Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen won’t decide the NFL MVP next week.
The stakes are higher with a spot in the AFC championship game on the line.
Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens (13-5) will visit Allen and the Buffalo Bills (14-4) in the divisional round while Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (15-2) will host C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans (11-7).
The winners face off on Jan. 26 for a berth in the Super Bowl.
The Bills advanced with a 31-7 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday after the Ravens moved on with a 28-14 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night. The Texans beat the Chargers 32-12 in the opening game of wild-card weekend. The Chiefs have a bye after securing the No. 1 seed.
The AFC divisional matchups were set before the NFC games kicked off.
The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 22-10 on Sunday to advance to the divisional round. They will play the Vikings-Rams winner at home. Minnesota plays Los Angeles on Monday night in Arizona.
The Washington Commanders became the first road team to win in these playoffs, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 on Sunday night. The Commanders (13-5) will take on the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions (15-2).
Jackson edged Allen for The Associated Press All-Pro Team, receiving 30 of 50 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of media members. Allen got 18 first-place votes to earn second-team All-Pro honors.
The most recent time a player was MVP without making first-team All-Pro was in 2003 when Steve McNair and Peyton Manning shared the MVP award. Manning beat out McNair for All-Pro.
The only other time it happened was in 1987 when John Elway was the MVP and Joe Montana got All-Pro honors. Elway got 36 MVP votes to 18 for Montana with Jerry Rice receiving 30 votes to finish in second place.
Jackson, the two-time NFL MVP, completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns against Pittsburgh. He also ran for 81 yards on 15 carries.
Allen was 20 of 26 for 272 yards and two TDs against Denver. He ran for 46 yards.
The teams met in Baltimore in Week 4 with the Ravens dominating the Bills 35-10.
It’ll be the second time a conference's final four teams are back two years in a row. Last year, the Chiefs defeated the Bills and the Ravens beat the Texans. It last happened in 2011-12 when the Texans, Patriots, Ravens and Broncos reached the divisional round in consecutive seasons.
AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) celebrates with wide receiver Curtis Samuel (1) after Samuel scored a touchdown against the Denver Broncos during the fourth quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson talks to reporters following an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Baltimore. The Ravens won 28-14. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day before a shutdown deadline, Senate Democrats are mounting a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led government funding bill that already passed the House but failed to slap any limits on President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to gut federal operations.
Senate Democrats are under intense pressure to do whatever they can to stop the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, which is taking a wrecking ball to long-established government agencies and purging thousands of federal workers from jobs.
Trump himself offered to wade in Thursday to negotiate: “If they need me, I’m there 100%.”
But the president also began casting blame on Democrats for any potential disruptions, saying during an Oval Office meeting, “if it shuts down, it’s not the Republicans’ fault.”
Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative. But its prospects are dim in the Congress controlled by Republicans. And it's unlikely the Democrats would allow a government shutdown, worried about the further chaos they say Trump and Musk could cause.
As the Senate opened Thursday, with one day to go before Friday’s midnight deadline, the Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “It’s time for Democrats to fish or cut bait.”
Debates over funding the federal government routinely erupt in deadline moments but this year it’s showing the political leverage of Republicans, newly in majority control of the White House and Congress, and the shortcomings of Democrats who are finding themselves unable to stop the Trump administration’s march across federal operations.
In a rare turn of events, House Republicans stuck together to pass their bill, many conservatives cheering the DOGE cuts, leaving Democrats sidelined as they stood opposed. The House then left town, sending it to the Senate for final action.
Options for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are limited, especially as the party is wary of fully withholding their votes and being blamed for a full shutdown of services.
Schumer announced that Democrats were unified in pressing for a 30-day stopgap measure as an alternative to the House passed bill, which would instead fund operations through the end of the budget year in September.
With his party united, Schumer said the Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority, lack the support needed to reach the 60-vote threshold, which is required to overcome a filibuster.
But Senate Republicans have shown little interest in Schumer's offer.
As senators convened behind closed doors for another day of meetings, what is more likely is that they will have a chance to vote on the Democrats' stopgap measure, but if it fails as expected, the Senate would then turn to the broader bill for passage, hours before Friday's midnight deadline.
Over the next 24 hours, Democrats face the choice before them: provide the votes needed to advance the package or stand in the way of passing the funding bill in time to avoid a shutdown when money expires midnight Friday.
“They’ll cave,” predicted Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn of the Democrats.
Cornyn said the Democrats "have been railing against Elon Musk and the Trump administration over reductions in force of the federal employees, and now they basically want to put all of them out of work by shutting down the government." He said, "I don’t know how you reconcile those two positions.”
But progressive Democrats, including allies in the House, are pushing Democrats to draw the line against Trump — even if it courts a federal shutdown.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on social media that the House GOP bill will “supercharge Musk's theft from working people to pay for billionaire tax cuts. Senate Democrats must stop it.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stepped into the fray, seeking to shift attention from Trump’s potentially damaging tariff war that has sent shudders through the U.S. economy.
“I can tell you what’s not good for the economy is this government shutdown," Bessent said outside the White House. “I don’t know what Democrats are thinking here. They’re going to own it.”
But Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has called Trump and Musk “two billionaires who don’t know the first thing” about what American families need.
In an highly unusual turn, the House package also required the District of Columbia, which already approved its own balanced budget, to revert back to 2024 levels, drawing outcry from the mayor and city leaders who are pushing the Congress to revert course. They warn of steep reductions to city services.
Democratic senators are assessing next steps.
“Both choices that we are being offered are full of despair,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville, Aamer Madhani, Mary Clare Jalonick, Leah Askarinam and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., arrives to speak to reporters as Republicans work to pass an interim spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives to speak with reporters as Republicans work to pass an interim spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
