# NFL 2024-25: Week 17
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116
**Category:** The Game Room
**Tags:** football-nfl
**Created:** [December 24, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116 "2024-12-24T15:13:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/81 "2024-12-31T15:21:34Z")
[Week 18 thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-18/1012397)
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/82 "2024-12-31T16:49:55Z")
> [@Railer13](#):
>
> Vikings have been in four Super Bowls, but have zero wins.
And, younger fans in particular can be excused for forgetting this, as the Vikings’ last appearance in the Super Bowl was in 1977.
Of the teams which were in existence at the start of the Super Bowl era (1966 season), only the Lions and the Browns have never played in the game.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/83 "2024-12-31T18:00:25Z")
Would be a sight to behold if the Bills, 0-4 in the Super Bowl, meet the Vikings, also 0-4 in the Super Bowl, in the Super Bowl.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/84 "2025-01-01T01:29:33Z")
I would love to see that. I barely remembered the Tarkenton years.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/85 "2025-01-01T02:59:02Z")
Hopefully, the Conference Championship games feature only the Bills, Chargers, Bengals, Lions, Vikings, and Falcons.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/86 "2025-01-01T03:10:58Z")
Those would be two very interesting games.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/87 "2025-01-01T16:52:14Z")
The Cowboys released their onetime star running back, Ezekiel Elliott, yesterday, with the intent that, once he clears waivers, he would be eligible to potentially sign on with another team for the playoffs. (That said, I’m not sure how many playoff teams are going to be in the market for an older, marginally productive running back.)
Elliott, who’s 29, was one of the best running backs in the league early in his career, but his production had diminished over the years, due to age and wear-and-tear. Dallas had released him in early 2023, and he played last season for the Patriots, before returning to the Cowboys this year; he had been in a part-time role for them, and has only rushed for 226 yards in '24.
> **[Cowboys cut Zeke to give him chance at playoffs](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43239240/sources-cowboys-cut-rb-ezekiel-elliott-second)**
>
> The Cowboys have waived running back Ezekiel Elliott to give him a chance to land with a playoff contender.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/88 "2025-01-01T16:58:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> The Cowboys released their onetime star running back, Ezekiel Elliott, yesterday, with the intent that, once he clears waivers, he would be eligible to potentially sign on with another team for the playoffs. (That said, I’m not sure how many playoff teams are going to be in the market for an older, marginally productive running back.)
>
> Elliott, who’s 29, was one of the best running backs in the league early in his career, but his production had diminished over the years, due to age and wear-and-tear. Dallas had released him in early 2023, and he played last season for the Patriots, before returning to the Cowboys this year; he had been in a part-time role for them, and has only rushed for 226 yards in '24.
>
> [Cowboys cut RB Ezekiel Elliott to give him chance at playoffs - ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43239240/sources-cowboys-cut-rb-ezekiel-elliott-second)
It feels like he should be at least 35. In the elite running back debate this is the counterpoint to the Saquon Barkley side. Why spend big money and cap space on a running back if they are going to be washed up at 29?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/89 "2025-01-01T17:08:49Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> In the elite running back debate this is the counterpoint to the Saquon Barkley side. Why spend big money and cap space on a running back if they are going to be washed up at 29?
Yeah, and Barkley is kind of the exception that proves the rule. Aaron Jones (who’s a few months older than Elliott) is also having a pretty good year for the Vikings, after the Packers decided to move on from a 29-year-old, but it’s a calculated risk.
Though there are some outliers, teams have realized that most running backs’ production falls off a cliff pretty rapidly. Elliott is probably the poster child for that effect: he went from being a great running back to just a good running back pretty early (age 25).
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/90 "2025-01-01T17:27:02Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> It feels like he should be at least 35.
Right? That guy has been around forever (it feels like).
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/91 "2025-01-02T07:55:54Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Elliott is probably the poster child for that effect: he went from being a great running back to just a good running back pretty early (age 25).
That would be Todd Gurley, drafted 10th overall by the Rams in 2015.
Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2015.
Second Team All-Pro in 2015.
Offensive Player of the Year in 2017.
First Team All-Pro in 2017 and 2018 (and led the entire league in rushing TDs both years).
Was in the Pro Bowl 2015, 2017 and 2018.
In 2019 he was released by the Rams. He was picked up by the Falcons in 2020 and had a mediocre season, then was released.
Didn’t play in 2021 and retired in 2022.
He was one of the best RBs for 4 years (arguably **the** best for half of them) but was pretty much washed up after 5 years and only played 6 years.
That’s the poster child for a RB flaming out fast. He was practically done at 25 and his last year he played he was 26.
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### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/92 "2025-01-02T18:10:44Z")
> [@garygnu](#):
>
> Hopefully, the Conference Championship games feature only the Bills, Chargers, Bengals, Lions, Vikings, and Falcons.
You guys are funny - you know we are getting Chiefs/Ravens and Eagles/Packers. Or maybe we will get the Bills and Lions in there just to lose in heartbreaking fashion.
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### Author:  [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/93 "2025-01-02T18:34:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> > [@SuntanLotion](#):
> >
> > There is…a Pop Tart bowl?
>
> The [Pop-Tarts Bowl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-Tarts_Bowl) is played in Orlando, and has gone by something like ten different names over the years, due to different corporate sponsors. It was the Cheez-Its Bowl for a few years, but then Kellanova (formerly a part of Kellogg’s) changed the sponsorship from their Cheez-Its brand to their Pop-Tarts brand last year.
Apologies in advance for a slight hijack of an NFL thread, but is anybody else creeped out when at the end of the Pop Tart Bowl a costumed Pop Tart mascot is lowered into a giant “toaster” and a giant “toasted” Pop Tart comes out the bottom? That the players on the winning team proceed to eat?
That’s ickier than dousing the winning coach with mayonnaise at the end of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-17/1012116/94 "2025-01-02T19:14:20Z")
No, it’s amazing. The surrealness of the whole thing is outstanding - the “winning” pop tart even holds a sign reading “DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE” as it’s lowered into the giant toaster! Corporate sponsorship at bowl games has to this point been laughable and a point of embarrassment due to the utter boredom of it all.
Oh, the Orange Council filled the trophy with oranges! Bo-ring! Go kidnap the Syracuse mascot and put it through a massive press and have the winners feast on its juices!
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