NFL announces December Players of the Month

After a wild month of action, the NFL announced their six Players of the Month for December on Thursday. Coincidentally, all of the players of the month belong to teams that are headed for the postseason.

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and Bills punter Sam Martin earned the league’s awards for the AFC. Meanwhile, 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey, Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr. and Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey are the NFC award winners.

Jackson had 1,060 passing yards, 247 rushing yards and 11 passing touchdowns while leading the Ravens to the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Stingley Jr. helped the Texans make the playoffs with 19 tackles, nine passes defensed, three interceptions and a tackle for loss in December. Sam Martin, meanwhile, averaged 48.2 yards per punt on 17 months to end the regular season.

For the 49ers, Christian McCaffrey had 520 rushing yards, 175 receiving yards and five total touchdowns. Winfield Jr. had a whopping 41 tackles for the Buccaneers’ defense with two interceptions and three forced fumbles. Finally, Brandon Aubrey earned his Player of the Month award for scoring 58 points for Dallas while going 14-for-16 on FGs, 5-for-5 on FGs 50+ yards out and 16-for-16 on PATs.

The league also named two rookies of the month for December – and both are on the Los Angeles Rams. After breaking the league’s rookie receiving record, Puka Nacua is the NFL offensive rookie of the month. He had 32 receptions with 562 yards and three touchdowns to end the year, bringing his totals up to 105 catches, 1,486 yards and six touchdowns. On the defensive side, the league honored Rams nose tackle Kobie Turner. Turner had 15 tackles, including five sacks and four tackles for loss last month.

NFL Wild Card Weekend schedule

The NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend begins on Saturday and runs through Monday night with six heavy-weight matchups. Here are the matchups and kickoff times for the Wild Card round of the 2023 NFL Playoffs.

NFC
No. 7 Green Bay Packers at No. 2 Dallas Cowboys
Time: Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET
Channel: FOX
No. 6 Los Angeles Rams at No. 3 Detroit Lions
Time: Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Channel: NBC
No. 5 Philadelphia Eagles at No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Time: Monday, 8:00 p.m ET
Channel: ESPN

AFC
No. 7 Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 2 Buffalo Bills
Time: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET
Channel: CBS
No. 6 Miami Dolphins at No. 3 Kansas City Chiefs
Time: Saturday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Channel: Peacock (Streaming)
No. 5 Cleveland Browns at No. 4 Houston Texans
Time: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET
Channel: NBC