Week 18 Thoughts
Damn you Baltimore
Somewhere in the evening on Sunday this was the feeling in the group.
The ‘it’ in question being a WIN FOR BROTHER.
Please insert the sound of victorious trumpets and other celebratory noises here*
It only took the entire season but finally the boy’s name appears in the records alone.
Congrats kiddo.
To the games.
Panthers 14 Buccaneers 16. Has there ever been a more NFC South game? The Bucs won the game to give themselves a chance to make the playoffs at 8-9. That only tied them with the Panthers who fell to 8-9 and, despite the loss, also had a chance to win the division depending on the result of the Falcons Saints game. It’s malpractice one of these teams makes the playoffs and I, like the rest of the world and my brother in particular, think the Rams are going to bludgeon them.
Seahawks 13 49ers 3. Admittedly not really sure what to make of this game. I suppose it confirms the Seahawks team is a wagon. To keep this Niners offense, banged up though it may be, to only three points is certainly an impressive performance. However, and I know he won, once again Sam Darnold failed to impress in a big spot. We saw San Fran’s defense get utterly torched by the Bears in their last game yet we couldn’t get one touchdown from Sam. The good news is, unlike last year, he won and so the NFC playoffs go through Seattle.
Colts 30 Texans 38. This game makes me a bit nervous about Wild Card Weekend. Like another team, who I can’t wait to get to, it looks to me like Houston played all their starters. I will readily admit I don’t know this Texans team very well and so I could be very very wrong. My point is, if that is the case, giving up 30 points to this Colts teams is concerning. More concerning is the Colts led with two and a half minutes to go. Now a win is a win but I was certain I would pick the Texans over the AFC North team, now I’m not so sure.
Browns 20 Bengals 18. Justin Herbet probably called Joe Burrow after this game and said two words. “Kickers amiright”. Myles Garrett got the one sack he needed to break the record which is really cool but other than that there’s nothing interesting about this game. Actually, Zac Taylor saying he’s going to bring back his entire staff is pretty interesting. To every Bengals fan out there, my sympathies. This team may kill Joe Burrow figuratively. They may literally kill my Dad.
Saints 17 Falcons 19. The equally most NFC South game. You will notice with this win the Falcons ALSO got to 8-9, making them tied for the division lead. Mind you Atlanta was eliminated from playoff contention in Week 14. That was, and this is true, LITERALLY A MONTH AGO. But wait, there’s more. Remember how I said the Panthers made the playoffs despite losing to the Bucs. Yup, that happened because the Falcons won this game. It is an afront to sensibility an NFC South team made the playoffs. In fact, the NFL should punished these three ridiculous teams and put the Saints in instead.
Packers 3 Vikings 16. One team tried. The other didn’t.
Titans 7 Jaguars 41. The weekly bad team plays good team game.
Cowboys 17 Giants 34. The perfect end to another perfect pair of seasons from these two. An embarrassing loss to an embarrassing team for the Cowboys and a win that makes the Giants’ draft pick worse. What more could you ask for.
Cardinals 20 Rams 37. The result we all saw coming, but I don’t think many Rams fans were pleased when the Cardinals took the lead with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. The good news for LA is they are getting healthy and they are playing the Panthers in the first round so I expect they will be fine. Cardinals fans just gotta hope and pray all three NFC West teams lose.
Chiefs 12 Raiders 14. Any game where a safety is the difference is an ugly game. No, that’s not fair. In a 33-35 game it’s not. In a 12-14 game it 100% is. The Raiders have since parted ways with Pete Carroll and the Chiefs must be so happy the season is done.
Commanders 24 Eagles 17. Like the Packers the Eagles clearly didn’t care about this game and I can understand why. History says their offense works enough in big games and this season says their defense is elite. That’s very good at home and it travels well too.
Dolphins 10 Patriots 38. I asked for the Dolphins to share in the Jets experience from last week and oh buddy did the Patriots oblige me. Last week it was on the arm of Drake Maye, this week it was by the legs of Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson and Maye. That’s not to say the QB was bad with his arm. 14/18 for 191 yards and a TD. Number two seed in the bag. It feels great to route bad division teams again. Long Maye it continue. (See what I did there).
Lions 19 Bears 16. There’s a bit on the Rich Eisen show called ‘Higher Register’ where they ask a question and really stress the end of said question at the top of their vocal range. So please read in such fashion. “Are the Bears on Fraud Watch?????????” Sure it’s probably an overreaction, and yes it’s more something I want than the reality but, they didn’t rest anybody. And they were down two touchdowns to a Detroit team with nothing to play for. They did their typical fourth quarter thing and… they still lost. Something to think about. Also, this game along with the Chiefs game secured the wins for my brother. Finally picked the Bears and this is how they repay me.
Chargers 3 Broncos 19. My brother picked the Chargers and I waited until the game started to tell him Herbert wasn’t playing so maybe me losing was Karma. Fair enough. Nothing really to see here, the Chargers rested everybody and head to new England for Sunday night. The Broncos get to kick their feet up and wait.
Jets 8 Bills 35. Here are two fun things to tell you just how bad this Jets team is. The Bills quarterback threw four touchdowns in this name. His name is not Josh Allen. They let Mitch Trubisky, formerly of those Chicago Bears, walk all over them. Worse yet, they dropped a certain interception which would’ve their first of the season. Not the Jets player, the Jets team. That hasn’t happened 1933. Neither of my mother’s parents were born and my grandfather turns 92 in June. Prayers for my coworker. It’s not going to get better man.
Ravens 24 Steelers 26. If I was a gambling man I would’ve lost my house, so sure was i the Ravens would win this game. That itself is painful enough. More so is now I have to acknowledge the Steelers. I’ve called them frauds all year and in that fourth quarter they tried to hard to prove me right. Unfortunately the Ravens are also try hards, but they are actually try harders. The truly horrifying thing is, as I mentioned earlier, I was going to be every penny on the Texans (again if I was into that sort of thing) but now I’m being forced to think about it. No, I don’t respect the Steelers, but a dome team playing a night game in the cold, in Pittsburgh with that crowd? Much thinking to do.
That wraps up this regular season and gives the crown, much to our collective despair, to the Steelers and to my mother.
We’re trying to figure out what to do for the playoffs predictions wise. Mother was thinking all the way to the big game but I’d prefer week by week. I was going to give you our Wild Card Weekend predictions but I’m writing this so late so we’ll try for the Divisional round.
I think I’m going Pats>Chargers, Jags>Bills, and Texans>Steelers in the AFC and Packers>Bears, Eagles>Niners and Rams>Panthers in the NFC.
But I will confirm all of that come next week.