NFL Week 16 storylines to know

NEW YORK — Dec. 17, 2024 — The Buffalo Bills (11-3) – who defeated Detroit, 48-42, last week – became the fifth team all-time to score 30 points in eight consecutive games within a single season, joining the 2013 Denver Broncos, the 2007 and 2010 New England Patriots, and the 2000 St. Louis Rams.

Only four previous teams – the 1999-2000 St. Louis Rams (14 consecutive games), 2010-11 New England Patriots (13), 2012-13 Denver Broncos (11) and 2006-07 New England Patriots (nine) – have scored at least 30 points in nine consecutive games. No previous team has done so in nine consecutive games in a season.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen has 25 touchdown passes and 11 rushing touchdowns this season and is the first quarterback in NFL history with at least 25 touchdown passes and five rushing touchdowns in five consecutive seasons and five career seasons. Over the past two weeks, he became the first player in NFL history with at least two touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns in consecutive games and the first player all-time with three such games in a season.

This week against New England (Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS), Allen can tie Russell Wilson (75 wins) for the most regular season wins by a quarterback in his first seven seasons in NFL history.

Here’s a look at a few interesting storylines entering Week 16:

• Denver (9-5) at Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) (Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video): The Broncos and Chargers are two of four teams (along with Minnesota and Washington) that missed the postseason in 2023 and enter Week 16 in playoff position. Since 1990 – a streak of 34 consecutive seasons – at least four teams every season have qualified for the playoffs after failing to make the postseason the year before.

  • Denver and the Los Angeles Chargers are tied with Philadelphia for the best scoring defense in the NFL this season, each allowing 17.6 points per game. The Broncos lead the NFL with 49 sacks this season.

  • Denver linebacker Nik Bonitto had a 50-yard fumble-return touchdown in Week 15 and along with his 71-yard interception-return for a touchdown in Week 13 prior to the team’s Week 14 bye, became the first linebacker in NFL history with a 50-yard defensive touchdown in consecutive games.

  • Broncos quarterback Bo Nix leads all rookies with 20 touchdown passes, including three games with at least three touchdown passes. With three touchdown passes on Thursday, Nix can become the seventh rookie quarterback ever with four such games.

  • Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has 20,182 passing yards since entering the NFL in 2020 and joined Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (20,618 passing yards) as the only players with at least 20,000 passing yards in their first five seasons in NFL history. From Weeks 2-14, he recorded 357 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, the fifth-longest such streak in NFL history, trailing only Aaron Rodgers (402 consecutive pass attempts in 2018), Tom Brady (399 in 2022 and 358 from 2010-11) and Jared Goff (383 from 2022-23).

Holiday preparations: Four AFC playoff contenders - the Baltimore Ravens (entering Week 16 as the No. 5 seed in the AFC), Houston Texans (clinched AFC South), Kansas City Chiefs (clinched AFC West) and Pittsburgh Steelers (clinched playoff berth) are set to play on Saturday in Week 16 and participate in a Christmas doubleheader next Wednesday on Netflix.

• Houston (9-5) at Kansas City (13-1) (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, NBC): Last week, the Texans clinched the AFC South division title for the second consecutive season as head coach DeMeco Ryans became the sixth head coach since 2000 to win a division in each of his first two seasons, joining Jim Caldwell, Jim Harbaugh, Matt LaFleur, Sean McVay and Mike Tomlin.

  • In Week 15, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes registered his 87th career regular-season win and surpassed Tom Brady (86 wins) and Russell Wilson (86) for the most wins by a starting quarterback in his first eight seasons in NFL history.

• Pittsburgh (10-4) at Baltimore (9-5) (Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET, FOX): In Week 15, the Steelers clinched a playoff berth for the fourth time in the past five seasons. The Ravens are coming off a 35-14 win at the New York Giants, their league-leading sixth game with at least 35 points scored this season. In Week 11, Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore, 18-16, as kicker Chris Boswell converted all six of his field goal attempts.

  • Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt recorded his 25th career game with at least two sacks last week and became the fifth player with at least 25 such games in his first eight seasons since 1982, when the individual sack became an official statistic, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Reggie White (33 games) and Richard Dent (25) as well as Jared Allen (28) and Simeon Rice (27).

  • Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson completed 21 of 25 pass attempts (84 percent) for 290 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions for a 154.6 passer rating and rushed for 65 yards in the Ravens’ Week 15 win and became the first player in NFL history with five touchdown passes, 50-or-more rushing yards and a completion percentage of 80-or-higher in a regular-season game (Josh Allen reached these marks on Jan. 15, 2022, in the AFC Wild Card round).

  • Jackson ranks second in the NFL with 34 touchdown passes this season and became the first player in NFL history with at least 30 touchdown passes and three-or-fewer interceptions (three) in his team’s first 14 games of a season.

• Vying for the NFC No. 1 seed: Three NFC teams – the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles – have clinched a playoff berth this season and each enter Week 16 with a 12-2 record. The NFC in 2024 marks the second conference since 1970 with three teams having 12-or-more wins entering Week 16, joining the 1984 AFC.

• Detroit (12-2) at Chicago (4-10) (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX): The Lions are the NFL’s only undefeated team on the road this season (6-0) and enter Week 16 with the top scoring offense at 32.8 points per game. In Week 13 on Thanksgiving, the Lions defeated the Bears, 23-20, as Jared Goff connected with Sam LaPorta for two touchdowns.

  • Last week, Goff passed for 494 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions and became the first player in NFL history with four career games with at least 400 passing yards, four touchdown passes and no interceptions. Goff is one of five quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 300 passing yards in 40-or-more games (40) in his first nine career seasons, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (40 games) and Dan Marino (41) as well as Patrick Mahomes (47, in first eight seasons) and Matt Ryan (41).

  • Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams has an active streak of 286 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest streak of pass attempts without an interception by a rookie in NFL history.

• Philadelphia (12-2) at Washington (9-5) (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX): The Eagles have won a franchise-record 10 consecutive games as quarterback Jalen Hurts, who also recorded two separate winning streaks of 11 games from 2021-22 and 2022-23, is the fifth quarterback since 1950 with at least three career winning streaks of 10-or-more games, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers John Elway and Peyton Manning as well as Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

  • Hurts has 14 rushing touchdowns this season and can tie the single-season record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, a mark he and Josh Allen set last season (15 rushing touchdowns each). He can become the first player with 15 rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons since Derrick Henry (with Tennessee) in 2019-20.

  • Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley leads the NFL with a franchise-record 1,688 rushing yards and 1,964 scrimmage yards this season. This week, he can become the fourth non-rookie in NFL history to record 2,000 scrimmage yards in his first season with a team, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk (2,429 scrimmage yards in 1999 with the St. Louis Rams), Priest Holmes (2,169 in 2001 with Kansas City) and Ricky Williams (2,216 in 2002 with Miami).

  • Barkley, who had 198 scrimmage yards and two rushing touchdowns in the Eagles’ Week 11 win against the Commanders, has 1,362 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns (six rushing, four receiving), in 10 career games against Washington. His 136.2 scrimmage yards per game ranks as the third-most by a player against a single opponent (minimum 10 games played) in NFL history, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown (147.9 scrimmage yards per game vs. Philadelphia) and Jamal Lewis (136.7 vs. Cleveland).

  • Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels completed 25 of 31 pass attempts (80.6 percent) for 226 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions for a 118.5 passer rating and added 66 rushing yards in the Commanders’ Week 15 win against New Orleans and became the first rookie and the fifth player overall in NFL history with four games with a completion percentage of 80-or-higher (minimum 20 attempts in each game) in a season, joining Drew Brees (2018), Kirk Cousins (2019), Trevor Lawrence (2022) and Dak Prescott (2023).

  • Daniels has 3,045 passing yards and 656 rushing yards and is the fourth rookie quarterback in NFL history with at least 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards, joining Robert Griffin III (2012), Kyler Murray (2019) and Cam Newton (2011). In Week 16, he can join Griffin III (815 rushing yards in 2012) and Newton (706 in 2011) as the only rookie quarterbacks all-time with 700 rushing yards.

• Minnesota (12-2) at Seattle (8-6) (Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET, FOX): The Vikings, who have won seven consecutive games entering Week 16, clinched a playoff berth for the second time in three seasons under head coach Kevin O’Connell, who can become the third head coach to win 13 games in two of his first three seasons, joining Matt LaFleur and George Seifert.

  • The Vikings and Seahawks both enter Week 16 tied for first place in their divisions after missing the playoffs last year. In each of the past 46 seasons (1977-2023, excluding 1982 when divisional play did not occur), at least one team has won its division the season after missing the playoffs.

  • Minnesota wide receiver Justin Jefferson ranks second in the NFL with 1,243 receiving yards this season and can join Torry Holt and Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss as the only players all-time with at least 1,300 receiving yards in four of their first five career seasons.