Sports

From the moment the NFL released the 2025 schedule, it became immediately clear that Thursday's Chiefs-Cowboys game will be the most-watched regular-season game ever.

The current record came three years ago, on Thanksgiving Day 2022. Then, 42.1 million watched the Cowboys beat the Giants, 28-20. The audience surpassed a Monday night game from 1990 between the 10-1 Giants and 10-1 49ers, which had attracted 41.5 million.

Seven of the nine largest audiences games landed on Thanksgiving. The other happened in 1985, when the Dolphins gave the Bears their only loss of the season on a Monday night in December.

Even if both squads didn't have their postseason backs essentially against the wall, the game between the franchises that fancy themselves "America's Team" was destined to set the record — especially with the new Nielsen system that is operating like reverse Ozempic for audience size.

Here's something else to consider, as the fourth Thursday in November approaches. With the second game of the day destined to finish first, the first game of the day could finish second.

It's a prediction that was made on Monday by John Ourand of Puck, in his Varsity newsletter. The underpinnings: it's a consequential game between two currently popular teams, the new Nielsen bump, and the simulcast on Tubi, which added 13.6 million viewers to Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl LIX.

With the Lions ascending in recent years, the early game has shifted from captive audience to appointment viewing. This year, it's must-see TV. And it's not crazy to think that 42.1 million will be beaten by both of the Thanksgiving afternoon games.

Throughout his career, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been able to make plays with his legs like no other quarterback in NFL history. But not this year.

Although Jackson's passing stats are as good as ever this season, he has declined significantly in his ability to gain ground running the ball, and to use his mobility to avoid sacks.

Jackson has run the ball just 46 times for 237 yards and one touchdown through eight games this season. He's averaging career lows in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns per game. In fact, totaling seven carries for 11 yards on Sunday against the Jets, Jackson is all the way down to an average of 29.6 rushing yards per game this season. Less than 30 yards rushing per game is unheard of for Jackson; prior to this year, Jackson had never averaged less than 50 rushing yards per start in any season of his career.

Jackson is also struggling to run away from the pass rush. He has been sacked on 11 percent of his dropbacks this season, by far the highest sack percentage in any season of his career. Jackson has already been sacked more times this year, while throwing just 195 passes, than he was all of last year, when he threw a career-high 474 passes.

In the first game of this season, Jackson was moving as he always has: He ran the ball six times for 70 yards and a touchdown against the Bills. Since then, he hasn't gained even 50 yards in any game, and hasn't run for a touchdown.

Jackson missed three games with a hamstring injury and is currently dealing with a toe injury, but the Ravens shook off a 1-5 start to win five games in a row and are now in first place in the AFC North. A healthy and mobile Jackson in the playoffs could make the Ravens a dangerous opponent, but so far this season we haven't seen the Jackson of old.

The Super Bowl champion Eagles' upset loss to the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon shook up the state of the NFC playoff race, among several results that affected both the AFC and NFC playoff scenarios. Here’s how the rest of the playoff picture looks after Week 12:

AFC Playoff Picture

DIVISION LEADERS
1. 1. Patriots (10-2) Lead the AFC East.

2. Broncos (9-2) Lead the AFC West.

3. Colts (8-3) Lead the AFC South, but Sunday's loss to the Chiefs hurts.

4. Ravens (6-5) Own the AFC North tiebreaker over the Steelers thanks to a better division record.

WILD CARDS

5. Chargers (7-4) Own the tiebreaker over the Jaguars and Bills based on a better AFC record.

6. Jaguars (7-4) Own the tiebreaker over the Bills based on a better AFC record.

7. Bills (7-4) Currently own the final AFC playoff spot.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

8. Steelers (6-5) Have the strength of victory tiebreaker over the Texans and the conference record tiebreaker over the Chiefs.

9. Texans (6-5) Own the conference record tiebreaker over the Chiefs.

10. Chiefs (6-5) Got the win they needed against the Colts, but they still have work to do to get back into contention.

11. Dolphins (4-7) Best of the bad teams in the AFC

12. Bengals (3-8) Joe Burrow's injury didn't doom the season as much as an awful defense did.

13. Browns (3-8) Won with Shedeur Sanders' first start.

14. Raiders (2-9) An ugly loss to the Browns.

15. Jets (2-9) Tyrod Taylor is the new starter, but the result was the same.

16. Titans (1-10) Worst team in the NFL.

NFC Playoff Picture

DIVISION LEADERS

1. Rams (9-2) The Super Bowl favorites.

2. Eagles (8-3) Defending champions suffered a bad loss in Dallas.

3. Bears (8-3) Still lead the NFC North.

4. Buccaneers (6-5) Still lead the NFC South.

WILD CARDS
5. Seahawks (8-3) First place in the wild card race.

6. Packers (7-3-1) Half a game behind the Bears.

7. 49ers (8-4) Win on Monday night kept them in wild card position.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
8. Lions (7-4) Got a hard-fought win over the Giants.

9. Panthers (6-6) Loss on Monday night hurt, but they're only half a game behind in the NFC South.

10. Cowboys (5-5-1) Stayed alive with a win over the Eagles.

11. Falcons (4-7) Beat the Saints, but don't have much hope of catching up in the NFC South.

12. Vikings (4-7) Last place in the NFC North.

13. Cardinals (3-8) Lost a tough one to the Jaguars.

14. Commanders (3-8) Perhaps the NFL's most disappointing team.

15. Saints (2-9) A long rebuild ahead.

16. Giants (2-10) Mathematically eliminated.