The playoffs start today. Who are you cheering for? I’m rooting for the Steelers and Chargers. I would not be unhappy if the Lions, Bills, or Vikings win the Super Bowl, though. By the way, I didn’t realize the Eagles and Packers play each other in the first round. Man, that seems like a raw deal for both teams.
Chargers@Texans
Chargers start strong, and the Texans look a bit lost or overwhelmed, especially on offense. Then backed by their own end zone, the Texans drive down–from a huge 3rd down conversion, which started as a botched snap–and score a TD. That was a huge difference (although prior to this, the Texans defense really clamped down. They shut down the run, and the secondary blanketed the Charger WRs, and they put a pressure on Herbert. Rarely did Herbert have any easy throws.
Herbert had 3 INTS all year. He has 3 in this game (and I stopped watching midway in the 4th).
The Charger defense did get a bunch of turnovers, but they still lost. The Texans defense played a dominant game.
Steelers@Ravens
Man, the Ravens really took it to the Steelers. 49 rushing attempts for 299 Dang. The Steelers defense (and maybe the entire team) face a big challenge recovering from this, not just from this game, but the last four. The Ravens stomped on their pride and manhood. This is not just a normal beat down.
And the defense isn’t only to blame. The offense has to hold the ball longer and reduce the defense’s time on the field. The Steelers couldn’t really run the ball, although this was partly because the game got out of hand. Russ fought, but it wasn’t enough.
Lamar only threw 21 passes. If the Ravens can keep running the ball well, keeping the pass attempts down like this, I do think the Ravens can win it all.
Thoughts on
Broncos-Bills:
I feel like the Broncos can win. They have the defense that can do it. If they can control the ball and limit possessions to the Bills offense, that seems like the formula.
Commanders-Bucs
I like rooting for both teams, and I’m not sure who I’m rooting for here. I also don’t have a good idea of who will win this. It seems like it’ll be close call.
Vikings-Rams
I’m rooting for the Vikings, but if they lose, that extends the Rams season giving them less time to prepare for next season and it’s another game of wear and tear on their team. So I’ll see that as a positive.
Post-game remarks
Broncos@Bills
I said that the Broncos could win if they control the ball. Really, that’s what the Bills did, largely by running the ball, looking dominant in terms of time of possession. I feel like this really helped the Bills defense play at a high level. Running the ball well has been a key story for many of the playoff games so far.
Packers@Eagles
I felt like this match-up was unfair to both teams–unfair because both looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders. The game reaffirmed this, maybe leaving me more impressed with the Packers, not to take away anything from the Eagles who, with the slight exception of Hurts passing the ball, look really good as well. The Packers are just a very well-rounded team. If Love can protect the football, they can beat anyone.
The biggest play to me was the fumble on the kickoff return to start the game. That gave the Eagles a 7 point lead pretty quickly, which quickly turned into a 10 point lead. (The Eagles would also get the ball back in the second half.) The Packers INT also hurt as well. All of this created too big a hole to fill.
One last note. Josh Jacobs is one of my favorite players, and he played like his life depended on it or something. Maybe he was tired about hearing about how great Saquan is, but he ran like he was possessed. Had the Packers won, the near TD run would become iconic, I think. The guy just as the total package–speed, power, deceptive slipperiness–and he played with his hair on fire.
Commanders@Bucs
I wasn’t really paying attention to the reasons for winning/losing in this back-and-forth game. Both teams seemed fairly evenly matched. I feel like Mayfield’s fumble was a big factor. What also stood out was that Quinn was incredibly aggressive on 4th down. Maybe he didn’t trust his K or D?
I didn’t watch as much football as I normally would when the Cowboys are competitive, but I thought there were only four teams that were impressive most of the year: Ravens, Bills, Lions, and Eagles. This is not why I thought they were impressive, but all of them could run the ball. It’s not super surprising the Ravens could run the ball, but Henry was better than expected. The Lions ran the ball better this year than they did last year, but with that line and those two backs that wasn’t that surprising. Montgomery being out will hurt their chances. I heard preseason Buffalo will try to run the ball much more this year. And although Cooks put up similar numbers to last year, I thought Buffalo looked less pass-first with Allen’s passing numbers being down quite considerably. The Eagles was the most surprising rushing team. Not surprising because they got Barkley, but they pounded the ball at times. Kellen Moore’s offense in general looked impressive. He really relied on his o-line, which is the best in the NFL. As Reid alluded to, I think Hurts is the weakest in terms of passing of the four teams I mentioned, but I thought the Eagles was the best offense I saw this year. They could really sustain drives at times.
Of course, I will not count out the Chiefs and have to mention them. I think if they can get good production from Isiah Pacheco, they can be the team to beat especially playing at home. They didn’t get hardly anything from him all year with his injuries, but they are a different team if he can run the ball.
The only good game this weekend will be the Bills and Ravens. If any of the other teams I mentioned loses this week, I would be surprised.
Detroit, Philly, Bills, and KC seemed like a cut above the rest, and I guess Baltimore would be in there as well. The first two just seemed like they are the two best teams, primarily because of they have great rosters. best rosters in the league and were really good teams overall. KC, this year, is the type of team that is a Super Bowl contender because of balance–that is, good in every phase (offense, defeense, ST), but really great in any of them,The bottom line is that they really don’t have any major weaknesses. I guess Baltimore is in that group, although I’m unsure about their defense. (I’m not sure if they shored it up now.)
Here are my caveats about these teams:
I agree that if Detroit or KC loses that will surprising, but if the Texans play defense like they did against the Chargers they have a chance. The problem to me is their offense. I’m not sure what the problem is, but something seems wrong with Stroud and that entire offense. With the Commanders, their offense gives them a chance, but I would be shocked if their defense gives them a chance.
Texans@Chiefs
Commanders@Lions
(On a side note, Brady seems like a bland, mediocre commentator.)
Texans, Chiefs:
I thought the story, especially in the first half, was the Texans were outplaying the Chiefs. However, the Texans couldn’t turn those drives into points. And although the Texans D did a good job limiting big plays, the Chiefs had just enough chunk plays to almost none for the Texans. Looking at the stats though, the Texans dominated in all areas.
The memorable part of the game was with ten minutes left in the game and the Texans driving to try and tie the game down eight they went for it on fourth and ten. Spags calls four straight blitzes from first down to fourth down all from different parts of the field. But going for it on fourth and ten was absolutely crazy.
Commanders, Lions:
This game was all about the turnovers. I thought the Lions looked like the better team, but five turnovers were too much to overcome. But Reid did say the Lions “may struggle against good offenses”, and other than the turnovers is what really cost the Lions.
I feel like around this point, the Texans run game was a non-factor, and once that happened, the Texans had no chance.
It’s hard to say. The Lions offense did look really good (against the Commanders D), but did they look way better than the Commanders offense (vs. the Lions D)? If the Lions protected the football, they probably outscore the Commanders (partly because the Commanders offense would have had fewer possessions).
One big key was the Commanders converting on 4th. Stopping them on 4th has to be a big objective for the Eagles. (I guess Quinn feels this is the only way his team can win. Interestingly, going for it, especially in FG range, might be just as much having the opposing defenses on the field longer, as it is scoring TDs over FGs.)
By the way, you didn’t feel like the Lions scored too quickly at times? (It’s not like they can totally control this, but I think this hurt their defense.)
I’ll make one comment that refers to both the Rams@Eagles and Ravens@Bills. My overall sense was that if you take away the turnovers (a big qualifier), the Ravens and Rams seemed like the better teams. The Bills defense seemed close to breaking in the second half, and Hurts did not look good and the Eagles passing attack did not look good. If this continues, Barkley is going to have to continue to run like he did yesterday.
Having said all this, the Bills are a balanced offense, and they showed a pretty strong commitment to the run, which stood out for me.
Oh, I should also say that Lamar did what a QB needed to in the end.. Andrews drop for the 2 point conversion sealed their fate.
Rams, Eagles:
The Rams did look like the better team early minus the chunk plays by the Eagles. However, once the snow started falling, it looked like the more physical team was going to win. On the last Rams drive, I don’t believe the Rams ran the ball once with good amount of time on the clock. If giving a second chance, I think McVay runs on third and two inside the red zone.
Ravens, Bills:
Both teams played well minus the turnovers and the drop by Andrews. But I agree the Ravens looked like the better team and probably should have won the game.
I feel like the Rams looked better in the second half.
If Henry can continue to play at the same level next year, the Ravens are going to be contenders again.
Hmmm, I thought there was a point in the second half where the Ram’s offense looked like it couldn’t do anything on the ground. This was especially true when it was snowing really hard. Once the Rams abandoned the run, mainly due to the score, their offense started humming. But I thought prior they were really struggling getting any push at the line of scrimmage. For some reason I didn’t get that same feeling when the field was more playable.