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Week 15 had its share of momentous headlines.
Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons each suffered season-ending torn ACLs. The Chiefs’ campaign went kaput; are the Packers still Super Bowl contenders without Parsons?
The Patriots blew a 21-0 lead at home to the Bills, with Josh Allen perhaps stealing some MVP votes from Drake Maye in the process. The Broncos erased a two-score deficit, moving closer to securing the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
We almost had a grandfather win his first game in five years, but Philip Rivers was upstaged late by Seattle’s Jason Myers. That sets up Thursday’s whopper: Rams at Seahawks, almost certainly with Davante Adams (hamstring) sidelined, for NFC West supremacy.
NFC South supremacy was fumbled by the Buccaneers on Thursday, then again by the Panthers on Sunday. Someone has to pick it up — temporarily, at least — this Sunday in Charlotte.
Double-digit comebacks were all the rage in Week 15, but there were a few blowouts, too, including the Bengals getting shut out with Joe Burrow at QB, something that hadn’t happened before.
The Rams remain atop this league hierarchy, but the Broncos’ impressive win over Green Bay convinced me to flip them ahead of the less-impressive Seahawks, who must regain their juice quickly. With races tightening, here’s how I see the full NFL pecking order, 1-32.
NOTE: Up/down arrows below reflect movement from the Week 15 Power Rankings.
The Rams were potentially staring at a 10-point halftime deficit to the Lions before cranking it up late in the second quarter and ultimately outsourcing Detroit by a 27-10 count for the remainder of the game. Davante Adams’ hamstring injury is concerning, but there’s not yet reason to assume he’ll miss the postseason, which would be a worthy silver lining. The Rams have officially clinched a playoff berth. Now the focus turns to winning the division and locking up the top seed in the NFC. With a short week before Thursday’s game at Seattle, the Rams don’t have much time to prepare for their second game against a Seahawks defense that has been stingy most of the season and held Los Angeles to just 249 yards of offense a month ago. And now the Rams will be without Adams this time around. Perhaps L.A.’s rushing attack, which has three TDs in each of the past two games, will be a big part of the solution.
The Broncos made their case to be considered the best team in the AFC with an impressive comeback win over the Packers, outscoring them 20-3 over the game’s final 24 minutes. Bo Nix heated up and finished with one of his better career stat lines (302 yards and four touchdowns through the air), even with a few dropped picks by the Pack. Denver’s offensive line held up well, and the penalties didn’t get out of hand. On defense, the Broncos were tested on their first five possessions, but Patrick Surtain’s interception flipped the game on its head. From that point on, the defense was dominant. Even with the late turnovers on downs, this performance was a muscle-flexer — and Denver’s 11th straight win. What else do you want to see? This is a strong, battle-tested team that can make a deep postseason run.
