UNDATED (AP) — The NFL’s schedule changes for Week 18 will feature a Sunday night showdown for a playoff berth. To finish off the NFL’s first 17-game season, the Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders game was flexed from daytime to primetime. Both AFC West rivals are 9-7 and the winner will advance to the postseason.
The league also switched two games from Sunday to Saturday. Kansas City, already the AFC West champion, will be at Denver, followed by Dallas at Philadelphia. Neither of those games has the strong postseason implications of Chargers-Raiders.
In other NFL news:
— Ben Roethlisberger threw for 123 yards and a touchdown in likely his final start at Heinz Field as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat Cleveland 26-14. Roethlisberger says he is leaning toward retirement. He improved to 26-3-1against the Browns in his 18-year career. The Steelers also kept their slim playoff hopes alive with the victory. Pittsburgh needs a win in its regular-season finale against Baltimore and a loss by Indianapolis to Jacksonville to reach the postseason. Baker Mayfield threw for 185 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Browns.
— The Philadelphia Eagles have placed defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and tight end Dallas Goedert along with 10 others on the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday ahead of Saturday’s regular- season finale against Dallas. The Eagles already have a playoff berth clinched with only the seeding still to be decided Saturday night when they host the Cowboys. Under the NFL’s revised COVID-19 protocols, the Eagles could get all 12 back before kickoff. The Titans activated a trio off COVID-19 reserve led by receiver Julio Jones and linebacker Jayon Brown.
— The Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said Monday he has no regrets about giving the often-troubled receiver Antonio Brown an opportunity to play with Tom Brady and revive a career derailed by on- and off-the-field issues — even though it ended with Brown leaving the reigning Super Bowl champions in the middle of a game. Arians declined to discuss specifics of what happened but dispelled the notion Brown left after telling coaches he was too injured to re-enter the game.
— Las Vegas Raiders rookie cornerback Nate Hobbs was arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge shortly after the team returned from a road game in Indianapolis. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says dispatch received a call at about 4 a.m. Monday about a driver asleep inside a vehicle parked on an exit ramp of a parking garage. Hobbs’ attorneys questioned whether the arrest qualified as drunken driving.
