VITO'S VIEWS

This is not likely to be a good matchup weekend for the NFL.

Two of the three prime time games – Las Vegas at the Rams on Thursday night and New England at Arizona on Monday night – won’t have much at stake for either team although Las Vegas could stay in the wild-card race by beating the Rams. That would give the Raiders a 6-7 mark.

In the Sunday night game, Miami is at the Chargers in a flex game with both teams having wild-card hopes. Miami is 8-4 and the Chargers are 6-6. But neither team looks like a Super Bowl contender.

Of what I call the Big Six teams with the best shot at the top seed in each conference, five of them figure fairly easily.

In the AFC, the Bills should beat the Jets after losing the first meeting, Kansas City should win at Denver and Cincinnati is an easy choice over the Browns.

In the NFC, Dallas is a 17-point choice over the Texans in the biggest spread of the year and 11-2 Philadelphia figures to beat the Giants.

But Detroit has a good shot at beating Minnesota in a Fox early game that will be shown only in the Midwest. Minnesota is 10-2 but they may not be as good as their record while the Lions are on a roll and may better than their 5-7 mark. The Vikings barely beat the Jets last week and could have a tough time with the Lions. A loss would pretty much end the Vikings’ hope for the top seed, but they will still likely win their division.

Fox has an interesting doubleheader game that will be shown in much of the country since Carolina at Seattle is their other late game.

It will pit San Francisco rookie Brock Purdy, the last player drafted, making his first start against Tom Brady. San Francisco, 8-4, has the better team but could struggle with a rookie at quarterback. He had a good showing against the Dolphins last week when he took over in the first quarter after Jimmy Garopollo was lost for the season with a broken foot. But now the Bucs have a chance to look at him on film. 

Meanwhile, Brady is showing his age and put only three points on the board for the first three-and-a-half quarters against the Saints before leading two touchdown drives to win the game. The win gave the Bucs a 6-6 record.

Both teams may make the playoffs but it is unlikely that either Purdy or Brady is going to make the Super Bowl. 

This is the last week of byes and six teams – Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Washington – will have the week off.

The Philadelphia Eagles continued on the path to getting the first seed in the NFC while the Kansas City Chiefs ran into a Cincinnati road block in their bid for the top seed in the AFC last Sunday..

The Chiefs loss to the Cincinnati combined with the Bills win over the listless Patriots vaulted the Bills from the fifth seed to the top seed in the AFC with a 9-3 mark. The Chiefs are also 9-3 with a three game lead in the AFC West, but the Bills have the head to head tiebreaker over the Chiefs.

The Eagles crushed the Titans and still have the best record in the league at11-1. They have a one game lead on 10-2 Minnesota, which barely edged the Jets, in the battle for the top seed.

The 9-3 Dallas Cowboys routed the Indianapolis Colts to stay two games behind the Eagles.

The 8-4 49ers remained one game ahead of 7-5 Seattle in the NFC West by beating the Dolphins, but they lost Jimmy Garoppolo for the season early in the game. Brock Purdy, the last player drafted this year, guided the 49ers to the victory but it is not likely he will lead them to the Super Bowl.

And Tom Brady kept the Bucs on top of the NFC South with a comeback win over the Saints. Brady struggled much of the game but led two touchdown drives late in the fourth quarter to win the game.

But while Purdy is too young, Brady is showing signs mof age and it is unlikely either one will be in the Super Bowl. There now seem to be three NFC teams – Philadelphia, Minnesota and Dallas – who have realistic chances of making the Super Bowl.

The Giants and Commanders remained viable in the wild card race by playing to a tie. The Giants are 7-4-1 and the Commanders 7-5-1.

The  AFC battle for the top seed also revolves around three teams – Buffalo, Kansas City and the Bengals, who are trying to become only the second team to lose the Super Bowl and then win it the next year since the perfect Dolphins did it in 1972.

The Bengals got off to a slow start but must be taken seriously since they are the only team to beat the Chiefs three consecutive times since Patrick Mahomes became their quarterback. The Bengals beat the Chiefs in the season finale last year, in the playoffs last year and now last Sunday. 

Baltimore at 9-4, the Titans at 7-5 and the Dolphins at 8-4still have a good shot at the playoffs, but they aren’t looking like Super Bowl contenders.

The Ravens barely beat the Broncos by a point and Lamar Jackson was injured while the Dolphins lost to the 49ers and the Titans to the Eagles by wide margins.

So it now looks like the two Super Bowl teams will come from a field that includes Buffalo, Kansas City and Cincinnati in the AFC and Philadelphia, Minnesota and Dallas in the NFC.

Deshaun Watson made his return and looked like a quarterback who hasn’t played in two years. He was ineffective but the Browns still beat the Texans on defense and special teams while Watson was booed loudly every time he took a snap.

The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles face tough challenges as they attempt to retain their one game lead for the top seed in each conference thisweekend..

Kansas City plays 7-4 Cincinnati in the CBS doubleheader game Sunday that will be shown to most of the nation while the Eagles host Tennessee in one of the four 1 pm Fox games.

The Bengals are tied for the top spot in their division with Baltimore while the Titans have a three game lead in the loss column in their division

Kansas City is top seed in AFC at 9-2 and the Eagles are 10-1 in the NFC.

If Kansas City loses to the Bengals, 8-3 Buffalo can tie for top seed with a Thursday night victory over the Patriots. So could 8-3 Miami although the Dolphins have a tough game at 7-4 Francisco, which has been on a roll.

Miami and Buffalo are also battling for the division title and a home playoff game. One of them will be a wild card team.

Baltimore at 7-4 figures to rebound from the surprising loss in Jacksonville with a win over the Broncos in another CBS early game. That puts pressure on the Bengals to upset the Chiefs to remain tied for first.

Minnesota host s the Jets in one of the four CBS early games. The Jets stunned the Bears last week after switching from Zach Wilson to Mike White at quarterback and will try to pull off another upset. Minnesota has a five game lead in its division so it is only playing for top seed. There are also questions about whether Minnesota is as good as its record.

The Sunday night game isn’t much of an attraction with 8-3 Dallas hosting 4-7-1 Indianapolis but the game wasn’t flexed because the Cowboys usually get good ratings. Jeff Saturday could suffer his third consecutive loss as interim coach after winning his first game.

Tampa Bay, leading its division with a 5-6 mark, will attempt to stay on top with a Monday night victory over the 4-8 Saints, who would only be a game behind the Bucs if they pull off a victory. Atlanta is currently second in the division at 5-7 and has a bye along with 4-8 Carolina. It is hard to believe a 4-8 team is only two games off the division lead, but that is the current state of the NFC South.

Two NFC teams in wild card race play in Fox early game when the Giants host Washington.

Seattle at 6-5 is a game behind San Francisco and figures to keep pace with a victory over the disappointing 3-8 Rams.

Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles remain the top seeds with six games remaining.

The Chiefs, who have with won 26 games in a row in November and December, boosted their record to 9-2 the victory over the Rams.

The Eagles, meanwhile maintained the best record in the NFC at 10-1 with a victory over Green Bay in what may wind up being a changing of the guard for the Packers. Aaron Rodgers, who has been playing with a broken thumb and was knocked out with a rib injury against the Eagles. That opens the door for Jordan Love to finally get a chance to play and the Packers may be ready to move on from Rodgers.

The Chiefs, who have a three game lead in their division, have a one-game lead over the 8-3 Dolphins and Bills in the battle for the top seed.

The Ravens fell to 7-4  loss to the Jaguars and are two games behind the Chiefs in the battle for the top seed with a loss to the Jaguars and are now tied with Cincinnati, which upset the Titans, who, like the Ravens, dropped to 7-4 although they have a comfortable lead over the 4-7-1 Colts.

The Jets made the right move in benching Zach Wilson for Mike White, who guided them to an easy win over the Bears and are now 7-4 and currently have the last wild card spot.

There are seven teams with fewer than five losses and currently make up the playoff field in the AFC. The  Pats and Chargers at 6-5  are still tying for a wild card spot. No other AFC team has fewer than seven losses.

In the NFC, there appear to be three challengers to Philadelphia for the top seed – 9-2 Minnesota, 8-3 Dallas and 7-4 San Francisco. The 49ers are on a roll with four wins in a row and while they aren’t likely to get the top seed, they will likely win their division and get a first round home game.

Tampa Bay at 5-6 actually leads its division over 5-7 Atlanta.t

All four NFC East teams are currently in the playoffs. Washington has the seventh spot at 7-5 but is only one game ahead of 6-5 Seattle in the loss column.

No other teams in the NFC has fewer than seven losses. Atlanta is 5-7 and the Lions and Packers are 4-7 so it remains to be seen if any of the seven loss teams can sneak into the playoffs.

There are no byes this holiday weekend so all 32 teams will be playing starting with the Thanksgiving Day tripleheader.

There will be five games on national TV this weekend with four on broadcast TV and the Monday night game on ESPN as usual.

But the feature game will be the Fox doubleheader game Sunday with Kansas City hosting the disappointing Rams. It pits last year’s champions against the team favored to win this year.

The Chiefs are 8-2 and are one game ahead of four 7-3 teams so the Chiefs can’t afford to coast if they want the top seed even though they have a three game lead in their division.

The Rams are 3-7 and probably out of the playoff picture but would love to upset the Chiefs. This will be the doubleheader game on Fox shown to much of the country. The networks want to showcase Patrick Mahomes as much as they can.

On Thanksgiving Day, there will be the usual three games – the first two in Detroit and Dallas – while Minnesota hosts New England in the third one in prime time.

None of the games will be on Prime with the Detroit game on CBS, the Dallas game on Fox and the Minnesota game on NBC. The NFL wants the largest possible audience for the holiday so Prime gets the short straw. 

Three of the four AFC teams at 7-3 are likely to win. Miami figures to beat Houston, the Bills are expected to beat the Lions and the Ravens are the choice over Indianapolis.

But 7-3 Tennessee has a tough game with the 6-4 Bengals. Tennessee has a three game lead in its division while the 6-4 Bengals, a game behind the Ravens, need a victory. The Titans-Bengals will be the feature early game on CBS.

There are two 6-4 AFC teams — New England and the Jets – besides the Bengals. The Patriots will be underdogs against the Vikings while the Jets play the Bears. The Patriots and the Bengals are currently the sixth and seventh seeds in the AFC playoff picture while the Jets are on the bubble with the 5-5 Chargers, who figure to beat Arizona. The Jets no longer look like a playoff team.

In the NFC, the Eagles have the top seed at 9-1 and figure to beat Green Bay in the Sunday night game. Minnesota at 8-2 figures to stay on their heels by beating New England on Thanksgiving Day. And the winner of the Dallas-Giants game with both at 7-3 will stay in race for top seed.

The NFC South and West are wide open. Tampa Bay at 5-5 plays at Cleveland while 5-6 Atlanta is at Washington.

In the West, San Francisco and Seattle are tied at 6-4. San Francisco hosts New Orleans and Seattle hosts the Raiders.

The short version is the Chiefs have the inside track on the top seed in the AFC and Philadelphia and Dallas have the best shots in the NFC although Minnesota has an outside shot.

Mahomes Magic is alive and well.

Patrick Mahomes showed he has the inside track on both the top seed in the AFC and the league MVP when he pulled off his magic act again Sunday night.

After the Chargers took a four-point lead with less than two minutes to do, it took him six plays to put together the game winning drive.

The victory pretty much wrapped up the AFC West division for the Chiefs, who are 8-2 and have a three game lead on the 5-5 Chargers.

And they have a one game lead in the battle for the top seed as Mahomes goes for his second Super Bowl win in his first six years in the league. Tom Brady won his first three in his first five years but then went nine years before he won the fourth one.

Tennessee at 7-3 also has a three game lead in the AFC South and is virtually guaranteed a division title and home playoff spot.

Six other teams are battling for the other five AFC playoff spots. The closest race is in the AFC East with Miami, which had a bye last week, and Buffalo, which beat Cleveland, both 7-3. The Buffalo game was played in Detroit because of the snowstorm in Buffalo and the Bills go back to Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day game against the Lions.

New England and the Jets are 6-4 but neither looked like a contender  Sunday. They played a game in the wind that was tied 3-3 before the Patriots ran a punt back for a touchdown with five seconds left. Jets coach Robert Saleh wouldn’t commit to Zach Wilson remaining the starter.

In AFC North, Baltimore is 7-3 and Cincinnati 6-4.

That leaves eight AFC teams with four losses or fewer vying for seven spots. The Charges at 5-5 also can’t be ruled out.

In the NFC, Philadelphia stayed in top spot at 9-1 by escaping with a one point win over the Colts while Dallas seems to be emerging as their top challenger at 7-3 by crushing the Vikings, who are now 8-2 and have a four game lead in their division but don’t look like a team that can win three conference playoff games to make the Super Bowl.

The only other team besides the Eagles, Cowboys and Vikings with fewer than four losses in the NFC is the 7-3 New York Giants and they are try to hold on to wild card spot after losing to the Lions.

The rest of the NFC is a scramble and the most disappointing team is the defending champion Rams, who fell to 3-7 with a loss to the Saints. They won’t be repeating

The last team to repeat was the 2003-2004 Patriots and even Tom Brady couldn’t do it again. In the age of parity, repeating is difficult. The Steelers did it twice in a six-year span in the 1970s but those days are long gone.

What can the Minnesota Vikings do for an encore?

We find out Sunday when they face the Dallas Cowboys in the CBS late game that will be shown in most of the country. Their other late game is Cincinnati at Pittsburgh.

The Vikings are coming off that unbelievable victory over the Bills that was the game of the year. The Cowboys meanwhile, lost last Sunday to the Packers in the highest rated TV game of the year. That dropped the Cowboys to 6-2, but they remained a game behind the Eagles, who lost their first game to the Commanders.

But a loss to the Vikings would probably leave the Cowboys two games behind the Eagles, who play at Indianapolis. And a Vikings win would keep them tied at 9-1 with the Eagles in the battle for the top seed although the Eagles hold the head to head tie break.

The feature prime time game is Kansas City at the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday night, which was flexed to replace Cincinnati at Pittsburgh.

The 6-2 Chiefs have a game lead over the 5-3 Chargers as well as the top seed in the AFC. A victory would keep the Chiefs in the top seed spot plus a two game lead over the Chargers in the AFC West division race.

In the Thursday night Amazon Prime game, 5-3 Tennessee can remain in first place in the AFC South with a victory over 3-6 Green Bay, which stunned the Cowboys last Sunday.

In the Monday night game, San Francisco will attempt to go to 5-4 in the NFC West with a victory over 3-6 Arizona. Seattle leads the division at 6-3 and has a bye.

Atlanta, which is 4-5, can take the lead in the NFC South with a victory over 3-6 Chicago. Tampa Bay at 4-5 has a bye.

The 6-3 Jets, who play the 5-4 Patriots, and the 6-3 Bills, who host 3-5 Cleveland, can create a three-way tie in the AFC East at 7-3 if they both win. 

Baltimore at 6-3 can remain atop the NFC North with a victory over 2-7 Carolina.

Houston at 1-6-1 can remain in top spot in next year’s draft with a loss to the 4-5 Commanders.

The Minnesota-Buffalo game was a game for the season if not the ages.

What we don’t know is the long-term ramifications. It was a devastating overtime loss for the Bills, who went from the top seed in the conference to third in their division.

And with Philadelphia losing its first game to the Commanders, the Vikings are tied for top seed in NFC at 8-1 although the Eagles have the head-to-head tie breaker.

And now Kansas City has a clear path to the top seed in the AFC with a 7-2 record.

But the larger question is what happened to Josh Allen and the Bills. Allen is no longer a MVP candidate after he and the center botched a snap that gave the Vikings a touchdown in the final minute and Allen ended the game by throwing an end zone interception in overtime.

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson is establishing himself as the best receiver in the game and his one-handed catch will make all the highlight shows.

Can Allen and the Bills rebound in their last eight games or are they a flawed team that is not as good as we thought?  We will see..

Meanwhile, there is a wild scramble behind the 7-2 Chiefs. Miami leads AFC East at 7-3 with Jets second at 6-3. The Ravens lead AFC North at 6-3 and the Titans are atop AFC South at 6-3. And the Patriots, Bengals, and Chargers have four losses. That means there are eight teams between two and four losses with seven playoff spots. 

The only five loss team in the AFC is Indianapolis, which improved to 4-5-1 when it won Jeff Saturday’s first game as a coach against the struggling Raiders.

Saturday handed the starting job back to veteran quarterback Matt Ryan and it remains to be seen how effective the Colts will be in the last seven games as Saturday tries to show Jimmy Irsay’s decision to make him the interim head coach makes some sense since his only coaching experience was three years in high school.

In the NFC, the big loser was the Cowboys, who were beaten by the Packers in the highest rated game of the year. That dropped the Cowboys to 6-3, two games behind the Eagles and means they could wind up a wild card team.

The Cowboys are now ranked sixth behind the Eagles and Vikings at 8-1, Seahawks at 6-4, Bucs at 5-5 and Giants top wild card spot at 7-2. San Francisco has final wild card spot at 5-4 while the Commanders are eighth at 5-5. Five teams –the Cardinals, Rams, Falcons, Packers and Lions — all have six losses.

The NFL has an ownership problem.

The fact that the money keeps pouring so teams can’t lose money regardless of how poorly they are run has obscured the fact that some owners don’t know how to even field competitive teams.

The best example, of course, is Washington owner Dan Snyder, who took one of the best teams in the league and ran it into the ground. Having a bad team in Washington is not good for the league.

And then there is a more recent owner, Carolina billionaire David Tepper, who made a deal to build a facility in Rock Hill, S.C, only to have the deal collapse. And he hired Matt Ruhle in 2020 and signed him to a seven-year deal and then fired him this year before he even finished his third year. Signing him to a seven-year deal made no sense in the first place.

But the best example will be on display Sunday when the Colts face the Raiders. Both teams have sons of owners, Mark Davis of the Raiders and Jim Irsay of the Colts, who have their franchises going in the wrong direction.

Irsay had a good run when he had Bill Polian as general manager and Peyton Manning as his quarterback and Tony Dungy as his coach. But it has fallen apart since then. Dungy decided to retire after the 2009 season and Irsay fired Polian after Manning missed a season with a neck injury and the Colts went 2-14 in 2011. Polian had seemed to lose his drafting touch in the later years.

The team got the first draft pick and took Oliver Luck and Irsay sent Manning packing and he went to Denver and went to two Super Bowls. Luck was a good player but never made the Super Bowl and was plagued by injuries and retired after the 2018 year. He was with the team seven years and sat out a year with an injury.

Since then the Colts have had a revolving door with stopgap veteran quarterbacks, including Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan the last three years. Irsay got tired of Ryan’s inconsistent play and ordered coach Frank Reich to play Sam Ehlinger. After two losses, he fired Reich. And then he hired former coach Jeff Saturday to finish out the year.

No matter that Saturday’s coaching career was three years of high school ball. The move has made the Colts and Irsay a laughingstock and who knows where the team will go from here. Look for the losing to continue.

Meanwhile, Davis get a new stadium in Las Vegas, but the honeymoon appears to be over. Davis decided to hired Jon Grudenin 2018 and gave him a 10 years contract.He was fired in 2021 after inappropriate emails to former Washington executive Bruce Allen surfaced. David promoted Rich Bisaccia to the head job and he went 7-6 the rest of last season.

But instead of giving him a shot, Davis hired Josh McDaniels from the Patriots even though he flopped as a head coach in Denver and once accepted the head job in Indianapolis and then reneged and forced the Colts to scramble for a replacement after the Super Bowl.

The results have been what you would expect. Under McDaniels, the Raiders have blown not one, not two but three 17-point leads and are 2-6 while the Colts are 3-5-1.

One of the teams will win Sunday’s game unless there is a tie, but the future is bleak for both teams.

As long as Irsay and Davis own these teams, there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

And the NFL will be a loser because it will have to deal with two more non competitive teams.

As it is, seven AFC teams and eight NFC teams have losing records.

The NFL is showing ownership counts and they don’t have enough good owners who know how to run a franchise.

The feature game this weekend will be the Fox early Sunday game with the 6-2 Buffalo Bills hosting the 7-1 Minnesota Vikings.

Fox has only two other early games – Detroit at Chicago and New Orleans at Pittsburgh – so most of the country will get this game. It is only game this weekend in which both teams have winning records. In the last four weeks, the NFL has had just five games in which both teams have had winning records. 

It is a critical game for the Bills, who lost to the Jets last week also don’t know if quarterback Josh Allen can play after he suffered an elbow sprain at the end of last week’s game. He is listed as day to day. If he can’t go, veteran Case Keenum, who started and won two games as a backup in Cleveland last year will get the nod.

The Bills only have a game lead in the loss column on the 6-3 Jets, who have a bye, and the 6-3 Dolphins, who play Cleveland, so they can’t afford a second straight loss.

Since the other three teams in the division — Detroit, Green Bay and Chicago – have six losses, the Vikings are only playing for the top seed. They are a game behind unbeaten Philadelphia, which figures to beat the Commanders in the Monday night game. The Vikings only loss was to the Eagles in the second game of the year so the Eagles have the tiebreaker edge.

The other two prime time games are Atlanta at Carolina on Thursday night and the Chargers at San Francisco on Sunday night. The 5-3 Chargers are a game behind Kansas City in the AFC West and the 4-4 49ers are a game behind Seattle in the NFC West.. The Seahawks are playing the Bucs in Munich Sunday in a game that starts at 

6:30 am Seattle time. Seattle at 6-3 is trying to maintain the NFC West lead. The Bucs and   are tied for the NFC South lead at 4-5. 

The Fox late game is 6-2 Dallas at Green Bay. These two teams have played some famous games including the Ice Bowl but with the Packers at 3-6, it doesn’t figure to be much of a matchup. The other late game is 3-6 Arizona at the 3-5 Rams. Both teams are desperate to stay alive in the playoff race.

The Chiefs, leading the AFC West and the Giants, tied for second with Dallas in the NFC East, are both 6-2 and have favorable matchups with Chiefs hosting the Jaguars and the Giants hosting Houston.

In the other two early CBS games, Cleveland is at Miami and Denver is at Tennessee. Indianapolis, with new interim head coach Jeff Saturday making his debut, is at Las Vegas in the only CBS late game..  The Colts are 3-5-1 and the Raiders are 2-6.

Miami, at 6-3, needs a victory over 3-5 Cleveland to stay in midst of AFC East race.Tennessee leads the AFC South at 5-3 while Denver is 3-5.