NFL Week 18: The triumph and tragedy
Love (and unease) was in the air in the final week of the season.
Last Monday, I was watching the final minutes of the Rose Bowl when announcer Kirk Herbstreit said something that struck me.
“This is the last time a lot of these guys will play a football game. And you start to — you miss your buddies. You miss the camaraderie. You miss the bus rides, you miss the locker room, you miss walking to class, hanging out — the stuff that has been such a big part of your life. It’s not just about the money or it’s not just about advancing. So many of these guys will be done playing, and it’s about the love for each other. And now that’s over, for the seniors.”
That sentiment — beautiful yet bittersweet — took on a different meaning shortly after, on the same channel but in another game, when Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and the football world rallied around him.
We’ve heard a lot in the past week about the football “brotherhood,” a concept I don’t think I’ve ever fully grasped until now. Despite my concerns about the sport in the aftermath of Hamlin’s injury, I can recognize that this sense of kinship is one of football’s strongest assets.
Most of us fans are not directly part of the NFL “brotherhood,” but we are part of its community. We rejoice in the triumphs together, and we commiserate with each other over the misfortunes. I think we all felt that love this week.
Even with the lingering unease in the air as teams returned to the field this weekend, there was more to celebrate around the league than I was expecting. It began on Sunday with the first touchdown of the afternoon: unbelievably, a Bills punt return on their first play after Hamlin’s incident, all while Hamlin shared his thoughts in real time.
I’m wary of being too “rah rah” here, since I don’t think any of us, the NFL most of all, should simply move on after a young man needed to be resuscitated on the field. But I acknowledge that life is short, and we need to appreciate the good moments when they come.
So on that note, here’s what I liked most about the NFL’s regular season finale.
The Lions keep the Packers out of the playoffs
When the NFL announced that Lions-Packers would close out the regular season on Sunday Night Football, some Seahawks fans were not happy. Their reasoning was that if Seattle beat the Rams earlier that day, then the Lions would already be eliminated from playoff contention before kickoff and therefore might not try as hard.
When I saw those complaints, all I could think was, “uh, do you know anything about Dan Campbell? Do you know anything about this rivalry?!”
In my mind, there was no way the Lions would do anything but play their butts off, whether the Seahawks won or not. After all, they could still thwart the Packers’ postseason hopes, and spite can be a powerful motivator:
I was right about that, even if I was wrong about my pick for the game. Because as much as I’ve started to believe in this Lions team, it just seemed inevitable that things would once again work out for Aaron Rodgers.
Detroit’s players, tired of being belittled by Rodgers and being looked down on by everyone, had other plans. And when it mattered most, they channeled Detroit native Aretha Franklin and demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Lions trailed the Pack, as they had most of the game. Thirteen plays (including one fourth-down conversion), 75 yards, and eight minutes later, that was no longer the case. Jamaal Williams (who else?) barreled into the end zone to give Detroit the lead back.
I still had my doubts that the Lions could pull it out until Kerby Joseph intercepted Rodgers for a third time this season. After that, fate was on Detroit’s side (for once). On their final drive, the Lions ran out the clock with some help from Amon-Ra St. Brown’s crotch catch, St. Brown’s gutsy lateral to D’Andre Swift on second-and-17, and on fourth-and-1, Jared Goff’s game-sealing pass to DJ Chark:
Campbell could have opted for the field goal there to put the Lions up by seven, but instead he wanted to put the game in Goff’s hands. Goff came through, and now Detroit is singing a happier tune as it heads into the offseason.
While the Packers didn’t get back to the postseason (where they probably would’ve been ousted by the 49ers again), Rodgers enters his offseason in a familiar place: one where he teases his retirement for a couple months until he finally declares that he’ll be back in Green Bay as usual. There are a few hints that this year could be different, but just like with Tom Brady, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins’ winding road to the playoffs
Earlier this week, there were (unsubstantiated) rumors that first-year coach Mike McDaniel could be fired if the Dolphins missed the playoffs. That seemed incredibly short-sighted, if I’m being polite (lunacy, if I’m being less polite).
Criticize McDaniel for the handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s first concussion, if you want (he helped catch the second, at least … a day later) or his decisions with the challenge flag. But he has kept the Dolphins competitive all season, despite some bad quarterback injury luck.
It’s been a season of runs, good and bad, for Miami. The Dolphins started off at 3-0, then fell to 3-3, then reeled off five straight wins, then entered Week 18 on a five-game skid. Their four most recent losses all came by six points or fewer, too.
The Dolphins, with third-stringer Skylar Thompson under center, needed a win over the Jets on Sunday to end their losing streak and their five-year playoff drought. And, potentially, to keep McDaniel around.
Offense was hard to come by for both teams (as it turns out, the Jets have trouble getting into the end zone no matter who’s at quarterback). With the score tied 6-6 in the final minute, McDaniel trusted Jason Sanders to hit a 50-yard field goal — and he did:
It was the first time all season Miami won a game in which Tagovailoa didn’t start. His status for Wild Card Weekend is unknown, but personally, I’m just grateful that 1) the Patriots and Steelers were kept out of the postseason and 2) we’ll get another week of press conferences from this goofball coach:
Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick, sadly, would never.
Mike Tomlin leads the Steelers to a winning record, again
Speaking of Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick, Tomlin is the second-longest tenured coach in the NFL right now, after Belichick. In 2007, the Steelers hired the first-time head coach, then just 34, to replace Bill Cowher. Since then, the Steelers have never experienced a losing season.
Halfway through this season, Tomlin’s 15-year streak was in jeopardy of coming to an end. Pittsburgh was just 2-6 heading into a bye and was averaging a mere 15 points per game. Rookie Kenny Pickett, who had a 2:8 TD:INT ratio at that point, had been thrust into the starting lineup.
In order to finish with a non-losing record, the Steelers could only afford two more losses in the second half of the season. They’d need to go 7-2 (or, more unlikely, 6-2-1) the rest of the way.
And that’s exactly what they did, not that it was always easy. Only two games in that span — their first and last — were decided by more than one score. Their 28-14 win over the Browns this weekend was their largest margin of victory in that stretch (and, in fact, all season).
Though Pittsburgh just missed out on the playoffs, it closed out the year on a positive note, with hope for the future.
Almost everyone wins: Tomlin keeps his streak going, his team will end up with a slightly higher draft pick (plus the Bears’ No. 32 pick) because it’s not in the postseason, and we don’t have to watch the Steelers slog through what probably would’ve been another double-digit playoff loss.
Well, not everyone wins. The Browns finished at the bottom of the AFC North (for the first time since their 0-16 season) and don’t even get to reap the reward of a top-12 draft pick. Because of their trade for Deshaun Watson, Cleveland’s first-round pick (last year, this year, and next year) goes to the Texans.
Lovie Smith leaves the Texans with a win (and without the No. 1 pick)
With the worst roster in the NFL and zero expectations, the Texans finished the 2022 season at 3-13-1. Beyond that, Houston was at least feisty most weeks, nearly upsetting the Cowboys and Chiefs late in the season.
That effort wasn’t enough to save Lovie Smith’s job. And, to be honest, Smith seemed like a temporary hire when the Texans elevated him from defensive coordinator to head coach anyway. So for the third time since he was brought on board in 2021, GM Nick Caserio will hire a new head coach. (Thankfully this time he won’t have to deal with Jack Easterby poisoning the process.)
Smith likely knew before kickoff that this would be his final game with the Texans — and he went out in style.
The Colts had been trailing the Texans most of the afternoon, until back-to-back Davis Mills interceptions (one a pick-six) spurred Indy to its first lead in the fourth quarter. With 50 seconds left and facing fourth-and-20, Smith’s team was on its last legs. Then, somehow, this happened:
Yet Smith wasn’t content with another tie against the Colts. He decided to go for two and the win. And that worked too:
With those two plays, the Texans won the game and lost their bid for the No. 1 pick, which now belongs to the Bears. Players and coaches do not tank, so it’s no surprise that the entire Houston squad was trying to get a victory. But was Smith also trying to give the front office the middle finger on his way out (and do his former team a solid)? Alas, we may never know for sure. I kinda hope so, though.
J.J. Watt goes out on his own terms
Although J.J. Watt’s final season with the Cardinals didn’t go the way he was hoping — they finished just 4-13, one year after a trip to the postseason — he ended his career in top form. In his last four games, Watt totaled six sacks, nine TFLs, and nine QB hits, proving that he could still get to the quarterback on a regular basis. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year recorded 12.5 sacks this season, the sixth time he’s reached double digits in that category and the most he’s had since 2018.
At 33 years old, Watt could keep playing. His motor hasn’t slowed down:
As he said on Sunday, though, "I know I still can, I'm just choosing not to, that's all."
Most NFL players don’t get to choose when their career ends. Injuries or a decline in play decide for them. Watt, however, got the rare opportunity to leave on his own terms. It’s understandable why he decided to hang it up this year: He had a health scare a few months ago when his heart went into atrial fibrillation, and his wife gave birth to their son a couple weeks later.
Watt never won a Super Bowl, and his final game was a blowout loss in a lost season. But he’s calling it a career when he wants to, with his health relatively intact and a young family to go home to.
That, to me, is a happy ending.