Week 17: The Most Compelling Regular Season Finale in Years

       It seems as though every year Week 17 is something to get through rather than something to look forward to. The fans are usually treated to two-three meaninful games amidst games featuring rested starters, bad teams "experimenting" and overall uncompelling action. Luckily, this is one of the few years where there are plenty of games and storylines to follow. In fact, there are seven variables to be decided this week that significantly affect the playoff picture or NFL history.

 

1.       Records falling: As you’ve no doubt heard, Adrian Peterson needs 208 yards to break Eric Dickerson’s all-time single-season rushing record and 102 to become only the seventh back to rush for over 2000 yards in a season. Meanwhile, Michael Strahan’s sack record isn’t safe either. Houston’s second year defensive end J.J. Watt has 20.5 sacks thus far and needs 2.5 in the last game to pass Strahan’s 11-year old record. Aldon Smith also a fighting chance at the record. The second-year linebacker needs 3.5 sacks against a putrid Arizona Cardinals line to pass Strahan.

2.       Completion of collapses: This is not unfamiliar territory for the Bears and Giants. The Giants had hot starts only to fall apart late in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Last year, the Bears were 7-3 before Jay Cutler was lost for the year. Enter Caleb Hanie and one of the ugliest stretches by any team in the last ten years. Heading into week 17 the Giants and Bears may be on their way to even worse collapses. Going in to week 10, the Bears were 7-1 while playing above-average offense and historically good defense. Since then, the defense has come back to Earth and the offense has struggled to move the ball. The offensive line is in disarray while Jay Cutler appears to be only slightly above average. The Bears need to win and have the Vikings lose to qualify for the sixth seed in the NFC. That’s likely not what they had in mind just a few weeks ago. After starting 6-2, the Giants have fallen to 8-7. THE Giants appeared to be a shoo-in for the NFC East but now they’ll need a bunch of help just to make the playoffs. They need the Vikings AND Bears to lose and need to defeat the Eagles just to qualify for the sixth seed. So, basically, if the Vikings win Sunday we will be treated to two the finale of two HUGE collapses.

3.       The Battle for NFC East Supremacy: The entire season comes down to this week. Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins take their six-game win streak into a Sunday-Night showdown against the not so mighty Dallas Cowboys. If they Cowboys prevail, the NFC East will have been won by a team a single-digit win team for the second year in a row (not ideal for a division that garners more national attention than any other). However, there’s much more at stake here than a division title. If the Cowboys lose and miss the playoffs for the third year in a row, Jerry Jones is liable to clean house and go through hell and back to find a big-name NFL coach. A Cowboys loss would have far-reaching effects for the entire league (cough cough New Orleans), not just their franchise. A Redskins win, on the other hand, would establish them as the team to beat in the NFC East for years to come.

4.       5000 yards revisited: After a year of ridiculous passing numbers in 2011, things appeared to be calming down in 2012. That was, until Brees and Stafford came on late. Both play on teams with terrible defenses, little or no running game and will miss the playoffs. This has allowed the talented quarterbacks to be able to air it out for most of the game each week. Both quarterback will almost surely topple the 5000-yard barrier for the second year in a row. Brees needs 219 yards (he hasn’t had less than that in nine weeks) and Stafford needs 305 (which he’s done eight times this year). Tony Romo (315) and Tom Brady (417) have a shot at making this the first year where four quarterbacks achieve the milestone. Interestingly enough, if Romo throws 315 yards or more in a Cowboys loss, the top three most prolific passers in the NFL could miss the playoffs. So, while throwing for obscene amounts of yards may be a trend of the future, it may not be a winning technique.

5.       The un-jumbling of the AFC: As it stands now, Houston could finish anywhere from the top seed to the third seed in the AFC. The same can be said about the Broncos while the Ravens have only the third seed to move up to. The Patriots are the most uncertain of all; they can finish anywhere from first to fourth. This entire mess will be settled between one and seven o’clock on Sunday. With the entire AFC seeding up for grabs, it may be hard to walk away from the T.V. Sunday.

6.       Final audition for awards: The debate over the 2012 awards will be among the most controversial and hotly contested in recent memory. With records seemingly falling everywhere, the MVP will be one of the toughest choices ever. There are at least 10 candidates (Manning, Brady, Rodgers, Griffin, Wilson, C. Johnson, Marshall, Peterson, Watt and A. Smith) who can make a reasonable case for the award. The Rookie of the Year award race features three of the most productive, successful and celebrated rookies ever. Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson may all lead their teams to the playoffs and have put up mind-boggling numbers in doing so. Then, of course, we have the first ever compelling race for Comeback Player of the Year between Peyton Manning (four neck surgeries in a year and a new offense to master-over 4000 yards, 30+ TDs top-three seed) and Adrian Peterson (torn ACL and MCL December 24^th, 2011- probable 2000 yard season). What a year in the NFL.

7.       The Seattle Seahawks: After being a boring, 8-8 afterthought in 2011, the Seahawks have become must see TV in 2012. If they’re not sacking Aaron Rodgers eight times on Monday Night Football, Russell Wilson is leading a furious comeback or Marshawn Lynch is wearing down opposing defenses. The Seahawks are on a historically good three-game stretch and are quintupling the scores of their opponents (150-30). The Seahawks could be on their way to their way to making Bill Simmons look like a very smart man.

Stay Hungry My Friends.