Week 16 NFL games to binge, stream and skip
Yahoo Sports’ Matt Harmon runs through the three games that stood out on this week’s schedule - and whether or not he’ll bother to watch them.
Video Transcript
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MATT HARMON: Here are the games you need to binge, stream, and skip on a very special holiday week 16 of the NFL season. Let's start with the final game of the week. Oh, man, what a treat. All I Want for Christmas is a great game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. There are so many exciting angles to go with in this game, perhaps the best defensive play caller in Mike McDonald against the best offensive play caller in Kyle Shanahan right now. Is that Ravens defense enough to spoil the fantasy party, the points bonanza that we could be getting here?
I don't know if anybody can stand up to this 49ers war horse right now with the way Brock Purdy is distributing the football accurately and on time to all of these weapons here. But that Ravens defense very legit. No defense disguises coverages more, uses more coverages on the back end than the Baltimore Ravens. I love what they're doing over there from a defensive perspective. I just don't know if it's going to keep down this 49ers offense.
On the Ravens side of things, they could have an advantage with Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards in the run game against a 49ers defense that has allowed 10.3% of the runs against them to go for 15-plus yards the last three weeks. That is the most in the NFL. So keep an eye on that match-up there.
In our stream category, the game we're streaming, New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles here, look, I don't know if it's important for them to beat the Giants because they should beat the Giants. They should walk all over this Giants defense that plays more man coverage than almost any other team in the NFL. There are other teams higher, but they do employ a ton of man coverage on that side of the ball.
The Eagles and AJ Brown should be able to thrive here. But with the way Jalen Hurts is playing right now, let's just say it, he's not playing well enough for them to be a high caliber Super Bowl contending team. We need a bounce-back performance from Jalen Hurts. I just don't know if beating the Giants is going to be enough for my faith to be fully restored.
And finally, the game you can go ahead and skip, the final game on Christmas Eve, the night game, the island game on Christmas Eve, Patriots-Broncos. This is the time where you can just check in with that uncle you haven't spoke to in a while. You could put the kids to bed. You could watch a Christmas movie with your spouse. You don't need to watch this game. You can catch a recap of it later. I feel like the Broncos should and will bounce-back against a hapless Patriots team. But again, you don't have to watch it happen.
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