the Jacksonville Jaguars find themselves in an unusual position ahead of their Week 17 game against the Houston Texans. If the Jaguars win the contest, it doesn’t matter. If they lose the contest, that’s okay.
That’s right, the game makes no sense, at least when it comes to ranking. Jaguars and Tennessee Titans sit at 7-8 at the start of Week 17. Both teams play in Week 18 and the winner of that game will determine which team wins the AFC South and heads to the playoffs.
Although Week 17 will have no impact on the divisional race, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson intends to play all its holders during the contest against the Texans, per NFL.com.
“There’s never a game that doesn’t make sense,” Pederson told reporters Wednesday. “Never, never, never, never. You play to win every game. The only way I rest players is if they’re injured and can’t go.”
Pederson added that he’s been very motivated to beat the Texans since beating the Jaguars in Week 5. The Texans have won just two games in 2022.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has yet to reveal his plans for Week 17. The Titans will face Dallas Cowboys on “Thursday Night Football,” and the short week could affect how Vrabel approaches the contest. star running back Derrick Henry appeared on the pre-match injury report, and it could be a way for Vrabel to rest Henry ahead of a win-win Week 18 clash.
This could end up being Vrabel’s strategy. A number of Titans were ruled out of the team’s Week 17 contest on Wednesday’s injury report.
Henry was listed as questionable due to a hip injury.
How does the Week 18 game between the Titans and Jaguars determine the AFC South?
The Jaguars and Titans hold unique positions in Week 17. If both teams win in Week 17, they enter Week 18 with an identical record. The team that wins this game will end the season with one more victory, placing them first in the AFC South standings. The same thing happens if both teams lose in Week 17. The match in Week 18 will determine which team finishes the season with the most wins.
Things get complicated if one team loses and the other team wins in Week 17, but here’s why those scenarios don’t matter. If the Jaguars enter Week 18 after a loss to the Texans, Jacksonville would be 7-9. If the Titans win in Week 17, they would have an 8-8 record heading into Week 18. If the Jaguars manage to defeat the Titans in Week 18, both teams would have identical 8-9 season records. regular. The Jaguars, however, would win the division because they beat the Titans in Week 14. Jacksonville would hold a 2-0 record against Tennessee that season, giving the Jaguars the division tiebreaker.
But let’s say the opposite happens in Week 17. If the Jaguars enter Week 18 at 8-8 and the Titans enter Week 18 at 7-9, the Titans would enter the playoffs with a win. Both teams would be 8-9 again at the end of the regular season, but would be 1-1 against each other in 2022. The NFL’s next tiebreaker is a winning record -defeats in the division. If the Titans beat the Jaguars in Week 18, Tennessee would have the best record in the division and would head to the playoffs. Even if the Jaguars beat the Texans in Week 17, the Titans would still have a better division record if they won in Week 18.
Do you have all that? Good.
And if not, well, it’s much easier to say, “The Week 18 game between the Jaguars and the Titans will determine which team wins the AFC South.” You don’t need to know the ultra-specific details or obscure NFL tiebreakers as long as you know this statement to be true.
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