Amon-Ra St. Brown talks about the challenges of playing in the NFC North
Detroit Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown talks about why the NFC North is so tough and how he can keep pace in a tight divisional battle.
- The Jaguars’ win over the Broncos showed that Jacksonville could be a serious threat in the wide-open AFC playoff field.
- Even with all the turmoil in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin secured his 19th consecutive undefeated game.
- Myles Garrett came close to setting the NFL’s single-season sack record with some questionable assists, but the Browns DE fell short of the mark he set on Sunday.
32 things we learned from Week 16 of the 2025 NFL season:
0. Throughout the AFC’s 16 weeks, a number of division titles were determined. This year’s playoff chase may not be the most compelling in terms of the number of teams still relevant – just 18 of the league’s 32 clubs entering Week 17 – but there’s very little sorted out between the teams participating in seeding games and home playoff games.
1. The number of district titles has been decided through 16 weeks in the NFC. On Saturday, the Philadelphia Eagles achieved the honor by defeating the Washington Commanders, becoming the first team to win back-to-back NFC East titles since Philadelphia did it in 2003 and 2004.
2. The number of points the Seattle Seahawks scored on the final play of Thursday night. They became the first team in history to win with a two-point conversion in overtime. Also, the number of points they got when officials awarded them two points on an earlier conversion, when QB Sam Darnold’s lateral shot was deflected into the end zone and casually picked up by RB Zach Charbonnet.
3. Let’s appreciate the three-pronged accomplishments of New Orleans Saints jack-of-all-trades Taysom Hill. On Sunday, he became the first player in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to pass for more than 1,000 yards, rush for more than 1,000 yards and receive for more than 1,000 yards.
4. The number of losses the AFC South leader Jacksonville Jaguars have suffered this season is do not have Add to that total after they licked the Broncos in the highlands of Denver on Sunday…nearly 30 years after the “small market” Jags did the same to John Elway and company in the postseason.
5. But the Jaguars’ win, not to mention quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s MVP-caliber play over the past four weeks, puts a spotlight on how complete the Jaguars are becoming under first-year coach Liam Cohen. Further withdrawal further reveals the extensive nature of their meeting. Jacksonville, New England, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Buffalo, and maybe even Pittsburgh are showing signs of legitimately making it to the Super Bowl within a year with the Kansas City Chiefs emerging from a power vacuum.
6. There are still a number of AFC teams vying for the conference’s No. 1 seed, and Denver’s loss further widens the Rockies’ path to the outside. The AFC North was the only division excluded from this tracking.
7. Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford became the most quarterbacks in league history to gain 4,000 passing yards in 10 seasons on Thursday night.
8. Stafford now has at least 40 TD passes in three seasons, putting him in an exclusive club with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. No one has ever achieved that four times in a career.
9. Still having fun? Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow had his best game of the season, gaining 309 yards and four TD passes in a 45-21 walkover win over the Miami Dolphins in his first game since benching quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
10. RB Chase Brown scored three TDs for Cincy, becoming the first player this season to reach the end zone three times in a quarter, and Brown’s third.
11. After Arizona Cardinals DL Calais Campbell blocked an extra-point try against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the number of kicks he took in his 18-year career was revealed.
12. It’s an interesting time amid reports that the Dolphins offered up to four first-round picks to acquire Burrow at the top of the 2020 draft.
13. A question arises here. Would you rather have Burrow or Justin Herbert or three other blue-chip players?
14. Despite a slew of injuries, Herbert and the Boltz are on the brink of back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since manager Philip Rivers started pitching for this franchise nearly 20 years ago. Herbert’s resiliency, his team’s toughness and willingness to play physical ball have brought a new brand to Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers, who are suddenly in clear and immediate danger of winning the AFC West…and maybe even more.
15. The Houston Texans took some time to wake up against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, but their defense alone should give them a better chance of making the playoffs than their punchers. Despite starting the season 0-3, Houston has a very good chance of becoming only the sixth team since 1990 to make the playoffs.
16. Congratulations to the New York Giants and Raiders for avoiding a disastrous victory by a narrow margin on Sunday. The two teams will face off in Week 17, potentially determining who gets the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
17. The Broncos still have an inside track to the No. 1 seed in the AFC. But Sunday’s loss was the latest reminder of their tendency to fall into deep holes week after week, and their usually solid defense didn’t allow them to dig out against Jacksonville.
18. The New England Patriots are also back in the Super Bowl bracket, but they need to prove they can win high-stakes games, and they didn’t have much on their schedule this season.
19. Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin reached the number of consecutive undefeated seasons (over his career) after his team defeated the Detroit Lions at Motown on Sunday to improve to 9-6.
20. Pittsburgh’s string of organized .500 or better campaigns now stands at 22, making it the longest streak in NFL history, surpassing the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1985.
twenty one. Tomlin, 53, now has 200 career wins (including postseason games), making him the third-youngest coach to reach that benchmark, joining Curly Lambeau and Don Shula.
twenty two. Number of sacks Browns DE Myles Garrett collected after getting a respectable half-sack from Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen on Sunday. Allen appeared to slip and fall on the play, after which the sack was initially awarded to Cleveland DT Mason Graham, but half of it was retroactively awarded to Garrett. (Wasn’t Brett Favre the official scorer at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland on Sunday?)
twenty three. Garrett needs one more sack, preferably a legitimate sack, to break the league’s single-season record.
twenty four. The Steelers’ defense has gotten some (rightly) criticism this year. But he held Lions running back Jermil Gibbs to a career-low two rushing yards – an average of about a foot per carry?Most impressively.
twenty five. With the Chiefs left by the wayside, this year could be the year the Bills finally make a run for the Lombardi Trophy that has forever eluded the franchise.
26. Having a back like James Cook, who currently leads the NFL in rushing yards with 1,532 through Monday night, certainly helps.
27. Of course, Allen, the league’s reigning MVP, is dealing with a foot injury looming as a major concern. For a team still playing for the AFC East championship, it could be an interesting dilemma of whether to rest their most important player early or hope to somehow get a first-round bye later. Buffalo narrowly won at Cleveland on Sunday, but Allen didn’t score a touchdown (his third of the season) and had just 147 combined passing and rushing yards.
28. What’s wrong with Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense? Mayfield, who fell from first place in the NFC South with Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, has been held to fewer than 200 passing yards in five of his last six starts, even though he has most of his offensive weapons back.
29. Congratulations to the Tennessee Titans for winning their first game in Nashville in nearly 13 months.
30. Music City wasn’t too kind to Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who had just one catch for 6 yards as the team lost at home tight end Collegiate. But as long as Taylor Swift loves this city…
31. Finally, congratulations to Saints DE Cam Jordan, who had two sacks against the New York Jets on Sunday, giving him 130 sacks in his 15-year career. If Jordan does not return to the team in 2026, this game could be his last in the Superdome.
32. It’s a shame the Saints wore such awful uniforms in what could have been Jordan’s final game in the Big Easy.
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