January 05, 2025

Week 18 non-Eagles rooting guide

These are the preferred outcomes for the Eagles in the final week of the NFL regular season.

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Geoff Burke/Imagn Images

The Eagles should be rooting for a rematch with Jayden Daniels and the Commanders in the wildcard round.

Each week we'll lay out a rooting guide for non-Eagles games on the NFL schedule for those of you on the fence while watching the other action around the league. Ideal winners bolded.

NFC seeding

First, let's look at the NFC's projected playoff seeding heading into Week 18.

• 1 seed: The winner of the Lions-Vikings game on Sunday Night Football

• 2 seed: Eagles

• 3 seed: Rams or Buccaneers

• 4 seed: Rams, Buccaneers, or Falcons

• 5 seed: The loser of the Lions-Vikings game on Sunday Night Football

• 6 seed: Commanders or Packers

• 7 seed: Commanders or Packers

Every other team in the NFC is already eliminated.

Commanders at Cowboys, Bears at Packers

The Commanders and Packers are both 11-5, but the Commanders hold the tiebreaker because they have the better conference record (an arbitrary tiebreaker, in my opinion, but whatever). A Commanders win or Packers loss would clinch the Commanders the 6 seed in the NFC. A Packers win and Commanders loss would earn the Packers the 6 seed. Whichever of these two teams does not get the 6 seed will be the 7 seed.

The 6 seed plays the 3 seed in the wildcard round, and the 7 seed plays the 2 seed. As you can see above, the 3 seed will either be the Rams or Buccaneers. The Eagles are locked into the 2 seed.

The Commanders and Packers are both playing their starters Week 18. They both clearly want to avoid being the 7 seed and having to play the Eagles in the wildcard round, even if they aren't saying that publicly.

The weaker of these two teams is the Commanders, in my opinion, as we laid out in a mailbag on Wednesday. And so, a Commanders loss and Packers win is ideal.

The Eagles should be rooting for their wildcard round game to be played on Saturday next weekend. Why? Well, the Eagles are resting starters Week 18, so they'll want to get to play their first opponent on short week of rest on Saturday. It's worth noting that the Commanders' Week 18 game is on the road in Dallas, which would add a small level of advantage for the Eagles as well.

Seahawks at Rams, Saints at Buccaneers, Panthers at Falcons

The Rams are currently the 3 seed. If they lose, they will be the 4 seed if the Bucs win. They're resting starters. That's an interesting choice, seeing as they'll get the Vikings or Lions in the first round if they're the 4 seed instead of (likely) the Commanders if they're the 3 seed. There's also the possibility that they'll miss out on a divisional round home game if they advance that far and the 2 seed Eagles get bounced in the wildcard round. I'm typically for resting starters, but the Rams are taking it too far in this case.

If the Rams win despite resting starters, they're the 3 seed. They would automatically be the Eagles' divisional round opponent should they and the Eagles advance that far. That would be an ideal matchup for the Eagles, so the Eagles should be rooting for the Rams to be the 3 seed.

The Buccaneers will clinch the NFC South with a win over the Saints. They are 14-point favorites. The Falcons can win the NFC South with a win over the Panthers and a Bucs loss.

Todd Bowles seems to have Jalen Hurts' number, so it's just better if the Falcons win the division, the Bucs don't get in, and the Rams earn the 3 seed. Again, that scenario is unlikely since the Bucs are heavy favorites to win Week 18.

Vikings at Lions

The road to the Super Bowl will go through either Minnesota or Detroit. Those two teams play for the 1 seed on Sunday Night Football.

I like the Eagles' chances against Jared Goff and the Lions' offense in a cold January game at the Linc more than I do in a dome, so I believe that a path through Minnesota is the preferred route. (Also, for juju's sake, the Eagles won a pretty big game there seven years ago.)

It's better if the Vikings get the 1 seed.

Lol Giants

With their Week 17 win over the Colts, the dumbass Giants dropped from the No. 1 overall pick to the No. 4 overall pick. They can drop even further if they beat the Eagles and some of the 4-12 teams listed below lose.

As such, the below outcomes could hurt the Giants' draft positioning.

Texans at Titans
Jaguars at Colts
Bills at Patriots
Chargers at Raiders
Dolphins at Jets

The Giants are highly likely to draft a quarterback, Unfortunately for them, as we noted in a rooting guide a few weeks ago, it appears to be a weak quarterback prospect draft with no consensus top guy. A look at some draft analysts' top 25 big boards, and where the top quarterbacks fall on their lists:

Quarterback	Brugler	Kiper	Yates	PFF
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado	23	3	14	21
Cam Ward, Miami	16	8	17	14
Jalen Milroe, Alabama	22	NR	24	12

Things may change as the draft process plays out, but for the sake of comparison, here's where each of the above big boards had the top QBs on their final top 25 big boards last year:

Quarterback	Brugler	Kiper	Yates	PFF
Caleb Williams	1	1	1	1
Jayden Daniels	8	2	2	21
Drake Maye	4	6	5	3
J.J. McCarthy	21	15	17	NR
Michael Penix	NR	24	NR	NR

The 2024 draft was stronger at the top of the draft, and deeper. The Giants, who were sitting at pick No. 6, did not make much of an effort to move up for Drake Maye, a player that "Hard Knocks" revealed they liked, and they did not want to settle on guys like J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix, or Bo Nix.

This year, they may have to pick a McCarthy-level prospect. The further down in the draft order they land, the more they may have to give up in a trade to pick a quarterback.

Oh, and it'll be funny when they let Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll pick the quarterback, then fire them both in a year and hire a new GM/HC duo who did not pick the quarterback.