Which 2 teams will play Thursday Night Football in Week 17?

AFC fans could be up for something of an entertaining treat on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 17.

If you haven't noticed, it's officially crunch time for teams desperately trying to get into the NFL playoffs, and the final two regular-season weeks will likely see a lot of movement in the postseason picture.

While the NFC might boast more elite Super Bowl contenders, the AFC is certainly crowded with more playoff hopefuls, many of whom are trying to fight for second place behind the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens, who just convincingly defeated the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football to close out Week 16.

With Week 17 upon us, the penultimate regular-season weekend will kick off with an AFC clash between one potential threat to Baltimore and another team that's already eliminated from the postseason dance but would love nothing more than to play the spoiler role in prime time.

Browns will host Jets in AFC clash on Thursday Night Football in Week 17

It's not hard to see what the NFL schedule-makers were looking at when they came up with this primetime bout before the 2023 season began.

The thought of watching New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers square off against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was pretty enticing, especially if both teams were viewed as legitimate contenders for top seeds in the conference.

But Rodgers and Watson are both sidelined with injuries, meaning fans will be treated to quarterbacking duties by the Browns' Joe Flacco and the Jets' Trevor Siemian (Zach Wilson is currently dealing with a concussion and has been ruled out).

At least both teams boast a top-end defense, and that alone might be worth watching.

With a 10-5 record, Cleveland trails Baltimore by two games in the AFC North and is holding the No. 5 seed in the playoff picture. A loss to the Jets wouldn't jeopardize the Browns' hold on a postseason berth much at all, but it could endanger that fifth seed and it would all but ruin whatever slim chances they have at winning the division.

Gang Green would love to help make that happen when both teams square off on Thursday night from Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

Kickoff will be on Thursday, Dec. 28 at 8:15 p.m. ET, and Amazon Prime will carry the streaming broadcast.

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