The Falcons have three key offensive players questionable for Sunday’s matchup against the Saints, which could decide the outcome of the NFC South.
Atlanta has listed receiver Drake London (knee), tight end Kyle Pitts (knee), and receiver Darnell Mooney (knee) as questionable for the contest.
However, via Tori McElhaney of the team’s website, head coach Raheem Morris expressed optimism on Friday that all three will be available for the season-ending contest.
London, Pitts, and Mooney were all limited for Friday’s practice.
Additionally, safety DeMarcco Hellams (hamstring) and defensive lineman Sam Roberts (knee/ankle) are questionable. Cornerback Clark Phillips (triceps/illness) and defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus (hamstring) have been ruled out.
Saints Clips
Saints linebacker Demario Davis will wrap up his 14th season with Sunday’s game against the Falcons and he doesn’t need to take any time to figure out if he wants to come back for No. 15.
Davis said on Thursday that this is probably “the earliest that I know I want to continue to play” and added that he’s “looking forward to returning” to the Saints. Davis does not have a contract for 2026, but said that isn’t something causing him any concern right now.
We’re in a game where contracts do matter, but that’s such a small part of your career,” Davis said, via Matthew Paras of NOLA.com. “That happens in a little small window in the offseason, once every other year or every couple years. And when that time gets here — man, in 14 years, that’s always worked itself out. It has always worked itself out. I’ve never had to really negotiate a contract. They’ve always negotiated themselves. So when that time gets here, that’s very low on my concern meter right now. I’m focused on finishing the season strong.”
Davis has started every game this season and has 137 tackles, a half-sack, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery on the season. He said he feels like he’s “accelerating through the finish line” and that should leave him with suitors in the event he and the Saints can’t work out a new deal.
The Falcons placed cornerback Mike Hughes on injured reserve, the team announced on Thursday.
Hughes injured his ankle in the first quarter of the Falcons’ Week 15 win over the Buccaneers. He has missed the Falcons’ past three games.
C.J. Henderson and Cobee Bryant have seen more reps in Hughes’ absence.
In a corresponding move, the Falcons signed edge rusher Khalid Kareem to the 53-player roster from the practice squad. Kareem was elevated from the practice squad for the past two games and for three games this season, so he was out of elevations.
He has five tackles and a pass defensed this season.
The Falcons also announced they signed punter Trenton Gill to the practice squad.
He didn’t get his first start until Week 9. And he has done enough since then to put himself in position to get a trophy next month.
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough has landed firmly as one of the top two candidates for offensive rookie of the year, based on the current betting odds. Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan remains the favorite at -140. Shough has moved to +140.
In 16 games, McMillan has 66 catches for 929 yards and seven touchdowns. He has a pair for 100-yard games. Most recently, McMillan caught one pass for five yards in a 27-10 loss to the Seahawks.
Shough has been coming on strong of late. He completed 22 of 27 passes for 333 yards, two touchdowns, an average per attempt of 12.3 yards, and a passer rating of 142.7 in a 34-26 victory over the Titans.
Also, Shough has won four in a row. Two of his five wins (a franchise record for a rookie quarterback) have come against McMillan’s Panthers.
Shough can essentially defeat the Panthers for a third time on Sunday. If the Bucs beat Carolina on Saturday, a Saints win over the Falcons on Sunday would deliver the NFC South title to Tampa Bay. An Atlanta win would put the Panthers in.
The postseason won’t matter to the voting; the ballots are due next week. The closing arguments from McMillan and Shough in a pair of high-stakes games could end up making a big difference.
The Saints will reportedly be without wide receiver Chris Olave for their Week 18 game against the Falcons.
Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports that a blood clot was discovered in Olave’s lung. The issue was caught quickly and Olave’s long-term outlook is good, but he will not be in the lineup on Sunday.
Olave was listed as out of practice on Wednesday with an illness.
Olave has already set career highs with 100 catches for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He had 27 catches for 382 yards and four touchdowns during the team’s current four-game winning streak and his connection with rookie quarterback Tyler Shough is one reason for the Saints to feel excited about what’s to come in 2026.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 has its list of 15 finalists, including four players who are eligible for the first time this year: Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Frank Gore and Jason Witten.
Four more players advanced to the finalist stage automatically because they reached the Final 7 for the Class of 2025: Willie Anderson, Torry Holt, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri.
The other seven finalists are Jahri Evans, Eli Manning, Terrell Suggs, Reggie Wayne, Kevin Williams, Darren Woodson and Marshal Yanda.
Up to five of those modern era players can be selected to the Class of 2026, and five other candidates have already been put on the Class of 2026 ballot: coach finalist Bill Belichick, contributor finalist Robert Kraft and senior finalists Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood.
A rare NFL three-way is now firmly in play.
With the Falcons beating the Rams on Monday night, 27-24, Saturday’s standalone Buccaneers-Panthers game is no longer a true NFC South championship game.
Yes, Carolina wins the division with a victory in Tampa. If the Bucs win, however, the division won’t be decided until the next day, when the Falcons host the Saints.
If the Buccaneers beat the Panthers on Saturday and the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday, Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Atlanta would each finish 8-9. The ensuring three-team tie would go to the Panthers, based on a 3-1 record in the round robin among the division rivals.
A three-team tie atop a division last happened in 2011, when the Broncos won the AFC West at 8-8. The Chargers and Raiders also finished 8-8, with the Chiefs at 7-9.
A loss by Atlanta on Sunday (following a Tampa win on Saturday) would leave only Carolina and Tampa Bay tied. The two-way tiebreaker goes to the Bucs, based on record against common opponents. That would give Tampa Bay it’s fifth straight division tile and sixth consecutive playoff berth.
For that reason alone, some thought the NFL would schedule Panthers-Bucs and Saints-Falcons for 1:00 p.m. ET (or 4:25 p.m. ET) on Sunday. Instead, the Panthers will face with Buccaneers, with the possibility of a major asterisk being applied to the outcome, if the Bucs snap out of a four-game funk and get the win.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan has a clause in his contract calling for a $600,000 bonus if he records at least nine sacks this season. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Titans, he had 8.5 sacks this season. Which made a replay ruling late in the fourth quarter very lucrative for Jordan.
With the Titans facing fourth-and-10 and 2:09 left in the fourth quarter, Titans quarterback Cam Ward made what at first looked like a spectacular play: As Jordan dove for Ward’s foot and knocked him to the ground, Ward threw the ball to teammate Tyjae Spears, who ran for a first down.
Unfortunately for Ward, the play was checked by the replay assistant, who determined that Ward’s knee touched the ground a split-second before he released the pass to Spears. It was the correct call, but it overturned a brilliant play by Ward.
Fortunately for Jordan, it counted as a sack. And if it wasn’t the biggest sack of his career, in a game between two teams that are long out of playoff contention, it was one of his most lucrative sacks.
The Titans fear cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis tore his Achilles in Sunday’s loss to the Saints, Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report reports.
Achilles’ tears are easily diagnosed, but Armour-Davis will undergo an MRI to confirm.
Armour-Davis was injured on Jeffery Simmons’ sack of Saints quarterback Tyler Shough with 11:10 remaining in the first half. He required a cart to get into the training room.
Armour-Davis played 10 games, starting nine, after arriving off waivers from the Ravens. He totaled 34 tackles and two passes defensed.
He is scheduled to become a free agent in March.
The Panthers added rookie Tetairoa McMillan to their injury report with an illness on Sunday morning, but they won’t have to go without their top wide receiver against the Seahawks.
McMillan is active for their home game against the NFC West frontrunners. The first-round pick has 65 catches for 924 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season.
The Panthers will win the NFC South on Sunday with a win and a Buccaneers loss to the Dolphins. If they don’t get that combination of results, the two teams will okay for the division crown in Week 18.
Seahawks at Panthers
Seahawks: WR Hunter Renfrow, S Demani Richardson, DT Jared Harrison-Hunte, TE James Mitchell, DT Tershawn Wharton
Panthers: QB Jalen Milroe, CB Coby Bryant, LB Jared Ivey, T Charles Cross, G Bryce Cabledue, OL Mason Richman, DL Brandon Pili
Steelers at Browns
Steelers: QB Will Howard, WR Calvin Austin, RB Kaleb Johnson, CB Brandin Echols, CB James Pierre, G Isaac Seumalo, EDGE T.J. Watt, DL Logan Lee
Browns: OL Jeremiah Byers, QB Dillon Gabriel, OL Kendrick Green, CB Myles Harden, DL Sam Kamara, TE David Njoku, WR Jamari Thrash
Patriots at Jets
Patriots: QB Tommy DeVito, WR Kayshon Boutte, OT Marcus Bryant, G Jared Wilson, NT Khyiris Tonga, LB Robert Spillane, LB Harold Landry
Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, OL Marquis Hayes, WR Quentin Skinner, TE Mason Taylor, DL Mazi Smith, S Chris Smith
Saints at Titans
Saints: S Ugo Amadi, WR Mason Tipton, CB Rejzohn Wright, RB Alvin Kamara, G Cesar Ruiz, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, DT Bryan Bresee
Titans: S Jerrick Reed, OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, OL Garrett Dellinger, OL Drew Moss, DL Cam Horsley
Jaguars at Colts
Jaguars: CB Keith Taylor, RB Bhayshul Tuten, G Patrick Mekari, C Robert Hainsey, TE Hunter Long, DL Danny Striggow, DT Maason Smith
Colts: C Tanor Bortolini, RB Tyler Goodson, S Reuben Lowery, S George Odum, OL Dalton Tucker, DL JT Tuimoloau
Buccaneers at Dolphins
Buccaneers: QB Connor Bazelak, WR Sterling Shepard, S Rashad Wisdom, LB John Bullock, OT Tristan Wirfs, EDGE Anthony Nelson
Dolphins: QB Tua Tagovailoa, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, OL Kendall Lamm, C Aaron Brewer, LB Derrick McClendon
Cardinals at Bengals
Cardinals: S Budda Baker, OL Evan Brown, TE Pharaoh Brown, CB Kei’Trel Clark, K Joshua Karty, CB Kalen King, DL PJ Mustipher
Bengals: QB Jake Browning, WR Charlie Jones, CB Josh Newton, S PJ Jules, DE Joseph Ossai, TE Cam Grandy, DT Jordan Jefferson
