This weekend wasn’t necessarily a great weekend for football fans unless you were a fan of Buffalo, Kansas City, Houston, Green Bay, Detroit, or Tampa Bay. Truthfully, the football wasn’t good. Well technically it was great for one of the two teams in just about every game. One sided games all weekend long made for a major lack of drama. Respect to Detroit and Los Angeles for at least giving us one game that was still up in the air in the final minutes.
As bad as the football games may have been this weekend, no one, and I do mean no one, had a worse week than the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. That NFC East title race lasted all season long just for both teams to get their ass kicked in round one.
Detroit Squeaks Past Los Angeles for First Playoff Win in 30 Years
In a weekend where many of the games were not close or didn’t live up to expectations, Matthew Stafford returning to Detroit and Jared Goff playing against the team that traded him away before winning a Super Bowl with Stafford did in-fact live up to the hype. In a game that came down to the final couple of minutes, Detroit won their first playoff game in 30 years with a 24-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
In what was clearly the loudest stadium of the weekend, Detroit used the noise to hold the Rams to just on field goal in the first quarter while scoring two touchdowns of their own with the David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs tandem to jump to a 14-3 lead.
The scoring continued throughout the first half as both teams came away with points on every drive until the Rams finally made a stop of the Detroit offense on their final drive of the first half before Los Angeles would run the clock out.
Despite the game heading into halftime as a 21-17 Detroit lead, it felt like the Lions were dominating most of the play and that the Rams would need big play touchdowns to keep pace after their two touchdown scores were 50 yard and 38 yard touchdown catches by Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell.
The scoring disappeared in the second half of the game with both teams defenses starting to make stops. No touchdowns would be scored by either team for the entirety of the second half. Detroit was held to a field goal on their first third quarter drive and then struggled moving the ball over the rest of the game. Los Angeles pulled within one point after back to back drives ending in field goals.
With over seven minutes remaining, Stafford led a Rams drive into Lions territory and got as far as the 34 yard line with 4:20 to play. On third down from that very spot, a Rams offensive lineman was called for holding and pushed them back 10 yards and just out of field goal range.
With the Rams only holding one remaining timeout, Detroit needed two first downs which they achieved and got the final one immediately out of the two minute warning by risking a pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown that ended up connecting for 11 yards and the win. Dan Campbell’s willingness to take risks paid off once again and gave the city of Detroit the biggest football win in three decades.
With Dallas now eliminated, Detroit earned a second home game and will ironically be the second highest seed remaining in the NFC after the referee debacle they faced only a couple of weeks ago. Detroit will look to keep the dream season alive when they welcome the NFC South Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Green Bay Pummels Dallas for Another Cowboys Playoff Collapse
After another playoff collapse in a hopeful season, it seems likely that some big changes will be under way in Dallas. The Cowboys, who entered the playoffs as the second seed after winning the NFC East, were blown out by the seventh seeded Green Bay Packers by a score of 48-32. That 16 point loss seemed much larger than even that score would present.
The game got out of hand early with Green Bay scoring touchdowns on three of their first four drives. After the third touchdown, a 20 yard Jordan Love touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks, Packers Safety Darnell Savage picked off Dak Prescott for a pick six to bring the score to 27-0 before halftime. Dallas would score a touchdown on the last play of the half to build any bit of false hope remaining.
Any hope that was given to Dallas fans was erased shortly into the third quarter. The Dallas defense that was one of the stronger units in football all season could not get off the field, leading to three successful touchdown drives by Green Bay to open the second half, extending their lead to as big as 48-16.
Dallas would score two touchdowns with successful two point conversions in the final six minutes of the game, but by that point Green Bay was already looking ahead to a Divisional Round date with the top seeded San Francisco 49ers.
Another Dallas playoff disappoint likely means changes for the Cowboys. Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy is now 1-3 in the postseason, only reaching the Divisional Round one time. Considering the Cowboys won the division, held the second seed, and the severity of this loss to a Packers team that just looked more prepared, it would be surprising to see Dallas owner Jerry Jones run the same coaching staff out there next season.
The other concern for Dallas is what happens with Dak Prescott. After one of his best regular seasons, a year in which Dak played like an MVP for most of the season, this is another playoff collapse for the 30 year old quarterback who is entering the final year of his contract next season. Prescott will undoubtedly be looking for a new deal, but is he a quarterback Jerry Jones can confidently link himself to again for the foreseeable future? Prescott threw for over 400 yards against Green Bay, but mostly because he had to. His 89.8 rating and the way star receiver CeeDee Lamb seemed visibly upset with him from almost the start of the game may be the images that stick with Jones to end this season.
The other big question is the Cowboys defense. Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn, who many had penciled in to get another head coach opportunity, couldn’t do anything with his defense to stop the Packers offensive machine. Aaron Jones ate Dallas’ lunch with 118 rush yards and three touchdowns. Jordan Love posted a perfect passer rating, connecting on 16 of 21 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns in a game where passing wasn’t even necessary after three quarters. This is not the game film Quinn would want to show if he is hoping to move out of the coordinator position.
As bad as things may seem in Dallas, Green Bay is taking advantage of an unbelievable opportunity. The Packers have the youngest team in the NFL, a quarterback in his first year of starting, clinched a playoff spot, and have now one a road postseason game. They will travel to the top seeded San Francisco 49ers for the Divisional Round, but the playoff experience this Packers team is getting is invaluable. Who knows, if Green Bay can incapsulate some of their play from Sunday and Jordan Love continues this level of play, the young Packers team could even get some NFC Championship experience.
Epic Philadelphia Collapse Ends in Tampa Bay
Just one season after reaching the sport’s biggest game, the Philadelphia Eagles have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in one of the biggest late season collapses in recent memory. The executioner that put the Eagles out of their misery was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who dominated Philadelphia in a 32-9 win.
We will get to the Eagles terrible finish, but let’s first give kudos to a Tampa Bay team that looked like the least impressive team in the playoffs from the least impressive division in football. Everything we thought to expect from this Bucs team was erased early as Baker Mayfield led the Tampa offense to points in all of the team’s first four drives. Those drives would accumulate to 16 points which we now know would’ve been enough to win this game.
Baker Mayfield was sensational against the Eagles defense. The former first overall pick was near perfect, throwing for 337 yards and three touchdowns without turning the ball back over to Philadelphia. Mayfield completely outplayed former MVP candidate Jalen Hurts.
Defensively, Tampa Bay didn’t give the defending NFC Champions a chance to breathe. The Eagles only gained 276 yards across the entire game and sacked Hurts four times, including a late game safety that felt like it was the official end of Philadelphia’s season. With several of the pieces of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl team still a part of this defense, they played like a championship defense.
Tampa Bay’s unexpected dominance will now send them to Detroit to play the Lions for a opportunity to reach the NFC Championship Game. Baker Mayfield vs Jared Goff in the Divisional Round is not something many of us would’ve bet on back in September.
Now let’s talk about Philadelphia. This Eagles team started the season 10-1 and although they never seemed to play great football during that start, it was always expected that they would reach another level and be a heavy favorite to return to the NFC Championship and beyond. Unfortunately for the Eagles, that quality of play never improved and they fell farther back in the pack to the teams who did improve. Philadelphia lost five of their final six regular season games and the NFC East title which seemed like a lock at the halfway point of the season. The loss to Tampa Bay is just the icing on the cake for one epic collapse.
What happens with Philadelphia moving forward is one of the most interesting questions heading into this offseason. Head Coach Nick Sirianni looked like one of the great young coaches last season, but the way this team performed down the stretch with virtually no improvement week to week may be enough to question whether he is the guy moving forward.
To add to the Sirianni conversation, Philadelphia saw both coordinators, Shane Steichen and Jonathon Gannon, hired as head coaches after last season and had relative success considering they were working with rebuilding teams. How much of Philadelphia’s success last season had to do with the coaching of their coordinators? The offense looked so limited and the Philadelphia defense could’ve made a highlight reel of how not to tackle with Monday night’s game film, something that has been a regular issue with the Eagles defense this season.
Additional concerns include the potential retirement of future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce and the play of the quarterback the Eagles are attached to for the foreseeable future. No one will question that Jalen Hurts is a good football player, but his limitations at the quarterback position, particularly connecting on throws when playing from behind, has to be a major concern moving forward. Hurts did have a finger injury heading into the Tampa Bay game, but if he’s cleared to play that shouldn’t be an excuse. Hurts was visibly frustrated and had a very difficult time getting the ball downfield which was a pretty common issue this season.
For Tampa Bay, they will carry a large amount of momentum into Detroit.
In Philadelphia’s case, this is about to be massively important offseason where big decisions about the current build of this team will need to be made.
Weather Delays the Inevitable, a Sixth Straight Buffalo Win
Buffalo and Pittsburgh had to wait an additional day, but the AFC opponents settled their Wild Card matchup on Monday afternoon. After the game was postponed on Sunday due to extreme winter weather conditions, Buffalo came away with a 31-17 win to move on to another home game in the Divisional Round.
Despite the extreme cold weather, the Bills couldn’t have started any hotter. Buffalo jumped out to a 21-0 lead after two Josh Allen touchdown passes and a 52 yard touchdown scamper down the center of the football field. With no T.J. Watt on the Steelers defense, Buffalo was moving the ball with relative ease throughout the first half.
Pittsburgh’s other major disadvantage was that they needed to play veteran backup Mason Rudolph at the quarterback position. Rudolph made the best of a tough game, throwing for two touchdowns, but outside of Pittsburgh pulling within seven points for about four minutes in the fourth quarter, the Steelers never really felt close to pulling within grasp of a tie or lead.
The star of the game was Allen. The Buffalo quarterback reminded everyone how dynamic he can be and how tough the Bills are to play when he takes care of the football. Allen played a clean game, throwing for 203 yards, three passing touchdowns while rushing for 74 yards and that big score in the first half. His touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir with six minutes left to play in the game in which Shakir broke a tackle and kept his balance to take the final 31-17 lead was the game clincher.
Buffalo will now welcome Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City to Highmark Stadium for a chance to play in the AFC Championship Game. The Bills have an opportunity to prevent Kansas City from reaching their sixth straight Conference Championship. This will also be the first time an Allen-Bills team plays a home playoff game against a Mahomes-Chiefs team. Of all of the Divisional Round Games, the playoff return of the Bills and Chiefs will be the main event.
Kansas City Returns to Divisional Round with Miami Offense Frozen in Place
In one of the coldest games in NFL history, the Kansas City Chiefs offense seemed to get a jolt in their opening round playoff win over the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs ran away with a 26-7 win in arguably their best performance in weeks.
The Dolphins looked like a team who lives in a different climate when playing in the below zero temperatures of Arrowhead Stadium. The combination of weather and the Chiefs defense made the game a frozen hell for Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami offense. Tagovailoa struggled, throwing for only 199 yards in a game the Dolphins were behind throughout. Tua’s 5.1 average yards per pass wasn’t going to get it done for a Dolphins team we’ve been accustomed to seeing break off massive yardage plays. Tua’s lone touchdown pass came off an under thrown ball that Tyreek Hill caught and did “Tyreek Hill things” to make a 53 yard score, the only points of the ball game for the Dolphins. Miami was held in total to just 264 yards.
Although the Kansas City defense was the star of the show, the Chiefs offense did take advantage of a depleted Miami defense. With four top pass rushers out, the Chiefs paced a balance attack of Patrick Mahomes passing and Isaiah Pacheco moving the sticks with his feet. Pacheco ran for 89 yards and a touchdown. With the Kansas City offense having inconsistent performances this season, Pacheco may be the most important player on offense after Mahomes if Kansas City wants to make another Super Bowl run. Kansas City finished with 409 total yards.
Rashee Rice also continued his development into one of Mahomes favorite weapons. The rookie wideout caught eight passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. The balanced attack by Kansas City made them look rejuvenated, almost as if they know it’s time to turn it on for the playoffs.
Miami finishes the season with just one win over a winning team, that being Dallas, as that was a major concern for their chances in the playoffs. As exciting as the Dolphins were to watch, it might be safe to say that they were maybe frauds when it came to legitimate Super Bowl chance.
Kansas City will now play a Buffalo team that will have two less days to prepare than the Chiefs. Buffalo came into Arrowhead Stadium and claimed a 20-17 win in December, but the Chiefs will gladly trade road wins if theirs means they advance to an AFC Championship Game for a sixth straight season.
Houston Dominates Both Sides of Ball to End Cleveland’s Surprise Season
Heading into Wild Card Weekend, many thought the Cleveland Browns had AFC Championship Game potential due to their great defense and the play of veteran quarterback Joe Flacco. Many also looked at the Houston Texans, a team with the sure fire rookie of the year in quarterback C.J. Stroud and the best turnaround in the NFL this year, as a team that was just happy to win a division and get some postseason experience. To many’s surprise, Houston came out with plenty more to prove and was the team to move within one game of reaching that AFC Championship Game after they mopped their home field with Cleveland in a 45-14 win.
It was the tale of two halves in this game, but not in the traditional sense in which each team dominated a different half. The first half in Houston was dominated by Stroud and the Texans offense. After a punt on their first drive, Stroud led the Texans to scoring points in four of their next five drives, including three touchdowns.
Stroud connected with Nico Collins, Brevin Jordan, and Dalton Schultz for passing touchdowns of 15, 76, and 37 yards. A Browns defense that had been dominant at times this season, including an earlier matchup against the Texans, looked off balance the entirety of the first half. Much of that had to do with Stroud, whose excellent feet and vision in the pocket, never really gave a tell as to where he would be going with the football. The legend of Stroud’s rookie season continues to grow. When he is “on”, he’s already looking like one of the best quarterbacks in the league regardless of age or experience. With beautiful touch passes and calmness in the pocket, he makes Houston a tough team for anyone.
Despite the 24 first half points by Houston, Joe Flacco helped keep the Browns in striking distance by helping the offense score two touchdowns of their own.
That all changed in the second half when Flacco had led an efficient drive into Houston territory with a chance to bring the deficit to one score, but was picked off by Steven Nelson for an 82 yard touchdown return.
Just four plays later, Flacco would be picked off again and this time Christian Harris brought the ball back 36 yards for the score to put the nails in the coffin of Cleveland’s impressive season and the resurgence of Flacco. Houston would not give up a single point in the second half, punching the Texans ticket for a Divisional Round Game in the first season with Head Coach DeMeco Ryans.
Houston now goes from a team that lost the opportunity for the number one pick on the final game of the season last season to winning the AFC South on the final game of this season and now adding a playoff win to the logbook. Without question an underdog moving forward, Houston will travel to Baltimore to take on the top seeded Ravens.
Divisional Round Power Rankings
- Baltimore Ravens
- San Francisco 49ers
- Buffalo Bills
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Houston Texans
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Divisional Round Game Watchability Rankings
4. Texans vs Ravens: Houston continues to blow football fans away with each new accomplishment this season, none more recent than their dominating victory over Cleveland in the Wild Card. The Texans reward? Oh, just playing another AFC North team that has been the best team in football over the course of the entire season. Baltimore will make their 2024 postseason debut against the underdog Texans as the favorites to win Super Bowl LVIII. The opening game of the Divisional Round will be a fascinating viewing into a young team with a rookie quarterback who looks to continue to overachieve and prove they have more in the tank playing against another team with a soon-to-be two time MVP quarterback that has a relatively healthy roster for the first time in a couple of years and has been the best team in the NFL to show for it.
3. Packers vs 49ers: The San Francisco 49ers’ postseason journey begins with an unexpected matchup against the seventh seeded Green Bay Packers. This may seem like a good break for the Niners, but with the way Jordan Love has played and the performance of the entire Packers team in Dallas, this will be no cake walk. For the Packers, this team is playing with house money after making it to the Divisional Round with the NFL’s youngest team in Love’s first season. As dominant as the Packers played in Dallas, they will likely need an equal performance to pull out a win against the NFL’s most star studded roster.
2. Buccaneers vs Lions: The Divisional Round game that features two teams that few expected to be playing this late in the season. There were plenty of people who thought Detroit could win the NFC North, but now the Lions will play their second straight playoff home game. Tampa Bay won a very mediocre NFC South and was expected to likely lose to whatever team they played in the Wild Card despite having a home game. Now either the Jared Goff led Lions or the Bucs a year after Tom Brady retired will find themselves in the NFC Championship Game. Detroit will be favorites, but if they get the good version of this Tampa Bay team, it will make for a very frisky matchup. The strangest matchup of the weekend.
1. Chiefs vs Bills: The playoffs are where rivalries are created and built upon. Elway vs Marino, San Francisco vs Dallas, Tom Brady vs Peyton Manning, etc., all the great rivalries have a long history of postseason rivalry. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs vs Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills still need years of play (and more postseason success by Buffalo) to reach the level of those other rivalries, but the groundwork has been set. The last time these two teams met in the postseason was two seasons ago in the Divisional Round where Kansas City came out with a 42-36 overtime victory in one of the greatest playoff games of all time. This time around, Buffalo will have the home field advantage and be on a two game win streak against the Chiefs, including a 20-17 victory at Arrowhead Stadium in December. Regular season wins are nice, but the Bills really want to beat the Chiefs with the season is on the line. If Buffalo wants to get to the Super Bowl, they will first need to defeat the franchise that has accomplished everything they have hoped to do in the Sean McDermott-Josh Allen era.