Week 17 of the NFL schedule is jam-packed. Not only did we get two games on Wednesday, but we also had our typical Thursday Night Football game, combined with THREE Saturday games as well as a typical Sunday and Monday slate. Yes, that is five days of NFL football for those counting at home.
NFL’s Week 17 Schedule Provides No Rest for the Wicked
So, are there any NFL games today? Yes, three of them to be exact. Let’s take a look at the massive Saturday slate.
Chargers at Patriots Preview
Los Angeles Chargers
Team: Thursday’s win was the second time in 32 days in which the Chargers won a game in which they allowed 27+ points and lost the turnover battle — the other 31 teams had done it five times up to that point.
QB: Justin Herbert’s aggression seems to be fading. After posting a 10.1-yard average depth of throw against the Chiefs in Week 14 (his fourth double-digit effort of the season), his rate checked in at 8.2 yards in Week 15 against the Buccaneers and 6.8 in Thursday’s win over the Broncos.
Offense: Los Angeles averaged a season-high 3.1 points per possession on Thursday night, punting on just 27.3% of their possessions (their fourth game this season with a sub-30% punt rate).
Defense: The Chargers eventually forced a punt after failing to do so on 16 straight drives — that’s the longest streak this season and one shy of matching the longest in franchise history.
Fantasy: Gus Edwards ran 14 times for 68 yards (43 on a single carry) and two touchdowns on Thursday night — that was the sixth instance in which a running back had two rushing touchdowns on under 15 carries since the beginning of November — teammate J.K. Dobbins was responsible for two of the other five.
New England Patriots
Team: New England is in the midst of its second five-game losing streak of the season – from 2010-17, they didn’t lose five games in a single regular season.
QB: Drake Maye has completed 15 of 17 third-down passes over his past three games (88.2%).
Offense: The Patriots scored on 30% of their drives against the Bills on Sunday, matching their highest mark of the season.
Defense: New England’s defense came to play on Sunday, holding the Bills to just 4-of-11 on third downs (in their two previous games, they allowed a 57.7% conversion rate).
Fantasy: On his 238 touches this season, Rhamondre Stevenson has as many fumbles as rushing touchdowns (seven) and as many fumbles lost as touches gaining 30+ yards (three).
Broncos at Bengals Preview
Denver Broncos
Team: Christmas Eve marks 100 days since a QB not named Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, or Justin Herbert defeated the Broncos.
Offense: In Weeks 8-13, Denver converted 50.6% of its third downs, a rate that has plummeted to 36.7% over the past two weeks (11-of-30).
Defense: The Broncos have posted a sub-28% blitz rate six times this season — they’ve done it in five of their past six games.
Fantasy: Marvin Mims Jr. has a catch of more than 35 yards in four of his past five games — if you’re swinging for the fences, a matchup with a bottom-10 defense in terms of completions and touchdown rate on balls thrown 10+ yards downfield is a decent place to look.
Cincinnati Bengals
Team: The Bengals have a 3+ game win streak in December (or later) in four straight seasons.
QB: You know that Joe Burrow is the first ever with 250 passing yards and three passing TDs in seven straight — extend his numbers from those games for a full season, and he’s posting a 5,430-yard, 58-TD season (for reference, 2007 Tom Brady’s 17-game pace: 5,106 yards and 53 TDs.
Offense: Cincinnati scored on “just” 36.4% of its drives over the weekend, their lowest rate since Week 8.
Defense: Cincinnati has allowed under 1.5 points per possession three times this season – two of which have come against the Browns.
Fantasy: Ja’Marr Chase is seeking a seventh straight game with 18+ PPR points. Since 2013, only twice (Cooper Kupp in 2021 and Davante Adams in 2020) has a receiver had a longer such streak in a single season.
Cardinals at Rams Preview
Arizona Cardinals
Team: Arizona is 4-15 and has been outscored by 152 points (492-340) in their past 19 road games.
QB: Kyler Murray doesn’t have more touchdown passes than interceptions in a game since doing so against the Jets in Week 10 (Arizona has lost four of five games over that stretch).
Offense: James Conner has consecutive games with a 40+ yard carry – he previously had one such run in his career with the Cardinals (794 rush attempts).
Defense: The Cardinals allowed the Panthers to average 3.0 points per drive on Sunday – Arizona falls to 1-6 this season when allowing at least 2.0 points per drive.
Fantasy: Conner is the first RB aged 29 or older with 100 rush yards, a rush TD, and 25 receiving yards in consecutive games since Latavius Murray (2019) – he joined this list in the first half last week against the Panthers.
Los Angeles Rams
Team: The Rams have won eight of 10 games after a 1-4 start, but they’ve only outscored their opponents by 27 points during that run (235-20)
QB: Matthew Stafford has thrown one touchdown pass on 46 attempts over his past two games (one TD toss every 11.7 attempts over his previous four games).
Offense: Los Angeles has won four straight games, but they’ve been walking on thin ice over their past two by converting just two of their eight red-zone trips into TDs.
Defense: Opponents have converted just eight of 18 red-zone trips into touchdowns against the Rams over their past six games.
Fantasy: Kyren Williams has a league-high 15 games with 20+ carries since the beginning of last season.