Rams rolling toward playoffs. Plus, Week 16 game picks, odds and fantasy advice
Welcome to Week 16 of the 2023 NFL season. How are you spending your Christmas weekend 🎄? Watching football 🏈? So are we 🎉!
About last night: Los Angeles Rams 30, New Orleans Saints 22 — The Rams are above .500 for the first time this season and have put themselves into a good position to make the NFC playoff field. Win out (at New York Giants in Week 17 and at San Francisco 49ers in Week 18), and the Rams are in.
Game of the week: Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers — Merry Christmas, football fans, the NFL gifted us a possible Super Bowl 58 preview to cap its Dec. 25 tripleheader 🎁. The Ravens and 49ers enter Week 16 as the top playoff seeds in their respective conferences. With a trio of MVP candidates in action at Levi's Stadium, perhaps a new favorite will emerge once this colossal Christmas clash is complete. (Festive football ranking: 🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅 out of 5 Santa Clauses. Yes, it's THAT jolly a matchup!)
Sneaky-good game of the week: Dallas Cowboys at Miami Dolphins — This has more "Game of the week" vibes, as Christmas Eve day has a real doozy of a game. The Dolphins seem really sensitive about how they haven't defeated a team with a winning record this season (to be fair, the Dolphins' strength of schedule is a measly .393 😱). They could smash that narrative by winning against the Cowboys, who were embarrassed last week by the Buffalo Bills. The Cowboys face a nasty narrative of their own ... an inability to win on the road against good teams. (Festive football ranking: 🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅 out of 5 Santa Clauses)
Dud of the week: Arizona Cardinals at Chicago Bears — A Cardinals win would actually help the Bears' cause in terms of the 2024 NFL draft on two fronts. (Festive football ranking: 🎅 out of 5 Santa Clauses)
➤ PHOTOS: Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games
NFL Week 16: Pigskin prognostications
- Week 16 predictions: Paste BN Sports' panel of experts picks winners (and final scores!) for this weekend's games. Are there any potential upsets?
- Lorenzo's Locks: Find out why Lorenzo Reyes is bullish on the 49ers in their huge Christmas night matchup against the Ravens 🔒.
- NFL Week 16 betting odds: Which teams are favored this week? If you’re new to sports betting, don’t worry. We have tips for beginners on how to place bets online.
- Power rankings: See how all 32 teams stack up, according to Paste BN Sports' Nate Davis, heading into Week 16. Well, look at that, the top two teams face off this week! 📈
NFL news, notes and analysis
- 10 NFL records that could be broken this season: With three weeks (and 47 league-wide games) to go until the postseason commences, there’s still time for a few records to be broken – including one very significant one that wouldn’t even necessarily carry the asterisk now easily attached to the current 17-game season.
- Dolphins get feisty about media narratives: Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel got testy with the media before the Dolphins host the Cowboys on Christmas Eve.
- Get over yourself, Aaron Rodgers: Despite a season-ending Achilles injury, Rodgers remained fully committed to keeping himself in the spotlight, Nancy Armour writes.
- NFL female general manager could be coming, but only if owners step up: Roger Goodell has said "the talent is there" for an NFL team to make a breakthrough hire of naming a woman as general manager. It's time for owners to shed bias, Jarrett Bell writes.
- Why Tommy DeVito was in hot water: The Giants quarterback quickly became a celebrity for his on-field prowess (and colorful agent), but almost turned into a villain for drama surrounding a New Jersey pizza place 🍕.
- The story behind Taylor Swift's handmade Travis Kelce beanie: During her time as an NFL WAG, Taylor Swift has shown that football fashion never goes out of style.
- Playoff picture: The league's playoff picture is ever-evolving. What just happened? What does it mean? All will be explained and analyzed up to the point when the postseason field is finalized on the evening of Jan. 7.
➤ Longest playoff droughts | Longest playoff win droughts
Fantasy football: Chasing that league title
Your quest for championship glory 🏆 continues in NFL Week 16. Make sure to optimize that lineup for fantasy football holiday cheer 🎅.
- Start 'em and sit 'em players for Week 16: Let’s take a look at some players at each position fantasy managers might be on the fence about having active this week.
- Winners and losers from Week 15: While the Packers welcome running back Aaron Jones back, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson hasn't been great to fantasy owners since his return.
- The driving forces behind fantasy football's skyrocketing popularity: Fantasy football is played by 29 million people. It's part of a fantasy sports empire worth $11 billion. Women are fueling the football boom.
NFL Week 16 schedule 📅
Thursday
Saturday
- Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers, 4:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
- Buffalo Bills at Los Angeles Chargers, 8 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Sunday
- Indianapolis Colts at Atlanta Falcons, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Green Bay Packers at Carolina Panthers, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Washington Commanders at New York Jets, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Seattle Seahawks at Tennessee Titans, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Jacksonville Jaguars at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4:05 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Arizona Cardinals at Chicago Bears, 4:25 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Dallas Cowboys at Miami Dolphins, 4:25 p.m. ET (FOX)
- New England Patriots at Denver Broncos, 8:15 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
Monday
- Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs, 1 p.m. ET (CBS and Nickelodeon)
- New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers, 8:15 p.m. ET (ABC)
Talkin' football 🗣
- It's a Football Podcast: Paste BN Sports NFL insiders Safid Deen and Tyler Dragon dish on the latest hot topics surrounding the league. This week's podcast unwraps a possible Super Bowl preview on Christmas night.
- NFL Facebook group: Run a post route to The Ruling Off the Field 🏈 to engage in friendly debate and conversation with football fans 🏟.
If you enjoy reading 4th & Monday 📰, encourage your football fan friends to subscribe 📱. Follow the megalomaniacally merry writer of this newsletter on Threads @jimreineking 🧵.
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