Tragic, sad, terrifying. All of these adjectives could be used to describe what the world saw on Monday night when what was expected to be one of the biggest games of the year between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, was suspended and eventually postponed after Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. As many football fans have grown accustomed to seeing injured players lay on the ground and eventually get off the field, this sadly felt like “just” another delay in the game at first. As the minutes ticked away, the Cincinnati crowd grew silent, and Joe Buck became more and more solemn, it was obvious that this was something far more serious than ever seen on an NFL field before. Buck eventually announced that Hamlin had received CPR and the telecast showed an ambulance on the field with players from both teams visually distraught. This was no longer about an AFC number one seed or which team was playing better football. It was strictly a matter of life and death.
Hamlin was eventually transported to a nearby hospital and both teams were apparently given five minutes to warm up and clear their heads before picking up the game where it left off (something the NFL has denied). Head Coaches for both teams, Sean McDermott and Zac Taylor, met with eachother at midfield and after a short discussion, led both of their teams back into the locker room. After 45 minutes of game suspension, the NFL officially declared that the game would be called off.
There’s no doubt the magnitude of this game likely made things difficult, but the fact that it took nearly an hour after the players had left the field to officially announce this game was cancelled is absurd. Unfortunately, we’ve grown too familiar with getting injured players off the field and moving on to the next play. If something so traumatizing were to happen in a football game again, I’d hope the NFL would make the correct decision more promptly.
Hamlin’s health is still very much in question. Reports were that he was able to retain a heartbeat, vitals were normal, and he was put to sleep with a breathing tube. His last reported medical status was that he was still in critical condition. Football players, coaches, organizations, fans, and people around the world have come together to show support for Hamlin, a reminder that most people still identify that at the end of the day these phenomenal athletes are still human. My thoughts are with Damar Hamlin, his family, the Buffalo Bills, and the rest of the NFL family.
Let’s also identify the medical professionals and first responders who without question have at least given Hamlin a fighting chance with their quick response on Monday evening. It’s a reminder of the differences those in the medical field are making each and every day. Saving lives, each and every day.
*Much of the takeaways from this week was written prior to the Cincinnati-Buffalo game even began. Although there is additional content on this blog post, let me be the first to say that all of this is inferior compared to the health and safety of Damar Hamlin. The most important thing written on this post were in the five previous paragraphs.
Green Bay Obliterates Minnesota, Earns Win-and-In Game
Just a month ago, the Green Bay Packers were 4-8 and any chance of a postseason looked out of reach. Green Bay would’ve needed a lot of teams in front of them in the NFC standings to lose and win their final five games of the regular season for any chance at changing that outcome. Well, those other NFC teams started losing games and the Packers have now won four straight, including a 41-17 domination over Minnesota this weekend.
Most of Green Bay’s domination came from the special teams and defensive unit. The Packers jumped out to a 14-3 first quarter lead after a 105 yard kickoff return by Keisean Nixon and a 75 yard interception return by Darnell Savage. After that, the floodgates were open as the Green Bay defense shut down the Vikings on the way to a 27-3 halftime lead.
Minnesota and Green Bay broke even on points in the second half, but the Vikings’ two touchdowns came in garbage time on their final two drives of the game. Minnesota’s loss became their fourth of the season, all by double digits, which continues to paint them under a questionable light as to how good they truly are.
Green Bay is now only a home win over the Detroit Lions in the final week of the season from clinching a once seemingly unrealistic playoff spot. It is still hard to determine just what this Green Bay team is. The defense has improved in recent weeks and is back to being the identity of this team as a takeaway machine. The offense still has quite a few questions. Christian Watson has had a couple big games, but is getting perhaps a bit too much hype as a rookie. The Packers offense plays best when Aaron Jones is the focal point, but there are still games in which he gets the ball less than ten times. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t shown any return to his MVP self. Rodgers isn’t playing bad, but no where near the level we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing him. The win over the Vikings is the most dominant we’ve seen Green Bay this season, but considering Minnesota has it’s own questions, it’s possible that Green Bay is good enough to be a playoff team, but not good enough to be an actual NFC contender.
If Green Bay takes care of business against Detroit, they will likely play the San Francisco 49ers on Wild Card weekend, a year after they were upset and eliminated by them in the divisional round. The Packers entire season sample size may not be enough to prove to this person that they can hang with a Niners team that is playing better than just about any team, but a Green Bay team on a five game winning streak could pose an interesting matchup for a team quarterbacked by a seventh round rookie.
New York Football Relevancy Returns with Giants Playoff Berth
In a season in which New York saw both the Giants and Jets make large strides, the Giants will be the only one joining in the postseason fun. The Giants punched their ticket in dominating fashion with a 38-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts in front of their home fans.
Brian Daboll’s team was perceived to be fraudulent for much of the year, but New York survived an NFC East that will provide three playoff teams, more than any other division in football. Daboll has brought in a system that has continued to showcase Saquon Barkley, but also make Daniel Jones an asset.
Jones, a free agent after this season because the Giants didn’t give him a fifth year option, may now be a “must sign” player. He has continued to use his ability to run with the football, but has also improved as a passer to become a legitimate dual threat quarterback. Considering the Giants season has been much better than their front office realistically expected, they likely won’t be in the position to select a top quarterback prospect in the upcoming draft. Jones likely made himself quite a bit of money this season.
New York will be locked into the sixth seed in the NFC and is currently lined up to play a Minnesota team who they just played in Week 16, losing on a walk off 61 yard field goal. Considering the top heavy talent in the NFC, a matchup against the Vikings is likely the opponent the Giants would prefer to face. An already successful season could line up with a real potential to find the Giants reaching the NFC Divisional round.
Miami Continues to Sink, Losing Another Quarterback and Fifth Game in a Row
Few teams have had a season of extreme highs and lows like the Miami Dolphins in 2022. After falling to New England this week in a game that would at least temporarily give the winner possession of the final AFC playoff spot, the Dolphins are in the middle of one of their extreme lows. The 23-21 loss to the Patriots marks their fifth straight loss and has them now needing to win their final regular game against the New York Jets and needing the Patriots to lose to Buffalo for the Dolphins to reach the playoffs.
Five weeks ago, this Miami team had convinced most football followers that they were without a doubt one of the elite six or seven teams in the NFL. Now the Dolphins are on the verge of missing a postseason that one time felt almost certain. The Dolphins have been a team of streaks this season. They opened the season on a surprising 3-0 start, would lose their next three games, then win five in a row, leading to their current five game losing streak.
Much of the Dolphins difficulties have come with the very concerning concussions Tua Tagovailoa has experienced this season and their inability to get nearly the same production with Teddy Bridgewater or Skylar Thompson at the helm. With Tua healthy, his chemistry with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle has produced one of the most electric offenses in the league. With Bridgewater, the Dolphins offense has been less electric, but serviceable. As expected with a third string quarterback, the Dolphins have struggled when needing Thompson to step in.
Bridgewater dislocated his finger in the Patriots game, which forced him off the field for the remainder of the contest. Whether he is able to start against the Jets in the regular season finale could be a big factor in Miami’s hopes to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. New York has dealt with their own quarterback struggles that drove their season off the tracks, but the Jets do still possess one of the league’s best defenses and one that may overwhelming for Thompson to face. Bridgewater has at least played in big games and is an above average back up quarterback in the league.
As a football fan, most fans who aren’t cheering for another team competing for the AFC playoffs would love to see this Dolphins team in the playoffs. The upside Miami provides, especially if Tagovailoa was ever able to return, is higher than any other potential playoff hopeful and could provide additional chaos that makes the NFL playoffs so enjoyable. Unfortunately for Miami, but to benefit of Tua’s health, his return is unlikely and shutting him down is the right move. If that’s the case, the Dolphins season is a near guarantee to end much sooner than they would’ve originally expected.
The Best of the Worst: Tampa Wins NFC South
Football fans are rejoicing everywhere now that we no longer need to pay any more attention to the NFC South. Tampa Bay erased a 21-10 fourth quarter deficit in route to a 30-24 win and a second consecutive division title.
It wasn’t pretty, much like most of the Tampa Bay season, but the Bucs were able to win the weakest division in football once again thanks in large part to big time performances by Tom Brady and Mike Evans. Brady threw for 432 yards and three touchdowns while Evans was on the receiving end of each touchdown and 207 of those yards.
Barring a Philadelphia loss to a New York Giants team that has no reason to play starters, Tampa Bay will almost certainly be hosting the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card. Considering Tampa Bay is likely only in the playoffs due to the fact they benefited playing in their division and has an extremely one dimensional offense that hasn’t shown any improvement in the run game, Dallas will likely be road favorites. Tom Brady may still be the Bucs’ quarterback and they may still have many of the offensive weapons and defensive cornerstones of their Super Bowl team from only two years ago, but this team will need to make their validation through a playoff run after a very underwhelming season.
Post Week 17 Question
Who ultimately takes the final available playoff spots?
Let’s start in the NFC. The three teams that have a chance to clinch the final playoff spot are Green Bay, Seattle, and Detroit. Here are the situations that would need to take place in order for each team to claim that final postseason spot:
Green Bay: Win at home against Detroit
Detroit: Win on the road against Green Bay, Seattle loses at home to Los Angeles Rams
Seattle: Win at home against Los Angeles, Green Bay loses at home to Detroit
First off, the NFL did Seattle dirty by flexing the Green Bay/Detroit game to Sunday night when Seattle is playing in the mid afternoon group of games. These three teams should be playing at the exact same time and the fact that they aren’t is an absolute joke. Hypothetically, Seattle could defeat Los Angeles and Detroit wouldn’t have anything to play for except pride as they would be eliminated. This isn’t that hard, NFL schedule makers.
Unfortunately for Detroit, I do believe Seattle will get the win over Los Angeles to knock Detroit out. Fortunately for Seattle, I don’t think Dan Campbell’s team will just mail in their season finale. I’d expect the Lions to play hard no matter the situation and attempt to play a big spoiler in a division rival’s postseason hopes. Detroit is good enough to beat Green Bay at Lambeau. To the disappointment of Seahawks fans’ I think the Lions fall just short. I think the Packers win their fifth straight game and snag the final playoff spot.
The AFC is a bit more complicated. There is of course the AFC South play-in game featuring Tennessee and Jacksonville for the division title. If Jacksonville wins, Tennessee’s season is over, but if the Titans win, Jacksonville could still claim the final wild card spot. The other (and likely more realistic) final wild card possibilities are New England, Miami, and Pittsburgh. I believe that Jacksonville defeats a Josh Dobbs quarterbacked Titans team and wins the AFC South so with that in mind, here are the possible ways the other three teams can clinch that final wild card spot:
New England: Win on road against Buffalo
Miami: Win at home against the New York Jets, New England loses to Buffalo
Pittsburgh: Win at home against Cleveland, New England loses to Buffalo, Miami loses to New York
There is a legitimate possibility that all three of these teams lose and New England clinches by default, or Jacksonville claims that spot if they lose to Tennessee. The Patriots losing to Buffalo seems like the most obvious game outcome of all so that gives Miami a chance to end their five game losing streak and clinch a playoff spot.
I believe that Pittsburgh is playing good football and they will defeat an already eliminated Cleveland team so in my mind it’s dependent on whose playing quarterback for Miami to determine whether the Dolphins or Steelers will play in the postseason. It’s a near guarantee that Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t play. I think if Teddy Bridgewater can start after dislocating his finger in Week 17, Miami will get it done, but if the Dolphins need to rely on Skylar Thompson, the Jets defense might be too much to overcome.
Without knowing much now in regards to Bridgewater’s injury progress, I’ll predict he plays through injury, the Dolphins win, and clinch the AFC’s final playoff spot.
“Everybody Loves to Hate-read Power Rankings so Go Ahead and Hate-read” Power Rankings
- Buffalo Bills (12-3)
- Kansas City Chiefs (13-3)
- Cincinnati Bengals (11-4)
- San Francisco 49ers (12-4)
- Philadelphia Eagles (13-3)
- Dallas Cowboys (12–4)
- Los Angeles Chargers (10-6)
- Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
- Minnesota Vikings (12-4)
- New York Giants (9-6-1)
- Green Bay Packers (8-8)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8)
- Detroit Lions (8-8)
- Miami Dolphins (8-8)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-8)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8)
- Seattle Seahawks (8-8)
- New England Patriots (8-8)
- Tennessee Titans (7-9)
- Washington Commanders (7-8-1)
- New York Jets (7-9)
- New Orleans Saints (7-9)
- Cleveland Browns (7-9)
- Carolina Panthers (6-10)
- Las Vegas Raiders (6-10)
- Los Angeles Rams (5-11)
- Atlanta Falcons (6-10)
- Arizona Cardinals (4-12)
- Indianapolis Colts (4-11-1)
- Denver Broncos (4-12)
- Chicago Bears (3-13)
- Houston Texans (2-13-1)
Week 18 Game Watchability Rankings
16. Texans vs Colts: In the final weekend of the regular season with several meaningless football games, Houston and Indianapolis win the title for worst game. The end of this season can’t come soon enough for both teams. Bryce Young watch begins for Houston.
15. Panthers vs Saints: With Tampa Bay now winning the NFC South and these divisional games being meaningless, we no longer need make believe any form of excitement for the worst division in football.
14. Buccaneers vs Falcons: Read the previous breakdown for Panthers vs Saints.
13. Giants vs Eagles: New York is locked into the second wild card spot in the NFC and won’t have any reason to play their starters. Philadelphia will need to win to ensure they hold off Dallas and clinch the NFC’s top seed and a first round bye. Had this game held any importance for the Giants, this game would’ve been much higher on the list.
12. Vikings vs Bears: When Minnesota loses, they usually lose in a flaming, explosive car crash type of way. With Minnesota coming off an embarrassing road loss to Green Bay that likely cost them a top two seed, the Vikings will look to clean up the pieces in their regular season finale against Chicago. Considering Minnesota would need an unlikely San Francisco loss to move back into the #2 seed, does it make sense for the the Vikes to sit their starters against the Bears?
11. Cardinals vs 49ers: San Francisco might be the best team in football, but this Arizona team won’t do much in validating that any more. This has nothing to do with the Niners, but everything to do with the Cardinals being one of the worst teams in the NFL. San Francisco does have an unlikely chance that they could earn the top NFC seed with an Eagles loss, but it seems the red hot Niners will be locked into the #2 seed.
10. Cowboys vs Commanders: It’s too bad that the Commanders pissed down their leg in the final weeks of the season because this could’ve been a fun game. Washington has been eliminated so there is nothing to gain for them. Although Dallas has the slightest chance to win the NFC East, I don’t see Philadelphia losing to a New York Giants team that has no reason to risk players health as they are locked into the sixth seed. This game likely ends up holding no weight for any postseason picture.
9. Chiefs vs Raiders: For now, Kansas City sits at the top of the AFC. There’s no telling how the postponement of the Buffalo/Cincinnati game will come into play. One would assume that Kansas City will still need to play starters in this game to ensure they hold that top ranking. Las Vegas gave the Chiefs a run for their money earlier in the season, but that’s the tale of the Raiders’ season. Can a non-Derek Carr Raiders team get it done against the AFC West champs?
8. Chargers vs Broncos: The fifth seed in the AFC is a coveted spot as that team will face either Jacksonville or Tennessee in the opening playoff round as opposed to Buffalo, Kansas City, Cincinnati, or Baltimore. Denver’s defense can make things difficult, but this Chargers team that has played much better lately with improved health should be able to earn the win and prepare for their AFC South opponent. Denver, just be relieved this season is nearing its end.
7. Rams vs Seahawks: Seattle needs a win over Los Angeles and then some help from Detroit. The Seahawks should be able to earn a home win against this Rams team, but a Detroit win in a must win game at Lambeau Field won’t be easy. One in a number of games that are ranked higher based on stakes as opposed to quality of both teams.
6. Jets vs Dolphins: New York’s improvement in 2022 will end in disappointing fashion after missing the playoffs once again. The Jets have not played a postseason game since 2010. They will have an opportunity to prevent one division rival in Miami from also reaching the playoffs. With Teddy Bridgewater exiting Week 17’s game, the Dolphins may need to put their postseason hopes in the hands of third stringer Skylar Thompson. A season with some extreme highs may not be able to overcome the loss of Tua Tagovailoa.
5. Browns vs Steelers: T.J. Watt has completely transformed the Pittsburgh defense into a machine since returning from injury. The Steelers have won five of six games and are one win away from continuing Mike Tomlin’s streak of coaching winning teams his entire career. A Steelers win also gets Pittsburgh in the playoffs with losses to Miami and New England, both feasible outcomes. Cleveland may be eliminated, but this AFC North showdown should have a decent blend of playoff stakes and longtime rivalry animosity.
4. Patriots vs Bills: All of Buffalo attention and thoughts are with Damar Hamlin right now, understandably so. We have no idea how the NFL will plan to handle the remaining schedule of games. Will Buffalo play this game? Will they play Cincinnati? It doesn’t matter right now. Many things in life are larger than sports and the health of Hamlin is without a doubt one of those things. If this game does happen, it will play a big factor in NFL seeding and what teams clinch the final playoff spot. All we can do now is wait to see what happens.
3. Ravens vs Bengals: With the postponement of the Bengals-Bills game, there are still questions as to what happens with he AFC North. Had the game finished with a Cincinnati win, the Bengals would have clinched their division. Had they lost, this game would’ve been for the division title. As it stands, we don’t know how everything will shake out. That being said, if this game does happen it will be a game between division rivals with a potential division title on the line and just possibly, a Wild Card preview.
2. Titans vs Jaguars: The winner takes the AFC South title. This seemed liked a Tennessee lock about a month ago, but the Titans went cold and Jacksonville starting putting wins together. There is still a possibility that both teams could make the playoffs, but it would require quite a bit to happen. The only reason this game isn’t number one is because the top game features two teams that are more enjoyable to watch right now.
1. Lions vs Packers: After a dominating victory over Minnesota, Green Bay has now put them into a win-and-in position for the final playoff spot in the NFC. Detroit’s playoff chances are also still alive, but it would require a win and Seattle loss. Even if the Lions were to miss the playoffs, a win to end a division rivals’ season would put an emphatic end to a season of major improvement.