Week 18 of the Football Season

[+ purplekow]

Very interesting last week.  Granted Green Bay did not use Aaron Rogers and so the Detroit win was not as shocking as it would have otherwise been.  But Jacksonville beating Indianapolis knocking them out of the playoffs was totally unexpected.  The Steelers beating the Ravens in OT to keep their chances alive and the 49ers Beating the Rams in Ot to prevent the Rams from Clinching the Division and allowing the 49ers to advance to the playoffs was a surprise.  Arizona then did the humble thing and lost to Seattle handing the division title back to Rams.  But the oddest game of all was the final game on Sunday night.  The Chargers came from 15 points down to tie the Raiders in regulation.  Then tied them again in overtime with a late field goal.  It looked as though the Raiders were going to accept the tie and allow both teams to advance to the playoffs and eliminate the OT winning Steelers.  But for reasons unclear, the Chargers called time out with 32 seconds left and the clock running.  The Raider then ran another play, bringing them into close field goal range and then with time in the game expiring, the Raiders kicked a field goal propelling them and the Steelers into the playoffs and sending the Chargers home.  Now the Raiders might have called time out themselves and their kicker was certainly capable of kicking a longer field goal, but their play to that point indicated that the did not want take a chance on losing and being eliminated.  When the Chargers took time out, it became unclear if the Chargers felt the same way.  Anyway, game winning field goal on the last play of the regular season to propel two teams into the playoffs.  OI course, it would have been odder if the Raider kicker missed the field goal and still propelled his team into the Playoffs.  

[BuffaloKyle]

6 hours ago, purplekow said:

Granted Green Bay did not use Aaron Rogers and so the Detroit win was not as shocking as it would have otherwise been. 

But for reasons unclear, the Chargers called time out with 32 seconds left and the clock running.

Aaron Rodgers did play the first half. They just had nothing to play for at all still. 

And I know the announcers were shocked as well at the Chargers calling a timeout but I swear the play clock was about to expire when they did. If they hold the Raiders from getting all those yards on the final run play before the field goal it was gonna be a tie for sure. 

[+ purplekow]

I am surprised that both Jacksonville and Detroit won considering the #q pick was on the line.  In addition, Oakland could have just allowed the tie to happen.  There was a minuscule risk that the field goal would be blocked and the Chargers return it for a score.  So why did they even bother?   If they had just sat on the ball, the NFL would have looked bad two years in a row when the last game became a farce.  Remember the Eagles pulling their quarterback to allow Washing to skate into the playoffs last year.    They should probably have all meaningful games starting at the same time in the final week.  In addition, they could cut down on dumping if they made the last week a bit different in regard to draft position.

That is, if a team wins in the last week, it counts as a loss for the purposes of draft position and if they lose, it counts as a win for draft positioning.  It would force teams to win into their higher draft pick rather than lose into it.  This year there may have not been much of a change but last year it would have given the Eagles a bit more incentive to try and win that last game.