December 18, 2025
The 2025 NFL MVP is…
A Showdown Out West
What Happened: Outside of those who stand to make boatloads of money off it, Thursday Night Football is no one’s favorite gridiron product. The players hate the short week as they battle nagging injuries, coaching staffs don’t get the prep time they desire, and too often it feels like us fans are left watching more NFC South action than we’d ever want.
But not tonight! No, tonight is a truly marquee matchup, a divisional rivalry game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks with playoff implications. Let’s just hope those Seattle Color Rush jerseys stay far, far away.
Why You Care: The Seahawks can make a case as the best team in the NFL. In fact, advanced metrics such as DVOA pin them as exactly that. Their issue? They play in the NFC West, so they aren’t even the top team in their own division. Seattle and LA share an 11-3 record, but the Rams’ 21-19 head-to-head win in Week 11 gives them the tiebreaker.
Sean McVay is the only NFC team to clinch a playoff spot so far, but tonight’s game still has huge implications. Per The Athletic’s Playoff Simulator, win tonight and the Rams have a 94% chance to win the NFC West and a 90% chance to earn the top seed in the NFC. A loss drops those odds to 24% and 20% respectively. Massive swings! And for a team relying on some more seasoned veterans (Matthew Stafford, the currently hobbled Davante Adams,) a first-round bye would be a welcome period of rest before their push towards the Super Bowl begins.
As for the Seahawks, they’ve ripped off four straight wins since that loss to LA, powered by a stingy defense that’s allowed just 46 points since that Week 11 loss. It also doesn’t hurt that Jaxon Smith-Njigba (12 games with 90+ receiving yards) has leveled up to become the best wideout in the game, while the Sam Darnold reclamation project hums along at a top-10 pace.
Often, the best thing we can say about Thursday night NFL games is that they exist. Rams - Seahawks tonight will be a compelling watch, not a begrudging one. That’s a win for the fans.
Keep An Eye On...
Rewarded with a $212 million extension after flourishing in head coach Mike McDaniel’s creative, motion-heavy offense in July of 2024, Tua’s struggles to remain healthy have derailed his career to the point where the Dolphins have benched the lefty and will start rookie Quinn Ewers this week instead.
Tagovailoa and McDaniel seemed like a match made in football heaven, with the coach’s innovative rushing attack and the QB’s quick release and anticipation syncing together to create an offense capable of hanging 70 points on a team coached by Sean Payton. But concussions and a concerning lack of ball security this season have relegated Tua to third-string duty.
Not many teams are gonna line up to take on his onerous contact, but Miami will surely look to move on this offseason. With the team’s general manager fired mid-season and the franchise QB benched, maybe Mike McDaniel shouldn’t get too comfy either.
The Knicks Winning The NBA Cup Means…
Nothing, it’s a marketing ploy — 58%
Indifferently to the banner-hanging,
Jimmy