32 things we learned in NFL Week 18: Key insights into playoff field
The 32 things we learned from Week 18 of the 2023 NFL season:
1. Parity is alive and well in the NFL, just how the league wants it. With the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers qualifying for postseason, at least four new teams have reached the playoffs (compared to the previous year’s field) in every season since 1990 – when the Super Bowl tournament expanded to 12 teams (a figure that grew to 14 in 2020).
2. Aside from the 1982 strike campaign, which did not include divisional play, the past 46 seasons have featured at least one divisional winner that missed postseason the previous year. Come on down, Lions and Texans, who will be hosting "Super Wild Card Weekend" affairs next weekend.
3. Houston’s turnaround occurred with a rookie head coach (DeMeco Ryans) and quarterback (C.J. Stroud). They become the fifth such pairing to reach the playoffs since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, joining the 2008 Baltimore Ravens (HC John Harbaugh, QB Joe Flacco), 2008 Atlanta Falcons (HC Mike Smith, QB Matt Ryan), 2009 New York Jets (HC Rex Ryan, QB Mark Sanchez) and 2012 Indianapolis Colts (HC Chuck Pagano, QB Andrew Luck).
4. Sunday was even better for the Texans – they ousted the Colts on Saturday night – the Jacksonville Jaguars’ loss conferring the AFC South crown to Houston for the first time since 2019. It’s the 19th time in the past 21 seasons that at least one team in the league has won a division the year after winding up in last place or with a share of it.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
5. Nice job by the scrappy Cincinnati Bengals, who won their final game to finish 9-8 despite losing QB Joe Burrow for most of the season’s second half. The victory meant all four of the AFC North’s teams finished with a winning record, the first time in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) that an entire division’s membership was above .500.
5a. In fact, that hadn't happened since 1935, when the Lions won what was then the NFL's Western Division – which included the Chicago Cardinals.
6. Nice job by the Jets, who snapped their 15-game losing streak to the New England Patriots with a 17-3 win Sunday.
6a. That could also make for some serious AFC East symmetry as Sunday’s game might have been the last for legendary New England coach Bill Belichick. Of course, he and the Pats really took sail more than 22 years ago when the Jets knocked out Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe … thus accidentally launching the Belichick-Tom Brady era.
7.Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce was inactive Sunday, finishing the regular season with 984 receiving yards and ending his string of 1,000-yard campaigns at seven in a row. No other tight end in NFL history has had more than three straight.
8. Sunday certainly isn’t a day Jacksonville’s Evan Engram will remember fondly, the Jaguars watching the AFC South and a playoff berth slip away. But he did catch 10 balls, pushing his season total to 114 – an AFC record for a tight end after surpassing Kelce’s former mark (110) and two shy of matching Zach Ertz’s all-time single-season mark at the position.
9. Speaking further of tight ends, bittersweet Sunday for Lions rookie Sam LaPorta. He caught five passes, giving him 86 for the season – a new record for rookie tight ends after he surpassed Keith Jackson.
9a. However LaPorta was knocked out of the game with a knee injury, a potentially crippling blow to the NFC North champions a week ahead of their first-ever playoff game at Ford Field.
10. Before the injury, LaPorta also scored – making him the third rookie tight end with at least 10 TD grabs. He and Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs are the first rookie teammates to both score double-digit TDs.
10a. The Lions also became the second squad in NFL annals with four players scoring at least 10 TDs apiece, RB David Montgomery and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown complementing Detroit’s breakout rookie duo.
10b. The 2013 Denver Broncos, who scored a regular-season record 606 points, had five double-digit TD guys.
11. One last note on the Lions. Props for getting 6-9, 330-pound swing OT Dan Skipper a 4-yard catch Sunday, the first of his career, after the Week 17 fiasco at Dallas. And, yes, Skipper was most certainly eligible.
12. Jeff Driskel became the Browns’ fifth starting quarterback this season while giving Joe Flacco the day off Sunday.
13. Cleveland joins the 1984 Chicago Bears as the only teams to reach the playoffs despite starting five quarterbacks in one season.
14. And the 2023 campaign has been a stark reminder that you better have legitimate quarterback depth – a lesson that’s been repeatedly taught since Week 1, when the Jets lost Aaron Rodgers for the season with an Achilles injury.
14a. Driskel, the Ravens’ Tyler Huntley, Chiefs’ Blaine Gabbert, Rams’ Carson Wentz and 49ers’ Sam Darnold all played in Week 18, meaning 66 different signal-callers started this season – an average of slightly more than two per team.
15. Noteworthy, the NFC East and South were the most stable QB divisions – each featuring six total starters during the season. The New York Giants were the only team in the NFC East that needed to go down the quarterback depth chart, albeit two times after Daniel Jones went down with a torn ACL. The NFC South is interesting given all four teams began 2023 with QB1s different from their opening day starters in 2022.
16. Speaking of quarterback “depth,” the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes – he was in street clothes with Kelce on Sunday ahead of next week’s wild-card date at Arrowhead Stadium – is the only one at the position to be a Pro Bowler in both 2022 and 2023.
17. If you think the genius label gets thrown about a bit too loosely in regards to Rams HC Sean McVay, consider this: LA is headed to postseason for the fifth time in his seven seasons, meaning McVay has overtaken legendary John Madden for the most playoff trips for a coach who has yet to turn 38.
18. Falcons coach Arthur Smith, 41, was consistent, too, though unfortunately nowhere near McVay’s level. ATL, which entered Sunday with a shot at the NFC South crown, was blown out by the New Orleans Saints – apparently much to Smith’s displeasure given his on-field reaction to counterpart Dennis Allen afterward – leaving Atlanta at 7-10 for the third consecutive year under Smith.
18a. Falcons owner Arthur Blank fired Smith shortly after midnight ET on Monday. GM Terry Fontenot will stick around and be part of the search for Smith's successor.
19. If you had Rams WR Puka Nacua blossoming into the greatest rookie pass catcher in NFL history, we also hope you’re enjoying your multiple Powerball winnings.
19a. The fifth-rounder from BYU finished with 105 receptions for 1,486 yards – both figures establishing new rookie records.
20. Nacua’s effort helped the Rams win their first regular-season game against the San Francisco 49ers in five years – which also ensured resting LA QB Matthew Stafford gets to face his former team, the Lions, in Detroit for the wild-card round.
20a. Also, we’d wager ex-Rams QB Jared Goff, now Motown’s main man, can’t wait to see McVay and Co. come to Ford Field, either.
21. San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey rested his tender calf Sunday but still finished with a league-high 1,459 yards on the ground, the first in-season, wire-to-wire rushing king this century.
22. After going 35-for-35 on field goals entering Sunday, the best start to a career of any kicker in league history, the Dallas Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey missed twice against Washington – one of his attempts blocked.
23. Didn’t stop “America’s Team” from winning the NFC East as the Philadelphia Eagles completed their crash and burn Sunday.
24. The Eagles follow the 2022 Miami Dolphins, among other teams, to limp into the playoffs despite losing five of their final six games.
25. The Eagles' abdication of the NFC East throne means the division hasn’t had a repeat champion since Philly ruled it from 2001 to ’04, the longest such streak in NFL history.
26. Aubrey’s off day also didn’t prevent the Commanders from locking up the No. 2 overall pick of the 2024 draft – meaning QB Sam Howell’s days as a starter … would surely have to continue elsewhere.
26a. The Dallas demolition didn’t discourage Washington WR Terry McLaurin from getting the yards he needed to notch a fourth straight 1,000-yard campaign – while trailing 38-10 – which is a new team record. Chintzy, but if that’s important to you…
27. Chris Jones' incentive celebration > Jadeveon Clowney incentive celebration.
28. Steelers OLB T.J. Watt would surely trade the accomplishment for a healthy knee – Saturday’s injury likely to prevent him from participating in the playoffs – but his 19 sacks made him the league’s first three-time league champion in that category since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.
29. Speaking of sacks, Pro Bowl pass rusher Montez Sweat had a career-best 12½ … while becoming the first man to lead two different teams (Commanders, Bears) in that category in the same season.
30.RB Derrick Henry’s classy goodbyes, both on the field and at the press conference podium, pretty well signal that the pending free agent will not be returning to the Tennessee Titans for the 2024 season. But what a run “King Henry” had, and his 2023 numbers – a dozen TDs and nearly 1,400 yards from scrimmage – suggest there’s still gas in the tank.
31. The Packers had no Pro Bowlers in 2023 but still managed to be the 14th and final team to qualify for the playoffs, earning a wild-card date with the Cowboys.
31a. Fans of the Carolina Panthers, Patriots and Commanders truly have nothing left to look forward to, those the only other teams not to get even one Pro Bowl nod. Or is it one Pro Bowl Games nod?
32. So that’s 272 games down – once the Buffalo Bills beat the Dolphins to clinch their fourth consecutive AFC East crown on Sunday night – and 13 left to determine the Super Bowl 58 champion in Las Vegas next month. To quote former Jets LB Bart Scott: “Can’t wait!”
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.