With roughly a month left to go in the NFL regular season, teams have either begun to plan for the playoffs, or start to map out their offseason. Many teams have exceeded expectations during the first 14 weeks of the season, with teams like the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs dominating their respective conferences and sitting at the very top of the playoff bracket. On the other hand, Several teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders have underperformed significantly, focusing their season more on the draft in order to rebuild for the future. With such varying degrees of success across the league, each team has something that they want this holiday season, ranging from a deep playoff run to organizational changes with the chance of shifting their future. Arguably, three teams that us New York citizens are likely to be very familiar with are at the very top of Santa's list. 

The Buffalo Bills have a very simple yet big gift on their wishlist this holiday season, which is to take the Lombardi trophy to Buffalo for the first time in their team's history. Buffalo currently sits at 10-2, and are still well in the mix for the top seed in the AFC with the Kansas City chiefs. Additionally, Buffalo has already clinched the AFC East title for the 5th season in a row, further establishing themselves as a dominant and consistent team during the regular season. However, winning in the regular season has only resulted in playoff collapse for the Bills, who have only made it to the AFC championship game once in the past 5 seasons of winning their division. 3 of their 5 recent playoff losses have also been to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, once in the championship round and twice in the divisional round. Therefore, a super bowl appearance, especially a win, would ease lots of the frustration that Buffalo Fans have had to endure in the postseason as of late. Also, this would cross them off the list of teams who have never won a superbowl in NFL history. 

The New York Jets have a very different wishlist this holiday season. The Jets have been one of the most disappointing teams in football this year. They entered the year with superbowl aspirations and expectations, proceeding to flop to a 3-9 record and one game out of dead last in the AFC East. Numerous attempts to save their sinking season were made such as trading for All-Pro wide receiver and likely future hall of famer Davante Adams from the Raiders to reunite with Aaron Rodgers in October. The Jets gave up a minimal conditional third round pick to acquire Adams from Las Vegas. However, this pick could become a second round pick if Adams was selected to the first or second all pro teams or made an appearance in a deep playoff run. This move was made hoping to stimulate some chemistry between veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his wide receiver room, while also bringing new life to a disappointing Jets offense. Additionally, this move came right after the Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh, also hoping that this move would be able to turn their team around following a 2-4 start. Instead of stimulating a championship run following these changes, the jets have gone 1-5 since, with Adams only producing 31 catches for 344 receiving yards during that span. While Adams' production is not abysmal thus far, the dysfunctional nature of the Jets offense and their collapse led to the firing of general manager Joe Douglas. On paper, the Jets have a stacked roster with star studded talent on both sides of the ball. However, the rebuild that was supposed to be completed by bringing in Rodgers has only aroused more questions than answers in the Jets organization. Therefore, the Jets want answers as well as a sense of direction, as it is uncertain if they should stay with the roster they have amidst the disappointing 2024 season, or tear everything down and rebuild. 

Lastly, the New York Giants, similar to the Jets, are a team that has had an underwhelming 2024 season and has their eyes more on the future. New York’s old plan for the future completely backfired this season as they benched, and later ended up releasing, who they believed to be their franchise quarterback in Daniel Jones. Instead of locking up star running back Saquon Barkley for years to come, the Giants front office decided to pay Jones, giving him a 4 year contract worth 40 million dollars in yearly value. Jones led the Giants to a playoff win in 2022 over the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild card round but since then his team has slowly collapsed when they were expected to take several steps forward. Lack of improvement paired with Saquon Barkley's dominance for the Philadelphia Eagles, their division rival, has both the Giants front office and their coaching staff under heavy fire from the fanbase. Therefore, the Giants are desperately seeking a new sense of direction at the quarterback position, and holding the #1 pick in the draft would allow them to possibly land their new franchise guy. 

All in all, this holiday season will be hectic for teams all across the league, wishing for opportunities and players that will enhance their playoff push or allow them to plan ahead for the future. Teams like the Buffalo Bills have the perfect opportunity to finally raise the Lombardi trophy, whereas other teams like the Giants and Jets will use the holidays to figure out what comes next. No matter what team you root for, the future is bright, with the choices that are made at the end of this NFL season having effects in 2025 and even beyond.