ClutchPoints
Every year, the NFL does its best to schedule primetime games dripping with anticipation. Week 16’s Sunday Night Football was slated to be the Cincinnati Bengals squaring off with the Miami Dolphins. To no one’s surprise, that game has been moved out of the primetime slot. In its place, the NFL flexed in the Baltimore Ravens hosting the New England Patriots, per Ari Meirov.
The Patriots are tied with the Denver Broncos atop the AFC at 11-2. Meanwhile, the Ravens, fresh off their home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, are 6-7 and currently out of the playoffs. However, they are just one game back of the Steelers in the AFC North, with another meeting slated to end the regular season in Pittsburgh.
New England has seemingly come out of nowhere this season to be among the league’s best teams. The Patriots made several acquisitions during the offseason, prompting some optimism. But no one could have foreseen this big a leap forward.
Arguably, the biggest reason for the franchise’s resurgence has been the play of second-year quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye is in the NFL MVP conversation, currently ranking second in odds behind Matthew Stafford, per DraftKings. He has completed 71.5 percent of his passes, having thrown for 3,412 yards, 23 touchdowns to just six interceptions.
Sunday night in a couple of weeks, Maye will square off against a two-time NFL MVP in Lamar Jackson. But the agile Jackson is playing some of the worst football of his career this season.
He is completing 63 percent of his passes, with only just over 2,000 passing yards. But the biggest outlier has been his rushing statistics. The former first-round pick has 307 rushing yards, by far the fewest in his NFL career.
The Ravens hope to catch the Steelers to earn a playoff berth. But the Patriots have their sights set on a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout.
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