The final day of the regular season is anticlimactic for some of us, and the end of a long road for the rest of us. If you're in the latter camp, good luck as always. The Broncos, Dolphins, Buccaneers, and Falcons have everything to play for. So if you want players who *should* remain on the field the whole game, those are your best bets.
The Lions vs. Vikings matchup of course has massive playoff implications, with the winner claiming a first-round bye and home field advantage until the Super Bowl, and the loser relegated to a 5-seed. Detroit is #1 in scoring and Minnesota is #9. There's a clear path for at least six 18+ point scorers. And really, any combination of 10 guys realistically could crack 18: Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta, Sam Darnold, Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and (based on previous years' pre-injury prowess) T.J. Hockenson. For my money, this is the big prize for Week 18; if you're starting several of these players, you're in better shape than most managers.
Finally, a couple years ago I researched Miami's history facing Buffalo on the road in sub-freezing temperatures the past 30-or-so years. It was all pretty ugly, regardless of how good the Dolphins were each season. Not sure how this all translates to sub-freezing play in other stadiums. But keep this in mind if you're starting any 'Fins today in New Jersey, where temperatures will hover around freezing and snow is possible. You might read things like "Miami's beaten the Jets in eight of their last nine meetings." But with Tyler Huntley at the helm, that goes out the window. Aside from dump-offs for De'Von Achane, everything else seems too risky.
Kick butt today, and I'll close things out with a final column tomorrow.
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