This was some of the best football I have seen in my life. The games this weekend were super exciting but stressful games, all of them coming down to the last second (or OT) and all of them involving a very important field goal. Let’s get into these games.
Bengals at Titans
We started off the Divisional Round the same way we started off the Super Wild Card Weekend, with a Joe Burrow win. This was the first of four very close games and defence heavily impacted this game with Joe Burrow being sacked 9 times for a total loss of 68 yards and Ryan Tannehill throwing 3 interceptions, one that cost the Titans the game. In the end, it came down to Burrow outplaying Tannehill and making the least amount of mistakes. The Titans looked in control but with 20 seconds left Tannehill threw a pick while they were driving and then all Burrow had to do was get his team into field goal range to win the game. He did that and Evan McPherson sent the Bengals to the AFC Championship. BTW, the “swag” on McPherson was awesome when he told his team they were heading to the AFC Championship before he made the kick.
49ers at Packers
The next game was quite shocking, I knew the defence would be important in this game but I did not know that the special teams would be too. The Packer’s special teams was disastrous with a blocked field goal AND a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown. The Packers special teams were terrible all year, but this was a new low. With all these mistakes and Rodgers not being able to do much on offence it was easy for the 49ers to stay in the game and eventually, when it was all tied up, you guessed, kick a game winning field goal to win the game. Garoppolo was nothing special but he did enough for the win.
Rams at Bucs
This game was almost a Tom Brady comeback, but unfortunately the score was 27 to 3 not 28 to 3. :) Sorry Falcons! The Rams defence, especially Aaron Donald, and Von Miller, got to Tom Brady and caused the Bucs to be able to do nothing on offence early on in the game. Later on the Bucs did come back and tie it up but mistakes from the Bucs defence led to big catches by Cooper Kupp twice in the game and the second one was able to get the Rams into field goal range when the game was tied. I bet I don’t have to tell you what happened next but they kicked a field goal to win and send Matthew Stafford and the Rams to the NFC Championship. Good for Stafford after a lot of pain in Detroit for all those years.
Bills at Chiefs
The final game was the Bills at Chiefs and this game hurt as a Bills fan, but it was also the best game I have ever watched. This game stayed close pretty much the whole time and anytime a team got too much of a lead it never lasted long. The best part of this game was the last couple minutes of the fourth quarter. The Chiefs and Bills combined scored 25 points in the last two minutes of regulation. With a quick TD to get the Chiefs up by 4 with a minute left I thought the game could be over, but then another TD to Gabe Davis (his 4th) from Josh Allen to get the Bills up by 3 with 13 seconds should have ended the game, but no. With 13 seconds left the Chiefs drive down the field to kick a field goal and tie the game. In OT the Chiefs won the coin toss and easily drove to score a TD to win the game. As a Bills fan it was heartbreaking but also amazing to watch. Mahomes - Allen is the next Brady-Manning and those two are 100% the best players in the league right now. I feel for the Bills team and the Mafia as this was a great opportunity to get to the Superbowl, but it wasn’t meant to be…but they will be back, and better than ever.
Go Bills!