With the final slate of regular-season games completed, there is no more football to play until the NFL’s postseason begins. While we can’t cover everything, including Aaron Rodgers’ feud with Jimmy Kimmel, here are four of the top storylines to emerge from the NFL’s 18th and final week. (Here’s a look back at last week, as well as a look at Philadelphia Eagles punter Braden Mann’s attempt to flop, which was thwarted quite entertainingly by Giants’ Cam Brown.)
Derrick Henry, the departing Titans star, is a class act.
Derrick Henry, arguably the best NFL running back of the last decade and certainly one of the most durable, is set to enter free agency in March after amassing 2,185 touches, 10,955 total yards, and 97 total touchdowns in eight seasons with the Tennessee Titans.
On Sunday, Henry carried the ball 19 times for a season-high 153 yards and a touchdown as the Titans played spoiler and sent the Jaguars home from Nashville with a loss.
Knowing that this would most likely be his final game in a Titans uniform in Tennessee, Henry grabbed the microphone for the in-stadium sound system after Sunday’s victory and thanked the fans who remained in attendance for their continued support over the years. The speech, like Henry’s, was quite strong.
“I just want to say thank you for the greatest eight years of my life,” Henry told the audience. “Y’all have been there for me through the good times and bad. Through adversity. I watched myself develop as a person and a player. Always there to support me. “I love you all.”
The 30-year-old, who told reporters he wanted to get the Titans (6-11) back into Super Bowl contention but admitted his days in Tennessee were probably over, made an even better impression at the podium during his postgame press conference, thanking team employees ranging from kitchen staffers and members of the cleaning crew to security personnel and the “avocado guy.” Bob was thanked by name, as were all of the others on Henry’s list.
Mike McCarthy is coaching for his job in Dallas Heading into a playoff game against his former team, ex-Packers coach Mike McCarthy will attempt to lead the Cowboys on a deep playoff run and try to get Dallas past the divisional round of the NFL postseason for the first time since the 1995 season. To do it, McCarthy will need to guide the Cowboys past Green Bay and then another yet-to-be-determined opponent. Based on what Dallas owner Jerry Jones said on Sunday after Dallas knocked off Washington to win the NFC East, McCarthy needs to get Dallas into the NFC Championship Game (and maybe even the Super Bowl) or he’ll be out in Dallas.
“I just think his record speaks for itself,” Jones said, per The Athletic. “I think what he’s done and how we’ve gotten ourselves into this situation over the last three years speaks for itself. We have plenty of football left, thanks in large part to Mike.We’ll see how the games go.”
McCarthy, who is 167-102-2 in 17 seasons as an NFL head coach, has the opportunity to improve on his barely-above-.500 postseason record of 11-10. Of course, one of those victories is slightly more notable than the others because it occurred in Super Bowl XLV, when the Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers.
McCarthy is a victim of his own success entering this postseason, as many believe the Cowboys, who have the fourth-best odds to win the season, are legitimate Super Bowl contenders despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, including the team’s 4-5 road record.
It remains to be seen whether the Cowboys are legitimate, but Jones, who will be 82 in the fall, appears to believe they are and expects big things. If McCarthy is unable to deliver them, he will leave.
Jameis Winston is actually quite funny.
Jameis Winston, the first quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a single season, spent much of this year on the bench in New Orleans while starter Derek Carr led the Saints to a 9-8 record that almost got them into the playoffs. The Saints’ season finale came on Sunday against the Falcons, with New Orleans defeating Atlanta 48-17.
Winston was able to play because of the lopsided score, as head coach Dennis Allen pulled Carr once the game’s outcome was determined. That may have been an error.
With Winston, who turned 30 over the weekend, in the game doing mop-up duty with a 41-17 lead and less than a minute left, Allen instructed the team to line up in victory formation on the edge of the end zone and run out the clock. The Falcons, who were eliminated from playoff contention after the blowout loss, were clearly expecting Winston to follow protocol and take a knee. He did not.
Instead, Winston listened to the offensive players he was huddled with on the field and signaled for a handoff to Jamaal Williams, who led the league in touchdowns last season, to plunge into the end zone for a meaningless touchdown. Williams, who played for the Lions last season, scored his first touchdown of the season.
When the final whistle blew, Atlanta coach Arthur Smith, who was fired on Monday after three losing seasons, approached Allen and informed him that the Falcons did not appreciate being shown up by Winston and company. Allen apologized to Smith, but it didn’t appear that his apology was accepted.
When asked about the incident after the game, Winston did not apologize and explained that the hand-off to Wilson was a team decision.This did not involve the Saints’ head coach.
“Well I apologize to D.A. [Allen} because the play was victory, but I also explained to D.A. that it was a team decision,” Winston went on to say. I asked the guys. I asked, ‘What do you want to do?’ We understand how much Jamaal means to the team. And I understood from D.A.’s point of view, so I gave him that, but D.A. didn’t agree with it at all. The score was already 41-17, so I’m not sure how much worse things can get.
The 2021 quarterback draft class is essentially failing.
The Jacksonville Jaguars, who had the worst record in the NFL in both 2020 and 2021, appeared to have righted the ship when they fired bumbling head coach Urban Meyer prior to last season and then made a postseason run last year under Doug Pederson. Former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence, who struggled in his first season in the league in ’21, looked like a new quarterback last year with Pederson at the helm, and appeared to be the franchise quarterback Jacksonville was looking for when they drafted him.
Lawrence maintained that appearance at the start of this season, when the Jaguars jumped out to an 8-3 lead and appeared to be on their way to winning the very winnable AFC South. Unfortunately, it did not last.
Lawrence was injured and ineffective for much of the second half of the season, and he struggled down the stretch as Jacksonville went 1-5 before finishing 9-8, the same record as the previous year. Last year, 9-8 looked like a victory for the Jaguars, propelling them into the playoffs. This year, 9-8 feels like a failure, especially since Jacksonville’s eighth loss of the season came on Sunday against the cellar-dwelling Titans (6-11), putting the Jags out of playoff contention. Lawrence, who threw two interceptions in the loss, had the ball in his hands with the game on the line but was stopped short of the end zone on a crucial fourth-and-goal play.
“The words now don’t really mean much,” Lawrence stated following the defeat. “This is new, and everyone will deal with it in their own way. You should, and everyone should, but you should be sick, disappointed, and frustrated with yourself, the offense, and the team. Everything. You put in a lot of work. Coming in here, if we win, we’ll make the playoffs. We have a home playoff game. And we’re leaving here, heading home, and we’re done. We all understand where we are and how disappointing our finish was this year. We need to be better.”
It was a disappointing conclusion to the former Heineman Trophy winner’s junior season in the NFL, but he is far from the only third-year quarterback who failed to meet expectations this season. With Lawrence and the Jaguars out of the postseason, none of the 2021 quarterbacks will start a playoff game in 2024.
Along with Lawrence, Zach Wilson (No. 2 overall), Justin Fields (No. 3 overall), Trey Lance (No. 10 overall), Mac Jones (No. 14 overall), Kyle Trask (No. 64 overall), Davis Mills (No. 81 overall), and Kellen Mond (No. 84 overall) will be in attendance when the playoffs begin on Saturday afternoon when the Browns travel to Houston to face the Texans. Mills will attend the game, but he will be on the bench, watching rookie phenom C.J. Stroud lead Houston’s offense.
While it’s far too early to say goodbye to Lawrence and the rest of the QB draft class of ’21, it’s certainly time for their teams to start thinking about drafting replacements.
