Week 17 should be wild one
has largely been an abomination. Still, kudos to Tomlin and crew.
THE BROWNS SOMEHOW DISAPPOINT MORE THAN IN THEIR 0-16 SEASON
Cleveland finished with a worse record in their first year under Freddie Kitchens than they did with a mixture of Hue Jackson and Gregg Williams.
When the Browns traded for Odell Beckham Jr., they looked poised to have a dominant offense sooner rather than later. Baker Mayfield, Beckham, Jarvis Landry, and Nick Chubb should have been unstoppable.
Kitchens was in over his head and Mayfield regressed after showing incredible promise toward the end of the 2018 season. Obviously, the Browns didn’t finish winless, as they did in 2017, but this team had expectations. For the first time in a long time, Browns fans had a reason to believe in a potential playoff berth.
Instead, they showed that they were still the Browns.
RYAN TANNEHILL TURNS INTO A FIRST-BALLOT HALL OF FAMER
Anyone who says they saw this coming is a damn liar. Statistically, Tannehill is having arguably the best passing season in the league less than a year after it appeared that his career as a starter was over.
Tannehill has unlocked a moribund Titans offense that looked mostly dead in the water under Marcus Mariota. Tannehill hasn’t established himself as the Titans’ definite starter of the future, but the fact that it’s even a plausible conversation to have is outrageous.
ROOKIE QUARTERBACKS POP UP EVERYWHERE
A handful of rookie quarterbacks got significant playing time this season. Arizona’s Kyler Murray and the Giants’ Daniel Jones started the vast majority of the year. Washington’s Dwayne Haskins played a few games before his season was cut short during his best performance of the year against the Giants. Gardner Minshew started most of the season in Jacksonville as a sixth-round pick and even Drew Lock got to start games in Denver.
The NFL is headed toward a new age of quarterbacks. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, and Philip Rivers will all likely be gone in the next few years. Even Aaron Rodgers has declined to a degree, although he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
It was encouraging to see that there are young quarterbacks who at least look capable of keeping play at a watchable level in the future. That doesn’t even include non-rookies like Mahomes, Watson, Carson Wentz, Prescott, and Jackson.
The quarterback position looks to be in good hands for a long time.
Six teams are still fighting for three important spots to ease their path to the Super Bowl.
While 10 teams have clinched playoff spots entering Week 17, only the Ravens (13-2) have earned a firstround bye. The Ravens secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed for the first time in franchise history.
New England (12-3) and Kansas City (11-4) are battling for the No. 2 spot.
In the NFC, the top two seeds are still up for grabs. San Francisco (12-3), Green Bay (12-3), New Orleans (12-3) and Seattle (11-4) have chances to clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
No team has reached the Super Bowl without a first-round bye since the 2012 Ravens. Eighteen of the last 25 Super Bowl champions have been either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed.
The 2010 Packers were the last wild-card team to advance to the Super Bowl.
Over the last 25 years, 39 of the 50 teams that played in the Super Bowl were either a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed. There were 13 No. 2 seeds, two No. 3 seeds, six No. 4 seeds, one No. 5 seed and two No. 6 seeds.
Here’s a look inside more numbers entering the final week of the regular season:
RUNNING RAVENS: Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram have the Ravens on the verge of breaking the league’s single-season rushing record. The Ravens have 3,073 yards rushing. The 1978 Patriots had 3,165 and 1973 Bills had 3,088.
Jackson (1,206) and Ingram (1,018) are the seventh teammates with 1,000-yard seasons and first since Carolina’s Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams in 2009.
RECORD BREAKER: Saints receiver Michael Thomas already broke Marvin Harrison’s record for receptions in a season. Harrison had 143 in 2002. Thomas has 145. Thomas has more yards receiving (5,475) in his first four seasons than anyone in league history.
PASSING SWEETNESS: Redskins running back Adrian Peterson rushed for his 111th career touchdown, moving past Walter Payton into fourth place on the all-time list. Marcus Allen is third with 123.
FASTER THAN JERRY: Falcons receiver Julio Jones reached 12,000 yards receiving in his 125th game, fastest in league history. Jerry Rice is second. He needed 142 games to do it.