This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! It’s free kick Friday. While You Were Sleeping: Little-used rule boosts Chargers Last night’s 34-27 Chargers win over the Broncos featured two ingredients for a great football game:  1.

This is huge in terms of the AFC playoff picture. The Broncos and Chargers are the #6 and #7 seeds, respectively. While Los Angeles has a two-game lead with three games remaining for the last playoff spot,

This is a must-win game for the Chargers as they try to keep pace with the Broncos in the AFC playoff race. Los Angeles is currently the seventh seed with an 8-6 record. However,

The Los Angeles Chargers took advantage of one of the most obscure rules in the NFL rule book on Thursday night when they successfully converted a fair-catch free kick during their 34-27 win over the Denver Broncos.

Chargers' Cameron Dicker made a rare fair-catch free-kick field goal from 57 yards out, the longest in NFL history. Only seven free kicks have been successful in the league.

No big surprises on the New Orleans Saints’ final injury report, but a few stars were ruled out ahead of Monday Night Football with the Green Bay Packers:

The New Orleans Saints (5-9) will attempt to prove oddsmakers wrong when they square off against the Green Bay Packers (10-4) on Monday, December 23, 2024 as an overwhelming 14-point underdog.NFL