It’s finally here! Saturday NFL football comes back into our lives for one weekend in Week 16. It’s a shame it’s only happening once. The NFL should play Saturday football when Army-Navy is the only college game on the slate. Give the service academies a content window with no opposition, but there’s time to play an early or late game with the Arny-Navy battle sandwiched in between. Much like an NFL team, we deal with what the schedule gives us, so here’s why these Saturday games should be fun.
Saturday football
Just a reminder that it’s Saturday football. That’s already been explained multiple times, but read those words again: Saturday. Football.
We are running out of football. The college regular season is over. The NFL is winding down. We have to appreciate all the football we can get. Come mid-February, all we will have is the XFL.
A Texans letdown game
If history repeats itself, the Texans will have a letdown after getting a huge win the previous week against a team that could make the playoffs. The Texans blew out the Patriots then lost to the Broncos. Last week they took control of the AFC South with a win over the Titans and on Saturday they face the Bucs. The Bucs are a scary team right now. They can put up points. The Texans should still win. The possibility of the letdown game rearing its ugly head is a pretty funny thought.
AFC East battle
Here’s a dirty little secret: unless we all think the Patriots are going to lose to the Dolphins in Week 17, they already have wrapped up the AFC East due to a better winning percentage against common teams. The Bills lost to the Eagles and Browns. The Patriots did not.
The game should still be entertaining. Both teams’ defenses lead the way. Stephon Gilmore and Tre’Davious White will battle for the title of the best corner in the NFL. Tom Brady will try and prove that he still has it, while Josh Allen is trying to prove he is the future of the AFC East. Both teams are very well-coached. It should be a low-scoring game, but it’s not often we get two definite playoff teams facing off this close to the end of the season.
NFC West battle means something . . . for one team
The Rams saw their playoff hopes essentially go up in smoke this Sunday when they lost to the Cowboys in Dallas. Now they get to face an angry Niners team coming off a surprise last-second loss to the Falcons.
San Francisco could have ruined its seeding by losing to Atlanta. Now they have to hope the Packers lose. They may have to win out to get a bye. Yes, the NFL’s seeding is ridiculous — the winner of the Cowboys-Eagles game should not be hosting the Niners if San Francisco ends up the fifth seed — but those are the rules.
The Niners will want to win for seeding. The Rams won’t want to give up on the season. We have three games throughout the day and this is a fun one to end on.
