NFL Takeaways: Week 18
Photo from The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
And with that, the NFL regular season is over.
And week 18 gave us a little bit of everything.
From close games to determine playoff seeding, to complete and utter abject disasters of games that were forgotten about as soon as they happened.
Buccaneers beat Panthers 16-14
The Bucs had an absolute tail spin to finish the season, needing to beat the Panthers and also get help from the Saints to head to the postseason.
And even though they won on Saturday, they still didn’t look good at all.
In fact, they won in large part because of the Panthers ineptitude in key spots.
So maybe it’s a good thing that they didn’t get the help they need and will not make the playoffs.
But as of now, Todd Bowles still has a job.
Which is a weird call, in my opinion.
Seahawks defeat 49ers 13-3
The score makes this look a lot closer than it was.
The Seahawks defense completely shut down the 49ers offense all game long, and the offense moved the ball at will.
The problem is, the Seahawks had their regular red zone woes, leading to a turnover on downs inside the 5, and two missed field goals.
If it was a one off, it’d be one thing.
But this has been a problem all year.
It may sink them.
Falcons defeat Saints 19-17
Only the Falcons could win four straight games, finish 8-9, somehow be tied for first in the NFC South, but actually finish 3rd and end up firing their coach and general manager.
What an amazing franchise.
Browns defeat Bengals 20-18
There was absolutely no reason for the Bengals to lose this game.
But turnovers are turnovers, and the Bengals costly giveaways gifted the Browns 14 points.
It can’t happen at this level.
Vikings defeat Packers 16-3
This was supposed to be a good chance for J.J. McCarthy to go into the offseason with some momentum.
Instead, a hurt hand meant he couldn’t play through the full game.
His availability is becoming a big, big issue for Minnesota.
And his level of play hasn’t shown enough to be worth the headaches.
Giants defeat Cowboys 34-17
The Giants were an absolute tire fire, and then right at the end of the year, turned it up to win back to back games and hurt their draft position.
Great work, guys.
Jaguars defeat Titans 41-7
The Jags could have rested starters after a certain point, but chose not to.
They wanted to get into the playoffs red hot, and they did so.
Watch out for them come playoff time.
Texans defeat Colts 38-30
The Texans did rest their starters after seeing the Titans winning by a landslide, but still pulled out a win to get the five seed and head to Pittsburgh instead of Jacksonville.
This could have been a very costly loss.
Bills defeat Jets 35-8
Congratulations to the New York Jets!
They became the first team since 1933 to finish the year without getting one single interception!
Hooray!
Lions defeat Bears 19-16
Was this the same Bears offense we saw close the game out against the Packers? Or dominate the Niners?
It sure didn’t look like it.
And by the time they showed up, it was too little too late.
But they avoided total disaster.
Commanders defeat Eagles 24-17
Because the Eagles rested starters and lost to the Commanders, meaning the Bears stay the two seed and the Eagles the three seed.
Does that matter? Eh. I’ll leave that for you to decide.
But if they face off in Chicago a few weekends from now, and Philly loses, remember this one.
Broncos defeat Chargers 19-3
I just can not get moved by the Broncos, despite their 14-3 record.
They just don’t look right.
Struggling to move the ball against the Chargers backups? No bueno.
Raiders defeat Chiefs 14-12
This game sucked, BUT it did save my bacon in the pick em league I’m in with my wife so that we didn’t lose any ground.
That’s something!
Rams defeat Cardinals 37-20
People have said that the Rams threw the ball a lot to get Stafford into the MVP lead again which A. I don’t buy and B. Isn’t the reason they threw a lot.
They threw a lot because they needed to.
The Cardinals offense was moving the ball on them easily in the third quarter. The Rams needed to pull away to clinch the 5 seed.
Patriots defeat Dolphins 38-10
The Pats went in, took care of business, and got out.
No drama.
Steelers defeat Ravens 26-24
And now, the big story of the weekend.
First, the Steelers, who went into this game with one slightly healthy good receiver and still decided the best course of action was to have a pass heavy Aaron Rodgers game.
That’s how little respect they had for the Ravens defense.
And they were dead on the money.
As for the Ravens, the year that began with one of the best running backs in NFL history fumbling away a big lead ended with a rookie kicker missing a borderline chip shot, and another two blown 4th quarter leads.
A year from hell, and maybe the end of an era in Baltimore.
