By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Dallas got a scare, and will be without Tyron Smith in Week 17. But that’s the worst of the news.

Smith suffered an MCL sprain after getting cut down at the knee in the Cowboys‘ win over the Lions on Monday night, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. Smith will miss a week, but will be ready in time for the playoffs.

A collective sigh of relief could almost be heard coming from the Cowboys‘ headquarters on Tuesday, as Smith is the crown jewel of the league’s best offensive line. Week 17 is meaningless for Dallas, and with a first-round bye on deck, Smith will have just the right amount of time to get as close to 100 percent as he can before the Cowboys‘ divisional round contest.

The same can’t be said for the Week 17 fate of Luke Kuechly, but as Cam Newton pointed out, it could be for the best for the star linebacker. Kuechly will not play in the Panthers‘ season finale in a campaign that was lost mathematically only recently, but mentally long ago. The linebacker cleared concussion protocol, but hasn’t and will not return during the 2016 season. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Marcus Mariota will have surgery on his broken leg Wednesday in Charlotte, head coach Mike Mularkey said Monday.

Mariota’s operation will include the insertion of a plate in his leg to fix a fractured fibula suffered in a 38-17 loss to the Jaguars. Mariota’s recovery process will be four to five months long, and the Titans hope to have Mariota back in time for organized team activities, Mularkey added.

Mariota’s season comes to a disappointing early finish. The second-year passer had the Titans in playoff contention through Week 16, but his injury sunk their comeback hopes and, with the loss, their postseason aspirations.

Tennessee saw Houston clinch the AFC South with a win on Saturday night. Matt Cassel will quarterback the Titans in Mariota’s place in the final week of the season. Alex Tanney was signed from the practice squad to provide depth.

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Saturday was brutal for injuries to key players. It was the worst for Tyler Lockett.

Lockett had surgery late Saturday night for a broken tibia and fibula in his right leg, coach Pete Carroll said on his weekly radio show on KIRO-AM. During his afternoon news conference, Carroll added that Lockett will remain in the hospital Monday and said he didn’t suffer any ligament damage. Carroll said the team is expecting Lockett to be ready by training camp.

Lockett suffered the injury on a touchdown catch in a three-point loss to the Cardinals on Saturday, and won’t be seeing the field again in 2016, possibly missing substantial time while recovering from the significant injury.

The Seahawks will be without their dangerous returner and speedy wideout, instead turning to a greater reliance on Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and Paul Richardson. It’ll hurt, but it won’t crush Seattle in the ‘Hawks quest for the Super Bowl. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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What a gift Football Santa has left us under the tree.

The Cowboys have everything they could own wrapped up right now, but they don’t get to open those gifts until 2017. The Lions still have some shopping to complete before they can look to the new year, and they’ll have to battle Dallas for the best deals. This is a heated exchange of words that could quickly turn into a full-blown department store skirmish, but it depends on how Dallas approaches it.

By now, you, me and your great uncle Larry who falls asleep three bites into his Christmas ham know what makes the Cowboys: A strong running game, efficient passing game and a bend-but-don’t-break defense. But will Dallas play rookies Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott, with the risk of injury looming, but perhaps a greater risk of rust greeting them, should they be benched? This determines just how great of a game we might get. But there’s much more to keep an eye on. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Much has been made of the admission of the Vikings defensive backs ignoring head coach Mike Zimmer’s defensive game plan, and rightfully so. Players play and coaches coach for a reason, and it isn’t often that a position group completely disregards a coach’s game plan.

Hall of Fame corner Deion Sanders took issue with the collective action of a defensive backs group that includes Terence Newman, a veteran with 14 years of experience, calling the undermining “stupid and ignorant.” Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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With two weeks left in the regular season, the playoff scenarios only deepen. Here’s the scenarios for the rest of Week 16.

NFC

CLINCHED: Dallas Cowboys — playoff berth, NFC East title, first-round playoff bye, home-field advantage in NFC playoffs; Seattle Seahawks — NFC West title; Atlanta Falcons — NFC South title; New York Giants — playoff berth
ELIMINATED: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Arizona, Philadelphia, Carolina, New Orleans, Minnesota.

DETROIT LIONS
Detroit clinches a playoff berth:
1) DET win + TB loss or tie
2) DET tie + TB loss

AFC

CLINCHED: New England Patriots — AFC East title title and first-round bye; Oakland Raiders — playoff berth; Houston Texans — AFC South title; Pittsburgh Steelers — AFC North title; Kansas City Chiefs — playoff berth; Miami Dolphins — playoff berth
ELIMINATED: Cleveland, Jacksonville, NY Jets, San Diego, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Tennessee, Buffalo, Baltimore, Denver

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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We’ve had some close calls with parabolic mic people over the years, and an actual collision with some broken glasses in 2016. But no one has felt the need for the folks standing on the sidelines with what look like inverted plastic shields quite like Rex Ryan.

Hanging onto a lead and their playoff lives, the Bills lined up to defend a Dolphins field goal attempt in the final seconds of regulation. Ryan claims he tried to call a timeout well before the ball was snapped, so much so that he broke down the multi-part process of him experiencing communication breakdown in real time. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Cam Newton hasn’t been quite himself this season.

Whether it has been his up and down play, his dress code fiasco or his beef with officiating, there’s frequently been something to do with the star quarterback in a season that has been one to forget for Carolina. He had one of his worst games Saturday in a loss to Atlanta, completing just 18 of 43 attempts for 198 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

But we can’t overlook the shoulder injury he’s been battling through, which could have been responsible for his afternoon filled with errant passes and below-average play. Ron Rivera thinks that might be the case, saying the injury — which the Panthers have been reluctant to disclose additional information on — “probably” had a negative effect on Newton’s play.

Cam won’t accept that crutch. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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The Rams held a one-touchdown lead Saturday in a game that seemed to drag on forever with little cause for excitement.

Then the fourth quarter arrived, the Niners mounted a furious comeback and Jared Goff had a nice little opportunity to boost his Q Score. A game-sealing interception likely isn’t what he had in mind, though. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Every Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum during the 2016 season has felt like one big party — until Week 16.

The Raiders were again rolling to what appeared to be another win when quarterback and rejuvenating sparkplug Derek Carr went down with a leg injury. He knew it immediately, and it didn’t take long for team doctors to also learn the severity of the injury: a broken fibula, surgery on deck and an indefinite amount of time away from the field. Continue reading →