NFL Week 18 -- Motown Showdown

We've finally reached the end...before we get to the games, the playoff scenarios:

AFC LOCKED SEEDS
1. Kansas City
2. Buffalo
4. Houston

Baltimore -- No. 3 with a win or a Pittsburgh loss; No. 5 with a loss and a Pittsburgh win
Pittsburgh -- No. 3 with a win and a Baltimore loss; No. 5 with a win and a Baltimore win; No. 6 with a loss and a Chargers win
L.A. Chargers -- No. 5 with a win and a Pittsburgh loss; No. 6 in all other scenarios
Denver -- No. 7 with a win or with a loss and Miami and Cincinnati losses; Out with a loss and if Miami or Cincy wins
Miami -- No. 7 with a win and a Denver loss; out in all other scenarios
Cincinnati -- No. 7 with a win and Denver and Miami losses; out in all other scenarios

NFC LOCKED SEEDS
2. Philadelphia

Minnesota -- No. 1 with a win, No. 5 with a loss or tie
L.A. Rams -- No. 3 with a win or a Tampa Bay loss; No. 4 with a loss and a Tampa Bay win
Tampa Bay -- No. 4 with a win and a Rams win; No. 3 with a win and a Rams loss
Detroit -- No. 1 with a win or tie, No. 5 with a loss
Washington -- No. 6 with a win or a Green Bay loss; No. 7 with a loss and a Green Bay win
Green Bay -- No. 6 with a win and a Washington loss; No. 7 otherwise
Atlanta -- No. 4 with a win and a Tampa Bay loss; out otherwise

Saturday
Cleveland at Baltimore (-18/41.5), 430, ESPN/ABC
Cincinnati (-1.5/48.5) at Pittsburgh, 8, ESPN/ABC

Sunday early
Washington (-3.5/44.5) at Dallas, FOX
Carolina at Atlanta (-8.5/47.5), CBS
Chicago at Green Bay (-8.5/40.5), FOX
Houston at Tennessee (-1/38.5), CBS
Jacksonville at Indianapolis (-5/45.5), FOX
Buffalo (-3/38.5) at New England, CBS
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia (-3/38.5), CBS
New Orleans at Tampa Bay (-13/43.5), FOX

Sunday late
Kansas City at Denver (-9.5/38.5), CBS
L.A. Chargers (-6/41.5) at Las Vegas, CBS
Seattle (-3/39.5) at L.A. Rams, FOX
Miami (-1/39.5) at N.Y. Jets, FOX
San Francisco at Arizona (-3/44.5), FOX

Sunday night
Minnesota at Detroit (-3/57.5), NBC -- highest over-under in the NFL this season

 

In both conferences, the gap between the No 3 and 4 seeds seems pretty vast. The loser of the NFC North title game won’t be too bothered by playing at Atlanta or Tampa, I wouldn’t think.

 

If the Lions lose Sunday night, and I think that's more likely than not, then they would have no problems with Atlanta but might be in a tossup shootout with the Bucs.

 

Highest O/U since 10/24/2021, in fact.

 

Not sure I want much to do with the Bucs right now. They're rolling. Last six games they've scored 30, 26, 28, 40, 24, 48. Baker's playing great, they have two solid RBs and they've managed to work around the loss of Godwin. They're 9-4 with Evans in the lineup and 0-3 without him. A Detroit-Tampa O/U might end up over 60.

 

Lions are starting to get people back from the injured list.

 

Love the headline Cosmo.

 

Between Cosmo’s weekly NFL threads and Dixie’s CFB threads, we’ve got some SJ.com members who used to write heds for a living.

When in doubt, use a musical reference!

 

Bucs have already beaten Detroit before all the Lions’ injuries hit.

 

Barkley to sit Sunday. Mahomes, too. Allen's gonna play a series to keep his games started streak alive then come out. But Drake Maye's gonna play for your New England Patriots because he gives them the best chance of avoiding getting the number one pick. If the kid gets injured, Kraft is gonna have Jerod Mayo escorted out of the stadium by security from the sideline to the parking lot.

 

Bailey Zappe set to start for the Browns on Saturday.

In related news, the line has jumped to Baltimore -20.