So, anybody watch any football this weekend? Bad as the opening round of the playoffs was, the Divisional Round was debatably (or not even debatably) the best weekend of playoff football in the history of the league. All four games decided on the final play? Yeah, that should hold up.
Bengals 19, Titans 16. Apart from the low score, this was a somewhat predictable game. Lots of passing yards from the Bengals (not enough touchdowns), lots of field goals and lots of sacks and interceptions. It was Ryan Tannehill who came up small, forcing in some bad throws for interceptions, the last of which turned a potential game-winning field goal situation into a game-losing one just like that. Joe Burrow took 9 sacks, but still got up off the turf enough to make big throw after big throw, including the dart to JaMarr Chase that set up the winning kick. Evan McPherson continued to drain clutch kicks, having the kind of rookie campaign and now postseason that will give kickers a good game going forward, including in drafts.
Tee Higgins was very productive, though he was a little fortunate that a fumble was recovered by an alert Chase; he also dropped at least one and arguably 2 passes. Watching this game, it was pretty clear that Higgins is a very good receiver, but Chase is a game-changing talent. Joe Burrow couldn't ask for a better receiver situation; they just need to protect him a little -- OK, a lot -- better. But what a game for the second-year passer. Some of the sacks were on him, I guess, but he was also simply buried quickly on a lot of them. I'll also give credit to Zac Taylor, whose aggressive decisions at times were different from the guy seemingly trying to give away the Raiders game last week. Improvement; there's a lot to be said for that.
Pretty good game, ultimately, for Joe Mixon, who in the first half carried 6 times for a pitiful 5 yards (it felt like 12 carries for 10 yards; that's how used to seeing him get stuffed I was). But his role in the passing game and touchdown on a nice cutback made me sorry I benched him in a league. Kudos also to Derrick Henry, whose 20 carries were more than I expected; yards not great, but he got in the end zone against a very good run defense. Nice numbers (and a great touchdown throw and catch) for A.J. Brown too. Where does Tennessee go from here? I'm not sure. Tannehill's their guy, but they need to figure out a way to give him another reliable short-range option in the passing game. That's what seemed to be missing Saturday, a factor in some of the downfield throws that shouldn't have been attempted. An Adam Humphries type rather than a Julio Jones.
49ers 13, Packers 10. Talked a little about this one yesterday. Both defenses played great. Both offenses struggled to move the ball (in the case of San Francisco, they didn't even complete a pass until there were 6 minutes left in the first half, which sounds made up). The only offensive touchdown came on the opening drive. Despite their struggles, San Francisco seemed poised to tie the game right before the half, before a horrific Jimmy Garoppolo interception. Green Bay then seemed poised to put things away at 14-0, with Aaron Rodgers completing a bomb to Aaron Jones behind the defense, but Jones inexplicably turned to take on a defender he apparently didn't think he could outrun, leading to a field goal attempt that was blocked.
The Packers again seemed to win the game late with a fourth-down stop, but special teams broke down again with a blocked punt; eventually a couple of clutch plays by Kittle and Deebo and Robbie Gould won it. I don't know where Green Bay goes from here.
The one comment I want to add is it's yet another instance of a postseason game impacted by weather. It's great watching football in snow, and players' breath swirling about their heads and whatnot, but it's also something that levels the playing field between teams that would maybe have not been as close if weather weren't a factor. I'm an old-school fan and wouldn't want that to change, but I think the league should pay some attention to what games they schedule in the middle of the afternoon and what ones they schedule in primetime. And that's all I'm going to say on it.
Rams 30, Bucs 27. This was the worst of the four games, until the end. It truly seemed to be over near halftime, with the Rams on the verge of scoring the touchdown that would make it 27-3. The Bucs' offensive line injuries were indeed significant to the offense, and Tom Brady being down a couple of key targets looked problematic, too. Cam Akers committed a brutal fumble, but even that didn't seem like it would be a big deal. But then the Los Angeles turnovers kept happening, and the Bucs crawled their way back in. And yet another Akers fumble enabled the Bucs to tie the game, and it was looking like one of the all-time choke jobs. The Rams would have been about as likely to come back from that as the Falcons after blowing the Super Bowl.
But then my MVP vote (If I had one; I don't) Cooper Kupp stepped up, as he had week in and week out all season. Matthew Stafford made the kind of throw a lot of quarterbacks (including Jared Goff) don't make, and the Rams pulled it out. What would have potentially been a franchise-devastating loss (L.A. has kind of gone all in on this season, with few future draft picks and so forth) turned into a win. Three games won by road teams on a final-play field goal. No way the fourth game of the weekend could top that!
Kansas City 42, Bills 36. It sounds crazy to talk about the end of this game. There were 25 points scored in the final 2 minutes of regulation. Teams scored what seemed to be the winning touchdowns three times. Defenses ran about helplessly as quarterbacks completed deep bomb after deep bomb. It was an all-timer as far as two quarterbacks at the top of their games lighting up opposing defenses. When the dust had finally settled, Kansas City had moved on again. A few thoughts.
First, the overtime rules. I've been saying for years that all that's needed is a simple tweak to the existing rules: both teams get at least one offensive possession. This already exists with the qualifier of "if the first team only kicks a field goal," so why not make that simple change? "Make a defensive stop," some say, but the point is that both defenses are totally gassed at this point. If ever it was apparent the team that won the coin flip was going to win the game, that was it. But I thought the same when the Patriots beat Kansas City three years ago, and when they beat Atlanta in overtime of the Super Bowl, and when the Saints lost to the Rams (I believe). Give each team a possession. Simple stuff. This rule will be changed, eventually, and when it is it will be too late to help Buffalo or all the other teams who've lost due largely to the flip of a coin.
Second, 13 seconds! I supported Buffalo's kickoff going through the end zone, don't want to risk a long return, but in retrospect a squib kick that might have taken 5-6 seconds off the clock would have been better. Third, how on earth do you let Kansas City complete two chunk passes in 13 seconds to The Exact Two Players you had to worry about? Excruciating. Fourth, maybe Gabriel Davis (pictured) should have been a bigger part of the offense all season? Thinking out loud here.
It was a great game, an epic game with an epic finish. I'm sure they'll be talking about this one, and this weekend, for years. It's a shame somebody had to lose. For me though, it will be hard getting past the fact that the somebody that had to lose might have won if they'd called the coin flip the other way. I say this almost every year, it keeps not changing, but one offseason -- maybe this offseason -- it will. But for Buffalo, it will be too late.
So we've got two great Championship games coming up, and I think there are clear favorites in both. We'll talk about them here all week. Hopefully they'll be great. Unlikely they'll be close to what we just watched.