National Football League

Vikings might be NFC's best, and what else we learned in Week 17

Updated Dec. 29, 2024 11:53 p.m. ET

Ben Arthur and 4 more

FOX Sports' NFL experts provide the biggest takeaways from every Sunday game in Week 17 and what they mean for each team going forward.

Cowboys: Injuries have certainly contributed in a big way, but the most disappointing part about this bad Cowboys team might be Mike Zimmer's defense. The loss to the Eagles on Sunday was the third time a team has dropped 40 points or more on Dallas, and the sixth time a team has scored at least 30. The Cowboys' front line in particular has been bad, which is why they're one of the worst teams in the NFL at stopping the run. But no sacks with the Eagles playing Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee at quarterback? Granted, the Eagles' offensive line is one of the best, but Dallas needed to get a little pressure on those two with Jalen Hurts out. But consistent pressure, consistent run defense and, really, any consistency at all on defense hasn't been there for the Cowboys this season. One year earlier, under then-defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, they were a top-five defense. But those days are clearly long gone.

Eagles: New offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has really turned Philly's offense into an efficient and dangerous machine, especially compared to the incoherent mess it was late last season. Last year, the Eagles had no identity and sometimes no clue, often passing when they should have run and vice versa. This season, with basically the same cast, they are so good that their two backup quarterbacks, Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee, just combined to go 13-of-19 for 197 and three touchdown passes in a division-clinching rout of the Cowboys. The Eagles are so good at softening up defenses with the pass, spreading the ball around (DeVonta Smith led the way this time with 6 catches, 120 yards and 2 touchdowns) and then taking an opponent's will away with the punishing power and speed of Saquon Barkley (167 rushing yards to put him over 2,000 on the season). With a healthy Jalen Hurts, they can hang with any offense in the league in the playoffs. — Ralph Vacchiano

Saquon Barkley makes history as the ninth player to surpass 2,000 rushing yards

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Colts: Jonathan Taylor is a fantastic player, but his presence in Indianapolis is a reminder that expensive running backs are a luxury, not a necessity. Taylor ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns against the Giants and now has 546 yards and five touchdowns in the past four weeks and 1,254 yards and 10 touchdowns in just 13 games on the season. On the surface, he's living up to the three-year, $42 million contract (with $19 million guaranteed) that he signed last year. But the Colts still missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year because they still don't have a good quarterback. Running backs cannot transform bad teams. They can put good teams over the top, but the Colts are not a good team. Anthony Richardson has not shown he can be a franchise quarterback (or stay healthy), and Indianapolis needs help on the O-line and at receiver. Taylor has two more years with the Colts, but by the time they're good again, he might be gone.

Giants: Um, where exactly has this been the past two years? The most offensively challenged team in football put up its most points since 2015 with Drew Lock at quarterback? Lock threw for four touchdowns and ran for one as the Giants tried their darnedest to hurt their draft position. But the best part about this breakout for New York was the day rookie receiver Malik Nabers had. It's not just that he caught seven passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. It's the moves and speed and breakaway ability he showed on touchdowns of 31 and 59 yards. That explosion was why the Giants drafted him, but it has been missing most of the season as he battled nagging injuries. He reminded everyone why he'll be the best friend of whoever the Giants' quarterback is next year. — Ralph Vacchiano

Jets: In yet another embarrassing performance this season, Aaron Rodgers became the most sacked quarterback in NFL history. The 41-year-old quarterback was sacked four times by the Bills and has been taken down a league-record 568 times in his 20-year NFL career. The historic mark was part of another miserable effort by the Jets, as they were tagged for 16 accepted penalties for 120 yards, the most in a game by New York since 2018. The Jets also had three giveaways that led to 14 points for the Bills. Entering Sunday's contest, Rodgers had been playing good football, with 14 touchdowns and just one interception in his past eight games before the two-interception performance. Backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor mercifully finished out the game in place of Rodgers.

Bills: In perhaps his last chance to make his MVP case — Buffalo locked up the No. 2 seed and has nothing to play for in the final regular-season game — Josh Allen completed passes to eight different receivers in throwing for 182 yards and two passing touchdowns. He added a rushing TD amid chants of "MVP" from the home crowd. Allen now has 41 total touchdowns this season, reaching at least 40 for the fifth time in his career and joining Aaron Rodgers (6) as the only players with at least five seasons with 40 total TDs. Allen's effort helped the Bills close out an undefeated regular season at home for the first time since 1990. In the race for MVP, the fact that Allen's Bills (13-3) hold a two-game advantage over Lamar Jackson's Baltimore Ravens (11-5) should count for something. – Eric D. Williams

Titans: The Titans aren't completely devoid of talent that they can build around. In what's been a bleak and disappointing season on multiple fronts, Tennessee can find optimism in players like second-year running back Tyjae Spears, who had 103 scrimmage yards — including 20 carries for 95 yards — in his second career start Sunday before exiting with a possible concussion. Defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat, left tackle JC Latham, cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. and left guard Peter Skoronski are other building blocks. The Titans don't have nearly enough young, promising players to envision a future of sustained success to this point, but they definitely have the start of a foundation. It's paramount for them to nail the 2025 draft class, including their potential quarterback of the future at or near the top of the first round.

Jaguars: Brian Thomas Jr. gives the Jaguars a reason to hope. On Sunday, he became the fourth rookie in league history with 1,100 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns (the others: Randy Moss, Ja'Marr Chase and Odell Beckham Jr.). The former LSU star has been Jacksonville's best player all season, and still seems to be getting better by the week. These Jaguars are barreling toward big changes this offseason, with possible pink slips coming for coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke. But whoever is running the show next year will find comfort knowing they have a franchise talent in Thomas, the kind of receiver who could get Trevor Lawrence back on track next season (when he's healthy), potentially justifying the five-year, $275 million investment in him this past summer. — Ben Arthur

Panthers: For as bad as things went for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, there's no denying that quarterback Bryce Young looks light years ahead of where he was to start the season. Even when the play breaks down, Young doesn't look quite as frantic. He makes plays with his legs or coolly throws the ball away. He isn't getting a ton of help from his receivers not named Adam Thielen, as there were multiple drops in the game against Tampa. Young also ran into a motivated Buccaneers pass rush that made life a lot harder. Despite all that, the second-year QB took care of the football. If I'm a Carolina fan looking ahead, I'm encouraged by what the future holds — for Young in particular.

Bucs: The Buccaneers did exactly what they needed to do and then some against Carolina. It's a shame they don't control their postseason fate due to getting swept by the Atlanta Falcons, but quarterback Baker Mayfield was dealing against the Panthers at home on Sunday. He threw for 359 yards and five touchdowns and didn't even finish the game, getting pulled halfway through the fourth quarter with the Bucs up 48-14. Fan-favorite rookie running back Bucky Irving went over 1,000 yards on the season with a 113-yard performance. Wide receiver Mike Evans, with 97 yards and two touchdowns, inched closer to his 11th straight 1,000-yard receiving season. The Bucs now await the result of Falcons-Commanders Sunday night to see if they can clinch the division with a win in Week 18 against New Orleans. — Carmen Vitali

Raiders: The Raiders have picked a funny time of the year to finally turn it on. With Sunday's victory over the Saints — in which Brock Bowers broke Mike Ditka's record for most receiving yards by a rookie tight end in NFL history — they've now won back-to-back games for the first time this season. In the process, they've taken themselves out of the No. 1 pick conversation amid their obvious need for a quarterback. Now pegged to select eighth with the late afternoon games in Week 17 still underway, according to Tankathon, Las Vegas should be game planning for the non-quarterback route in the first round at this point. It's why Boise State superstar Ashton Jeanty could be an interesting name to watch for the franchise. The Raiders entered Week 17 dead last in rushing yards per game after all, and there's been a renaissance in the appreciation of running backs this season.

Saints: New Orleans is shaping up to be the team that takes the first quarterback this spring not named Sheduer Sanders or Cam Ward. With Sunday's loss dropping them to 5-11, the Saints are a bad team — just not bad enough to get one of the best two quarterbacks in what's believed to be a weak class for the position. What we know about the Saints is that Derek Carr is not the long-term answer for the franchise. And rookie Spencer Rattler, who's been given the chance to start with Carr sidelined, has not flashed much hope. With the Saints set to hire a new coach, whoever comes in may have to mold a young quarterback who's the best of the rest. Jalen Milroe and Quinn Ewers could be viewed as top options. — Ben Arthur

Dolphins: The Dolphins absolutely cannot release Calais Campbell. But I wish they could. The 38-year-old defensive end requested that Miami release him if the Dolphins lost to the Browns on Sunday. But Miami won and improved its chances of making the postseason to 29%. So the Dolphins will retain Campbell. That means he won't be able to join a contender after Week 18, when, most likely, Miami's season ends. (He would go to waivers, and, if claimed, would not be able to join the team until after the Super Bowl.) It's a Catch-22, where it's the right thing for Campbell to release him and allow him to make a Super Bowl run with the Lions or Vikings. But it's the right thing for the Dolphins to keep him in the off chance that they actually make the playoffs. So Campbell's last game could be a potentially meaningless Week 18 matchup between the Dolphins and Jets. The NFL can be cruel.

Browns: At least Cleveland still has Jerry Jeudy? And Myles Garrett? There is almost nothing to like about how this team is constructed, even after the Browns renegotiated the terms of Deshaun Watson's deal. If anything, that's worse, because it indicates that they'll go back to him as QB1 at the start of next season. So it's bleak. This game was bad — the Browns couldn't score and couldn't stop Dolphins backup QB Snoop Huntley. And looking at the big picture, it looks worse, because they're burdened with Watson's contract and poor play. How can they expect to get better? (Hint: They can't.) So that's why, for the sake of Browns fans, we should probably just focus on Jeudy, who had 12 catches for 94 yards, and Garrett, who had two sacks and three tackles for loss. They're really good players. And if you can watch just those two — and nothing else — maybe you'll find a tiny glimpse of happiness. — Henry McKenna

Packers: Stop me if you've heard this before: The Minnesota Vikings survive a late surge by the Green Bay Packers in a measuring-stick game. The Packers, despite having 11 wins, weren't in contention for the NFC North. They had already locked up a playoff spot. The motivation to win on the road in Minnesota was to see how they stacked up and maybe gain some confidence going into the playoffs. If that was the goal, the Packers very well may have achieved it despite the loss. Even though they struggled early and headed into the fourth quarter down 27-10, Jordan Love and the Packers fought back. They pulled to within two points of the Vikings in the last six minutes of the game but couldn't quite close them out. That in and of itself should be encouraging.

Green Bay also did a great job taking away the usual suspects for the Vikings most of the game. Justin Jefferson had just 13 receiving yards at halftime. Running back Aaron Jones was held in check by his former team. Instead, it was guys like Jalen Nailor and Cam Akers getting into the end zone for Minnesota. Nailor caught all five of the targets thrown his way. Akers closed the game out with a third-down catch that got the Vikings into victory formation.

Vikings: I'm always going to root for maximum chaos and now, a Lions victory on Monday over the 49ers would set the stage for an epic Week 18 battle between Minnesota and Detroit to win the toughest division in football. The 14-win Vikings are far from the fraudulent team of 2022 that finished with double-digit wins and the division title. These Vikings have Sam Darnold, who threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns against a surging Packers pass rush, and more options than they know what to do with offensively. Minnesota also has one of the most aggressive (and successful) defenses, allowing the second-lowest EPA/play in the league this season, per PFF. The Vikings have recorded a takeaway in each of their first 16 games for the first time since 1992, tying the longest streak to begin a season in franchise history.

There's no reason to not take Minnesota as seriously as the collective has taken the Lions this year. The Vikings are every bit as menacing heading into Week 18. — Carmen Vitali

Tom Brady praises Kevin O'Connell in Vikings' 27-25 win over Packers

Falcons: Making his second start of his NFL career on the road with a playoff berth on the line, Michael Penix Jr. showed the moment wasn’t too big for him. After throwing an interception on the opening drive that led to a touchdown for the Commanders, Penix settled into the game, making a handful of big boy throws that led to explosive plays. Penix’s dynamic play included marching the Falcons down the field at the end of the game in regulation, twice converting on fourth down and finding tight end Kyle Pitts with a laser on an in-route for the game-tying touchdown with 1:19 left. Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson did a nice job of leaning on running back Bijan Robinson, who finished with 98 scrimmage yards and two scores, to take pressure off Penix to carry the offense early on. That’s a good blueprint for Penix, at least in the short term, which should keep the Falcons competitive should they somehow sneak into the postseason.

Commanders: Give Jayden Daniels the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Down 10 points at halftime, Daniels took over the game for Washington, leading the Commanders to an impressive overtime victory and clinching a postseason berth. Daniels finished with a game-high 127 rushing yards, breaking Robert Griffin III’s rookie QB rushing record (815) by totaling 864 rushing yards on the season with a game left to play. Daniels helped the Commanders ground out 216 rushing yards against a helpless Atlanta defense as the Commanders scored 27 straight points in the second half and overtime for the victory. And in the much-anticipated battle between first-year quarterbacks in Atlanta’s Penix and Daniels, the LSU product predictably looked like the more polished signal-caller. Daniels finished with 227 passing yards and three touchdown passes. His only blemish was an interception in the first half. – Eric D. Williams

The following writers contributed to this story: Ben Arthur (@benyarthur); Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis); Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano); Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV); Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams).