What becomes of the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes that engender such emotion at our Thanksgiving tables?
They’re scooped into containers to wait in the wings as leftovers, carrying the same potential for anticipation, joy, and possibly even anguish as when they first emerged from the oven.
So it is with the NFL teams that offered a familiar backdrop to Thursday’s feasts. Yes, Green Bay beat Detroit and Dallas edged Kansas City before Cincinnati thumped Baltimore. But who’s to say any of the defeated won’t be paraded for consumption again when the playoffs begin in January — that month when so many aspire to eat far, far less than they did during the holidays?
The Lions, Chiefs, and Ravens aren’t exactly familiar with the “In the Hunt” and “On the Bubble” headers on playoff outlook graphics on TV. Detroit and Kansas City seized the top seeds in the NFC and AFC, respectively, last season, and Baltimore has been a familiar fixture atop the AFC North.
While turnovers and inconsistency haunted the Ravens against the not-yet-mathematically-eliminated Bengals — “We did not play a winning football game,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said — the team had been surging until then.
Thursday’s loss stopped the Ravens’ five-game winning streak and dropped them a half-game behind division-leading Pittsburgh. As in the same Steelers struggling to find their stride ahead of matchups with the Ravens in Baltimore (Week 14) and in Pittsburgh (Week 18).
Detroit’s home loss to Green Bay secured a sweep of the season series for the Packers, significantly denting the Lions’ chances at a third consecutive NFC North crown.
Advancing to the playoffs still is in play, though, with a mix of home improvement and outside help.
The Lions can sweep current division leader Chicago with a Week 18 victory. By then, we’ll know whether the Bears are true contenders, as two games against Green Bay and a visit to San Francisco await after today’s Black Friday game at defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia.
Of course, the banged-up Lions get a gauntlet of their own, with four of their remaining five games against teams with winning records, including three versus division leaders.
“Like I told the team, ‘It’s frustrating, I know. We’ve got a lot to be thankful for even after a loss,’” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “And look, we’ve dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, that’s the bottom line. We are in a little bit of a hole, but that’s just what it is.
“So, all we’ve got to do is worry about cleaning up this and then getting to the next game and finding a way to win the next one in front of us.”
That’s the refrain in Kansas City. The reigning AFC champs fell to 6-6 with a shootout loss in Dallas.
“If we’re gonna make the playoffs,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “we’re gonna have to win ’em all.”
KC also must hope for stumbling among several teams with better footing in the standings. They’ve lost to each of the clubs in current possession of AFC wild-card spots — the Los Angeles Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Buffalo Bills — all by one score.
Houston holds the conference-record tiebreaker over the Chiefs, too, though a Week 14 matchup in Kansas City offers an opportunity to impact that.
“We’ll respond,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said.
Not unlike that extra slice of pumpkin pie. Please excuse me.
