In the last few weeks of the NFL regular season, it doesn’t just matter how your team does, but how other teams in your division and conference fare as well. Sometimes teams control their own fate with a “win and in” game, or they already have their seeding locked down. But often they rely on other team’s performances as well.
Going into Week 17 of the 2023 season, the San Francisco 49ers had the No. 1 seed in their reach. They took care of business on their end, defeating the Washington Commanders by a score of 27-10, and were heavily invested in one other game going on at the same time.
They had already clinched the NFC West title and therefore a playoff berth. If the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles lost in Week 17, that top seed would be theirs. Hoping for that first-round bye, all that was left to get a week off was an Eagles loss, so it is no surprise that 49ers players were locked into that game, even while their own game was going on.
In the Netflix show “Receiver,” we see several Niners stars, including wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk as well as tight end George Kittle, discussing Philly’s nail-biter.
The defending NFC champs (at the time) were taking on the Arizona Cardinals, who had just three wins heading into the matchup. The Eagles had 11 wins and were clearly the better team, but as they say, any given Sunday, any team can win.
While the 49ers were still in the middle of facing the Commanders, you can hear players asking for the Eagles game to be shown, discussing how the No. 1 seed is theirs if Philadelphia looses. Some of them are shown watching the game from the field.
Kittle noted that getting the No. 1 seed would be “f–ing sick.”
In these last few weeks of the regular season, players and NFL fans morph into massive fans of other teams, finding themselves cheering on players they usually don’t associate with.
“Get that air, Kyler…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/look-49ers-players-cheer-emphatically-for-division-rival-vs-eagles-in-week-17-get-they-ass-kyler-murray/
Author : Shanna McCarriston
Publish date : 2024-07-12 19:08:13
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