The second round of the NFL playoffs is now in the books so here are the different thoughts and opinions I have on various things I witnessed this past weekend. Home cooking was the theme this week as all four home teams came out victorious. Too bad my Cowboys were on the road. Shit. Anyway just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
Rams 30 Cowboys 22
Last week I said my Cowboys were peeking at just the right time. Scratch that. The defense that saved the Cowboys season were run over like a Mack truck squashing an ant.
I don't know if the defense simply ran out of gas or what, but the Rams offensive line simply manhandled the Cowboys defensive line as C.J. Anderson and Todd Gurley each rushed for over a hundred yards with ease. All told the Rams gained 273 yards on the ground on 48 carries. It was reminiscent of the way the early 1990's Cowboys offensive line used to run over the competition. Seeing the shoe on the other foot was no fun at all.
The successful run heavy attack kept Jared Goff from having to save the day. Goff had a mediocre game (15/28 186 yards 0 TD 0 INT), but he made the throws necessary to keep drives alive. The running game turned Goff into a game manager and he did the job well. The Rams chewed up the clock and kept the Dallas offense on the sidelines.
The Rams defense sold out on the run and forced Dak Prescott to make the plays. Zeke Elliott was bottled up all night (20 carries 47 yards 1 TD) and the Cowboys found themselves in way too many 3rd and longs, which they only converted 1 time in 10 chances. Dak played well (20/32 266 yards 1 TD passing 1 TD rushing) and rookie WR Michael Gallup stepped up to the plate (6 rec 119 yards), but the Cowboys passing game is far from explosive. They have to grind out drives, which the Rams prevented by controlling the clock and the scoreboard. Dallas needed quick strikes and they are not built to score that way. They need the defense to keep it close and they couldn't do it.
I can't move on without talking about one of the most ridiculous calls I've seen the refs make all season and that is saying a lot. The Cowboys were driving near the end of the first half when Dak dropped back to pass on a third down. The Rams lineman attacked and Dak was in trouble until his own offensive lineman (La’el Collins) grabbed him around the waist and pulled him out of the way, knocking the only defender around Dak at the moment on the ground. Prescott spun out into the clear when the refs blew the whistle. They declared Dak in the grasp of the defender and the play was dead. Fuck you referees. When the whistle was blown not one Rams defender had a hand on Dak.
Referee John Parry offered this explanation after the game:
"From my view the quarterback’s progress had stopped moving forward," Parry said. "There were hands around him and another defender was coming, so we went in the grasp to protect the quarterback."
The hands around him were those of his own teammate, who pulled Dak out of harm's way as he knocked the pass rusher to the ground. That call was pure bullshit and the idiot ref who made the call couldn't even come up with a decent excuse for making it after the game was over. Former NFL QB David Carr had the best line about the play: "If Dak was “In the grasp” then I was sacked 1,879,987 times." Watch the clip and make your own judgement.
The Rams move on to a rematch with New Orleans in the NFC Title Game. The addition of C.J. Anderson has made their running game stronger than ever. I don't think Goff is ready to take the next step as a QB and right now he doesn't have to with this kind of support.
Saints 20 Eagles 14
After sitting their starters in week 17 and having a first round bye, the Saints were well rested coming into this game. Maybe too well rested, they needed to be slapped around a bit before they woke up.
The Eagles stormed out of the gate to put up two quick touchdowns as the Saints quickly fell into a 14-0 hole with a little less than 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Nick Foles strikes again! Unfortunately for Philly, it was at that moment when the clock struck midnight and Foles turned back into a pumpkin. The Eagles offense sputtered the rest of the game.
It took awhile for the Saints offense to get into gear, but eventually they shook off their bye week hangover to get rolling again by scoring 20 unanswered points. WR Michael Thomas became a one man gang (12 rec 171 yards 1 TD) and the Eagles defense could find no solutions to stop him. The Eagles D does deserve credit for limiting big plays, forcing the Saints to put together long time consuming drives to keep the game within reach. It almost worked.
After the Saints missed a field goal, the Eagles had one last shot to win as they got the ball with 3 minutes left in the game, down by only six points. They drove the ball down to the Saints 27 yard line with the help of a roughing the passer penalty, but that was as far as they would get. WR Alshon Jeffery let a pass from Foles go right through his hands and into the waiting arms of Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore for the interception that sealed the win for New Orleans.
The comeback from a 14 point deficit was the biggest in the Saints playoff history. It took a while to shake off the rust, but New Orleans loves playing in the Superdome. They are going to be tough to beat next week.
Chiefs 31 Colts 13
Last week the Colts came out swinging by punching the Texans right in the mouth as they went up 21-0 by the half and cruised home to victory. Apparently the Chiefs thought that was a helluva game plan as they did the same thing to Indy this week.
Unlike the Saints, the Chiefs showed zero signs of a bye week hangover. They came out firing on both offense and defense. We expect that from Mahomes and co., but it was shocking to see the KC defense step up to make plays. The 1st quarter stats pretty much tell the story of the game. The Chiefs scored 14 points on 185 yards and ten 1st downs. The Colts scored 0 points on 12 yards and zero first downs. Ouch.
The only noise the Colts made in the first half came on a blocked punt they converted into a TD to make the score 17-7. The Chiefs shook that off to score again before halftime to go into the break up 24-7. The second half didn't go much better for Indy as KC went into cruise control to walk away with the 31-13 win. The only surprising stat for the KC offense was Mahomes had zero TD passes for only the second time all season (he did run one in for a score). And the Chiefs still scored 31 points.
The Colts performance surprised me. The team that looked so good on both sides of the ball during the second half of the season just completely fell apart. They couldn't run or stop the run, they couldn't pass or stop the pass. Other than that they were fine. Ugh.
The Chiefs defense surprised me as well. That was by far the best performance I've seen from them all season. KC came limping into the playoffs, but obviously cleaned up their game during the bye. The Chiefs won a home game in the playoffs for the first time since 1994, when Joe Montana needed overtime to lead KC over the Steelers 27-24. They had been 0-6 at home since. This Sunday Arrowhead Stadium will host it's first ever AFC Title Game. Can the Chiefs do it again? I sure hope so. You know why.
Patriots 41 Chargers 28
Don't let the final score fool you. This was a complete and total ass-kicking by the Patriots. This game was over before half time.
I truly believe that top to bottom the Chargers are a better team right now than the Patriots. At least on paper. That's why they play the games. Give Bill Belichick two weeks to prepare for anybody and he will figure out how to beat them.
I think it is common knowledge that the way to beat Brady is to blitz him and force his hand. The Chargers decided to play a zone defense and Brady just picked them apart to the tune of 34/44 343 yards 1 TD. The Chargers had no answer for RB Michel Sony either: 24 carries 129 yards 3 TDs.
The Patriots scored TDs on their first three possessions for the first time in franchise playoff history. Then they went ahead and scored another one on their fourth possession. Fifth time was the charm for the Chargers defense as they finally forced a punt. Of course the Chargers kick returner muffed the punt and the Patriots recovered the ball. Then they scored their 5th TD of the first half to go into the locker room with a 35-7 lead. Game over.
The Patriots blitzed Philip Rivers continuously and the Chargers never figured out how to pick it up. Rivers received little help from his running game (10 carries, 19 yards). At the end of the day Rivers stats don't look too bad (25/51 331 yards 3 TDs 1 INT) but a lot of those stats came in garbage time. This game was a total joke.
The Patriots move on to face the Chiefs in the AFC Title Game in Kansas City. The Pats don't normally play many playoff games on the road and have lost their last three attempts, so there is still hope the evil empire won't move on to Atlanta.
Title Game Predictions
I went 1-3 with my picks last week, but I've never let the fact that I don't know what I'm talking about stop me before so here are my title game predictions.
Saints 31 Rams 28
Brees doesn't lose in the Superdome. It's as simple as that. He will find a way to win. I expect the Saints staff will take a good look at the Rams running attack against Dallas and adjust accordingly.
Chiefs 35 Patriots 28
I don't know if KC's defense will play as well again, but Mahomes will make up the difference. The Patriots were a lousy road team this year, losing 5 games to teams that failed to make the playoffs (Detroit, Jacksonville, Miami, Tennessee and Pittsburgh).
Let me know your thoughts on the divisional round weekend and the upcoming conference title games. Who do you think is headed to the Super Bowl? And I know you have all been anxiously waiting for my Cowboys to fail so you can dump on me in the comments. Well @robbijg didn't wait, but he's a Jaguars fan so what does he know. Let me have it as I already start looking forward to next season.
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