On paper, Netflix had great divisional matchups on Christmas Day for Week 17 when the season began.

Of course, the NFL season never goes as planned, and the three matchups scheduled for the holiday are not what anyone had planned.

The reason? Star quarterbacks won’t be playing in each game.

Christmas Day’s first kickoff will be an NFC East battle between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders, with both teams already eliminated from playoff contention.

And while Dak Prescott and company are looking to finish the season strong, the Commanders shut down Jayden Daniels, their second-year quarterback who led them to the NFC Championship Game in his rookie season just a year ago, after reaggravating his elbow injury.

In fact, the Commanders won’t even see Marcus Mariota, Daniels’ backup who has had to start eight games this season, as he’s dealing with an injury as well. It will be veteran Josh Johnson making the start in Landover, Maryland, on Christmas Day for a 4-11 Commanders squad that hoped to at least make the playoffs after a fantastic finish in 2024.

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“When you do circle those matchups, that’s exactly what you’re thinking: This is going to be cool. How it’s all laid out — division games right here at the end between two games of Philadelphia with a Dallas game in between,” Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said.

“Playing these division games, they still mean a lot.”

Unfortunately for both squads, it will only be for bragging rights.

In the 4:30 p.m. ET slate, the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, a storied NFC North rivalry, the home team in Minneapolis will be without its own second-year signal caller — J.J. McCarthy.

McCarthy suffered an injury in the win over the New York Giants last week, and it will be Max Brosmer having to start again for Kevin O’Connell’s group.

The Minnesota product’s first career start didn’t work out too well in Seattle, as the Seahawks had their way on defense against Brosmer. Perhaps a home crowd will do him and the Vikings’ offense better, but the Lions at least still have something to play for.

Detroit heads into this game following a tough loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where a game-winning touchdown was called back after Amon-Ra St. Brown was penalized for offensive pass interference, negating Jared Goff flying into the end zone after a pitch-back from the star receiver.

The Lions need to win their remaining two games, while also needing the Green Bay Packers to lose their last two games to secure the final NFC wild card spot.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest disappointment for Netflix, is the Kansas City Chiefs not having Patrick Mahomes on the field this holiday season.

Mahomes suffered a torn ACL, which he quickly had surgery to repair, following a loss that knocked them out of playoff contention two weeks ago. The Chiefs were hoping that his backup, Gardner Minshew, could finish out the season, but he tore his ACL last week in a loss to the Tennessee Titans.

That leaves USF alum Chris Oladokun, who filled in for Minshew last week, starting against Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos — a 12-3 squad who already clinched their playoff berth. Denver will still be playing hard, as they’re competing for the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC, which would ensure home games throughout the playoffs.

These games were supposed to be potential division/playoff clinching matchups, but the NFL and its fanbase will be hoping these games are not as lopsided as some believe they could turn out to be.

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Figuring out the purse for 34 of the 35 graded stakes races at Santa Anita is, for horsemen anyway, maddeningly simple: Just look up the minimum purse required in North America.

For a Grade 1 race, that’s $300,000. It drops to $200,000 for Grade 2 races and $100,000 for Grade 3s.

Even the one local exception, the Santa Anita Derby, pays “only” $500,000 after offering $750,000 from 2021-24. The current amount is half the purse on offer for the top 3-year-old races at Gulfstream Park (Florida Derby) and Fair Grounds (Louisiana Derby), and just one-third what Oaklawn Park pays for the Arkansas Derby.

Last year the Santa Anita Derby attracted only five entries, which reduced the number of Kentucky Derby qualifying points available in the race. That almost kept Baeza, who finished second to Journalism in the Arcadia race, from qualifying for the Derby (he made it in the field only after another horse was scratched and wound up placing third).

It’s the same story for older horses, where Gulfstream offers the $3-million Pegasus World Cup next month plus turf races for $1 million and $500,000. Oaklawn Park has a half-dozen races worth at least $500,000 (two at $1.25 million), and Fair Grounds has three between $250,000 and $500,000. No Grade 3 race at any of those tracks offers less than $150,000.

All of that makes it harder for Santa Anita to attract top horses from those states, which increase purses with money from slot machines or casinos, something not available to California tracks. Santa Anita, however, has hiked its purses this meeting for maiden and allowance races.

While football fans may enjoy some NFL football on Christmas Day, not all players share the same thoughts.

Detroit Lions star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown revealed on his “St. Brown Podcast” with his older brother, Equanimeous, that he isn’t a fan of having to work on the holidays.

The Lions, who play yearly on Thanksgiving Day, will play at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Minnesota Vikings on Christmas.

“The two biggest holidays I feel like in the United States, we played on both of them.” Amon-Ra told his brother.

“And I don’t even have kids yet. If I had kids, I’d be even more pissed. Like, you can’t be spending it with your family, get to see your kids open gifts. I feel like that’s something that a lot of parents love to see and can’t wait for.

“I don’t even like it, and I’m not even a f—ing father yet.”

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Playing for the Lions means Thanksgiving Day will always involve football, and Amon-Ra signed a four-year, $120 million extension last year. So, he understands Thanksgiving means work first before the feast.

But, as he said, both major holidays can be tough, especially for those fathers who want to be around their children and families.

It’s an added nuisance for Amon-Ra that the Lions also have to travel for the game.

“Us traveling, it’s like, damn,” he told his brother.

Amon-Ra is also dealing with a knee injury following the team’s tough loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. He was officially listed as questionable for the game, though he’s expected to play barring any pregame setback.

The Lions find themselves in a must-win situation in Week 17 if they want to make the playoffs. While Detroit needs to win their final two games, they also need the Green Bay Packers, their NFC North rivals, to lose their final two games to reach the playoffs.

The situation would’ve been different if the Lions hadn’t had Amon-Ra’s touchdown with 22 seconds left at Ford Field Sunday called back for offensive pass interference.

A few plays later, Amon-Ra was called for offensive pass interference on the final play of the game, when he was able to pitch it back to quarterback Jared Goff, who flew into the end zone for what Lions fans hoped was the game-winning score. Instead, the flag negated the touchdown and the game ended.

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