NFL Week 17 preview: The race approaches boiling point as Tom Brady’s season teeters on



CNN

Tom Brady He’s no stranger to high-pressure situations — though they usually come in the playoffs, unlike the weeks before that, as the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers look to secure their spot in the postseason.

Brady now spent most of his life In the NFL NON-LEAGUE – Drafted at 22, eight months (8,292 days) on April 16, 2000, and by the time the Bucs meet their division rival Carolina Panthers on Sunday, it will have been 8,295 days since that date.

It’s been a tumultuous few seasons for the seven-time Super Bowl winner, who retired and didn’t quit in a few weeks off last season.

The Bucs are 7-8, top of the NFC South division but just one game behind the Panthers.

The defeat in Tampa on Sunday would leave teams with matching records heading into the final week and Carolina advancing through a head-to-head tiebreaker — not a prospect Brady or head coach Todd Bowles could have anticipated when the team started the year with two wins. .

Carolina would backstop with a 21-3 win over Tampa in Week 7, though that came with B.J. Walker at the quarterback position. Sam Darnold takes the rack this weekend, looking to back up his 250-yard, one touchdown performance against the Detroit Lions last time out with another winning bid.

Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

While Monday Night Football may not have the playoff threat of Carolina @ Tampa Bay, it’s something of an equally enticing game – a late-season showdown between two teams with real Super Bowl credentials, and two of the best quarterbacks in the league.

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Josh Allen is hoping to build on the Bills’ 13th win of the year and seventh in a row, after the team has already clinched the AFC East Division.

With a similar record as the ever-contending Kansas City Chiefs but an edge in a head-to-head tiebreaker, a Bills victory this weekend would secure the all-important AFC No. 1 seed — giving them a playoff bye — field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

For the Bengals, Joe Burrow has been in bossy form lately.

The 26-year-old won AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his 375-yard, three-yard passing performance against the New England Patriots — and his relationship with fellow LSU alumnus Ja’Marr Chase was the driving force behind the Cincinnati squad. Seven games winning.

The game starts at 8:30 PM ET on Monday.

Baltimore has already secured its spot in the postseason, but the final two games of the regular season will have serious ramifications for the potential Super Bowl trajectory.

Star quarterback Lamar Jackson missed three consecutive games due to a knee injury and fail in practice For the tenth day in a row on Wednesday. That could indicate that Tyler Huntley will suit up as another starter in lieu of the 2019 MVP this weekend.

The Ravens win will make their Week 18 showdown with the Bengals the deciding game of the AFC North Championship after a Week 5 victory over the same opponent. It would also give Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin the first losing season in his 15-year career.

The Steelers’ slender hopes took another hit when the Los Angeles Chargers secured their spot with a win over Indianapolis on Monday, but more than just Tomlin’s impressive career record was at stake Sunday night.

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The Steelers-Ravens rivalry is one of the most famous in the NFL, as AFC North teams have met in the postseason four times in history and have owned four Super Bowl titles combined.

Tune in at 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday to find out who takes the spoils.

Tyler Huntley delivers the ball against the Atlanta Falcons on December 24.

The defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of November seemed to have ended any realistic dreams of Aaron Rodgers winning a second Super Bowl, but the Packers and their cheese-driving supporters have seen fortunes rise recently and, along with some NFC rivals imploding, offer an unlikely path to football. Wild on the weekend.

Standing in their way is the division champion Minnesota Vikings, who beat the Packers in a one-sided game.

It was one of Minnesota’s few comfortable victories this season, as the team proved a remarkable ability in tight affairs – winning 11 games by one goal. They are the first team in History of the NFL to achieve many of these gains.

A big part of that was the electric form of third year receiver Justin Jefferson, who has been a nightmare for defenses all season.

His latest stellar performance against the New York Giants this past weekend surpassed Vikings legend Randy Moss’ record for most single season receiving yards in franchise history — and the 23-year-old is now 209 yards behind Calvin Johnson’s league-wide record. 1964 receiving yards in a season.

The game starts at Lambeau Field at 4:25 PM ET on Sunday.

After looking destined for the franchise’s first playoff spot since 2016 for most of the season, the Miami Dolphin They now face the very real possibility of wasting another year that looks promising after losing their last four matches.

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Adding to Miami’s woes this week was the revelation that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered his second concussion of a controversial season during Sunday’s defeat by the Green Bay Packers.

This injury means the team will likely move forward with Teddy Bridgewater prop up in his place.

The Dolphins haven’t won a game without Tua this season and will need to win at least one of their remaining two matches in the AFC East to end the drought, depending on other results around the league.

Meanwhile, the Patriots are in must-win territory if they are to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Their stingy defense has conceded Fifth-fewest points per game this year, but the team struggled on the flank of second ball quarterback Mack Jones, ranking 32nd in the rankings according to ESPN’s QBR Measurement.

Watch the competition at Gillette Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Tua Tagovailoa suffered his second concussion of the season.

Here’s how to catch up on these teams and more across the league in action, wherever you are.

Australia: NFL Game Pass, ESPN, 7Plus

Brazil: NFL Game Pass, ESPN

Canada: CTV, TSN, RDS, NFL Game Pass on DAZN

Germany: NFL Game Pass, ProSieben MAXX, DAZN

Mexico: NFL Game Pass, TUDN, ESPN, Fox Sports, Sky Sports

United Kingdom: NFL Game Pass, Sky Sports, ITV, Channel 5

US: NFL Game Pass, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime

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