{"id":260147,"date":"2025-12-23T08:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T13:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=260147"},"modified":"2025-12-22T17:38:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T22:38:36","slug":"nfl-biggest-sunday-takeaways-for-every-afc-team-in-week-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/12\/23\/nfl-biggest-sunday-takeaways-for-every-afc-team-in-week-16\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL: Biggest Sunday Takeaways for Every AFC Team in Week 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a wacky Week 16, we have entered into the holiday season where we get games almost all weekend now, with games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. A total of 13 quarterbacks played significant snaps for teams that did not have them as the primary starter at the beginning of the season this week. We saw a successful two-point conversion that popped off someone\u2019s head, a player throwing a punch at a fan, and an awesome would-be game-winning touchdown called back by a penalty. Here is your Week 16 AFC wrap-up!<\/p>\n

Week 16 Takeaways from Every AFC Team that Played on Sunday<\/h2>\n

AFC West<\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Denver Broncos<\/strong><\/a> – The Broncos had their 11-game winning streak snapped as they fell to the Jaguars 34-20. Denver still has everything in front of them in terms of a playoff spot, the division crown, and the top overall seed, but things just got a little tighter.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Chargers<\/strong><\/a> – The Chargers had everything going on offense as they beat the Cowboys on the road to win their fourth straight game. The Chargers now sit at 11-4, which is just one game back of the Broncos for the division lead.<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs<\/strong><\/a> – Gardner Minshew tore his ACL midgame as the Chiefs\u2019 season crumbles even further, as they lose to the lowly Titans 26-9.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Raiders<\/strong><\/a> – Ashton Jeanty went nuclear with over 180 total yards and two touchdowns, but the Raiders were edged out by Houston 23-21.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AFC North<\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers<\/strong><\/a> – D.K. Metcalf took a swipe at Lions fan (literally), but the Steelers left Detroit with a huge 29-24 win. Jaylen Warren rushed for 143 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the Steelers one step closer to winning the AFC North.<\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens<\/strong><\/a> – Lamar Jackson left the game right before halftime and did not return. Tyler Huntley almost led the Ravens to victory, but the Patriots scored a go-ahead touchdown with a few minutes left to sink Baltimore and dim their playoff chances.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati Bengals<\/strong><\/a> – The Bengals\u2019 offense took out some frustrations on the Dolphins by putting up 45 points. Chase Brown had three total touchdowns, and Cincy won 45-21.<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns<\/strong><\/a> – The Browns gave the Bills all they could handle, but they came up just short, losing 23-20. Quinshon Judkins suffered a season-ending leg injury in the loss.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AFC East<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buffalo Bills<\/strong><\/a> – Josh Allen did not have a touchdown, but James Cook had two scores and over 100 yards rushing once again. They stave off the Browns to move to 11-4 to stay on the Patriots\u2019 heels in the division.<\/p>\n

New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> – Drake Maye overcame two turnovers to come from behind and beat the Ravens at home on Sunday night. The Patriots clinch a playoff spot and stay atop the AFC East. Maye continues his great season, and there’s plenty of support for him being the MVP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins<\/strong><\/a> – Quinn Ewers got the start for the Dolphins, but it was not a happy debut as he threw two interceptions. Miami gets blown out by the Bengals by a score of 45-21.<\/p>\n

New York Jets<\/strong><\/a> – Brady Cook got the start once again, but he turned it over twice and led the offense to just six points in a blowout loss to the Saints. Jets move to 3-12.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AFC South<\/h3>\n
\"Trevor
Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a><\/strong> – The Jags snap Denver\u2019s 11-game winning streak and stay atop the division by a score of 34-20. Trevor Lawrence stays hot with another four total touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Houston Texans<\/strong><\/a> – The Texans withstand the Raiders late to stay close to the Jags in the division. C.J. Stroud connected with Nico Collins on a deep pass to ice the game.<\/p>\n

Tennessee Titans<\/strong><\/a> – The Titans defeat the Chiefs without Patrick Mahomes and get their third win of the season. Cam Ward threw two touchdowns, and Tony Pollard rushed for over 100 yards once again.<\/p>\n

For more great football analysis, check out DrRoto.com<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a wacky Week 16, we have entered into the holiday season where we get games almost all weekend now, with games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. A total of 13 quarterbacks played significant snaps for teams that did not have them as the primary starter at the beginning of the season this week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5637,"featured_media":260151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[39,2320],"class_list":["post-260147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","tag-afc","tag-nfl-schedule"],"modified_by":"Doug Henderson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260147"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260154,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260147\/revisions\/260154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}