Tales Of The Week – Week 17 Edition (2018 NFL Season)
By: Tyrone Montgomery Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: Darrell Owens-LMS Network
This was the final week of the regular season in the NFL. No more Monday Night Football. Thursday Night Football is over too, which has been surprisingly good this season. As the regular season ends, the Buccaneers and Jets have already fired their coaches. The Cardinals will relieve their head coach too. Tampa Bay has confirmed they will bring Jameis Winston back. But what about Eli Manning in New York? Tannehill in Miami? Andy Dalton in Cincinnati and Blake Bortles in Jacksonville? A lot of teams have tough decisions to make this offseason. One team that will have a stressful offseason is the Oakland/Vegas Raiders. Where will they play at next season? Their stadium isn’t quite ready just yet. Is Jon Gruden the right man for the job? The Redskins had an up and down season, but it only went down due to injuries. Is Jay Gruden’s job secure? It’s not his fault the Redskins had the most players on IR the last 2 season (2017-18: 27, 2018-19: 24). What’s going to happen in Green Bay? Who will be the head coach next season? What to do with Aaron Rodgers? And then there’s the teams that were on the brink. Is Marcus Mariota’s injury history going to force him out of Tennessee? What happens now In Pittsburgh? Where will Leveon Bell go?
The Cleveland Browns were amazing this season. Baker Mayfield surprised us all. Could that be a possible destination for Bell? The last week of the regular season definitely proved to be one for the record books. Kansas City Chiefs QB Pat Mahomes joined some good company in being the 3rd QB to throw 50 TD’s in a single season (Peyton Manning & Tom Brady). Baker Mayfield broke the single Rookie Season TD Record with 27 Passing TD’s this season. One thing that was of interest this week is that every game this week was a divisional matchup. This was sure to shape the playoff matchups. So here’s what we got…
Our Playoff Matchups are:
NFC
Philadelphia Eagles (6) @ Chicago Bears (3)
Seattle Seahawks (5) @ Dallas Cowboys (4)
New Orleans Saints (1) – Bye (Will Face Lowest Seed)
LA Rams (2) – Bye (Will Face Highest Seed)
AFC
Indianapolis Colts (6) @ Houston Texans (3)
LA Chargers (5) @ Baltimore Ravens (4)
Kansas City Chiefs (1) – Will Face Lowest Seed (Bye)
New England Patriots (2) – Will Face Highest Seed (Bye)
I’m sticking with my Super Bowl Prediction. I have the New England Patriots taking on the New Orleans Saints. They say defense wins championships. But another thing that wins championships is experience. Sean Peyton and Bill Belichick both have experience in these situations. They’ve won on the highest level before. They’ve been here and done that already. They will take advantage of the inexperience of these teams in the playoffs and meet for what may very well be both Tom Brady’s and Drew Brees last games in the NFL. Of course, the NFL is full of surprises. Don’t be surprised if The Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks represent their respected conferences this year in the Super Bowl too now. Russell Wilson, the forgotten MVP has his Seahawks clicking at just the right time. And Houston is probably the most balanced team in the playoffs this year on both sides of the football. They NFL Playoffs are sure to get interesting. So i suggest, get your popcorn ready.
