NFL Week 18: 5 Things That Could Impact the Playoffs
Albert Breer breaks down five things from Week 18 that could impact the NFL playoffs.
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00:00 All right, welcome into week 18 in the NFL season.
00:03 It is definitely not the week 18 that the NFL drew up when they were making up all of
00:08 those logos for the season finale and everything else.
00:11 And I can give you the names of 15 starting quarterbacks for this week, but there are
00:14 very few people expected to be starting right now.
00:17 Mason Rudolph in Pittsburgh, Tyler Huntley in Baltimore, Gardner, Minshew in Indy, Trevor
00:21 Simeon with the Jets, Bailey Zappi in New England, Jeff Driscoll in Cleveland, Jake
00:25 Browning in Cincinnati, Nick Mullins in Minnesota, Jared Stidham in Denver, Aiden O'Connell in
00:31 Vegas, Tyrod Taylor with the Giants, Blaine Gabbert in Kansas City, Easton Stick with
00:34 the Chargers, Carson Wentz with the Rams, and Sam Darnold in San Francisco.
00:39 Really there's a couple of reasons for this.
00:41 First, you look at what's happened with the top two teams in the league over the last
00:45 couple of years.
00:46 That's the Niners and the Ravens.
00:47 They're both looking at a bye.
00:48 They might want to play guys to stay sharp, but look at what they've been through.
00:51 The Ravens the last two years have finished seasons without Lamar Jackson, and then last
00:56 year the Niners finished their season in the NFC title game without Brock Purdy.
01:01 So both those teams are cautious for natural reasons.
01:03 Then everybody else, I mean, you look at the risk/reward here.
01:06 You see what's happened across the league with all of these guys that are in there for
01:10 injured starters.
01:12 You can see why teams wouldn't want to risk it.
01:13 But I still have five things for you to watch in Week 18.
01:16 The first thing is the most obvious thing.
01:18 It's the obvious Sunday night game pick for the NFL.
01:21 That was Dolphins and Bills.
01:22 The winner wins the AFC East.
01:24 If the Dolphins lose, they're still in.
01:25 If Buffalo loses, they still could be, and they need some help still, but they likely
01:29 still get in.
01:30 Number two, the AFC South is going to be really interesting, and the fight for the AFC South
01:35 title begins on Saturday night with the Texans and the Colts.
01:39 C.J. Stroud's back in there.
01:41 The Texans have looked like their old selves with C.J. Stroud back in there, and the Colts,
01:45 of course, have had a really strong first year under Shane Sagan, but the team that
01:49 controls its own destiny remains the Jacksonville Jaguars, who've stumbled around of late.
01:54 The question's going to be whether or not Trevor Lawrence, with his injured shoulder,
01:56 can give it a go.
01:58 If they don't win against the Titans on Sunday, then that opens the door for the winner of
02:03 the Colts-Texans game to win the AFC South.
02:06 Number three, the Cowboys have come all the way back and are now in position to win the
02:10 NFC East.
02:11 The Eagles, of course, have fallen apart of late.
02:14 They're one and four in their last five games.
02:17 And the Cowboys, all they've got to do is beat Ron Rivera and the Commanders.
02:20 The Commanders look like they're going to be playing a lot of young players on Sunday.
02:23 They're in position to get the second overall pick.
02:26 The Cowboys now have a chance to host a playoff game, to move up.
02:31 Of course, they'd be, I believe at this point, the number two seed in the NFC, have a favorable
02:36 draw there.
02:38 Things really seem set up for the Cowboys to go and win the NFC East.
02:42 Number four would be the NFC South, and where things are in the NFC South right now, the
02:46 Bucs are alive, the Falcons are alive, and the Saints are still alive.
02:50 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers still control their own destiny, even though they did not look
02:55 good last Sunday.
02:56 They can make it all better this Sunday with a win.
02:59 So they're in position to win the NFC South if they can just beat the Panthers on Sunday.
03:03 And then finally, the NFC wildcard situation needs to shake out.
03:07 You've got those NFC South teams that are still alive for it, and the Packers, the Vikings,
03:11 and the Seahawks.
03:12 (upbeat music)
03:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]