Joe Milton III has no time for your tankathon talk. The New England Patriots' Week 18 quarterback showed off his game and his skills against the Buffalo Bills, and cost his team this year's No. 1 draft pick as a result.

The Tennessee Titans swooped in — in a manner of speaking — and claimed the prize for itself.

Fortunately for New England, losing the top pick in the 2025 draft isn't as devastating as it might be for other teams; the Patriots are set at quarterback for the foreseeable future with Drake Maye. Still, it would've been nice for New England to have that draft capital to deal away.

That's not Milton's problem and not his responsibility. The rookie out of Tennessee scored twice early on the Bills, once on a 1-yard scramble and once on a magnificent 48-yard pass to Kayshon Boutte. Combined, the touchdowns put New England up 14-7 on the AFC's second seed. The Pats (4-13) would go on to win 23-16.

New England came into the week tied with three other futile franchises — Cleveland, Tennessee and the New York Giants — at 3-13 on the season. That meant Week 18 would be the world's ugliest horse race, with Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, Cam Ward or some other high-value draft pick prize awaiting the loser.

Cleveland leaped out to an early "lead" by losing to Baltimore 35-10 on Saturday. That left the other three teams playing to keep pace or keep face, whichever you prefer. The NFL's schedule-makers wisely scheduled all three remaining bottom feeders at the same time, meaning the race for the No. 1 pick was one of the defining storylines of the early window of NFL games.

The Titans and Giants checked out early, going down multiple possessions to the Texans and Eagles, respectively. New York managed to close to within a touchdown at 20-13, and Tennessee couldn't keep it that close. The Titans "won" the 3-14 battle by virtue of strength of schedule, and will have the first selection in the 2025 NFL Draft in April. Cleveland will pick second, New York third. New England finishes the season 4-13, and will pick fourth.

Head coach Jerod Mayo won't get to see who that selection will be as the Patriots announced his firing shortly after Sunday's season finale.

Yahoo Sports projected Cam Ward to go to the Giants in the top overall spot in our most recent pre-Week 18 mock draft; those results are obviously subject to change.

It's worth pointing out that "tanking" might be in the best interests of the fans or the franchise, but it damn sure isn't anything players and coaches want on their résumés. There are contracts and future job opportunities at stake. So you can't blame the teams for playing hard when "there's nothing to play for"; they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do. Perhaps a bit too late in the season to matter, but still.