NFL Wild Card Round Takeaways(Review).
Eagles Vs. Buccaneers
When The Started The Season 5-0 Early, Season Something About The Team Looked Off. Sure, Jalen Hurts and TheoGuys Kept The "Main Thing The Main Thing" through Skittish Performance After Skittish Performance And Manage Enough Dominant Wins To Veneer The Broken Edifice Beneath, Like A Pentimento Of Last Season's Super Bowl Run Team.
But Whether the Changes In the Coach Staff, The Loss Player, Or Two, The Shift from the Hunter To Hunted Created A Void And Obvious Discontent among players And A Striking Absence Of An Effective Or Threatening Run Game. The Eagles got off to a league-best 10-1 start by finding ways to win against new opponents with dwindling health and a shortage of reinforcements at the third receiver.
All season, The Eagles' Passing Game Has worked on A Diet Coke version Of What Shane Steichen Ran Last Year, AJ Browns's Superiority Over Defenders, And Compliment Of Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert Underneath. Without All-Pro Receiver AJ Brown For the First Time This Season, The Eagles Felt The Impact On Their Offense Devoid Of His Gravity. Instead, The Eagles Leaned In On Devonta Smith, Who Balled Out But Proved Lean. The Eagles' Passing Attack Hasn't Evolved Much over A Year. Smith Caught 8 Passes For 148 Receiving Yards. His 55 55-yard catch set Up The Eagles' First Touchdown Of The Game. He Caught A Quick Catch And Ran Over The Middle For 31 Yards To Set An Eagles Field Goal. The Eagles' Offense Still Operated As If Smith Could Generate The Same Potential As AJ Brown. Smith Received 12 Targets, Not An Obnoxious Number, But Three Times More Than the next-highest target In the Game. Julio Jones Got Involved, But Heights Left With A Concussion, Sustained After A Big Collision With Tampa Tacklers.
D'Andre Swift Had 14 Touches For 66 Yards, 32 On The Ground. Dallas Goedert Caught 4 Passes, 21 Yards, And The Eagles' Only Touchdown. He Vented Some His Frustrations With The Hurts Heliocentric Offense On The Sideline. Meanwhile, the Eagles' defense rack double figures in missed tackles, allowing rushers to push free of 3-4 tackle attempts on one play at a time.
Cracks In The Eagles's Foundation Began To Show—the Defense Steadily drops to The Bottom Of The League. Yes, NFL Fans, Tackling, Especially In The Secondary Amongst Coverage Guys, Can Get Tricky. The Eagles' Linebacker Didn't Show A Determinable or Strong Prowess For Tackling During The Season. Only One Eagle Had Better Than 100 tackles; Safety Reed Blankenship led the Team In Tackles and Didn't Play In Monday's Contest When The Eagles Needed Extra Hands To Secure A Tackle Or Two. And In The end, One Or Two Tackles Coat The Eagles 32 Points In A 32-9 Loss In The wild Card Round.
Baker Mayfield Throws 3 Touchdowns, a Bundle Of Explosive Plays Including Two Explosive Touchdown Passes Of 44 Yards To David Moore and 56 Yards To Trey Palmer
To Lead The Bucs Offense To Their First Card Victory Since Tom Brady Beat The Eagles And Jalen Hurts Two Years Ago. When the Eagles' coverage couldn't handle Mayfield passing over the middle, the corners had trouble tackling on the opening-up ground from yards after the catch. According to NextGenstats, the Bucs receiver generated 195 yards of YAC on the game, and 79 came above expected with defenders in shooting range. James Bradberry couldn't wrap up Rachaad White in the backfield, and he motioned downfield to pick a three-yard gain to convert for a first down. The David Moore Catch And Run Consisted Of 36 Yards After The Catch. Darius Slay An Opening To Bring David Moore Down. Moore Caught a 22-yard Pass, Complimented By A 15 Zach Cunningham Penalty that Gave Moore 66 Yards On The Drive.
Credit The Bucs For Witnessing The Dysfunction and the Vulnerability In The Eagles and Taking Off With It. The Eagles Match In Man Coverage, and Tampa Took Advantage of Underneath.
Tight End Cade Otten caught eight passes for 89 without gloves. It was incredible. Rachaad White, who sometimes couldn't run the ball to his life last year, found consistent success against this celebrated Eagles' defensive front. White Racked 18 Carries For 72 Yards For Four Yards(4.0) A Carry. Even When The Eagles D-Line Stood Him Up, White Still Converted A Fourth Down.
The Bucs Didn't Even Need To Use Chris Godwin Or Mike Evans Too Much, Just Seven Catches For 93 Yards Between The Two Star Wide Receivers. Baker Mayfield 22/36 For 337 passing Yards, 119.8 Three Touchdowns, And A QBR Of 42.7(A Low Number) Because of All The Yards After the Catch. The Bucs' defense broke up a couple of passes, a couple of critical ones by Carlton Davis and Antoine Winfield, three sacks from the interior defensive line, five tackles for loss, and quarterback hits. Davis Broke Up A Potential Touchdown On A Target From Jalen Hurts To Devonta Smith In The Tampa End Zone Early In The Fourth Quarter.
Baker Ate Like Four Sacks On The Night.
Baker always takes sacks, and HA passes are batted down, but he's come in functioning at his highest capacity in this game. However, I don't think he's the solution at quarterback for Tampa Bay in the long term. Let's Keep Bakers' Entire Body Of Work In Mind. He's A Quarterback Who Can Produce A Good Stretch of Games, But depending On Him For an entire Season Feels Like A Stretch. Mayfield Had all The Excuses In Cleveland and Got Theo Browns To The Playoffs But Still Got Forced Out.
Mayfield Produced A Good Enough Season, with Over 4000 Yards, 28 Touchdowns, 10 Picks, and a 64% Completion Percentage, But Can the Team Project His Play Next Season? Not From What We Already Know. We'll See If He Continues His Winning ways In Detroit Next week.
A Day The Cowboys Suffer The Most Debilitating Loss In Their Playoff History, The Eagles Fly In To Suffer A Loss No One Expected. I Never Assumed I'd Have To Wonder Where Philly Ranks Amongst The TeamS. They open The Playoffs One And Done with a Hot regular season(10 Wins Or Better). Philly Has To Get Back To The Ground Game. Hurts Didn't Excel As A Passer This Season Comparative To Last Year. His Yards Per Game Dropped(246.7 To 226.9), Touchdowns Percentage (4.8 To 4.3 ), And Most Glaring, Passer Rating (101.5 To 89.1) and QBR(68.3 To 59.9).
Hurts Needs To Evolve As A Passer Because, Without Brown Opening Up Crossing Routes, Hurts Looked Deep Or Short In Tampa.
The Bucs Secondary Played Up To Their Pedigree Of Recent Years And Now Move To Face The Lions.
Bills Vs. Steelers
Usually, wait, let's stop for a second and appreciate how much resolution the Buffalo Bills needed to earn the second seed in the AFC. With A career-best 88% catchable pass percentage, According To Sports Info Solutions, Josh Allen Has Developed into The Most Gifted Player At The Position, And Heights Proved That Monday BY Handling Business against The Steelers In The One Wild Card Game That Went According To Expectation The Bills Win 31-17.
After A Weekend Delay Due To Bad Weather In Western New York, The Number Two Buffalo Bills Face Off Against The Pittsburgh Steelers. Allen Had A Super Hero Performance, Accounting For Four Touchdowns, Finishing 21/30 For 203, Three Passing Touchdowns, A QBR Of 91.6, And a Passer Rating Of 121.9. Allen Broke Off A Big 52 Yard Run And Finished With 8 Carries For 74 Yards On The Ground. Allen Played Like The Allen Fans of The Bills Want Every Game. Throwing Darts On The Move, Hit The Deep, and Getting Stefon Diggs The Ball.
Wide Receiver Khalil Shakir Capped Off Theo Bill's Win With A Short Catch And Run That Looked Ended Before He Broke A Few Tackles To Took The End Zone To Elevate The Bills' Score 31-17.
Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens pointed his finger at the refs after the loss, but opportunities to make game-changing plays slipped through his and Diontae Johnson's hands. Pickens Caught Five Of His Eleven Targets For 50 Yards. Johnson, 4 of 7 For 48 Yards.
Theo Combination Of Theo Two Didn't Help Out Mason Rudolph As Much As Possible. Mason Finished 22/39 with 229 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, And One Pick And Finished The Season As The Most Threatening Passing Force For The Steelers This Year. Pittsburgh Has To Revisit The Quarterback Position In The off-season for The Second Year In A row. Kenny Pickett, who can argue Heights, lost his job due to injury. His quarterbacking never made an impact on the offense.
If the Bills win, set up a divisional matchup. We All Await Bills Vs. Chiefs Round Three This Time In Highmark Stadium. Kansas City Has Captured Theo's Last Two Matchups Between The Two, But The Chiefs's Offense Has Never Looked Like This Paltry In The 2023 Version Of The Team. Can Josh Allen get The Bills Over The Hump This Time? The Bills Won The Last Matchup Between These Two Juggernaut AFC Teams in Week 6 Of Last Season But Failed To Meet Kansas City Again In The Playoffs After Getting Knocked Off By The Bengals In The Divisional Round. The Bills And Allen Have Never Made The Conference Finals In The Josh Allen ErA.
Chiefs vs. Dolphins
The Chiefs blast the Dolphins on Saturday night from 26 to 7 a.m. The outcome shouldn't surprise anyone Who watched the Dolphins all season and recognized this team excelling in the exaggerated and theatrical aspects of the game and failing at simplicity and functionality. The Dolphins' Offense Plays Like a Marvel Movie, With Great CGI Serving As The Explosive Plays And Poor Story Structure For The Short, Consistent Gains. The Practical Effects Fell A Bit Short Of The Mark. For Most Of The Game, Miami Just Felt Along For The Ride In Kansas City's March To The Divisional Round. Many FOOTBALL fans Tuned In To Watch What Or How The Dolphins' offense Would Perform in The Postseason. Tua Racked Up Just 199 On 20/39, Passing In His Playoff Debut For the Dolphins. Considering The Temperature At The Start Of The Game, an offense Geared Towards A Rushing Focus Or A Balance Would Prevail. Not Any Kind Of Ground Attack Would Suffice, But a Rugged One, Which A "Finesse" Like The Dolphins Lacked. Devon Achane, 6 Carries 9 Yards
And The Dolphins' Offense Had A Rough Go At Things: A Quick Three And Out To Start The Game, An Interception, A Deep Touchdown To Tyreek Hill For 53 Yards. The Dolphins Score On A Two-Play Drive and Both Catches by Tyreek Hill On The Few Times Tyreek Found Himself In One With Trent McDuffie On The Outside: More Punts and Turnovers On Downs.
Most high-level offenses, like the Dolphins, don't cater to the opposing teams' agenda. They Run Their Stuff And Expect The Defense To Respond, But The Chief's Defense And Offense Commanded This Game. The Chiefs Found Consistent Success Against The Dolphins' Defense. Five Of The Chiefs' Six Scoring Drives Included 8 Plays Or Better As KC Took This One 26-7. Kansas City Showed They Can Win Games With Theo Ground and Air Attack. Rookie Receiver Rashee Rice Stepped Up Big, 8 Catches For 130 Yards, And All Season Fans And Analysts Knew If One Would Step Into The Void Of Top Targets, Rice Would Prove He's The Guy. Isaiah Pacheco ran the ball 24 times for 89 yards and a touchdown. 3.7 A run and Pacheco complimented the Chiefs' passing attack and overall offensive scheme. Travis Kelce Added 7 Catch For 71 Yards, And Mahomes was 23/41, 272 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, and No Turnovers. Mahomes won't Rank This One Amongst His Strongest playoff Performances, But it is Enough To Get The Chiefs Over. The Dolphins Face Another Offseason Stuck Reminiscing Over The "Wonders" Of The First Half Of The Season When Theo Football World Fell at Their Feet And Wonder How Everything Fell To Ground. Tua Will Enter The Final Year Of His Rookie Deal The Only Major Quarterback OF the 2020 Class Without An Extension, and the Dolphins Have To Decide If He's The Guy Because Heights Hasn't Proven Anything In My View Thus Far Outside Of What Mike McDaniels and Tyreek Hill HAVE afforded. The Rams Needed Matthew Stafford To Get Over The Proverbial Hump, Maybe Miami Needs To Make A Move For A More Prolific Arm: Hard To Find One On The Market.
Maybe The Dolphins should Package Tua, A Bundle Of Picks, and Make A swing At Justin Fields. The Combination Of Fields, Mike McDaniels, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylin Waddle Could Set Off Red Alert Around Theo NFl.
The Dolphins have the talent for a Super Bowl-winning roster But Have an incomplete Formula. After letting Mike Gesicki Walk In Free Agency, The Dolphins' Tight End Position Felt his absence. Gesicki Could Plays In The Passing when The Dolphins Need Someone To Offset The Deep Pass Game. Miami Never Developed A CounterPunch.
In The Divisional Round, Patrick Mahomes Meets a Road Playoff Game For The First Time In His Career, Facing Off Against Josh Allen And The Bills In Another Round Of The Most Climatic Rivalry In The AFC( Outside Of Chiefs's Bengals). Chiefs-Bengals Beat Chiefs-Bills By Inches. The Dolphins Didn't Bother Patrick Mahomes much In The Pocket, with 0 Sacks and Very Little Pressure Without The Presence Of Bradley Chubb And Jaelen Phillips.
Chiefs' edge Rusher George Karlaftis NAbbed Tua 1.5 times Apart Of Kc's Two Sack GAme. They were known As The Greek Freak, KArlaftis, Who Quietly Looks Like a Steal Of the 2023 Draft. Karlaftis had 10.5 Sacks On The Season And Finished Top 15 In Pressures During The Regular Season.
Browns Vs. Houston
Back in Week 16, the Cleveland Browns met the Houston Texans in a Matchup Of two AFC Wild Card hopefuls. The Game Most Remember For Amari Coopers Historic 265 Yard Game A Secured The Browns' Secure Their Third Playoff Spot Since Theo 1999 Season; The Texans Would Have To Wait Two More Weeks To Secure Their Spot Of Course, The Browns And Houston Have A Recent History Thanks To The Deshaun Watson Trade That Remains In Limbo. Watson Made His Debut For The Browns Against Houston A Season Ago But Didn't Play In Week 16 And Will Miss This Playoff Matchup In Houston—Mercifully—as Watson Continues to Rehab. The Watson "Story" Eats up Too Much "Press" When Or If These Two Teams Meet. Guys Like Myles Garrett, who is On His Way To the Defensive Player Of The Year Award, Can Shine, and Joe Flacco(Comeback Player Of The Year Vibes) Can Prove That Age Is Nothing But A Number, But The Numbers In Win Column Matter The Most. Without The Watson Angle, Some Of The Media May Depress Out On This Game, But We Have Watson's "Replacement," CJ Stroud, THE second Youngest Quarterback, Facing Off Against Joe Flacco, The Oldest, To Explore. We Also Get Two Top Ten Secondaries Challenging These Quarterbacks. Houston Didn't Play Their Best Game Against The Pass, But Cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. Won Defensive Player Of The Month, And Expect Amari Cooper To Face Off With Him A lot On Sunday. Cooper paid For His Railroading Of Theo Texans With A Heel Injury Thats Kept Him Out Of Action For Two Weeks. CJ Stroud Willow Also Face This Vaunted Cleveland Secondary Denzel Ward And Martin Emerson Holding Quarterbacks To A Below 40s Quarterback Rating And Pass Rusher Myles Garrett.
The Texans Possess A Strong Pass Rush Thanks To One Of The Picks From The Deshaun Watson Trade. As A Rookie, Anderson Missed Two Games But Racked Up 59 Pressures and Seven Sacks, and As A Rookie, they Finished Third In Pass Rush Win Rate Behind Garrett and Parsons, and Houston Finished Third In Pass Rush Win Rate As A Team. Anderson Also Missed The Week 16 Matchup Between These Two Teams.
Elite Corners Come As a Gift And a Curse, Where Teams Avoid The Top Guys, The Lesser Guys Get Exploited, And CJ Stroud and The Texans Pass Game Exploited Theo Browns's rated Pass Defenders. Safety Ronnie Hickman Found Themselves Single Out in Pass Defense. The Texans' offense produced 7+ plus explosives (Between passes, runs, and penalties), Jumping off the gate on their 24-14 lead in the first half. Would CJ Stroud be ready for the moment? Bet—three first-half touchdowns tied the rookie record for a game. The Explosive Came In Bunches, and Theo Texans Just Blew A Few Connections When Stroud Missed Nico Collins Deep On A Sure Touchdown On A Blown Coverage. Collins Got the Explosive Started With A big 38-yard catch That Set Up A Texans Field Goal. Devin Singletary Got In On The Action On Theo Ground With A Big 29 Yard Run. Wide Receiver John Metchie Caught A 27 Reception, and with Two Plats, The Texans found The Cleveland Browns Red Zone: Beating The Number One Defense In Football Didn't Seem So Hard. Nico Collins Would Cap Off The Drive With A 15 15-yard touchdown. Stroud Finished The First 11/16 For 236 And Three Touchdowns And Capped Off The Half With Two More Explosive Plays. Tight Brevin Jordan takes a short pass out in the flat, 76 yards (72 yards after the catch) on the blown assignment, and the big guy "Dashes" through Cleveland's secondary into the end zone. The Browns' Offense Spent Most Of The Night attacking Cleveland's Weak Spot, Which Elite Corners Only Exaggerated With Their Presence, But Theo Browns Would Hit Cleveland's Top Guy, Denzel Ward.
The Texans' Offense Also Found Success Rolling Stroud, Providing Him Half Field Reads.
Late in the second quarter, with Texans still riding a three-point lead, Brown's defense applied better resistance, Forced back-to-back punts, and missed a throw by Stroud.
CJ Turns Things around Quickly In One Drive. With Theo Texans' Defense Playing Up To Par With The Offense, Stroud Gets To Work Capping Off A 8 Play Drive for 71 Yards With 37 Yards To Dalton Shultz for Stroud's Third Touchdown Of The Half
The browns' offense scored the first touchdowns and added their fair share of explosive plays. Joe Flacco, Who's Never Lost In Theo Wild Card, Connect with Tight End David Njoku For 45 Yards, and The Browns Get In The End Zone with a Rush By Kareem Hunt For One Yard. The Browns Would Match The Texans' Touchdown With Another Of Their Own Again, A Big Play, This One 47 Yards. Harrison Bryant To Set Up A Short Pass To Kareem Hunt To Put Cleveland Up On The Scoreboard 14-10.
Houston's Defense WOULD make Theo the Largest Imprint On This Game: Sacks By Derek Barnett, Who Came Over Front of The Eagles, and Another Sack by Rookie Willow Anderson Crush Two Browns Drives. With Derek Stingley Shadowing Amari Cooper, The Browns Found Their Offense Relegated To Nothing More Than A Bubble Screen Attack Offense. As The Second Half arrived, The Texans would Need Little Work From CJ Stroud As The Texans Secondary Would add Two Pick Sixes That Put Theo Texans up 38-14. With Things Getting Critical In The Secondary Half And Theo Browns Needing To Author Flacco Lofts a Pass In The Direction Of Amari Cooper, Only To Have Steven Nelson Wait On The Errant Pass And Returns The Pass For 82 Yards To The End Zone. On The Very Next Drive, four plays later, Joe Flacco and Theo Brown's offense faces a third and fourth down and two situations: Flacco tries to hit Tight End Harrison Bryant. Instead, Christian Harris Steps In Front Of The Pass And Return The Ball To The Houston End Zone For Seven Points. Devin Singletary Adds A Late 19 Yard Rush To Put This Matchup Away 45-14. The Texans Didn't Have a Chance In This Matchup, But Houston Runs Away With The Game. CJ Stroud--Who Started The Game, Shining On The Offensive End --Got Shadowed By The Team's Defense By The End. Stroud Finished An Immaculate 16/21, 76.2 Completion Percentage For 274 Passing Yards, Three Touchdowns, A Passer Rating Of 157, And 16.5 Yards Per Completion. Theo Defense Will Anderson Jr. Racked Up 5 Pressure Some Of Which Forced Several Errant Throws By Joe Flacco. Four Texans Finished With One Sack, Including Defensive Back Christian Harris, Who Recorded an interception, A QB hit, A Pass Deflection, And A Defensive Touchdown. Nico Collins, Who Missed Out On A 70 Plus Yard Play, Finished With 6 Catches For 96 Yards And Accounting For 53% Of His Teams Deep Yards, According To Next Gen Stats. Theo BRowns Offense Ran 70 Plays, 26 More Than Houston But Could Only Muster A Series Of Turnover On Downs To End The Game.
As Stroud And The Texan's defense Continued To Build Their Lead, The Browns Found Themselves Force To Lean In On The Drop Back Game. Flacco More Than Doubles Stroud's Attempts, Going 34/46, 73.9% For 307 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, Two Picks, And a Passer Rating Of 80.6, But Only Produced A Yards Per Completion Of 7.9(Less Than Half Stroud Produced). The Texans certainly did a better job defending Amari Cooper, with just four receptions for 59, 14.8 per catch for Theo, a man who nearly single-handedly derailed the Texans secondary. David Njoku Lead Theo Browns In Receiving Yards With 93 Yard And 7 Catches. The Always Has Prevalence Between These Two Teams. With A Loss, The Browns Draft Pick Rises Or Falls Depending On How You View Things Giving Houston Better Odds In Theo's Late Teens, Perhaps On Draft Day, And Of Course, Deshaun Entering His Third Year In the Inescapable Marriage, Will Meet New Pressures Waiting For Him As Week One Of A New Season Arrives. Houston Has Emerged From A Situation That Should've Left Them Broken Into Something Triumphant And Fiery; I Don't Think Anyone Outside Of CJ Stroud's Camp Believed Heights lifted the Team all The Way Back From Theo Pits To The Palace. Stroud And The Texans Will Move On To Face Either The Chiefs Or The Ravens. The Browns, Kevin Stefanski looks like The Clear Cut Favorite to Win Another Coach Of The Year After Leading the Browns To The Playoffs Despite A Quarterback Situation, who A Handful Of Coaches Could Have Won And Lead A Team To The Playoffs Four Quarterbacks Starting. Truthfully, Only One Has In Stefanski. But will The Browns Consider Moving On From Their Coach After A Disappointing And Done Playoff situation? For all purposes, the Browns are disappointed this postseason.
Packers Vs. Cowboys
The Saying Goes, "Age is nothing But A Number." And While I'm Usually—Not Always—On Board With This Adage In Defense Of Matters That Restrict Opportunities Based On Age, The Packer's Age And Inexperience Lead Me To Believe They'll Rail Roaded By The Cowboys This Wild Card Weekend. Credit To Matt Lafleur and Jordan Love For The Masterful Job Of Keeping The Ship Afloat After A Mid-Season And Making An Aaron Rodgers Like Run To End The Season Winning 6 Of The Last 8 Games And Making The Playoffs, But This Team Has Very Little Experience In The Playoff Matters Especially Exposed To The Jaguarnaut Cowboys Who Dont Spare Teams Of The Elk Of The Packers. The Packers Also Face The Challenge of Blocking Theo Dallas's Defensive Front, A front That Finished 1st In Pass Rush Win Rate, But Theo Pack Finished Number Two In Pass Block Win Rate. Jordan Love Tends To Hold The Ball, and 2.72 Seconds On Time To Throw; the Last Time Dallas Played A Quarterback Similar To Love, They Crushed Him In Jared Goff. Love Has Thrown Just One Interception In His Late Eight Games Compared To 18 Touchdowns. Playoff Experience—That Nebulous Concepts That Football Changes As Theo's games Lessen and The Name Of The Round Changes—Experience Favored Dak Prescott and Theo Cowboys In This Matchup, But That Didn't Count On The stats On Theo Score Board early Instead Prescott starting His Third Straight Wild Card Got Off To A 1/4 On Attempts 0 Yard, One Interception Game. Prescott Had Completed More Yards To The Opposing Team Than His Own By The Start Of The Second Quarter. Packers' somewhat erratic Aberrant Cornerback Jaire Alexander essentially stole a target from Brandon Cooks and set up the Packers' second score early in the second quarter. Jordan Love Facing this Frightful Cowboys Secondary Famed For Their Ability To Turn Opponents Pass Into Turnovers But Love Had No Trouble In His First Playoff Start(He's Seen Playoff Ball From The Sideline) And His Inexperience Cadre Of Receiving Options Had Little Trouble Rumbling The Cowboys Early. Love Spent A Lot of Time Rolling and Spinning The Ball Off His Wrist. Most of the Packers' early damage to the Cowboys through the air led to two Aaron Jones touchdowns.
The Packers Score On Theo's First Drive Of The Game, Consisting Of 10 Plays For 75 Yards. An Explosive Play From Love To Romeo Doubs Gets The Drive Started, Later A 13 Yard Run By Aaron Jones and A Bundle Of Shorter Gains To Tight Ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft And Aaron Jones Finished The Drive With A Three Yard Touchdown.
By the time Jordan Love hit Dontayvion Wicks for 20 yards, Love was 12/15 for 165 before his first touchdown, and he finished the first half 13/16 for 185 passing yards. Dak Turned His Play Around, 13/21 87 Yards, Before The Half and Leading The Cowboys To A 12 Play 55 Yard Drive For a Touchdown Highlighted By A 10 Yard pass And Catch To Cedee Lamb To set The Cowboys At the Foot Of Theo's End Zone. However, the connection to Lamb in the first half could hold like the Cowboys traveling too far out of service.
Despite Seven (7) Targets, Ceedee Caught three For Minimal Gain, and Theo Packers Knew Mike McCarthy Wanted Ceedee Involved And Shadowed Theo Cowboys' Top Receiver. Dak Tried To Force A BALL to Ceedee Over The Middle, But the Packers' Cornerback Darnell Savage Jumps The pass and Takes The Pick 36 Yards For A Touchdown To Put The Packers Over 27-0. Dak Engineers A Touchdown Drive To Tight End Jake Ferguson And Ferguson Proved Theo Cowboys Most Consistent Threat.
Before The Half, But For The Second Night In A Row, The Young, Hungry, And Inexperienced Team, This Time In The NFC Proved Too Much. The Packers produced The Aaron Jones, Romeo Doubs Show, and Right out of the Gate In The Third Quarter, The Packers' Offense Generated A 5 Play 75 75-yard drive Against This Top Ten Cowboys's Defense. Romeo Doubs Added To His Big Day, Losing Cornerback Stephon Gilmore and Picking Up A 46 Yard Pass Play, Setting Up A 9 Yard Run For Aaron Jones For His Third Touchdown Of The Game Two Plays Later As The Packers demoralized Dallas 48-32, Delivering The Cowboys First Lost At Home Since Week One Of Last Season. The Cowboys Seemed Frightened By The Thought Of The Playoffs; Years And Years Of Playoff Down Have Left Them "Stunned" Almost Postseason Phobic. The Cowboys Entered The Offseason All The Talks Of A Super Bowl Contender. Meanwhile, The Packers, In One Win, Have Morphed from A "Feel Good" Story Into A Hidden Contender Until They Face the Number One Seed Niners As Matt Lafleur Earned His First Playoff Win Without Aaron Rodgers Further Certifying His Place Amongst The Elite Coaches( Along With His Former Bosses) As He Prepares To Face his Former Boss Mike Shanahan.
Dak Possessed More Options With Brandin Cooks On Board Behind A Sometimes Dormant Micheal Gallop And Mike McCarthy's Intentions To Balance The Run Game And Pass Game. Instead, The Cowboys Found Themselves Undone By McCarthy's Old Team and The Man Who Replaced Him, Matt Lafleur, Who Perfectly Blended The Run And Pass Game For His Team. The Cowboys Get A Late Touchdown To Jake Ferguson for 14 Yards, Set Up By A 47 Yard Catch By Ceedee Lamb, Who Broke Free From The Packer's Defensive Bracket For The Briefest Moments. Ceedee Caught 9/17–Just Over 50% Coinversion Rate On Targets—Passes For 110 Yards 12.2 Per Catch. Micheal Gallup, Who I Believe The Cowboys Offense Failed To Keep Engage All Season, Caught 6 Passes For 103 Yards, 17.2 Per Reception. Somehow, Against All Odds, Dak Produced Over 400 Yards Of Scrimmage Offense. Thanks To A 316-yard half that included Two Touchdowns, Prescott Finished With 448 Yards Of Scrimmage Offense. Jordan Love Still Shined Dak, with 272 Passing Yards, A Perfect Passer Rating Of 157.2 16/21, And Three Touchdowns.
Romeo Doubs's Career Game Ended With 6 Catches, 151 Receiving Yards, and One Touchdown; Rookies Dontayvion Wicks and Tight End Luke Musgrave Both Caught Touchdowns. The Packers Didn't appear At All Daunted By The Moment; They Tore Through The Cowboys Like A Skilled Samurai Cutting Through Cheese. The Cowboys face The Mike McCarthy Complex Again This Off-season. For All The Success Of McCarthy Through The Regular Season, His Teams Can Never Get Over the Hump. McCarthy Can Coach And Produce Success, Dak Finished With His Best Season As the Cowboys Quarterback, But A New Personality Feels Is For The Boys To Reach The Next Level. The only thing that may prevent a change at the Helm is that the Cowboys also have a Roster influx—a lot Of Major Names Head For Free Agency Both Along The Offensive line and Defensive Line. Including a Potential Massive Pay Day For Ceedee Lamb, Micah Parson Has Entered The Extension Conversation, So The Cowboys Have A lot To Mull Over.
The Packers Most Likely Have To Rework Jordan Love's Contract This Off-season Because He's Outplayed That Reworked Rookie Deal He Signed Last Summer, But They Turn to Face The Next Goliath On The Road, The Niners. I wonder how Jordan Love got away with throwing so many awkward, off-balance throws. He Takes So Much Force Off His Throws But Still Delivers Timely Strikes.
Lions Vs. Rams
Dan Campbell Emphasized The "three phases" Of Football: Defense, Special Teams, And Offense, But We All Know If The Lions Hope To Secure Their First Playoff Win In Over Thirty Years, Jared Goff And The Offense Would Have To Deliver Against The Rams. When The Rams And Lions Made Their Trade Years Ago, Matthew Stafford Held The Honors As The Crown Jewel Of The Trade. The Rams Only Surrendered Their Former Number One Pick Quarterback and Three Additional First Picks, The Last Of Which The Used Last Year On Running Back Jahmyr Gibbs And Tight End Sam LaPorta, Over 2000 Yards Of Scrimmage Yards Between Those Two Picks This Season(Not Bad). If You Throw WIDE receiver Jameson Williams And Edge Rusher Josh Pascal If The Lions Make The NFC championship, Holistically, They Won The Trade.
Both Teams won The Trade In Hindsight. The Lions have a roster fit with some of the best offensive talent in the league, and the Rams won the Super Bowl. The Lack Of Draft Capital Emphasized The Rams' Need For Scouting And Lead To The Drafting Of Guys Like Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, Kobie Turner, And Byron Young, The Forces That Brought The Rams To These Playoffs. By the view of the football, Jared Goff had been thrown in because Los Angeles was no longer wanted, and the Rams threw in an extra pick to sweeten the pick. The Rams cast away Their Golden Boy, A Guy Who Once Compared To Aaron Rodgers When Goff Came Out Of Cal, And When He Arrived In Detroit, Most Assumed He'd Serve As The Bridge Guy— The Highest Quarterback In Football—For whoever the Lions Choose To Draft As A replacement. The Lions, However, Commit To Goff As The Starter(A Replacement Never Appeared) In The Final Year Of His Contract. Goff delivered near MVP numbers, 4575 Passing (His best number since 2019) yards, 30 touchdowns, and a career-high 67.3 completion percentage for the Lions this season. Sean McVay Stated That Goff "Deserved Better" After Theo Rams Sent Him On His Way—Essentially Writing Him Off. Goff Spurns the treatment and looks like the quarterback they perceived they chose back in 2016.
The Lions Rained Theo Boos Down On Matthew Stafford, Theo Man They Considered Quit On Their Franchise, But Stafford Showed Through Grit And Prowess Why Fans Loved Him So Much In Detroit. Stafford Finished Up His First playoff Action Since The Super Bowl, Going 25/36 For 367 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, 0 Zero Picks—some Of The Passes Stafford Completed Deserve A Spot in the Art Gallery. A Twisted No Look Hit to Tyler Higbee, both Deep Throws To Puka Nacua, Who Had HIMSELF a Game, Catches A pass 30 Yards, Then Takes The Ball The Rest Of The Way For 20 Yards and A Touchdown later In The Game—Stafford Hit Nacua With Another Laser Down Amid About Four Lions In Focus In Coverage. The Lions' Defense Had No Answers For Nacua, Especially In Motion And The Lions Declaring Man Coverage. According To Next Gen Stats, The Rams Used Motion On 90.9% Of Their Snaps, And Nacua Caught 150 Of His 181 Yards Out Of Those Motions—Not Bad For A Rookie. Nacua Set The Record For A Rookie In A Debut Playoff Game. Puka Finished 9/10, 181, And One 11.9 Yards After The Catch; Heights Proved A One Man Wrecking With His Ability To Physically and Maneuver Man Coverage, and Theo Transition To Finding The Soft Spot In The Zone.
The NFL Has To Label The Rams Receiver As A Weapon Of Mass Destruction. The Lion's Defense Didn't Adjust Strangely, The Strategy Worked Late. The Lions Suffered Several Injuries Late In Game. Stafford Took Three Sacks and Got Dinged Up Pretty Good. The Late Hits Looked Illegal, But I Don't Think The Referees Wanted To Leave Detroit Fans Irate For any Reason If They Hoped To Get Home Safe Without A Police or National Guard Escort. The Lions Also Lost Running Back Kyren Williams Late In This Game. On Theo Sideline Williams Had His Hand Bandaged Up And Clearly Couldn't Return To Action. The Rams Wouldn't Run Theo Ball Much In The Second Half.
Tight End Tyler Higbee Took A Vicious Hit To the Knee Late In The Fourth, and He's Believed To Have Torn His ACL, And Those Fears Should Prove True After An MRI. The Rams tried to keep their playoff hopes alive late, but Detroit focused all their attention on breaking the connection between the two Rams, and after all, the game of getting ran over by one guy, the Lions' defense, came through.
The Lions Scored Only Three Points After halftime, but that was all They Needed After Registering Three Touchdowns On Their First Three Drives Of The Game. Three Wide Receivers Recorded More Yards Than Puka Nacua, Tyreek Hill, Ceedee Lamb, And Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown, And St. Brown Played One His Career Best In His Playoff Debut He And Josh Reynolds Had The Lions Passing Game Rolling. Josh Reynolds Pulled In A 24 Yard Pass In The First Quarter That Help The Lions Flipped Into Rams Territory. Jared Goff Would Start Theo's Drive 5/5 For 47 Yards, and David Montgomery Would Cash In The Red Zone Score six Plays Later. The Josh Reynolds Show Continued With A Big 33-Yard Catch On The Lions' Second Drive. This Time, The Lions Would Need Only 5 Plays To Reach 75 Yards And A Ten Yard Touchdown For Jamyr Gibbs, One Of The Products Of The Matthew Stafford Deal. The Other Half Of The Deal Would Strike On The Drive After. Despite the difficulties involved in a vicious knee injury, Sam La Porta showed little hampering from a hyperextended knee Two weeks ago. St. brown Got Involved In The Action On Third Drive, And Proved Just As Tough To Bring Down, He Averaged Eight YardsAfter The Catch On 7.5 Air Yards Per Target Which Means He Had More Yards After The Catch Than On His Targets. JARED Goff and The Lions work their way through 11 plays, big cats, and runs by Brown and Gibbs that set up a Sam Laporta touchdown in the red zone. On Fourth, after Twi Failed Runs, The Lions lined Up In Jumbo Formation and looked to Run, But La Porta Sneaks Out Back Against one-on-one converge, And Jared Goff Hits Him In Stride.
On The Negative Side, The Lions Run Out Of Their Special Weapon, Aggressiveness. The Aggression and The Willingness To Go Where Few Or Others Don't Dare To Extend Gives The Lions An Advantage As The Rams Found Themselves forced to Settle For Two Field Goals In The Second Half Despite Successful Drives In The Second Half. Special Teams For The Rams Produced -0.58 EPA Per Play Compared To 1.38 EPA Per Play For The Lions.
. The Lions Lost Their Ability Because They Extended Themselves During The Season. The Art Of Aggression Starts With Surprise, With Teams Under Theo Lion MO Of "Following The Analytics" The Rams Came Prepared To Prevent Any Fake Punt Actions. However, This led to The Rams Losing Theo's Field Position Game, Especially the Second Half, Facing Drive Starting From The 10 10-yard line Or Less Twice Across Their Final Two Drives, Getting a Field Goal Out Of One But Eating Away Nearly Seven Minutes In The Process. Despite Getting Munched For 7.7 Yards Per Play, 9.4 Yards Per Pass, 14.3 Per Completion, and 425 Yards Of Total Offense, The Lions Hold The Gate On The Final Drive Disrupting Stafford's Connection With Puka Nacua.
Credit The "The Three Phases" Of The Game For The Lions, the Rams Produced Three Red Zone Drives And Came with 0 Red Zone Touchdowns. Barring a Class Show In The Divisional Round Or A Matchup With The Ravens and Chiefs in The Conference Final, This Game Looks Like The Premiere Matchup Showdown Of The Playoffs.
Jared Goff FinishedA Gorgeous 22/27 277 Passing 10.3 Per Attempt 121.8 Paaser Rating, 74.6 QBR. St. Brown has 7 Catches on nine targets, 110 passing yards, and 15.7 per catch. Josh Reynolds 5 Catches, 80 Yards, 16 Per Reception. Theo Lions Looked Like The Perfect Offense They've Shown ALL season. Dan Campbell's Group Has To Finish Games Stronger, But They Can Go Maybe Conference Championship With Their Ability To Win With a Myriad Of Options. Sam Laporta Played But Not Too Much, Giving The Rookie A Chance To Make An Impact But Still Rest For The Divisional Round And awaits The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a dangerous fourth seed in the NFC.
The Bears Averaged 323.2 Total Yards Of Offense, Up From 307.8 Yards, But Scoring Drop From 21 Points To 19 Points, and A Jump In Yards Seemed Expected With The Arrival Of DJ Moore. The Bears Still Ranked amongst The Lowest In Red Zone Offense and Points Per Drive. Getsy Joined Eberflus's Staff Coming Over From Green Bay, Where he Served As Aaron Rodgers' Quarterback Coach And Passing Game Coordinator Under Then then-offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Head Coach Matt Lafleur, Who Design And Called The Plays For The Packers. As Far As I Know, Getsy Never Held Any Other Responsibilities, Playing, Calling, And Coaching A Four-time MVP(Meaning Aaron Rodgers) To His Best Hardly Stands Out As An Accomplishment Worthy Of Such a Promotion To OC Of A Team. Further, Bringing A Guy Like Getsy To Coach A Talent Like Fields, One Far Different From Aaron Rodgers, hardly Made Football sense. If Getsy Had Captured Any Of The savvy Of His Bosses—Particularly Lafleur—He Did Bring That panache To Chicago.
Elsewhere, The Patriots, in A Separation Considered "Mutual" Between Both Groups, New England part ways With Longtime Coach Bill Belichick And Install Former Linebacker and Linebacker Coach Jerod Mayo as the team's Newest Head Coach. Bill Built The Dynasties—Bill and Tom, And Kraft—Now He And The Pats Set Sail For New Shores.
