They don't call it the wild card for nothin', huh? What a set of games we all just got to witness. Some fun back and forths, a historic comeback and a pretty ugly blowout to wrap things up. Never a dull moment in the NFL playoffs. Let's talk turkey.
49ers 41- Seahawks 23
A real game of ebbs and flows here. San Francisco went up 10-0 in the first quarter, leading everyone to believe this game was going to be a beatdown as predicted. Then Geno and the boys made it interesting.
Kenneth Walker punched in a score before Smith found DK Metcalf wide open down the left side for a 50-yard touchdown. He absolutely torched Charvarius Ward... Toss in a few field goals by each team before the half and suddenly Seattle found themselves ahead 17-16.
That's when the 49ers machine woke up, running off 25 unanswered points before allowing a second touchdown to DK in garbage time. Brock Purdy exploded onto the scene, going 18/30 for 332 and four total touchdowns. Deebo and Christian McCaffery had 165 and 136 total yards each, respectively, finding pay dirt along the way. This team is a serious Super Bowl contender.
Jaguars 31- Chargers 30
Speaking of exploding onto the scene...Trevor Lawrence has arrived. This game was 27-0 with thirty seconds left before the break, when he hit Evan Engram for a score. The Jags QB had thrown four interceptions prior to that, gifting LA seventeen of their points. It was a difficult scene in Duval.
Doug Pederson then conducted what must have been a hell of a halftime speech, because Jacksonville came out and scored touchdowns on three straight drives to cut the lead to 30-28. Lawrence was as precise in the second half as he was terrible in the first, finding Marvin Jones, Zay Jones and Christian Kirk for the scores while Travis Etienne battered the front seven. They simply sucked the will out of the Chargers.
LA went three and out after the Kirk tuddy, punting the ball back with just over three minutes to go. It was plenty of time, as the Jaguars calmly drove into field goal range. Riley Patterson trotted out and just barely squeaked in a 36 yarder for the win. A bit too close for comfort, but tremendous win for the franchise. Trevor Lawrence still hasn't ever lost on a Saturday, which is when they'll be playing Kansas City next week.
First time a team has had a 5-0 turnover differential in a playoff game and lost. Let alone the third largest lead ever blown... unacceptable coaching performance by Brandon Staley and Co, and I'm astounded that they're still going to be retained. They've underachieved with a tremendously talented roster for far too long. I'd ask how long the Spanos will be willing to deal with letdown after letdown, but that question answers itself.
Bills 34- Dolphins 31
It's okay to exhale now Bills fans. What a scare of a game that was. Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs were dicing the Dolphins secondary for much of the first half, en route to a 17-0 lead. Then Allen went into weird turnover mode, sandwiching two picks around a three and out to allow Miami to tie the game back up in a matter of minutes. It was atrocious football.
Unlike the Niners however, Buffalo couldn't pull away. They fell behind 24-20 before running off fourteen straight to go ahead ten. Skylar Thompson surprisingly answered, and we had a three point game for a good half of the final quarter. Each defense stepped up and we didn't get any more scoring, allowing for the preseason Super Bowl favorites to escape a close one against the Dolphins and their third string quarterback.
Credit to them for playing hard in a game everybody counted them out in. The Bills can't be this sloppy next week.
Giants 31- Vikings 24
What a great game this was, game of the weekend. Kirk Cousins punched one in early to go up 7-0, marking the last time Minnesota would lead this season. Saquon Barkley answered by running one in of his own before Isaiah Hodgins caught a 14-yard go-ahead strike. The third year wideout hadn't had meaningful playing time in his career until this season, but had a day worth remembering with a strong 8/105/1 line. The Giants led 17-14 at halftime.
Daniel Jones came out swinging in quarter three, finding Daniel Bellinger on their first drive to pull ahead by ten. The Vikings didn't quit though, ultimately knotting the game at 24 apiece early in the fourth quarter. This was a determined Cousins we were seeing, completely blocking out what time this game began.
He was not enough. Saquon scored his second of the day to put the G-Men up for good. Daniel Jones went 24-35 for 301 and three touchdowns, adding 78 on the ground. An all-time performance on the biggest stage for the former Dukie. The Vikings became the only team in NFL history to complete 80% of their passes in a game with no sacks or turnovers and lose. Another record in the book of mediocrity for Kirk, but both teams really left it all out there.
Giants travel to Philadelphia next Saturday for an NFC East divisional showdown.
Bengals 24- Ravens 17
This one hurt. Not only because of the on-field results, but the gnarly stomach bug I had to endure through this. Devastating.
Baltimore fell into a 9-0 hole early in the second quarter before orchestrating a masterful 17-play, ten minute TD drive. Huntley was as locked in as he's ever looked, JK and Gus were finding space on the ground and the offense looked competence. To add to the hope, the Ravens actually led 10-9 after thirty minutes. The formula to an upset was well into motion.
Both teams traded touchdowns in the middle of the third quarter to tie things at seventeen. Baltimore's lively defense forced a punt, setting up Tyler Huntley for an 80-yard drive. That resulted in a fumble at the goal line. On an asinine quarterback sneak over the top from a yard and a half out. That was predictably knocked out of his hands, unfortunately into those of Sam Hubbard. And the big man was ready to run 98 yards for the game winning score. I'll never know for sure if it was the bug or the play that caused that vomit...
The Ravens couldn't answer and lost a game that they dominated. 130 more yards of offense, won time of possession and only lost the turnover battle by one. Greg Roman's spotty play calling throughout was a key part of this and he needs to go. Too cute at times we don't need to be, especially given the personnel. Done with his shit.
No credit to Cincinnati for this win, zero, not this way. They go up to Buffalo next Sunday.
Cowboys 31- Buccaneers 14
My football hangover was still incredibly strong from Sunday night, so I admittedly didn't watch very much of this one. By all accounts, it's a good thing I didn't.
Against my expectations, the Cowboys absolutely dominated Tom Brady and the Bucs in Tampa, leading 31-6 before a late score made things more respectable on paper. A few cool things to note from this game: Tom Brady had 66 pass attempts, Brett Maher missed his first four extra point attempts and Dak Prescott didn't throw an interception in a game for the first time since November 20th. They're a dangerous team when they play clean football.
Another thing worth mentioning from this game is that Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was fired after the game. Given the sputtering offense throughout the season, it's a move that makes some sense, but it's quite a fall from grace from a guy that many saw as a future head coach in the league. He's still young enough to turn things around and will surely catch on somewhere. Ravens should follow suit...
Dallas goes out west to San Francisco for the Sunday evening affair.
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@Choppinglines
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