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This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

Good morning and Merry Christmas Eve! Carter Bahns with you as the holiday season continues to ramp up. We have the Hawaii Bowl to look forward to tonight and a slate of NBA and NFL action set for tomorrow.

We'll preview all of that action in today's newsletter, take a quick break on Christmas Day and return to our regularly scheduled programming on Dec. 26 with a look ahead to the weekend.

Let's go!

🎄 Five things to know Wednesday

  1. NFL Week 17 opens with a Christmas tripleheader. Things could get lopsided on Thursday as the Cowboys, Lions and Broncos are favored over their respective opponents by at least a touchdown. The sizable spreads are unsurprising considering the Commanders, Vikings and Chiefs have all been eliminated from playoff contention and will be rolling with backup quarterbacks. Speaking of the playoffs, the Packers can clinch a spot in the postseason even though they do not play until Saturday. A Lions loss or tie would secure a playoff berth for Green Bay.
  2. The NBA's Christmas schedule features five marquee matchups. The matinee between the Spurs and Thunder headlines the slate, but there is not a bad game on the schedule as projected playoff teams and hopefuls go head-to-head over 10 nonstop hours of basketball. LeBron James makes his 20th Christmas game appearance when the Lakers host the Rockets, and three other showdowns round out the day: Knicks vs. Cavaliers, Warriors vs. Mavericks and Nuggets vs. Timberwolves.
  3. Travis Kelce headlines the 2026 NFL Pro Bowl Games rosters. The Chiefs tight end led the fan vote for the second consecutive season and earned his 11th career Pro Bowl nod. The Broncos, Ravens, 49ers and Seahawks tied for the league lead with six selections apiece while the Jets, Vikings and Saints did not have any players picked. See the full rosters for the event, which for the first time takes place at the site of the Super Bowl and is set for Tuesday, Feb. 3.
  4. J.J. McCarthy will miss Week 17 with a broken hand. The Vikings quarterback sustained a hairline fracture on his throwing hand, which will keep him out of the Christmas Day matchup against the Lions. Max Brosmer is in line to make his second career start and first since Week 13 when the Vikings lost in shutout fashion to the Seahawks. McCarthy already missed six games this season with a high ankle sprain and concussion and missed his entire rookie year with a torn meniscus.
  5. The Hawai'i Bowl is on deck after Tuesday's three-game slate. Louisville opened a bowl season tripleheader with a victory in the Boca Raton Bowl, Western Kentucky won the New Orleans Bowl and Ohio put a bow on the Tuesday action with a Frisco Bowl triumph. The Hawai'i Bowl is next up and is the only major sporting event scheduled for Wednesday, so we'll have our attention locked on California and Hawai'i as they square off in Honolulu.

🎅 Do not miss this: Naughty or nice? Sorting out the projected NFL playoff teams as Super Bowl pretenders or contenders

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Not all of the 14 projected NFL playoff teams are actually capable of winning the Super Bowl. In fact, there is a very good chance that not all of them even make the postseason. While most of the current top seven teams in both conferences are legitimate contenders -- they have winning records for a reason -- some have major flaws that will stand in the way of the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Zach Pereles put that into festive terms for us, categorizing the contenders and pretenders by their status on Santa Claus' nice list and naughty list:

  • Nice: Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Chargers, Bills, Texans, Seahawks, 49ers, Rams, Packers
  • Naughty: Steelers, Bears, Eagles, Panthers

The Super Bowl pretenders can expect lumps of coal in their stockings. Sorry, Eagles, not everyone can receive presents two years in a row.

📈📉 Pete Prisco's Week 17 NFL Power Rankings

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The Jaguars' convincing victory over the Broncos precipitated a significant shakeup in the upper echelon of Pete Prisco's NFL Power Rankings, including the introduction of a new No. 1 team to fill Denver's spot. No team fell further than Sean Payton's group (down five spots to No. 6) on the heels of that two-touchdown loss, and the Seahawks are one of eight teams to move up two places with their surge to the top.

  • On the Seahawks: "Rallying to beat the Rams has the Seahawks as the top seed in the NFC with two weeks to go. They face a tough road game with the Panthers this week."
  • On the Broncos: "The vaunted defense got shredded by the Jaguars, which was a shock. They have to flush it quickly since they play at Kansas City on Thursday."

Here are the top 10 teams in Prisco's power rankings:

  1. Seahawks (last week: 3)
  2. Patriots (4)
  3. Jaguars (5)
  4. Bears (6)
  5. Rams (2)
  6. Broncos (1)
  7. 49ers (7)
  8. Texans (8)
  9. Bills (9)
  10. Eagles (12)

👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

📺 What we're watching on Christmas Eve and Christmas

Wednesday

🏈 Hawaii Bowl: California vs. Hawaii, 8 p.m. on ESPN

Thursday

🏀 Cavaliers at Knicks, Noon on ABC/ESPN
🏈 Cowboys at Commanders, 1 p.m. on Netflix
🏀 Spurs at Thunder, 2:30 p.m. on ABC/ESPN
🏈 Lions at Vikings, 4:30 p.m. on Netflix
🏀 Mavericks at Warriors, 5 p.m. on ABC/ESPN
🏀 Rockets at Lakers, 8 p.m. on ABC/ESPN
🏈 Broncos at Chiefs, 8:15 p.m. on Prime Video
🏀 Timberwolves at Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. on ABC/ESPN