Five Wide: 2025 Week Fifteen
By Thomas Willoughby
I found that Philip Rivers showing vs the Seattle Seahawks quite strange. Like, on one hand, a 44 year old making his first start 5 years after retiring, in an environment as hostile as Seattle, is super impressive. Like it’s just unbelievable, when you think about it. The sort of story that would have been a Disney film starring Michael Keaton or something in the early 2000s. Real life Hollywood.
On the other hand; are we comfortable with an actual grandfather rolling out in a desperate attempt to keep the Colts’ season from dying? Yes, I know it means his healthcare plan refreshes covering him and his family for another 5 years. But they’ve got the 49ers, Jaguars, and Texans left to play this season. Those defenses are decent! He’s at risk, man!
Anyway, I thought he was largely fine. His arm has clearly lost its zip. That last interception was desperate. But they might win a game or two, you know. Weird situation. Good for him, I guess.
Anyway, here’s the good stuff.
Kitwatch 2025: Part XI
Thursday Night Football gave us the uniform matchup of the millennium. The Atlanta Falcons in their throwback red helmets, black jerseys, and silver pants, vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their white helmet, creamsicle orange jersey, and white pants. With field and stadium art to match. What I appreciated was how much of a throwback it was. Not just to the 70s, but to the mid-2010, when “Color Rush” ruled every Thursday night. Can’t remember the last time I watched a colour on colour match-up. A great moment in time for all involved.
Speaking of “Color Rush”, shout out the Pittsburgh Steelers for pulling their uniforms from that scheme from the back of the wardrobe. Their all black with gold detailing is pretty generic, all told, but works nicely. Simple, yet effective. And they’re now 9-3 in these threads since their 2016 debut.
The Packers went back to all white in a defeat to the Denver Broncos. That was their first defeat in that combination this season. It’s a really nice look, I think. And the New York Giants rolled out their blue throwbacks one final time, in a 29-21 defeat to the Washington Commanders. I stand by what I said about them in week nine. Good, but I prefer the current unis.
Dumbest team in the league
No team makes stupid history as frequently as the Atlanta Falcons. We covered this in Week 11, when they racked up sacks on sacks and lost a record amount of games in that time. Well, guess what? They’re BACK IN THE HISTORY books. And, for the first time, ever, for something sort of good!
🙃 https://t.co/ogOeaDIjcl pic.twitter.com/VRiD5cbJbo
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) December 12, 2025
The Falcons committed 19 penalties to the tune of 125 yards on Thursday night. I’m not saying it was all nonsense, of course there were plenty of valid penalties against them across the night. But the first 3 holding calls against AJ Terrell were nonsense. The Buccaneers offensive line appears to hold the Falcons RAMPANT pass rushers all evening, and not a peep! I’m not saying the fix was in, but I am saying I’d have it looked into.
That’s an extremely embarrassing defeat for the Buccaneers, in every facet. For the Falcons, and Raheem Morris specifically, the result, and the manner of it, can be used as ammunition when he’s campaigning to keep his job once the season closes. Keep writing us into the history books positively, Raheem, and I’ll think about not crashing out if/when you do.
Who even are you
Can someone please explain to me who or what are the Carolina Panthers this season? I don’t think I’ve seen a side swing from incredible to incompetent and back again as violently and as frequently as they have this season. They beat the Rams the other week! Possibly the best team in the NFL! They lost to the Saints this week! One of the worst teams in the NFL!
They’re 7-7, tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC South crown, and still have to play the Bucs twice before the seasons out. Their last seven games, in chronological order, are as follows: 13-6 win @ Jets, 40-9 loss vs Bills, 16-13 win @ Packers, 17-7 loss vs Saints, 30-27 win @ Falcons, 20-9 loss @ 49ers, 31-28 win vs Rams, 20-17 loss @ Saints. They’re winning the games they should be losing! Everything is upside down!
Their final stretch consists of Buccaneers, Seahawks, Buccaneers. Can they do the unthinkable and win the division? Maybe! I’ll tell you this; I’m betting on them beating Seattle. Lock in my week 17 Ballsy Callsy right now. Weird team.
Pausing the dynasty
The big story of the week, as it often is, could be found at Arrowhead Stadium. The Kansas City Chiefs, in a spot they’ve rarely been in, knew that a loss, in conjunction with a series of results going against them, would see them eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 2014. Those results went against them. Deep in the 4th quarter, down 16-13, with the ball in their hands, they looked to drive on the Chargers, and start to dig themselves out of the hole they’d got themselves into across the course of the season.
It couldn’t have gone worse. They’d struggled all day, but Patrick Mahomes suffered a knee injury that would knock him out of the rest of the game. It would be confirmed hours later that he’d torn his ACL and LCL. In stepped Gardner Minshew, answering the question we were all asking, “where’s Gardner Minshew these days?”. Despite getting into field goal range, a pass attempt to Kelce was picked off, ending the Chiefs season there and then. The league’s current dynasty is left to wonder how this happened. For the rest of us, this will be the first year since 1998 that none of Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Michael Penix Jr will be in the playoffs.
The ramifications of this are huge, by the way. You generally allow for 9 months recovery for an ACL, then tack on time for a player to start to feel comfortable and confident in himself again. It’s not out of the quotations that Mahomes could recover in time for the start of next season. But it’s also not reasonable to expect him to be playing even this time next year. A Mahomes-less KC makes them a significantly less attractive destination for prospective signings, and current players on the roster coming to the end of their contracts.
I think that pushed the door wider to a Travis Kelce retirement. I think it also creates the opportunity for an Andy Reid retirement. All of a sudden 2026 is looking like a year of upheaval for Kansas City. We’ll have plenty of talk about the Chiefs in the future, but, for now, I’d like to welcome to the sofa with the rest of us this playoff season. Please don’t drink all our beer.
Wild Wild East
In a week where it was announced that Josh Allen will become a father for the first time (congratulations to him and Hailee Steinfeld, who I know are avid readers of The Touchdown), the Bills QB saw the opportunity to reaffirm himself as the undisputed daddy of the AFC East. That game against the Patriots was a humdinger, man. What a thriller.
I’ll say it was extremely cathartic to see the Pats lose having been 24-7 up at half time. Not so nice when it’s the other way around, is it? But Sunday was all about the resilience of that Bills offense. Allen himself failed to top 200 passing yards, but 3 touchdowns certainly helped the cause. James Cooks’ 107 rushing yards, and 2 rushing TDs, capped off a fantastic second half comeback.
As for the Patriots, I think they’re in an interesting spot. They’re still top of the AFC East, but face the Ravens, Jets and Dolphins over their next 3 games, but I’m still a little skeptical of them being noisy in the post-season. For the Bills to reclaim the division, they need to beat the Browns, Eagles, and Jets, and hope someone (probably the Ravens), does them a favour. That’s an interesting little battle, there. One to keep an eye on.
Features Image Credit: Kevin Sabitus-Getty Images
Thomas Willoughby
NFL ANALYST
THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER