With no more Monday night games, the 2021 NFL regular season is officially over. We know the playoff teams and the top half of the draft order. Sunday’s matchups brought plenty of drama and heartbreak for fanbases praying their teams could secure one of the remaining three playoff spots entering the weekend. Let’s recap the meaningful games.
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NFL Playoff Picture
Tennessee secured the top seed in the AFC with a win against Houston. Kansas City is second, followed by Buffalo (third) and Cincinnati (fourth). The Chiefs beat Denver on Saturday while Buffalo secured the AFC East title with a narrow win against the Jets. The Titans have a bye week to get Derrick Henry healthy and back in action.
Las Vegas winning on Sunday night boosted the Raiders to the fifth seed. New England is sixth, and Pittsburgh has the final wild card.
Green Bay already had the NFC’s top seed locked up heading into Week 18. Tampa Bay claimed the second seed with a win against Carolina. The Cowboys locked up third place, and Los Angeles fell to fourth after an overtime loss. Arizona (11-6), San Francisco (10-7), and Philadelphia (9-8) are the wild card teams.
Indianapolis Colts Carson Wentz and Jonathan Taylor.
Jaguars play spoiler to Colts
Indianapolis dropped its seventh straight game in Jacksonville. The Colts had a win-and-in playoff situation, but an inexplicable collapse put Frank Reich’s team out of the playoff picture. Jacksonville won 26-11.
After weeks of misery, Trevor Lawrence unleashed arguably his best performance of the season.
Jacksonville’s defense played out of its mind. In a near repeat of the performance against Buffalo earlier this season, the defense had six sacks, intercepted a pass, and recovered a quarterback strip-sack.
The Jaguars clinched the top pick in the 2022 NFL Draft despite beating Indianapolis because Detroit defeated Green Bay.
Before continuing with the NFL Week 18 review, let’s check out the upcoming action across the league.
Ben Roethlisberger delays retirement
The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated their hated rival Ravens in overtime in Baltimore. The win pushed Mike Tomlin’s team to 9-7-1 and secured a playoff bid for Roethlisberger. Only a tie between Las Angeles and Los Vegas could’ve barred Pittsburgh from the postseason.
The 16-13 contest ended in a Chris Boswell overtime winner. Both defenses played well, but Pittsburgh made a few more big plays. T.J. Watt tied Michael Strahan’s NFL
single-season sack record with 22.5. Cameron Heyward also contributed a sack, and the Steelers intercepted Tyler Huntley twice.
The loss eliminated Baltimore from the playoffs.
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San Francisco punches its playoff ticket
The 49ers and Saints entered the weekend as the only teams playing for the final NFC wild card. New Orleans overcame as much as any NFL team this year and capped off their season with a 30-20 win over Atlanta. That put all of the pressure on the 49ers. A loss to Sean McVay and the Rams meant elimination.
Fortunately, Deebo Samuel made several great plays on offense to cover for two Jimmy Garoppolo interceptions. The defense also hounded Matthew Stafford, sacking him five times and forcing two interceptions. The latter of those two picks came on the final play of overtime as rookie third-rounder Ambry Thomas sealed the season for San Francisco.
The Chargers came within three points of the playoffs.
Go rewatch the Raiders vs. Chargers game
Seriously, it’s worth taking another look at the Sunday Night Football showdown that almost ended in a tie. Had overtime expired before Las Vegas and Daniel Carlson nailed a 47-yard field goal, the Steelers wouldn’t have made the playoffs. However, Rich Bisaccia’s decision to play for the win secured postseason bids for his team and Pittsburgh. The Chargers are the ultimate losers in this situation.
The game was tied at 29 apiece entering overtime and tied again at 32-32 before the last-second field goal ended it. That’s an instant classic, even if the Raiders and Steelers get blown out in the Wild Card Round.
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