Have a night, Kyle Pitts.

The Atlanta Falcons’ fifth-year tight end had the kind of game on ‘Thursday Night Football’ that his team hoped would be a lot more common when it made him the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Pitts set new career-high numbers in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns against the Buccaneers and accomplished something no tight end has since 1996.

According to NFL senior researcher Tony Holzman-Escareno, Pitts is the first tight end to have 150-plus yards and 3-plus touchdowns in a game since Shannon Sharpe did it in Week 6 of that 1996 season.

The Falcons’ tight end finished with 13 more yards on two fewer catches than Sharpe did in his big game 29 years ago.

In the absence of Drake London, who missed his fourth straight game with a PCL sprain, Pitts stepped up in a massive way. Here’s a closer look at his numbers during his career night against the Bucs in Week 15:

Kyle Pitts stats

Pitts is having the best game of his career in the Week 15 edition of ‘Thursday Night Football.’

With just over three minutes to play, here’s how his stats against the Buccaneers look so far:

• Targets: 12
• Receptions: 11
• Receiving yards: 166
• Yards per reception: 15.1
• Touchdowns: 3

Pitts had one touchdown all season coming into tonight’s game. He quadrupled that season total in one evening against the Bucs in Week 15.

AI-assisted summary
• Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye have the same agents and developed their friendship that way.
• Maye is an NFL MVP candidate in his second season and leads the league in completion percentage and passer rating.
• The Patriots and Bills are set to face off on Sunday, Dec. 14. New England can win the AFC East for the first time since 2019.
• Allen recently broke the record for most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and continues to be a dual-threat danger.

To say Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has mentored New England Patriots second-year signal-caller Drake Maye would be a stretch. 

The two share agents through Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the powerhouse representation firm, and the connection has meant they’ve spent plenty of time in the same spaces and even trained alongside each other briefly. The conversations were more about life than football, but “any opportunity I can to help somebody,” Allen said, “I’m willing to do that.” 

Comparing the two, despite the obvious physical similarities – tall, right-handed gunslingers who can be equally deadly with their pocket mobility and legs – makes for good media discussion, Maye said. He’d be the first to say he has a long way to go to rival the 2024 NFL MVP. But Maye soon may match him in the hardware department, as the North Carolina product entered the Patriots’ Week 14 bye as the betting favorite to win the award this season.

“But I’m honored,” Maye said. “If that comparison is there with Josh, I’m honored to be compared to a guy like him at his level. I think I’m a far, long ways away from playing like him, and he’s, like I said, the best in the game. I’m looking forward to another matchup when we meet versus him.” 

That next meeting is Sunday, Dec. 14. A Patriots victory would give head coach Mike Vrabel’s team its first division title since 2019 in his first season at the helm in New England and snap the Bills’ streak of five consecutive AFC East crowns. 

“This is a great stage that we’ve put ourselves on,” Vrabel said. 

Riding a 10-game winning streak, New England is in this position in no small part due to Maye’s breakout campaign. Maye led the league in completion percentage (71.5) and passer rating (111.9) entering Week 14. 

“He’s playing like a veteran quarterback. He’s seeing things extremely well. He plays at a great pace. It looks like things have slowed down for him. Which, again, we hate to see that, right?” Allen said with a smile. “But I’m happy for how well he’s playing because he’s a great human being on top of being a great football player. Just got to find a way to win on Sunday.” 

Allen, who earlier this season broke Cam Newton’s record for most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, is the first player in NFL history with 20 or more passing scores and 10 or more rushing touchdowns in three different seasons (2023-25). He entered the matchup against the Patriots leading all QBs with 487 rushing yards and 12 scores.

His 40-yard touchdown run against the Cincinnati Bengals came with the defense playing man coverage to the degree Allen strolled past a defender who had his back turned to the play. When the Bills faced a third-and-15 later in the game, Allen iced the snowy proceedings with a 17-yard dash for a first down. Suffice to say, Allen’s legs create a myriad of problems for defenses. No defense can call a particular coverage, defense or blitz package against him for the entire game, Vrabel said. 

“I think it’s about picking the opportunities and then when you get an opportunity to make a play on him, you’ve got to do everything that you can to get him on the ground, not jump when he pump-fakes, fall down when he stiff-arms you or anything else,” he said. 

Vrabel said the mantra of “keeping him in the pocket,” often applied to playmaking quarterbacks, is too simple. 

“We can all just stand there, and he’ll do this,” said Vrabel, mimicking Allen’s throwing motion. “You have to just – again, coordinated and relentless is probably the best way to phrase it. Because, again, you say, ‘Well, keep him in the pocket.’ And then guys are just standing there and they’re cautious, and we don’t want to coach that way. We want to make sure that we’re trying to remain aggressive, but certainly sound. When he does extend, then we’re going to need to plaster and have guys be able to come up and help us.’

That is one area of Allen’s game that Maye has certainly paid attention to, is how the Bills quarterback looks off defenders or executes a pump-fake while scrambling to the edge. 

“He’s very down to earth. I like to say I’m down to earth,” Maye said Oct. 1. “He’s a great player. Golly, it’s fun watching him. He makes some plays every week that you’re like, ‘Man, that’s pretty cool.’ 

“Stuff like that, that he’s so good at. From there, he’s great throwing down the field and great at extending plays, moving guys and scramble drill. So, he’s great.”

Maye venerated quarterbacks such as Allen and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers, who he faced in Week 3 (the last time the Pats lost). Facing them as competitors doesn’t completely erase the admiration.

“When you’re playing against these guys that are the best quarterbacks in the league, you want to compete with them,” Maye said. “You want to beat them, and you want to kind of master their level, but at the same time, you still want to take things from them and realize and appreciate what they’re doing for the game, what they’ve done for their careers and the players they are.

“Josh is one of them. He’s fun to watch, and he’s one of the best, if not the best, in the game right now. So, he’s playing at a really high level, and it’s always fun to watch. He’s been good to me, and I appreciate the relationship he’s built with me.” 

Indiana won its first outright Big Ten title since 1945 and was rewarded with seven players on the 2025 USA TODAY Sports Network All-Big Ten team.

Ten players earned unanimous first team All-Big Ten honors, led by Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza (Offensive Player of the Year), Ohio State DB Caleb Downs (Defensive Player of the Year) and Iowa kick returner Kaden Wetjen (Specialist of the Year).

Mendoza also won Big Ten Newcomer of the Year with his coach Curt Cignetti the unanimous pick for Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Here is the rest of the 2025 postseason All-Big Ten team as determined by beat writers who cover the league for USA TODAY Sports Network.

USA TODAY Network All-Big Ten team

* denotes unanimous selection

OFFENSE

• QB: Fernando Mendoza, Indiana*
• RB: Emmett Johnson, Nebraska*
• RB: Kaytron Allen, Penn State*
• WR: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State*
• WR: Makai Lemon, USC
• TE: Kenyon Sadiq, Oregon*
• OL: Carter Smith, Indiana*
• OL: Logan Jones, Iowa
• OL: Beau Stephens, Iowa
• OL: Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon
• OL: Vega Ioane, Penn State

DEFENSE

• DL: Derrick Moore, Michigan
• DL: Caden Curry, Ohio State
• DL: Kayden McDonald, Ohio State
• DL: Tyrique Tucker, Indiana
• LB: Sonny Styles, Ohio State*
• LB: Aiden Fisher, Indiana
• LB: Arvell Reese, Ohio State
• DB: Caleb Downs, Ohio State*
• DB: D’Angelo Ponds, Indiana
• DB: Louis Moore, Indiana
• DB: Dillon Thieneman, Oregon

SPECIALISTS

• K: Nico Radicic, Indiana
• P: Ryan Eckley, Michigan State*
• Returner: Kaden Wetjen, Iowa*

Also receiving first team votes

• WR: Omar Cooper Jr. (Indiana)
• OL: Caleb Tiernan (Northwestern), Iapani Laloulu (Oregon), Gennings Dunker (Iowa), Austin Siereveld (Ohio State), Trevor Lauck (Iowa), Matt Gulbin (Michigan State)
• DL: Gabe Jacas (Illinois), A’mauri Washington (Oregon), Stephen Daley (Indiana)
• LB: Rolijah Hardy (Indiana), Isaiah Jones (Indiana)
• DB: Bishop Fitzgerald (USC), Davison Igbinosun (Ohio State), Zach Lutmer (Iowa), Brandon Finney Jr. (Oregon)
• K: Drew Stevens (Iowa), Sean O’Haire (Maryland), Mateen Baghani (UCLA)

Big Ten postseason award winners

• Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year: QB Fernando Mendoza, Indiana*
• Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year: DB Caleb Downs, Ohio State
• Big Ten Specialist of the Year: KR Kaden Wetjen, Iowa
• Big Ten Coach of the Year: Curt Cignetti, Indiana*
• Big Ten Newcomer of the Year: QB Fernando Mendoza, Indiana

AI-assisted summary
• The Indianapolis Colts signed 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers out of retirement.
• Three teams, the Broncos, Patriots and Rams, can clinch playoff berths in Week 15.
• The Houston Texans are on a five-game winning streak and have the league’s top total defense.
• The Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff chances could drop to just 1% with a loss to the Chargers.

We are in the midst of the stretch run for the NFL season.

Week 15 features some compelling matchups, including the Denver Broncos vs. Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills vs. New England Patriots.

There’s also the improbable return of 44-year-old Philip Rivers who came out of retirement to help the QB-depleted Indianapolis Colts.

Here are my observations for Week 15:

Colts signing Philip Rivers is an act of desperation

There are people around the league who believe Rivers could play as soon as this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks. I’m more pessimistic. It’s hard to imagine a 44-year-old Rivers, who’s five years removed from football, having much success in Indy. Granted, Rivers does know Shane Steichen’s offensive system from their days together with the Chargers. If Rivers does help keep Indy’s season afloat and lead them in the playoffs, it should boost his Hall of Fame candidacy.

The Colts’ final four games are against teams vying for the playoff – Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Colts lose their next four games and finish the year on a seven-game losing streak.

Seattle’s defense has the NFL’s second-highest pressure rate and ranks second in the league in QB hits. Houston leads the NFL in total defense and points allowed.

Good luck, Rivers.

Three teams can finally clinch playoffs in Week 15

The Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams can become the first teams to clinch a playoff spot this week. The 2025 season marks the third time since realignment in 2002 that no playoff berths have been clinched entering Week 15, per NFL Research.

Patriots part of growing worst-to-first trend

Speaking of the Patriots. New England has a chance to win the AFC East division with a win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. It would be the Patriots’ first AFC East title since 2019.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for coach of the year candidate Mike Vrabel, MVP candidate Drake Maye and the Patriots. New England finished last in the division last year. At least one team finished in first place in its division the season after finishing in last or tied for last place in 19 of the past 22 seasons, via NFL Research.

Kyler Murray’s uncertain future in Arizona

However, Murray’s contract will complicate matters if Arizona decides to move on. Murray is owed $36.8 million fully guaranteed in 2026, per Over The Cap. He’ll also earn $19.5 million in guaranteed money in 2027. I can see Murray and the Cardinals choosing an amicable divorce this offseason despite money complications.

Surging Texans

The red-hot Texans are looking like the scariest team in the AFC. Houston’s won five straight games, has the NFL’s top total defense, and ranks No. 1 in points allowed.

The Texans are one game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars for first place in the AFC South. Don’t be surprised if Houston overtakes Jacksonville for first in the division – their playstyle travels. The Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts are the only clubs on Houston’s schedule with a winning record. The Texans can become the fifth team since 1990 to begin 0-3 and make the playoffs.

Optimism despite Eagles’ three-game losing streak

The Eagles are in danger of having another late-season collapse similar to their 2023 meltdown.

There are three reasons to still believe in the Eagles despite their tough stretch. I don’t expect Jalen Hurts to replicate a career-worst five turnovers (four interceptions, one lost fumble) the rest of the way. Hurts had just two interceptions before his nightmare Week 14 performance.  

The Eagles are at their best when they are a run-oriented team. Saquon Barkley had his second 100-yard rushing performance of the season last week.

Lastly, three of Philly’s final four regular-season games are against teams with losing records, including a potential get-right game versus the lowly Las Vegas Raiders at home this week.

Bucs, Panthers fight for NFC South title

Bryce Young hasn’t received enough credit for Carolina’s surprising turnaround. Young’s on pace to have career highs in every major quarterback statistical category. He’s already tossed a single-season best 18 touchdown passes.

The 7-6 Panthers have a chance to take the NFC South lead with a win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Carolina and the 7-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet twice in the final three weeks.

Carolina hasn’t won an NFC South crown since 2015 and hasn’t earned a playoff berth since 2017.

Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff face former teams

It’s poetic the Stafford-led Rams can clinch a playoff spot if they beat the quarterback’s former team this week.

The MVP candidate Stafford leads the NFL in touchdown passes (35) and passer rating (113.1). Stafford and the Rams have lost their two most recent meetings against Goff and the Detroit Lions, including the playoffs.

Chiefs on brink of being eliminated from playoffs

The 6-7 Chiefs are currently 10^th in the AFC playoff race. Kansas City currently has 12% chance to reach the postseason. The Chiefs’ playoff probability drops to just 1% if they lose to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, per Next Gen Stats.

The Chargers beat the Chiefs in Week 1. The last time the Chargers completed a season sweep of the Chiefs was in 2013 when Philip Rivers was the Chargers’ QB. Patrick Mahomes was in high school.

Way-too-early NFL draft observations

If the season ended today, the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans would own the top three picks in the 2026 NFL draft. Only one of those teams – the Raiders, presumably, need a quarterback.

We could see some trades at the top of the draft if the order remains the same.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.

• Kirby Smart would rather smash a nonconference opponent than face another SEC team next season.
• As CFP auto bids are awarded by conference championship games, shouldn’t teams play more than half the conference?
• Kirby Smart ‘very concerned’ about Georgia playing a ninth SEC game in 2026, instead of facing Louisville.

Kirby Smart picked a peculiar time to climb upon the soap box. And soap box is a polite way of saying, Smart started whining about Georgia’s 2026 schedule, a year in advance. Seriously.

Say this for Smart: He’s consistent. A year ago, he roasted commissioner Greg Sankey about Georgia’s 2024 schedule, right after accepting the SEC trophy.

This time, the Bulldogs had just finished off a beatdown of Alabama in the SEC Championship, when a reporter asked Smart about young players stepping up in the victory.

A few seconds into his answer, Smart took a left turn. He wanted to discuss something else. By discuss, I mean lament.

Smart, like some of his SEC coaching peers, aren’t crazy about the conference adding a ninth league game next season.

Swapping in another SEC opponent in place of a nonconference game stands to make the schedule tougher. Coaches work relentlessly to minimize risk. Playing another SEC game heightens risk. Plus, it complicates Smart’s quest to win every game.

“I mean, the coaches in our league are concerned about” adding a ninth SEC game, Smart said. “Very concerned about it. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t speak my piece and say it’s concerning.”

As Smart put it, half of the SEC’s teams lose a conference game. Clearly, he’d prefer to dunk on overmatched nonconference foes.

Well, boo-hoo.

We’re supposed to pity a coach who must play Arkansas in place of Louisville?

More conference games help improve CFP auto bid process

Consider the upside of a ninth SEC game. If the CFP is going to keep guaranteeing bids for the SEC’s champion and its runner-up, wouldn’t it be helpful to know the conference’s two best teams are actually playing for the conference championship?

Officially, CFP rules don’t guarantee a bid for the SEC runner-up, but, let’s be real, that’s happening. The committee proved in recent weeks it has no intention of omitting the SEC’s runner-up, just as it never rejected the SEC’s champion from the four-team bracket.

The committee bent over backward to preserve a spot for Alabama. It went to such farcical lengths as elevating the Tide in the penultimate rankings after an ugly win against Auburn. That provided a rankings cushion, in case Alabama lost the SEC Championship game and Brigham Young won the Big 12 championship.

The SEC deserves multiple bids in a bracket of this size. No argument there. No argument with Alabama qualifying, either. It built a case, courtesy of the Tide’s 10 wins against a stout schedule. But, before the committee hands out a wink-wink auto bid to the loser of the SEC Championship, let’s at least employ additional measures to help ensure the conference’s two best teams are actually playing in Atlanta.

Alabama reached the conference championship by beating seven teams in a 16-team conference.

When I played first base for a three-time E League champion slow-pitch softball team, we faced everybody in the league en route to the titles. No automatic bid to a slow-pitch playoff awaited. Just a free T-shirt.

The E League respected what college football does not: To call yourselves champs (or runners-up), you need to face everyone in the league. (Also, $1 off draft beers if you reused the same plastic cup week after week.)

Conferences have become so bloated teams can’t possibly face everyone in their own league, but at least by adding a ninth SEC game, every team will play more than half the teams in the conference.

Same goes for the ACC, which will add a ninth conference game next season. In the meantime, unranked Duke won the ACC with an 8-5 record.

To capture the crown, the Blue Devils beat seven members of the 17-team league, showing how absurd conference championships have become.

This has made me evolve my thinking on the playoff. I’m now for a playoff with no automatic bids. I’d do away with the Power Four conference championship games and add a 13th regular-season game for everyone.

But, hey, the conference title games make a lot of money, so they endure.

In response to the addition of a ninth SEC game, Georgia countered by canceling future nonconference games against Louisville and NC State. So be it.

If conferences insist on retaining championship games and the CFP attaches automatic bids to them (and, in the SEC’s case, attaches a wink-wink bid to the runner-up), then conferences should maximize efforts to produce the top two teams in the finals. Playing a ninth conference game aids that.

Additional meaningful games will help clear up CFP selections

Also, consider how increasing the number of meaningful games helps the CFP selection committee.

The committee deserves criticism for its dubious machinations, but let’s acknowledge the difficulty the committee faces while sifting through teams with identical records and similar metrics that didn’t play each other, especially when those teams hail from the same conference.

Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, a pair of 10-win teams, didn’t play each other. So, the committee was left to guess that the Sooners deserve a bid and not the Commodores, by virtue of OU’s slightly better strength of schedule and superior record against common opponents.

There’s parity like never before in the SEC. The more games that pit similar-caliber teams against one another, the easier it becomes for the committee to separate the wheat from the chaff, without the need for guesswork.

Georgia deserves its first-round playoff bye and its SEC hardware. No one disputes that. But, when a team plays 25% of its 12-game regular-season schedule against nonconference cupcakes, as Georgia did this year, that’s a recipe for committee guesswork.

No matter the schedule, Smart’s Bulldogs will keep winning, while he stands on the soap box.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.