Three more weeks. That’s all that remains of the 2019 NFL regular season.
As the field of postseason contenders gets thinner by attrition, we focus on several games in Week 15 with particular importance to the playoff picture.
The Houston Texans visit the Tennessee Titans with first place in the AFC South at stake, and Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill has a chance to make history in a statistical sense.
The Los Angeles Rams travel to North Texas to face the Dallas Cowboys in a rematch of last season’s divisional playoff game. Even though the Rams have the better record, it’s the Cowboys who are in a better position to make the playoffs.
Finally, in what might be the best matchup of the week, the surprising Buffalo Bills hit the road to face the resilient Pittsburgh Steelers in a game with implications on the AFC wild cards.
To see which games will be shown in your area, visit our Week 15 game maps article here.
Without further ado, here are your NFL game previews for Sunday (Dec. 15) and Monday (Dec. 16):
New England Patriots at Cincinnati Bengals
TV: 1 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS
Records: Patriots 10-3, Bengals 1-12
Line: Patriots by 9½
Satellite radio: Pats feed on Sirius 134 (streaming 820), Bengals feed on Sirius 81 (streaming 806)
Patriots’ keys: Lean on Rex Burkhead and James White through the air against a defense that has struggled to contain running backs in the passing game.
Bengals’ keys: DEs Carlos Dunlap and Carl Lawson will have to get after Patriots QB Tom Brady and force him into game-changing mistakes.
Who wins? The Patriots’ defense is suffocating, and the offense can scheme up ways to exploit one of the NFL’s worst defenses. The Bengals have scored more than 20 points in a game twice all season and are unlikely to match a team coming off two straight December losses. Patriots 30, Bengals 13
— Chris Roling
NE@Cin / TB@Det / Chi@GB / Hou@Ten / Den@KC / Mia@NYG / Phi@Was / Sea@Car / Jax@Oak / Cle@Ari / Min@LAC /LAR@Dal / Atl@SF / Buf@Pit / Ind@NO