NFL Sunday Night Football will see a huge game between the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans tonight. The Patriots will be favorites for today's game but the Texans have home field advantage and the Patriots have suffered a few bad losses of late, meaning anything could happen in today's big match up. The game has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET and takes place from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game can be watched on TV on the NBC network or online through live stream via the link below.
New England should already have the AFC East division title in the bag, however, they recently suffered two straight defeats - their first and second of the season. That has seen them lose out to the Denver Broncos for one of the top two seedings in the AFC for the Playoffs, and that means losing home field advantage in the postseason.
The Patriots know how important home field advantage can be in the high pressured environment of the Playoffs, and they will now want to win out the season to ensure they push the Broncos all the way for that top two seeding.
However, they face a Houston Texans side today that is pushing for their own division title.
In the AFC South the Indianapolis Colts and the Texans are locked in a tie at the top of the division with both teams stuck on .500 with 6-6 records.
By the time today's game comes around for the Texans they will know how the Colts did earlier on in the day against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but seeing as that is a game that is highly likely to go to the Colts, the Texans will have the mindset that they must pull off a shock win today to keep pace with the Colts at the top of the AFC South.
Earlier in Week 14 in the NFL regular season, the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals faced off on Thursday Night Football in a game full of drama and late twists.
The Cardinals came into the game as favorites, but the Vikings refused to give in and wouldn't fall away despite Arizona's best efforts.
A late rally in the final quarter saw Minnesota almost come back to take the game into overtime, and with just seconds to go they had moved into a perfect field goal position, which would have leveled the scores.
However, Dwight Freeney stripped the ball from Teddy Bridgewater with five seconds to play in a hugely disappointing ending for the Vikings. The turnover deprived Minnesota the opportunity to take the game to overtime and allowed the Cardinals to clinch a Playoff berth that night.
NFL fans across the country were held on the edge of their seats as the Vikings pulled back from 10 points down in the final quarter and when Bridgewater moved the Vikings to the 31 yard line with what should have been the final drive in the fourth it looked like the game would be heading to a mouthwatering overtime showdown.
But as Bridgewater went to throw the ball, Freeney managed to get a hand onto the quarterback's arm mid-throw to knock the ball loose. Calls Campbell punched on the loose ball and the game was dramatically and suddenly over.
It would be harsh to blame Bridgewater for the ending, seeing as the Vikings' comeback was very much based on his good work. The quarterback ended the game passing for 335 yards and a touchdown. Carson Palmer threw for 310 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals.
Today's big NFL Week 14 game between the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the NBC network or online through live stream by clicking here.
