Hats off to the also-rans and loser teams that played hard and gave us some entertaining football yesterday. Around 4 p.m. Eastern there were 4 different games coming down to a last-minute drive, and in only one of those were both teams in contention. Plenty of drama and heartbreak on the field, just like in lots of fantasy Super Bowls. And hey, 2 out of 3 on Saturday, too.
Bucs at Lions: If you blinked you missed the competitive part of this game. Turns out the Lions not having a coaching staff and then losing their quarterback in the first quarter was a negative. Congratulations if you started any key Bucs. Evidence that starting motivated offensive players against a horrible defense works out well. Bucs will almost certainly rest players in Week 17, no matter what they say.
49ers at Cardinals: The flip side is that sometimes teams with everything to play for seem to sleepwalk against a team actually interested in playing spoiler. Arizona coming out flat with a playoff spot on the line was one of the bigger surprises of Week 16. Some debate over whether Christian Kirk could have broken up a late interception. I'm stuck on another, earlier end-zone play involving Kirk where he short-armed one (yes, he was going to get blown up by a defender). Hard to find any Cardinals covering themselves in glory in this one, but both Kyler Murray and Kirk stood out as not coming up big. Huge game for Jeff Wilson, congrats if you started him (I was lukewarm on him Saturday, apologies).
Dolphins at Raiders: Not many words for this one. A few thoughts though. One, settling for a field goal while leaving enough time on the clock to lose on a field goal is indefensible. Jon Gruden defended the move afterward; he's wrong. Score the touchdown so you can only lose on a Hail Mary, period. I've also seen Brian Flores getting praise for the switch to Ryan Fitzpatrick. He shouldn't have benched him in the first place! C'mon people. Huge game for Myles Gaskin, with the Las Vegas defense playing well only until Tua Tagovailoa was benched. How this team beat Kansas City and New Orleans this season is one of the mysteries of the year.
Colts at Steelers: This was a shocker, with the Colts dominating the first half every which way but seemingly forgetting how well they were running the ball and letting the Steelers roar back to win. It happened even while they got stopped four times on 1st and goal from 1 while trailing 24-7. In the second half it was the Colts looking like the undisciplined and mistake-prone team, with some drops, some Philip Rivers miscues and missed throws, and a whole lot of near-misses. And not enough running. It was particularly noteworthy, to me anyway, that neither defense made many big plays. Seemed like Rivers was going to lead a game-winning drive at the end but it wasn't to be. Entertaining game that might end up being a playoff rematch, if the suddenly out of the playoffs Colts get some help next week.
Falcons at Kansas City: On the bright side, this was also a down-to-the-wire thriller. The letdown was that Kansas City's offense didn't do nearly enough, with Patrick Mahomes struggling and fortunate not to throw a couple more picks, including one that would have ended the game. Against the 30th-ranked pass defense. Had Kansas City lost, they'd have still been playing starters next week. Now we won't see those guys until the second round of the playoffs. Late, surprising 39-yard miss by Younghoe Koo in an otherwise great year, good numbers in defeat for Matt Ryan, good games for both Calvin Ridley, natch, and Hayden Hurst, with a touchdown on a shovel pass. Travis Kelce breaks the tight end receiving record that was set by George Kittle way back in 2018. Haven't seen the snap counts yet but I know Darrel Williams had nearly twice as many touches and fantasy points as LeVeon Bell.
Bears at Jaguars: A game with no surprises so there's nothing to discuss. Bears have a chance to sneak into the playoffs on the league's easiest closing schedule (until Green Bay next week anyway), Jaguars have locked up the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The only possible reason I can think of for Jacksonville starting Mike Glennon is this one was to lower their odds of winning the game. Decent game out of Dare Ogunbowale for those who picked him up and started him; keep him around if you've got a meaningful game in Week 17.
Bengals at Texans: High-scoring thriller. The latest players to take advantage of Houston's non-existent run defense were Giovani Bernard and Samaje Perine, neither of whom will necessarily be on the roster a year from now. Big game also for Brandin Cooks, as expected, and David Johnson, who's been great when healthy and when Houston isn't doing stupid things like taking him off the field for a passing downs back that isn't as good as him, in passing situations or anything else. Deshaun Watson shaken up on a late hit (got his hand stuck in a Bengal helmet), hopefully OK. Good game for Tee Higgins and while we're at it Brandon Allen, one game after Ryan Finley led the upset of the Steelers. Houston defense makes players looks good.
Giants at Ravens: Ravens moved the ball methodically down the field for a touchdown on their first possession, using up half the quarter, then scored again the second time they got the ball. It was game over after that, with some nice garbage-time stuff late from Daniel Jones, Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard. Giants were in great shape to win the division two weeks ago. The last two weeks in a pair of blowout losses they've reminded everyone that they're not very good. Ravens haven't been great this year but just maybe they're peaking at the right time.
Browns at Jets: Browns didn't have their top 4 wideouts, but possibly the bigger issue was the two linemen they were down. The running game struggled, the defense didn't make enough plays -- inches from a sack, fumble, defensive touchdown that was ruled an incomplete pass, not that that helps anyone -- and they were playing catchup throughout. Are the Jets saving Adam Gase's job? Do they want to? Both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt scored and Austin Hooper had a good day, so at least those guys didn't kill you even with the running game struggling, though obviously you were hoping for more. Big game for Jamison Crowder, would have had a really nice year if he and Sam Darnold had been healthy throughout.
Panthers at Washington: Great week for Dwayne Haskins. First there was the whole strip club without a mask thing, getting stripped (no pun intended) of the captaincy (he was a team captain?), and then a lousy game that suddenly puts Washington in a must-win situation next week to make it to the playoffs and get crushed by the top wildcard team, I suppose Tampa Bay. Anyway, Washington needs to get Alex Smith back next week to win, which is an alarming statement in itself.
Broncos at Chargers: If Jerry Jeudy becomes an NFL star one day, this is the game that will be looked on as one where he bottomed out. Some of us can remember Terrell Owens struggling with drops early in his career, including much of the '98 playoff game against the Packers that ended with him catching the winning touchdown. Jeudy dropped a touchdown in this one, another long pass on Denver's final, desperation drive, and at least 2 other passes during the game. It was like he forgot how to use his hands, and this after being critical of Drew Lock on social media recently. Anyway, rough game for him and Lock (the drops weren't the only issues with his game), good one for Noah Fant and Austin Ekeler. Mike Williams also dropped a touchdown in this game (tough catch but a great throw).
Eagles at Cowboys: How the turntable turns. Kind of figured Philadelphia would be all over Dallas in this one. Instead the Cowboys withstood a couple of early blows and a deficit, then came roaring back with a lopsided win. Eagles are toast, Dallas can win the division next week with a win over the Giants and a Washington loss (to these Eagles, which isn't ideal, but still). Big game for CeeDee Lamb, workhorse game for Ezekiel Elliott (thanks for the great week Tony Pollard, back to sidekick duties), and a particularly big performance by Andy Dalton, who you just know has Dallas thinking they can maybe get away without paying Dak Prescott now. Decent fantasy days from Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders, while DeSean Jackson must have heard me scoffing at him doing anything since he snuck free for an 81-yard touchdown early on. Dallas hopes Eagles have one more big performance in them.
Rams at Seahawks: Disappointing offensive showings on both sides, as several of their recent games have been. Seattle's defense not a joke these days, while Jared Goff and the Rams were struggling even before Goff injured his thumb on a helmet but continued to play through it (but might not be available in Week 17). Seattle passing game didn't do a lot but Russell Wilson finished with decent fantasy numbers anyway. No one else did.
Titans at Packers: Looking at the forecast for this one late last week, it said there'd be less than an inch of snow. Maybe that was correct, but it sure looked like a blizzard. Maybe Davante Adams blended in with the snow? Only explanation for how wide open he was time and again in this game. Packers put up their usual huge numbers, including the breakout game from A.J. Dillon and more Aaron Rodgers and Adams. Game wound up being fairly meaningless for Tennessee, which clinches the South by beating Houston next week. Surprisingly, Green Bay still needs to win in Chicago next week to clinch the top seed in the NFC; good news for Arizona, bad news for the Bears.
Monday, Monday: This game is interesting to me to see how much seeding is important to Buffalo, since there will be several games of this type next week -- Pittsburgh, having won the AFC North, would help the Colts by beating Cleveland, but will the 2 versus 3 seed be important to them? Hard to say. I think the Bills will play this one to win, but I'm not confident we're going to see peak Josh Allen running around taking hits, either. Anyway, the Patriots are playing only for pride and I'm not sure we'll see them being overly interested in the proceedings (and no one seems to be sure who the quarterback will be). Bills 24, Patriots 17.