VITO'S VIEWS

When the NFL scheduled Indianapolis at Kansas City in the 12^thweek of the season, they didn’t expect it to be a premier attraction. They scheduled it at 1 p.m. Sunday as one of four CBS early games, so it won’t be a national attraction but will be shown in most markets.

A lot will be at stake, especially for Kansas City. The Chiefs are 5-5 and if they lose to the Colts, they could be in danger of missing the playoffs. Meanwhile, the 8-2 Colts are currently seeded third in the AFC  and are fighting for the top seed and want to keep two games ahead of the 6-4 Jaguars, who are playing Arizona. The Chiefs are still favored even though the Colts have the better record.

The Chiefs’ main problem is that they are 0-5 in one score games this year after bringing a 17-game winning streak in one-score games into the season. The Chiefs are having a problem on offense. Either Patrick Mahomes misses receivers or the receivers don’t get open or drop his passes. If the Chiefs are to make a late run to the playoffs, it has to start now.

–There is also a premier match Sunday night  with a battle of division leaders as Tampa Bay goes to the Rams. The Rams are 8-2 and the Bucs are 6-4. The Rams are a game ahead of Seattle, which is expected to beat Tennessee, in the NFC West. The Bucs are a game ahead in the loss column over the surprising 6-5 Panthers.

–In the other two primetime games, Buffalo, the fifth seed in the AFC at 7-3,  is favored over 5-5 Houston Thursday night and 7-4 San Francisco, the seventh NFC seed, will play the surprising Panthers Monday night. 

 –The 6-4 Steelers, the fourth AFC seed and the AFC North leader, will play at the 7-3 Bears, the third NFC seed and NFC North leader. With Aaron Rodgers recovering from a broken bone in his wrist, Mason Rudolph will anthe start if Rodgers can’t go. New England at 9-2 and second AFC seed, will at Cincinnati. Both are CBS early games. Jacksonville, the seventh AFC seed at 6-4, plays at  Arizona in a late CBS game.

–The Eagles, the top NFC seed at 8-2, will go to 4-5-1 Dallas, in the national doubleheader game on FOX. It will be shown in all markets except the New Orleans and Atlanta areas since those two teams play each other.

It was not a good Sunday for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions, who are both on the outside of the playoff picture with seven games left. The Chiefs are 5-5 in a three way tie with the Texans and Ravens   who are all a game behind the seventh seed 6-4 Jaguars in the AFC race. The 6-4 Lions, meanwhile, are eighth in the NFC, a half game behind the 7-4 49ers.

The Chiefs’ string of nine consecutive AFC West titles is likely to end this year after the Chiefs lost to Denver, the top AFC  seed at 9-2. The Chiefs now will have to fight for a wild card spot and go on the road if they make the playoffs and try to return to the Super Bowl. Mahomes pointed the finger at himself, noting he made too many bad throws.

Meanwhile, both Lions QB Jared Goff and coach Dan Campbell had a frustrating game  in the loss to the Eagles. Goff had five passes batted down and Campbell went for it on fourth down five times and the Lions didn’t make any of the five. Campbell often gets burned when he gambles on fourth down. But the Lions were also the victim of a bad defensive pass interference call that cost the Lions a chance for a game winning drive.

–The defending champion Eagles are in a good position for a repeat after the victory over the Lions gave them a 8-2 record and the top seed in the NFC after beating the Lions. The Broncos have the top seed in the AFC  at 9-2 after beating the Chiefs.

–The other three division leaders in the NFC are the 8-2 Rams, who beat the Seahawks, the 7-3 Bears, who beat the Vikings and the 6-4 Bucs, who lost to the Bills. The other three division leaders in the AFC are 9-2 Patriots, who beat the Jets last Thursday night, the 8-2 Colts, who had a bye, and the 6-4 Steelers, who beat the Bengals. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was replaced by Mason Rudolph after Rodgers broke a bone in his left wrist and it is uncertain how long he will be sidelined.

–The three wild card teams in the NFC are the 7-3 Seahawks, who lost to the Rams,  the 6-3-1 Packers, who beat the Giants, and the 7-4 49ers, who beat the Cardinals. The wild card AFC teams are the 7-3 Bills, who beat the Bucs, the 7-4 Chargers and the 6-4 Jaguars, who beat the Chargers.

The NFL has one of the best tripleheaders of the season with all three games Sunday having major playoff implications and all three will be shown on network television.

–It begins with a CBS doubleheader starting with Tampa Bay at Buffalo in the early game. Both lost last week and need to rebound. Both teams are currently 6-3. Tampa Bay is leading the NFC South while Buffalo trails 8-2 New England in the  AFC East and is currently the sixth seed. Their other two early CBS games are Cincinnati at Pittsburgh and the Chargers at the Jaguars. The Chargers are the fifth seed at at 7-3 while the Jaguars are seventh at 5-4 after being outscored 26-0 at Houston last Sunday in the fourth quarter after leading by 19 points.

–The CBS doubleheader game is Kansas City at Detroit. The Chiefs are 5-4 currently the eighth seed in the AFC while the Lions lead at the NFC North at 6-3. The only other CBS late game is Baltimore at Cleveland with Ravens trying to get back in playoff race at 4-5.

— FOX has a single game in each market with four early games and two late games. In the four early games, Chicago is at Minnesota, Green Bay is at the Giants, Carolina is at Atlanta and Houston is at Tennessee. Of those eight games, only Chicago at 6-3 and Green Bay at 5-3-1 are seeded, They are sixth and seventh seeds in the NFC. Carolina at 5-5 and Minnesota at 4-5 are trying to claw back into the playoff picture. For the Giants, Mike Kafka makes his debut as interim coach and has switched to Jameis Winston over Russell Wilson is Jaxson Dart remains in concussion program.The Giants are 2-8.

–The weekend starts with the Jets at New England Thursday night and Washington at Miami Sunday morning in Madrid and the Cowboys at Las Vegas Monday night. The bye teams are Indianapolis and New Orleans are the bye teams.

–The Green Bay Packers were the big losers in Week 10. A week ago, they were 5-1-1 with the best record in the NFC. But after being upset by Carolina 16-13 a week ago, they lost to Philadelphia by a 10-7 margin Monday night to drop to the seventh seed at 5-3-1 in the NFC. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s victory boosted their record to 7-2 and they are the top seed in the conference. Seattle, which crushed the Cardinals 44-22, is tied with the Eagles at 7-2, but are the second seed because the Eagles have the tie break.

–The Lions, who beat the Commanders, 44-22, and the Bucs, who lost to New England 28-23, are both leading their divisions at 6-3 and are the third and fourth seeds in the NFC. The Bears bear the Giants, 24-20, to go to 6-3 and are the sixth seed because the Lions have the tie break. The Giants fired coach Brian Daboll after the loss. The Bears are the sixth seed. The Rams beat the 49ers 42-26 to boost their record to 7-2 but they are the fifth seed because the Seahawks have the tiebreak in their division. And the Packers are the seventh seed with the 49ers in the eighth spot at 6-4 after the loss to the Rams.

–Indianapolis edged Atlanta 31-25 in Berlin to retain the top seed in the AFC at 8-2. Denver was not impressive in its 10-7 victory over the Raiders on Thursday night but the Broncos are the second seed at 8-2. Both the Thursday and Monday nightgames were decided by 10-7 scores with Philadelphia beating the Packers by that score Monday night.

–New England is also 8-2 after beating the Bucs  28-23 and are the third seed in the AFC while Pittsburgh lost to the Chargers Sunday night 25-10 to drop to 5-4 but still lead its division and is still  the fourth seed. The Chargers are the fifth seed at 7-3 because they are a game behind Denver. Buffalo lost to the Dolphins 30-13 to fall to the sixth seed at 6-3. The Jaguars were outscored 26-0 in the fourth quarter by the Texans as they couldn’t hold a 19 point lead and lost 36-29. They are still the seventh seed at 5-4 but only beat the Raiders by a point a week ago and are in danger of falling out of the seventh seed as they prepare to host the Chargers this week.

–Kansas City had a bye and remained the eighth seed at 5-4 but nobody would be surprised if they make the playoffs and Houston after its victory over the Jaguars and the Ravens, who beat the Vikings 27-19, are ninth and tenth at 4-5.

There will be four games this weekend in which both teams are currently in the top seven needs in each conference, including two prime time games. Pittsburgh, the fourth seed in the AFC  at 5-3, is at the Chargers , the sixth seed in the AFC at 6-3, Sunday night and Philadelphia, the top seed in the NFC at 6-2, is at Green Bay Monday night. The Packers are the fourth seed in the NFC at 5-2-1.

–In the other game between seeded teams, New England, the second seed in the  AFC at 7-2, is is at Tampa Bay, the second seed in the NFC at 6-2, on CBS at 1 p.m. Sunday that will shown to much of the country and the Rams, the fifth seed in the NFC at 6-2, are at San Francisco, the sixth seed in the NFC at 6-3, in the FOX doubleheader game that will be shown to much of the nation. In the other FOX late game, Detroit, the seventh seed in the  NFC at 5-3, is at  Washington.

–In the games involving seeded teams playing non-seeded teams, Denver,  which began the week as third seed in the AFC, started the weekend Thursday night by nipping the Raiders 10-7 to improve to a surprising 8-2. Indianapolis, still the top seed in the AFC at 7=2 despite the loss to Pittsburgh last week,  hosts Atlanta in Berlin on Sunday morning at 920 am.  Jacksonville, the seventh seed in the AFC at 5-3, visits 3-5 Houston. The Jaguars were the road underdog until Houston quarterback  C.J. Stroud was ruled out with a concussion. The Jaguars are now favored against Miles  Davis. Buffalo, the fifth seed in the AFC at 6-2is at Miami. Both the Jaguars and Buffalo are playing in in CBS 1 p.m. games Sunday and Seattle, the third  seed in the NFC at 6-2, is hosting Arizona in a CBS late game Sunday.–Baltimore at 3-5 is at 4-4Minnesota in a FOX 1 p.m. Sunday game and while neither team lis seeded, both are fighting to get into the playoff pix.

–Of the four teams having byes, Kansas City, Dallas, Tennessee and Cincinnati are currently  seeded but the Chiefs can’t be ruled out. They are currently the eighth seed in the AFC at 5-4.

There were two major developments in Week 9. The first is that the Bills still own the Chiefs in the regular season as Josh Allen boosted his regular season record to 5-1 against Patrick Mahomes with a 28-21 victory.

Allen threw a touchdown pass and ran for two others. Mahomes is still 4-0 in the playoffs against Allen but first the Chiefs have to make the playoffs to have another shot at the Bills.. They fell to eighth in the AFC playoff rankings with a 5-4 record.

The other development is that no dominate team has yet to emerge as 7-1 Indianapolis committed six turnovers, five by quarterback Daniel Jones in their loss to the Steelers. They turned the ball over just four times in their first eight games. Every team in the league now has at least two losses. But the Colts are all in this year as they sent two first-round picks and a player to the Jets for Sauce Gardner to bolster their pass defense.

— -Despite the loss, Indianapolis Is still the top seed in the AFC with the tiebreaker even though they are tied with the Patriots and Denver, who are leading their respective divisions with 7-2 records. The Patriots beat Atlanta 24-23 for their sixth straight victory, while Denver escaped with an 18-15 win over Houston with an 11-point fourth period surge. It was their fourth comeback in the fourth period. Pittsburgh’s victory over Indianapolis kept it in the division lead at 5-3 and in the fourth seed.

–Buffalo has a 6-2 record and is the fifth seed and second to the Patriots in the AFC East. The Patriots have the tiebreaker because they beat Buffalo in first meeting. San Diego is the sixth seed at 6-3 after beating the Titans 37-20 and the Jaguars moved back into the seventh seed with a 30-29 victory over the Raiders, who went for two at the end of the game but had the pass batted down. Cam Little set a league record with a 68-yard field goal at the end of the first half. Kansas City fell to the eighth seed with the loss to Buffalo at 5-4 while the Texans and Ravens are ninth and 10th with 3-5 marks.  

–Philadelphia and Tampa Bay had byes and remained the top two NFC seeds at 6-2. Seattle moved up to 6-2 as the third seed as the Seahawks crushed Washington as Sam Darnold threw four touchdown passes in the first half. Washington Coach Dan Quinn kept Jayden Daniels in the game with the Commanders trailing 38-7. Daniels then suffered a dislocated elbow and Quinn will be second guessed for not pulling Daniels in the fourth quarter.   

–The fourth seed is Green Bay, which is 5-2-1 after being upset by the Panthers, but the NFC North Division title race is wide open with all four teams having a chance to win it. Detroit fell to 5-3 with a loss to 27-24 loss to the Vikings as coach Dan Campbell took the blame for not having his team ready to play. Chicago boosted its record to 5-3 when Caleb Williams threw a 58 yard touchdown pass to beat Cincinnati with 17 seconds left. The Bears have won five of their last six. The Rams at 49ers in the fifth and sixth slots at 6-2 and 6-3 while Detroit is now seventh after its loss. The Rams routed the Saints 34-10 and the 49ers beat the Giants 34-24. 6-3. The Eagles have a three game lead over the 3-5-1 Cowboys in the NFC East and the Bucs have a two game lead over the 5-4 Panthers while the other two divisions are close. The Packers, Lions, Bears and Vikings are 5-2-1, 5-3, 5-3 and 4-4 in the NFC North. In the West, the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers  are 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3 with Cardinals trailing at 3-5 after they ended a five game losing streak with a win over the Cowboys on Monday night. Most games in the second half of the season will have a lot at stake.  

The game of the weekend and one of the best of the season — Kansas City at Buffalo — will not be shown in prime time. It will be the CBS doubleheader game Sunday. CBS must have protected the game because it is one of the league’s best rivalries. The teams  have have met in the playoffs four times in the last five years and the Chiefs won all four but the Bills  won the last three regular season games. It is the only CBS late game and FOX only has two late  games — the Rams hosting New Orleans and Jacksonville at Las Vegas — so the game will get national coverage. In the current standings, the Bills are 5-2 and the Chiefs are 5-3

– T he three prime time games are Baltimore at Miami Thursday night, Seattle at Washington Sunday night and Arizona at Dallas Monday night. The Ravens are 2-5 but are still alive in the battle for the AFC North division title because the Steelers are 4-3. And the Ravens figure to beat 2-6 Miami despite the Dolphins surprising  34-10 win over Atlanta. Arizona is 2-5 after losing five close games in a row while the Cowboys are 3-4-1 after being routed by the Broncos, 44-24 last week.

–CBS has five early games and in only one of them are both teams among the top seven in their conference. And even in that one, 7-1 Indianapolis figures to beat 5-3 Pittsburgh. In three of them, a team currently in the playoff pictures faces a team currently on the outside looking in. San Francisco is at the Giants, New England hosts Atlanta and the Chargers are at Tennessee. In the other early CBS game, 4-3 Chicago is at 2-6 Cincinnati.

–In the three early FOX games, all face teams that are in the top seven against teams that aren’t. Detroit hosts Minnesota, Green Bay hosts Carolina and Denver is at Houston. The Texans are currently ninth in the AFC at 3-4  and need a victory to try to stay alive in the wild card race.     

The four teams having byes this week are the  Jets, Eagles, Browns and Bucs.

This was not a memorable weekend for the NFL. After many games early in the season were decided in the last minute or even last play, things changed last weekend. Of the 13 games, 12 were decided by double digits. The only close game was the Jets posting their first victory as they edged the Bengals, 39-38. The problem was that of the 14 teams currently in line for a playoff berth, only one game featured two of those teams as  the Steelers, 35-25 by outscoring the the Steelers 21-6 in the final quarter.

–The Packers victory kept them on top of the NFC with a 5-1-1 record while Indianapolis remained with the best record in the AFC at 7-1. They stayed on top by routing the Titan 38-14.

–The 4-3 Jaguars had a bye and dropped from seventh to eighth in the AFC as they were passed by the Chiefs, who took the seventh spot at 5-3 by beating the Commanders Monday night. The Steelers were the only team in the top six in the AFC to lose when the Packers beat them. But they remained on top in the AFC North with a 4-3 mark, two games in the loss column ahead of the Bengals and Ravens. The Ravens at 2-5 beat the Bears 30-14 and are expected to get Lamar Jackson back. 

At this point, the Colts, Patriots Steelers and Denver are the division leaders with the Chargers, Bills and Patriots as the wild card team.

–The Packers, Eagles, Bucs and Seahawks are the division leaders with the Lions, Rams and 48ers are currently the wild card teams. The 49ers may have the toughest time making the playoffs because of all their injuries.

–In the NFC, three of the seven top teams, the Rams, Seattle and Lions all had byes while the 49ers lost to the Texans but stayed in the seventh post.

The feature game is the CBS doubleheader game featuring Dallas at Denver. The Broncos are 5-2 coming off the 33-32 win over the Giants to become the first team to overcome an 18 point point deficit in last six minutes during a 33 point explosion in the final quarter. The Cowboys are 3-3-1 after beating the Commanders and but are trailing the 5-2 Eagles in the NFC East.

–With six teams (Arizona, Detroit, Jacksonville, the Rams, Las Vegas and Seatte) all having byes,  there won’t be an international game. The weekend begins Thursday night with Minnesota at the Chargers. The Vikings are 3-3 and the Chargers 4-3 so they both are trying to avoid a fourth loss.

–The Sunday night game features Green Bay at Pittsburgh with Aaron Rodgers going against his old team. Rodgers lost to another veteran, Joe Flacco, last Thursday night and will duel the quarterback who replaced him, Jordan Love. The Packers are 4-1-1 and the Steelers are 4-2. The Packers rallied to beat the Cardinals last Sunday.

–In the Monday night game, Kansas City at 3-3 hosts Washington. The Chiefs are finally finding their groove after getting Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy back and routed the Raiders Sunday. They figure to beat the Commanders, who lost to Dallas Sunday and are uncertain about the status of quarterback Jayden Daniels, who left the game early in the third period with a hamstring injury and didn’t return. The Commanders are 3-4.

—In one of the more intriguing games, Baltimore hosts Chicago. The Ravens appear out of it at 1-5 but as they come off their bye and likely will get Lamar Jackson back, they think they can get on a roll. But a sixth loss would be likely too much to overcome. Chicago under new coach Ben Johnson is a surprising 4-2 after beating the Saints last week and are in the playoff picture.

There doesn’t seem to be a dominant team in the league unless you count – believe it or not – the Indianapolis Colts. They own the best record in the league at 6-1 after routing the Los Angeles Chargers, 38-24, on Sunday as Jonathan Taylor scored three touchdown and Daniel Jones threw for 288 yards and two touhdowns. Taylor leads the league with 131 rushing attempts, 697 rushing yards  and 10 touchdowns. If he leads the league in all three categories, it will be the second time he’s done it. He also did it in 2021. Even Jim Brown only did it just three times. The Colts now appear to be real and the team to beat in the AFC.

–Now the question is which team has the best chance of overtaking them in the AFC.  New England and Denver both won to go to 4-2 along with the Bills, who had a bye, and the Steelers, who lost, while the Chiefs routed the Raiders to go to 4-3 and could make another Super Bowl run now that Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy are both back. The Chargers and Jaguars, who both lost, are also 4-3.In the NFC, the Packers beat the Cardinals to stay the only team with one loss at 4-1-1. The Bucs lost to the Lions and now are tied with the Lions, Eagles, 49ers, Seahawks and Rams at 5-2. The Eagles snapped a two-game losing streak by beating the Vikings while the 49ers, Seahawks and Rams beat Falcons, Texans and Jaguars.

–In the game of the weekend or maybe the season, the Broncos fell behind 19-0 and still trailed by 18 points with six minutes left but rallied with 33 points in the fourth period to beat the Giants, 33-32, who were the victims of two missed extra points by kicker Jude McAtamney. He was filling in for injured kicker Graham Gano. Hard to believe but the previous 1,602 teams in NFL history who were behind by 18 points with six minutes left and all lost.

— Another frustrated team is the Arizona Cardinals, who started off 2-0 but have lost five consecutive games by a total of 13 points. The Cardinals have gone into the fourth quarter with at least a touchdown lead in all five games and still lost. No team has ever done that and only one, the 2017 49ers, lost five in a row by a total of 13 points. The latest loss was by a 27-23 margin to Green Bay Sunday. The Cardinals now have a bye before playing the Cowboys on Monday night the following week. Maybe they can regroup during the bye week.

–In a matchup of two quarterbacks in their 40s, Joe Flacco beat Aaron Rodgers as he passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns. Rodgers passed for 249 yards and four touchdowns. The Bengals traded for Flacco after Joe Burrow was injured and backup Jake Browning was ineffective. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin complained before the game about the Browns trading Flacco in the division. And it turns out for good reason Tomlin was upset. The 4-2 Steelers are now just two games ahead in the loss column ahead of the 3-4 Bengals.