–There will be seven national games this Christmas weekend on seven different platforms, but you will need NFL Network, Amazon and Peacock to see all seven. It will be interesting to see what ratings will be this weekend.
–The feature game will be on ABC Christmas night with Baltimore at the 49ers. This could be a Super Bowl review. The 49ers are almost a lock to make it through the NFC to get to the Super Bowl and the Ravens are top seed in AFC. The Ravens are the one team that could take the the 49ers down with Lamar Jackson’s ability to scramble for up to seven seconds before throwing a pass. And he can also run if he doesn’t find an open receiver. If the 49ers can contain Jackson, they will become the favorite to win the Super Bowl. They figure to beat the Commanders and Rams in their last two regular season games. The Ravens by contrast have another challenging game next week in Miami.
–The NBA has turned Christmas day into a holiday event so NFL has decided to climb on bandwagon with three national games. The Raiders at the Chiefs on CBS and the Giants at the Eagles on Fox will be on before the Baltimore at San Francisco feature game at night on ABC so all three broadcast partners get a Christmas game.
–The weekend starts with the Thursday nightgame on Prime featuring the Saints at Rams followed by a full slate of games on Christmas Eve. CBS has Cleveland at Houston, Seattle at Tennessee, Washington at the Jets plus Jacksonville at Tampa in the late game. Fox has Detroit at Miami, Indianapolis at Atlanta, and Green Bay at Carolina with Dallas at Miami and Arizona at Chicago in late games. New England is at Denver at night on the NFL Network.
–The Jaguars at Tampa Bay game may affect four other teams. A Jaguar victory means the Jaguars could beat out Texans and Colts for the division title by beating Panthers and Titans in last two games. A Tampa Bay win would keep them ahead of Saints in battle for division title even if Saints beat the Rams.
–Miami needs a victory over Dallas to keep a two game lead over the Bills in the AFC East and to show they can beat good teams especially since the Bills routed the Cowboys last weekend. The Cleveland at Houston game also has playoff implications for both AFC teams with Browns at 9-5 and the Texans at 8-6and both trying to get a wild card spot if they dont win their divisions.