The penultimate week of the 2024 NFL regular season was… unpleasant.
Christmas gave way to a new day for the league to monetize and spread 16 games across five days. Typically, that would be exciting news — especially with a handful of games between contenders destined to alter the 14 postseason paths to Super Bowl 59.
Instead, we got blowouts and bad football. The Kansas City Chiefs rolled the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Houston Texans scored two total points against the Baltimore Ravens. The Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Bears combined for nine points.
While Saturday’s Cincinnati Bengals – Denver Broncos was a fireworks display unto itself, the majority of Week 17 was uncompelling football. Even Sunday’s marquee game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers was a listless slog before Green Bay made a late rally in a 27-25 loss.
So what stood out in a week of forgettable matchups? Let’s talk about it.
[Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past couple weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.]
1. The New York Jets are rotting from the head down
Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images
The Jets’ 40-14 loss was somehow worse than the final score suggests. It all starts with the veteran quarterback whose body language is bleeding through an undisciplined team that’s crumbled around him.
From The Jets cannot allow Aaron Rodgers to return:
No one reflects the sorry condition of the 2024 Jets than its headlining attraction. The bad vibes are emanating from within. No one is happy with a 4-12 team, obviously, but Aaron Rodgers’s visible frustration combined with his status as a veteran leader only exacerbates that.
Aaron Rodgers is so funny as long as you aren't rooting for his team or playing alongside him pic.twitter.com/k1RHFKuteu
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) December 29, 2024
Rodgers can fault whomever he likes for New York’s struggles, but no one shoulders more blame than the four-time MVP who was supposed to provide deliverance from the Christian Hackenbergs and Zach Wilsons of the football world. Instead, a 39-year-old player coming off his worst season as a starter has aged even worse than expected thanks to the torn Achilles that ended his 2023 after four snaps.
The mobility he used to extend plays has taken a definite hit. His pocket awareness has crumbled alongside his blocking. The situations from which he used to weave magic from thin air have instead been gentle gusts pushing this offense backward.
ok now i’m starting to feel a little bad
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— Christian D’Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 1:59 PM
All the while, Rodgers’s outward demeanor has phased from smiling disbelief to passive aggressive hostility. Sometimes its directed at players (see above). Sometimes it’s reflected back at his own sideline.
looks like Aaron Rodgers thinks running out of shotgun on 4th-and-short is just as stupid as the rest of us do
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— Christian D’Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 12:31 PM
That tone has bled through the roster. New York has devolved into a poorly coached mess because the Jets were put in a position where they couldn’t fire the quarterback so Saleh got tossed instead. That’s led to a total defensive collapse, certainly, but this team is an undisciplined jumble of talented players who add up to significantly less than the sum of its parts.
Read the full piece here.
2. Joe Burrow has a legitimate MVP case (but not as good as Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson
The Enquirer
Micah Parsons knows who he’s voting for in the 2024 MVP race. If the Cincinnati Bengals make the playoffs, that is. And if he actually had a vote.
But the pass rushing savant and undeniable knower of ball understands just how significant Cincinnati’s rally from 4-8 to a place in the playoff race heading into Week 18 is. And he knows exactly who’s driving the Bengals beyond the limits of their suddenly shoddy defense.
What a sight to see! @joeyb @teehiggins5 AGAIN.
: NFL Network pic.twitter.com/HFvS30w62P
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) December 28, 2024
Joe Burrow leads the NFL in passing yards (4,641) and touchdowns (42). He’s the engine behind the league’s top passing offense. He’s got Cincinnati back to .500 despite a defense that’s allowed more points this year than all but four other teams. But even if he somehow converts what The Athletic estimates is a seven percent chance to make the playoffs, he’s not going to be MVP. He might not even crack the top three when votes are counted.
That’s how good Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Saquon Barkley have been. All three were vital to their own respective blowouts this week.
Allen threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for one more in a 40-14 dismantling of the unhappy Jets. That light lift didn’t do too much to pad his stats but brought him up to 40 total touchdowns in 16 games. That includes one incredible pass to Amari Cooper and a couple that wound up not counting on the box score due to either penalties or drops.
neither of Josh Allen’s best plays this half counted (penalty, drop) but i cannot imagine the frustration of having to play against this man
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— Christian D’Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 1:08 PM
Jackson embarrassed the Houston Texans 31-2 and had 255 total yards and three touchdowns on just 19 touches (15 passes, four carries). That puts him at 43 touchdowns on the year — as many or more than he had in either of his two previous MVP campaigns.
ACTION JACKSON TO THE HOUSE!!!
Tune in on Netflix!! pic.twitter.com/9hSGxJ9YSe
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 25, 2024
Barkley became just the ninth running back to break the 2,000 rushing yard barrier in a single NFL season. He’s 100 yards away from tying Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105.
SAQUON BARKLEY. 2K RUSHING YARDS. pic.twitter.com/HDS8Jy1MRK
— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
All four of these players have a valid claim for most valuable player. Ultimately, this year’s quarterback play may have been too good for even a historic season from Barkley to break through. And as good as Burrow has been, it will be incredibly difficult to sway voters on a team with a single-digit chance of making the playoffs this winter.
That leaves it down to Allen and Jackson — an argument in which neither side is wrong. For me, Allen’s ability to stave off what looked like a rebuild and continue to thrive despite an underwhelming receiving corps is enough to give him the nod for my PFWA vote. But I still have time to change my mind and plenty of tape left to grind.
No matter who I choose, however, I’m gonna be OK with the outcome.
3. The Philadelphia Eagles are a death machine (but it came against the Cowboys, so…)
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Facing fourth-and-one near midfield typically means one thing for the Eagles. A compressed formation, a snap under center and a rugby-style push for first down. In 2023, Philadelphia’s 73 percent fourth down conversion rate was nearly seven full points higher than second place Tampa Bay.
But in Week 17, head coach Nick Sirianni stared down fourth-and-one at his own 46 in need of a win to keep pace in his race for the NFC’s top seed and a playoff bye. Then he blinked. Out came punter Braden Mann for a kick that bounced into the end zone for a touchback.
This wasn’t the only indication the Eagles were playing without Jalen Hurts behind center. If we’re being honest, this was the dead giveaway:
I thought the football turned into an anvil
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— Nate Tice (@natetice.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 12:58 PM
But Kenny Pickett’s act of premium mime-ery — THE MAN THREW HIMSELF INSTEAD OF THE BALL — barely made a dent in Philadelphia’s win probability against the Dallas Cowboys. Not even Pickett’s third quarter departure due to a rib injury could slow this offense down. 2023 sixth-round draft pick Tanner McKee entered the game, threw four passes and found the end zone twice.
BABE WAKE UP! IT'S TANNER TIME @McKeeTmckee | @1kalwaysopen_ | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/PZjvMKQ9NS
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 29, 2024
One week after Hurts’s head injury created the latitude for the Washington Commanders to earn an upset win, McKee and Pickett led a charge that locked the Commanders out of the NFC East title race and ensured, at the very least, a home playoff game in Pennsylvania.
How? Thanks to the rising tide around the quarterback position and an overwhelmed opponent. The defense that had gotten sliced up by Olamide Zaccheaus and Jamison Crowder in the fourth quarter of last week’s collapse shoved Cooper Rush into a locker. Without CeeDee Lamb in the lineup, the Cowboys offense averaged just 5.2 yards per pass attempt. The secondary held Rush to a piddling 50.7 passer rating.
The offense also showcased its star power. DeVonta Smith had two touchdowns and nearly a third thanks to Pickett dialing it back to his Pittsburgh Steelers days and delivering three good passes per game.
in conclusion, Kenny Pickett is a land of contrasts
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— Christian D’Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 1:31 PM
A.J. Brown found the end zone. Saquon Barkley ran for 167 yards, putting him just 100 away from the NFL’s single season record. The offense didn’t need a heroic effort to put up 40-plus points, it just needed someone who could operate within the narrow confines of a smaller playbook and get the ball to the guys who can do the most with it.
That’s what ...
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