NFL Week 16 Takeaways: Maye boosts MVP case as Patriots rally to beat Ravens
When the MVP chants are audible for a participant on the visiting crew, he is most likely doing one thing proper.
That was the case for second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who led the New England Patriots to a come-from-behind 28-24 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday evening.
The victory clinched a playoff spot for the 12-3 Patriots and levelled with them for the Denver Broncos for the very best report within the AFC.
However extra importantly, it was a powerful present of resilience after final Sunday’s collapse in opposition to the Buffalo Payments.
Down 10 factors within the ultimate quarter, Maye orchestrated two landing drives to finish the primary fourth-quarter comeback of his profession.
Maye threw for 380 yards — the primary time in his profession he is eclipsed the 300-yard mark — whereas finishing 70 per cent of his passes.
It was a efficiency worthy of the MVP serenades he obtained on the street, and primarily assures that the award will come right down to him and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford on the finish of the season.
On the Ravens’ facet of issues, it was a loss that summed up a disappointing season. Star QB Lamar Jackson was pressured to exit the sport within the second quarter with a again damage, a devastating blow, particularly with Baltimore’s playoff hopes hanging within the stability.
It was one other damage for Jackson, who was already pressured to overlook time earlier this season. Jackson’s injury-plagued marketing campaign, mixed with an incapability to complete video games, has made the Ravens appear to be a shell of what many anticipated them to be at first of the season.
After Sunday’s loss, the 7-8 Ravens now not management their very own playoff future. A win by the Pittsburgh Steelers subsequent week or a Ravens loss will eradicate Baltimore from the post-season and make the Week 18 finale between the 2 division rivals irrelevant.
In the meantime, for the Patriots, they’re formally headed again to the playoffs for the primary time since 2021 with an MVP favorite main the way in which.
Listed here are another takeaways from Week 16:
Lions’ playoff hopes dealt massive blow after weird ending vs. Steelers
The Detroit Lions entered Week 16 realizing they mainly needed to win out to have any probability at making it to the post-season.
Which makes the way in which they misplaced to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday all of the extra heartbreaking.
Trailing by 29-24 late within the fourth quarter, the Lions drove the size of the sector and have been in place to attain a walk-off landing.
On the final play of the sport, Jared Goff linked on a cross to Amon-Ra St. Brown simply in need of the objective line. As he was stood up by Steelers defenders, St. Brown lateraled the ball again to Goff, who appeared to dive in for a game-winning landing.
However with a flag on the sector and each groups satisfied that they had received the sport, the referees huddled as much as talk about the play.
After an agonizingly lengthy dialog, the officers introduced that there was an offensive pass-interference penalty on St. Brown that negated the TD, and the Steelers walked away with a 29-24 victory.
Proper name or not, it was a devastating blow to Detroit’s playoff possibilities. The Lions now have only a six per cent probability of constructing the post-season, per NFL.com.
Their solely hope is to win their ultimate two video games and have the Inexperienced Bay Packers lose each of their ultimate two.
For a crew that began the season with Tremendous Bowl aspirations, Sunday’s loss was one other chapter in what had been a irritating season in Detroit.
It is official, the Jacksonville Jaguars are reliable Tremendous Bowl contenders.
Regardless of coming into Sunday’s matchup in opposition to the Denver Broncos on a five-game win streak, the Jaguars nonetheless appeared to be getting a scarcity of respect across the league.
Heck, Broncos head coach Sean Payton even referred to Jacksonville as a “smaller market” this week within the lead-up to the sport.
The Jaguars responded by taking it to Payton’s crew on Sunday, as they totally outplayed the Broncos in a 34-20 street win and ended Denver’s 11-game win streak within the course of.
“Grateful {that a} small market crew like us can come into a spot like Mile Excessive and get it finished,” Jaguars first-year head coach Liam Coen advised reporters after the sport.
Maybe essentially the most spectacular a part of Sunday’s win was what the Jaguars did to the stellar Broncos defence.
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence continued the very best stretch of his profession, as he accounted for an additional 4 TDs (three passing, one speeding) within the win, which now offers him 10 over his previous two video games.
In opposition to a Broncos defence which will very effectively break the report for sacks in a season, Lawrence stood in amongst the chaos and made a lot of big-time throws that Denver had no reply for.
The victory not solely retains the 11-4 Jags within the AFC South driver’s seat, but additionally places them in competition for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Only one sport again of the 12-3 Broncos, the Jaguars now personal the head-to-head tiebreaker if Denver have been to have one other loss in its ultimate two video games.
However no matter the place the Jaguars find yourself within the playoff seeding, Sunday proved they will beat any crew the league has to supply.
Panthers take management of NFC South
There hasn’t been a extra Jekyll and Hyde crew within the NFL this season than the Carolina Panthers.
However credit score the place credit score is due, once they wanted it, the nice model of the Panthers confirmed up on Sunday.
After a stunning loss to the New Orleans Saints final week, the Panthers bounced again in Week 16 with a large 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The victory strikes the Panthers 8-7, one sport up on the now 7-8 Buccaneers within the NFC South.
Most significantly, the Panthers have now assured that within the Week 18 rematch with the Bucs, they may have an opportunity to clinch the division title it doesn’t matter what occurs subsequent week.
Which is particularly key on condition that the Panthers host the NFC-leading Seattle Seahawks subsequent Sunday.
For Tampa Bay, the loss continues what has been a downward spiral for Baker Mayfield’s squad. The Buccaneers have now misplaced six of their previous seven video games, and might want to beat the Miami Dolphins subsequent week in the event that they wish to assure themselves a shot at redemption in Week 18.
Herbert doing all of it for surging Chargers
Justin Herbert is not at present within the MVP dialogue, however maybe he must be.
As a result of the argument might be made that no QB within the league is doing extra to guide his crew to the post-season.
Down each of his star tackles for the season and enjoying with a damaged hand, Herbert has been the driving pressure in what’s a four-game Chargers win streak after Sunday’s 34-17 conquer the Dallas Cowboys.
Regardless of being hit league-high 123 occasions this season, Herbert has performed by the stress and the ache and has the Chargers at 11-4 and on the verge of clinching a playoff spot.
Herbert threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns within the win over Dallas, the thirty first time he is thrown for not less than 300 since he entered the league in 2020.
It was one other reminder of why, irrespective of who Herbert has defending him, the Chargers will at all times be a risk with him below centre.
“He is wonderful, his accuracy, his escapability, his capacity to throw on the run,” stated Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs of Herbert after the sport. “He is obtained all of it.”
AFC’s No. 1 seed up for grabs
It is crowded on the high within the AFC.
At 12-3, the Broncos and Patriots are the front-runners for the convention’s No. 1 seed and the coveted first-round bye that comes together with it.
However the Jaguars, Chargers and Buffalo Payments are all sitting only one sport again at 11-4.
With simply two video games left within the common season, the jockeying for the highest seeds must be an enchanting watch within the AFC.
