Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Between Week 18 of the NFL on Saturday and Sunday and the college national title game Monday, we’ve got three days of excellent football on the horizon.
In today’s SI:AM:
💙 Bills say they’re ready to play after positive Hamlin news
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Business as (mostly) usual
Somewhat shockingly, the Week 18 NFL schedule will go ahead as planned. The day after Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati, the pall cast over the NFL made the idea of playing games as usual unfathomable. But as positive updates about Hamlin’s condition have rolled in, suiting up Sunday is more palatable.
Conor Orr traveled to Buffalo, where the Bills say that they’re ready to play Sunday against the Patriots. The team is still shaken by what happened Monday night against the Bengals, but it’s prepared to move forward, in part because Hamlin’s father told the team Wednesday that it’s what his son would want.
The NFL announced yesterday that the game between the Bills and Bengals will not resume and has been declared a no contest. That sets up an unprecedented and confusing scenario for the final week of the season. Since two of the top teams in the AFC will have played one fewer game than the rest of the league, the NFL has opened the door for a possible neutral-site AFC championship game.
The situation is complex (and best explained by this chart from Twitter user Ivan Urena). If the Chiefs have the same number of losses as either the Bills or Bengals, an AFC championship game between Kansas City and either of the latter two teams would be played at a neutral site. There is also a scenario in which the site of a Bengals-Ravens wild-card round game is determined by a coin flip. (NFL owners must vote later today to make the plan official.)
The playoff scenarios involving other teams are more straightforward. Here is the full list of clinching possibilities, but let’s take a look at some of the most notable ones.
Titans and Jaguars
It doesn’t get any simpler for Tennessee: win and in. The Titans and Jags play Saturday night in a de facto AFC South title game. There is no scenario in which the Titans could qualify for the postseason with a loss. There’s a slim chance the Jaguars could lose the game and still make the playoffs, but that requires three other teams to lose.
Seahawks, Lions and Packers
This is a tricky one. These three teams have identical 8–8 records and are all vying for the final playoff spot in the NFC (the Giants and Cowboys have already locked up spots). Detroit and Green Bay play each other Sunday night at Lambeau. If the Packers win, they’re in. The Lions can be eliminated before they even play if the Seahawks beat the Rams in the late afternoon window. If Los Angeles wins that one, it becomes a win-and-in scenario for Detroit, too. Seattle, meanwhile, has to win and have the Lions beat the Packers.
Patriots, Dolphins and Steelers
The situation is similar in the race for the final AFC wild-card spot. New England, Miami and Pittsburgh are all 8–8. If the Patriots beat the Bills, they’re in. (New England can also get in with a loss and losses by three other teams.) If the Dolphins beat the Jets and the Patriots lose to the Bills, Miami gets it. Pittsburgh needs to beat the Browns and have the Patriots and Dolphins both lose to continue its season.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Kevin D. Liles/Sports Illustrated
- Today’s Daily Cover story focuses on the emergence of Georgia QB Stetson Bennett, who has a chance to become one of college football’s all-time greatest players. Pat Forde writes:
Monday, though, is more about business than nostalgia. A national championship is on the line. Against TCU in SoFi Stadium, Bennett will attempt to elevate his legacy one more rung up the ladder—from ignored to doubted to celebrated to memorialized as Georgia’s greatest quarterback, and as an all-time college football great.
- Ross Dellenger looks at how Sonny Dykes built on the foundation that Gary Patterson established at TCU and got the Horned Frogs to the brink of a national championship.
- Forde also ripped Texas A&M for hiring Bobby Petrino as its new offensive coordinator.
- Tom Verducci examines the borderline Hall of Fame case of Billy Wagner.
- The Red Sox have been directionless in recent years, but Emma Baccellieri writes that extending Rafael Devers puts them back on track.
- The Michigan football program is under an NCAA investigation.
- Texas fired men’s basketball coach Chris Beard after he was arrested last month on domestic violence charges.
- After awaking in a Cincinnati hospital Wednesday, one of the first things Damar Hamlin asked was, “Did we win?”
- The internal feud within the U.S. men’s national soccer program has reached new levels, Brian Straus writes.
Here are the NFL odds, spreads and matchups for SI Sportsbooks Perfect 10 contest for Week 18.
The top five...
… things I saw last night:
5. This wild near-goal for the Kings against the Bruins that helped Boston improve to a league-best 30-4-4.
4. Predators goalie Juuse Saros’s franchise-record 64 saves. That’s tied for the third most in NHL history.
3. John Buggs’s game-winning buzzer beater for UTSA.
2. Emerging Jazz star Lauri Markkanen’s career-high 49 points.
1. The Inside the NBA crew’s reaction to Charles Barkley’s cursing.
SIQ
The Rochester Royals and Indianapolis Olympians played the longest game in NBA history on this day in 1951, with Indianapolis emerging victorious in six overtimes. What was the final score?
- 75–73
- 92–81
- 115–109
- 145–140
Yesterday’s SIQ: Former NHL player Mike Grier, who was born on Jan. 5, 1975, became the first Black general manager in league history when he was named GM by which team in July of last year?
- Sharks
- Kraken
- Golden Knights
- Devils
Answer: Sharks. Grier played 14 seasons in the NHL with the Oilers, Capitals, Sabres and Sharks before taking postretirement jobs as a scout with the Blackhawks, assistant coach with the Devils and in the Rangers’ front office. His historic appointment came following Doug Wilson’s departure due to medical reasons after 19 years in charge of San Jose’s front office.
Before that, though, Grier made history in a different way. When he debuted with the Oilers in 1996, he became the first Black player in NHL history who was born and trained in the United States. Grier grew up in Massachusetts and started playing hockey when he was 4, according to The New York Times. When he was 9, he was featured in SI’s “Faces in the Crowd” after racking up 227 goals in 104 games over two seasons—as a defenseman. He went on to play at Boston University and was picked in the ninth round of the ’93 draft.
Grier comes from a family with deep ties to another sport: football. His father, Bobby, had a long career as an assistant coach in college and the NFL before transitioning to scouting. He then held high-level front-office positions with the Patriots and Texans. Grier’s brother, Chris, is currently the GM of the Dolphins.
