Tampa Bay is in Jacksonville is out
The theme of Week 18 in the National Football League is rest for the Playoffs for most of the teams with a few key games mixed in. While most of the games had a feel in line with the old Week 4 of the Pre-Season games there were a few that stood out.
In the surprise game of the early games today the Tennessee Titans, heading into what will be a major rebuild of the team rose up and stopped the Jacksonville Jaguars from making it back into the playoffs after what seemed to be a walk to a top seed at the mid-season. Riding on the back of soon-to-be Free-Agent Derrick Henry’s 153 yards rushing and a Touchdown the Titans ended the Jags season winning 28-20 to end a lost season on an up note. Ryan Tannehill played well enough in what should be his last game as a Titan tossing 2 Touchdown passes to support King Henry.
For the Jaguars a pair of failed 4th down Conversions in the Red Zone and two costly interceptions by a clearly less than 100% version of Trevor Lawrence was too much to overcome. Their loss puts the Houston Texans in the Playoffs as the AFC South Champion, ending an amazing regular season by the Texans.
In the other Division deciding game of the Afternoon the Tampa Bay Buccaneers completed an unlikely season with a 9-0 win over the Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young. Bucs Quarterback Baker Mayfield can probably relate to the situation that Young is in after his time with the Cleveland Browns. In winning the NFC South, Mayfield tied a ribbon on his package for NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
In the other games the New Orleans Saints took care of the Atlanta Falcons 48-17, the New York Jets kept the New England Patriots losing 17-3 to close the season at a dream-shattering 7-10, the Cincinnati Bengals managed a winning record at 9-8 beating the Brown’s backups 31-14, and the Lions showed why you rest the key starters in the last week losing star rookie Tight End Sam LaPorta to a Hyperextended Knee.
