NFL Divisional Round Takeaways
Bills Vs. Chiefs
The Buffalo Bills And Kansas City Chiefs Have Developed A Storied Rivalry In The AFC Playoffs And The Regular Season. Everyone Remembers Where They Were When Tyreek Hill Caught That ten 10-yard pass; Turner On The Jets Broke Matt Milano's Ankles and Took Off For 64 64-yard touchdown And Late Chiefs. Allen And The Bills Struck, Retaking The Lead And Giving Fans One Of The Greatest Game In Football History, Which Only Ended After 25 points scored--three lead changes over the final two minutes And Theo Chiefs Score In Overtime To End A Game That Needed Another Quarter Or Two Of Play Felt Needed After Beholding The Way Those Two Champions Of Football Played. The game earned well-rounded acclaim, a new overtime rule from the Bills' crushing loss, allowing both offenses to possess the ball in overtime. If The Rules Had Been In Place When The Bills And Chiefs Played, We Could've Gotten An Extra Two-Quarters Of Explosive Touchdowns To Gabe Davis. The Chiefs Won't Have To Face Gabe Davis This Week Due to A Knee Injury, and This Isn't The Same ChiefsChiefs Defense That Surrender 200 Plus Yards To Defense. That Group Of Chiefs's Defenders Ranks 10th Worse By ESPN FPI; The 2023 Version Puts The Clamps On Receivers And Ranks in Top Five.
The Bills Won't Have To Fear Tyreek Hill; they faced him twice this year with the Dolphins, and Travis Kelce caught the game-winning pass two years ago. He's Less Than The Explosive Block A Marble That Ran A Touchdown Pass From Mahomes Down Got The Chiefs Into The Conference Championship. The Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reid March Into Another Conference Final, This Time Winning On The Road In Tough Weather Conditions Facing a Hungry Bills Team With One Possession To Go.
Bills And Chiefs Write Another Classic Matchup That Came Down The Final Possession For Buffalo Who Miss A Field Goal And The Chiefs Outlast The Bills In A Thunderous Performance By Josh Allen. Allen Didn't Light Up The Game Through The Air, Not Against This Version Of The Chief's offense, But The World's Strongest Human Plow Machine Trudging Through Defenders On His Way To 258 Total Yards, 72 Rushing Yards, Two Touchdowns, 6.0 Yards Per Rush. In passing, the Bills missed a few shots deep despite the play Calling's best efforts to get something going. The Bills And Josh Allen Missed All Their Shots Of 15 Air Yards Or Better, Including Two Deep Shots Down the Field That Could've Shifted The Game. One Over The Shoulder Of Diggs Flew Over The Shoulders Stefon Diggs; The Other Looked Caught butler Dropped Out Of The Hands Of Trent Sherfield. Either One Of Those Plays Takes The Stakes Of The Game Out Of The Hands Of the Kicker And Into The Hands Of The Offensive Skill Position PlayMaker. This season's clutch-kicking has yet to affect games the way the legs of guys like Adam Vinatieri once had in football. Does Josh Allen get an excuse in this one or two plays swinging this heavyweight matchup, and the Chiefs made those one or two in the passing game when things boil down?
Allen completed 16 passes behind the line of scrimmage. Allen Did Hit Wide RECEIVER Kahlil Shakir For A Gorgeous 15 15-yard strike To Put The Bills Ahead In The Third. However, The Bills Didn't Score Again.
The Bills Recovered All Their Fumbles Except The One That Matter, The Game. The Bills Out Played The Chiefs In A few Key Areas, Including Third Down Red Zone Efficiency, The Bills Dominated Time Of Possession and Offensive Plays Called. Still, The Defense—Like Last The Time These Two Teams Met Under These Circumstances —Didn't Contribute Much. Forcing the Chiefs to Settle For Two Fields Goals On Kansas City's First Two Drives Gave The Bills Early Confidence. The Bills' Offense Ran The Ball A Ton, Especially With Josh Allen, Who Can Get Rattled After Taking Too Many Hits. Allen Got A Little Over Agressive On That Final Drove With 2 Minutes To Go On 2nd, and 9 He Could Have Hit Diggs On A Crosser, But Instead, Heights Misses Two Passes In a Row, and The Bills Suffer Another Wide Right In Their History.
Mahomes Beat That With Explosive Quick Work.
Mahomes Finished 17/23 For 215 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, and 9.3 Simply Out Playing Josh Allen In The Passing Game Pass, And If The Media Wrote Travis Kelce's Death Warrant, Heights Awoke In This Game Before The Ink Dried Off. Kelce Cut Through the Back of The Bills' Defense To Pull Down The Chiefs' First Touchdown And The Lead 13-10 Before The Half. Patrick Mahomes Just Played A More Efficient Game. Where Allen Would miss Receivers, Mahomes Would strike The Right Number. The Trouble With The Bills Defense Not Playing A Lot During The Game, Trouble With Communications And Understanding the Calls. While The Kansas City Defense racked up 46 solo tackles, the Bills only Arranged 25 tackles. The Chiefs Punt Just Once, And When Their Passing didn't Get What They Wanted, Isaiah Pacheco had 15 Carries For 97, Rushing Three Explosive Runs Of 10 Yards Or Better And Eight Runs Of Five Yards Or Better.
The Chiefs won 27-24. One Team Made Plays When The Other Let Opportunities Out Of Their Hands.
Lions Vs. Bucs
"It's What I've Been Doing My Whole Life," Lion's Quarterback Jared Goff Said, "Pitch And Catch."
At This Point, the Football World has Accepted Lamar Jackson As The Expected MVP. Without He Leads The Best Team In the AFC To The Best Record In The League. Jackson's argument starts with wins, and Carrie's through the progress he's made as an efficient Passenger without his top weapon, Mark Andrews, no less. However, Let's Not Allow Jackson's Presumed Victory To Overshadow The Success of Other Candidates For The Award—Yes, Other Candidates Exist. Starting With The Lions Jared Goff. Most Of You Know The Story By Now. Goff selected Number One, led the Rams to A Super Bowl, Then Cast Into The Fire Like A 2022 MacBook In 2024 And Delivered To The Door In Detroit As The "Bridge" Guy. Only Goff cast aside Those Rags And Delivered Detroit Not Only A Playoff Berth, A Division Title, and A Playoff Win. He Delivered A Hero, a Seth-like figure From The Bible. In The Garden Story Found In Genesis, The First Couple, Adam and Eve Already Fallen From God's Presence and Into The Harsh Reality Outside Of The Garden, They Lose Their Son Abel Cry Out To God For A son To Replace The One Lost To Violence, God Sent Detroit Jared Goff To Replace Matthew Stafford And With The Odds In The Lions Entering The Divisional Round. Jared Goff was ranked 4th by Sports Info Solutions Quarterback Data. He's the guy in Detroit. Across From Goff On The Tampa Bay, Another Number One Pick Reclaiming The Luster Of His Place As A Number One Pick, Baker Mayfield. Baker Lead Theo Bucs To A third Straight Division Title And Into The Divisional In What Experts Projected As A bridge Year For The Bucs. The Bucs Upset The Eagles And Have The Capacity To Push Detroit Out If They Can Execute In The Passing Game Like They Did Against The Eagles. Theo Bucs Offense Produced A Tonnage Of Explosive Plays. Baker Didn't Produce A lot Of Air Yards, But Tampa Took More Ground Yards After the Catch Approach. The Lions Gave Up The Most Explosive Passing Plays During The Regular Season And Just Let Puka Nacua Set A New Rookie Record In Receiving Yards In A 181 Yard Performance That Included Five Catches Of 20 Yards Or Better.
The Detroit Secondary won't have a one-game fix. Tampa Has More Weapons And More Proven Weapons Than The Rams. If Baker Can Sustain Play Anywhere Near The Level Of Wild Card Weekend, The Bucs Can Score The Upset. Baker Will Also Have to Face Aidan Hutchinson, who has been on a Tear Recently, with Eight Sacks In Three Games.
The Bucs's defensive line came out and put their hands on the game first. Rookie Calijah Kancey patted Down A Pass From Jared Goff as The Lions Looked to Convert A Third Down.
However, Detroit's Defense, Possibly The worst remaining Defense In The Playoffs, makes two Critical Plays To Put The Ball Back In Jared Goff's Gloves.
After The Bucs Convert For New Downs On A Rachaad White, Baker Gets Sacked By safety Infeatu Melifonwu, and On 3rd And 17, Throw A Pick on a Tipped Pass, And CJ Gardner-Johnson Takes The Ball Into Tampa Territory And Sets Up A Field Goal Drive For The Lions. Jared Goff Almost Throws A Pick In The Red Zone, But A Failed Run Instead Sets Up A Field Goal. If Baker possesses one characteristic to define moxie and heights, he remains undaunted in the face if he comes back out slanging. Baker Completes Big 18 18-yard completions To Mike Evans and 23 Yards To Trey Palmer. However, The Bucs Stall Thanks To Another Safety Sack. This Time, Brian Branch Raps Un Mayfield, Forcing Tampa into Another Long Conversion Situation. The Bucs Offense Gains 50 Yards But Settle For A Long Field Goal.
The Safety Blitzes Kept Raining This Time; Tampa Sent Antoine Winfield At Goff. The Lion's Marksmen Jared Goff Hangs In The Pockett And Hits Sam Laporta For 13 Yards And A First Down Conversion. Goff Hits His Tight End Three Plays In A Row On A 14 Play Drive For 75 Play Drive. Laporta has proven he's Goff's best safety blanket, caught three passes for 30 yards on the drive, and set a Goff strike to Josh Reynolds in the back of the end zone. Reynolds, Who Came Away With 80 Yards Against the Rams, Showed Off His Mr. Fantastic Like Stretch To Haul A Fast Ball In A 9 Yard Touchdown First Of His Career. Mayfield And The Bucs Possess Their Own Long Dangly Receiver In Mike Evans, And Heights Catches A 23 Yard Pass To Get A Tampa Drive Started. A 14 14-yard catch and Run By Cade Otten Keeps The Tampa Drive Going, But The Lions' Defense Again forces a Bucs Field Goal. This Field Goal Attempt, However, falls short and "Bangs" Off The crossbar. Evans And Mayfield Would Comeback, This Back To Back 20 Yard Catches, One For 27 Yards, another For 29 Yards On Back Back Passes, Would Set Tampa In The Red Zone For Just The Second Time All Game, Where Cade Otten Would Bring Down A Short Pass From Baker Mayfield To Tie This Game. On The Drive, Mayfield Completed Four Straight Passes and A 14 And Accounted For All But 11 Yards On 7 Play 92 Yard Drive, Including A 9 Yard Catch By Tre Palmer and A 14 Yard By Mayfield.
Evans Finished The Half with four Catches For 97 Receiving Yards, Mayfield 13/18 For 161 passing Yards, One Touchdown, and A Pick. Tampa's Defense Ranks Amongst The League's Average, 12th By FPI, and They Held The Lions Offense In Check For Most Of The Half. Besides the Lions' Two Scoring Drives, Jared Goff's Offense Suffered Two(2) Thee And-outs and Another Punt Of 7 Plays—the Lions' Offense Just About Four Yards A Play At Halftime.
Entering Tampa Forces A Three Out Again First For The Lions In Second Half. The Lions Had To Get A Little Tricky. The Lions Line Up In Jumbo Butler. Instead Of Targeting The Catching Tight End Sam Laporta, Jared Goff Hits Brock Wright For 29 Yard Catch And Run To Set A Lions Lions In Play For A 10 Play 64 Yard Touchdown Drive For A One Yard Craig Reynolds Rush And 17-10 Lead. The Bucs Also Did Great Jobs On Amon-Ra St. Brown, Who Caught An 11 Yard Catch To Set The Lions Up In The Red Zone. St. Brown Had Just 4 Catches For 26 Yards To That Point. The Bucs had Baker Mayfield offer a response, and this game went back and forth. With tight ends getting the Bucs, they said we could do that two: Cade Otten for 27 yards and a beautiful grab going into the ground and out of bounds with a defender on his back. For Three Plays, Mayfield Would Connect With Otten; for the First Two Plays, Mayfield-Otten For 12 Yards and 9 Yards, and The Drive Ends With A 12 Yard Short Pass To Rachaad White To End a Play, 75 Yard Drive: the Slowest Shootout But A Shootout No Less Ensues. The Lions Offense This Tume Spared On by Jahmyr Gibbs, Who Rushed Four(4) Times In Five(5) Plays For 57 Of 75 And A 31 Yard Score. The Brief Touchdown Trade Of Would End After The Lions' Defense Forces the Bucs To Punt And The Full Range Of The Lions' Offense and How They Structure The Offense Comes Into Play. With Gibbs, Laporta, and Even Josh Reynolds Established, The Lions Open Up The Game To Their Other Weapons. On. the Second Drive Of The Fourth Quarter, The Lions Travel 89 Yards In 10 Plays, Highlighted By A 24 Yard Catch By Jameson Williams, 20 Yards To Jahmyr Gibbs, 16 Yards To Amon-ra St.Brown, 11 Yards to Sam Laporta, On Top Of A 9 Yard Run For Jahmyr Gibbs And A 9 Yard Touchdown To St. Brown.
The Full Range of The Lions's Offense And That Series Of Play Calling Exemplifies Why The Lions' Brian Johnson Represents The Play Calling OC In The League, And The Bucs Would Take A 31-17 Lead with Most Of The Fourth Quarter Erased.
The Bucs Respond Promptly. Why The Lions Play One-On-One Coverage Against A Historically Elite Receiver Like Evans Baffles Me. Evans Catches a 24-yard pass To Flip Field Position And Keeps a drive alive on 4th And 14 yards. With The Bucs stationed In The Red Zone, Evans Lined Up one-on-one again and caught a Pass Over A Defender 16 16-yard touchdown. Why The Bucs Go For Two Two-point Conversion, Don't But Pulled The Lead 31-23.
In The End, The Bucs Would Get One More Chance To Tie The Game, And Just Like In Their Matchup With the Rams, The Defense Makes The Play And Help The Team Pull through.
Linebacker Derrick Barnes Dropped back over the middle ad. Mayfield may want tight-end Otten to cut in front of the defender instead of over. Still, The Pass, like Many Of Mayfield, Had 50/50 Written All Over The Pass. Derrick Barnes Came Down, And The Lions won 31-23, Setting Up A Gorgeous Final Against The Niners In The NFC.
Baker Mayfield Finished 26/41 For 349, Three Touchdowns And Two Interceptions, For a 94.8 Passer Rating. Sacks And Turnovers Determined This Game For Mayfield And The Bucs. The Lions Safety Blitzes Prove Too Timely No Matter The Depth. Baker Looked Like He Never Checked To A Hot Route Before And Tried Fighting Away From Pressure, To No Avail.
The Bucs Have A Lot of Questions To Answer This Offseason. Baker Mayfield's A Free Agent This Offseason. He's expressed interest in returning and playing well for Stretches. Heights Cooked This Game Outside Of The Sacks And Turnovers. Mayfield Completed 7.6 Air Yards This Game, 12.3 Yards Completion, 3/3 Red Zone Trips, Plague His Whole, Career And Today a Lions Advantage. In Turnovers Lay The Baker Mayfield Complex, Can A Team, This Bucs Team Win With Or Through Mayfield's Arm. You Know The Game Of Thrones Quote: 'When a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. One side is greatness, the other madness', That's What I Think Of When Baker Mayfield Drops Back To Make A Pass In Obvious Passing Situations. Interception Or Big Play?
Thus Far, For His Career, He's Thrown A Pick. According To PFF, The Bucs Averaged 0.22 EPA Per Play Without Turnovers and -7.18 EPA Due To Turnovers Compared To The Lions Who Averaged 0.15 EPA Per Play.
Defense Produced Five Pass Deflections On Top Of Two Picks. The Bucs also have to figure out a Long-term Picture for Mike Evans. Evans Lead The Team 8 Catches For 147 a Touchdown, 18.4 Per Reception
And An INCREDIBLE 3.5 Yards Per Route Run.
For the Lions, Jahmyr Gibbs had 13 touches for 114 one-rushing touchdowns. Amon-Ra St. Brown had a big second half, 8 Cats, 77 yards, and a score. Jared Goff was 30/43, had 277 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, Protected The Ball, had a 102.6 Passer Rating, and Played A Clean Game. The Lions Have Played In Two Of The Best Games Of These Playoffs Thus Far.
Detroit Allows Other Teams To Stay In The Game With A Handful Of Tiny Plays That Swing The Game In Their Favor while The Offense Outlasts Opponents To The Finish.
49ers Vs. Packers
The San Fransisco 49ers Need To Keep Their Dukes Up And Stay On Red Alert After Theo Outcomes Of Wild Card Weekend. The Cowboys And Eagles Both Fell In Embarrassing And Debilitating Fashion. The Niners, In Form, Enter The Divisional Round As The Last Juggernaut Who Can Fall. I Don't Think I'm A Lone in My Sentiments That The 49ers Haven't Played A Serious Football Game Since Christmas Day After Getting Handed A Shellacking By The Ravens. Afterward, Kyle Shanahan's Group Played One Foregone Concluded Game Against The Commanders To Secure The Top Seed In The Conference And Then An Inconsequential Game Against The Rams To End The Game. The Niners Have Had Three Weeks Of "Lull" And Dormancy To Turn Into Fire And Determination On Sunday. Kyle Shanahan Once Said, And I Paraphrase Football Doesn't Work Like A Light Switch, 'You Can't Turn Football Off and On.' Shanahan Said Last Season
"… you end up just developing bad habits," Shanahan Said Ahead Of Week 18's Meaningless Game Versus The Rams. How Does A Professional NFL Team Develop Bad Habits? I can't say for sure that Newton's First Law Of Physics comes into play: inertia: a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it.
Newton wrote The Law About Objects and Human Beings Introduce A More Complex Study But Athletes Having To Rise To The Highest Level Of Competition After Weeks Of Dormant Or Less Than 'High Spirited Play' in Recent Weeks.
The Baltimore Game ended Early, So The Niners Have Played a quarter of Competitive Football In Four Weeks.
San Francisco Also Has The Tendency To Play Down To The Level of Opponents In Losses To The Vikings, Bengals, And Cleveland Brown.
"We Are The Number One Seed," Erin Andrews Reported. The Niners Repeated That Mantra To Themselves Ahead Of The Game As If To Reinforce Their Confidence. The Niners Had To wait A Good While To Play Meaningful Football Again To Dispel The Shadow Of Last Year's loss to The Eagles In Last Year's NFC Championship Game.
The Niners' Offense Need to Get Off To The Best Start. Brock Purdy and his star-studded Cadre produce a first down on a Deebo Samuel catch-and-run For 15 yards up the field. Purdy, however, Can't Keep The Drive Moving. The Best Statistical Quarterback In Football Nearly Misses A Turnover, Then Suffers A Sack And Ends The Niners' First Drive with A Punt After 5 Plays, 17 Yards. Meanwhile, The Packers Dominated time In The First Quarter, Controlling Nearly 12 Minutes Of Play Time, But Thanks To A Controversial Spot On A Quarterback Sneak Out Of The Second Quarter, Held The Packers To No Points On A Red Zone Drive and A 3-0 Lead.
Jordan Love Puts In A Few Swings In Against The Niners's Secondary. Love Hit Receiver Romeo Doubs For 38 Yards To Convert a Huge Third Down. On The Packers' Drive Of The Quarter, he Hit Doubs Again with 22 Yards and Jayran Reed For 27 Yards, But The Drive stalled, and The Packers settled for A Field Goal. Love Would Look All The Part Of The Superior Talent To Brock Purdy
Brock Purdy would struggle until Purdy connected with Kittle for 32 yards through the air, and the Niners would take a 7-6 halftime lead, but both offenses struggled to move away from the other.
Explosive Plays From The Niners Would Prove the Difference In The Second Half. A 39 Rushes Touchdown By Christian McCaffrey Put The Niners Back On The Board, And the Packers Had Trouble Tackling The Presumed Offensive Player Of The Year.
McCaffrey Felt Quiet All Game, But His Impact Rang Through The Score Board As He Broke The End Zone And Scored The Winning Touchdown For the Theiners before Finishing with 17 Carries For 98 Yards. CMC dodged through The Packers' Interior and suffered zero Runs Of Loss Yardage.
The Packers continued attacking the Niners' Secondary In The Second and earned A 41 41-yard Pass Interference Call To Set Bo Melton For 19 Yards To Earn The Packers' First Touchdown Of The Game. For All My Questions About Jordan Love's Arm and Throwing Platform, He Delivered Two Strikes On The Packers' Second Scoring Drive Of The Half. A Keasian Nixon punt Return Set The Packers Up at The 20-yard Line Of the Niners. Love Hits Romeo Doubs For 15 Yards on A Bullet With A Nick Bosa Bearing Down On Him. At The Niners's Two Yard Line, Love lined up His Target, Tucker Kraft, for two touchdowns, and the two passes retook the lead for the Packers with a two-point conversion to Aaron Jones to put the Packers up 21-14.
Later in the Fourth Quarter, Some Of Love's Questionable Passing Habits Would Prove Costly. Both He And Purdy Have A Tendency To Throw Ill-Advised Passes into Tight Coverage, Off Balance Moving To The Opposite End Of The Field. Truthfully, All Packers Quarterbacks Have Suffered Similar Flashes of overestimating their Abilities. Quarterback Who Break The Rules A Few Believe They Break The Rules With Impunity But Last Night Love Paid For The Risk Late.
Despite a frail and splintering performance in the passing game, Brock Purdy delivers a game-winning drive to end the Packers' playoff in the divisional round 24-21. Despite the Win, The Niners Looked Not "unprepared"— impossible For A Kyle Shanahan-coached Team—butler Petrified, Deer In The Headlights, Certainly Not The Best Team In Football, Or The Super Bowl favorites. Two Errant but Sometimes "50-50" Balls By Jordan Love On Back To Back And A Heart Drop Missed Field Determined The Outcome Of This Game. Otherwise, the Niners have a variable outcome with the Packers in the final. Love found some success in his way with this complimented Niners' secondary. I love the efficiency drop in the fourth quarter, but he went 3/7 on passes between the 10-20 for 80 yards. Love finished 21/34 for 194 with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He Couldn't Keep a Handle On His Arm Like An Inexperienced Shooter With An Assault Rifle Spraying: His Mechanics Affect His Efficiency. The Niners' Defensive Line Barely Scratched Love, The Packers's Offensive Line Stood On Business Against The Niners Defensive Line. Nick Bosa Reached Five QB Hits But No Sacks.
Difficult To Tell When Love Just Departs The Pocket On His Own.
Love Mentioned Needing To Judge When To Tuck And Run Or Air The Ball. I don't understand this generation of "Athletic" pocket people who don't use their legs in advantageous situations. CJ Stroud Suffers From The Same Malignant Physiological Repression Of Running or Scrambling.
Christian McCaffrey's Six Yard Touchdown Capped Off A 12 Play, 69 69-yard drive Engineered By None Other Than The Premium "Game Manager" In The League, Brock Purdy. One Excellent Drive Doesn't Dismiss The Topsy-Turvy Play From Purdy At Moments In This Game. If We Talk About Love's Turnovers—the two-second interceptions that cost The Packers The Game Along With The Missed Field Goal—what About Purdy, Who Escaped Throwing Two Or Three Picks On His Way To Finishing 23/39 For 252 Passing Yards, one Touchdown, 86.7 Passer Rating. CMC Bailed The Niners Offense Out Late.
Purdy Produced A Nice Drive, But A lot To Learn From After This Matchup And Plays That Could've Shifted A Different Direction and Change The Complexion Of This Game. Dre Green Law Made Some Good Play On A Couple Of Balls, But The Packers Lost This Opportunity.
Regardless Of The Loss, The Packers Look Ahead of Schedule.
The Loss Of Aaron Rodgers Meant Or Intimated A Brief Rebuild and A Season To Evaluate Jordan Love in Totality. Instead, The Packers Made A Playoff Push, the Cowboys, And If Playoffs Counted Toward Coach Of The Year Voting, Matt Lafleur Deserves At Least the Top Two Voting. Running Back Aaron Jones 18 Carries For 108 Rushing Yard His 53 Yard Set Up The Missed Field Goal. Lafleur States His Disbelief In His Kicker Lafleur Chants Prayers Whenever He Rolls Out To Kick A Field Goal, But Maybe "Go For It" In That Situation.
If The Packers Build On This Run, They Have One Of The Brightest Futures in The NFL. The Niners Move On To The NFC Championship Game For The Third Straight Year, Fourth Time In The Last Five Years.
Ravens Vs. Texans
Can The Ravens Survive The Challenge They Face With The Texans Heading Into Baltimore? The Ravens, Of Course, Enter The Divisional Round As The Favorites Over The Texans And The Favorites To Win The Conference. Still, The Pressure, The Expectations, And The Weight Of This Game Lie On The Shoulders Of Lamar Jackson With Houston Playing With "House Money." Styles Make Fights, Not Ratings, Ranking, and Awards. The Ravens have the best defense remaining in the playoffs by rating, but those Ratings mean nothing against Cleveland, and Baltimore won't have top corner Marlon Humphrey for Theo's game. The Ravens Like to Play Their Linebackers In Zone With A Multitude Of Safeties Over Top. During The Regular Season, Stroud Crushed Zone Defense.
The Ravens' defense ranked amongst the best in defending explosive plays, allowing the lowest passer rating on explosive plays and Finishing 8th overall in explosive plays allowed.
CJ Stroud ranks amongst The Best In Generating Them During The Regular Season. According To Numbers From ESPN, Stroud Averaged 73.9 QBR versus zone coverage while adding 66 explosive passing plays, 8 Touchdowns, and 0 Picks On Deep Passes.
The Texans Have A "Hot" Secondary Fresh Off Of Stifling Brown's Passing Attack; The Ravens Have A Glut Of Unproven Wide Receivers, Though They Expect To Get Top Target Mark Andrews Back. Browns Tight End David Njoku Proved to Trouble Some For The Texans Last Week, Though Icing Amari Cooper Proved More Crucial. The Ground for Both Teams Could Determine This Game. The Texans don't run the ball at a high level, but they defend the run with the second-highest run stop-win rate. If The Texans Can Force The Ravens Into A One Dimensional Play Style, Meaning Pass First On Offense And Live With The Improved But Still "Skeptical" Skittish Arm Of Lamar Jackson, Stroud, And The Texans Produced Enough Damage On Offense, The Texans Can Come Away With The Win.
The Ravens Run The Ball At The Highest Clip In The League, 51%, And Finished third in Rushing EPA and Rush Success Rate. If Lamar And The Ravens Lose This Game, Does The Narrative Shift? Was the team Right To Pass On Him? The Ravens May Never Pass By Another Premier Season From Lamar Jackson; he's Got To Prove Himself Now, Caught Between Two Generations As Either Josh Allen Or Patrick Mahomes Await Him, and CJ Stroud is already Hungry.
The Texans Win The Toss And Take Off On the Offense's First Drive To Face This Vaunted Defense, And Man, Did Baltimore Live Up To Every Word, Every Iota Of The Hype. The Ravens Wouldn't Surrender An Inch On Design Runs. Devin Singletary Three Rushes For -1 Yard.
Stroud Doesn't Like To Use His Legs, Which I Believe Hurts Him, But After Two Stops Again, Stroud's Legs Fall Three Yards Short Of A First Down, And The Texans Punt Out Of The Gate. Stroud's Disinterest In Running The Ball Limits the Texans' Offense And Separates Lamar From Him. By The End Of The First, Lamar Led his Team In Rushing, and So Did Stroud: 7 Yards For Stroud, and 34 For Jackson. The Texans Rush Game Would Provide The Offense Little Reprieve; Under These Circumstances, You Need A Quarterback Who Can Run The Ball
The Texans Entered The Game With A Tier Rushing Defense, But Nothing Could Prepare Them For The Hurricane Force Of Lamar Jackson.
Lamar Gets Off To a Hot Continuing His Surging Growth As A Passer. Heights Completes an eight-yard pass to Zay Flowers with pressure bearing down on him to convert the first downs. The Texans Defense Force A Field Goal And Take A 3-0 Lead. Lamar started Promising 3/4 29 Passing Yards And a lot Of 7 Plus Yard Completions.
The Texans' Offense earned An Explosive Play 26 play-yard pass To Flip Field Position; The Texans Get Crushed By Penalties. The Texans O-Line Suffer Two Holding Calls and CJ Stroud picks Up an Intention Grounding Call. The Texans Looked A Little Shook. The Ravens' offense was tethered downward, but Houston passes catchers needed to create more open opportunities for Stroud. Troy Aikman called The Ravens' Defense "Sticky," with every Progressive Play, the Texans suffered a penalty. Dalton Shultz got an open drop but came back two plays later for 21 yards, and momentarily, all of the daze Vanished. You Could Witness The Growth From Stroud In His First Game, From His First Moments In This Game To Houston's First Scoring Drive.
The Houston Offense Almost Suffers A Turnover After A Tip Ball Bends Off The Hands Of Ravens's Safety Kyle Hamilton, And The Texans Manage To Tie The Game 3-3 By The End Of The First Quarter. The Ravens Get The First Touchdown On The Board On The Strength Of Two Big Lamar Jackson Runs Up The Middle, One For 23 yards To Start The Drive, The Other For 15 Yards That Put Ravens In Between The Five Yard Line, and Set Up A Three Yard Touchdown Pass From Lamar Jackson To Nelson Ahgolor Capping Off A 11 Play 76 Yard Drive. The Would Wrapped The Lamar Scrambles On The Following Drive And Force Three And Out, resulting in A Punt Return Touchdown On The Legs Of Steven Sims For 67 Yards.
The Houston Defense Also Begins To Catch Up With The Ravens' Passing Game. On The Ensuing Drive, Houston's Pass Defense Force Two Incompletion Of Lamar Jackson And Force A Three and Out By the Ravens For The Third Time In The First Half. The Texans Offense Got Their Second Big Play In The Passing Game When Converts A Big 3rd And 13 For 29 Yards To Nico Collins.
Collins, The Texans Break Out Wide Receiver, Took On The Ravens's Man-to-Mon Scheme and won Over The Middle. If Stroud Doesn't Convert, The Ravens' Offense Could've Gotten The Ball Back With A Minute Plus To Work With. Instead, Houston Misses a Field Goal But Leave Under 40 Secs For The Ravens To Work With Before Half. Lamar Ended The First Half With Fifty Yards. The Texans' Defense Brought Consistent Pressure To Rattle Lamar; However, They Left A lot Of one-on-one Coverage, And The Ravens Coming Out Of The Half the Ravens Attacked the Texans In Single Coverage—Isaiah Likely For 19 After A Devin Duvernay Kickoff Return Sets The Ravens Up Near Mid Field.
Lamar Jackson Caps Off A 6 Play 55 Yard Drive With A 15 Yard Run For A Touchdown That Put The Texans Up 17-10. Nearly All Of Lamar's 68 Yards Came Right Up The Middle After The Passing Game Force The Texans Off Of Their Spy And Have Their Linebackers Drop In Coverage.
CJ Stroud Showed Scouts The Full Gamut Of His Ability As A Player In The Semifinals Of Last Year's Playoff against Georgia. He Scrambled, Threw Darts, and Evaded Pressure, But Stroud Failed To Showcase His Full Skill. The Texans' First Drive Of The Half Stalls At The Mid Field: He Misses Nico Collins's Open Deep Play That Could've Converted A Big Third Down. Throwing On The Move Looks Impressive. Ashamedly, the Texans couldn't convert any of those Throws. While CJ Throw Passes Out Of Bounds, Lamar Put Passes In Play and Trustee His Receivers To Make plays.
Despite a slow, "Raggedgish" second half, the Ravens get their second touchdown on their next offensive drive. The Ravens Play Calling Blended The Fear Of The Scramble Nearly Perfectly. With Lamar stretching defenses out further and forcing one matchup in the secondary, Isaiah likely found himself in a matchup with Houston Corner Derek Stingley Jr.
Stingley's Coverage Looked Text Book, but Lamar placed the ball where only his receiver could reach it, and he likely reached over and brought the ball down. The Ravens conquered the scoreboard in the second half.
Lamar Jackson, Again On The Ground, 8 Yards, Capping Off A 11 Play 78 Yard Drive. The Ravens score three touchdowns with all three of their second-half possessions. Ravens Amassed Over 200 Yards On The Ground with Six Minutes To Go In The Fourth Quarter On 5.7 Yards Per Play. The Ravens Averaged Less Than Five Yards Per Pass But Ran At Will Against The Texans' Defensive Line Late. The Houston Offense Had To Play out of Their Mind To Have A Chance In This One And Didn't Bring Their "A" Game. The Texans' Offense Notches 58 Yards In Four Drives In The Second As The Ravens Completely Floor The Texans 34-10. The Texans' Second Half Went Punt, Punt, Downs, end Of Game, And None Of Those Drove Past half Field. The Ravens had three Touchdowns And one Field Goal through Their Four Possessions.
Lamar Finished With A Light Day Passing 16/22, 152 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, 121.8 Passer Rating. The League's MVP Also Added 11 Carries, 100 Rushing Yards, Two Touchdowns, and 9.1 A Carry. The Ravens' Design Run Game showed up in the second half. Justice Hill slammed through several explosions on the Ravens' Final Scoring Drive. Hill Finished With 13 Carries and 66 Yards On the Ground. Dalvin Cook got in on the action. Three runs on the final drive for 22 yards, finishing with eight carries and 23 yards.
The Ravens Didn't Crush The Game Through The Air, But Timely passes, 21 Yards To Rashod Bateman, 19 Yards to Isaiah Likely, 17 Yards To Zay Flowers, And One Catch For 12 Yards For OBJ. Zay Flowers Lead The Team With 4 Catches For 41 Yards.
The Texans Ran Into The Best Defense In Football. No Shame In Getting Batista Bomb By The Ravens In The Divisional Round As CJ Stroud Gets His First Taste Of Playoff Ball.
Coaching News
I Wonder How Bill Belichick Must Feel Having To Interview For A Head Coaching Job In The NFL—Did Michael Jackson Ever Call To Find out If Someone Wanted To Book Him For A Show—He's The Greatest Football Coach Of This Generation.
His Name Fills A Football Room Before He Enters The Room; What Can He Say To Elaborate On His Credentials? Iron out Bill's role in the front office, whether Bill controls personnel decisions, and what other powers are in him. All The Powers You Hear Me! The Falcons Appear In Line To Secure Belichicks Services After They Let Go Of Head Coach Arthur Smith. I Suspected The Falcons Would Return To Wells as Offensive Coordinator, Consider Their Wealth Of Offensive Talent. Still, that MO didn't entirely work with Smith, and with a young team, Belichick's presence may lead Atlanta into a new era.
Bill Likely Attracts Former Assistant Josh McDaniels Back As OC. Jimmy G, Once Cut, Can Roll Into Town, And Maybe The Falcons Tackle Their Offensive Line Before Moving For A New Quarterback.
The Raiders Finalized Antonio Pierce As Their Head Coach, Removing The Interim Tag From His Name, Which Heights Wore During His Time Leading The Team Down A Playoff Push. Some players, including Star Edge Rusher Maxx Crosby, threatened to request a trade if the Raiders didn't secure Antonio Pierce as the team's head coach.
The Game Changes For Pierce, Who Now Takes Over Head Coaching Duties In Theo NFL With Very Little Past Experience In The Occupation Besides His Time In Interim and His Experience As A Player.
Lack Of Experience Has Never Stopped Some Men; Jeff Saturday Took Over The Colts Last Season Before Failing To Secure The Gig Long Term.
Former Players Appear "In Season" Thanks To Demeco Ryan's Success In Houston. Pierce, However, Doesn't Come From A Strong Lineage Of Coaches Like Ryan's Coming From The Shanahan Tree. The New Raiders Will Build The Team's Identity From Relative Scratch, Along With Building His Coaching Staff from Nothing.
Pierce led Las Vegas To The Number One Scoring Defense Down The Stretch After Taking Over, and If Not for Theo's Fact, The Raiders would have Next To No One This Fact.l Would Have More Weight Behind. Las Vegas Playing Theo Chiefs Twice and Splitting the Series Still Counts As No One. Pierce Finished His Nine Tenure 5-4, And He and Whoever Takes Over At GM Have Some "Major" Franchise Decisions Looming.
Last Season, The Raiders Hit Running back Josh Jacobs With The Franchise Tag, And One Of The Benefits Of Having A Roster Bereaved Of Talent is you're Not Overwhelmed By The Conundrum Of Who To Hit With The Tag And If Hitting Jacobs With The Tag Twice Could Prove Too Costly.
Jacobs Suffered A Down Year By All Accounts Compared To His Year Before, But He's The Only Logical Candidate. Pierce and Theo GM Also Need To Take A Empirical Assessment Of The Roster In Las Vegas. Davante Adams Doesn't Fit The Direction Vegas Appears Headed For At This Junction. He's A Championship Wide Receiver; Adams And Las Vegas Will Most Likely Reset Their Quarterback In The Draft, Aidan O'Connell. Neither Option Evokes Ideas Of Super Bowl Contention. The Raiders Will Have To Entertain Trade Idea With Adams All Off Season And Into The Season.
The Dallas Cowboys Hold On To Mike McCarthy As The Team's Head Coach For at Least Another Season. While I Hesitate To Call For Another to Lose His Job, Especially In This Job Climate, Theo Cowboys Missed An Opportunity To Explore A Market Of Other Promising Head Coaches, Especially Considering Winning In the regular season and Then Forgetting How To Play When The game Demands More Attention Seems Like A Trend For McCarthy. The Packers Parted Ways With McCarthy After He'd Scored A Few Winning Seasons Nothing Like Winning 12 Games For Three Straight Seasons. However, The Cowboys could've made a move for a veteran playoff-hardened coach like Bill Belichick or a new offensive-minded Ben Johnson. Holding On To McCarthy Only Maintains The Status Quo, Jerry Jones Wants To "wants to win another championship" Not Another 12 Games Seasom—12 Game Season Don't Hurt. The Cowboys Got Punched In The Face Against The Packers Last Week, And Last Season's Timeout Confusion Against The Niners Created Another Crater In The Already Leveling Ground That Represents The Confidence Many In The Cowboys's Sphere Of Influence Appear To Have In McCarthy's Ability To Secure A Championship.
