The Week 15 slate of NFL games features just one game between teams with winning records, although several matchups include teams with losing records that are still very much in the postseason hunt. Thanks to the entirely sub-.500 standings in the AFC South and NFC East coming into Week 15, some otherwise poor games were instead the most impactful games of the week.
The game between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans might have been the saddest divisional showdown ever. The two teams entered with matching 6-7 records and were starting backup quarterbacks who weren't even on the rosters until midway through the season. And then once the game got underway, it got sadder when each team had to play a backup backup quarterback. But eventually one team had to come out on top. Behind Brandon Weeden, the Texans were able to get their first win ever in Indianapolis and take hold of the AFC South lead.
Lurking in the AFC South are the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they hurt their chances with a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta broke a six-game losing streak and improved to 7-7.
Entering the week, there was a three-way tie at the top of the NFC East and both Washington and the New York Giants had home games. Things went fairly easy for Washington, which beat Buffalo Bills, while the Giants faced the tall task of becoming the first team to beat the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers started off strong, but the Giants stormed all the way back to tie the game with under two minutes left. But in the end, the Giants couldn't stop Cam Newton, who led the Panthers to field goal range. Graham Gano knocked it through as time expired and Carolina became the fourth team in NFL history to get to 14-0.
The Philadelphia Eagles were the third team in the NFC East tie, and they had a tough matchup of their own against the Arizona Cardinals. While traveling more than 2,000 miles to Philadelphia isn't an easy trip for the Cardinals, the veteran Arizona squad remained excellent in primetime games. The team extended its record in nationally televised primetime games to 5-0.
Before that, the 8-5 Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the 10-3 Denver Broncos and won a thriller. The Cincinnati Bengals looked like a shoo-in to win the AFC North and still own the tiebreakers to make catching them very difficult for the Steelers, but a win was much needed for the Steelers to stay in the middle of the AFC Wild Card race.
For the Broncos, the script is the opposite, and the team is trying to hold off a hot team from snagging the AFC West crown. The Kansas City Chiefs haven't lost since Week 6 and would own the tiebreaker, so beating the Steelers wouldn't just keep the Broncos in the race for a first-round bye, it would also keep a little distance between them and the surging Chiefs.
The Green Bay Packers locked up a playoff spot with a Giants loss earlier in the day, but they also took down the Oakland Raiders in the afternoon, helping their case in the battle for seeding and the NFC North.
Below, we've got all of the Week 15 games, with scores updated throughout the day.
Final scores so far for Sunday (all times ET)
St. Louis Rams 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 (Thursday)
New York Jets 19, Dallas Cowboys 16 (Saturday)
Kansas City Chiefs 34, Baltimore Ravens 14
Houston Texans 16, Indianapolis Colts 10
Atlanta Falcons 23, Jacksonville Jaguars 17
Minnesota Vikings 38, Chicago Bears 17
New England Patriots 33, Tennessee Titans 16
Carolina Panthers 38, New York Giants 35
Washington 35, Buffalo Bills 25
Seattle Seahawks 30, Cleveland Browns 13
Green Bay Packers 30, Oakland Raiders 20
San Diego Chargers 30, Miami Dolphins 14
Cincinnati Bengals 24, San Francisco 49ers 14
Pittsburgh Steelers 34, Denver Broncos 27
Arizona Cardinals 40, Philadelphia Eagles 17
Biggest Moments
Odell Beckham Jr. vs. Josh Norman started off chippy and then got so bad that Beckham could be suspended for this helmet-to-helmet hit on Norman.
Beckham was held without a catch in the first half, but caught the game-tying TD and celebrated Allen Iverson style over Norman. Cam Newton still called OBJ "an unbelievable guy."
Newton ran over a ref -- but it wasn't his fault!
Forget about just giving kids a football after a touchdown. Now Newton wants a fist bump from them in return.
How did Giants fans handle losing to the Panthers? They started fighting in a bathroom stall, of course.
The Ravens are in "F*** It" mode, wearing puke pants and armpunting Hail Marys.
Not much went right for the Titans against the Patriots, but Delanie Walker's tackling-breaking TD was one of them.
Jordan Norwood had a punt return so incredible it made his teammates commit a penalty.
Johnny Manziel trucked a referee who was powerless to move out of the way.
David Johnson channeled BEAST MODE on the best touchdown run of the season.
The Eagles are still using NSFW sideline signals.
Patrick Peterson had a blast trolling the Eagles' crowd.
Major Injuries
T.J. Yates started in place of an injured Brian Hoyer and then exited with what could be an ACL tear against the Colts. He was replaced by Brandon Weeden.
Marcus Mariota left the game with a right knee injury after getting sacked by the Patriots.
LeSean McCoy hurt his knee against Washington. Although he did not return, the injury is not considered to be serious.
Danny Amendola left the game against the Titans with a knee injury and did not return.
Melvin Gordon suffered a knee injury against the Dolphins late in the first half and was unable to return.