With only two games being played in Sunday's late window in Week 17 of the 2025 NFL season, there was a bit more attention than there would've ordinarily been on a matchup between a pair of two-win teams.
However, there was one huge thing that would be impacted by the game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the New York Giants: The loser would take a firm hold on the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Of course, this invited the dreaded "T" word, and both teams seemed to embrace the notion of losing. That said, with their moves to shut down three starters who have been dealing with injuries, including one who unsurprisingly protested the move, the Raiders did not hide their intentions.
A win over the Giants would have been pure coincidence if it had happened, and the decisions to shut players down clearly came from above head coach Pete Carroll. Losing to the Giants, who inarguably have more talent on their roster than the Raiders do, would be one thing.
But a 34-10 loss was an entirely different thing, and the talent deficiency only explains part of how things went down. A couple of Raiders players took offense to the idea of tanking, as expected, but the proof was largely in the pudding.
Raiders' Week 17 strategy may push the NFL toward a big change
In his look at potential overreactions from Week 17, ESPN's Dan Graziano wondered about the NFL having a draft lottery, like other American professional sports leagues do, within five years. He called it "not an overreaction," rooted in what occurred during the Raiders-Giants game.
"Las Vegas placed three starters -- edge rusher Maxx Crosby, tight end Brock Bowers and safety Jeremy Chinn-- on injured reserve last week, although all three of them played and finished their Week 16 game without restrictions. Crosby was said to be infuriated by the decision and left the team's facility after getting the news. There were some in the Giants' building, according to sources, who thought what the Raiders were doing smelled funny. New York added several players to its injury report Friday and Saturday and didn't show up in Vegas at full strength, either.
"The Raiders can say all they want about how Crosby might need knee surgery after the season. Every year, dozens of NFL players finish out their seasons, then have offseason surgery. Pretty much every player is banged up at this point of the season, and if a team wants to tell you the guy has an injury that keeps him from being able to play, it's pretty tough to prove it wrong. But again, the way the Raiders have handled the past week has a lot of people around the league talking.
"The Raiders were absolutely atrocious in Sunday's 34-10 loss. They did not look like a team trying its hardest to win. The NFL absolutely does not want there to be a perception about its teams throwing in the towel on games that count in the standings. So if other teams raise enough of a stink about what the Raiders are doing, it's entirely possible that anti-tanking measures will come up for discussion at the offseason owners' meetings."
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Draft lotteries can mitigate the idea of intentionally losing, but they have not completely wiped out the concept of tanking in other leagues. The worst teams still have the best odds at getting the top picks, so the incentive to lose as much as possible remains.
All a draft lottery does is give the better non-playoff teams a chance to get, as an example, the No. 1 overall pick when they would have absolutely no chance otherwise. Lotteries also welcome a bit of corruption, as if the order is not established numerically, there's no way to be sure it's all above board.
No one wants to see teams actively try to lose games. But if there even is an absolute solution to tanking that could not be worked around to do it anyway, a draft lottery is more cosmetic than an actual solution.
Apparently, it's fine when everyone else does it. But, of course, they're only talking about it now because it's the Raiders doing it.