The College Football Playoff bracket is set, with absolutely no controversy at all.
Next comes the first round, with three games to be played on a day when the NFL will be staging a doubleheader.
On Saturday, December 20, Miami will visit Texas A&M at noon ET, in the one game that won’t be up against an NFL contest. Ole Miss will host Tulane at 3:30 p.m. ET, with James Madison visiting Oregon at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the Eagles visit the Commanders at 5:00 p.m. ET, with the Packers facing the Bears at 8:20 p.m. ET.
Last year, a Texans-Chiefs, Steelers-Ravens Saturday doubleheader significantly outperformed the college playoff games.
SMU and Penn State averaged 6.4 million viewers on, while Texans-Chiefs drew 15.5 million viewers. In the evening slot, Clemson-Texas attracted 8.6 million viewers, with 15.4 million watching Steelers-Ravens.
On Sunday, the Bills will play their first game since claiming cornerback Darius Slay on waivers from the Steelers. But Slay didn’t show up after the Bills claimed his contract on waivers.
The Bills placed him on the reserve/did not report list. But that’s a temporary solution. They have a bigger decision to make. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bills are still in the process of figuring out what to do.
The first question is whether Slay will decide to show up. He has yet to make a definitive statement as to whether he’ll play for the Bills, or anyone.
If Slay doesn’t show up, the Bills’ options are to keep him on the reserve list while waiting for him to show up, or to release him.
If released, Slay would go through waivers again. If he clears waivers, Slay would become a free agent.
One big factor will be whether the Bills decide to try to recover a portion of Slay’s $8.745 million signing bonus. If they release him, they’ll lose the ability to chase him for cash they didn’t pay.
There’s another wrinkle to this. There’s a belief in some league circles that Slay wanted to, and still wants to, return to the Eagles. If the Bills don’t release him from the reserve/did not report list, that can’t happen.
Finally, some have speculated that there could be a tampering issue floating around in this. And while tampering happens all the time, the Bills could make a stink with the league office, which could spark an investigation into whether the Eagles and Slay’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, had any communications about Slay’s desire to return to Philly.
The Eagles obviously want him. They made an unsuccessful waivers claim for Slay’s contract.
For now, the Bills hold the cards. They’re in the process of figuring out how to play them.
And they’re clearly not happy. They waived cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram after claiming Slay.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has said several times in recent weeks that he would not make a change involving who calls the team’s offensive plays, but he has reportedly tweaked some of the team’s offensive operations ahead of Monday’s game against the Chargers.
Tim McManus of ESPN.com reports that Sirianni has been more involved in the offensive preparations this week. Sirianni has reportedly been more vocal in offensive meetings and has taken a larger role at the start of those meetings before giving offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo the podium.
After the Black Friday loss to the Bears, Sirianni said the team would evaluate everything about the offense and hinted at changes during a press conference earlier this week without offering any details.
“I always want to answer your guys’ question as much as I can,” Sirianni said, via a transcript from the team. “Obviously, we’re evaluating everything. You don’t have as much time as you have in a normal bye week, but it’s a mini-bye and so everything was being evaluated. We will think about some different things that we want to do all over the place: scheme, everything. I don’t think it benefits us for me to share in particular what that is. Just know this: We want to get this thing fixed more than anybody. We live it, breathe it, and [are] involved in it every waking second of our lives. That’s what we’re working on right now.”
Monday night will bring a chance to see if any of the changes behind the scenes lead to the kind of on-field changes that the team needs to inspire confidence about their long-term outlook this season.
The Eagles will officially be without right tackle Lane Johnson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter on Monday night.
Philadelphia has ruled out Johnson (foot) and Carter (shoulders) after neither player was able to practice this week.
Carter recently underwent surgery to correct issues with each of his shoulders.
Safety Marcus Epps (shoulder) and offensive tackle Myles Hinton (back) are both questionable. They will need to be activated off of injured reserve in order to play on Monday.
Linebacker Zack Baun (hand), receiver Jahan Dotson (toe), receiver Xavier Gipson (shoulder), and outside linebacker Jean Phillips (concussion) are all off the injury report and are set to play.
As the Chargers make their final push for a second straight playoff season, they’ll be getting some help in the form of their 2025 first-round draft pick.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, running back Omarion Hampton is expected to play in the Week 14 Monday night home game against the Eagles.
Hampton suffered an ankle injury in Week 5, against the Commanders. He recently said he suffered a fracture.
He remains on injured reserve; the Chargers will need to move him back to the active roster before he can play.
Hampton rushed for 314 yards on 66 carries in five games with two touchdowns in five games. He also has 135 receiving yards on 20 receptions.
Kimani Vidal, a sixth-round pick in 2024, has served as the primary option, with Hampton out. When Hampton returned to practice, offensive coordinator Greg Roman said both Vidal and Hampton will play, once Hampton is officially back.
“I’m sure you’ll see some kind of one-two punch there,” Roman said at the time. “How it divvies out, we’ll see.”
The 8-4 Chargers face the 8-4 Eagles in a game with playoff implications for both teams. L.A. trails the Broncos by two games in the race for the AFC West crown — and they’re one game away from being on the outside looking in for a wild-card berth.
