NFL Divisional Round Recap

 Oh boy what a weekend of football! I was lucky enough to be able to catch at least parts of every game and watch the end of each one. It was so exciting it actually has me a bit sad that I am going to Spain this weekend and will have to miss the conference finals. Poor me right? Anyway, thought today is as good a day as any to give thoughts on each game from this weekend!

Texans Chiefs 

Damn it, my preseason Superbowl pick is over just like that. This one was probably the most boring of all the games this weekend and is coincidentally the one I watched the least amount of. It has felt for a while that KC is a foregone conclusion in the Superbowl and they took care of business on Saturday. To be fair to the Texans, for a lot of this game they played the Chiefs tough. You know going into KC that the calls probably aren't going to go your way, but the Texans stayed level headed and continued to play their game despite some annoying flopping from Mahomes. Ultimately, there were just 2-3 plays where Houston left Kelce wide open up the middle of the field, he took advantage and KC was able to score just enough to get it done. 

KC's got a great defense, it's going to be hard for any team to go into that building and come out with a win. As long as the defense can keep a game close, it's hard to bet against Patrick Mahomes down the stretch. I still did hold out hope that Houston could show me something, despite kind of proving me silly all season long, and they did just not enough. The dark side won this round, help us Josh Allen, you're our only hope. 

Commanders Lions

This one maybe wasn't the most exciting finish of the games this weekend but it was by far my favorite one. I've been joking all weekend that Jayden Daniels is basically a Lamar Jackson that I am allowed to love, and he showed up big time for his first divisional round playoff game. Despite the score, the Lions really had a shot in this one. Early in the game Jayden Daniels had it going. It felt like he struck the perfect balance between running and finding his open receivers and never got sea sick out there. A running trend throughout the game was me screaming TAKE THE POINTS every time the Commanders had a 4th and short in Lions territory. They didn't listen to me each time, continued to go for it on 4th down and more often than not they converted proving I am a no fun idiot. The Lions gave the Commanders every single chance imaginable with Goff having multiple terrible looking turnovers in the first half setting Jayden Daniels up with great field position. At the end of the half the score was 31-21 and I was shocked, I don't think the Lions had given up 31 points in a half all season. 

Second half the Lions executed a perfect drive to get the game to within 3 points, but that's where the wheels fell off. There were 2 major turning point plays in the second half that practically gifted the Commanders this W. The first backbreaker was the Commanders set up to go for it on 4th and 2 around the Lions 5 yard line. Yes this was another instance where I was screaming at the TV for the Commanders to just take the points. The ball was about to be snapped when the play was blown dead by flags on the field, too many men for the Lions, 5 yard penalty, first down. Insane to gift a team a 4th down conversion on a completely avoidable penalty. The Commanders ended up scoring a TD on the drive to get back up by 10. On the ensuing Lions drive (I think it was the next drive, I was at a bar and the second half was getting more "fun" if you know what I mean.) the Lions drew up a trick play where they faked an end-around run to a WR. The receiver instead of taking off, dropped back to launch a deep ball which was easily intercepted by the Commanders defense. The Lions had been executing trick plays all season long and it's been fun to watch. A side effect of doing this all season though is in the playoffs your opponent is sitting on you doing it again. The Commanders were totally unfazed, got the pick and scored another TD on the ensuing drive. At this point the game was basically over and a rookie QB had just defeated the #1 team in football all year. 

I love it, I've written a ton about Jayden Daniels this year because he's one of the most exciting young players in all of sports right now. He's reaching his first conference finals in his first season and dragging a Commanders team who I've only ever known as terrible to heights they NEVER get to see. The Eagles are a tough matchup for the young QB next week but I know for sure they'll be ready. 

Rams Eagles

This will be another short one as I only really caught the end of this game, but the end was pretty awesome. For 3 quarters straight the Rams let Saquon Barkley run wild on them converting 3 TDs and racking up 205 yards on the ground. Despite this, they still got themselves in a position to win the game late. Up 7 with 4 minutes left, the Eagles handed the ball to Saquon who busted off a massive 78 yard TD run, a play that looked like it iced the game. The Eagles missed the extra point but remained up 13 points, a real uphill battle. The Rams then executed a perfect drive scoring in less than 2 minutes and converting the extra point to make it a 6 point game. In my group chat people were saying "ok no chance they get a stop though." The Rams DID, they managed to force a quick 3 and out and get the ball back before the 2 minute warning. Matt Stafford then throws a contested deep ball to Puca Nacua who pulls down an amazing catch to get into Eagles territory and now the fans in Philly are sweating. They manage to get all the way to inside the Eagles 10 yard line with 4 chances to get the game winning TD. On 3rd down disaster struck for the Rams, the Eagles broke through and got a massive sack on Matt Stafford to force a 4th and long with the game on the line and a now dazed Matt Stafford having to run the pivotal play. The pass on 4th fell incomplete and the Eagles barely escaped with a victory. 

The Eagles missed 2 extra points in this one and at the end of the game it almost came back to bite them. I was actually hoping for the Rams to pull this off as I feel Eagles fans have gotten too cocky these days. Luckily for them, they had every right to be. 

Ravens Bills

This one was an absolute thriller and a great game if you're a Ravens hater which I am. I watched this one at my parent's place and made sure to wear my number 14 Stefon Diggs jersey. I may not be a full time Bills fan, but when it comes to beating the Ravens I certainly was last night. This one started off shaky for Lamar Jackson, who had a lot to prove in the playoffs. After the two teams traded opening drive TDs, Lamar while under pressure overthrew is man by a mile with the pass landing perfectly in the Bills hands for a pick. The Bills capitalized on the next drive with a TD to get up 7. Lamar had another turnover where he got hit and just straight up dropped the football for a huge fumble recovery by the Bills. With all the miscues from Lamar, the Bills went into the half up 21-10 and were looking good to get the ball back the second half. 

Second half Lamar shook it off and actually started to look great. The Ravens quickly got the ball back and managed to get into field goal range to make it a 1 possession game. After another stop, the Ravens marched down the field and scored a TD, but failed the 2 point conversion. After 9 unanswered points it was only a 2 point game going into the 4th. The Ravens defense did a great job of bending but not breaking as the Bills executed 2 pretty good drives but had to settle for field goals on both. The second one was a classic big decision, 4th down with 2 yards to go at the Ravens 2 yard line. As you now know I was screaming to take the points, and this time the Bills did and it proved to be pivotal. Now 3 minutes to go and the Ravens had the ball down 8. The Ravens executed a great drive with Lamar looking awesome in the clutch. There were multiple plays where the Bills got to him but he used his elusiveness to get out of the pocket and create something out of nothing. The Ravens got all the way down the field and scored a TD and now only needed a 2 point conversion to tie the game. On the 2 point try, Lamar rolled out in a play action and hit a wide open Mark Andrews right in the chest, but Andrews dropped the ball! As a Steelers fan I was laughing hysterically, Lamar had finally shook off his playoff demons and despite a poor first half, was awesome in the second half. The final drive Lamar executed perfectly and even on the 2 point play he couldn't have done anything better, but his teammate let him down. The Ravens failed the onside kick attempt and Buffalo secured the narrow victory. 

Warms my heart to see the Ravens sent packing. I think at this point they need to be dubbed the Philadelphia 76ers of the NFL. Talented MVP winner, great regular season team, always lose before the conference finals. Side effect of this is we get another Josh Allen vs Patrick Mahomes battle in the conference finals. I might just need to find a way to watch this one because I just know it's gonna be a classic. 

And that's that! With 4 teams remaining I really hope we see a Bills vs Commanders Superbowl. Josh Allen is my favorite player so I'd love to see him finally break through against the legion of doom Chiefs. For the rest of the playoffs, go Bills!