As the NFL season winds down, we arrive at NFL Week 17 — the penultimate slate of games before the playoffs. The race to reach the postseason remains chaotic.
The Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins punched tickets to the party already. But 10 teams remain in contention for the final five available spots. The AFC South, in particular, is a quagmire. Three teams — the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans — stand deadlocked at 8-7. The Jags’ four-game losing streak opened the door for the Colts and Texans, each 2-2 over the same period.
Only three spots are left in the NFC, with the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions claiming division titles and top-four seeds. The Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys will come out of the NFC East, one as the division champion and the other likely the top wild card team.
That leaves eight teams fighting for the final three positions, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers leading the NFC South at 8-7 and the similarly 8-7 Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks holding the last two wild card positions.
But quarterback situations dominate the NFL Week 17 landscape, with three changes already announced. Throw in Trevor Lawrence’s sprained right shoulder and that makes four teams in flux at the position.
Here are the top five storylines as we hit NFL Week 17.
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5. Rearranging Titanic deck chairs, Part I
Struggling Sam Howell puts on the sideline cap on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said on Wednesday that Jacoby Brissett will get the start.
Howell completed just 40.9 percent of his throws over the last three games, triggering the change. He had started every game thus far, but leads the NFL with 17 interceptions and four pick-sixes. To be fair, throwing while running for one’s life is difficult — his 60 times sacked is also most in the league.
Brissett started 11 games for the Cleveland Browns last season and 48 in his career. In three fill-in appearances this season, he is 18-of-23 for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps more importantly, his game log shows zero interceptions and no sacks.
At 4-11, Washington won’t reach the playoffs. They’re looking up at the woeful New York Giants in the NFC East standings, trailing them by a game. Rivera says he still believes in Howell, whose future likely hinges on Rivera’s status in D.C.
4. Rearranging Titanic deck chairs, Part II
Speaking of the Giants, cult hero Tommy DeVito heads to the bench in favor of veteran Tyrod Taylor. DeVito got the hook in Big Blue’s Christmas Day loss at Philadelphia. Taylor wasn’t efficient, going 7-of-16 with a touchdown and an interception, but picked up chunks of real estate with 133 passing yards.
Taylor, on an expiring contract, gets a chance to put some more game film on file for potential future employers. DeVito, under contract for next year, likely backs up Daniel Jones to start next season.
Jones, in the first year of a four-year, $160 million contract extension, had a lost year. Out with a torn ACL, Jones threw more interceptions in 160 attempts (six) than he did last season in 472 throws (five). Contract years do strange things to players.
New York is 5-10, officially free from worrying about playing any extra games in January. As for DeVito, he joins a long line of unheralded quarterbacks to go from “who’s he” to fan favorite to bench player in rapid succession.
3. Can Trevor Lawrence turn around the sinking Jaguars? Can he even play?
Trevor Lawrence isn’t throwing much in practice as he nurses the sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. If Lawrence is ruled out for Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, the division lead rests on the shoulders of backup C.J. Beathard, who last started a game in 2020 with the 49ers.
Lawrence defied the odds three times already this season. He played four days after spraining his left knee in Week 6, started six days after a high ankle sprain in Week 13 and took the ball last week after leaving the Dec. 17 loss to the Ravens with a concussion.
But Jacksonville has scored just 19 points in the last two weeks, with Beathard dinking and dunking for 94 yards on 15 attempts in the loss at Tampa Bay on Christmas Eve. In two substantive relief appearances against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Bucs, Beathard averages 6.3 yards per attempt. Lawrence’s number is 7.2.
Carolina provides a good opponent for a team with four straight losses, though the Panthers hung a season-high 30 points on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. The Jags close the season on the road against the Tennessee Titans, who they clubbed 34-14 back in Week 11.
A win over the Panthers would go a long way towards easing some of the anxiety.
2. An awkward homecoming in Philadelphia
Less than a year after his abrupt departure as defensive coordinator, Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon returns to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday to take on the playoff bound Eagles.
Gannon publicly said after the NFC Championship in January he was staying in Philly. Then he took an impermissible call from the Cardinals (which led to tampering charges) and didn’t tell the Eagles about it … or his intention to interview in Arizona.
That perceived duplicity prevented Philadelphia from retaining assistant Vic Fangio. Gannon’s eventual successor, Sean Desai, no longer calls the defensive signals and the Eagles defense ranks in the bottom half of the NFL.
Head coach Nick Sirianni said the right things about the matchup with the Cardinals and talked up his relationship with Gannon.
1. Rearranging very expensive deck chairs in Denver
Though the Denver Broncos remain mathematically alive for an AFC playoff berth, coach Sean Payton announced a bold move for Sunday’s home finale against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson won’t start. Instead, Jarrett Stidham gets his first start of the season and his first significant action as a Bronco. He played four snaps at the end of Denver’s 42-17 loss at Detroit on Dec. 16, handing the ball to a running back on each one.
Stidham, a fourth round pick by the New England Patriots in 2019, spent two seasons in Foxborough before he was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in May 2022. He signed with the Broncos on March 14.
Denver has 37 million reasons to shut down Wilson. Besides the guaranteed $39 million the quarterback gets in 2024, Wilson is due another $37 million if he can’t pass a physical in early March. An injury in the final two games of the season hardly seems worth the risk if Payton has already made up his mind he’s had his fill of Wilson, whom he has openly criticized this season.
Releasing Wilson after June 1 costs the Broncos $85 million in dead money, including $35.4 million next season. That means shopping for a new starter off the bargain rack, at best. A trade before June 1 comes with a $68 million cap hit for 2024.
