NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Josh Allen (L), Bill Belichick (C) and Jordan Love (R) will make headlines on the final day of the regular season
NFL 2023 regular season
Dates: 7 September 2023 – 7 January 2024
BBC coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website every Sunday.
Almost anything is still possible heading into the final week of the NFL regular season, with 20 of the 32 teams still in the hunt for the Super Bowl with five play-off spots and four divisional titles all up for grabs.
We are assured of a pulsating ending to a particularly thrilling campaign that saw 109 games won by six points or less – the second-most in NFL history – with 13 of the closing 16 games having direct play-off implications.
And since they are all divisional games it means there are some big rivalries taking place, some huge winner-takes-all matches and some complicated permutations to be figured out.
There’s also the prospect that one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, Bill Belichick, could be taking charge of his final game in New England.
Ravens & 49ers earn top seeds
The San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens have been the standout teams in the NFL this season, and the respective roads to the Super Bowl will go through them, as earning the top seeds means they will play at home throughout the play-offs.
Both sides also get the only first-round byes on offer, so as well as resting their top stars this week, they can kick back and relax next week as the remaining six teams from each conference fight it out in the wildcard round.
Play-off picture as it stands
AFC
Four teams have booked play-off spots with the Ravens, Chiefs and Browns already securing the first, third and fifth seed, while Miami face Buffalo in the game of the week.
One of the Jaguars, Texans and Colts will take fourth spot, with one of the other likely finishing seventh and the other missing out, while the Steelers need a lot to go their way to sneak in.
NFC
San Francisco occupy the Baltimore position as…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-week-18-preview-play-070242278.html
Author : BBC
Publish date : 2024-01-06 07:02:42
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
