh averaged 13.7 points per game and 265.7 yards per game in its previous three games, all losses. The Steelers put up 34 points and 397 yards against the Bengals. 

George Pickens actually looked like an elite receiver, catching four passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns — both touchdown catches over 60 yards. Rudolph had something to do with that right? 

The Steelers aren’t going to bench Pickett when he returns, but they can “make sure he’s 100%.” Perhaps Rudolph gets another start while they figure things out. 

Bengals playoff chances are dashed

Overreaction or Reality: Reality

The Bengals couldn’t afford to lose this game to…

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The Colts will have running back Jonathan Taylor back for Sunday’s game against the Falcons, but they won’t have their other key running back.

Zack Moss has been downgraded from questionable to out with his forearm injury.

The move is not entirely a surprise, as Moss did not practice all week.

In 13 games with eight starts, Moss leads the team with 764 yards rushing and five rushing TDs. He’s also caught 27 passes for 192 yards with two touchdowns this season.

Taylor is returning from a thumb injury. In seven games with five starts this year, he’s recorded 414 yards rushing with four touchdowns along with 16 catches for 137 yards with one TD.

Additionally, Indianapolis has elevated receiver Ethan Fern and offensive tackle Jared Veldheer from the practice squad to the active roster for Sunday’s contest. Veldheer, 36, is set to make his first appearance since playing for the Colts in 2020.

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Who’s Playing

Buffalo Bills @ Los Angeles Chargers

Current Records: Buffalo 8-6, Los Angeles 5-9

How To Watch

When: Saturday, December 23, 2023 at 8 p.m. ETWhere: SoFi Stadium — Inglewood, CaliforniaTV: PeacockFollow: CBS Sports App

What to Know

The Chargers will be in front of their home fans on Saturday, but a look at the spread shows they might need that home-field advantage. They will be home for the holidays to greet the Buffalo Bills at 8:00 p.m. ET at SoFi Stadium. The Chargers might want some stickum for this matchup since the team gave up five turnovers on Thursday.

Los Angeles gave up the first points and the most points. There’s no need to mince words: the Chargers lost to the Raiders, and the Chargers lost bad. The score wound up at 63-21. Los Angeles was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 42-0.

Despite the defeat, the Chargers had strong showings from Easton Stick, who threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns while completing 71.9% of his passes, and Joshua Palmer, who picked up 113 receiving yards and a touchdown. Palmer’s biggest highlight was a 79-yard reception that he brought in for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Buffalo can now show off five landslide victories after their most recent contest on Sunday. They put the hurt on the Cowboys with a sharp 31-10 win. The oddsmakers were on Buffalo’s side, but they didn’t give the squad enough credit as the margin was unexpectedly wide.

Among those leading the charge was James Cook, who rushed for 179 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.2 yards per carry, and also picked up 42 receiving yards. He also notched 25 carries for the first time this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Josh Allen, who rushed for 24 yards and a touchdown.

Los Angeles has been struggling recently, as they’ve lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-9…

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The Rams have had plenty of great quarterbacks over the years. None have accomplished what current starter Matthew Stafford finalized tonight.

Stafford, as noted during the Amazon Prime broadcast, has gone four straight games with two or more touchdown passes and no interceptions. He’s the first Rams quarterback to ever do that.

He also generated 328 passing yards against the Saints. It’s his highest output since a Week 1 win in Seattle.

The 30-22 victory, which was a blowout until the Saints scored a pair of late touchdowns, gave the Rams their fifth win in six games. It dramatically strengthened L.A.’s shot at making the playoffs, while also making New Orleans’ path a lot more tenuous.

The Rams will be dangerous, if/when they qualify. They might be the only team in the NFC with a chance to go to San Francisco and pull off an upset. And it would happen if Stafford can keep playing the way he’s been playing lately — efficient, crisp, decisive, and healthy.

We should want the best teams to make it to the postseason, since that will be more likely to generate competitive and exciting playoff games. The Rams currently seem to be well positioned to do just that, regardless of the opponent.

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Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

With just three weeks left to play in the season, the NFL playoff chase should get pretty wild down the stretch and I fully expect that to start tonight with the Saints heading to Los Angeles for a showdown with the Rams. At this point, both teams fully control their own postseason fate: If they win out, they’ll make the playoffs, but as we know, both teams can’t win tonight, so they’re both not going to win out. 

The loser of tonight’s game will be in a lot of trouble and if you’re wondering who that loser is going to be, we have some picks for you in today’s newsletter. We’ll also take a look at the MVP race, plus we’ll be going over the details of all the Pro Bowl games that the NFL announced this week.  

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let’s get to the rundown. 

1. Today’s show: Two former NFL players break down the latest NFL news

For today’s episode of the “Pick Six NFL” podcast, we brought on two former NFL players to break down all of the latest NFL news: Brady Quinn and Leger Douzable. 

Host Will Brinson joined them during Thursday’s show, and the three of them had an interesting conversation about Arthur Smith’s future in Atlanta. Falcons owner Arthur Blank was asked about Smith this week and he didn’t exactly give his coach a vote of confidence. 

Blank said he’ll “let the season play out and go from there” when asked if Smith will be sticking around. 

Based on Blank’s comments, Douzable thinks Smith will almost certainly be gone after the season. 

“Usually, as a coach, you want that vote of confidence in that last couple of weeks,” Douzable said. “I think Arthur Blank sits back and looks at the talent on this team and realizes that Arthur Smith is not getting the best out of the…

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Free agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said in October he wanted to continue his career. He might still get that chance.

Suh visited Miami on Wednesday.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that nothing is imminent between the sides.

Suh, 36, played for the Dolphins from 2015-17, earning Pro Bowl honors in 2016. He also has played for the Lions, Rams, Buccaneers and signed with the Eagles at midseason in 2022, seeing action in eight games and the postseason.

In 13 seasons, the No. 2 overall pick in 2010 has 600 tackles, 71.5 sacks, 214 quarterback hits, five forced fumbles and nine fumble recoveries.

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It’s time once again to check in on the 2023 NFL MVP race. With just three games remaining in the season, the field is narrowing down, and we had a big shakeup in our poll this week.

After the Dallas Cowboys were blown off the field by the Buffalo Bills in Week 15, we saw Dak Prescott get knocked out of the top spot. Taking his place was not the second-place finisher in each of our last two installments (Brock Purdy), but someone from further down the board: Lamar Jackson. (Full disclosure, I was the lone voter to give Lamar a first-place vote in each of the last two polls. I’m glad to that see some of my colleagues have come around.)

In case you need a reminder of how this works, here it is: Our panel of voters were each asked to submit their top five choices for MVP. To reflect the ranked-choice voting system now in place, a first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote worth four, third-place worth three, fourth-place worth two and fifth-place worth one. The candidates were then ranked in order of their total voting points received. 

Without further ado, let’s get to the voting breakdown. (Here is last week’s version, for reference.)

The panel of voters: Jared Dubin, Eric Kernish, Cody Benjamin, Garrett Podell, Josh Edwards, Will Brinson, Jeff Kerr, Kevin Steimle, Tyler Sullivan, Chris Trapasso, Jordan Dajani, John Breech, Bryan DeArdo, Brett Anderson

The full MVP leaderboard

1. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (52.5 points) | Last Week: 5th

2. 49ers QB Brock Purdy (47.5) | Last week: 2nd

3. 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey (41) | Last Week: 4th

4. Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (24) | Last Week: 1st

5. Bills QB Josh Allen (23) | Last Week: T-7th

6. Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill (16) | Last Week: 3rd

7. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (3) | Last Week: 6th 

8. Rams QB Matthew Stafford (2) | Last Week: NR

T-7. Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa (1) | Last Week: T-7th

Dropped out: None

Most…

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Former Chiefs offensive lineman Ed Budde died Tuesday, his family announced. Budde was 83.

Budde spent his entire 14-year pro career with the Chiefs and entered the team’s Hall of Fame in 1983, seven years after his retirement.

“He was a cornerstone of those early Chiefs teams that brought pro football to Kansas City,” Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement Tuesday. “He never missed a game in the first nine seasons of his career, and he rightfully earned recognition as an All-Star, a Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion.”

The Chiefs made Budde the eighth overall pick of the AFL in 1963, four picks after the Eagles drafted him in the NFL draft. He chose to sign with Hank Stram’s Chiefs.

Budde appeared in 177 games, starting 161.

He was a leader on the Chiefs teams that won AFL titles in 1966 and ’69, and then beat the Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Budde made five AFL all-star teams and two Pro Bowls.

He was a member of the All-AFL team.

Budde’s son, Brad Budde, was an All-American offensive lineman at Southern California before he was drafted by the Chiefs with the 11th overall pick in 1980. They remain the only father-son duo to be first-round picks by the same NFL franchise.

The elder Budde remained active in the Kansas City area after his playing career. He was one of the 10 founding members of the Kansas City Ambassadors in the early 1990s, and he also served as the longtime president of the Kansas City Chapter of the NFL Alumni organization.

The Highland Park, Michigan, native attended Michigan State, where he earned first-team All America honors in 1962. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

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