It’s Been A While

The New York Giants took care of business and punched their ticket to the playoffs. They haven’t had a playoff appearance since 2016. There have been numerous failures along the way with Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge being their head coaches for only two seasons each. In McAdoo’s case he didn’t finish his second season. Now with Brian Daboll as their head coach, there seems to be some semblance of balance. The defense has been good and the offense is impressive, but not amongst the most dynamic. That’s okay though as the results have the Giants in the playoffs. It will be good to see RB Saquon Barkley see some action in January.

You’re The Best Of The Worst

Another team that took care of business was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they beat the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC South division. Arguably the worst division of the 2022 NFL season. Once again the Bucs had to conjure another comeback against an equally inferior opponent being down 21-10 with 14:56 left in the game. Not an insurmountable deficit, but it has become tiresome to watch as the Bucs are not a good team. The offensive line has been marred by injuries and inconsistent play and it has been taxing on QB Tom Brady who hasn’t seen this kind of pressure in quite some time even though he’s only been sacked 22 times. The defense has just been awful and they need to shore themselves up quick when they host their Wild Card game or it will be a one-and-done home game.

This Became A Game

No one had this being the best game of Week 17. The Las Vegas Raiders had benched QB Derek Carr likely ending his career as a Raider and went with QB Jarrett Stidham instead. The San Francisco 49ers are boasting the leagues number one defense and an offense that was clicking with their third quarterback Brock Purdy. Suffice it to say the Raiders had the Niners on the ropes with Stidham throwing for 365 yards and 3 touchdowns. But he did throw a costly interception in overtime that set the 49ers up for the game winning field goal. This one game doesn’t mean that Stidham is gonna be the Raiders quarterback of the future. Just as I don’t see this one game being a sign of things to come for the Niners as they continue their march into the playoffs. It was a good game to watch and that bodes well for the league when the playoffs start.