The playoff picture is obviously the most watched thing in the NFL world coming down the stretch of a season. That is the case entering Week 16, as a few teams entering must win matchups to get themselves in better playoff position. A lot of these come down to division rivalries as well, which is why two of them can end up being the best games of the week.
Buffalo Bills @ New England Patriots
The Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots will be meeting for the second time in three weeks this weekend. New England won the last matchup this year by only attempting three passes the entire game. Buffalo is coming off a big win over the Carolina Panthers while the Patriots just got cooked by the Indianapolis Colts. It seems like the Bills are in line for a far better performance than what they showed earlier, but a lot of it will boil down to the weather and scheme. Buffalo has been shockingly bad at stopping the run, which is the one thing that New England absolutely excels at. The last game was freezing with heavy wind, which didn’t allow Buffalo to utilise their strength, which is airing it out. I think that the Bills get their revenge and tie the Patriots for the division lead in this game. If it’s anything similar to the last game weather wise, then the Patriots would get their sweep. Keep an eye on that weather.
Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals
The Baltimore Ravens just lost another close game, this time to the Green Bay Packers. It was another winnable game, but this group got too cocky at the end. Similar to their recent loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they elected to go for a two-point conversion with 30 seconds left to get the lead. They missed it both times and lost them both because of it. They were shockingly competitive without Lamar Jackson active though, and with him back they should be a lot more comfortable on offense. As for the Bengals, they grabbed a nice win themselves over the Denver Broncos, a 15-10 stalemate. Joe Burrow had one huge touchdown late in the game that pushed them over the edge. We saw the Bengals obliterate the Ravens earlier in the season, but it is never easy to sweep division rivals. However, the Ravens are seriously depleted in the secondary, without Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, and other starters. Line that up with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd and you have a recipe for Cincinnati victory. I’ll put my money on them this week, but neither team has been very consistent.
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Kansas City Chiefs
Let’s make one thing clear, if the Steelers play like they have lately in the first half, then this could be a blowout. Pittsburgh has barely scored any point in the first half of games, but luckily, they remain alive and well in the playoff race. Najee Harris is literally the lifeblood of this offense, and their defense can only do so much behind the excellence of TJ Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Chiefs on the other hand are on a huge win streak, with a defense that is suddenly in the top five units in the league. Couple an excellent group like that with Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and you have yourselves a scary good roster. I like how hard the Steelers have been playing recently, but I don’t like to pick against the Chiefs. They are playing so well right now with a lot of momentum, I can’t see them getting taken down.
