Week 17 of the NFL season came and went in the blink of an eye. It may not have been as entertaining as some other weeks, but there were plenty of games that had me on the edge of my seat, and impacted the playoff picture and NFL Draft order.

It’s hard to believe there’s just one more week of regular-season football, but here we are. Before we turn our attention to Week 18, which will see the final two playoff teams secure a spot, as well as have some massive seeding implications, let’s recap some of my biggest takeaways from Week 17.

DRAKE “DRAKE MAYE” MAYE DELIVERS AGAIN

If you haven’t seen the Drake “Drake Maye” Maye memes, then you won’t understand the header for this section, but all you need to know is that this kid is effing incredible.

After a pretty hot end to the season in 2024, New England Patriots fans were excited about year two with Maye, but I don’t think a single one of them expected this. Maye has been playing at an MVP-level all season long and entered the week with the second-best odds to bring home the award. Well, his odds will certainly skyrocket after this week, and he might just be the favorite come Tuesday.

Maye was about as perfect as a quarterback can be on Sunday. He completed 19 of his 21 passes, including 12 straight to start the game, for 256 yards and five touchdowns. He is the first quarterback in the last 40 years to complete 90 percent of his passes and throw five touchdowns in a single game.

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As the season has progressed, more and more fans have started to realize just how good this kid is. He’s special, and he’s going to bring New England back to a Super Bowl. If it’s not this year, it will be sometime in the near future.

Pittsburgh missed its chance this week

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a chance to wrap up the AFC North this week. Even with Baltimore’s win over Green Bay on Saturday, all Pittsburgh needed to do was beat the 3-12 Cleveland Browns…But they couldn’t do it.

The Browns’ defense, which has been great all year, completely shut down the Steelers on Sunday, holding them to just six points. Aaron Rodgers threw for just 168 yards while completing just over 50 percent of his throws, and while Pittsburgh had some success rushing the football, they just couldn’t punch it in the end zone. They really missed DK Metcalf, who was suspended for two games for punching a fan in the face, and if they lose next week, that mistake is going to go down in history as one of the most boneheaded things a player has ever done.

There was no reason Pittsburgh should’ve lost this game, even with Metcalf out, but they did, and now they have to host their arch rivals in Week 18 with a playoff berth on the line. Get your popcorn ready.

Houston is the worst matchup in the playoffs

Whichever division winner ends up facing the Houston Texans in the first round is going to be extremely upset. Are there better teams in the AFC than the Texans? Yes, but they have to be the most frustrating team to play in the league.

I’m not all that scared of Houston’s offense, but their defense is terrifying. They are statistically one of the best we’ve seen in the past five years, and we’ve seen them shut down opposing offenses time and time again. Through 16 games, Houston gives up 16.6 points per game (1st), 94.8 rushing yards per game (4th), 177.6 passing yards per game (4th), and averages 2.9 sacks per game (5th).

They are outstanding in every single area, and to further my point, they have given up over 20 points just one time in their last seven games, which, weirdly, was against Las Vegas. The last time they’ve given up over 21 points in a game was against the Jacksonville Jaguars on November 9th.

Yes, Denver, New England, and Jacksonville are certainly more well-rounded teams, but I’d almost rather go to New England in the first round of the playoffs than have to host Houston.

Can you imagine San Fran without all their injuries?

The San Francisco 49ers might be the hottest team in the NFL right now, but can you imagine what they’d look like without all of their injuries? Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams are done for the year, Fred Warner has missed significant time (but could return if the 49ers make a deep playoff run), George Kittle is banged up, Trent Williams went out early on Sunday, and they were missing Ricky Pearsall for a while. And that’s just scratching the surface.

This team has been decimated by injuries, and yet they just keep winning football games, including a massive one on Sunday night against the Chicago Bears. With a win over Seattle next week, the 49ers can secure the 1-seed in the NFC, no matter what happens with any other team. They’d take the NFC West crown, and the NFC playoffs would run through Levi’s Stadium.

I’m not sure the 49ers are the best team in the league – their defense is too bad for that – but this offense is the best in the league at the moment. Nobody can stop Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and Co., and right now, they’re my pick for the 1-seed in the NFC. It should be a thrilling matchup against the Seahawks next week.

The Bills might be in trouble

The Buffalo Bills have a big problem. Their offense simply isn’t talented enough to win the Super Bowl unless Josh Allen is 100 percent healthy and playing at his absolute peak. But he’s not 100 percent healthy, which has hampered his play tremendously since last week.

Allen did not look like himself on Sunday. He was still pretty solid throwing the ball, but his mobility wasn’t there, which resulted in him taking five sacks and rushing for just 27 yards on seven carries. He did score two touchdowns, but it took nearly the entire game before the Bills could get anything going. Without the full threat of Allen’s legs and no true WR1, the Bills’ offense looked like a shell of itself, scoring 12 points in the loss.

If Allen can’t get fully healthy, the Bills have no shot at winning the Super Bowl this year. And if they don’t do it this year, they may never do it. Kansas City will be back, and we all know KC is Buffalo’s kryptonite. With the Chiefs out of the picture, this is the year the Bills need to win it, but if they look like this in the postseason, they’ll be first-round exits.

The Raiders won the Tank Bowl

It always felt like the Las Vegas Raiders wanted to win the Tank Bowl a bit more than the New York Giants. They placed Brock Bowers on IR and told Maxx Crosby his season was over, even though he wanted to play this week. It felt like they were doing as much as possible to purposefully lose this game without crossing a line, and they played it perfectly.

With their loss to New York, the Raiders now take possession of the No. 1 pick in the draft. They desperately need a quarterback, so they’ll have their pick of the litter as long as they lose next week. Fernando Mendoza is the top quarterback on the board, but a lot can change by April.

The Giants already have their quarterback in place, so losing the No. 1 overall pick isn’t a huge deal, but it would’ve allowed them to get a haul for the rights to select Mendoza. Now, they’ll likely pick second or third, so they could find a trade partner if Dante Moore or one of the other quarterbacks shows out in the predraft process, but worst-case scenario, they stick and pick an elite defensive player.

This game may have been boring, but it was important. In a few years, if the Raiders find success with Mendoza or another quarterback, this game could be viewed as franchise-changing.

This is the end to the season Minnesota needed

After they went 14-3 last year, but lost in the first round of the playoffs, fans had high expectations for the Minnesota Vikings this season. Even with Sam Darnold leaving for Seattle and their second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy coming off a torn ACL, it felt like they’d be in the mix for the NFC North title. But boy, were we wrong.

Minnesota’s season started off with a thrilling comeback victory over the Chicago Bears, but things went downhill from there. McCarthy got hurt, and the Vikings won three of their next 11 games to fall to 4-8. They were eliminated from playoff contention not much later, but they have turned things around in the past month and are giving their fans some hope that they could return to the postseason next year.

The Vikings have rattled off four straight wins since their 4-8 start, moving to .500 heading into Week 18. They have taken down the Commanders, Cowboys, Giants and Lions during that span, and their defense, which had struggled for much of the year, has given up more than 13 points just one time during that span. Their offense has improved, too, averaging 26 points per game.

This is exactly the ending of the season the Vikings needed. Even if they lose to Green Bay next week, they can feel very good about how they finished the year after a rough start.

The NFC South does not deserve to make the playoffs

The NFC South winner has no business making the playoffs this year. The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been doing everything in their power to lose this division, but somebody is going to have to win Week 18.

The Panthers have been tough to figure out. They beat the Rams and Bucs recently, but also lost two games to the Saints and were dominated by San Fran and Seattle. Tampa’s been a bit easier to figure out. After their red-hot start, the Buccaneers’ offense has become stagnant and predictable, losing seven of their last eight games, with their only win coming over Arizona. They’ve lost to Miami, Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans in the last four weeks.

Somehow, even after the Bucs’ meltdown, they could make the playoffs with a win over Carolina next week. I don’t know for sure, but I highly doubt a team has ever finished the year 2-7 and made the postseason. I’m a Saints fan, so I may be biased, but I think most people would agree that the Saints getting in would be much more entertaining than Carolina or Tampa.

Cam Ward and Tyler Shough are the two best rookie QBs

I know not many people were paying attention to the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans on Sunday, but if you were, you were in for a treat. Not only was this an excellent game, but you saw the two best rookie quarterbacks in the NFL go toe-to-toe, and both of them balled out.

Neither of these teams was playing for anything other than pride, but you’d think this game was for a spot in the playoffs based on how these two played. Tyler Shough put up the big numbers, throwing for 333 yards and two touchdowns while completing 81.4 percent of his passes. While Cam Ward’s numbers weren’t as lofty, he made some incredible plays and still totaled 251 yards and two touchdowns while completing 21 of his 40 attempts. Just look at some of the plays these two were making on Sunday.

Shough and Ward combined for 661 yards and four touchdowns (each) in this game, but what makes it even more impressive is that neither of these guys has elite weapons. Chris Olave is great, but outside of him, the best receiver on the field today was Elic Ayomanor. And at running back, Tony Pollard’s been running well, but there weren’t any big names out there.

I know there will be guys out there who think Jaxson Dart should be in the conversation, but in my opinion, these two are clearly the best rookie quarterbacks in the NFL.

Jonathan Gannon is gone

Yeah, Jonathan Gannon already has a foot out the door in Arizona. After a 2-0 start, there was some optimism in Arizona, but they have won just one of their last 14 games, and are now 3-13 on the season after an ugly, ugly loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Gannon was brought in because of the excellent work he did with the Eagles’ defense. He was one of the hottest coordinator names on the market, but he has not panned out in Arizona. In 2025, Gannon’s defense ranks 29th in points per game allowed (27.6), 22nd in passing yards allowed (224.1), 24th in rushing yards allowed (126.3), and 28th in sacks per game (1.7).

While Arizona has been relatively competitive this year, that’s largely been due to Jacoby Brissett and the Cardinals’ offense. With what many assume will be a three-win season after next week’s game against the Rams, Gannon should be out the door by next Monday.