Even though the Steelers already defeated the Colts this year, there’s one implication of Philip Rivers’ return that makes Pittsburgh’s current quarterback smile.
“Well, I’m not the oldest guy in the league — love that,” Aaron Rodgers said Thursday, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.
At 44, Rivers has two years on Rodgers, who turned 42 earlier this month.
“It’s pretty incredible, though,” Rodgers said of Rivers’ return to the Colts this week. “He’s been out for, I believe, four full seasons, plus this part of this season. I was laughing because a couple of my buddies hit me up asking what I would do in that situation, and I said without missing a beat, ‘I’m retired, I’m staying retired.’ So, big credit to Phil.”
Rodgers was drafted a year after Rivers in 2005. The two didn’t have many battles during their time with the Packers and Chargers, given that they played in different conferences. But Rodgers noted he’s long admired Rivers’ game from afar.
“I’ve been a fan of his forever,” Rodgers said. “I’ve known him a little bit over the years. I’ve just loved the way that he competes, plays. Again, not the most gifted player, but cerebral as all get out. Hilarious trash talker. I wish him nothing but the best. I’ve been a fan of his for a while, and I hope he goes out and it’s just like riding a bike and he can jump right back in the saddle — and I expect him to.”
Packers Clips
Packers running back Josh Jacobs missed his second straight practice on Thursday and shared some information about his knee injury when he spoke to reporters later in the day.
Jacobs said that he went for an MRI on Monday to see if there was any structural damage to his knee after experiencing discomfort during last Sunday’s loss to the Bears. The scan came back clear, but Jacobs is still managing the injury.
“It’s just a buildup,” Jacobs said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “I didn’t get hit on it last game. Towards the second half of the game last week, it started to get stiff. Just running around, just casual, swelling. That’s the main thing, really. Just trying to get the fluid out of there.”
There’s been no determination about Jacobs’ status for Sunday’s game against the Broncos. Friday will bring an injury designation, but things could remain up in the air until close to kickoff.
At this point in the week, it’s unclear whether or not the Packers will have their starting running back when they play the Broncos on Sunday.
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters in his press conference that Josh Jacobs probably will not practice on Thursday after he was sidelined for Wednesday’s session with a knee injury.
“He’s been battling through it,” LaFleur said, via Wes Hodkiewicz of the team’s website. “More than likely, he will not be out there today. We’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow and go from there.
“He’s doing everything in his power to be ready to go.”
Jacobs missed the Week 12 win over the Vikings with a knee issue, but has been able to play the last two contests. He has mostly been a limited participant in practice over the last two weeks.
In his second season with Green Bay, Jacobs has rushed for 817 yards with 12 touchdowns and caught 31 passes for 251 yards in 2025. He has not yet rushed for 100 yards in a game this year, but has tallied at least 100 yards from scrimmage in four contests.
The 11-2 Patriots and 11-2 Broncos are tied for the best record in the NFL. They’ve each won 10 games in a row.
And they’re both underdogs at home in Week 15.
The Patriots, who can clinch the AFC East by completing the sweep of the Bills, are 1.5-point underdogs against Buffalo. Coach Mike Vrabel undoubtedly will find a way to use that to poke and prod his players — even if the Bills had nothing to do with the setting of the line.
Ditto for the Broncos. They’re 2.5-point underdogs at home against the Packers. That one is a bit more defensible, since the Broncos have played plenty of games against overmatched foes, with very few truly convincing wins. (Still, coach Sean Payton likely will have a thing or two to say to his players about the betting line.)
The spreads are driven in part by wagering patterns. Bettors still don’t believe in the Patriots and Broncos the way they could, or perhaps should.
In contrast, the gamblers continue to cling to the idea that the 6-7 Chiefs, who are 5.5-point favorites against the 9-4 Chargers, will emerge from their current funk.
However it goes, it adds a little spice to the 15th weekend of regular-season football, with all three games having postseason significance to both teams.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs did not practice on Wednesday.
His knee injury kept him sidelined during the first practice of the week before Sunday’s game against the Broncos.
Jacobs has 206 carries for 817 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games.
He was the only player on the roster who didn’t practice.
Safety Javon Bullard (ankle), defensive lineman Brenton Cox Jr. (groin), defensive lineman Kingsley Enagbare (knee), wide receiver Matthew Golden (wrist), running back MarShawn Lloyd (calf), defensive lineman Collin Oliver (hamstring), wide receiver Jayden Reed (shoulder), defensive lineman Jordon Riley (knee), offensive lineman Zach Tom (back), defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness (foot), linebacker Kristian Welch (concussion), wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) and wide receiver Savion Williams (foot) were limited.
Cox, Lloyd and Oliver are in their 21-day practice windows.
Quarterback Jordan Love (left shoulder) was a full participant.
The NFL has announced two Saturday games for the Week 17 schedule.
On Saturday, December 27, the Texans will play the Chargers at 4:30 p.m. ET on NFL Network. Then the Ravens will play the Packers at 8 p.m. ET on Peacock.
The NFL uses flexible scheduling to put big games in broadcast windows that everyone can watch. The league announced when the schedule came out during the offseason that there would be games on Saturday, December 27, but it did not announce at the time which games would be played on that date. Now we know it’s Texans-Chargers and Ravens-Packers, two games featuring four teams in playoff contention.
The league will also play two games on the final Saturday of the regular season, January 3. Those games may not be announced until six days in advance.
On Sunday, Da Bears constantly held Packers linebacker Micah Parsons, resorting at times to Da Bear Hug.
From the mugging to the choking to the grabbing to the pulling, it’s astounding that Parsons didn’t draw a single holding penalty.
But there’s a much larger problem. Holding is routinely not called by today’s NFL officials. Coincidentally (or not), the NFL wants yards and points and offensive excitement — especially as gamblers who bet the overs (as to the total score and/or the various crack-cocaine prop bets) keep watching the games deep into the fourth quarter to see whether their various wagers will prevail.
Before 1978, offensive linemen couldn’t extend their hands to block. They had to keep their fists together and elbows out, which has been immortalized by the electric football figure in the blocking posture that prevailed before the NFL realized that making it easier to block defensive linemen would open up the passing game.
Still, it has now gotten out of control. Late in the Week 8 game between the Vikings and Chargers, Prime Video played clips of some of left tackle Joe Alt’s plays during his first game back from a high ankle sprain. In every one of them, he was holding the pass rusher, to some degree.
He’s far from alone.
At this point, teams should be coaching their offensive linemen to do it. It’s similar to the Legion of Boom’s approach to covering receivers. Hold them on every single play, because the officials won’t bog the game down by constantly throwing flags.
As to holding, there are times when they never throw a flag.
So, yes, the Packers have a legitimate beef about the failure to call holding by the Bears. But the Packers should respond by telling their blockers to do the same thing to opposing defenders — if they haven’t already.
Put simply, the officials have allowed the sheer volume of holding fouls to overpower the system.
So hold ‘em if you got ‘em. The NFL wants yards and points and bets and viewers. Calling every hold that happens would directly impact each of those valuable factors of modern-day pro football.
The Packers scored 20 combined points in back-to-back losses to the Panthers and Eagles at the start of November and the offensive struggles cast some doubt about whether the team was the kind of contender many imagined them to be at the start of the season.
The last four weeks have sent things in a different direction. They’ve averaged more than 27 points a game while winning four straight, including back-to-back wins over the Lions and Bears that have put them in first place in the NFC North.
During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday, quarterback Jordan Love said that a key to their offensive success is “putting pressure on the defense and taking shots down the field.” That effort has been made easier by wide receiver Christian Watson, who has five touchdowns over the four-game winning streak and is showing signs of being fully back to form after missing the first six games of the season while recovering from a torn ACL.
“The biggest part of our offense is finding those explosive plays,” Love said. “We got some big-time playmakers. Since Christian’s been back and gotten healthy, he’s been stepping up and making some huge plays. . . . Just the speed he has, his ability to create those yards after the catch is something not a lot of guys can do.”
Watson has scored 41- and 51-yard touchdowns in the last two weeks and he’ll try to keep things rolling against one of the league’s best defenses in Denver this week. If that helps the Packers to another win, there aren’t likely to be many remaining doubts about their fitness for a deep playoff run.
The NFL MVP race still has two clear finalists. A third candidate is making a move.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has reclaimed the favorite status from Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Last week, Maye had -135 betting odds, and Stafford was at +135. This week, with Stafford having another strong game against the Cardinals and the Patriots on a bye, Stafford has moved to -180. Maye has fallen to +200.
Coming in at third is Packers quarterback Jordan Love. At +1000, he’s down from +1900 from last week. And if the 9-3-1 Packers keep winning and eventually secure one of the top seeds in the NFC, Love could get plenty of votes in the balloting, which happens within days after the completion of the regular season.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is also lurking, at +1500. And he’s arguably the top overall quarterback, if not player, currently in the league. It will be hard for him to win the MVP award, however, if the Bills don’t win the AFC East.
There’s a big drop after Allen to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, at +7500. One week ago, Prescott had the third position, at +1500.
Bottom line? Don’t sleep on Love. The Packers continue to surge, with four straight wins since losing back-to-back home games. He has 22 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. And he’s getting it done without a high-end receiving corps.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams made a lot of plays in the second half of Sunday’s game against the Packers, but he wound up falling short on the team’s final offensive play.
Williams rolled left on a fourth-and-1 from the Packers’ 14-yard line and tried to hit tight end Cole Kmet in the end zone, but he didn’t get the ball over Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon. Nixon secured it for an interception that sealed the Packers’ 28-21 win and knocked the Bears out of first place in the NFC North.
After the game, Williams said he had multiple receiving options on the play as well as the chance to run for the first down if it was there but identified Kmet as the best choice as things unfolded. He lamented not giving the tight end more of a chance to make a play on the ball.
“Rolled out and saw Cole, I tried to give him a big-boy ball, try and let him go up for it because I ended up seeing [Nixon] start to sprint,” Williams said in his postgame press conference. “I tried to slow them up and kind of give him a chance. In those moments, it’s a got-to-have-it moment. They had a guy trailing me, so I didn’t feel like I could go get it myself. Just got to give Cole a better shot at it. I think next time, just extend him a little bit more and kind of lead him. But, in those moments, you want to put the ball in play and trust your guy or try to have your guy go make a play and just got to give him a better ball.”
Williams threw two touchdown passes in the second half and came up with a pair of big completions on the final drive to get the Bears into scoring position. He was 6-of-14 for 32 yards in the first half, however, and said the team was “shooting ourselves in the foot” while falling behind by 11 points at halftime. Those early struggles helped put them in a do-or-die situation at the end of the game and the Bears can’t afford to miss too many more opportunities if they’re going to finish the season with a playoff berth.
