The Philadelphia Phillies acquired left-handed starter Jesus Luzardo from the Miami Marlins on Sunday.

The team also will receiver minor league catcher Paul McIntosh from the Marlins in exchange for shortstop Starlyn Caba and outfielder Emaarion Boyd.

MLB Pipeline lists Caba as Philadelphia’s No. 4 prospect and Boyd as No. 23.

Luzardo, 27, has a 26-34 career record and a 4.29 ERA in 105 games (89 starts) with the Oakland Athletics (2019-21) and Marlins. in 2024, he was limited to 12 starts due to left elbow tightness and a lumbar stress reaction that ended his season on June 22. He was 3-6 with a 5.00 ERA.

Luzardo, appearing at a Marlins holiday community event, told MLB.com on Tuesday that he’s feeling well.

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‘(I’ve) been able to go through my normal offseason progression: throwing, running, starting to get off the mound,’ Luzardo said. ‘Feeling really good (with my) elbow, back, whole body, and just really gearing up for spring training and eyeing down that opening day to be 100 percent full-go, which for now, everything feels really good, and we are full-go.’

In 2023, he finished 10-10 with a 3.58 ERA in 32 regular-season starts. He struck out 208 batters in 178 2/3 innings.

In Philadelphia, Luzardo could slot into a potentially dominant rotation that projects to include Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez.

Caba, 19, has played 116 games in the low minor leagues for the Phillies and the switch hitter is batting .252 with two homers, 43 RBI, 66 stolen bases, 95 walks and 65 strikeouts.

Last season at High-A Jersey Shore, the 21-year-old Boyd hit .239 with threehomers, 40 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. Some of his numbers fell from 2023, whenhe hit .262 and stole 56 bases at Single-A Clearwater.

McIntosh, 27, has played in 308 career games in the minors. Last season, atDouble-A Pensacola, McIntosh appeared in 117 games and hit .246 with 12 homeruns and 55 RBIs.

Luzardo is under club control for two more seasons. In January, he signed a one-year $5.5 million contract to avoid arbitration. He is arbitration-eligible again in 2025.

A couple days after Rickey Henderson made his major league debut on June 24, 1979, a silver station wagon pulled up to a yellow house, awaiting moving vans that wouldn’t fully arrive for a week or two.

In that moment, there was zero chance some sort of cosmic connection was made, that Rickey would eventually become My Guy, that a sparsely-populated ballpark in Oakland would become a sun-splashed refuge, and that someday all involved parties would depart the premises.

Some 35 years later – the same jersey number he wore in that debut – the cycle is complete. Rickey Henderson passed away Friday, just 65 years old, and by “just” we mean this is an athlete who always looked like he’d live forever.

You saw it in his perfectly athletic frame, chiseled enough to star at running back in high school, disciplined enough to produce one of the most sublime statistical sets in baseball history – a record 1,406 stolen bases and 2,295 runs scored, 3,055 hits and 297 home runs from a 5-foot-10 player who seemingly scrunched to 5-4 when the count ran to three balls.

You saw it in his refusal to hang ‘em up, through a major league career that touched nine franchises, and a simple desire to play that saw his last game played not for the A’s or Red Sox or Dodgers but rather the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden League.

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And you saw it in his post-playing career, as few could fill up a suit with the elan and charisma that Henderson brought to his Hall of Fame induction, his public appearances, his eternal role, simply, as Rickey.

The B-roll of career highlights will of course show his record-breaking steal of third base that nudged him past Lou Brock forever. His dominance of the 1989 postseason that resulted in his first World Series title and began one of the greatest 12-month stretches of baseball ever, culminating in his 1990 MVP award. His 10 All-Star turns, all as an Athletic or a Yankee.

Yet it’s easy to forget that when Henderson made his debut, it was in a forgettable Sunday doubleheader against the Texas Rangers that drew 4,752 fans to Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

The A’s were just five years removed from winning their third consecutive World Series title, but under Charles Finley’s stewardship, chaos, mismanagement and attempted player sell-offs were never far away. The club drew just 306,763 fans in Henderson’s debut season.

Yet there was something strangely inclusive about the Coliseum – perhaps the chain-link fencing that reminded one of a park down the street and not a palace where demigods played. Perhaps the wooden bleachers or sparsely populated three levels of seating that begged you to sit anywhere you like, or the iceplant that somehow made it feel like your own backyard.

It was within these humbling environs that Rickey began to cook.

Hard to imagine, even with the phony – er, loosened – stolen-base rules that exist today, that any player would swipe 100 bags in his first full season, at the tender age of 21, as Henderson did in 1980.

Or that, at 23, he’d obliterate Lou Brock’s single-season stolen base record of 118. The record was his by Aug. 27, and he’d finish with a still-unbroken 130 steals; the iconic Mizuno poster touting “119 and counting” came out much earlier.

Not bragging if you can back it up, right?

Back to those moving vans. My family had spent a little more than two seasons of exile in Houston, years that coincided with kindergarten and first grade, and then relocated north rather than to the L.A. basin from which we came.

The van with the pots and pans and plates did not arrive for more than a week, which meant days and nights of scarfing Foster’s Freeze hamburgers and various other exotic meals native to our new NorCal home. I’d eventually become an outlier, a Rickey guy in a family of Dodger fans eventually surrounded by friends who were occasionally irrational Giants backers.

I often wondered how that came to pass, sometimes ascribing it to purely visceral phenomena, like dot races on a medieval scoreboard or Chuck Mangione on a mellow day game sound mix, but it all makes sense in retrospect. Heck, Rickey rebuilt an entire franchise.

Hyperbole? Sure, the sale of the franchise from Finley to the Haas family helped stability. A surprise 1981 playoff run helped boost attendance to 1.7 million in a strike-shortened season.

Yet in 1982, there was little to lure the casual. The A’s lost 94 games, but Rickey’s chase for Brock’s single-season record helped draw a franchise record 1.74 million fans to the Coliseum – more than in the previous 81 seasons in Oakland, Kansas City and Philly.

Certainly, the Haas family, leery of Henderson’s advancing salary and potential free agency, nearly wrecked it all by trading Henderson to the Yankees before the 1985 season. Yet the timing was strangely ideal: While Henderson continued producing at elite levels for the Yankees, the A’s were developing Bash Brothers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, reinvigorating ace Dave Stewart and luring eventual Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa. A World Series appearance came in 1988.

Reacquiring Henderson in the summer of ’89 was like lighter fluid; the A’s would win it all months after he rejoined the club.

They’d win just one Series together, but in 1990 won 103 games and drew a startling 2.9 million to the Coliseum, behind only the Dodgers and the Blue Jays, in their fresh SkyDome digs, in big league attendance.

By ’93, Henderson was gone again, this time to help the Jays win their second consecutive World Series title. Canseco was gone, McGwire was going, and the Coliseum, iceplant and all, was given a facelift not even Frankenstein could love in order to accommodate the Raiders’ return.

Now, it’s all history. The A’s are using Sacramento as a waystation on their way to Vegas, maneuvers that fulfill the franchise’s century-plus legacy of impermanence and more than occasional incompetence, even as it blasts away the last of a glorious foundation laid by Henderson and a spirited fan base.

On one hand, it’s strangely poetic that Rickey doesn’t have to put on for a franchise that departed his hometown. On the other, baseball lost a true 1 of 1, an almost accidental ambassador in his ability to veer off script yet dazzle the masses anyway.

Consider yourself lucky if you were able to see him play. Luckier still if you feel like you grew up with him.

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Exhale, Chiefs Kingdom.

Six days after Patrick Mahomes hobbled off the field at Cleveland with a very tender right ankle, the Kansas City Chiefs superstar darted, rolled, scrambled, stopped and started, and of course, threw the football aplenty — pretty much checking all the boxes for what it takes to play his lethal brand of quarterback — to demonstrate that crisis has truly been averted.

Maybe it was the cape that Mahomes (perhaps) wears tucked under his jersey and out of plain sight, supplying some extra juice. Because it sure seems as though there’s some super healing power at work here.

Didn’t Mahomes suffer a high ankle sprain against the Browns?

That’s an injury that often knocks victims out for two or three weeks. Yet there was Mahomes, a full practice participant all week, racing out of the tunnel for pregame introductions on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in a full sprint. If that wasn’t enough of a statement, Mahomes showed everybody on the first Chiefs possession. On a third-and-13, he bolted out of the pocket and nearly got the first down. Two plays later, he broke from the pocket again, scrambling up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown scamper.

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It seemed so fitting that Mahomes — who also completed 28 of 41 passes for 260 yards with a touchdown and zero picks — used his legs to produce the first points for a 27-19 victory against the Houston Texans.

“I don’t know if it was setting a tone,” Mahomes said during his postgame news conference. “I knew I could run. It was just the stopping that was going to be hard. Once I got to running, I saw the end zone. I was just trying to get up in the air (near the goal line) and to the end zone. It wasn’t setting a tone. I was just trying to play football out there.’

That’s what superheroes do. They serve up the extraordinary. Ease fears. Make the whole better. Then, dripping in humility, insist that it’s no big deal.

Then again, maybe that’s not at all the deal with Mahomes, even with all of his Super Bowl bling and MVP hardware.

This latest episode may be just the Area 51 evidence needed to prove that the dude is just not of this world. Mahomes may very well be an alien among us.

“He didn’t miss a beat,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid.

No, Reid, even with all that he has witnessed over the years from Mahomes, wasn’t expecting his quarterback to go “Crazylegs” with his running on Saturday. A clue came during the week, when Mahomes didn’t miss a single practice rep. But still.

“He spoils the dog out of us,” Reid said. “He’s so tough. Mentally. And physically. You just get used to it. Most guys don’t come back from that like he did. But he set his mind to it. Then he jumped in that training room and stayed in there. And they did a great job on him, our trainers. Most guys don’t do that.”

And none of these guys, Reid could have added, are Mahomes, who sends quite the message to his team about leadership.

“I ask a lot of the guys around me,” Mahomes said. “If I’m going to ask them to play through pain, play through nicks and bruises, I’ve got to do it as well.”

So there. In any event, with Mahomes leading the way, the Chiefs are 14-1, still on track to claim the No. 1 seed for the AFC playoffs and still showing signs that their mission to become the first three-peat Super Bowl champion is getting stronger by the hour. They won another one-possession game (their 16th in a row in that fashion, including 11 such victories this season), which is undoubtedly a good trait to carry into the postseason. And they brought back another weapon, too, with the regular-season debut of new receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, back from a shoulder injury three weeks after electric running back Isiah Pacheco made his return from a broken fibula.

So, despite the grind that includes three games over 11 days, all systems are go. Especially with Mahomes showing virtually no limitations from the ankle injury.

For a team that has adapted all season to one injury after another, the resilience that Mahomes has demonstrated in recent days is perfectly reflective of the larger picture with the Chiefs. Nobody expected that chasing a three-peat would be easy. Yet the grit the Chiefs have demonstrated to possibly position themselves as the top seed — and it would be a well-earned bye week off — has amplified a dimension that can be overlooked.

The same can be said of the ringleader, too, even if in previous seasons we’ve seen him shake off injuries while chasing Super Bowl glory.

A few days ago, Reid contemplated the possibility of starting backup quarterback Carson Wentz, as any responsible adult would do given Mahomes’ status coming out of the Cleveland game.

“I wasn’t sure,” Reid told reporters on Thursday. By then, he was relieved by the movement he saw from No. 15 on the practice field. “I’ve been through it with him before. He amazes me every time he does it. He’s so mentally tough and just puts…it’s a mindset that he has going into it. So, where he was a few days ago, I probably would have said it was a long shot.”

With Mahomes, the odds somehow keep working in the favor of greatness. Stay tuned.

The Texans came after Mahomes as you’d expect, but the unsung hero came in the form of the Chiefs’ offensive line. Mahomes was sacked once and hit just four times (contrasting the 11 times that Kansas City’s defense laid hits on Houston’s C.J. Stroud, who was sacked twice). The Chiefs got a huge game from Joe Thuney, the All-Pro left guard who made the emergency start at the left tackle post that has been such an issue this season, with Reid rotating several bodies at the post during practices last week in devising his plan.

As good as the protection was throughout the game and as shaky as it has been throughout the season, the biggest hold-your-breath moment on Saturday (after that first touchdown tumble, of course) came in the fourth quarter, when Mahomes was hit (legally) by Danielle Hunter as he released a pass. Mahomes limped after getting up from the turf. As he continued, there was probably a collective sigh of relief.

The ankle will still be monitored closely as the rehab continues. With the next outing on Christmas at Pittsburgh, it figures that Mahomes will stay off his feet as much as possible. 

And then he’ll be sure to make sure the cape is pressed and ready to pack for the upcoming road trip.

A victory would have clinched the AFC North and a home playoff game for Pittsburgh. Instead, on the wrong side of a 34-17 defeat Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium, they left wearing frowns instead of division-champion attire. 

Pittsburgh lost in the most un-Steelers-like way: dominated by the Ravens on both sides of the line of scrimmage and deficient in the turnover margin while missing chances to win that battle. A fumble near the goal line by quarterback Russell Wilson and an interception thrown to Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who returned it for a touchdown, were two game-changing plays the Steelers were on the wrong side of. 

“You’ve got to control the run, the line of scrimmage,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. “The turnover game is always significant in matchups like this. We failed in both areas. So, when you do that, you should expect to lose.”

Derrick Henry ran 24 times for 162 yards and the Steelers gave up 220 total on the ground. The Ravens had seven rushing plays go for more than 8 yards; Henry’s longest was a 44-yard run the first play after Wilson’s missed deep shot to the end zone – broken up by All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton – intended for wideout Calvin Austin, which opened the fourth quarter. 

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Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off Jackson on the next play from the Pittsburgh 11-yard line. Two plays later, however, was showboating his way into the end zone. 

“Sudden change” was one area in which the Steelers struggled against Baltimore, defensive lineman Cam Heyward said. 

“Just the recipe that we had tonight was not conducive to winning this game,” Heyward said.

Unless they “own” their performance and learn from it, the mistakes will continue, Heyward said. The Steelers have a game Wednesday, on Christmas Day, back home against the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. 

“We’re going to play good teams week in and week out, especially when you get to the playoffs,” Heyward said. “There’s not a sorry team there.”

It’s the most brutal stretch of the schedule for Steelers, whose defense has allowed 38, 27, 14 (against the Cleveland Browns) and 34 points in its last four games, respectively. The Steelers went into their Week 9 bye allowing 14.9 points per game. The competition has proved tougher, surely, and the injuries have mounted on both sides of the ball. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith uses Wilson differently than Justin Fields, who started the first six games of the season and was part of a significant list of inactive players – including cornerback Donte Jackson, safety DeShon Elliott and defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi – for the Steelers on Saturday. 

“It’s a team game. This is a complementary game,’ Heyward said while bringing up last season’s Week 18 victory in Baltimore, which ultimately got the Steelers into the playoffs, with Mason Rudolph at quarterback as an example of injuries being part of the game. ‘When we’re at our best, we are playing really good complementary football.” 

Tomlin said missed tackles by the defense were an issue for the second straight game. On Jackson’s 9-yard touchdown to Isaiah Likely with 5:52 left in the first quarter, a late motion by the Ravens clearly confused the Steelers’ secondary, leaving Likely wide open over the middle. 

“It’s concerning, certainly,” Tomlin said about the tackling woes. “We’ve got to be better.” 

His team will have to go “back to the lab” to do so. For outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, not tackling well comes down to who is the more physical team.

“When we’re successful, we get off blocks and make tackles,” he said. “We didn’t do that enough today. Just have to be more physical, especially playing a team like this. They’re one of the best in the league, and we’ve got to play physical when we play them.”

The Steelers appeared allergic to the loose football for much of the game. Twice in the first six minutes the Ravens put the ball on the ground – once when Highsmith strip-sacked Jackson, another during a punt return. On neither occasion did the Steelers recover the ball, and they missed a third opportunity on a muffed punt with less than two minutes remaining. 

“I just think we need to start faster,” said outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who entered with a bum ankle and was kept quiet (one solo tackle, three total). “We’ve got to tackle. … We have to rely on our brothers in run defense. We have to just do things that make defenses good. We didn’t do that tonight.” 

The Steelers aren’t incapable of passing the ball. But Pittsburgh hasn’t run well enough to have subpar quarterback play reliant on a depleted receiving corps. George Pickens missed his third straight game, and Wilson desperately misses him in the deep passing game, despite Austin’s best efforts to fill that role. Ben Skowronek had two early targets and seemed to be in rhythm with Wilson but exited in the first quarter with a hip injury and didn’t return. Tight end Pat Freiermuth had three catches for 16 yards on three targets. Wilson did throw for more than 200 yards (217 on 22-of-33 passing) for the first time in three weeks and looked like the prime version of himself while spinning out of the pocket and delivering a dime on a play or two. 

“Stuff happens,” running back Jaylen Warren. “We’re a team that usually counter-punches. We don’t look at that as any momentum loss.”  

Wilson definitely showed his 36 years on this Earth, though, with about 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Facing a second-and-6 from the Baltimore 23-yard line, Wilson dropped back and had nothing but grass in front of him. A millisecond of hesitation passed before he took off, yet it looked like he’d make it all the way to the end zone. But Ravens defensive back Ar’Darius Washington closed the gap, and Wilson awkwardly turned to try and pick up a final block. In an instant, Wilson was airborne and the ball was on the ground. 

“I put that game on me, in the sense of, there’s two great opportunities there,” said Wilson, referencing the fumble and pick-six in the fourth quarter. 

“Unacceptable,” he added about the fumble. 

One thing Wilson won’t do, he said, is keep his head down. 

“There’s a lot of good things we’ve been doing all year,” said Wilson, who missed the first six games of the season with a calf injury. “We can’t let a game like this take us to a negative state of mind, because there’s a lot more that we’re playing for, searching for.” 

That will have to be accomplished on the shortest rest an NFL team will face this season (kickoffs 96 hours apart). And after the Chiefs, they’ll host a Cincinnati Bengals team that will either be looking to keep its currently slim, but improving, playoff hopes alive or play spoiler. 

Until then, they’ll use the precious hours before Wednesday to highlight some issues, Heyward said – mainly, tackling.  

“Talk about it,” he said. “Coach it up. Practice it.” 

He did the math in his head and laughed. 

“There’s not a lot of time to practice,” Heyward said. 

There’s not a lot of time to wrap up the AFC North, either. 

The NFL playoff picture is starting to become clearer entering Week 16, and by the time action wraps up on ‘Monday Night Football,’ as many as 11 playoff spots could be clinched.

Despite that, there is still some room for volatility. A handful of the NFL’s division championships have yet to be decided, with three still up for grabs in the NFC and one in the AFC. Those division winners could have a ripple effect on the wild-card picture, so while half of the NFL playoff field is presently known, the matchups are still in flux.

The No. 1 seed in each conference is still up for grabs, as well. The Kansas City Chiefs are close to clinching it in the AFC, but the NFC’s race is likely to come down to a three-week battle between the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings.

How will the playoff picture look when the dust settles? There are many potential combinations, but here’s how USA TODAY Sports predicts things will shake out.

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Which teams have already clinched playoff berths?

Seven teams had already clinched playoff berths entering Week 16. The Baltimore Ravens made it eight with their win Saturday over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Below are the teams that have clinched postseason berths.

AFC

Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West champions)
Buffalo Bills (AFC East champions)
Houston Texans (AFC South champions)
Baltimore Ravens (playoff berth)
Pittsburgh Steelers (playoff berth)

NFC

Detroit Lions (playoff berth)
Philadelphia Eagles (playoff berth)
Minnesota Vikings (playoff berth)

NFL playoff predictions 2024

AFC

Kansas City Chiefs (15-2, AFC West champions)
Buffalo Bills (14-3, AFC East champions)
Baltimore Ravens (12-5, AFC North champions)
Houston Texans (10-7, AFC South champions)
Pittsburgh Steelers (11-6, wild card No. 1)
Los Angeles Chargers (11-6, wild card No. 2)
Denver Broncos (10-7, wild card No. 3)

Five teams have already clinched playoff berths in the AFC, and that includes all four divisional champions, as one of the Ravens or Steelers will win the AFC North. As a result, the No. 1 thing to watch on this side of the playoff picture is whether the Broncos can hold on to the No. 7 seed in the conference.

Denver had a chance to clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Chargers in Week 16, but Los Angeles got the better of the Broncos on ‘Thursday Night Football.’ That sets up a tough finish to the season for the Broncos, who will now have to beat either the Cincinnati Bengals or the Chiefs in the final two weeks to clinch a playoff berth, or see the Bengals, Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts each lose once.

The Week 17 game against the Bengals, who represent arguably their biggest threat to the No. 7 seed, is the one to watch for Denver. A win in that contest will effectively end the AFC playoff race. A loss, however, would guarantee that the Bengals are just a game back, with a head-to-head tiebreaker in hand, entering Week 18.

The Bengals need to win out against the Cleveland Browns, Broncos and Steelers in order to have a shot at the postseason, so that possibility is far from guaranteed. That’s why the Broncos will remain in for this week’s projections, even if their chances could get narrower with a Bengals win on Sunday.

Elsewhere, there aren’t too many surprises. The Chiefs need just one more win to take home the No. 1 seed. The Bills look like they’ll be the No. 2 seed while the Ravens, though slightly behind the Steelers via tiebreakers, take home the No. 3 seed because their final two games are much easier on paper than Pittsburgh’s. That result could set up another ‘Battle of the Harbaughs,’ this time in a postseason setting.

NFC

Philadelphia Eagles (15-2, NFC East champions)
Detroit Lions (14-3, NFC North champions)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-6, NFC South champions)
Los Angeles Rams (11-6, NFC West champions)
Minnesota Vikings (14-3, wild card No. 1)
Green Bay Packers (12-5, wild card No. 2)
Washington Commanders (11-6, wild card No. 3)

It’s possible that all seven NFC playoff teams could have 11 wins when they enter the postseason.

While the Lions currently have the inside track to the No. 1 seed, it’s hard to imagine them holding on to it. They have an easier matchup against the Chicago Bears in Week 16, but that’s a divisional road game. Then, they play on ‘Monday Night Football’ against the San Francisco 49ers before closing the season with a matchup with the Vikings that could determine the NFC North winner.

Could Detroit win all three of those games? Sure, it’s possible. But given how banged-up the team is, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see it slip up. If that happens, it could allow the red-hot Eagles, who have the ninth-easiest remaining schedule in the league, to overtake them.

We’ll still assume that Dan Campbell will find a way to get the Lions the NFC North crown, so that would make them the No. 2 seed.

The No. 3 seed goes to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will win the NFC South by winning out. Even if they don’t, they just need to avoid losing a game in the standings to the Atlanta Falcons, who are pivoting to rookie Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback instead of Kirk Cousins. That makes it hard to trust the Falcons to make a postseason run, even if Penix might provide them a spark.

The Rams are in the driver’s seat in the NFC West and it’s hard to imagine the Seattle Seahawks overtaking them given Geno Smith’s banged-up knee. The biggest game remaining on Los Angeles’ schedule will come in Week 18 against Seattle, but if the Rams beat the New York Jets in Week 16 and see the Vikings take care of business against the Seahawks, their chances of winning the division should improve.

The Vikings have some potential for upward mobility, but they are most likely to end up as the NFC’s No. 5 seed. Still, they may smell blood in the water if the Lions’ injured defense stumbles in Chicago, so don’t sleep on them.

As for the Packers, they will almost certainly be the No. 6 seed at this point. The Commanders are the biggest toss-up of the bunch, but given the quarterback questions the Seahawks and Falcons are dealing with, it’s hard to imagine another team taking Washington’s playoff spot.

Still, Washington’s biggest ‘danger’ game would come in Week 17 against Atlanta. If the Commanders lose that one, the Falcons could find a way to overtake them in the wild-card race, provided the Buccaneers stay ahead in the NFC South.

Current NFL playoff picture

Our projected NFL playoff picture is a bit different than the current NFL playoff picture. Here’s a look at how the conferences stack up entering play on Sunday:

AFC

Kansas City Chiefs (14-1, AFC West champions)
Buffalo Bills (11-3, AFC East champions)
Pittsburgh Steelers (10-5, AFC North leaders)
Houston Texans (9-6, AFC South champions)
Baltimore Ravens (10-5, wild card No. 1)
Los Angeles Chargers (9-6, wild card No. 2)
Denver Broncos (9-6, wild-card No. 3)

In the hunt: Indianapolis Colts (6-8), Miami Dolphins (6-8), Cincinnati Bengals (6-8)

NFC

Detroit Lions (12-2, NFC North leaders)
Philadelphia Eagles (12-2, NFC East leaders)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-6, NFC South leaders)
Los Angeles Rams (8-6, NFC West leaders)
Minnesota Vikings (12-2, wild card No. 1)
Green Bay Packers (10-4, wild card No. 2)
Washington Commanders (9-5, wild card No. 3)

In the hunt: Seattle Seahawks (8-6), Atlanta Falcons (7-7), Arizona Cardinals (7-7), San Francisco 49ers (6-8), Dallas Cowboys (6-8), New Orleans Saints (5-9)

Ohio State supplied fresh evidence in this College Football Playoff romp of Tennessee that they’re national championship material.
Ryan Day silences critics in one of the finest showings of his career.
Buckeyes look strong as they ready for Rose Bowl vs. Oregon.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tennessee fans poured in here not by the thousands but by the tens of thousands, wearing their orange and singing “Rocky Top” in the bars on Friday and the tailgates on Saturday.

The boisterous supporters from one of college football’s most ravenous fan bases hungered for this moment, but then the game began, and their Vols starved them of much to cheer.  

By the end of the first quarter, Ohio State’s rout had gained a full head of steam, and all those orange-clad fans in Ohio Stadium watched in a frozen silence while Ryan Day and his Buckeyes enjoyed a revival.

Scrape the dirt off Day’s Ohio State coaching casket. Those who grabbed their shovels after Day lost to Michigan for the fourth straight season were overly eager, and the fed-up Buckeyes fans who sold their tickets to Vols faithful gave up hope too soon.

The Buckeyes supplied fresh evidence in this 42-17 College Football Playoff romp that they’re national championship material.

Ohio State rout of Tennessee becomes total mismatch

Ohio State’s embarrassment of wide receiver riches against Tennessee’s defensive backs became the night’s most lopsided mismatch, or maybe that was the Buckeyes’ disruptive defensive front against Tennessee’s feeble offensive line.

The bell tolled on Tennessee – literally.

After Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava threw an completion – he had plenty of those – or the Buckeyes dragged him down for a sack, an ominous bell would begin to play on the stadium’s loudspeakers.

Dong, dong, dong.

The Vols will hear that darn bell in their sleep.

Ding, dong, Tennessee’s national championship hopes are dead, while the Buckeyes’ are alive and well, and would you really be so surprised if Ohio State won the whole dang thing?

The Buckeyes won’t face a talent disadvantage in any game. The playoff committee became victims of the moment when they seeded Ohio State eighth while the Buckeyes’ fan base experienced a meltdown after Day’s fourth consecutive loss to Michigan, this one more inexplicable than the previous three.

The Buckeyes buckled and whimpered against “The Team Up North.’ No denying it. But every playoff team other than Oregon laid at least one stinker this season, and throughout much of the season, Ohio State performed like one of the nation’s two best teams, and the rematch of the Ducks and Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl feels a bit like a national championship bout miscast as a quarterfinal.

Buckeyes fans might have stopped believing in Day two weeks ago, but in the latest round of Day vs. Everybody, Day landed one of the stiffest haymakers of his career. The Vols got flat whipped, and so did Day’s lengthy list of haters.

Ryan Day takes on everybody, and everybody loses

The coach who supposedly can’t win a big game now owns three wins this season against teams that qualified for the playoff. Only Georgia touts more.

Rarely has Day looked better than he did on this night.

While Ohio State fans bait their hooks for white whale Mike Vrabel in a coaching search that might never materialize, Day polished a winning percentage that looks phenomenal against everyone except Michigan.

There’s no excusing Ohio State’s performance against its biggest rival, but it became clear against Tennessee that while the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes, they didn’t suck out their soul. The 12-team playoff format afforded Day with a cushion he required. Michigan remains the wraith that spooks Day, but the boogeyman won’t be found in this playoff field.

The Buckeyes shouldn’t fear Oregon – not after they came so close to beating them in Eugene two months ago.

They certainly weren’t alarmed by Tennessee, and why should they be? Ohio State proved its physical advantages, and for all you hear about “SEC speed,” the Buckeyes sprinted circles around the Vols.

The moment seemed too big for Iamaleava, Tennessee’s handsomely paid quarterback who didn’t live up to the hype as a redshirt freshman. In Iamaleava’s defense, he lacked help. Tennessee’s only glimmer of offensive success came when Iamaleava chewed up yards with his legs.

An injury limited the snaps for Dylan Sampson, the Vols’ star running back. Tennessee’s receivers couldn’t get open, a continuation of a theme. Why is it that Josh Heupel, a supposed offensive maestro, can’t attract premier wide receivers?

Tennessee’s defense that brought it to the dance wilted, just as it did against Georgia. Will Howard had a hand in that. The Ohio State quarterback hit repeated deep strikes, and although the 25-degree game-time temperature refused to let Howard break a sweat, the Vols didn’t turn up the heat on him, either.

As Ohio State bludgeoned Tennessee, and that bell kept tolling, an embattled coach enjoyed a comeback, and the super squad he built reawakened, gnashed its teeth and played like the monster it is.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.