Category: NFL

NFL playoff picture: Who’s in, out or clinched ahead of Week 14?

A look at the playoff picture this week.

After Week 14, we’ll have a few more weeks of NFL action to decide who’s facing whom in the postseason, as the road to Super Bowl 59 will truly begin.

But for now, if you’re wondering what the playoff picture looks like, you’ve come to the right place.

A few teams have already been eliminated (sorry to your squad if you root for them, but here’s the NFL Draft order right now to help!), but we’ll split it into the NFC and AFC and see who’s up, who’s down and who’s in between as of right now:

AFC playoff picture

In right now:

1. Kansas City Chiefs

2. Buffalo Bills

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

4. Houston Texans

5. Los Angeles Chargers

6. Baltimore Ravens

7. Denver Broncos

Out but looming:

8. Indianapolis Colts

9. Miami Dolphins

10. Cincinnati Bengals

11. Cleveland Browns

12. New York Jets

13. Tennessee Titans

15. Jacksonville Jaguars

NFC playoff picture

In right now:

1. Detroit Lions

2. Philadelphia Eagles

3. Seattle Seahawks

4. Atlanta Falcons

5. Minnesota Vikings

6. Green Bay Packers

7. Washington Commanders

Out but looming:

8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

9. Arizona Cardinals

10. Los Angeles Rams

11. San Francisco 49ers

12. Dallas Cowboys

13. New Orleans Saints

14. Chicago Bears

15. Carolina Panthers

Who’s been eliminated from the playoffs?

New England Patriots

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

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Ravens currently have 5 players who are leading vote-getters for 2025 Pro Bowl games

The Ravens have five players who are the leading vote-getters at their position in the AFC: QB: Lamar Jackson, RB: Derrick Henry
ILB: Roquan Smith, CB: Marlon Humphrey, SS: Kyle Hamilton

The Ravens (8-5) are one of the most exciting teams in the NFL. That popularity can be seen in the Pro Bowl voting. After one week of voting, star quarterback Lamar Jackson leads all players in balloting for the 2025 Pro Bowl Games. He has received 44,681 votes. Ravens running back Derrick Henry is 2nd among all players with 40,729 votes.

Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley (40,602), Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen (36,574), and Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs (35,637) round out the top five.

The Detroit Lions lead all clubs in total votes received, followed by the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Fans can vote as often as they would like to help determine the 88-man roster and send the league’s best players at each position to Orlando for the Pro Bowl Games until Monday, Dec. 23, across a variety of platforms, including:

  • ProBowl.com/Vote

  • On club sites (i.e., https://www.baltimoreravens.com/pro-bowl-games/vote)
  • Social voting — During the final two weeks of voting (Dec. 9 – Dec. 23), fans can vote directly on “X” (formerly Twitter) by tweeting the first and last name of the player, tagging the player’s official Twitter handle or creating a hashtag including the player’s first and last name. All three of these methods must include the hashtag: #ProBowlVote. Social votes will count as double during the final two days (Dec. 22 – Dec. 23).

Player selections will be determined by the consensus votes of fans, players, and coaches, with each group’s vote counting as one-third toward determining the all-star players who will be selected for this year’s Pro Bowl Games. The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches, and players to determine its Pro Bowl teams. NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on Friday, Dec. 27.

If the season ended today, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels would be the starter over Jalen Hurts (Eagles) and Jared Goff (Lions), among others in the NFC.

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Mic’d-up video showed Josh Allen’s hilarious exchange on the Bills sidelines after his epic receiving touchdown

“I love football.”

There’s nothing quite like a snow game’s ability to turn a primetime NFL matchup into chaos — in the best way. And the Buffalo Bills embraced all of that in Sunday night’s win over the 49ers.

It even gave us a hook-and-ladder touchdown from inside the 10-yard line.

With the Bills controlling the game in the third quarter, Josh Allen’s pass to Amari Cooper on first down looked to be stopped for little gain. But Allen saw an opportunity to call for a lateral, and Cooper was on the same page.

The result was, well, a Josh Allen touchdown pass to himself. And mic’d-up video from NFL Films showed how Allen’s Bills teammates broke down the play from the bench.

I love how everyone was trying to figure out how the play was going to be scored. And when Allen found out that it was indeed a receiving touchdown to himself, he thought it was hilarious.

“I love football,” Allen said.

That’s the kind of play that probably brought back childhood memories. Snow games rule.

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John Harbaugh dismisses idea of replacing kicker Justin Tucker

placekicker Justin Tucker has already set a career high that he would rather not have.

Through the first 13 games of the season, Baltimore Ravens placekicker Justin Tucker has already set a career-high that he would rather not have.

Tucker missed three kicks (two field goal attempts, one extra point) in the 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles today, giving him ten errant kicks (two extra points, eight field goals) on the season.

His ten missed kicks lead the NFL, making the man who entered this season by many measures the greatest placekicker of all time now the league’s most inaccurate.

An uncharacteristically lousy season like this has led to a backlash among Ravens fans and speculation that he could be replaced as the Ravens’ PK.

“I don’t plan on doing that right now,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told the media after today’s game.

“I don’t think it’d be wise.”

According to a post on X by the 33rd Team, 602 Kickers have attempted 25+ field goals in a season since 2000.

Tucker would rank 576th at 70.4% when you rank all seasons by field goal percentage accuracy.

While those numbers are brutally awful, there is no denying that fact. If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s Tucker. Given his storied career and legendary track record, he should be given the chance to straighten it out.

Cooper DeJean was even surprised that he fully picked up Derrick Henry in perfect tackle against the Ravens

He didn’t realize his own strength.

There aren’t many players — if any — who are more difficult to tackle than Ravens running back Derrick Henry. He’s a 6-foot-3, 247-pound behemoth with the kind of speed you never see from a person that size. If anything, Henry is the one who throws defenders to the ground.

On Sunday, he was on the receiving end of that experience and it came courtesy of Eagles rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean.

With the Ravens facing third and 11 in the fourth quarter, Lamar Jackson checked down to Henry in the flat, and DeJean unleashed an absolutely textbook tackle. It was so perfect that he lifted Henry from the ground and drove through the tackle. For reference, DeJean is listed at just shy of 200 pounds.

After the game, DeJean was asked about the tackle. And he even admitted that he didn’t expect to fully lift Henry off the ground like that.

I guess he didn’t realize his own strength.

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A Bills fan actually tried throwing a snowball at a 49ers field goal attempt

Nice try.

When the snow comes out in Buffalo, you know what comes next: snowballs are going to get thrown.

(Related: hey, NFL fans, please don’t throw snowballs at people on the field, OK? Thank you.)

MORE SNOW GAME: 11 stunning photos from Bills-49ers

That happened on Sunday night when the San Francisco 49ers attempted a field goal. It wasn’t a player who got the cold stuff at them (thank goodness), but rather the ball itself — you can see in the video below a snowball flying at the football as it comes through the uprights.

Nice try, Bills fan. Here’s that moment from Sunday:

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Ravens kicker Justin Tucker takes blame for 24-19 loss to Eagles

Justin Tucker entered this year with the highest career FG% in NFL history but today saw him miss more than 1kick in a game for the 1st time

From G.O.A.T. to scapegoat, literally.

Baltimore Ravens placekicker Justin Tucker went into this season with the highest career field goal percentage in NFL history, but today, he missed more than one kick in a single game for the first time ever.

He missed three (two field goal attempts and one extra point), and if you’re scoring at home (I hope, for your sake that you have better things to do at home than score the text of Ravens Wire articles), that’s a total of seven points he single-handedly left out on the field.

The margin of defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles today was just five (24-19), prompting Tucker to say this to the reporters afterward:

“I just left the points out there, I feel like I cost us this one. But it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it, the only thing that we can I do, that I can do is continue to work, move forward, take one kick at a time.”

“I hate to say that I have I had to have this same conversation, over the course of the season, but that comes with the job description, the kicks are either good or they’re not and today I did not do enough of a good job to help our team win the football game.”

Taking stock of oneself and thus taking full accountability is a lost art these days. You may be highly frustrated and perhaps even angry by how Tucker performed on Sunday, but you must give him credit for stepping up and accepting the blame.

Many people who have spent most of their careers being branded the best at what they do would not take the road that Tucker did here.

Why Travis Kelce is getting blamed for stealing Justin Tucker’s mojo

Is Travis Kelce to blame here?

Justin Tucker has been superhuman as a kicker for the Baltimore Ravens for years, hitting field goals from all kinds of distances and in clutch situations.

But let’s go back to that moment before the Kansas City Chiefs’ eventual win over the Ravens in the AFC title game earlier this year. Travis Kelce — and Patrick Mahomes too — tossed aside Tucker’s equipment because they accused Tucker of warming up where the Chiefs QBs were supposed to be getting ready.

What’s happened since then? Well, Tucker has struggled. A lot.

He’s missed three field goals between 40 and 49 yards, and missed five from 50-plus. He’s at 70.4 percent this year in field goal percentage, which is AWFUL.

And everyone thinks Kelce stole his mojo:

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Azeez Al-Shaair writes lengthy apology to Trevor Lawrence after awful late hit

“To Trevor I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening.”

There was no question that Azeez Al-Shaair delivered a horribly dangerous hit on Trevor Lawrence that left the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback concussed and the Houston Texans linebacker ejected.

Al-Shaair took to social media to post a lengthy apology to Lawrence a day after the hit.

He said he “genuinely didn’t see him sliding until it was too late. And it all happens in the blink of an eye.”

“To Trevor I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening,” he added. He went on to say he understood Lawrence’s Jaguars teammates having the QB’s back and had a message for those who sent awful messages to him.

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Josh Allen and Sean McDermott made adorable snow angels after Bills’ snowy win

Snow angels for the win!

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and head coach Sean McDermott made adorable snow angels after Buffalo’s snow-filled win over the 49ers.

On Sunday, the Bills were basically playing backyard football against San Francisco. Anything the team wanted to do, it did, including a wild lateral touchdown pass where Josh Allen *technically* caught a pass to himself. (Yeah, it was THAT kind of night.)

Postgame, Josh and coach Sean McDermott celebrated the victory the only way it should be done. Sean was mid-interview with ESPN when Josh walked up and said, “Coach of the year” into his ear. Things quickly escalated once McDermott responded, “I wanna see an angel — a snow angel. C’mon. Let’s go!” The next moment, they were lying on the field. And BOOM. Perfect snow angels.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDEB-_Gx5p_/?img_index=1&igsh=MW51dWczdWM3ejRiNw%3D%3D

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