A quirk of opportunistic scheduling that gave national stages to divisional rival showdowns for the statistically better three divisions of the NFC prior to yesterday afternoon meant that top five conference playoff seeds to date had already played their respective Game 15s. Which meant a disproportionate level of FOX’s attention was turned to the NFC South, otherwise known as the division where nary a team had a winning record as of yesterday morning.
Still, in a similarly stubborn manner to the NCAA that insists on what they conside to be an inclusive process that gave us Tulane and James Madison collectively allowing 92 points in playoff games on Saturday, we got the division’s two .500 teams, the skidding Tampa Bay Bucs and the surging Carolina Panthers, squaring off in the first of their two matchups within three weeks yesterday in the Queen City. If nothing else, they actually were entertaining, as the hometown CHARLOTTE OBSERVER’s Alex Zietlow noted:
Carolina is officially embracing the chaos. The Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23-20, on Sunday in Bank of America Stadium — keeping their path to the playoffs as thorn-free as possible heading into Week 17. This win didn’t come without stress. But stress-free wins aren’t exactly the preference for these Panthers, who are now 8-7 late in December and one win away from their first playoff appearance since 2017. The raucous crowd in Charlotte saw several big plays on Sunday. But the two that will endure: the game-winning kick by rookie Ryan Fitzgerald from 48 yards out with 2:26 left in the contest — and then the game-sealing interception by rookie safety Lathan Ransom with 49 seconds left. That marked Fitzgerald’s fourth game-winning kick of the season. That’s the most by an NFL rookie since Dan Bailey did so for the Dallas Cowboys in 2011, according to the Panthers’ game notes.
Meanwhile, their AFC counterparts are actually thriving, especially the Bucs’ northern Florida neighbors to the East, who took full advantage of a rare late afternoon spotlight opportunity to make a statement that not only were they for real, they served notice to the league’s number one team that they’d best pay attention to them. Per NBC SPORTS’ Josh Alper:
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said recently that he doesn’t think his team gets the respect they deserve, but that should change after Sunday’s performance.
Lawrence threw three touchdowns and ran for another to help the Jaguars to a 34-20 win in Denver. The win is the sixth in a row for the Jaguars and it put an end to the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak. Lawrence had four touchdown passes in last Sunday’s win over the Jets and he has 12 over the last four games. He set a career-high with 26 touchdown passes for the season and also has a career-high seven rushing touchdowns. All in all, he has looked like the franchise quarterback that many in Jacksonville have been aching to see over the last couple of seasons and his ascension could not be coming at a better time for the Jags.
Despite a lackluster offensive performance, the Houston Texans did enough at home to earn a 23-21 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The Texans maintained their spot as the final wild-card team in the AFC, while also staying one game behind the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars.
One week after scoring 40 points against the Arizona Cardinals, Houston’s offense struggled for most of the game against Las Vegas. Of their first nine offensive drives, only one had double-digit plays and none of them finished in the end zone. The offense had nine points through the middle of the fourth quarter, but held a 16-14 lead thanks to a defensive touchdown from Derek Stingley Jr.
However, when they needed to put something together to put away the two-win Raiders, the offense found a pulse. A 10-play, 88-yard drive in the fourth quarter ended with a touchdown pass from quarterback C.J. Stroud to tight end Dalton Schultz. That gave the Texans their first two-possession lead of the evening at 23-14.
All of this has practically buried the injury-plagued leaders of not only this division but the entire conference, the Indianapolis Colts, but they’ve got their own national TV window tonight in Santa Clara with a crucial Monday Night Football matchup with their third place but alive counterpart 49ers. They’ve indeed lost four straight but they can remain alive for a wild card and should the likes of veterans Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman, Jr.–not the mention Old Man (Philip) Rivers who somehow was effective in a narrow road loss in Seattle last week in his first NFL game since the COVID era–turn it around my fantasy season will be alive as well–in fact, those two could elevate moi to my first championship game in more than a decade. Bear with me if you can, I’m personally praying the South’s gonna rise again.
Courage…