You have to give it up to the NFL sometimes. When it comes to amping up the dramatic stakes, there’s just no one who does it better.
The league — quite literally — flexed its power on December 17 when it announced it was moving the Week 17 game between the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Commanders to Sunday Night Football on NBC/Peacock in place of the previously schedule game between the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns.
The last home game for the Commanders will be one of the most drama-filled the league has seen this season, with more storylines than you can shake a burgundy and gold pom pom at.
Topping the list are playoff implications. The Commanders are currently 9-5 and clinging to the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC. Washington has already clinched its first winning season since 2016 and is trying to make the postseason for the first time since 2020.
Regardless of the outcome of the Commanders’ Week 16 home game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Commanders would have a 99 percent chance of making the playoffs with a win over the Falcons, according to The New York Times playoff simulator.
Atlanta is 7-7 and just 2 games back from the Commanders for the final playoff spot and are a 10-point favorite at home against the New York Giants in Week 16.
Quinn Faces Old Team For First Time as Head Coach
To this point, football fans primarily know first-year Washington head coach Dan Quinn from his time as the head coach of the Falcons from 2015 to 2020 — the Falcons haven’t made the postseason since Quinn led them to back-to-back appearances in 2016 and 2017.
From NFL.com’s Zach Selby: “It will also be the first time Quinn will coach against the Falcons, where he served as their head coach from 2015-20, with the Commanders. Quinn had a 43-42 record with the Falcons and led the team to the Super Bowl in 2016.”
It was Super Bowl LI that ended up defining Quinn’s time in Atlanta after the Falcons blew the largest lead in Super Bowl history, letting the New England Patriots rally from a 28-3 deficit midway through the third quarter to beat the Falcons in overtime.
Cousins Faces Old Team With Season, Career on the Line
Another compelling storyline int he game will be the return of former Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins to Northwest Stadium to face the team that selected him in the fourth round (No. 102 overall) out of Michigan State in the 2012 NFL draft.
Cousins was taken the same year Washington selected quarterback Robert Griffin III at No. 2 overall and eventually took the starting job from Griffin in 2015. Cousins led the Commanders to a playoff appearance in his first season as a starter and back-to-back winning seasons in 2015 and 2016 — the last winning seasons for the Commanders before 2024.
All told, Cousins played 6 seasons for the Commanders before signing a 3-year, $84 million free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings in March 2018. Cousins played 6 seasons with the Vikings before signing a 4-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons in March 2024 — just one month before they drafted quarterback Michael Penix at No. 8 overall.
Cousins has struggled through the worst season of his career in 2024, with a career-high 16 interceptions and 18 touchdown passes— as many touchdown passes as he had in 2024 with the Vikings in just 8 games before he tore his Achilles tendon.
With Penix waiting in the wings, Cousins appears to be playing for his football future down the stretch.
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