NFL

Bills can dampen Dolphins playoff hopes as Vikings aiming to improve record vs Colts

By Sports Desk December 16, 2022

The business end of the NFL season is here as the playoff picture starts to emerge.

You can tell things are getting interesting as this weekend sees three Saturday games, meaning football fans can stretch out their weekend viewing even further.

Saturday sees the Minnesota Vikings host the Indianapolis Colts, the Baltimore Ravens visit the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills taking on the Miami Dolphins.

Sunday's action includes a clash in the NFC South where no team seems to want to finish first, but the winner of the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints will leave themselves with an inexplicable chance to do so.

Stats Perform has taken a look at the numbers behind a selection of Week 15's games.

Indianapolis Colts (4-8-1) @ Minnesota Vikings (10-3)

While the Vikings have been having a far better season than the Colts, they are just 7-18-1 all-time in the series between the two (including playoffs). It is the Vikings' worst record against any single opponent.

Indianapolis entered their bye week with a 54-19 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, in which they were outscored by 33 points in the fourth quarter (33-0), the largest point differential in a single fourth quarter in NFL history.

Matt Ryan needs 125 passing yards to reach 3,000 for the 13th consecutive season, which would make him the eighth QB in NFL history to accomplish the feat, joining Philip Rivers as the only two to do so without a Super Bowl victory.

Justin Jefferson set a franchise record with 223 receiving yards on 11 catches against the Detroit Lions. Jefferson is up to 4,516 career receiving yards, the most of anyone in NFL history in a player's first three seasons (next most being Randy Moss with 4,163).

Miami Dolphins (8-5) @ Buffalo Bills (10-3)

The Bills have a five-game winning streak at home against the Dolphins, tied for their longest of all-time. This is just one game shy of matching Buffalo's longest home win streak against a divisional opponent (twice against the Colts and once against the New England Patriots).

The Dolphins lost 23-17 to the Chargers last week, posting a season-low 127 passing yards. Miami's 10 completions in the game were their fewest since Week 13 of 2015 (nine).

Tyreek Hill had a 57-yard fumble return touchdown and 60-yard receiving touchdown last week, and leads the NFL with four plays of 50 or more yards this season. Hill had four total plays of 50 or more yards in his last three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Sean McDermott is 9-2 (.818) in his career as a head coach against the Dolphins, the best record by any head coach with at least eight games against Miami all-time. Only two coaches have 10 or more career wins against Miami (Bill Belichick, 26, and Marv Levy, 15).

Atlanta Falcons (5-8) @ New Orleans Saints (4-9)

The Falcons' three-point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in their last game was Atlanta's 10th game this season decided by six points or fewer, tied for the most in franchise history (also in 1995, 2015 and 2017).

Cordarrelle Patterson is one of three players in NFL history to average 5.0+ yards per rush and 9.0+ yards per reception over his career (minimum 400 rushes and 200 receptions), along with Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell.

The Saints have held their opponent to fewer than 300 net passing yards in 22 consecutive games, tied with the Bengals for the second-longest active streak in the NFL (after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 27).

Chris Olave has had at least 40 receiving yards in all 12 games of his career thus far, the second-longest streak by any NFL player to begin his career in the Super Bowl era behind fellow Saints player Michael Thomas (19).

Elsewhere...

Panthers QB Sam Darnold has won both of his starts this season and has not thrown a pick in either. He has now won seven straight starts dating back to 2020 in games where he has not thrown an interception, tied for the third-longest active streak among QBs (Jimmy Garoppolo 16, Jalen Hurts 13, Joe Burrow 7), and will look to extend it against the Steelers.

The Dallas Cowboys will have to find a way to stop Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence. Since November 1, Lawrence has the highest completion percentage in the NFL among players with at least 100 attempts (71.8). On the season, the Jaguars are 5-2 when he completes at least 70.0 per cent of his passes compared to 0-6 when he does not.

The Las Vegas Raiders will look to bounce back against the New England Patriots after blowing a 13-point lead with fewer than four minutes remaining in their 17-16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week. Over the last 40 seasons, the only other time the team had lost a game it led by 13+ points with four minutes or less remaining was in Week 3 of the 1993 season to the Cleveland Browns. 

Tom Brady was 34-for-55 for 253 yards last week, the 11th time in his career he has attempted at least 55 passes. His teams are now 3-8 in such games, with wins in 2002 against Chicago, 2015 against Buffalo, and Week 9 of this season against the Rams. The Buccaneers (6-7) will hope he can guide them to a much-needed W against the Bengals.

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    Barcelona moved nine points clear at the LaLiga summit following a 3-1 victory over Espanyol in the Catalan derby.

    Dani Olmo scored twice while Raphinha was also on target as Hansi Flick's side stretched their advantage over second-place Real Madrid, whose scheduled showdown with Valencia this weekend was postponed.

    Barca broke the deadlock after just 12 minutes. Olmo latched onto Lamine Yamal's brilliant throughball with the outside of his boot, before beating Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia with a well-taken first-time finish.

    The hosts doubled their lead 11 minutes later with Marc Casado finding Raphinha, who bravely lifted over the advancing Garcia.

    It was 3-0 just after the half-hour mark, as Olmo received Alejandro Balde's pass before drilling home from the edge of the penalty area.

    Espanyol, who saw two goals disallowed following VAR reviews, pulled one back when Javi Puado turned home Carlos Romero's cross in the 63rd minute.

    However, it proved a consolation for the visitors, who suffered their sixth defeat in seven league games. 

    Data Debrief: Free-scoring Barca maintain derby dominance

    Now unbeaten in 27 LaLiga derbies against Espanyol, Barcelona have now scored 40 goals this season; their second-highest tally after the first 12 games of a LaLiga season (42 in 1950-51).

    Following Olmo's brace, which took his tally for the campaign to five, the Blaugrana are the only team with four different players to have scored at least five goals in Europe's top five leagues this term.

    In setting up Raphinha's goal, Casado is the first Barca player from Spain to provide an assist in three successive games in all competitions since at least the 2014-15 season.

  • Zverev soars past Humbert to claim Paris Masters crown Zverev soars past Humbert to claim Paris Masters crown

    Alexander Zverev soared to the Paris Masters title following a commanding 6-2 6-2 victory over home favourite Ugo Humbert in the final.

    The German took just 75 minutes to seal his seventh career ATP Masters triumph, and second silverware of the season.

    Humbert received a raucous reception as he aimed to become the first Frenchman to win this event since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008.

    However, the crowd were silenced when Zverev broke in the third and fifth games on his way to taking the opening set.

    The Italian Open champion also dominated the second set, dropping just five points on serve as he wrapped up a comfortable victory.

    "I knew I had to play like this to win today," Zverev said. "Ugo is an incredible player, but here in Paris, he plays even better than he usually does, and I knew that.

    "Once the crowd gets involved, it's going to be difficult. So, I had to take that away early, and I did, so I'm happy about that."

    Zverev was also delighted to triumph in Paris, and demonstrate the strides he has made since suffering a horrifying ankle injury during his 2022 French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal.

    "It was not 100% guaranteed that I would be back at this level," he added. "So, to win this title here in Paris means the world to me, and I'm sure it means everything to those in my box, because they have done so much for me."

    Data Debrief: Zverev surpasses Medvedev and matches Sinner

    Runner-up to Daniil Medvedev in 2020, Zverev went one better at the Accor Arena four years later, and will be seeded second at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

    The second German to win this event after Boris Becker, he surpassed Medvedev (six) with his seventh ATP Masters crown the outright most of any player born since the format's inception in 1990.

    Zverev also matched world number one Jannik Sinner for the joint-most match wins in ATP Masters events this season with 28.

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    Dominic Solanke scored twice as Tottenham got back to winning ways in the Premier League, coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1.

    Spurs bounced back from last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, with four second-half goals turning the contest completely on its head at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

    Villa had broken the deadlock just after the half-hour mark when Morgan Rogers prodded home after Guglielmo Vicario parried John McGinn's deflected corner straight into his path.

    However, Brennan Johnson levelled within four minutes of the restart, the Wales international turning in Heung-min Son's inviting cross at the far post.

    The hosts then completed the turnaround in the final quarter of an hour, with Solanke rounding off two neat moves in the space of four minutes.

    Substitute James Maddison put some gloss on the scoreline when he curled home a delightful stoppage-time free-kick, as Villa's seven-match unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end.

    Data Debrief: Spurs come from behind once more

    Tottenham fell behind as they conceded the opening goal of a Premier League home game for the 12th time in 2024, more than any other side.

    However, they hit back as Solanke's brace made him the first Spurs player to score at least four goals across his first eight Premier League appearances for the club since Rafael van der Vaart in 2010-11.

    The former Bournemouth forward has now scored more Premier League goals against Unai Emery's Villa than any other player, doing so four times in as many appearances against them.

    Spurs have now won eight home Premier League games in 2024 after conceding the opening goal, matching Newcastle United in 2002 for the joint-most by a single team in a calendar year.

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