It was a highly eventful Week 17 in the NFL with plenty of drama across the 16 games as a number of teams saw their playoff fate sealed for better or worse.
Some teams like Denver already decided to move on to the offseason while others have gone down swinging.
Let’s review all of the action from Week 17 with our five big takeaways.
1 – Protect the Ball
It took almost the whole season for the “it’s not fair” brigade to jump on their soapboxes and wax lyrical over one of the more divisive rules in the NFL.
For those who might be new to the sport, when a ball carrier fumbles the ball through the end zone and it goes out of bounds, the defence gets the ball on their own 20.
CeeDee Lamb was the latest victim of this rule, fumbling in a great tackle from Kindle Vildor and the ball bounced over the goal line and over the sideline, giving the Lions possession and the touchback.
Within microseconds of the officials waving their arms up and down, Twitter, or whatever the hell it’s called now was blowing up with complaints that this was the “worst rule in sports” (got to love the hyperbole).
There are elements of their argument that make sense, but it ignores one critical factor, the ultimate goal for an offence is to get the ball in the end zone and score six points.
If a ball carrier wants to play it fast and loose with possession as he nears the goal line, that’s a risk he is willing to accept.
Most of the time these fumbles come when a player is diving for the pylon at full stretch to try and get the ball over the line before a defender forces the fumble with some contact.
If you don’t like the idea of punishing the ball carrier for losing the ball (and in turn benefitting the defence), then there are other points in favour of leaving the rule as is.
Defence has been on the wrong end of just about every rule change in the last 20 years going back to Bill Polian of the Colts asking for more illegal contact penalties because his high flying offence got roughed up in the playoffs.
Sure that non touchdown for Lamb might have ruined a few fantasy championships but it’s ok in the grand scheme of things to have a couple of rules that benefit the defence (and punish the offence for being a bit careless).
2 – The Refs spared Dan Campbell and Mike McCarthy
It felt like that fumble call was going to be the big talking point out of that Lions-Cowboys game until the final five minutes happened.
Pretty much all of the outrage has been focused on the officiating crew for their poor handling of the Lions’ first two point conversion and the two happiest guys in the stadium were the head coaches.
Both had major mistakes that have kind of gone under the radar as a result of the eligible/ineligible kerfuffle.
Let’s start with Mike McCarthy, who gave Detroit an unnecessary lifeline with a deep shot pass on second down out of the two minute warning.
It was a surprisingly aggressive decision and it gave Detroit an extra 40 seconds that turned out to be huge as they scored their last touchdown with 0:23 on the clock.
Had Detroit won the game, the “same old Cowboys” line would have been trotted out with that pass play the focus of the complaints.
But they didn’t and Dallas held on with a bit of help from Brad Allen and his officiating crew.
On the ESPN broadcast, Troy Aikman correctly predicted that Detroit would go for two if they found the end zone and nobody can say that decision runs counter to Dan Campbell’s philosophy.
His initial error did not come from that initial decision to go for two, but from trying to overcomplicate the setup with which linemen would be eligible to catch a pass.
That began a cacophony of errors where Campbell insisted on doubling down and trying to go for it from the seven yard line and again from the four after Micah Parsons lined up offside.
At some point, a coach needs to learn that sticking true to their philosophy is all well and good, but they have to know when to control that instinct to be aggressive and live to fight another day.
But let’s all focus on the refs who got confused in the moment and didn’t know which player reported as eligible…
3 – No QB should be MVP
The AP NFL MVP award is now just a prize for the quarterback that has had the best season and usually there is a standout candidate.
Even in the years when it’s a bit of a toss up, guys like Aaron Rodgers in 2020, Tom Brady in 2017 or Peyton Manning in 2009 had a good enough year that they were in the conversation and got it on reputation.
In 2023 though, the superstar quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen have been well below par and it would be a massive stretch to give it to him.
Lamar Jackson has the best case of any quarterback, setting a career high in passing yards with an efficient 24-7 touchdown to interception ratio while adding another 821 yards rushing and five scores on the ground.
In the Ravens 56-19 belting of the Miami Dolphins he went 18-21 for 321 yards and five touchdowns, and solidified his case.
However through 16 games, Jackson is not in the top 10 in passing yards and is tenth in passing touchdowns, not exactly MVP stats but in terms of overall impact of quarterbacks, nobody has been more pivotal for his team’s success at the quarterback position than Jackson.
But in a year when no quarterback has been head and shoulders above everyone else, it’s ok to look elsewhere for the award, and there is no shortage of candidates at other positions.
Christian McCaffrey is the leading non-QB contender winning the rushing title and scoring 21 total touchdowns while Tyreek Hill has put together a solid case in Miami (but probably won’t get the votes because of his off field history).
The last non-quarterback to win the MVP award was Adrian Peterson in 2012 and this is the year for that streak to come to an end… although if Jackson wins it you won’t be able to argue too strongly against it.
4 – New England has a real dilemma
For most of this season, New England has been a real afterthought and justifiably so because they have been awful.
Their Week 18 game against the Jets is not exactly the most exciting prospect either, but it could be significant for a couple of reasons, both of which set up a tough proposition for the Pats.
After 24 years in charge, it looks like this will be the end of the road for Bill Belichick with he and the team parting ways following his worst season as the team’s head coach.
His track record has kept him in the job throughout this season and is the only reason New England did not fire him on the way back from Germany.
But if the owners decide to move on, they would be well served to take a look at how a couple of Premier League clubs farewelled their iconic managers, announcing it ahead of time and changing the narrative.
After all, Belichick has a good record against the Jets and he could end his tenure with a win over the team he spurned to join New England over two decades ago.
The problem is, winning this game is not necessarily in the best interests of the Patriots long term future because it could hurt their draft status.
A loss would guarantee at least the third overall pick and likely the franchise quarterback they desperately need, while a win could drop them as low as seventh.
So now they have to decide on whether they want to send their coach out on a winning note or do what is best for the team long term.
5 – Flacco is fun
You could have come up with the top 150 storylines for the Cleveland Browns in 2023 and still been a long way off landing on 38 year old Joe Flacco being picked up midseason and guiding the team into the playoffs.
In only his fifth start of the season, Flacco has done just enough to give Cleveland some life on offence and compliment their all world defence.
Chances are the Browns are not going to go from the AFC’s fifth seed all the way to the Super Bowl, even if Flacco discovers his 2012 form, but they are going to be great to watch in the postseason.
And Joe Flacco is right there just doing his job and letting the stars of the team lead the way.