Los Angeles Chargers vs. Houston Texans, plus Green Bay Packers vs. Baltimore Ravens fills Saturday’s lineup in Week 17.
The ever-expanding soylent green blob that is today’s NFL empire has again deftly entered your holiday consciousness. It’s pro football’s way of handing out gifts, and by that I mean tempting fans to pony up hard-earned money on teams and late-season matchups that too often lack the requisite football drama promised in board room PowerPoint presentations.
Today, as part of the league’s Candy Cane patch series, we have two matchups that actually hold a lot of promise — at least one that still does, and another that may resemble preseason football on passing downs. First up, the Los Angeles Chargers host the Houston Texans in a game that holds a lot of playoff intrigue, most notably here for Buffalo Bills fans.
Though the Bills have already qualified for postseason play, what’s the move here in terms of rooting interests? You actually want to see the Texans win, as explained by Rachel Auberger in our Bills Week 17 playoff rooting interests guide:
“While heading to Houston in January is definitely not ideal for Josh Allen who has yet to claim a win there, the Chargers are currently one slot ahead of Buffalo in the wild card numbers. If New England wins, moving up to fifth is a nice consolation prize for the Bills in Week 17.”
Honestly, it comes down to what you hope to see happen for Buffalo. Is the one seed important, or is where and which team they play on Super Wild Card Weekend most important? Can you support a Chargers teams wearing Stan Humphries-era threads? Choose your own adventure!
In primetime, the Green Bay Packers host the Baltimore Ravens in a showdown of backup quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson (back contusion) and Jordan Love (concussion protocol) won’t play tonight, which means anything can and actually might happen — including running back Derrick Henry meaningfully involved in the fourth quarter. You know… best players and all that jazz?
As for rooting interests here, it may not be what you expect, per Rachel’s latest guide:
“The Ravens aren’t going to move past the Bills even if they do make it into the playoffs. That means they would have to return to Buffalo in January. But Baltimore doesn’t even have a place in the postseason dance yet anyway and the AFC is quickly running out of tickets to hand out. The goal here is to keep the Ravens from getting a top-third draft pick and, at the same time, ensuring the Texans play for their postseason lives next week by keeping the pressure on Houston.”
Another choose-your-own-adventure moment, truthfully. Does the draft slot next April matter more than seeing the Ravens lose yet another game? Are you also baffled why Baltimore would choose to bench Derrick Henry during the most important point of any game? Conversely, maybe you’re annoyed at all the success the Packers have had since moving on from quarterback Don Majkowski (sorry Don). Or perhaps you’d enjoy seeing the Pack win big without Aaron Rodgers, post cave experience.
If you’re new to Buffalo Rumblings, welcome to open chat. We have fun in these spaces and we enjoy chatting all things football with all walks of football fans. As always, be kind to one another — and in all things… Go Bills!
Category: General Sports
