It feels like this NFL on Wednesday thing was a really bad idea.
If you wanted to see good competitive games on Christmas Day, this wasn’t the time to watch, as the games were decided by 19 and 29 points. And the home team was the one whipped in each.
The Kansas City Chiefs routed the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-10, and the Baltimore Ravens crushed the Houston Texans 31-2. Thank you, NFL gods, for allowing Houston to record a safety.
This was the third game in an 11-day stretch for all four teams. Whoever came up with that as a good thing for the health and safety of players hasn’t played tackle football since they were in elementary school. Was that you, Roger Goodell?
Of course, the games were nowhere to be found if you turned your television to the typical channels that air NFL games.
Oh no, these two games were on Netflix as the NFL continues to value new revenue streams over your pocketbook.
So if you made the decision to say no to Netflix and went on with your Christmas celebration and watched NBA games, you came out way ahead of those of us who forked out $6.99. Maybe these were reruns of last Saturday’s horrible College Football Playoff games.
Actually, 38-year-old quarterback Josh Johnson got in the game for the Ravens, so it had to be a pro game.
Lamar Jackson deserved the rest after passing for two touchdowns, passing for one, and surpassing Michael Vick as the all-time leader in rushing yards (6,110) by a quarterback.
Jackson and the Ravens have recovered from an 0-2 start to win 11 of their 14 past games. Having Derrick Henry (147 yards vs. Texans) in the backfield with Jackson’s running ability (87 yards on four rushes) has given Baltimore an impressive new element.
The Ravens have looked superb during a three-game winning streak in which they have outscored the opponents 100-33. Baltimore topped 30 in each game, and two-time league MVP Jackson is playing as good as anyone in the league.
The NFL MVP shortlist is Josh Allen of the Bills, Jackson and Saquon Barkley of the Eagles.
The big problem for the Ravens is playing well after the regular season ends. Baltimore has won just two playoff games—one in the 2020 season and one last season—since Jackson joined the organization in 2018, and the club lost at home in the AFC title game last season.
At some point, Jackson needs to lead the Ravens to the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs have won a franchise-record 15 games, and that is really something when you consider all the close calls during the season. The 19-point victory was their largest of the entire season.
Patrick Mahomes passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns and hardly broke a sweat as Kansas City clinched the No. 1 seed for the AFC playoffs. Travis Kelce became the third tight end in NFL history to catch 1,000 career passes.
All of a sudden, the Chiefs are looking like good bets to return to the Super Bowl and perhaps earn that historic three-peat.
The Steelers are fading and lost all three games in the 11-day span. Pittsburgh scored a season-low 10 points against the Chiefs and has been outscored 90-40 during the three-game skid.
The Steelers failed to clinch the AFC North for the second straight game, and now the Ravens have moved ahead of them. Pittsburgh needs the veteran leadership of guys like T.J. Watt and Cameron Hayward to take over, or the squad is going to be one-and-done in the postseason.
Houston has already clinched the AFC South but isn’t looking like a team that can make a postseason run. The Texans are just 4-6 after a 5-1 start.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud has thrown for fewer than 200 yards five times this season and has tossed 12 interceptions after being just picked off five times as a rookie. He’s also been sacked 52 times compared to 38 last season.
As for Netflix, no streaming issues or technical glitches, so that rates as an improvement after their recent Mike Tyson-Jake Paul problem-filled broadcast.
But let’s be clear about this—let’s skip the Wednesday NFL games on Christmas Day the next time the calendar raises that opportunity.
