Even in the final week of regular season play, the NFL had enough what-if scenarios alive to keep fans from knowing the exact lineup for the playoffs.
Now that the smoke has cleared, the teams that qualified and the schedule for the playoffs has been determined. Well, sort of. The outcomes of next week’s games will determine which team from the early rounds plays the top-seeded teams that get a week’s rest courtesy of finishing atop the standings.
One of the awards for biggest post-Christmas day presents goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who needed the woeful Buffalo Bills to beat the New York Jets, which they did, by the score of 22 – 17. The Bills’ win knocked the Jets out and let the Steelers squeak in as the number six seed from the AFC. The other award goes to the Denver Broncos, who benefitted from the 20 – 10 victory by the even more woeful Miami Dolphins over the New England Patriots. That game, combined with Denver’s late-game win over the San Diego Chargers, gave the Broncos a rest for next week and the advantage of playing their playoff games on their home ground.
In other NFL news, the San Francisco 49ers did what all NFL teams do when their players fail to win: They fired their Coach Mike Tomsula immediately after the final game. This firing might have significant impact on Australia’s Jarryd Hayne, as the yet unnamed new coach for San Francisco might not be as amenable to the rugby-player-turned-NFL-player-experiment that Hayne represented.
