Regular season comes to an end in dramatic fashion, almost wiping away the memory of the bad Sunday of football that came before it. Almost. A quick goodbye to NFL 2025, and then on to the playoffs.
Carolina at Tampa Bay: About as expected, lower-scoring, not very pretty to watch on offense, and ultimately fairly meaningless since Carolina got in as division champ even after losing. Bucs presumably bummed about not getting in, but they're also aware that they had a pretty lousy half-season to reach this point. No notable fantasy performers in this game, a nice touchdown by Jalen Coker I guess. Anything can happen but it would be a surprise if the Panthers didn't make a quick exit from the postseason.
Seattle at San Francisco: Betting the unders was the way to go on these games. Played in some rain but defenses were ruling regardless, plus a couple of missed kicks. Neither quarterback really shined in this one; Seattle defense did and its running backs did too. Wonder if we'll get this matchup again in a couple or three weeks; a case can be made that the three best teams in the NFC playoffs all come out of the West.
New Orleans at Atlanta: Got reeled in to this pretty entertaining game, with the Saints seemingly embarking on a game-winning drive in the final five minutes when Tyler Shough threw an interception that basically sealed the win. In fairness to Shough, he was short a wide receiving corps, making things kind of difficult. A great catch along the way by Juwan Johnson, though his game wasn't as huge as you might have hoped for. Arguably the two best teams in the division at the end of the season were playing in this game.
Cleveland at Cincinnati: Myles Garrett got his sack, thank heavens. The Favre-Strahan thing never really sat well with me and I'm glad it's out of the record book. Was also nice to see Cleveland make the clutch field goal at the end to win it, so Garrett and the Browns go out with a win and (reportedly) Kevin Stefanski too. All I can say on Stefanski is, well, two things. One, I guess Coach of the Year doesn't get you much leeway (and he won the thing twice), but I imagine he won't be unemployed long if he wants to work. And second, it feels like there are problems with the Browns that go a little beyond management of players and games, perhaps roster building and such.
Indianapolis at Houston: Pretty entertaining game, kudos to Riley Leonard, Alec Pierce and the Colts for making it so even though Jonathan Taylor had a quiet game and the Texans are a lot better at this point. Houston played it straight, aside from making Nico Collins a healthy scratch, and got its win. All kinds of outcomes seem possible for Houston this postseason; a defense that can maybe win some games on its own, an offense seemingly doing it with mirrors at times. They could use a better offensive line and running game, that's for sure.
Tennessee at Jacksonville: This game was a laugher, although it seemed like it was going to be a game until Cam Ward scrambled for a touchdown but was concussed on the play and didn't return. Not that they were going to win, but maybe it would have been a little more competitive. Good numbers for the Jags passing game, particularly Parker Washington, I saw him getting shaken up late and am not sure if he returned, Jacksonville needs him right now so hopefully for their fortunes. Nice game for Brenton Strange, too. Jaguars going to be a problem for someone in the playoffs, I think.
Green Bay at Minnesota: Lol. Justin Jefferson got his 1,000-yard season, Jordan Mason had a good day running it but they let C.J. Ham punch in the touchdown. Two of Green Bay's leading receivers in this game were guys I've literally never heard of, I'm not that embarrassed to admit. Weird moment early with J.J. McCarthy getting into it at the sidelines with a Packers defender who seemed to supply a pretty routine and mild hit. McCarthy, I don't know about this guy. If you're getting more attention for sideline outbursts and weird personality traits than on-field play, it's not a good thing.
Dallas at N.Y. Giants: Tyrone Tracy had a big game, both Dallas running backs scored, Dallas lifted starters early, a reminder of why Week 18 is a terrible week to have fantasy championships. There was some chippiness between the teams at times which will presumably be forgotten by the time they face each other again. Oh, Gunner Olszewski had the first 100-yard receiving game of his seven-year career. It was in fact the first 40-yard receiving game of his seven-year career. So that's fun.
N.Y. Jets at Buffalo: Bills lifted starters early and still blew out the Jets, who have shall we say a lot of work to do this offseason. Apparently they're moving forward with Aaron Glenn for whatever reason, I guess because they're paying him the next few years regardless. But most teams as godawful in all areas as the Jets were don't sign up for another year of the head coach. Bills open at Jacksonville and maybe were quietly hoping they'd lose, but were playing the wrong team for that to happen. Huge game for Ray Davis, hope people unfortunate enough to be playing had him in their lineup. Jets did not do quite as well with Kene Nwangwu and Khalil Herbert.
Detroit at Chicago:Lions came to play as expected, especially banged-up Amon-Ra St. Brown, the guy is a gamer. Chicago lost but it ended up not meaning anything because the Eagles did too. Maybe Chicago would rather have not played the Packers in the first round? Just speculating. Big game for Colston Loveland on the Bears side, hopefully he saves some of it for next week.
L.A. Chargers at Denver: Maybe Denver would rather have had a more resounding win than this 4 field goal, defensive touchdown yawner over a bunch of Chargers backups. Perhaps their numerous ugly wins over modest teams will fire them up in the playoffs. Whatever, they get next week off and it's worth it in a highly competitive playoff field where two of the best teams (I think) are facing each other next week (Bills and Jaguars). Denver got some field goal practice and came through it healthy, while the Chargers are going to have to hope their first team can play a lot better if they don't want to get blown out up in Foxborough. CBS had its A team announcing this game for some reason, but I guess their options weren't great.
Cardinals at Rams: Entertaining with some offense; at this point I'm not going to be surprised if Jacoby Brissett is Arizona's Week 1 starter. Why not? It's the defense that needs the most work, and maybe keeping a running back healthy for a season. Rams started out slow but were clicking late, I am aware they lost to Carolina not too long ago but I'll make the Rams moving into the second round my Lock of the Week (and I'm sure everyone else will too, and the Panthers will use it as motivation, but that's not going to make a difference in the outcome). Nice game for future MVP Matthew Stafford.
Kansas City at Las Vegas: In the interests of keeping an audience, I will not spend any time discussing this eyesore.
Miami at New England: Patriots running backs were great in this game, both of them. Awfully tempting to think they'll pull out the same approach against the Chargers a week from now, the Jaguars did it to LA not too long ago. Miami's offense was predictably overmatched.
Washington at Philadelphia: Philadelphia held out a lot of starters and managed to lose this one, it would seem they would have been better off winning and hosting Green Bay rather than San Francisco, but perhaps they didn't care that much. DeVonta Smith was the only starter to play much for Philly, perhaps because he needed 44 yards for 1,000 (he got 52). Tank Bigsby had a nice game as expected, and Washington gets a worse draft pick which thinking about it I'm not certain they're still in possession of anyway. Lots of rebuilding to do in Washington, despite having a young franchise quarterback (cause they don't have much else).
Baltimore at Pittsburgh: This was a typical Ravens-Steelers slugfest for three quarters, suggesting the 20-17 game we so often get. And then it was a wild fourth quarter, with each team seemingly winning the game along the way. I always feel bad when a kicker misses at the end, moreso in college because these are just kids, but Loop isn't far from that, and I know he probably got a ton of heat online and such. Since the Ravens had a timeout left I think they maybe could have tried one more play to get 10 yards closer, granted that kick was so wide it wouldn't have been good regardless, but you know. A 44-yard field goal at that stadium isn't automatic. But an entertaining game and several over bets worked out, rare when these teams meet up.
So that's a wrap on the season, and the fantasy season, hope it was a good one for you. Playoffs start soon and we'll be talking about that all week and all month, beginning with our Playoff ReDrafter later this afternoon. Good luck in your playoff comps and there will be lots to say as we go.