NFL Week 17 Recap: Resolutions

The penultimate week of the NFL season always manages to deliver the amazing moments, and this year was no exception. Since this is New Year's Eve, I thought I would deviate from the usual format of picking the top story of the week, and going from the beginning of the week to the end. A countdown, if you will.

First off, the Thursday Night Football season finale between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. Major congratulations to the Browns; they absolutely beat down the Jets in dominant fashion, a 37-20 score, to clinch a playoff spot in front of their home crowd. Since the Browns returned to play back in 1999, this is only their third playoff appearance. They reached the playoffs in 2002 and wouldn't make it back until 2020. This was a huge win and a huge night for Cleveland, and the city sure deserves it.

After that, it was the Saturday Night game between the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys; the Lions' first game since winning their first division title in 30 years. It was a close game all around, but unfortunately, the talk of the game is the two-point conversion that wasn't. After scoring a touchdown to cut the game to one, Dan Campbell decided to go for the win with a two-pointer. The ball was thrown to Taylor Decker, an offensive linesman, and connected for the score. One problem: Decker didn't report as an eligible receiver, though some footage stated that he did. So Detroit was penalized, and they decide to go for two again, this time from the 7-yard line. It's no good, but offsides on Dallas keeps things alive. They go for it again. Pass is dropped, Cowboys win 20-19. Honestly, I say Campbell should have kicked the extra point after that first one failed via penalty.

Ten games filled up Sunday's early window, with one of them seeing the Baltimore Ravens absolutely blast the Miami Dolphins, 56-19! Yeah, 56 points. It's not 70, but Miami now knows what it feels like. Lamar Jackson threw for 321 yards and five touchdowns, while running for 35 yards. Baltimore has scored 89 points in their last two games! So the win not only gave the Ravens the AFC North, they locked up the #1 seed as well. As for the Dolphins, they failed to lock up the AFC East, and thanks to the Buffalo Bills winning over the New England Patriots, they'll have to beat the Bills to get the division crown.

The Philadelphia Eagles have a serious problem. I honestly thought it was fixed when they won on Christmas; it was shaky, but they won it. They built up a 21-6 lead at halftime, but that's when the floodgates opened, and it wasn't good. I'm just going to be blunt: the Eagles blew it. The Cardinals pulled off a big time comeback, capped off by a James Conner touchdown. The Cards won, 35-31, and for the Eagles, they are now behind Dallas via tiebreaker. And with that, the San Francisco 49ers' 27-10 over the Washington Commanders means that the road in the NFC goes through Santa Clara.

The AFC South picture became interesting after the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Houston Texans all won. The Jags didn't have Trevor Lawrence, but it was no problem; a 26-0 win over the Carolina Panthers to keep hope alive. The Colts won 23-20 over the Las Vegas Raiders (eliminating the Raiders), and the Houston Texans won, 26-3, over the Tennessee Titans. So all three teams are tied at 9-7, but the Jags control their own destiny. The Jags can win the South with a victory, or a tie and HOU/IND ending tied. If the Jags lose, they are out of the division race, as the winner of Texans/Colts takes the division, with Colts also winning the division of the game ends tied in that scenario.

As for the NFC South...wow! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers only needed a win to take the division, but the New Orleans Saints had other plays. They completely dismantled the Bucs and put thing on hold for another week, and elsewhere, the Atlanta Falcons were trounced by the Chicago Bears (I never thought I'd say this, but thank you, Bears!). Despite falling to 7-9, the Falcons can actually win the NFC South, but they need a win and for the Bucs to lose to the two-win Panthers (impossible, yes, but crazy shit happens in the final week). The Bucs can still get the South with a win, but if they lose, the winner of ATL/NO wins the South, with a tie also giving the division to the Saints.

It wasn't easy, but the Los Angeles Rams defeated the New York Giants, 26-25, and when the Pittsburgh Steelers won over the Seattle Seahawks in the late window, the Rams became playoff bound. It didn't look like the Rams would be in the playoffs; it looked like we'd see another disappointing season two years after winning the Super Bowl. However, the Rams won games left and right at the right time, and they are now part of the big dance. As for the Steelers, their win keeps hope alive for them, while it also clinches yet another winning season for head coach Mike Tomlin. He's 17-for-17. Just amazing!

Speaking of things not coming easy, the Kansas City Chiefs locked up the AFC West for the eighth straight season. It was an uphill battle, though; it looked like the Cincinnati Bengals would beat the Chiefs yet again in their recent history, but KC pulled a rabbit out of their hats at the right time; something they're quite good at. Elsewhere, the Denver Broncos won their first game after announcing that Russell Wilson will be benched for the season, but all that got them was consolation. KC's win eliminated not only the Broncos from playoff contention, but also the Bengals. The numbers are thinning.

The final NFL game of the 2023 calendar year was an NFC North battle between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. Now, this was not an elimination game; only the Packers could be eliminated with a loss, while a loss would really screw up things for the Vikings. The only thing I expected was a close game. It was not close, but to my happiness, it was the Packers doing the drubbing. Everything was going right, and I mean everything! Jordan Love was on fire! The defense was taking away the ball! A 23-3 halftime lead for the Packers that led to a QB change for the Vikings. It didn't matter. The Packers won, 33-10, and with that win, we are above the playoff line. Green Bay is above the playoff line with one week left! And we completely control our own destiny next week. Plain and simple: we win, we're in!

Week 17 was absolutely awesome as hell, and the stage is set for an epic finale! Week 18 kicks off with a pair of Saturday games, both in the AFC playoff picture. The Baltimore Ravens will host the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts facing each other for (possibly) the AFC South crown. The remaining 14 games will take place on Sunday, with the regular season ending with the AFC East Division Championship battle between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins.

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