It was a week for milestones and playoff drama on the Week 17 NFL betting lines, and we can honestly say that this week of action was as intense as it gets.
We’ll start with the push to the postseason. In the AFC, there didn’t seem to be a team that really wanted to get into the postseason.
The Denver Broncos were one of the teams that had a shot at controlling their own destiny. All that they had to do was beat the lowly Kansas City Chiefs, a team that had to stoop so low that it picked up a castaway from this Denver team, QB Kyle Orton to lead the team. As expected, it was an ugly duel that featured just 10 total points, but in the end, it was Orton who got the last laugh, as QB Tim Tebow faltered in a big time way in the 7-3 defeat. Tebow only went 6-of-22 passing, and he turned the ball over a ton to take points off of the board.
However, the Broncos were able to get into the playoffs as the AFC West winners when the Oakland Raiders were upset by the San Diego Chargers in their final game of the season. The defense for the silver and black just couldn’t stop the Chargers, including on a 99-yard touchdown drive that basically sealed the Raiders’ fate for the rest of the season.
The Cincinnati Bengals knew that they needed a win or a heck of a lot of help to get into the postseason when Sunday started. They didn’t get the win, falling flat against the Baltimore Ravens, who clinched the AFC North title in spite of the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers also beat the Cleveland Browns.
Had the New York Jets not totally fallen on their faces, they would have had a shot at playing in the playoffs for the third straight year. Instead, they were beaten by the Miami Dolphins in another ugly, defensive shootout. That loss actually ended up being the blow that knocked the Tennessee Titans out of the playoffs. The Titans sent the Houston Texans to their third straight loss to end the regular season 23-22, but Houston admitted that it basically wasn’t trying all that hard to win the game after benching virtually all of the regulars after some reps in the first half.
The New England Patriots looked like they were going to blow their seeding in the playoffs by falling behind the Buffalo Bills 21-0 in the first half. They stormed to 49 unanswered points over the final three quarters though, to seal up the top seed.
In the NFC, another huge game for WR Victor Cruz sealed a playoff bid for the New York Giants, who knocked the Dallas Cowboys out of the playoffs with a win in the Meadowlands to lock up the NFC East title. Elsewhere, there was very little of note.
The San Francisco 49ers won the No. 2 seed by holding off a late rally by the St. Louis Rams. The Detroit Lions were beaten by the Green Bay Packers in one of the more wild games of the year, a 45-41 victory for the hosts, who played without QB Aaron Rodgers after locking up the No. 1 seed in the conference last week. The Atlanta Falcons blew out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well, and that sent Atlanta to the No. 5 seed and Detroit down to No. 6.
Thus, the playoffs will look like this starting this week…
In the NFC, the Packers and Niners have first round byes, while the Saints will host the Lions and Giants will host the Falcons. In the AFC, New England and Baltimore have byes. Denver will host Pittsburgh and Houston will host Cincinnati.
In spite of some of the SU upsets, favorites still went 9-6-1 ATS in the final week of the regular season. ‘Overs’ also went 9-6-1.
The offensive marks that were set this year were absolutely ridiculous.
There were only two quarterbacks in the history of the NFL to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season before this year. QB Dan Marino’s record was 5,082. QB Drew Brees ended with 5,476 yards to obliterate the record, and he also ended up leading the league in touchdown passes with 46 thanks to the fact that Rodgers didn’t play. QBs Tom Brady and Matt Stafford ended up over 5,000 yards this year as well, and QB Eli Manning came up just seven yards short. Six quarterbacks finished the year with at least 4,500 passing yards and four more, including rookie QB Cam Newton had at least 4,000. Newton became the first rookie to throw for 4,000 yards in a season in Week 17 as well. A total of 20 quarterbacks had at least 3,000 passing yards.
In a year in which there were more passing yards than ever before, you can bet that the receiving numbers were impressive as well. Calvin Johnson ended the season with a whopping 560 yards in his last three games, giving him eight 100+ yard games this year. He ended with a league best 1,681 yards through the air. Wes Welker had the most receptions in the league with 122, but Roddy White did end up with 100 catches as well. Three men had at least 1,500 receiving yards, while a stunning 19 had over 1,000 receiving yards.
TEs Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham were both record setters for tight ends. Gronkowski finished with the most touchdowns that a tight end caught in one season (17) and the most yards for a tight end (1,394). Graham had the most reception by a tight end in a season with 99.
On the ground, RB Maurice Jones-Drew, in spite of the fact that his team stunk for the whole season, ended the year with 1,606 rushing yards to dominate for the rushing title, though one of the men that was chasing him into the last week of the season, RB LeSean McCoy finished with the most TDs in the league with 20. There only ended up being 15 backs to reach 1,000 rushing yards this year, though the list of backs that didn’t get there is more impressive in our eyes than the list of those that did.
There were only two teams that had multiple rushers end with at least 700 yards on the ground. The Texans had RB Arian Foster and RB Ben Tate combine for almost 2,200 yards on the ground. The Carolina Panthers had a whopping three players do it, as Newton and RBs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart all had at least 700 yard seasons.
“Black Monday” didn’t turn out to be as bad for coaches as it could have been. In a surprising twist, the Chargers have elected to retain Norv Turner, while the Eagles are also going to keep Andy Reid for another season. For the time being, other coaches that were on the hot seat like Jim Caldwell (Indianapolis), Lovie Smith (Chicago), and Mike Shanahan (Washington) are all safe. However, GMs were fired in both Indy and Chicago, so Caldwell and Smith clearly aren’t out of the line of fire as of yet.
The Rams parted ways with Steve Spagnuolo and his entire coaching and managerial staff after a lousy 2-14 campaign, while the Bucs put Raheem Morris out of his misery after losing his final 10 games of the season. The Jets are expected to fire their entire offensive staff, while Mike Martz was dismissed as the OC of the Bears.
As of right now, the jobs that are open are in St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and Miami, though we would expect to see Romeo Crennel picked as the coach of the Chiefs after he led the team to wins over the Packers and Broncos to end the season.
One final note… the Colts lost to the Jaguars on Sunday, locking up the top pick in the NFL Draft. They could have a decision to make though, as QB Robert Griffin III from Baylor, the Heisman Trophy winner, has announced that he is entering in the NFL Draft, as is Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon.
