VITO'S VIEWS

—There will be five national broadcasts this weekend including the feature game –Pittsburgh at Baltimore – as the late Saturday afternoon game on Fox as they battle for the AFC North lead. The Steelers are 10-4 and the Ravens 9-5. Both teams will have a short turnaround and play on Christmas Day nexr Wednesday. That will be the third game in 11 games for both teams. Baltimore goes to Houston and Pittsburgh hosts Kansas City on Christmas Day.

–Kansas City hosts Houston in a 1 p.m.Saturday game on NBC, which also has its usual Sunday night game featuring Tampa Bay at Dallas. The Chiefs-Texans game is an unusual one. Since Houston has clinched its division and is out of race for top seed, it has little at stake in the game against Chiefs so it remains to be seen how motivated the Texans will be. The Chiefs need to win to win two of their last three to get the top seed but don’t know how effective Mahomes will be playing on his sore ankle.  The Chiefs announced Mahomes has been a full participate in practice but he could aggravate the injury in the game.

–The weekend starts with Denver at the Chargers Thursday night on Amazon and ends on Monday night with New Orleans at Green Bay on ESPN and ABC. The Broncos are 9-5 and the Chargers are 8-6 as they both are batting for an AFC wild card spot. The Saints at 5-9 have little at stake while the 10-4 Packers are in the hunt for an NFC wild card spot.

—Fox has an interesting game late Sunday afternoon with Minnesota at Seattle. The Vikings are one of the three 12-2 teams in the NFC along with the Eagles and Lions while Seattle is tied with the Rams, who play the Jets, for the NFC West lead at 8-6.  The Vikings, Lions and Eagles have all clinched playoff spots but they are all going for the top seed. This weekend all three figure to win because the Eagles play Washington and the Lions play at Chicago.–The Atlanta Falcons, a game behind the 8-6 Bucs in the NFC South, are benching veteran Kirk Cousins for rookie Michael Penix for the game against the Giants. The Bucs figure to beat Dallas so the 7-7 Falcons can’t afford to get upset by the Giants.  

—The Kansas City Chiefs finally won a game by two touchdowns, but they may have paid a big price for it. The Chiefs, the master of winning games on the final play this year, beat the Browns, 21-7, but quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a what was described as a mild high ankle sprain in the fourth quarter. Mahomes is listed as week to week but the Chiefs are going to play two division leaders – the Texans on Saturday and the Steelers on Christmas Day and close against Denver. If the 13-1 Chiefs win two of the three, they clinch top seed and a bye. But if they lose two of three and the Bills sweep their final three with two against the Patriots sandwiched around a game against the Jets, the Bills get the top  seed. That would mean the the Chiefs would likely have to win two playoff games and then win at Buffalo to get to the Super Bowl and have a shot at a threerepeat. The Bills are 11-3 but if they tie the Chiefs they beat the tie-breaker because they handed the Chiefs their only loss of the season

–Josh Allen continued to look like the frontrunner for MVP honors as he passed for 362 yards and ran for 70 in the Bills 48-42 win over the Lions that wasn’t as close as the score sounded. He passed for two touchdowns and ran for two. With Patrick Mahones injured, the Bills now have a good shot at going to the Super Bowl.

–Injuries are catching up to the Lions. They’ve  suffered so many injuries on defense that they couldn’t stop the Buffalo offense. And it didn’t help that coach Dan Campbell went for an onside kick when the Lions were down 10 early in the fourth quarter and it set up another Biils touchdown. Campbell admitted it was a mistake. He tried to ut the best face on the loss, suggesting it was a wakeup call for the Lions. But they are now one of three 12-2 teams in the NFC along with the Eagles and Vikings.Both the Lions and Vikings have clinched wild card spots.

–The Eagles posted an impressive 27-13 win over the Steelers while the Vikings routed the Bears 30-12. The Eagles have clinched their division title while the Vikings are tied with Lions in NFC North, the best division in the NFL.. The Packers beat the Seahaws 30-12  to go to 10-4 but are in third place in the North and will likely have to settle fr a wild card spot.

–C.J. Stroud became the first quarterback to lead his team to a division title in his first two years in the league with  a 20-12 win over the Dolphins. It helps he plays in the AFC South. the Texans are 9-5 and the only winlnng team in the division. The Colts are a disant second at 6=9.  

—The NFL has two of the best attractions of the year this year that not only won’t be in prime time but they will go head to head against each other in the Sunday late games. So fans may be doing a lot of channel switching to keep up with both games.

–CBS will have the 12-1 Lions hosting the 10-3 Bills in a game that features two teams trying for the No. 1 AFC seed while Fox will have the 10-3 Steelers playing at the 11-2 Eagles. This is the first time since 1985 that the league has had two games with both teams having double digit wins in week 15 or earlier. That year the 13-1 Bears beat the10-4 Jets and the 10-4 Dolphins beat the 10-4 Patriots. The Bears wound up routing the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Dolphins handed the Bears their only loss that year but lost to the Patriots in the AFC title game.

–Both games have a lot of playoff implications.  The Lions are one game ahead of the Vikings and Eagles in the battle for the top seed in the NFC. Buffalo is two games behind the 12-1 Chiefs in the battle for the AFC top seed. The Steelers are also two games behind the Chiefs. If the Bills tie the Chiefs, they would get the tie-breaker because they handed the Chiefs their only loss. If either the Bills or Steelers suffer their fourth loss, they will likely be out of the race for the top seed. The Steelers need to win out including a win over the Chiefs on Christmas day and have the Chiefs lose one other game for the Steelers to catch them. 

The other two late games on CBS are Indianapolis and Denver in a game with wild card implications as both teams are fighting for wild card spots in the AFC and New England at Arizona with the 6-7 Cards trying to stay in AFC West race.

–The CBS early games Sunday are the Chiefs at Cleveland, Miami at Houston and Baltimore at the Giants. The Chiefs, Texans and Ravens figure to win these three games. It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs can beat the 3-10 Browns without having to win it on the last drive the way they have won most games this year.

–Fox has four early games – Washington at New Orleans, Dallas at Carolina, Cincinnati at Tennessee and the Jets at Jacksonville. The Washington-New Orleans game has playoff implications for both teams. The 8-5 Commanders are three games behind the Eagles but are fighting for a wild card spot. The Bucs lead the Falcons by a game in the NFC South. 

–The weekend starts Thursday night with the Rams at the 49ers, an old rivalry that has major playoff implications. The Rams are 7-6 and the 49ers are 6-7 in the NFC West while Seattle leads at 8-5 and Arizona is at 6-7, tied with the 49ers.

–The Sunday night game features the Packers at Seattle in another game with playoff implications for both teams. The Packers are 9-4 and while they are three games behind the Lions in the NFC North, they are in good position to get a wild card spot. Seattle is at 8-5, a game ahead of the Rams. If the Seahawks lose and the Rams win, they will be tied at 8-6.

—There will be a doubleheader on Monday night with the Bears at Minnesota and the Falcons at Las Vegas. Minnesota at 11-2 is expected to beat the 4-9 Bears while the Falcons at 6-7 are a game behind 7-6 Tampa Bay in the NFC South. The Chicago-Minnesota game will start only a half hour before the Atlanta-Las Vegas game with the first one on ABC and the second on ESPN so fans may be switching channels to keep track of both games.

—The Kansas City Chiefs continue to defy the odds. They won another close one, beating the Chargers 19-17 on a field goal on the final play. Combined with Buffalo’s 44-42 loss to the Rams, they can clinch the top seed by winning three of their last four games. They are now two games ahead of the 10-3 Bills with a 12-1 mark but if the Bills tie them, they get the top seed because they handed the Chiefs their only loss. The conventional wisdom is that the Chiefs can’t keep pulling out close games but they keep doing it.

–The only other AFC team with fewer than five losses is 10-3 Pittsburgh, which beat the Browns, 27-14. The Steelers would have to win out, which means beating the Chiefs on Christmas Day, and hope the Chiefs and Bills lose one other game for them to be guaranteed the top seed.

–In the NFC, the Lions have the top seed at 12-1 after beating the Packers 34-31 as coach Dan Campbell went for it five times on fourth down and made four of them although the one time they didn’t make it on their own 30 and virtually handed the Packers a touchdown that almost cost the Lions the game. But gambling is his style.

–The Eagles and Vikings both won to go to 11-2 and remain just a game behind the Lions. The Eagles got a scare from the Panthers before winning 22-16 and the Vikings routed the Falcons 42-21. Detroit has Buffalo this week and Minnesota in the season finale plus road games at Chicago and San Francisco and while the Eagles play Pittsburgh this week, they close Washington, Dallas and the Giants so the Lions, Eagles and Vikings will likely go down to the wire in the battle for the top seed. Except for 9-4 Green Bay, no other NFC team has fewer than five losses so the NFC North could have three teams in the playoffs.

–The Dallas Cowboys need to learn the rules when a team blocks a punt. If it goes past the line of scrimmage it is like a regular punt and if a player from the receiving team touches it, it is a free ball.  When the Cowboys blocked a punt late in the fourth quarter of a tie game, Amani Oruwariye tried to field it, lost it and the Bengals recovered and Joe Burrow drove them for the touchdown to win, 27-20. A win would have given the Cowboys a 6-7 record and kept them in the playoff hunt but now at 5-8 their chances are remote. Burrow, meanwhile, had his house burglarized during the game.

 

—The Bills and Chargers will play back to back games Sunday as they continue their battle for the top seed in the AFC. The 10-2 Bills play in the late afternoon game at the Rams and then the 11-1 Chiefs will host the Chargers in the Sunday night game. If they both win or both lose, the Chiefs will maintain a one game lead. If Bills win and the Chiefs lose, the Bills will tie the Chiefs and have the tie-break because they handed the Chiefs their only loss so far. A Bills loss and a Chiefs win would give the Chiefs a two game lead so the stakes are high for both teams. The Chargers are 8-4 and could get within two games of the Chiefs with a victory. The Rams are 6-6  and tied with the Cardinals, a game behind the Seahawks.

–The weekend opens with Green Bay at Detroit Thursday night in a critical division game. A Detroit win keeps them in the lead for the top seed and would boost their record to 12-1. A Green Bay win would leave them a game behind with Detroit. A loss would leave them at 9-4 going for a wild card spot. Minnesota at 10-2 plays Atlanta in a Fox early game and needs a win to stay in the battle for the top seed. Atlanta is tied for NFC South lead at 6-6with the Bucs. Philadelphia also plays an early Fox game hosting Carolina and figures to get a win to go to 11-2.

–The Monday night game has the Bengals at the Cowboys. The Cowboys are 5-7 and trying to stay alive in the wild card race. The Cowboys are being featured in prime time despite their record because they draw good ratings. Cincinnati is a disappointing 4-8 despite Joe Burrow having a good season.

–CBS has five games with Cleveland at Pittsburgh the feature early game. The Steelers lead the AFC North at 9-3 and were upset by 3-9 Browns two weeks ago in aThursday night game. The other three early games are the Jets at Miami, Jacksonville at Tennessee and Las Vegas at Tampa Bay. Seattle is at Arizona in a late afternoon games. Seattle is 7-5 and the Cardinals are tied with Rams at 6-6 in the NFC West.

–Besides the Atlanta at Minnesota and Carolina at Philadelphia games, the third early Fox game is New Orleans at the Giants. The second late Fox game besides Buffalo at the Rams is Chicago at San Francisco. The 49ers are 5-7 and have lost Christian McCaffrey for the season and their Super Bowl window may be closing.

—Can the Buffalo Bills derail the Kansas City Chiefs’ bid for a theepeat? That is one of the interesting questions of the season as the teams head into December. The Chiefs have the best record in the AFC at 11-1 but barely escaped with a 19-17 win over the Raiders with the help of bad clock management by the Raiders and a premature snap the Chiefs recovered. The Chiefs last 14 wins by one score bu.t aren’t playing like a team ready for a playoff run

–Meanwhile, Buffalo boosted its record to 10-2 by beating San Francisco, 35-10, in a snowstorm.. Although the Bills are a game behind the Chiefs, they have the tie breaker if the tie the Chiefs because they handed the Chiefs their only loss and except for the upcoming game against the Lions, they should have no trouble in their final three games against the Pats (twice) and the Jets.

–In the NFC, it also looks like a two team race between the 11-1 Lions and the 10-2 Eagles. The Lions escaped with a 23-20 victory over the Bears with the of bad clock management by coach Matt Eberfluss that got him fired.  Meanwhile the Eagles continue to roll and beat the Ravens 24-19 as kicked Justin Tucker cost them seven points by missing two field goals and an extra point.

–The Vikings also remain a game behind the Lions at 10-2 as they got help from the opposing coach to edge the Cardinals. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the five-yard line late in fourth quarter, coach Jonathan Gannon decide to go for a field goal to go up by six instead of going for the touchdown and a chance 10-point lead. The Vikings then came back to score a touchdown and win, 23-22. Gannon was too conservative and it cost him.

–In the most talked about play of the week, Azeez Al-Shaair of the Texans hit a sliding Trevor Lawrence and knocked him out of the game with a concussion and that started a brawl. Not surprisingly, he was suspended for three games and that will cost him close to $2 million. The league noted he is a repeat offender who has been fined in the past. He issued an apology and said Lawrence slid too late for him to pull up but the league didn’t buy that explanation even when coach DeMeco Ryan defended him. The Jaguars signed quarterback John Wofford so Lawrence will probably be out a week if not longer.

—Can the Buffalo Bills derail the Kansas City Chiefs’ bid for a theepeat? That is one of the interesting questions of the season as the teams head into December. The Chiefs have the best record in the AFC at 11-1 but barely escaped with a 19-17 win over the Raiders with the help of bad clock management by the Raiders and a premature snap the Chiefs recovered. The Chiefs last 14 wins by one score bu.t aren’t playing like a team ready for a playoff run

—Meanwhile, Buffalo boosted its record to 10-2 San Francisco 35-10. Although the Bills are a game behind the Chiefs, they have the tie breaker if they tie the Chiefs because they handed the Chiefs their only loss. The Bills play the Rams and Lions the next two weeks and then they should have no trouble in their final three games against the Pats (twice) and the Jets.

–In the NFC, it also looks like a two team race between the 11-1 Lions and the 10-2 Eagles. The Lions escaped with a 23-20 victory over the Bears with the of bad clock management by coach Matt Eberfluss that got him fired.  Meanwhile the Eagles continue to roll and beat the Ravens 24-19 as kicked Justin Tucker cost them seven points by missing two field goals and an extra point.

–The Vikings also remain a game behind the Lions at 10-2 as they got help from the opposing coach to edge the Cardinals. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the five-yard line late in fourth quarter, coach Jonathan Gannon decide to go for a field goal to go up by six instead of going for the touchdown and a chance 10-point lead. The Vikings then came back to score a touchdown and win, 23-22. Gannon was too conservative and it cost him.

–In the most talked about play of the week, Azeez Al-Shaair of the Texans hit a sliding Trevor Lawrence and knocked him out of the game with a concussion and that started a brawl. Not surprisingly, he was suspended for three games and that will cost him close to $2 million. The league noted he is a repeat offender who has been fined in the past. He issued an apology and said Lawrence slid too late for him to pull up but the league didn’t buy that explanation even when coach DeMeco Ryan defended him. The Jaguars signed quarterback John Wofford so Lawrence will probably be out a week if not longer.

–The NFL has a holiday feast for the fans this weekend with seven national TV games – the traditional three on Thanksgiving Day plus one on black Friday plus the doubleheader game Sunday afternoon and the usual Sunday andMonday night games. If you count the 1 p.m. Sunday games, a fan could watch eight games this weekend. 

–Unfortunately, most of the matchups aren’t compelling. Detroit hosts Chicago in the traditional first Thanksgiving Day game with the Lions heavily favored. The Cowboys host the second game against the Giants with neither team a contender. And Green Bay is favored to beat the Miami Dolphins in the Thanksgiving Day night game.

–The black Friday game has the Chiefs hosting the Raiders at 3 p.m. on Amazon. The Chiefs usually play close games but figure to win. The Sunday night game has Buffalo hosting San Francisco with the Bills favored to win and the Monday night game has Denver hosting the Browns with the Broncos favored.

–CBS has the doubleheader game with the Eagles hosting Baltimore in probably the best game of the weekend. CBS has no other late Sunday games so this one will be on national TV. CBS has four early games with the Steelers at the Bengals, the Chargers at Atlanta, the Titans at Washington and the Colts at New England.

–Fox has five games Sunday with the Falcons at the Vikings, the Seahawks at the Jets and the Texans at Jacksonville in the early games and the Bucs at Carolina and the Rams at New Orleans in the two late games.

—As the NFL season nears the three quarter pole and the teams head down the stretch, the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs are leading the pack with 10-1 records. The Lions easily beat the Colts 24-6 while the Chiefs had their usual late drive to edge the surprising Panthers, 30-27. Now the question is whether they will both get the top seeds and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

–In the NFC, the Eagles and the Vikings are both 9-2, a game behind the Lions and have the best shot at challenging them for the top seed. The Eagles look like the bigger threat to the Lions now that Saquan Barkley has become such a threat. He rushed for 255 yards and had 302 total yards in a 37-20 victory over the Rams. The Vikings barely beat the Bears, 30-27. They have already lost the first game to the Lions and meet them again in the season finale.

–In the NFC, the NFC South and West divisions are wide open but neither division is expected to produce a contender. The Seahawks beat the Cardinals, 16-6, and the two teams are tied for first at 6-5. Atlanta had a bye and remains in first place in the South at 6-5 while the Bucs, who routed the Giants, 30-7, are a game back at 5-6.

–In the AFC, the 9-2 Bills had a bye and remain a game behind the 10-1 Chiefs. Except for the 8-3 Steelers, who lost to Cleveland, 24-19, Thursday night, all the other AFC teams have lost at least four losses so it looks like a Chiefs-Bills battle for the top seed. The Bills beat the Chiefs so they have the tie-breaker.

–In the AFC South, the Texans at 7-5 have a two game lead over the 5-7 Colts. Both teams lost last week as the Texans lost to the Cowboys, 34-10, and Colts were beaten by the Lions. The winner f this division is likely to lose a first round home playoff game. The Texans started the year with high expectations but haven’t lived up to them. In the North the 8-3 Steelers have a one game lead in the loss column over the 8-4 Ravens, who stayed in the race with the 30-23 victory over the Chargers.

—The NFL has to hope that Cleveland’s 24-19 victory in a snowstorm over the Steelers Thursday night was a preview of what is to come this weekend. Going into the game it appeared to be a mismatch with the Steelers at 8-2 and the Browns at 2-8. But it turned out to be a spectacle in the snow and an exciting game as the Browns lost a 12 point lead and came back to win it on Nick Chubb’s two-yard run for a touchdown with 57 seconds left. The loss raised questions about whether the Steelers are a real contender because their offense is struggling. Meanwhile, the majority of the games this weekend appear to be mismatches so the NFL hopes there will be more upsets.

–In the Sunday night game, Philadelphia is at the Los Angeles Rams with the Eagles figured to win to boost their record to 9-2 to keep at least a two game lead over the Commanders. The Monday night game has the Ravens at the Chargers. This is a big game for both teams but the Chargers appear to have the edge because of Ravens defense is shaky. The Chargers are 7-3, two games behind the Chiefs. The Ravens are 7-4 and a game behind the Steelers in the loss column.

–The two best Sunday games are the Fox double header games – San Francisco at Green bay and Arizona at Seattle. Fox is giving the 49ers-Packers game national coverage with Kevin Burhardt and Tom Brady announcing. The Packers at 7-3 are two games behind the Lions and can’t afford a loss. Meanwhile the 49ers are 5-5 but just a game behind the 6-4 Cardinals, who lead the division.

–The three early Sunday Fox games are Dallas at Washington, Minnesota at Chicago and Detroit at Indianapolis with the Commanders, Vikings and Lions all favored.

–CBS has five Sunday games night, four at 1 p.m. and one late game and one team is a solid favored in all five. Kansas City win a rare Sunday early game at Carolina, Tampa Bay is at the Giants, New England is at Miami and Tennessee is at Houston in the early games. Denver is at Las Vegas in the afternoon game. You know the five favorites.  So Redzone will be showing seven early games and unless there is an upset or two, the games are easy to predict. The one thing is to watch is the return of Tommy DeVito as the Giants starter now that Daniel Jones has been benched and released. The Giants signing Jones to a $40 million a year contract and let Saquan Barkley walk in free agency was a personnel blunder for the ages. Barkley is spearheading the Eagle offense.