One: I was not a fan of Christmas Day games.
Last week, I talked about the poor slate the NFL had for their Christmas Day games, one that featured a bunch of teams out of the playoffs. Only two teams had something worth playing for, and I feel awful for the one whose game meant everything.
I can’t think of a worse Christmas gift for the people of Detroit than watching their Lions be officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Lions put together a turnover-filled, sloppy, uncompetitive game against a lowly Minnesota team with nothing to play for.
Per Opta Stats, Brosmer is the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era to play an entire game and finish with under 70 passing yards, be sacked seven or more times, and still get the win. Take a bow, I guess?
I don’t know, I’m just not a fan of any team’s season ending on Christmas. Call me crazy. I feel for those fans.
Two: We had quite the cast of quarterbacks on the Christmas Day slate this year.
I mean, in no world did the NFL expect to see the likes of Max Brosmer, Chris Oladokun, and Josh Johnson each starting for a team when they planned that holiday slate. No disrespect to those players, but I think even they would tell you that they are not who the NFL had in mind for those games when they first scheduled them.
Ratings were still pretty good for the NFL because, well, it’s the NFL. But it gave the NBA some life to get back into the war for screens on Christmas, a territory they once completely dominated.
Three: Only one division in the NFL has the chance to see all four of their teams finish with a winning record: the NFC North.
As it stands right now, here’s the standings going into Week 18:
- Chicago: 11-5
- Green Bay: 9-6-1
- Minnesota: 8-8
- Detroit: 8-8
The Vikings host Green Bay to conclude their season, seeing a Packers team that will be resting starters because they cannot better their playoff seeding. That’s a winnable game for Minnesota.
The Lions have the tougher test, visiting Chicago to end the year. The Bears are still active in the seeding race, which makes them all the more determined to end the year with a win.
But, it is possible to see all four of these teams finish the year above .500. Does it mean anything? No. Is it interesting? I hope so, that’s why I said it.
Four: The Bills should have kicked the extra point.
Philadelphia and Buffalo put up a lower scoring game than most people would have expected when the schedule was first released. But, poor weather conditions helped grind this game to a halt for the most part. The Eagles took a 13-0 lead into halftime, but the Bills were able to respond with two touchdowns of their own coming out of the break.
That second score came with just five seconds left, bringing the game to 13-12. Buffalo, still with hopes of winning the division, decided to go for two and try to seal it. It didn’t work.
That’s just a brutal miss by Josh Allen, but in my personal opinion, I would have kicked the extra point.
Look, I like aggressive play-calling and decision-making, but my line is when one miss can cost you the game. And in this one, Buffalo had all the momentum in the second half. Take the kick, go into overtime, and harness that momentum into a win.
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