Week 17 of the 2024 NFL season began with everyone looking like a holiday hangover except for Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs and Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens.
but, Number of NFL postseason seeds We look forward to your continued support. With that in mind, let’s take a look at CBS Sports NFL’s bold year-end predictions for the penultimate week of the 2024 season.
Jets shock Bills, hand Buffalo first home loss in 2024
In Week 16, the Buffalo Bills (12-3) had a tough game, defeating the New England Patriots (3-12) 24-21 at home. They fell behind at 14-0, and quarterback Josh Allen, an NFL MVP candidate, struggled. He continued to throw the ball all day, but finished 16-of-29 passing for just 154 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. To score in the fourth quarter, Buffalo needed the defense to score a touchdown with a fumble recovery in the end zone.
If the Bills play anything close to that again, Sunday’s game against the New York Jets (4-11) will be their first home loss in eight games this season. They won’t play as bad as they did in Week 16, but the Bills will lose to Aaron Rodgers and co. on Sunday. Despite New York’s offense struggling this season, Rodgers remains a top-10 quarterback in touchdown-to-interception ratio (24-8, tied for ninth in the league). If rookie quarterback Drake Maye, the Patriots’ No. 3 overall pick, can find holes in Buffalo’s defense, the 20-year veteran quarterback can certainly do it by throwing to Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams. Dew. According to NFL Pro, Rodgers has the third-fastest average throw time (2.76 seconds) this season, and the Bills have gained the fifth-most yards per pass attempt on quick passes (5.0 seconds) this season. Advantage Rogers.
On the other side of the ball, New York enters Week 17 with two players in the NFL’s top 30 in quarterback pressures: edge rusher Will McDonald IV (age 54, tied for 19th); and All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (age 50, tied for 19th). tied for 29th place). These two regularly swarm Allen and limit the damage he deals. In this Week 6 matchup, the Bills narrowly won 23-20 in a game in which the Jets missed two field goals in the second half. They won’t be so lucky this time around, as they will lose by a narrow margin to a Jets team that has struggled this season.
Panthers face Grim Reaper for second straight week, dealing big blow to Buccaneers’ postseason dreams
In Week 17, the Carolina Panthers (4-11) successfully face off against another team’s playoff hopefuls, the Grim Reapers, for the second straight week. In Week 16, they shocked the Arizona Cardinals with a 36-30 overtime victory, eliminating Kyler Murray and De Marais. Co. from postseason contention. They will continue that trend by crushing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-7) in Week 17.
The two teams played in overtime in Week 13, with Tampa Bay coming away with a 26-23 victory. We won’t be so lucky this time. Panthers head coach Dave Canales is letting 2023 No. 1 overall pick quarterback Bryce Young play the best football of his young career: Young won multiple games in Week 16 against the Cardinals He recorded his first game of the season with two passing touchdowns and no interceptions. Carolina running back Chuba Hubbard has the sixth-most rushing yards in the entire NFL (1,195) as of Week 17 and is the first Panther player to have 10 in a season since Christian McCaffrey in 2019. He became the first player to score two rushing touchdowns.
Tampa Bay just suffered a disappointing 26-24 road loss to Cooper Rush’s Dallas Cowboys in Week 16, but if Rush can find holes in the Buccaneers’ secondary, Young can too.
The Bengals defeated a top team, giving the Broncos their first loss of the season against a team below .500.
The Denver Broncos (9-6) will play Cincinnati on Saturday against the Bengals (7-8) for the first time in the postseason since 2015, when Hall of Famer Peyton Manning won Super Bowl 50 last season. There is a possibility of winning the right to participate. . One of the factors that pushed Denver to the edge of the playoffs is that rookie quarterback Bo Nix, a first-round pick, leads a top-10 scoring offense (24.2 points per game, 10th in 2024). He recorded top five points. Defense (18.7 points per game, 4th in 2024) — An advantage over losing teams. They are 7-0 against teams scoring below .500. record.
Conversely, one of the defining factors holding the Bengals back this season is their struggles against teams with winning records. In 2024, the Bengals are 0-7 against teams with a record above .500. This makes Cincy one of the four. They join the Carolina Panthers (4-11), New England Patriots (3-12) and Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12) without a win against a winning team this season.
However, the Bengals broke out of the rut against winning teams and entered Week 18 securing a key win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Joe Burrow leads the NFL in passing touchdowns (39) and passing yards (4,229) and current NFL Triple Crown holder Ja Mar Chase is going to fall.” Denver’s solid defense. Burrow is currently setting an NFL record with seven consecutive games of at least 250 yards and three passing touchdowns, but he will face a Broncos defense that has allowed over 30 points at the wrong time. He appeared in only one of the first 12 games, but qualified for two of the final three.
Indeed, Broncos All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II allows a 39.1 rating against the passer, which is lower than the 39.6 a quarterback would get if he threw it to the ground after every pass. Even if he’s not guarding either Bengals wideout Chase or Tee Higgins, he’ll work with Burrow’s accurate passing to take down Denver’s secondary. Cincy finally won its first game against a team with a winning record against one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Cowboys hold Eagles’ Saquon Barkley to less than 100 rushing yards for second time this season
The Dallas Cowboys are One of the most ferocious defenses in the NFL This is the first since three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons returned from an ankle sprain in Week 10. His influence is undeniable, as he has led the NFL in sacks (8.5) and quarterback pressures (42) since Week 10. In Week 17, he and the rest of the Dallas defense accomplished the rare feat of holding 2024 NFL rushing yard leader Saquon Barkley (1,838 yards) to less than 100 yards rushing for the second time this season. Parsons did it for the first time in Week 10, his first game back, holding him to 66 rushing yards on 14 carries.
With Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts suffering a concussion in the team’s loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 17, the Cowboys went all out against Kenny Pickett and Barkley, a rare feat. will be able to accomplish this.
Allowed 3rd-down conversion rate
35%
5th place
bag
28
1st place
Sack rate 10.4%
1st place
QB pressure rate
39.3%
5th place
takeout
15
T-2nd
