NFL Playoffs 2018: Wild finishes toss contenders into turmoil

Week 14 was a truly wild one in the NFL, tossing the current contenders for spots in the NFL Playoffs 2018 into turmoil. Is any team a safe pick right now?

Week 14 of the NFL season was a mix of wild, individual performances and wacky endings. The picture for the NFL playoffs 2018 isn’t quite solidifying because few can get over the hump. Four AFC teams in playoff positioning all lost on Sunday. That’s almost a distraction, though, from the performances that went down.

Let’s run through the truly improbable, then dive into the ramifications. Only three weeks remain before the NFL Playoffs 2018, but who ends up there is anyone’s guess.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the NFL Playoffs 2018 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

The week began with Derrick Henry‘s 238-yard, four-touchdown outburst on Thursday night. It was the biggest fantasy showing of the season, and no one had Henry in their starting lineup, if they even had him rostered at this point.

Saquon Barkley a.k.a. “Saquads” had 197 yards on just 18 touches for the New York Giants. George Kittle had 210 receiving yards in the first half of San Francisco’s game. He was shut out in the second half, but still.

Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper went off for Dallas, accumulating 455 passing yards and 217 receiving yards respectively. All three of Prescott’s touchdowns went to Cooper too. In perhaps the biggest surprise of the season, the Cowboys’ trade of a first-round pick for Cooper actually seems to be paying off.

Throw the Chicago Bears’ defense into the mix of spectacular “individual” performers. The Bears grabbed four interceptions, three sacks, held the Rams to six total points, held Todd Gurley to 2.5 yards per carry, and held Jared Goff to 4.1 yards per completion! It was a total domination and would seem to have answered our question from last week about how to rank fantasy defenses. Pour one out for those poor suckers that started Jacksonville or Washington over Chicago because of matchups.

But individual performances didn’t rule the day; not with the way the Chiefs, Dolphins, Raiders, and Cowboys games all ended. Hoo boy.

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Kansas City: Converts two fourth-downs on drive and scores game-tying touchdown with 53 second remaining. Forces sack/fumble nine seconds later. Misses game-winning field goal as regulation expires. Kicks field goal in overtime and then holds for three-point victory.

Miami: Coverts a 69-yard hook-and-ladder for the game-winning score as time expires. Maybe New England should put an actual defender as the last line of defense next time so Rob Gronkowski doesn’t look like an idiot as his team loses the game.

Oakland: Scores leading touchdown with 21 seconds remaining in the game. Promptly gives up a 48-yard hook-and-ladder pass to set up an easy field goal for the Steelers. Sees Pittsburgh miss game-winning, 40-yard field goal when Chris Boswell‘s plant foot slips.

Dallas: Tied at 9-9 in the fourth quarter. Four touchdowns scored in the final six drives of regulation. Drives down into field-goal range only to fumble and get sacked on back-to-back plays to get pushed out of range. Converts a fourth down in field-goal range in overtime, forgoing chance to take the lead. Amari Cooper catches the game-winning touchdown off a deflection.

There is probably some conclusion to draw here about teams panicking late in the year of important games. And vice versa, others rise to the occasion when the games get tight. Either that or this was just a wacky weekend of games for no other reason than sometimes sh*t happens!

Dan Salem:

Let’s just state the obvious and get it out of the way right now. Anyone can win on any given Sunday in the NFL. This is especially true late in the year, since the majority of spots are near locks for the NFL Playoffs 2018. At least they were locks up until week 14 happened! Now at least two AFC playoff spots are up for grabs. The NFC has three spots legitimately in question. I’m excited!

Wins by Miami and Dallas were legitimately insane, but will either victory lead to the playoffs? It’s hard to see the Cowboys failing to win the NFC East right now, but if we learned anything from Week 14, its to expect the unexpected. This is why New York Giants’ fans are still clinging to playoff hopes. So are the Dolphins, who refuse to go away.

You know who keeps making us question their viability, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Baltimore can easily steal the division from Pittsburgh right now, and the Steelers can easily fall out of the NFL Playoffs 2018 entirely. Even Houston winning the AFC South is no longer a lock, with both Tennessee and Indianapolis only two games back with three to play.

Considering it was also a do-or-die week for Fantasy Football, the literal swings that took place in both real life and fantasy were incredible. I know one person who personally got burned by facing Derrick Henry. The Los Angeles Rams failing to do anything offensively surely hurt a ton of owners. There may only be three weeks left, but the NFL season is far from over.