NFL Notebook: Titans top 49ers in tale of two halves

Christmas is upon us, and while much of the world will stop and celebrate the holiday, the National Football League will be in full swing this weekend. This includes two games on Christmas Day, and the week’s action started with a down-to-the-wire contest on Thursday night. A recap of that one top this week’s NFL Notebook!

Titans Top 49ers, 20-17

It was a tale of two halves Thursday night in Nashville. San Francisco’s defense held Tennessee scoreless into the third quarter, while the Niners offense staked the visitors to a 10-0 lead. However, the Titans went to work in the second half and tied the game with 10 points of their own in less than two minutes. The teams then traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter before Titans kicker Randy Bullock drilled a 44-yard field goal with nine seconds left.

Saturday Slate Includes Playoff Hopefuls

Many football fans will have NFL games on in the background during Christmas dinner. The Green Bay Packers will host the Cleveland Browns in the early game, while the Indianapolis Colts travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals in the nightcap.

Both sets of teams have combined for 18 wins so far this season, and while the home teams are in solid shape for the playoffs, the road teams are looking for chances to steal wins and solidify postseason footing.

No Christmas Hangover

As of this writing, we’ll have 12 games on tap for the day after Christmas. Several of them are key divisional matchups. Of note, Baltimore goes to Cincinnati to face the Bengals, and the New England Patriots host the Buffalo Bills in a rematch of a defensive struggle earlier this month.

Elsewhere, the Kansas City Chiefs host the Pittsburgh Steelers. While the Chiefs comfortably lead the AFC West, the Steelers are a half-game out of both first place and last place in the ultra-competitive AFC North.

Time To Talk COVID

As usual, we have a list of the most relevant COVID headlines, and unfortunately, there’s a lot to talk about this week.

• Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook tested positive Thursday and will miss Sunday’s home game against the Los Angeles Rams
• The New Orleans Saints will start rookie Ian Book at quarterback this week after Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill both tested positive
• The Baltimore Ravens are down to just 13 defensive players at practice due to injuries and those in the COVID-19 health and safety protocol
• In better news, the Seattle Seahawks have activated wide receiver Tyler Lockett from the COVID list. In addition, the team activated running back Alex Collins earlier in the week