NFL Week 18 roundtable: Myles Garrett’s last shot, Ravens-Steelers hot seat, title clashes
Four division titles and both conference’s top seeds hanging in the balance should be enough to satiate even the biggest appetite for high-stakes action in Week 18.
But there is plenty more to watch in the 2025 season’s ultimate week.
Just one sack away from setting the single-season record (22.5), Myles Garrett has one more shot at pass-rushing immortality as the Cleveland Browns face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. If Garrett misses the mark, though, how will his performance be viewed historically in an otherwise forgettable Browns campaign?
It also gets a little hotter at the final whistle for any head coach sitting on a warm seat this week. That could include two of the league’s most consistent winners in Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Could the losing coach of the teams’ AFC North title clash on Sunday night be in trouble?
Our NFL writers Zak Keefer, Jeff Howe and Mike Sando have plenty to say in this week’s roundtable previewing Week 18’s game. Read more below.
The Bucs meet the Panthers on Saturday and the NFC South winner could finish under .500 and host a playoff game. The idea of the league re-seeding for the postseason might be a topic of conversation once again. Where do you stand on that? Does the league have it right or should the Lions’ proposal from May be revisited?
Keefer: I’m 100% with the Lions on this — teams shouldn’t be punished for playing in tougher divisions, and wins shouldn’t be discounted. They’re simply too hard to come by. Philip Rivers actually brought up this topic a few weeks ago in Indianapolis, mentioning the time his 8-8 Chargers team hosted a 12-4 Colts team in the wild-card round. The Lions’ proposal pertains to the second-round games, but the point stands. I’m all for division winners earning their spot in the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean a losing team should be hosting a game against one that won three or four more games during the regular season.
Howe: While the record-based seeding is the fairer of the two, I still think a division title should carry more distinction, and the home playoff game is a suitable reward. This is typically a reactionary topic in the rare instance when a team with a bad record wins a division, but few seem to care when the model works according to plan. I’ve never felt strongly about this topic, though, because there are really good cases for each side. Another perk for record-based seeding: There’d be a few more meaningful games this weekend.
Sando: The best solution to this problem is to win your division. I’ve got no issue with the current setup. It’s the sort of thing that comes up when a specific team has a great record and feels slighted because a division-winning team has a lesser record.
The NFC West and NFC’s No. 1 seed is on the line when the 49ers and Seahawks meet. But does the winning team’s coach have the best case for Coach of the Year as well? Kyle Shanahan would have an injury-riddled 49ers team atop the conference. Oddsmakers had the Seahawks at 7.5 wins in August.
Keefer: Shanahan is my Coach of the Year, with Mike Vrabel a close second. I think it’s the most competitive race for this award in a decade, maybe longer. Ben Johnson deserves a seat at the table, as does Sean Payton, Liam Coen and DeMeco Ryans. Macdonald has been tremendous in Seattle, and if they win Saturday night, I have no issue with him bringing home the award. But I’m picking the 49ers in this one because of how well Brock Purdy is playing of late, and Christian McCaffrey remains the most productive high-volume player in the league. San Francisco looks Super Bowl-good right now. Shanahan’s never done a better job, and that’s saying quite a lot.
Howe: This is an awesome race for Coach of the Year because there are about 10 guys who have legitimate cases. And without a consensus favorite for the Super Bowl — in either conference — voters can’t just defer to the coach on the best team. If you’re going with the coach who has done the most after entering the season with the lowest expectations, Liam Coen, Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson and Mike Macdonald have to be leading the way. I’d have to see how the weekend played out before deciding because it’s too close to call.
Sando: It’ll be hard to ignore Shanahan if his 49ers beat the Seahawks to claim the top seed after missing so many key players for long stretches, including Brock Purdy. Mike Vrabel has a really strong case as well. I’ll wait til the season is over before making a decision.
Myles Garrett has one more shot at the single-sack record. The Bengals might pull out all the stops to leave Garrett sack-less (even if it cost them the game like it did for the Steelers). If he misses the record, how are we viewing Garrett’s season among the all-time great edge rushers?
Keefer: I can’t recall the last time I saw Myles Garrett face a single lineman. It’s always a minimum of two, even three, with plenty of chip blocks thrown in there somewhere. Offenses know how quickly he can wreck a game. His season has been remarkable any way you slice it. The only shame is he’s doing it on a four-win Browns team that will miss the playoffs for the seventh time in his nine seasons. The all-time greats Garrett has put himself in company with — pass rushers like Reggie White and Michael Strahan — won Super Bowls. If Garrett sets the record Sunday, it should be celebrated. But it’d mean more if the stakes were higher.
Howe: Not unlike one of the Jets’ wasted seasons with Darrelle Revis, or J.J. Watt with the Texans or Larry Fitzgerald with the Cardinals, when people wondered if one of the generation’s most impactful performers will ever make more than one playoff appearance per election cycle. Garrett is on his way to going down as an all-time great, but pass rushers have a distinguished place in the game’s history. To be compared to the best of the best across generations, Garrett needs to play for a winner.
Sando: I feel like it’s one more dominant season from an all-time great player. Whether Garrett has 14, 18, 21 or 25 sacks means less to me for a player of that caliber. The difference between 22 and 23 could help Garrett’s legacy hold up better in the distant future, when fewer people appreciate what he brought to the game. Either way, he’s been great the whole time.
The Chargers (at Broncos) are resting starters. With Josh Allen’s lingering foot injury in mind, the Bills (vs. Jets) could do something similar. Those won’t be the only teams weighing whether or not to play starters. Is resting players always the smart move in Week 18 for playoff teams or does seeding matter this year more than ever?
Keefer: It didn’t seem like Allen was quite himself in the second half of Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, so if I’m Sean McDermott, I’m sitting him. He’s their ticket come January, and Allen at 100% is enough to push the Bills to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994. With no Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow in this year’s AFC playoff field — and if the Ravens lose Sunday night, no Lamar Jackson — the door is open. A healthy Allen gives the Bills their best shot. It doesn’t matter where they have to play, no one in football tilts the field quite like him.
Howe: If the Chargers win and the Patriots and Jaguars hold serve against inferior opponents, the Chargers’ reward would be a return to Denver in the wild-card round. That’s a daunting scenario for any division opponent. For the Bills, resting Allen should be the obvious call. They need a win and a Texans loss to Indy to jump into the No. 5 seed for a wild-card trip to the AFC North winner, so that’s a long shot. Intriguingly, if the Bills rest Allen and lose to the Jets — still not a given — and the other AFC playoff teams hold serve, they’d be setting up a first-round trip to New England.
Sando: Seeding matters less with only one bye instead of two. Every team needs to weigh the risks. Having a healthier Josh Allen could be the most important thing for Buffalo, so resting him makes sense. I agree with Chicago playing its starters because the Bears are trying to establish something under a first-year coach. They have not arrived. Keep playing. Having something to play for, however minor, makes it easier to justify.
The Steelers and Ravens meet for the AFC North title on Sunday night. The loser’s season comes to a very disappointing end and perhaps a new direction is up for discussion. Are you buying that the losing coach is on the hot seat — or gone — after this game?
Keefer: I’ve never got the inkling that Steelers ownership has even considered moving on from Mike Tomlin, so if he’s not the coach there next year, it’s because it was his call, not theirs. A disastrous end could lead to some tough discussions for a team that leads the league in defensive spending year after year but hasn’t found a running game or a solid offensive line in a while. Aaron Rodgers has Band-Aided the Steelers’ QB issue for a few months, but he’s not a long-term answer. If this season ends the way the last one did — with a blowout loss to the Ravens — the furor will rise in Pittsburgh, and I could see it being the end for Tomlin. The Dolphins or Titans would be wise to scoop him up as fast as possible.
Howe: I don’t think the result should matter with Tomlin or Harbaugh. Should a wild-card exit move the needle? Or even a trip to the divisional round? When it’s time to consider parting with an organizational institution — one who has maintained a Super Bowl standard — the decision must be about far more than the outcome of a game or two in early January. Is the message still being received? Are the visions still aligned? Are all parties still getting the best out of every relationship in the building? If they’re not and it’s been trending this way for a while, delaying the inevitable wouldn’t serve the best interest of the organization or the coach in question.
Sando: Both teams likely stay the course with their coaches, in my view. I do think both franchises should take into account what tends to happen in the later years of these super-long coaching tenures in one spot. The returns tend to be diminishing even for top coaches.
