Things are far from finished with just three weeks remaining on the NFL schedule. Week 15 was an eventful one, but the Baltimore Ravens walked away having done exactly what they needed to do.
There would be no "trap game" for the Ravens. It didn't matter who was under center for the New York Giants in this one. Nothing was going to stop Lamar Jackson from putting his Ravens far enough ahead to where no one wearing blue and white would be able to bail the Giants out of that deficit.
This was one of those days for Lamar where, you just knew, nothing was going to get in his way. Jackson finished with a signature performance, throwing five touchdown passes on just 21 completions (25 attempts, for good measure). It was as efficient a day as we saw across the league, and one of the best performances we've seen from any quarterback all year long.
The Giants showed up and played like, well, the Giants. There were no surprises. Now, the Ravens improve to 9-5 and look forward to seeing what they can make happen (and hope for some luck) over the final three weeks of this regular season.
As the postseason looms, how are the standings looking right now for Baltimore? Where are they seeded and what might change?
Updated AFC Playoff Standings after the Ravens' Week 15 win over the Giants
1. Kansas City Chiefs (13-1)
2. Buffalo Bills (11-3)
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4)
4. Houston Texans (9-5)
5. Baltimore Ravens (9-5)
6. Denver Broncos (9-5)
7. L.A. Chargers (8-6)
8. Indianapolis Colts (6-8)
9. Miami Dolphins (6-8)
10. Cincinnati Bengals (6-8)
*All other teams have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention
Along with the Ravens win, a couple of other games could have laid some future groundwork for moving up or down in the playoff standings for Baltimore. The Steelers fell to Philadelphia, bringing the Ravens within one game of the AFC North lead. It's going to be a race to the finish with just three games remaining.
Meanwhile, the Broncos also won and remain tied, record-wise, with Baltimore. Thanks to a better conference record (5-4 versus 4-4) the Ravens own a tiebreaker and are currently the higher seed.
Over the final three weeks, Baltimore will take on a pair of playoff teams (Houston and Pittsburgh) followed by a season finale against the Cleveland Browns. There could be a whole lot of movement over these final few weeks.