MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
The NFL announced on Monday that it again lied on its oath to have a level playing field for all teams when it announced the schedule for this weekend’s Week 18 games.
The Baltimore Ravens (11-5) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) are still in play for the AFC North title and for the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Hence, one would guess the teams will be playing their final regular-season games on the same day, which they are; and the fair-play guess would be they would be playing at the same time, which they are not.
The Ravens will host the Cleveland Browns Saturday at 4:30 p.m., while the Steelers are also home and host the Cincinnati Bengals at 8 p.m. The Ravens opened a 17.5-point favorite on Monday (take the Browns and the points), while the Steelers opened a 1.5-point underdog.
Now the staggered starts are not unfair to Baltimore, but they could be beneficial to Pittsburgh and to Cincinnati, and unfair to the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins, because the red-hot Bengals (8-8) are still in the running for the AFC’s final playoff spot with Denver (9-7) and Miami (8-8).
Should the Ravens beat the Browns in the afternoon – and they should, which doesn’t mean they will – they’re AFC North champs and the No. 3 seed, which may give the Steelers cause to rest their starters against the Bengals, who are the AFC team right now that nobody wants to play, despite their terrible defense.
If that comes to fruition, it could be said that it would be unfair to Denver and to Miami. Then again, if the Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs’ backups on Sunday, and they are a 10-point favorite (take KC and the points, backups or not), Denver is in. As for the Dolphins, they don’t need any more favors, because they’re playing the New York Jets.
As for the Steelers, things could work both ways, even if Baltimore does win the afternoon game, as head coach Mike Tomlin gathered the team together the day after their loss to the Chiefs for an airing of grievances, as the Steelers have lost three games in a row. There is no word on what the meeting involved other than the players seemed to have agreed with it.
The thinking would be that the Steelers want to right the ship regardless of the Ravens outcome just to avoid going into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak and to create positive momentum. Also, if the Steelers rest their players they could run the risk of playing in Baltimore instead of Houston in the wildcard round.
Then again, if the Ravens lose to the Browns (who love to and do mess with the Ravens) and the Steelers beat the Bengals, the Steelers are AFC North champs and the No. 3 seed, and all is well in the Steel City, other than the fact that it bothers so many Steelers fans that Mike Tomlin is the head coach. Go figure.
Then there are the WASHINGTON COMMANDERS, who officially threw water on the wicked witch that for a quarter-century had haunted them in the sawed-off form of Daniel Snyder.
The Commanders’ 30-24 overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night put them in the playoffs and was yet another Jayden Daniels follow-me-boys performance, as every one of the Commanders’ scoring drives came as a result of the rookie quarterback making big plays, with Daniels rushing for 127 yards and passing for 227 yards and three touchdowns.
The Commanders are a playoff team for the first time in four years and at 11-5 have won at least 10 games for the first time in 12 years because now they have a difference maker.
As evidenced on Monday, though, Washington still commits too many penalties, and had the Falcons kicker had five more yards of leg, penalties and dumb mistakes would have been the reason for a Commanders loss, so there is still plenty to clean up.
Defensively, the Commanders still get beat a lot up front as the Falcons, who were playing for a playoff berth as well, rushed the ball at will in the first half and controlled time of possession; and the secondary remains a problem regardless of who’s back there. Sunday, the chosen whipping boy was Michael Davis.
Yet the football team in Washington has 11 wins in a season for the first time since 1991, which, of course, was Washington’s last Super Bowl championship season.
No need to make comparisons to that team or to that season, but what has transpired with the Washington Commanders in just the first year of the Josh Harris ownership group having all of its own people in place is remarkable.
The Harris group, general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn inherited a genuine mess and returned it to being a genuine source of heartfelt community pride and passion.
Just like the old days. Just as it never should have stopped being.
Mike Burke writes about sports and ..other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 19.81 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT