SI:AM | Week 18’s Two Biggest Disappointments
The Jaguars blew their chance while the Eagles went limping into the postseason.
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Let’s catch up on everything that happened on the final day of the NFL season.
In today’s SI:AM:
???? Why every playoff team can win it all
???? Michael Penix Jr.’s NFL future
Closing on a downbeat
Week 18 is in the books, and there were a couple of teams who really limped to the finish line.
The biggest disappointment was the Jacksonville Jaguars blowing their win-and-in opportunity against the Tennessee Titans, thereby handing the AFC South crown to the Houston Texans. The loss eliminated the Jags from playoff contention and handed the AFC’s final wild-card spot to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Jacksonville trailed at halftime, 21–13, after Trevor Lawrence threw interceptions on consecutive possessions. The Jags then turned the ball over on downs three times in the second half, including on a fourth-and-goal from the 1. That play came with 7:13 to play and the Titans up 28–20, when Lawrence tried to reach the ball over the goal line on a QB sneak attempt but was denied. The Jags got one more chance with the ball after forcing a Titans punt but failed to convert on a fourth-and-7 from their own 33, sealing their fate.
Jacksonville started the season 8–3 but collapsed down the stretch, losing five of its last six. The team’s only win in that stretch came against the league-worst Carolina Panthers.
“It’s disappointing,” coach Doug Pederson said after the game. “It’s disappointing the way we finished our season, obviously. It’s definitely not good enough. Things start with me and I have to make sure I’m holding myself accountable and I’m doing all I can to help our football team win on and off the football field, but just not good enough.”
The other team that laid an egg yesterday was the Philadelphia Eagles, who were a mess in their loss to the New York Giants. Philly still had plenty to play for in the game, needing a win to have a chance to clinch the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Commanders to win the division, rendering that point moot, but the Eagles didn’t even come close to holding up their end of the bargain. The Giants raced out to a 24–0 halftime lead and then cruised to a 27–10 victory.
The loss was especially concerning because the Eagles were trying to win. Coach Nick Sirianni played his starters—a move that may have come back to bite him. Quarterback Jalen Hurts dislocated his finger in the first half but was able to keep playing (until he was pulled in favor of backup Marcus Mariota as the game got out of reach). Receiver A.J. Brown wasn’t so lucky. He injured his knee in the first quarter and did not return. The good news for Brown is that he was able to walk off the field under his own power, and his ACL is reportedly uninjured, but it’s not good for the Eagles to see their top receiver go down on the eve of the playoffs, especially when DeVonta Smith is already dealing with an ankle injury. They also lost rookie safety Sydney Brown to a season-ending injury in the game.
The Eagles are in free fall as the playoffs approach, having lost five of their last six after a 10–1 start. They’re averaging just 336.2 yards per game during that stretch while allowing 383.8. They’ve surrendered 12 turnovers while forcing just four. The fortunate thing is that they won enough games early in the season to clinch the No. 5 seed, which means a trip to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers in the wild-card round, while the No. 6 seed would have meant a much more difficult opening-round game against the Detroit Lions. But even if the Eagles are able to survive against the Bucs, their reward will be facing a San Francisco 49ers team that already demolished them in Philadelphia and will be coming off a bye. After the Eagles fell flat again yesterday, does anyone really believe they’re serious Super Bowl contenders?
The best of Sports Illustrated
Stephen Lew/USA TODAY Sports
- Albert Breer makes the case why each of the 14 teams in the NFL playoffs could end up winning the Super Bowl.
- After the Commanders fired Ron Rivera, Conor Orr writes that the coach faced an impossible task during his tenure in Washington.
- Orr also wrote about the Falcons’ decision to fire Arthur Smith and why Atlanta needs to take a big swing with its next hire.
- Gilberto Manzano breaks down the Dolphins’ disappointing loss to the Bills, which forces Miami to play in Kansas City on Saturday.
- Ahead of tonight’s national championship game, Pat Forde looks at how Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is setting out to prove his NFL doubters wrong.
- The Lakers beat the Clippers last night in what Chris Mannix writes was a critical victory for LeBron James’s sputtering team.
- The Commanders are hiring former Warriors GM Bob Myers to assist with their coaching search.
- Bill Belichick answered questions about his future with the Patriots exactly how you’d expect he would.
- The Panthers continued cleaning house by firing their GM.
The top five...
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Jakobi Meyers’s decision to bail on a trick play and run it in himself for a touchdown.
4. DeAndre Jordan’s smooth alley-oop, like he used to do a decade ago for the Clippers.
3. Jahvon Quinerly’s game-winner in the final seconds for Memphis against SMU.
2. Elizabeth Kitley’s shot with less than a second on the clock to hand NC State its first loss.
1. Trent Sherfield’s touchdown catch on a deflected pass.
SIQ
Which school did Florida State beat on this day in 2014 in the final BCS championship game?
- Oregon
- Notre Dame
- Auburn
- Ohio State
Friday’s SIQ: The Dolphins had a chance to clinch the AFC East with a win last night against the Bills but lost 21–14. Who was Miami’s starting quarterback the last time it won the division?
- Dan Marino
- Ryan Tannehill
- Jay Fiedler
- Chad Pennington
Answer: Chad Pennington. The New England Patriots won the division every year between 2003 and ’19, except for ’08, when Tom Brady tore his ACL in the season opener and the Dolphins won it. (New England and Miami both finished at 11–5, but the Dolphins won the tiebreaker by having the better record in conference games.)
The Dolphins’ turnaround that season was remarkable. They’d gone 1–15 the year before in Cam Cameron’s ill-fated lone season as coach, and after losing their first two games in 2008 under new coach Tony Sparano, it looked like another disappointment was on the horizon. But against the Patriots in Week 3, the Dolphins came out and shocked the world by deploying the Wildcat offense for the first time. The New England defense had no answer for the formation that saw running back Ronnie Brown taking direct snaps in the shotgun. Brown ran for four touchdowns and threw for another in a 38–13 win.
The win jump-started the Dolphins’ season, announcing to the world that they were serious contenders. They finished the regular season with a five-game winning streak to make their first postseason appearance in eight years but were bounced by the Ravens in the wild-card round.