NFL Week 17 schedule: Key games with playoff implications, stats that stand out and everything to know - CBS Sports

Welcome to Week 17 of the 2019 NFL season! We've got another packed slate for you all this week, complete with several marquee games. 

There was no Thursday night game this week and there will be no Monday night game, either. Anything and everything that happens in Week 17 will be happening on Sunday. That's the way it goes when it's each team's final chance to jockey for a playoff spot or their position in the draft. 

There's no use delaying. Let's get right into it. 

Who's in

Teams that have clinched a playoff spot and/or division title are denoted with ^ symbol.

AFC: Ravens^ (13-2), Patriots^ (12-3), Chiefs^ (11-4), Texans^ (10-5), Bills^ (10-5), Titans (8-7)

NFC: 49ers^ (12-3), Packers^ (12-3), Saints^ (12-3), Eagles (8-7), Seahawks^ (11-4), Vikings^ (10-5)

Who's out

Teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention are denoted with an asterisk.

AFC: Steelers (8-7), Raiders (7-8), Colts* (7-8), Browns* (6-9), Broncos* (6-9), Jets* (6-9), Chargers* (5-10), Jaguars* (5-10), Dolphins* (4-11), Bengals* (1-14)

NFC: Rams* (8-7), Bears* (7-8), Cowboys (7-8), Buccaneers* (7-8), Falcons* (6-9), Cardinals* (5-9-1), Panthers* (5-10), Giants* (4-11), Lions* (3-11-1), Washington* (3-12)

Week 17 games with playoff implications

Week 17 features two games where both teams currently occupy playoff spots, and each of them carries tremendous meaning to both teams.

• Titans at Texans, 4:25 p.m. ET

The Titans are in a win-and-you're-in game here, and can clinch the No. 6 seed in the AFC with a victory over the Texans. Houston can potentially move up to the No. 3 seed if the Chiefs lose to the Chargers, but that game will be over by the time Titans-Texans starts, so it's possible they could already be locked into the No. 4. 

• 49ers at Seahawks, 8:20 p.m. ET (SNF)

The 49ers currently occupy the No. 1 seed and hold the NFC West lead, but if they lose to the Seahawks, they'd drop down to the No. 5, while Seattle would win the division by virtue of holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Seahawks' seeding would then depend on what happens in the Packers and Saints games. 

Here are more games with playoff implications:

• Eagles at Giants, 4:25 p.m. ET
• Redskins at Cowboys, 4:25 p.m. ET

The NFC East title is still up for grabs. The Cowboys need to win and have the Giants beat the Eagles; otherwise, the final playoff spot in the NFC goes to Philadelphia.

• Steelers at Ravens, 4:25 p.m. ET

The Ravens have already clinched the AFC North and the No. 1 seed in the AFC, but the Steelers need to both beat Baltimore and see the Titans lose to the Texans to make their way into the playoffs. We know that several Baltimore starters will be sitting this game out, but we also know that Duck Hodges is back under center for the Steelers. Things could get interesting.

• Raiders at Broncos, 4:25 p.m. ET

If the Titans and Steelers both lose, the Raiders can sneak into the playoffs with a win plus a Colts win. They're the longest of longshots heading into Sunday.

• Dolphins at Patriots, 1 p.m. ET
• Chargers at Chiefs, 1 p.m. ET
• Packers at Lions, 1 p.m. ET
• Saints at Panthers, 1 p.m. ET

The Patriots, Chiefs, Packers and Saints are all already in the playoffs, but all four are still jockeying for seeding. A valuable first-round bye is on the table in each conference, and it's possible for the Packers or Saints to finish with the top seed in the NFC as well.

Stats to know

• Packers at Lions, 1 p.m. ET

Aaron Rodgers has been absurdly dominant against the Lions in his career. In 19 starts against Detroit, he is 14-5 with 389 completions on 592 pass attempts (65.7 percent), as well as 4,809 passing yards (8.1 per attempt), 39 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions. Rodgers has not been at the peak of his powers this season, but considering how poor the Lions pass defense has been this year, maybe we'll see some fireworks on Sunday. 

• Jets at Bills, 1 p.m. ET

Here are some numbers Jets brass should probably keep in mind, just in case they are really considering cutting ties with Le'Veon Bell after just one season: Bell currently has a $15.5 million cap hit on the books for next year, but outright cutting him actually accelerates a dead money charge of $17 million onto New York's books. That's right, it costs the Jets more to cut Bell than to have him on the roster next season. They could designate Bell a post-June 1 release, but that would steal leave a $13 million charge on the books, saving only $2.5 million, while also putting a $4 million charge on the team's 2021 cap sheet. 

If Ryan Fitzpatrick can manage to throw for 281 yards against the Patriots, he'll become only the 15th player ever to throw for 3,500 yards or more in his age-37 season. Somewhat surprising, Fitz has only managed 281 yards (or more) in five games this season, and it's worth noting that the last time he played the Patriots, he was so bad (11-21, 89 yards, 3 INT) that he was benched for Josh Rosen. 

• Bears at Vikings, 1 p.m. ET

You know how there were questions all season about whether the Cowboys have the ability to beat good teams? Maybe we should start asking those questions about the Vikings. Minnesota is 10-5, and four of its five losses have come against teams that have clinched a playoff spot. (The other loss is to the Bears.) Of the Vikings' 10 wins, meanwhile, only one is against a team currently in playoff position, and that team (the Eagles), is also the only 0.500 or better team the Vikings have defeated all year. 

• Chargers at Chiefs, 1 p.m. ET

Why is this game at 1:00 p.m.? The Chiefs are still jockeying for playoff position with both the Patriots and Texans. If Kansas City wins, then Houston knows it has no chance at the No. 3 seed and can just shut it down for Week 17, which gives the Titans an advantage over the Steelers and Raiders in the playoff race. The same would not be true for the Chiefs if the Patriots were to beat the Dolphins because Kansas City would still need to win to lock down the No. 3 while not knowing the result of the Houston game. This is poor scheduling on the NFL's part.

The Bengals are one of the unluckier one-win teams in recent memory. There have been 16 teams in NFL history with either one or zero wins through their first 15 games of the season, and among those 16, the Bengals actually have the third-best point differential. Their scoring margin actually suggests they should be a 3.7-win team at the moment, which makes them the third-unluckiest team among that same group. While they'll likely be quarterbacked by a rookie next season, this underperformance is actually a good sign that the Bengals should be better than expected in 2020. 

With 466 career catches, Michael Thomas is just 15 receptions away for setting the all-time NFL record for most catches through a player's first five seasons. This is Michael Thomas' fourth season in the NFL. This dude is hilariously good and we took a deep dive into how dominant Thomas has been earlier this season.

As we wrote on Monday: Jameis Winston has thrown 31 touchdowns and 28 interceptions this season. Those 28 picks are already the second-most any quarterback has thrown in any season where he threw 30 touchdowns, behind only the 29 thrown by Lynn Dickey back in 1983. Winston has a chance to become the first quarterback ever with a 30-30 season. Considering he threw two picks against the Falcons in the teams' first matchup this season, it's eminently doable for him.

Leonard Fournette has touched the ball 341 times heading into Week 17, with 265 carries and 76 catches. That gives him one of 429 seasons with 300-plus touches in the history of the NFL. Fournette's three total touchdowns this season are tied for seventh-fewest among that group of 429. Only Ruben Droughns, Harold Green, Garrison Hurst, Thomas Jones, Curtis Martin, and Willie Parker ever had fewer than three scores in a 300-touch season, with each of them finding the end zone just two times. 

• Eagles at Giants, 4:25 p.m. ET

The Eagles seem to have really found something in rookie running back Miles Sanders. He's just the fourth rookie back since the merger to have at least 750 rushing yards, 500 receiving yards, and three touchdowns both on the ground and through the air. The others are Saquon Barkley, Edgerrin James, and Billy Sims. Sanders is only 34 rushing yards away from making that 800-500, which would make him only the 38th post-merger player, regardless of experience, to hit those rushing-receiving-touchdown benchmarks. 

• Cardinals at Rams, 4:25 p.m. ET

Let's check in on the offensive improvement for the Cardinals this season: Last year, Arizona ranked 32nd in yards, 32nd in points, 32nd in yards per play, 32nd in points per drive, 32nd in the percentage of drives that ended in a score, 27th in the percentage of drives that ended in a turnover, 32nd in passing DVOA, 31st in rushing DVOA, and 32nd in overall offensive DVOA. In the first season of the Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray era, Arizona has jumped to 22nd in yards, 17th in points, 17th in yards per play, 14th in points per drive, ninth in the percentage of drives that ended in a score, sixth in the percentage of drives that ended in a turnover, 22nd in passing DVOA, second in rushing DVOA, and 13th in overall offensive DVOA. Pretty damn good for a rookie coach and QB. 

• Steelers at Ravens, 4:25 p.m. ET

The Steelers have a team passer rating of just 77.5 so far this season. If they were to make the playoffs, that somehow would not be the worst mark of any playoff team since the league expanded to 32 teams and split them into eight, four-team divisions when the Texans entered the league back in 2002. In fact, it would barely sneak into the top-20. The current low-water mark is the 61.5 passer rating collected by the 11-5 Bears quarterbacks (Kyle Orton, Rex Grossman, and Jeff Blake) back in 2005.

• Titans at Texans, 4:25 p.m. ET

As Mike Herndon of Music City Miracles notes, "since Ryan Tannehill took over in Week 7, the Titans offense is averaging over 6.8 yards per offensive snap, more than a half yard per snap better than the next best offense. The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 is bigger than the gap between No. 2 and No. 8." No wonder they have jumped their way back into the playoff race.

The Raiders' playoff hopes are, somehow, still alive. But the chances of everything they need to happen (they beat the Broncos, the Ravens beat the Steelers, the Texans beat the Titans, and the Colts beat the Jaguars) actually happening are pretty low. Simulations from Sportsline's Stephen Oh give this scenario only a 4.7 percent chance of occurring on Sunday. 

• Washington at Cowboys, 4:25 p.m. ET

Jason Garrett made the playoffs three times in 10 seasons as the Cowboys' coach. Assuming the Cowboys do not get lucky on Sunday, his seven playoff-less seasons will be as many as Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, and Wade Phillips COMBINED. Yeah, I think it's time to move on.

• 49ers at Seahawks, 8:20 p.m. ET (SNF)

In 10 games against the 49ers as a member of the Seahawks, Marshawn Lynch carried 205 times for 870 yards and seven touchdowns, adding 19 catches for 158 yards and two more touchdowns in 22 targets. That's an average of 102.8 total yards and nearly a touchdown per game. Safe to say the Seahawks would be satisfied if they got that type of production out of Lynch this week. 

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2019-12-29 13:13:00Z
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