NFL Conference Championship takeaways.
yeah Guys Its That Time.
Chiefs Vs Ravens
Amongst football fans outside of the DMV and Greater Missouri area, a divide and a fissure have sprung up about whether to root for the Baltimore Ravens or the Kansas City Chiefs. Outside Of Bengals Fans—Who Have Flooded My X Account(Formerly Known As Twitter)— Who Disdain The Ravens, One Half Of the Football world Wants To the Ravens To Lose To the End To Serve some Humble Pie To A Ravens Team Riding A High and Earning All The Praise From Football Analyst. They’re The Hot Shots, The Cavilier Bunch With Little Acknowledgment For How Things Used To Look In The Days Of Peytion Manning, Tom Brady And Phillip Rivers Or Whomever. On The Opposite End, Very Few fans Want To Watch Patrick Mahomes March Into Another Super Bowl. He's conquering football, and the challenges to his power look Formidable But Tractable—Bending To His Will Ultimately. No one likes to have their world defeated “inevitably” We Like To Have A Chance At Least But The THanos Like Figure Of Mahomes Breathes Down The Neck of MAny AFC Franchises. Even Lamar Admitted He, The MVP in waiting, Doesn't Like Competing With Mahomes With Everything On The Iine.
Mahomes Has That Mamba, Kobe, In His Blood; You Simply Don't Want To Face Him Under Any circumstances. He's Minato From Naruto, "the Yellow Flash" Opponents Must Flee On Sight. The Chiefs Had A Overall Down offensively. For the first time in the Mahomes Era, the Tip Spot In The AFC West looked vulnerable, if not for the helplessness of the other contenders in the division.
The Same Thing that makes This Chiefs Team So Vaunted— besides the Two Time MVP— Made The Team Vulnerable: The Inconsistent comprehensive Receiver Group. Any One Or Number Of The Chiefs' Receivers Could Erupt For A Big Game. The Ravens Have the Secondary And The Game Planning To Target All Of Rashee Rice, Kadarius Rooney, Justin Watson, and Travis Kelce But Anyone Of Them Could Have the Game Of A Lifetime At Any Time. The Ravens Have A Multidimensional Secondary and Line-Backing Crew Who Will Lock Up With Travis Kelce. The Ravens Will Have Their Own Elite Tight End—Not ISAIAH Likely Though He's Elite—Activated Tight The Pressure Again Rest On The Ravens's Shoulders In This One.
Mahomes Has Met This Stage Six Times and Passed The Stage Three Times—the Save Us Lamar Movement Beckons To Theo Ravens Offense To Prevent Another Chief Super Bowl Appearance. Baltimore Can End NFL Media's Obsession With Taylor Swift(Probably Not) And Enter Into A Place Obsessed With Something Else--Me Perhaps. The Chiefs Look Vulnerable as The Underdog
Most Defenses Around The League Know Lamar Jackson's One Vulnerability: Passing. Lamar Has Found Success In The Drop Back Game This Season, But When Forced To Drop Back For An Exurbatant Amount, Say 30-40 Attempts Of Dropbacks, Lamar Struggles To Throw A Consistent. His Former OC, Even Former College Scouts, Never Trusted Lamar to win Consistently. That's How The "Runningback" Passing Motif Came Originated. In The AFC Championship, Facing the Chiefs, Lamar Drop More Change, Dimes, Nickels, and quarters than A Robber Fleeing A Convenience Store But Facing A Two Score Defect Forced to Take Drop Back after Drop On Obvious Passing Down He Couldn't Match The Strength Of Patrick Mahomes. According To Sharp Football, The Ravens Pass The Ball Nearly 70% Early, With Lamar Finishing 5/12, One Completion To Himself For 13 Yards, And Lead The Ravens In Rushing Four Carries For 27 Yards. The Ravens have Found Success With The Formula Of Light Passing And Heavy Running From Lamar, But Not When Patrick Mahomes Starts 10/10 For 86 Yards And A Touchdown.
Mahomes Would End The Half Amassing 20/25, 80% Completion Percentage For 161 Yards, 106.8 And Look Unstoppable. I Never Want To Insinuate That A Tackle Or Hit Deserves The Category of A "Dirty Play" From An NFL Player In The Heat Of Battle, But Mahomes Took A Hit To The Face That Look Intended To Take Him Out Of the Game. Last Year, a Jag Pass Rusher Suspiciously Landed On Mahomes's ankle And Took him Out Of That Game in The Divisional Round Briefly. Mahomes Stayed In The Game After The Hit And Tore The Ravens To Ribbons In The First Half. Both offenses Struggle In Their Own Unique Way. The Mhome Machine struggles with facing long third-down conversions. The Chiefs Go Three and Out Twice and Punt On Three Other Possessions In The Half. With Five Minutes To Go In The Fourth, The Score Still Stood 17-7.
The Ravens' Offense And Lamar Jackson Produce A lot of Yards, But Two turnovers In The 25 25-yard line Shut The Ravens Out Of two Scores. The Ravens' Offense Put Together a Quick Drive Of 63 And 75 Yards Bolstered By 54 Yard Passes To Zay Flowers, Who Sneaks Behind Chiefs's Defenders And Picks A Pass From Jackson 40 Plus Yards Then Flowers Dodges Two Defenders And sets the Ravens Up In the Red Zone. Jackson hit Flowers Again for 8 Yards, But Flowers Fumbles Upon Diving Into The Red Zone, and The Ravens Walk Away From The Drive With No Points. With The Defense Playing At An Elite Level In The Second Half, Lamar's Offense Found Themselves. This Time, Jackson Connected With Nelson Ahgolor For 39 Yards To Set The Ravens Up At The Chief's 25 Yard Line. Nevertheless, Two Plays Later, An Overly aggressive Lamar Jackson Throws A Pick Into A Pile Of Defenders, And Defensive Back Deon Bush Comes Away With The Pick. The Raven's defense, However, Forces a Punt, And Lamar Engineers A Field Goal Drove That Brought The Ravens Within 7 Points, 17-10.
With The Chiefs Needing One Big Play, One Down To Convert To End The Game, Travis Kelce 11/11 For The Game, Andy Reid Dials Up a Play for Marques Valdes-Scantling, And Scantling Came Through. MVS Has Dropped A Few Big Passes this Season, But He Hauls in A 32 32-yarder going To The Ground To Put The Chiefs In The Super in Back Back Years For The First Time Since The Patriots In 2017 And 2018. The Chief's Offense Struggled In The Second Half, But That Didn't Affect Patrick Mahomes' Effectiveness In The Passing Game.
The reigning MVP stole Lamar's Potential Coming Out Party, 30/39 For 241 Passing Yards, A 91 QBR, And A Passer Rating of 100.5. Mahomes Established The Different Levels To This Quarterbacking Stuff In This Game. Today, He Played Like The Ultimate Football Weapon.
Lamar Recovered From The Poor First Half Lamar Recovered With Better Yardage 272 But On 20/37, One Touchdown, One Pick And Took For Sacks. Lamar Finished With 339 Yards total Scrimmage Yards Between The Run Pass And That One Catch. The Ravens' Double Explosive Plays In The Second Half But Lost Many Points, Failing To Convert End Zone Trips. The Ravens Will Feels This One For Weeks As Their Magical Season Comes To A Close, One Game Short Of the Goal.
Lamar Will Take Home the Individual Award, But Mahomes Reigns Supreme In The AFC Bested Lamar and Josh Allen in Back Weeks. Travis Kelce Sets The Record For The Most Career Playoff Receptions, Catching 11 Passes For 116 Yards, And The Most Vulnerable Chiefs Team From Last Year Makes Another Super Bowl. After a Long Season In Which Most Of The Media Praised Todd Monken For Transforming Lamar Jackson's Passing Game, The Media Turned On Him For the Game Plan That Neglected The Run In Favor Of Lamar Jackson Dropping Back To Save The Game. Truthfully, after falling big, the Ravens had no choice but to pass the ball, and Two red zone turnovers came from winning this game. They lost, and everyone wanted Greg Roman back for one day. I've Always Wondered If The Ravens Could Play Behind With Lamar's At Times "Suspect" Passing. The Ravens Have Never Faced A Matchup As Such As The Chiefs, Trailing And I Wonder If They Could Answer The Bell, And They Didn't In This Game. Baltimore Missed An Opportunity Here. Can They Trust To Generate These Results Next Season? Two Years Of A Healthy Lamar Feels Like A long Shot.
The Ravens will likely face turnover at wide receivers as guys on A one-year deal look for more lucrative opportunities elsewhere throughout the league.
Niners Vs. Lions
Most playoff matchups feature the highlight quarterback of each Juxtaposition against one another in comparison To determining the game's outcome. How Quarterback Lines Up Statistically, historically, Qualitatively Defines and Unspokely Determines The Outcome Of Matchup; think Of The History Between Last Week's Rivals Patrick Mahomes And Josh Allen. This NFC Title Game Matchup begins with a different juxtaposition, one between play callers for Detroit's Ben Johnson and 49ers' Head Coach Kyle Shanahan. For years, Kyle Shanahan Has Dominated The Play Calling Zeitgeist as The Best Offensive Play play-caller in Football. Offensive Play Callers Revere Their Responsible To Near Religious And Recondite Levels, Art Almost Compares To Alchemy Or Sacred Masonic Languages, so Recondite Only The Best In The Business can Unpack the Codes. Kyle Shanahan has ranked the best in this class for the better part of the last decade. His scripting of plays could rival the structure of "cinematography and visual experimentation" of Christopher Nolan. With Play Calling, Each Play, Like Each Scene, Has To Lend To One Another Before Reaching The Climatic End. Shanahan, A Prodigy In The Business, Inherited The Knowledge From His Dad And His Dad's Former OC Gary Kubiak. This Post Season, I Think Ben Johnson Has Stolen The High Levels Of Praise From Shanahan. With all the Weight Of My Football opinion, No One Calls Plays Better Than The Lions Play Caller Who Practically Came Out Of nowhere and into The Limelight this Past Two Seasons. Recently, The Only Challengers To Kyle Shanahan's Position As The Best Play Caller Have Come From His Disciples: Mike McDaniels, Matt Lafleur, and Sean McVay, Amongst Other Play Callers. Ben Johnson Didn't Spring From The Shanahan Tree, At Least Not Directly. Johnson Coached Under Anthony Lynn, Who Served As The Lions OC briefly In 2021; Lynn Himself Served Under Mike Shanahan, Kyle's Dad, and back Sonya Johnson Has Some Shanahan In His Blood.
He's Admitted To "Borrowing" Concepts From Sean McVay To Help Jared Goff Acclimate To The Offense Implemented In Detroit. "h
He's Detailed…" Said Amon-ra St.Brown of His Offensive Coordinator. Johnson's Play Calling Inspires Awe After Review Because Of How The Plays Lock Into One Another and How Theo Lions Utilize All Their Talent. Detroit Possesses The Most Talent In Football and no Knock on Goff, Who Played Like an MVP Stretches, If Matthew Stafford Had This Gambit Of Players, Detroit walk into Theo's Conference Final As The Favorite. If I Had To Trust A Quarterback In This Matchup, I'm Rolling With Jared Goff. He's The Guy In This Matchup, at Least Leaning on His "Skill Players" and His Defense Too Much, And Can Win The Game With Poise And Accuracy--Though I do like That Argument against Brock Purdy. The Lionsn't Rest On Their Laurels In This One( Oh, WAIT, Addendum ). They've Made it Further Than Any Lions Squad In 30 Years, but they don't settle For The "Good Run" Narrative. Nothing Dan Campbell Has achieved to This Point Matters If They do not only Battle With The Niners But Knock Kyle Shanahan's Team in The Mouth And Make the Superbowl.
The Lions possess the Best Offense In Football, And They Showed Out Against The Niners, The Second Highest Rated Defense Remaining In The Playoffs. The Lions Still Need To Unlock The Full Range Of Jameson Williams, But The Speedy Receiver Showed Off His Legs on A Quick End Around For 42 Yards and The Game's First Score. The Alabama Product Ran Through All Levels Of The Niners Defense For The Game First Score. The Lions' Offensive Line handled the Niners' defensive line for most of this game. Detroit's Rushing Attack Bludgeoned The Niners Outside Of A Few Tackles for Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery Plowed Through The Niners Like A Hot Knife Through Butter, The Lions Averaged 7 Yards Per Rush, Jared Goff Averaged 7.3 Per Attempt In The First Half, And The Lions Generate 280 yards Of Offense, 148 On The Ground In The First Half. David Montgomery scored the game's second touchdown with a quick one-yard run, and Detroit took a 14-0 lead over the Niners.
All Season, The Niners Looked Like The Best Team In Football. Their Defense Played Fast and Their Offense Had Unlimited Weapons, But Teams Like The Niners, Just Like The Packers Years Ago, Neglect Special. The Niners Ranked Near The Bottom In Special Teams Play, And Jake Moody, The Niners' Kicker, Missed An Early Field. The Niners Would Get On The Board In The Second Quarter, Christian McCaffrey For Two Yards Set Up By A 28 Yard Run By McCaffrey. The Niners didn't Have a Tremendous Half On The Ground. McCaffrey Suffered A Couple Of Negative Runs But Burst Through The Detroit Third Ranked Run Defense For The Score. The Niners' Defense Couldn't Match Detroit's Offense. Brock Purdy threw an Intercept, captured by Malcolm Rodriguez off of a tipped ball, and the Lions converted the early turnover into Jahmyr Gibbs's 15-yard touchdown. On The Five Play, 46 Yard Drive The Lions Produce Passes Of 16 Yards To Sam LaPorta, 17 Yards To Amon-Ra St. Brown And 15 Yards To Jahmyr Gibbs And Take A 21-7 Mid Way Through The Second Quarter. The Lions did dominate on offense and saved their best drive for the end of the quarter. With The Ball Back And Five Minutes To Work, Goff, Who I Feel Lacks Aggressiveness, Converted Two Big Third Downs, Both To Amon-Ra, One For 23 yards across The Face Of The Niners's Linebackers. Goff Hit Amon-are Again On An Out Route For 9 Yards On 3rd And 7. The Lions And Jahmyr Gibbs Run In A 13 Yard Play To Convert A 3rd & 12. The Drive Ended With A Field Goal. The Lions' Offense Looked Goliath during Those Big Conversions.
The Niners turn up the play in the second half. Remember, football plays two halves. The Niners' first drive ends in a field goal, which Jake Moody converts. The Niners Get Back Into This Game With Two Quick Drives. The Lions Failed To Convert A 4th And 2nd On W Drop By Josh Reynold. Reynolds Suffered A Couple Of Drops In The Third, Including One That Negated A 3rd And 9. A lot Went Wrong For The Lions In The Second Half, Jahmyr Gibbs's Fumble On The First Of The Next Drive. A Defensive Back Missed A Pick On a Deep Pass From Purdy, and Instead Of A Big Takeaway, The Ball Bounces Into The Hands Of Brandin Aiyuk For 51 Yards, and Theo Niners Score Two Plays Later On A Short Strike From Purdy To Aiyuk. How Professional Football Players Struggle To Catch Passes Always Baffles Me But
Lions's Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu Misses A Sack, And Brock Purdy Escapes The Wrap And Hits Kyle Jusyke For A Toe Tap Ten Yards. The Play looks beautiful If You're A 49ers Fan, But If You're Watching The Game Relatively Unbiased, The Football Looked Out Of Order. However, The Niners scored 17 Points In the Third and A Field In The Fourth To Erase 17 Points and Score 20 points Unanswered.
The Lions Again Fail To Convert A Fourth Down, This Time Goff Couldn't With St. Brown Even With Jameson Williams Running Open On A Crosser—the Niners Score On All Their Second Half Drives and Amass 271 Second Half Yardage.
In a bizarre turn of events, the Niners scored 27 unanswered, and everything that could have gone wrong and everything that went right in the first half. Hindsight's Always 20/20, But Either Of Those Fourth Down Conversion Would've Ended The Game With the Lions Ahead. After The First Turnover On Downs, The Niners Struck quickly, Scoring In Less Than 2 Minutes and Pulling The Score Within Seven. If Detroit Converts, They Erase More Clocks and Steal Time. Despite The Aggressive Approach, The Lions Played Not To Lose In The Fourth Down Attempts, Desiring To Steal Possessions. The Niners, the experienced team, stayed poised and collectively Took over in the end.
Detroits's Magical Season Ends Almost Disappointingly Because They Nearly Made An NFC Championship. Usually, Detroit's defense makes a play to shift the tide in the end, and despite sacrificing twice in the second, they miss out on some big moments. Purdy Played Well, Over 300 Yards Of Scrimmage Offense, 20/31 For 267, One Touchdown, One Pick, but All Niners' Play Felt Overshadowed, Detroits Miraculous Collapse. I Haven't Seen Anything like that Since the Futurama Time Skip Episode When Fry Entered The Game And The Globetrotters Lost. Lions OC Ben Johnson Most Likely Moves On And Takes The Commander Head Coaching Position Considering He's The Top Candidate, But Imagine If He Decided To Return For Another Season. This Lions Team Has All The Makings Of A Super Bowl Contender, And Will Surely Have The Best Offense in Football Next Season. In The Second Half, The Lions Couldn't Run At All, Only Gaining 34 Yards And Finishing With 182 Total Rush Yards. Jared Goff finished 25/41 for 273 passing yards, one touchdown, and an 88.8 passer rating. The Lions Suffered Some Critical Drops, And In Games Like This, Everybody Need To Stay Ready For Their Moment. Goff Completed Only 1/7 Passes On Attempts Of 20 Air Yards Or Better, 24/34 Otherwise, And a -8.5 Completions Percentage Over Expected.
Most Fans And Critics Will Remember This Game More For What The Lions Didn't Achieve Than What The Niners Accomplished On The Field. Brock Purdy produced over 300 Yards 20/31 for 267 passing yards and 48 yards. Christian McCaffrey Bounced Back From A Rough First Half Where He Averaged Under 4 Yards A Career, But Turned Around To Post 20 Carries For 90 Yards 4.5 Per Carry. Deebo Samuel Caught 8 Passes For 89 Yards. Jauan Jennings Caught 1 Pass For Eight Yards, But His One-Handed Catch captured The Momentum For The Niners. Brock Purdy is facing Pressure, barreling down and forcing him to his left. Purdy unleashes an ill-advised pass, and Jennings Towers over a defender to convert the Crucial Third Down. Purdy Also Converted A Few First Downs With His Legs, Picking Up Big Scrambles For 21 Yards and 10 Yards To Convert Crucial Downs. Brandon Aiyuk Made A Few Plays That Change The Complexion Of This Game. The Lions' Inability To Attack Over The Top Allowed San Fransisco's Defense To Adjust And Employ Stack Boxes And Underneath To Stop The Short Game.
Meanwhile, Kyle Shanahan Didn't Change Much, Detroit Just Forgot How To tackle. Christian McCaffrey Broke A Tackle In The Receiving Game and Scored A Touchdown On The Same Drive. Deebo Broke A Tackle In Theo's Second Half, Which Set Up A Field Goal.
The Niners Will Move On To Face Theo Chiefs In A Rematch Of The Super Bowl Five Years Ago, Which The Chiefs Won In An Epic Comeback. The last time the Chiefs played in back-to-back Super Bowls, they got slammed in Tampa Bay by the Buccaneers and Tom Brady. The Years Version Of The Niners and Theo Chiefs Have Salient Differences(no Tyreek Hill For The Chiefs And No Jimmy G For Theo Niners), But The Matchup Feels Like A Reincarnation Of 2019. Andy Reid Versus Kyle Shanahan. Detroit Needs To Address Their Pass Defense, Specifically The Secondary. Several Good Safety And Cornerbacks Will Come Available In Free Agency.
Coaching News
In Coaching News, Many Jobs Flew Off The Coaching Market In A Few Days. The Carolina Panthers hired Dave Conelas As Their Next Head Coach To Lead The Team Out of The Brief and Unsuccessful Era Of Frank Reich And Into New Wins. Finales Has A Success Story We All Can Admire. When I found out his name was showing up in coaching, Shocking, Considering he only Held The Role Of OC for A Season Where The Bucs were in The Middle Of The League In Offense. However, Conales Rise Started With a long Stint As The Wide Receiver Coach In Seattle For Nearly A Decade, Then Took a Quarterback Coach For Russell Wilson and passing Game Coordinator For Geno Smith, Quarterback Seahawks Before Taking Over Tampa's Offense For One Season. Geno and Russell have watched their play decline after moving away from Conales, and Tampa Bay first-year starter Baker Mayfield saw his play soar to career highs with Conales instructing him. The Bucs Hope The 42-Year-Old Can Bring His Successful Touch To the Career Arch Of Bryce Young, Which Already Looks Troubled.
Other NFC South Coaching News: The Falcons Hire Rams Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris As Their New Head Coach, But The Falcons Coaching Hire May Prove Most Memorable For Who They Didn't Hire. After Talks With Coach Bill Belichick(Twice) Nothing Materialized. Reportedly, No One Wants To Give The Septuagenarian Full Control Of A Role The Six Time Super Bowl Winning Coach has Held Indisputably For Most Of His Time In New England. Instead, Belichick Will Most Likely Wait in the Shadows, Hooded, Until Next season's Round Of Firings. Morris Has Respect Around The League As A Coach. He Interimed In Atlanta Briefly and Served As The Head Coach In Tampa Before Taking Over In Los Angeles After Branden Staley Left the Rams For The Chargers. Sean McVay Hired Raheem To Run The Vic Fangio Defense Until Instructed Otherwise. Morris Lead Depleted But Surprising Talented Rams Defense To A Top Ten Finish According To ESPN's FPI Ranking. Morris Will Take Over Another Young But Talented Roster, This One More Talented On The Offensive End, And Transforming Them In Ways Authur Smith Couldn't Maximize The Talent. An offensive mind like Ben Johnson's Take Over the Team would have felt more satisfying to me, but we'll watch as things unfold.
The Falcons Also Looked Into Former Niners Coach, Now Chargers Jim Harbaugh, Before Harbaugh Took The Job In LA After A Second Interview Fell Apart. Harbaugh Inherits A Roster Rift With Talent But Troubled By Cap Problems.
