Week 17 NFL Headlines

Cowboys-Lions Controversy

It's funny how fast things change in less than a week. Just last week in the article I wrote for week 16, I talked about how the Dallas Cowboys would most likely be the fifth seed even if they won their two remaining games. After this week they sit at the two seed after some help from the Arizona Cardinals, and some would even say because of the refs too. When the Lions scored a touchdown with less than a minute left to go down by one, they opted for the two-point conversion instead of tying it and going to overtime—a gutsy decision by HC Dan Campbell, and he is known for that. They proceeded to throw it to offensive lineman Taylor Decker and go up one. After some time, they threw the flag and penalized the lions for illegal touching. So, when an offensive lineman is going to be part of the play and not just block, they have to report it to the refs and then it gets announced. On this particular play, two offensive linemen should have reported and according to the refs, only one did, and the one who didn’t was Decker, which is the one who caught the ball, therefore making it illegal touching. Since the game, there have been multiple camera shots of both linemen who appear to be talking to the official right before the play, most likely reporting in as eligible to the ref. While everyone blames the loss on the officials and rightfully so, I would also say some blame should be on Campbell. After the penalty where they got sent back to the seven-yard line, Campbell decided to still go for the two-pointer. QB Jared Goff proceeded to throw an INT but was saved by an offsides penalty. After this one, I thought he would’ve been smarter about it and just tied the game and went to overtime. Instead, they go for it a third time and it gets stopped, losing them the game. I don’t remember the last time I saw a team get three different chances for a two-point conversion. You would think he’d get the hint after the first two times failed. This game also proved to mean a lot more after Sunday's slate of games because if Detroit had won, they would be the two seed right now and Dallas would be the fifth seed still. Now the Cowboys will most likely be the two seed and the Lions will have to travel to Dallas again in a few weeks.

Eagles Get Their Wings Clipped

This game for the Philadelphia Eagles was supposed to be a pretty easy game. instead, it turns into their fourth loss of the last five games. They were supposed to have the easiest remaining schedule for the last month of football and have already lost two of the three games. Instead of having the two seed, now they sit at the fifth seed and are most likely going to have to travel the entire playoffs after hosting all their games in last year's postseason. It’s easy to just blame their coordinators like everyone has been all season, and while they do deserve most of the blame, it goes deeper than that. The defense just isn’t as good as it was last year. Some of that is having a very easy schedule last year and having one of the hardest ones this year. But when your defense can’t even stop an Arizona Cardinals offense that hasn’t been able to put up many points, that’s a real problem. The main way to stop a high-powered offense is by not letting them get on the field and the Cardinals did a great job of that only letting the Eagles offense get 19 minutes of offense. I will even take it one step further; the Eagles' offense has a real chance of being the worst defense in the league this year. They rank in the bottom five of almost every category this year except for run defense, but I bet that went down a lot after yesterday. When you think about that, it doesn't make sense. Individually, the Eagles players on defense are all some of the best at their positions. That’s when the coaching comes into play. Eagles coaches this season have not been able to adjust and it's showing on the field. As an Eagles fan myself, it's clear that this team will not be able to make it far in the playoffs this season. There's a chance they get past the fourth seed in the wildcard. After that though, there is no way they beat the 49ers in San Fran, and I’d expect that game to be a blowout once again.

Who Can Stop The Ravens?

The Baltimore Ravens once again prove they are the team to beat not just in the AFC, but in the NFL. They dismantle the Miami Dolphins 56-19 and prove they have the best team in the league. There were questions if QB Lamar Jackson deserves MVP because he has the top defense in the league. After throwing five TD passes and recording yet another perfect passer rating, the MVP is all but locked up for him. The last time he won MVP was in 2019 when he led his team to the best record in the AFC. That year they lost in the divisional round to the Tennessee Titans. This year the team is even better than that season and Jackson is a more mature QB who can take over games passing and running it. The only real team who has a chance to beat them in the postseason in the AFC might be their division rivals the Cleveland Browns. They have a top-five defense as well and QB Joe Flacco has been playing some very good football since he got signed a few weeks back. He also played for the Ravens for a long time, so he’s very familiar with a John Harbaugh-coached team. The most realistic one to beat them though is the 49ers, who the Ravens just beat very convincingly last week. Nonetheless, people really should stop criticizing Jackson when he has been a top-five QB for a while and continues to prove he is a franchise QB.