The Week 17 game between the Giants and Raiders is one of the worst matchups of this NFL season, a battle between two teams that are currently 2-11 and tied for the worst record in the NFL.
Which makes it a very big game in determining the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Currently, the Giants would own the first pick in the draft and the Raiders would own the second. The Titans, also 2-11, would pick third. Strength of schedule is the tiebreaker, and the Giants have played an easier schedule than the Raiders, who in turn have played an easier schedule than the Titans.
But that Week 17 game can change things, with the loser having a great chance of being crowned the worst team in the NFL, and therefore getting the first pick in the draft next year.
The current betting odds have Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza as the favorite to go first overall in the 2026 NFL draft.
Giants Clips
In Week 14, all five broadcast windows featured high-stakes games — with three of them happening simultaneously at 1:00 p.m. ET.
In Week 15, that’s not the case.
Still, even with nine teams (nearly a third of the entire league) eliminated from playoff contention, only one game will be truly meaningless: Commanders at Giants. The other 15, starting with Thursday night’s Falcons-Bucs game, have at least one team that has postseason aspirations.
The fact that the Falcons, who are out, upended the Bucs, who are desperately trying to get in, underscores the reality that the teams playing for nothing won’t necessarily be checking one of the few remaining boxes before it’s time to get a much-deserved break from football.
The biggest games mean something for both teams. In Bills-Patriots (1:00 p.m. ET), it’s Buffalo’s last-ditch effort to stay in the division race. And a loss will impact their ability to secure one of the three AFC wild-card berths. The Patriots, in turn, hope to clinch their first AFC East title since 2019 while also continuing to push for the lone AFC first-round bye.
For the 9-4 Chargers and the 6-7 Chiefs, L.A.'s opportunity for its first sweep of the Chiefs since 2013 also includes a chance to ensure that the AFC playoff tree will omit the team that has climbed to the top of it five times in six seasons. A loss by the Chargers will make it harder for them to get a seat at the playoff table.
Packers-Broncos at 4:25 p.m. ET could be a Super Bowl preview. Both teams have been consistently winning of late, and both are trying to hold leads in their respective divisions. The winner will have a much better chance at getting the top seed in their respective conferences.
Lions-Rams (4:25 p.m. ET) has the obvious storyline featuring the quarterbacks who were traded for each other (with the Lions also getting two first-round picks and a third-round pick) nearly five years ago. But the 8-5 Lions are currently on the outside looking in, and the 10-3 Rams have very realistic No. 1 seed aspirations.
In the Sunday night window, it’s a literal elimination game for the 5-8 Vikings — and a de facto go-home proposition for the 6-6-1 Cowboys.
All of the other games have some degree of drama. The 6-7 Ravens, who have lost three in a row, can’t afford to slip two games behind the Steelers with three to play. And the 4-9 Bengals’ thin playoff hopes will evaporate with a loss.
The 8-5 Texans, winners of five in a row, can’t afford a letdown against the 3-10 Cardinals.
The 9-4 Jaguars, who quietly have surged to the top of the AFC South, need to stay focused against the Jets and (checks roster) undrafted rookie quarterback Brady Cook.
The 8-5 Eagles need to prove to the world that they aren’t slipping and sliding out of the NFC East lead against a 3-10 Raiders team with nothing to lose (except their eighth game in a row).
The 8-5 Colts have literally dusted off 44-year-old Philip Rivers in a desperate effort to avoid becoming the sixth team since the merger to start 7-1 or better and miss the playoffs. Good luck with that against the 10-3 Seahawks, who have become dominant in recent weeks.
The 7-6 Panthers, who were upset at home by the 3-10 Saints, have a chance to seize a one-game lead in the NFC South.
The 9-4 49ers, who are emerging from a bye, can’t let themselves get caught flat-footed against the 2-11 Titans, who stunned the Browns with a 31-point outburst in Week 14.
And on Monday night, the 7-6 Steelers won’t have T.J. Watt due to a freak dry-needling incident (words I never would have excepted to type in that order), will be facing a red-hot Dolphins team that has won five in a row — and that has a chance to win another game in the kind of temperatures during which they typically, and literally, freeze.
So, yes, every Week 15 game will be worth watching. Except one. Enjoy it, because that definitely won’t be the case in Weeks 16, 17, and 18.
The Commanders won’t have quarterback Jayden Daniels, who they ruled out earlier this week. Daniels aggravated his left elbow injury in last week’s shutout loss to the Vikings.
Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota might not have running back Chris Rodriguez or wide receiver Deebo Samuel for Sunday’s game against the Giants. Both players are questionable.
Rodriguez (groin) missed Wednesday’s practice before limited work on Thursday and Friday. He has led the team in rushing yards (253) and rushing touchdowns (three) over the past five games.
Jeremy McNichols, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Chase Edmonds are the options behind Rodriguez.
The Commanders added Samuel to the injury report on Friday with an illness that kept him out of practice.
Besides Daniels, the Commanders ruled out cornerback Jonathan Jones (rib) and defensive end Drake Jackson (groin/knee).
Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence popped up on the injury report on Friday with a hamstring injury. The team lists him as questionable to play in Sunday’s game against the Commanders.
Lawrence has 24 tackles, half a sack, an interception and three passes defensed in 13 games this season.
Defensive lineman D.J. Davidson (illness), outside linebacker Joshua Ezeudu (calf), linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (illness/neck/knee), cornerback Art Green (hamstring), linebacker Darius Muasau (ankle) and wide receiver Gunner Olszewski (concussion) also are questionable.
The Giants ruled out wide receiver Beaux Collins (neck/concussion), outside linebacker Victor Dimukeje (knee), cornerback Nic Jones (shoulder), defensive lineman Rakeem Nuñez-Roches Sr. (ankle) and outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder).
Punter Jamie Gillan (left knee) is doubtful.
The Giants signed veteran punter Cameron Johnston earlier this week, and he will handle Gillan’s duties if Gillan can’t play.
Bill Belichick has survived a full season in Chapel Hill. Two of his key assistants have not.
Via Pete Thamel of ESPN.com, Belichick has fired offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer.
Kitchens, the head coach of the Browns in 2019 and the interim Tar Heels coach in 2024, stayed on after Belichick was hired last year. Belichick brought Priefer to UNC after two decades in the NFL, and two years out of football.
Priefer was a member of Kitchens’s staff in Cleveland.
Belichick will now be hiring two new coordinators as he prepares for his second second at UNC. If it doesn’t go much better than his first season, there may not be a third.
And coaching only goes so far. At the college level, it’s about the quality of the players. For 2025, the Tar Heels didn’t have enough good players. They’ll need better players if they want to have a better outcome in 2026.
Thanksgiving weekend concluded with a Monday night game between the Giants and the Patriots. Nielsen has released the official viewership number for the game televised by ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes, and all other windows for the week of December 1 through December 7.
The total audience for Giants-Patriots was 11.346 million viewers.
It’s no surprise that the number was sluggish. For starters, it wasn’t simulcast by ABC, which necessarily carves into the total audience. Then there’s the fact that the Giants are having (another) down year. Also, it was essentially over by halftime.
For the week of December 1 through December 7, the Fox late afternoon game (primarily featuring Bears-Packers) averaged 27.943 million viewers. Sunday Night Football between the Texans and Chiefs finished second, with 21.762 million.
The Giants-Patriots game finished eighth among all sports broadcasts, behind every other NFL window (Sunday afternoon and Thursday night), the Big 10 championship (18.332 million) and the SEC championship (15.747 million).
Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux missed the team’s final three games before their Week 14 bye with a shoulder injury and he wasn’t ready to get back on the field Wednesday.
Thibodeaux remained out of practice as the team began their on-field work ahead of Sunday’s game against the Commanders. Head coach Mike Kafka said at his press conference that Thibodeaux “looks good,” but didn’t indicate when he might be back in the lineup.
Punter Jamie Gillan (left knee), defensive lineman D.J. Davidson (illness), linebacker Victor Dimukeje (knee), cornerback Nic Jones (shoulder), defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches, wide receiver Gunner Olszewski (concussion), and guard Greg Van Roten (shoulder) were also out of practice.
Tight end Theo Johnson (toe) was a limited participant. Cornerback Korie Black (biceps), wide receiver Beaux Collins (neck), offensive lineman Joshua Ezeudu (calf), linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (neck, knee), cornerback Art Green (hamstring), linebacker Darius Muasau (ankle), and running back Tyrone Tracy (hip) were listed as full participants.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is sidelined once again.
After aggravating the same elbow he dislocated earlier this season in his return to action against the Vikings, head coach Dan Quinn announced in his Wednesday press conference that the quarterback has been ruled out for the Week 15 game against the Giants.
That means veteran backup Marcus Mariota is set to start another game.
Quinn noted that Daniels did not suffer structural damage to the elbow.
As for the rest of the season, Quinn noted that the team is not yet talking about shutting Daniels down.
“As far as what decisions are ahead, we haven’t gone down that road,” Quinn said, via JP Finlay of NBC 4 Washington. “He’s working really hard to get back with the guys.”
After winning AP offensive rookie of the year in 2024, Daniels’ 2025 has been marred by injury. He missed a pair of games earlier in the season with a knee injury before missing one game with a hamstring injury. He then came back to play the Week 9 game against Seattle, suffering his dislocated elbow.
That means Daniels has been able to play, at most, three consecutive games this season. He has had to miss time after making each of his last three starts.
In seven games this season, Daniels has completed 60.6 passes for 1,262 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.
Mariota has completed 62.9 percent of his throws for 1,389 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2025.
With NFL teams possibly planning to swoop in on South Bend, Notre Dame is scrambling to keep coach Marcus Freeman.
Here’s the reality: Teams with vacancies are permitted to interview him now (if they haven’t already).
Those teams are the Titans and Giants. There’s no requirement for those teams to announce or even to disclose that they have interviewed Freeman.
That’s the rule as it relates to any coach who currently isn’t working for another NFL team. The mad dash to request permission to interview assistant coaches comes after the regular-season ends. Paperwork is filed with the league office, and the official inquiries inevitably, if not immediately, are leaked to reporters who are employed by the league.
For unemployed coaches and/or current college coaches, there’s no external paper trail.
Whether Freeman would be interested in the Titans or the Giants is unknown. Both teams have been dysfunctional in recent years, with revolving doors and chronic struggles. It could be a hard sell to get Freeman interested in either job.
Freeman also can be discreetly contacted by teams that have yet to fire their current head coaches, with no league rules violated. As the end of the 2025 regular season approaches, teams that know they’ll be making a change will be (or should be) trying to identify all potential candidates. Freeman and/or his representation can be contacted without consequence.
Given that Notre Dame has made clear its desire to keep Freeman, he doesn’t have to rush for the first bad opportunity in the NFL. He can wait, if he wants, for a good, stable job to come upon. The Steelers or the Ravens, for example, would be attractive, since both teams have kept their current coaches for 19 and 18 years, respectively.
And what if Andy Reid retires in the next few years? Who wouldn’t want to coach Patrick Mahomes — even if the rest of the roster currently needs plenty of work?
Regardless, the potential pursuit of Freeman isn’t something that must wait until the regular season ends. It can begin right away, and the teams that are talking to him can keep it as quiet as they choose.
The Giants are signing veteran punter Cameron Johnston to their practice squad, Dan Duggan of TheAthletic.com reports.
Johnston, who entered the NFL in 2017, was most recently with the Bills earlier this season.
The Giants’ regular punter, Jamie Gillan, is dealing with an undisclosed injury, per Duggan, which prompted a workout of several veteran punters.
The Wednesday injury report will provide more insight into Gillan’s injury.
Johnston has remained a free agent since the Bills released him from injured reserve on Nov. 13. A lower-leg injury in Week 4 sidelined him.
Johnston began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent, signing with the Eagles. He played three seasons in Philadelphia and was on the Super Bowl LII team.
In 2021, Johnston signed with the Texans and led the league in punting yards (4,108) and total punts (88). He played two more seasons in Houston before joining the Steelers in 2024.
In three games with the Bills this season, Johnston averaged 44.0 yards per punt with a net of 37.9.
