Week 15 Recap: Broncos quiet doubters, Bills claw back to beat Patriots, and the Chiefs are officially done
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2025
⏱️ 90 minutes
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Summary
One of the big stories of the 2025 season is the rise of new contenders and the fall of the traditional powers. We saw the former on Sunday, with the Denver Broncos winning their 11th straight game, this time taking down the mighty Green Bay Packers. We saw the latter, as well, with the Kansas City Chiefs being officially eliminated from playoff contention after a 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And we also saw a team defy that storyline, with the Buffalo Bills clawing back from a 21-point deficit to beat the Patriots and keep the AFC East in play. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman dig into all those games on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Plus, some talk about the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, and Philadelphia Eagles.
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Host: Robert Mays
Co-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the athletic football show. |
| 0:05.4 | I'm Robert Mays. |
| 0:06.3 | Week 15 was everything we could have hoped it was going to be. |
| 0:10.6 | Two massive games of the week, Patriots, Bills, and Broncos, Packers, they lived up to the billing. |
| 0:16.6 | We wanted those teams, those home underdogs with 11 wins to prove it to us. |
| 0:20.8 | We wanted to see what they were against better competition. The Broncos, I'll tell you what, they made a believer out of me on a bunch of different fronts. They played one hell of a game against the Packers. A Packers team that now feels a lot different than it did at the beginning of the week, considering some of the injuries they endured. It seemed like the Patriots were going to go the same way. And then Josh Allen and the rest of that Bill's roster had other ideas. We started with those two games, dug into a bunch of teams that just took care of business and you have my attention, five teams, four teams that look like playoff teams that could have stubbed their toe this week that did not bears texans eagles jaguars talked |
| 0:55.9 | about the rams having another massive game and just the attention their offense is always |
| 1:00.5 | putting us on notice for and then a few wtf moments the kansas city chiefs are not a playoff team |
| 1:07.0 | dug into that what it means the car Carolina Panthers, with a massive opportunity, |
| 1:12.1 | NFC South somehow drop a game to the Saints. |
| 1:14.8 | And we also talked about the Seahawks barely sneaking by a Philip Rivers led Colts team. |
| 1:21.1 | Lots to dig into today with me, Dave Hellman and Derek Klesson. |
| 1:24.3 | Let's get to it right now. |
| 1:29.1 | I think it's safe to say that week 15 in the NFL was an absolute banger. |
| 1:34.4 | From start to finish, so much good stuff. |
| 1:37.5 | We're going to hit the Sunday night show on The Hangover tomorrow, along with a couple |
| 1:41.0 | other games, but we've got so much to dig into today |
| 1:45.1 | and what was a fantastic day of football. |
| 1:47.7 | What a day, and can I just say, |
| 1:50.3 | I was not ready for the bonanza in the second window. |
| 1:55.0 | I feel like very, I'm very used to juggling like six crazy results |
| 2:00.3 | at three o'clock, but something about it happening at 5.30, I'm very used to juggling like six crazy results at three o'clock, but something about it happening at 5.30, I didn't know what to do with myself. |
... |
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