5 things to look for during Saturday’s NFL action

Thursday Night Football is done for the season — well, Thursday Night Football on a Thursday night, that is. This week, the Colts are visiting Baltimore to play the Ravens, on Saturday afternoon, which is branded as TNF. OK sure, why not.

For the second week in a row, we get two games on Saturday — and the nightcap isn’t a Thursday game on a day that is decidedly not Thursday, either. The Vikings head to Lambeau to play the Packers to close out the doubleheader.

One of these matchups is much more intriguing than the other, but there are still reasons to watch both and they should serve as a nice appetizer leading into a Sunday with plenty of playoff implications.

Here’s what to look for on NFL Saturday.

There haven’t been many reasons to watch the Colts this season. If there’s one now, it’s to see if and how they’ll blow another halftime lead.

They’ve done it better than any other team this season and could tie an ignominious NFL record this week if they manage to hold a lead at the half and then give it away:

The Colts, who are on a five-game losing streak, have five blown leads of at least 10 points or more. The biggest this season was a 14-point lead against the Steelers on Nov. 12. They lost, 20-17.

The latest halftime lead they blew came on Thursday night (an actual Thursday) in Week 15 against the Brock Osweiler-led Broncos. Osweiler entered the game for an injured Trevor Siemian and torched the Colts defense for one of his best showings ever.

If they get a halftime lead against the Ravens, it’s hard to believe they’ll hold it.

Early in the season, a dominant defense was prepared to drag the Ravens into the playoffs despite sub-Osweilerian numbers from starting quarterback Joe Flacco. But in his last three games, the former Super Bowl MVP has thrown for 826 yards, five touchdowns, and just one interception — his three highest yardage totals of the season in that 2-1 stretch. If he can piece an underwhelming offense back together, it spells trouble for the rest of the AFC.

A healthy Baltimore team is an agent of chaos in the playoffs. No team in the AFC has done more to derail the Patriots’ recent postseason hopes than the Ravens, who have ended New England’s season twice in eight years and were a missed 32-yard field goal from pushing the Pats to overtime back in the 2011 season. The Ravens are holding opposing passers to a 70.4 rating this season — the equivalent of an average C.J. Beathard performance. Their rushing defense isn’t as efficient but still ranks 11th in yards allowed per carry.

That’s a strong enough unit to win games with mediocre passing performances. As of the last three weeks, Flacco has turned his season around from objectively awful to not bad, and that’s bad news for Baltimore’s playoff opponents.

It’s been just over a year since the Colts’ mascot, Blue, gave us this wonder GIF of him humping the air after a Lamar Miller touchdown in Indy:

It’s mesmerizing.

Blue’s one of the better mascots in the NFL. Or a jerk, depending on how you feel about him pushing kids around.

In Week 6, Anthony Barr’s tackle on Aaron Rodgers broke the quarterback’s collarbone, which derailed Green Bay’s season. The Vikings went on to win the NFC North. Rodgers finally came back last week when the Packers still had a shot to grab a wild card spot, but they came up short in a loss against the Panthers. Now out of the playoff race, the Packers decided to put Rodgers on IR.

After Rodgers’ injury, Packers coach Mike McCarthy called Barr’s hit “an illegal act” while Vikings coach Mike Zimmer insisted his team wasn’t dirty.

Barr is still getting hate mail from Packers fans.

“I’m sure they’ll all be fired up,” Barr said, via ESPN. “So will we.”

But he also tried to dismiss the rematch at Lambeau as anything more than a rivalry game with playoff implications for his team.

”We’re playing for seeding. We have big things to play for right now. Division games are always important. Road games are always important. My focus, our focus, is winning the game. Doesn’t matter who the opponent is.”

While Barr isn’t thinking about their last meeting, the Packers — even with nothing to play for but pride — likely won’t forget.

Bridgewater completed another major step in his return to football last weekend, earning a thunderous ovation in his first appearance for the Vikings since January 2016. It was an affirming moment that showcased the young passer’s tenacity in rehabbing a career-threatening knee injury that kept him from the field the past 29 games.

On Saturday, he might get the chance to play against an old rival. Bridgewater beat the Packers in his last regular season start to clinch an NFC North title for Minnesota at the tail end of the 2015 season. Should Saturday’s game get out of hand, like last week’s 34-7 win over the Bengals did, it could be Teddy time at Lambeau Field.

A late-season Vikings-Packers game is rarely a place for blowout wins and garbage-time snaps for backups, but Week 16’s affair could be different. Last week’s loss to the Panthers, paired with Atlanta’s win over Tampa Bay, eliminated Green Bay from playoff contention and pushed Aaron Rodgers back to injured reserve. Brett Hundley will take his place after going 0-4 against teams with winning records as a starter.

Minnesota only outscored Green Bay 23-10 at home the last time it faced Hundley. A bigger performance on the road could mean Bridgewater gets another chance to prove his devastating injury hasn’t eroded his passing skill. After an 0-2 performance that wasn’t entirely his fault last week, he’ll be champing at the bit for another opportunity.