Three teams that have locked in playoff spots — and a fourth that could do so today — will be in action this afternoon.
The NFL is getting a bit crazy with scheduling this year. Week 17 will be a weird one, as the league has decided to put two games on Christmas Day despite the holiday falling on a Wednesday. In order to accommodate those games, the league has the same four teams that play on Christmas Day playing this Saturday in order to give them three days off and provide a rest situation similar to a typical Sunday-Thursday turnaround.
Still, that means that each of these four teams will have played three games in the span of just 11 days — hardly an ideal situation but one that will give them all a huge rest advantage heading into their final games of the season in week 18. Then again, there’s a chance that all four of these teams will have playoff spots wrapped up by the end of the day today, depending on the result of today’s late game, making the last two weeks more about seeding than anything else.
Today we get Texans-Chiefs and Steelers-Ravens, the latter of which will be for the AFC North lead. All of these teams except Baltimore already have playoff spots locked up, with the Ravens able to clinch themselves if they win this afternoon. Then on Christmas Day, the matchups just get shuffled up with the Chiefs visiting the Steelers and the Texans hosting the Ravens.
Here are the details for today’s games; tune in, discuss, and enjoy!
Game 1: Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Game Time: 12:00 PM Central Time
Venue: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO
TV Network: NBC
Commentators: Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge
Point spread: Chiefs -3.5
Over/under total: 41.5
Game 2: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens
Game Time: 4:30 PM Eastern Time (3:30 PM Central)
Venue: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, MD
TV Network: FOX
Commentators: Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady
Point spread: Ravens -6.5
Over/under total: 44.5