2021-22’s Divisional Round was maybe the greatest weekend of football in NFL history. 2022-23 didn’t have nearly the intensity and excitement, but it ensures one thing: Next weekend’s championship games will feature the undeniable best four football teams of this season.
“Joe Cool” and Bengals Heading Back to Kansas City for AFC Championship
It is just getting less and less surprising to see the Cincinnati Bengals not only win playoff games, but win them on the road. After a dominant 27-10 win over the Buffalo Bills, the Bengals will matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game for the second straight season.
Joe Burrow continued to show he is impossible to rattle as he calmly opened the game with two consecutive touchdown drives. Even through the snow filled weather, Burrow was able to piece up one of the league’s best defenses and sustain long drives. Burrow and Cincinnati showed once again why they are one of the elite offensive units with weapons all over the field. Burrow has a myriad of receivers, but his favorite weapons on Sunday were Ja’Marr Chase and Hayden Hurst, who just happened to be the two players he connected with on the first two touchdowns. To complement Burrow’s play, Joe Mixon had one of his best games of the season by providing 105 yards rushing and a touchdown of his own.
As clutch as the offense was, the Cincinnati defense was story of the game. The Bengals made Josh Allen and the Bills offense look flat from the opening quarter. As great as Burrow looked in the inclement weather, Allen struggled with accuracy and had a couple missed opportunities, including to a visibly frustrated Stefon Diggs. With virtually no rushing attack, the Bills’ best two weapons in Allen and Diggs were held well in check. Allen finished 25-42 passing for 265 yards and a late interception. Diggs, who has been nearly unstoppable in his tenure with Buffalo, was held to just four catches on 35 yards receiving.
Buffalo entered the season as the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl after years of big expectations that fell short. With a Divisional Round loss for the second straight season, it is hard not to wonder if Cincinnati and Kansas City are just the more premiere AFC franchises right now. It also bodes the question, what can Buffalo do to change that?
There is also the concern of Josh Allen’s second half of the season. Turnovers were an issue after he injured his elbow earlier in the season and he did not play well in either of the Bills’ two playoff games. There is no doubt, he has abilities that few, if any, quarterbacks in the NFL have, but will Allen be able to prove he can play three or four straight playoff games without costly mistakes at some point?
Opposite of Allen, we have Burrow. At this point, it would seem stupid for anyone to claim he is anything other than one of the top three quarterbacks in the game, joining Allen and Patrick Mahomes. By out dueling Allen and reaching his second straight championship game, he’s more likely in the top two. Let’s just say that Burrow plays well against Kansas City, the Bengals advance to their second straight Super Bowl, but win it this time. Is there an argument that he’s the best in the league? Peyton Manning had more MVPs, but Tom Brady was better when the games mattered most. Would a Bengals Super Bowl make Burrow “The Brady” and Mahomes “The Manning” in this situation?
Quarterbacks aside, Cincinnati and Kansas City feel like the two teams that ultimately should be battling for the AFC title. They’ve been the best teams in the conference for weeks and even though the game is in Kansas City, this game feels like a toss up.
Niners Force “Bad Dak” to Return in Defensive Battle
This San Francisco thing is pretty fascinating to watch. Even when Brock Purdy looks very human, there is just too much talent all over the field for most teams to handle. Dallas was the latest team to find that out as the Niners came away with a 19-12 win in the most competitive game of the weekend.
Purdy was fine in this game, taking on more of the “game manager” role, which might be all he needs to be at this point. Purdy saw good pressure from the Dallas defensive front, but avoided any turnovers and let the San Fran weapons work their magic. Ultimately, Purdy leading drives allowed Robbie Gould to kick four field goals and put Christian McCaffrey in position for a goal line touchdown run which was all the Niners needed.
Dak Prescott didn’t have as much success taking care of the football for Dallas. Where we saw “Great Dak” last week against Tampa Bay, this week we saw some “Bad Dak” and those moments were extremely costly. Prescott had two drive killing interceptions. Both turnovers led to Niner field goals, but the second one took place at the end of the first half when Dallas was on the San Francisco 18-yard line. With the Cowboys marching, Fred Warner picked off Prescott and allowed Gould to kick a field goal right before the end of the half in what may have been a 10 point swing.
The Dallas defense played well enough to win. They held the efficient San Francisco offense with all of the weapons to just 312 yards of total offense, but unfortunately Dallas could only produce 282 yards of their own.
San Francisco continues to be the best defense in football and as good as their offense is, Demeco Ryan’s group may be the biggest reason why this team could end up with the Lombardi Trophy. Dallas did lose a key weapon in Tony Pollard after he was rolled up on in the second quarter and did not return due to a high ankle sprain, but make no debate, San Francisco made Dallas work for every single one of those 282 yards.
Kyle Shanahan’s Niners will now return to the NFC Championship for the second straight year, but will have to travel to one of the NFL’s most hostile settings in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. This will undoubtedly be San Francisco’s most difficult matchup since their last loss, back in Week Seven against Kansas City. In a league with such great parity, these are without question the best two teams the NFC has to offer in the 2022-23 season.
Chiefs End Jaguars Season, but Don’t Leave Unscathed
Kansas City will be heading to their fifth straight AFC Championship Game, but this one may not be celebrated as much like the ones of the past. The Chiefs’ 27-20 victory over Jacksonville comes with major concern over their franchise player.
Near the end of the first quarter, Patrick Mahomes exited the game two plays after his leg was rolled up on. Mahomes did not play against in the first half, but did return for the entire second half of the game, although was visibly hobbled by the injury.
The Mahomes injury was a definite game changer, but Jacksonville did truly make Kansas City earn the victory and the loss of Mahomes is not the reason why.
Even without Mahomes on the field, backup quarterback Chad Henne was able to lead an impressive 98 yard touchdown drive that ended in Travis Kelce’s second trip to the end zone.
Jacksonville played with great effort and tied the game at 7-7 early on, but got down in the first half by double digits. Jacksonville worked it’s way back in the second half, getting the game to as close as 20-17 early in the fourth quarter, but could never get a defensive stop and offensive score to take the lead. Trevor Lawrence was far better than his first half against Los Angeles last week, but also much worse than his second half in that same game. The second year quarterback finished the game with just 217 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Kansas City made up for the lack of mobility of Mahomes by getting 95 yards rushing from rookie Isiah Pacheco, who has come on strong in the last several weeks. Mahomes was also able to will his way into throwing a red zone touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to extend that 20-17 lead to a two possession game with just seven minutes left.
The Chiefs won’t have much time to celebrate this win though. Mahomes will have the whole week to recover, but considering his difficulty moving and the visible pain he showed, it’s unlikely he will be completely healed by next Sunday. To make things more difficult, Kansas City will be welcoming the Bengals who have won three straight games against them, including the AFC Title Game last season. As crazy as it sounds, Kansas City may be the underdogs next weekend.
Giants Find Out There is a Big Difference Between Vikings and Eagles
One week ago, New York Giants football was being compared to some of the Tom Coughlin Super Bowl runs after a road win in Minnesota. After a 38-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, New York stands at an offseason crossroads.
Philadelphia dominated the Giants from the get go, scoring on their opening two drives and holding their opponent scoreless in the first quarter with a turnover on downs and an interception by James Bradberry. As great as Daniel Jones was in his playoff debut against the Vikings, passing and rushing for a combined total of nearly 400 yards, the Eagles defense made him miserable all day. Jones was held to just 135 yards passing with one interception and 24 rushing yards. The Eagles defense was also able sustain continuous pressure on Jones, sacking him five times.
New York now finds themselves in a very interesting offseason situation. With both Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley entering free agency, is the Giants front office convinced they are both a part of a future championship team and are they willing to offer splashy contracts to them in order to keep them in blue, red, and white? Philadelphia kicking their ass all over the field will definitely leave some concerns to think about over the next couple months.
The NFC’s top seed also dominated in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball. With the unknown of how healthy Jalen Hurts’ shoulder was, Philadelphia didn’t require much from his arm as the Eagles offensive line create massive holes all game. The Eagles running attack produced 268 yards on 6.1 yards per carry. Kenneth Gainwell produced 112 of those yards on just nine carries.
Philadelphia will now find themselves in their first NFC Championship Game since their Super Bowl season of 2017. Philadelphia’s home field and extremely balanced roster has made things difficult for opponents all year, but San Francisco is a team that may match up better with them than anybody. This will the 49ers third conference championship game in four years with several of those players having played in each of those games. It is also likely the only team that may have just as much talent on both sides of the ball as Philadelphia.
Championship Weekend Power Rankings
It’s not every year we get four teams in the conference championships that actually feel like the four best teams in the NFL, but I think that’s what we have here. Since Week Seven, these four teams have a combined record of 42-6 with two of those losses delivered by one of the four championship teams and two of those Philadelphia losses taking place without Jalen Hurts on the field. These teams have been nothing short of dominant. Trying to rank these teams right now is an impossible task, but I’ll give it my best shot.
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Philadelphia Eagles
- San Francisco 49ers
- Kansas City Chiefs (This seems crazy, but the Mahomes injury is concerning)
Championship Game Previews
NFC Championship Game: San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles
This is the matchup most football fans predicted we would see weeks and weeks ago. Since San Francisco acquired Christian McCaffrey, these two have been the cream of the crop in the conference. Jalen Hurts’ shoulder injury threw a slight wrench in the mix for a couple weeks, but ultimately we are getting this great match up. The 2022-2023 versions of these teams were meant to play for a trip to the Super Bowl. This game provides more questions than answers.
How will Brock Purdy handle a raucous Philly crowd?
Who wins the matchup between the San Francisco Defensive Line and Philadelphia Offensive Line?
Can Nick Sirianni outcoach Kyle Shanahan?
Which players in these loaded offenses will be the biggest difference makers?
The answers to these questions and who the best team in the NFC is will be amazing television.
AFC Championship Game: Cincinnati Bengals vs Kansas City Chiefs
Unlike the NFC’s clear two best teams, many of us struggled determining which two teams would meet in the AFC Title Game between Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Buffalo. Thanks to the Bengals running right through the Bills, we don’t really need to debate that question anymore. The next question to be answered is which AFC franchise is not just the best team of this season, but should be viewed as the representation of excellence until proven otherwise?
Zac Taylor’s Bengals have had success over the past two seasons against Andy Reid’s Chiefs, but another road Conference Championship win might just convince the football world that Cincinnati has officially surpassed Kansas City.
We also have Joe Burrow versus Patrick Mahomes. For a couple years, we’ve been talking as if Mahomes and Josh Allen are this generation’s Brady and Manning. Are we realizing that it’s really Mahomes and Burrow that should be getting that comparison?
Mother of Football Gods, these games are going to be incredible.