Which NFL teams are playing on Christmas Day?
The NFL is continuing its new mission to establish a Christmas tradition with a tripleheader of games for the second straight year. Which NFL teams will play on Christmas in 2023?
While Christmas Day has long been a television spotlight for the NBA, the NFL has been trying to muscle in on Christmas over the past few years. 2022 saw the league schedule a tripleheader on Christmas for the first time although a few bad breaks with the teams involved led to only one of the three games having any meaningful playoff implications.
The NFL appears to have learned its lesson and scheduled more aggressively for this year's Christmas triple-header, utilizing some of its biggest name teams to make a mark on the holiday. The result is a triple-header with significant playoff implications for five of the six teams involved and a potential game of the year candidate to cap the week.
What NFL teams are playing on Christmas Day?
The NFL's tripleheader kicks off at 1:00 p.m. ET as the 6-8 Las Vegas Raiders hope to keep their playoff hopes alive against the 9-5 Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. CBS will broadcast this game while airing a kid-centric version on Nickelodeon.
The Chiefs took care of business in Week 15, beating the New England Patriots 27-17 to snap a two-game losing streak, while the Raiders kept their postseason hopes alive by blowing out the Los Angeles Chargers 63-21 in a game that led Los Angeles to clean house. This will be the second meeting of the season between the bitter rivals after Kansas City won 31-17 at Allegiant Stadium in Week 12.
Next up is an NFC East clash between the 5-9 New York Giants and 10-4 Philadelphia Eagles at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX. The Giants saw their late-season surge get halted on Sunday with a 24-6 loss against the New Orleans Saints, reducing their faint playoff hopes to almost non-existent levels, while the Eagles lost their third consecutive game on Monday night as Seattle rallied for a 20-17 victory in the final minute.
This will be the first meeting of the season between the two divisional foes with the rematch scheduled for Week 18 at MetLife Stadium. The rivalry has been incredibly one-sided of late as Philadelphia has won 24 of the last 30 meetings dating back to the 2008 playoffs, including sweeping all three meetings last season to knock the Giants out of the playoffs.
The triple-header will wrap up on Monday Night Football with a spectacular showdown between the 11-3 Baltimore Ravens and 11-3 San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Each team enters on a big winning streak, with the Ravens closing out their fourth straight win against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday night while the 49ers blew out the Arizona Cardinals for a sixth straight win earlier in the day.
These two teams currently sit atop their respective conferences, so whoever wins will have a massive leg up for home-field advantage in the playoffs. This matchup is a true present for football fans as a potential Super Bowl preview, a far cry from last year's Christmas night matchup between a sub-.500 Tampa Bay Buccaneers team and a very bad Arizona Cardinals squad playing without injured quarterback Kyler Murray.
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