NFL screws over Jaguars with Week 18 schedule

Apr 29, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announces the final pick of the 2021 NFL Draft for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at First Energy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL on Sunday night announced two games for the Week 18 schedule, and they did not do the Jacksonville Jaguars any favors.

At 4:30 pm ET on Saturday in Week 18, the Kansas City Chiefs (13-3) will visit the Las Vegas Raiders (6-10). The primetime game at 8:15 pm ET on Saturday night will be between the Tennessee Titans and Jaguars.

Why does that stink for the Jaguars? It all comes down to days off.

The Titans played the Thursday night game in Week 17, so they were always going to have a 3-day rest advantage over the Jags ahead of their Week 18 clash. But the NFL robbed the Jags of an extra day of rest and preparation by putting them on a short week.

The Titans will have had eight full days off between games, while the Jags will only have five. Teams typically get six days off between games.

Jags coach Doug Pederson even made a point about this to the league.

FWIW, Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said today he’d prefer the Titans game be played on Sunday. Jaguars had talks with NFL over past week in which that was communicated. https://t.co/Vuc289Z85Z

— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) January 2, 2023

Considering the Week 18 showdown is for the AFC South, you would hope the league would allow the Jags to have a standard week of rest rather than put them on a short week. But that’s not what they did. Instead, the league knows the game will draw plenty of viewers, so they put it on primetime on Saturday night.

The other game that would have been great for Saturday night is the Packers-Lions game. But the league probably didn’t want that on Saturday because a Packers win would take away drama from the Seahawks’ game a day later.