New Orleans Saints. Atlanta Falcons. The Saints finally got Alvin Kamara going. After rushing for yards combined in his last three games, the Saints' star running back broke yards in a contest for the first time since Week 14 on Sunday, running hard to rack up yards on 36 carries. He didn't find the end zone, but after Taysom Hill exited with a foot injury, Kamara became an essential part of New Orleans' offense with Trevor Siemian under center. New Orleans was able to keep its momentum going with the football as a result, pushing its lead to as much as 14 before eventually leaving Atlanta with a point win.
Had the Saints figured out how to produce this result say, a week earlier, they'd be headed to the postseason instead of entering the offseason. With nothing to lose, Atlanta played freely, and Russell Gage stepped up. None of that mattered to Gage on Sunday, who gained nearly half of Atlanta's yards of total offense, catching nine passes for yards and a touchdown. Gage included a highlight-reel play, hurdling a defender during a catch and run , but as the final score showed, it wasn't enough to win.
Kyle Pitts was essentially shut out of this game two receptions, eight yards , but it won't sting too much for a Falcons team that was already eliminated entering Sunday. At the very least, Gage put out some good tape. Quarterback is at the top of the priority list for the Saints. New Orleans thought it might have an answer under center in its first season following Drew Brees' retirement, but when Jameis Winston was lost for the year to a knee injury, New Orleans' outlook was thrown into question.
The weeks that followed included starts made by Siemian, Hill and Ian Book , producing wildly different styles for New Orleans' offense, and ultimately, its first season without a playoff appearance since The first year of the post-Brees era produced a disappointing finish, but we can commend the Saints for their fight, which was disproportionately powered by its stingy defense.
It's back to the drawing board for Sean Payton's squad. Seattle Seahawks. Arizona Cardinals. Wilson, Penny power 'Hawks to upset. For all the praise Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll will understandably receive for pulling off this upset, the continued greatness of Rashaad Penny proved to be the deciding factor in this outcome. In fact, it was Penny's yard TD run that added another six points to Seattle's fourth-quarter lead and effectively ended this wild affair.
After tallying plus yards in four of the last five weeks, Penny saved his best for last with a career-high yard showing that should end all talks about what he could be if healthy. Of course, Penny's crunch time score was greatly assisted by the play of Wilson, who stayed aggressive from the jump and ended with yards, three TDs and a pick, as well as a rushing score to break a tie at the start of the fourth. Tyler Lockett five receptions, 98 yards, 2 TDs came through again en route to securing his third straight 1,yard season.
If Week 18 is indeed the last time Wilson and Carroll share a sideline, Seattle can at least move forward knowing their era ended with a bang. It may be a bit harder, however, to not dwell on what could've been had the offense that showed up Sunday played to a similar level all season.
Is Arizona's defense ready for the postseason? Chandler Jones ' huge strip-sack and Zach Allen 's subsequent score on the game's second play set the tone for the type of game the Cardinals wanted to play. The only problem was the unit had little to no answer for Shane Waldron's offense for the rest of the game. The Cards were unable to notch another sack of Wilson for the rest of the evening and, although Jalen Thompson managed to pick him off in the third, Arizona couldn't stop the bleeding.
Seattle scored on seven of its 10 drives, five of which went plus yards. The Cardinals will have to quickly shake off this concerning outing with next weekend's postseason meeting with the Rams rapidly approaching.
And what about Kyler? Inconsistency was again the theme of the evening as the Cards just couldn't find ways to put their division rival away.
Kyler Murray had his moments but was hindered by an O-line that struggled to stop a mostly quiet Seattle pass rush, surrendering five sacks and folding under pressure on numerous occasions.
A banged up RB room missing Chase Edmonds saw a returning James Conner 93 scrimmage yards, 2 TDs again shoulder most of the load before exiting early in the fourth with a rib injury. With time running out on a perceived turnaround, it'll be up to Murray and Kliff Kingsbury to figure out how to survive Wild Card Weekend with an offense that has struggled to stay consistent after beginning the year Jacksonville Jaguars.
Indianapolis Colts. If you need to wrap your head around how the Colts blew a chance to clinch a playoff spot against the Jaguars, start with the most mind-boggling reason of all. The NFL's No. The Colts are lucky it wasn't more disparate than that -- they recovered two of their own fumbles, and while Carson Wentz threw just his first road interception all year, he was fortunate he didn't throw another.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars didn't fumble all day, and QB Trevor Lawrence rebounded from a three-interception game last week to throw no picks against Indy.
Lawrence closed the book on his rookie season with a little optimism. Two of the few positives that Jaguars fans can take into the offseason: 1 Lawrence escaped his rookie season injury free, and 2 he lit up the Colts defense to end the season on a good note.
He'd been struggling mightily for weeks and had been turnover-prone all season, but turned all that around on Sunday. He was well-protected and showed a commanding presence in finishing 23 of 32 for yards and two scores. He sealed the win on a spectacular play when he recovered a bad shotgun snap, rolled away from pressure, and found Marvin Jones for a difficult TD catch in the back of the end zone. It was the kind of performance Jaguars fans hoped to see far sooner than Jan.
Stunningly, the Jaguars outplayed the Colts on the line of scrimmage. The Indianapolis offensive line was manhandled as Jacksonville's defense came up with a trio of fourth-down stops, and dropped Wentz for a half-dozen sacks. This from a pass rush that entered ranked 30th in the NFL in sacks. The Colts line looked like it was playing in snowshoes. Defensively, the Colts couldn't apply much of any heat on Lawrence and failed to control the line of scrimmage on third down, where the Jaguars feasted for seven conversions, plus another on fourth down.
It was an embarrassing performance all around for Indianapolis, but the big men disappointed most of all. Tennessee Titans. Houston Texans. With the No. Tennessee's offense started both halves in pedestrian fashion, but drove for touchdowns on its last three possessions of the first half to take two-fisted command over a weaker opponent. That should've been enough to bury the Texans, but it wasn't. Houston outscored Tennessee, , in the second half, roaring back to push the Titans to the edge of disaster.
The last thing Tennessee needed was to take an upset loss and have to hope that three other games broke their way to backdoor their way into the top seed. The prize? A weekend on the couch, resting up for the second round of the postseason. Ryan Tannehill made the play of the game at its most critical juncture.
With the Tennessee offense stagnated by three straight three-and-out possessions to start the second half, Houston scrambled back into the game from a deficit to trail just in the fourth quarter. Facing a third-and-5, Tannehill fought off what should've been a sack by Jacob Martin to avoid yet another punt, scrambled away and found Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for a yard gain that flipped both momentum and field position all at once.
The play set up Tannehill's fourth TD pass, which gave Tennessee some much-needed breathing room on the scoreboard and the jolt it needed to finish the win. Did the Texans find their quarterback of the future in the third round of the draft last year? It's far too soon to crown Mills as a face of the franchise, but he capped the improvement he's shown since being named the starter with a highly impressive season-ending effort against Tennessee.
Mills shook off a scoreless first half to give the Titans defense fits in the second. He finished 23 of 33 for yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He did it with poise, accuracy, and very little help from his running game. If anything good has come from the Texans' season, it's that they learned Mills just might be a quarterback worth building around.
Pittsburgh Steelers. Baltimore Ravens. The AFC North's best rivalry did not disappoint. Pittsburgh and Baltimore entered Week 18 with the same goal: Win and hope for some help to get into the playoffs. The two teams played accordingly, fighting in a close, back-and-forth affair that saw the Steelers gain an advantage late in the action.
Justin Tucker and Baltimore's defense were able to send the game to overtime, but the Ravens couldn't get the stop they needed most, allowing Ben Roethlisberger to lead the Steelers down the field for a game-winning drive built on clutch receptions made by rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth and just enough yards gained on crucial downs to keep the chains moving.
Chris Boswell sent the Ravens home for the season with a game-winning field goal in overtime, capping Pittsburgh's unlikely and ugly comeback and punctuating the latest chapter in this fierce rivalry. Baltimore ends wondering what might have been had the injury bug not ravaged its roster. The Colts jumped out to a halftime lead and held on for a win in Saturday night's Week 15 game at Lucas Oil Stadium. It's the Patriots' first loss on the road this season. The Patriots made a decent comeback attempt in the second half and cut the Colts lead to with remaining.
But New England didn't deserve to win this game with all of its uncharacteristic mistakes, including several costly penalties, poor special teams and two turnovers. The Patriots would've been the No. But after losing in Indy, the Patriots are now the No. Those odds would've been 61 percent with a win over the Colts. The Patriots no longer control their own destiny in the race for the top seed. They'll need losses from both the Titans and Chiefs to move back up to the No.
If the Bills beat the Panthers on Sunday, that showdown in Foxboro next week will be for first place in the division. The Patriots put themselves in an early hole with their worst 30 minutes of the entire season to begin the game. More NHL News ». More Puck Prose News ». View all NHL Sites. More Soccer News ». More Playing for 90 News ». View all Soccer Sites. More College Football News ». More Saturday Blitz News ».
View all CFB Sites. More College Basket Ball News ». More College Basket Ball Draft ». If the Bills beat the Panthers on Sunday, that showdown in Foxboro next week will be for first place in the division.
The Patriots put themselves in an early hole with their worst 30 minutes of the entire season to begin the game. The Colts came into Week 15 with a league-best plus turnover differential, including a league-high 29 takeaways. The Patriots helped the Colts improve both of those stats with sloppy first-half play. After the Colts scored a touchdown to go up in the first quarter, they stopped the Patriots offense and doubled their lead with a punt block and recovery in the end zone.
Poor special teams cost the Patriots three more points in the third quarter when Brandon King jumped offside before Colts kicker Michael Badgley missed a yard field goal attempt. The penalty moved Indy five yards closer and Badgley nailed the yarder to put Indy up Other self-inflicted wounds included a false start by tight end Jonnu Smith on a 2nd-and-1 inside the red zone near the end of the second quarter.
A couple plays later, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones threw his first red zone interception of the season.
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