There’s always a little nervousness heading into these Week 18 games – who’s playing, and for how long? Drake Maye, most notably, had knocked around last week and has a hand injury, creating speculation that the Patriots might pull him early or even not put play him at all.
Joe Milton (who made a couple splash plays in the preseason), got some reps with the first-unit offense on Wednesday. That doesn’t normally happen. But offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt says Maye will start, and that the Patriots will be playing to win.
With Green Bay, some believe the Packers will or should hold out some players, resting up for he playoffs. But Matt LaFleur says he regrets pulling players at halftime of a Week 18 game three years ago, and that it won’t be happening.
I tend to think that the “rest players” angle is overblown, particularly with teams that have been eliminated from playoff consideration. There will be a very teams adjusting playing time at some positions, but for most teams, it will be business as usual, trying to close the season with a win.
Below, see the quarterbacking numbers from Week 18 last year. Five teams (in bold) plugged in new starters to rest up for the playoffs, and none were surprises. Jalen Hurts hurt a finger in Week 18, leaving just before halftime. Five other teams put backup quarterbacks on the field to mop up games with 1-4 pass attemps, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Note, by the way, that none of the five fill-in quarterbacks last year passed for 190 yards. Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Wentz: these are not guys you should be trying to sneak into your lineup.
| WEEK 18 QUARTERBACKS FROM LAST YEAR | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
| Nick Mullens, Min. | at Det. | L 20-30 | 30 | 44 | 396 | 2 | 2 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | at Mia. | W 21-14 | 30 | 38 | 359 | 2 | 2 |
| Jared Goff, Det. | Min. | W 30-20 | 23 | 32 | 320 | 2 | 0 |
| Jordan Love, G.B. | Chi. | W 17-9 | 27 | 32 | 316 | 2 | 0 |
| Tyrod Taylor, NYG | Phil. | W 27-10 | 23 | 32 | 297 | 1 | 1 |
| Desmond Ridder, Atl. | at N.O. | L 17-48 | 22 | 30 | 291 | 2 | 1 |
| Trevor Lawrence, Jac. | at Ten. | L 20-28 | 29 | 43 | 280 | 2 | 2 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | at Was. | W 38-10 | 31 | 36 | 279 | 4 | 1 |
| Jarrett Stidham, Den. | at L.V. | L 14-27 | 20 | 34 | 272 | 1 | 1 |
| C.J. Stroud, Hou. | at Ind. | W 23-19 | 20 | 26 | 264 | 2 | 0 |
| Derek Carr, N.O. | Atl. | W 48-17 | 22 | 28 | 264 | 4 | 0 |
| Kyler Murray, Ari. | Sea. | L 20-21 | 22 | 30 | 262 | 1 | 0 |
| Easton Stick, LAC | K.C. | L 12-13 | 28 | 47 | 258 | 0 | 0 |
| Aidan O'Connell, L.V. | Den. | W 27-14 | 20 | 31 | 244 | 2 | 0 |
| Geno Smith, Sea. | at Ari. | W 21-20 | 16 | 28 | 189 | 2 | 0 |
| Sam Darnold, S.F. | LAR | L 20-21 | 16 | 26 | 189 | 1 | 0 |
| Tua Tagovailoa, Mia. | Buff. | L 14-21 | 17 | 27 | 173 | 1 | 2 |
| Ryan Tannehill, Ten. | Jac. | W 28-20 | 17 | 26 | 168 | 2 | 1 |
| Jeff Driskel, Cle. | at Cin. | L 14-31 | 13 | 26 | 166 | 2 | 2 |
| Carson Wentz, LAR | at S.F. | W 21-20 | 17 | 24 | 163 | 2 | 1 |
| Jake Browning, Cin. | Cle. | W 31-14 | 18 | 24 | 156 | 3 | 1 |
| Blaine Gabbert, K.C. | at LAC | W 13-12 | 15 | 30 | 154 | 0 | 1 |
| Sam Howell, Was. | Dall. | L 10-38 | 19 | 27 | 153 | 1 | 2 |
| Mason Rudolph, Pitt. | at Balt. | W 17-10 | 18 | 20 | 152 | 1 | 0 |
| Justin Fields, Chi. | at G.B. | L 9-17 | 11 | 16 | 148 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Mariota, Phil. (dns) | at NYG | L 10-27 | 13 | 20 | 148 | 1 | 1 |
| Tyler Huntley, Balt. | Pitt. | L 10-17 | 15 | 28 | 146 | 1 | 0 |
| Gardner Minshew, Ind. | Hou. | L 19-23 | 13 | 24 | 141 | 0 | 0 |
| Baker Mayfield, T.B. | at Car. | W 9-0 | 20 | 32 | 137 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryce Young, Car. | T.B. | L 0-9 | 11 | 18 | 94 | 0 | 0 |
| Bailey Zappe, N.E. | NYJ | L 3-17 | 12 | 30 | 88 | 0 | 2 |
| Trevor Siemian, NYJ | at N.E. | W 17-3 | 8 | 20 | 70 | 0 | 0 |
| Jalen Hurts, Phil. | at NYG | L 10-27 | 7 | 16 | 55 | 0 | 1 |
| Cooper Rush, Dall. (dns) | at Was. | W 38-10 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Logan Woodside, Atl. (dns) | at N.O. | L 17-48 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 0 | 1 |
| AJ McCarron, Cin. (dns) | Cle. | W 31-14 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Tommy DeVito, NYG (dns) | Phil. | W 27-10 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo, L.V. (dns) | Den. | W 27-14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan