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Week 18 of the NFL season and there is still some playoff drama

This weekend marks the end of the 2024 NFL regular season and while plenty of teams have made the playoffs there is room for a few more. Despite six teams in both the AFC and the NFC with playoff spots the drama remains in seeding and division champs.

So, starting Saturday and going through late Sunday there are plenty of compelling storylines to follow as we look forward to the postseason. As you might expect the television networks will feature, the key games on Saturday and Sunday with playoff implications.

Saturday ESPN features the AFC North

Both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens are in the playoffs but there is plenty of drama to settled by the end of the day. Anyone who follows the AFC North knows that none of the four teams like each other and their records are meaningless.

ESPN/ABC start the day off with the disappointing Cleveland Browns traveling to Charm City to face the Ravens at 4:30 p.m.  Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, Louis Riddick will handle the broadcasting chores.

The Browns enter the game with division leading Baltimore with nothing to play for. A Ravens victory and the lockdown the AFC North and the No. 3 seed in the Playoffs. The Bowns enters the game with a 3-13 record with a five-game losing streak. But this is the AFC North, and so Cleveland wants to ruin the Ravens chances at the division title. Superstar defensive end of the Browns Miles Garrett made sure the Ravens knew he was serious.

“I’m not looking into the future,” Garrett told reporters. “The next thing on my mind is recovery, looking at film, how can we improve going to the Ravens, trying to play spoiler for them.”

Meanwhile, 500 miles west of Baltimore in Cincinnati Joe Buck, Troy Aikman will be there for ESPN/ABC for an 8 p.m. broadcast of the Steelers and Bengals. Pittsburgh needs Baltimore to lose to Cleveland so they can win the division. However, Cincinnati can make the playoffs by beating Pittsburgh and having Miami and Denver lose on Sunday.

Sunday the Bucs and the Falcons in the NFC South

Most of the country will see the FOX duo of Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady in Raymond James Stadium for the Buccaneers and the Saints at 1 p.m. Like the Ravens and Browns game on Saturday, if Tampa Bay wins then they capture the NFC South in front of their old QB Mr. Brady. If they lose, they are out of the playoff hunt. Atlanta’s path to the division title rests on a Bucs loss and the Falcons beating Carolina and that is their only shot the postseason. CBS has the Panthers and the Falcons as their primary 1 p.m. game with Ian Eagle and Charles Davis on the call.

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Broncos outside chance to make the playoffs

Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will bring fans the Kansas City and Dever as the 4 p.m. game nationally on CBS./Paramount+ The Broncos need to win and have Miami and Cincinnati both lose or tie. The Broncos came up short the first two times of clinching a playoff spot., first after blowing a 24-13 lead against the Chargers and then by falling to the Bengals with 1:07 left in overtime. Third time could be the charm, if Denver can defeat Kansas City at home.

Minnesota and Detroit in Primetime

It is fitting that the two best teams in the NFC will face off on Sunday Night Football on NBC/Peacock as Detroit and Minnesota vie for the NFC North title. The Lions can’t lose to the Vikings in the regular-season finale, or else they’ll miss out on retaining the NFC North title. More importantly, the No. 1 seed — and the first-round bye and home-field advantage that come with it — will also be up for grabs in Detroit.

Meanwhile, The Vikings will take their NFL-leading nine-game winning streak into Ford Field on Sunday night, looking to lock down the NFC’s No. 1 seed, regain the division throne and avenge an earlier loss to the Lions.

Here are the NFC and AFC Playoff teams going into Saturday

AFC

• No. 1 seed: Kansas City Chiefs (15-1)**
• No. 2 seed: Buffalo Bills (13-3)*
• No. 4 seed: Houston Texans (9-7)*
• Baltimore Ravens (11-5)
• Los Angeles Chargers (10-6)
• Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6)

NFC

• No. 2 seed: Philadelphia Eagles (13-3)*
• Los Angeles Rams (10-6)*
• Detroit Lions (14-2)
• Minnesota Vikings (14-2)
• Green Bay Packers (11-5)
• Washington Commanders (11-5)

*division clinched
** division and No. 1 seed clinched

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who tends to be talkative on the subject of his Christian faith, briefly went silent on Monday night when he was asked, “What do you think about gays?”

“I understand that this is a great evening and we’re here to focus on the game,” Butker said while sitting at a lectern during the Super Bowl opening-night media event in the Superdome. “Maybe if I saw him without a camera, we’d have a great conversation.”

It has been an eventful year for the 29-year-old Butker, who joined the Chiefs in 2017 and has been part of seven consecutive AFC championship games and five trips to the Super Bowl. He is chasing his third straight ring and fourth overall.

The roller coaster began almost exactly a year ago, when the Chiefs met the 49ers in Las Vegas. One of the most accurate kickers in the NFL kept Kansas City in the Super Bowl with a trio of field goals, including a 57-yarder in the third quarter, before his 29-yarder at the end of regulation forced overtime. Kansas City went on to win, 25-22.

Then came the offseason, and Butker made a slew headlines off the field.

“There’s been a lot that’s gone on and I never expected to be this known, I guess, as a kicker,” Butker said.

Last May, Butker was asked to deliver a commencement address at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas. Among his polarizing remarks, Butker postulated that most of the women receiving degrees that day were probably more excited about getting married and having children than entering the workforce, and that some Catholic leaders were “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.”

Butker also assailed Pride month and railed against then-President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion, forcing the NFL to distance itself from the comments, saying in a statement: “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.

As the summer gave way to election season, Butker was again in the spotlight for launching his UPRIGHT PAC, which claimed to have a goal of encouraging Christians to vote for what it described as “traditional values.” The PAC website was still active ahead of the Super Bowl and soliciting donations, but it does not describe where or how the money is spent.

Butker also spent time ahead of training camp in late July campaigning for Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and his policies, ahead of the general election.

Still, he was caught a little off guard by what kind of lightning rod for public notoriety he seemed to be heading into the season.

“It was a surprise because I’d been saying similar things to that for many years now and it’s funny what stuff gets picked up,” Butker said. “I said what I said. I believe in it. I don’t feel the need to apologize for anything. I feel like God’s prepared me for that moment to feel confident in who I am and what’s most important in my life and I’m able to handle whatever comes my way.

The season has been a roller coaster, too.

Butker hit a 51-yard field goal as time expired to give Kansas City a 26-25 win over the Bengals in Week 2. He had three field goals the following week that proved to be the difference in a win at Atlanta. And he kicked the go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter of a 16-14 win over the Broncos in mid-November that kept the Chiefs barreling toward the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

After that game, though, Butker underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his non-kicking knee. The injury and ensuing procedure affected the way he kicks — his left knee bends almost like a lunge when he hits the ball now — and may have been a big reason why, once Butker returned in mid-December, he missed an extra point and field goal attempt in consecutive weeks.

He’s been back on track in the playoffs, drilling a trio of field goals in a divisional-round win over Houston, then hitting the go-ahead 35-yard field goal with 3:33 remaining that helped Kansas City beat Buffalo 32-29 in the AFC championship gam

“It’s a positive to know that you can go out there and make kicks when it matters,” he said. “But every game is different.”

Still, he’s no stranger to Super Bowls at this point.

“I’ve gotten a lot better to handling the nerves leading up to the game,” Butker said. “I’ve been here before. I understand once the game starts it’s just like any other game. I also feel like I can pace myself a little bit so I’m not playing the game (in my head) before it’s actually played.

“Thankfully, I’ve played in many of these games and I have those memories to go back on,” he added. “But obviously you understand the magnitude of what this game is.”

___

AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

By – J.T. Olsen

Special to Sports Talk Florida

Monday morning it was reported that Cleveland Browns star edge rusher Myles Garrett had requested a trade. The Browns finished with the second worst record in the NFL last year despite Garrett’s efforts in route to winning Defensive Player of the Year. In his statement, Garrett emphasized the importance of competing for and winning a Super Bowl.

Not many teams have that as a realistic expectation in the immediate future, but one of the teams who does is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I have said over the course of the last year that the Bucs championship window opens in 2025. The biggest piece that they need to add is a pass rusher just like Garrett.

Of course, there will be many teams lining up to try and acquire a superstar like Garrett. After all, players of this caliber don’t become available very often. However, I truly believe that the Buccaneers are the perfect fit for Myles Garrett.

Here’s why.

Respecting Garrett’s Wishes

As I said before, Garrett has made this trade request because he wants to compete for a Super Bowl. With this alone, we can probably eliminate at least half the teams in the NFL. So I’m sorry Tennessee Titans fans and New Orleans Saints fans, you and teams in a similar position to you are already out of the running.

And while it’s true that Garrett can’t control where he is traded, he does hold some power. It might be unwise for a bad team to part with premium draft picks for a player who says he doesn’t want to play there. We have seen players such as Hassan Reddick hold out for an extended period of time. 

Even if Garrett were to go to a bad team and try his very best, how different would the results be than what we saw in Cleveland? Then Garrett isn’t happy and the team has invested high draft capitol into a short term solution that likely won’t help them compete for a Super Bowl.

It really feels like the Browns have to honor Garrett’s request and trade him to a potential contender. That means a playoff team for this year or a team that was just on the outside and looking in and is trending in the right direction. The Bucs would fall into this category.

Does The Money Work?

We talk all the time that the salary cap in the NFL isn’t real. However, that isn’t entirely true. While the cap can be manipulated in a variety of ways, not every team will be able to take on the money that Garrett is owed. 

What that entails is around $20 million for each of the next two seasons and then several void years after that. What makes a trade like this difficult is that in 2027 Garrett has a void year that would bring $37 millions in dead cap space. That will complicate things who have a lot of important free agents in that offseason.

However, it will favor teams who have a lot of young talent who are cheap and controllable. So if you have star players such as Calijah Kancey, Graham Barton, Jalen McMillan, Bucky Irving, etc who would still be on their rookie deals then it would go a long way to open up money to make this deal work. Not many teams have drafted as well as Jason Licht in recent years, so not many teams will have the young cheap talent that the Bucs will.

It also helps that the Buccaneers aren’t paying their starting quarterback a ton of money relative to the rest of the league. Baker Mayfield currently makes the 18th highest annual salary among NFL quarterbacks at $33.3 million per year. Compared to the $50-$60 million the top nine quarterbacks each make annually, this opens up some money that the Bucs can spend in other places over the next two years. 

Bringing Out The Best In Each Other

When making a massive trade like this would be, everyone involved has to consider if this is the best move for them. Cleveland has to kickstart a rebuild, so maximizing return makes sense for them. Getting as many assets as possible is their objective. 

For the Bucs, they are potentially two or three players away from possibly being the team to beat in the NFL. Specifically, edge rusher is a massive need for this Buccaneers team. While Bowles does a great job of generating pressure with the blitz, the Bucs edge rushers don’t win a lot of individual matchups and they desperately need someone who can do that. 

We already know Garrett wants to play for a contender and the Bucs would offer that. Beyond winning, Tampa also offers a great supporting cast on a defensive line that features Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey who can help take pressure off Garrett and help him be more impactful individually. 

In terms of what Garrett can do for the Bucs defense and what the Bucs defense can do to help Garrett be successful, there might not be a better fit from a football perspective in the NFL.

For more from J.T. click here, then make sure to follow him on Twitter.

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