One of the wildest weekends in history lead to 4 straight heart stopping endings, literally knocking me out of commission by the end of game 4. This will be remembered as the best divisional round in history. I’m going to fiddle with setup some more as I try to find the best way to write this column. Let’s try out a winners and losers edition this week.
Winner: Us
The fans won this weekend. While there were little things to quibble about1, there were four games with four great endings. In the Mystery Box last week I noted that, while many fans had been bummed by last week’s blowouts, I was happy about them because it meant that the best 8 teams were left, and I could see any team winning any matchup. That turned out to be prophetic, as there were 3 upsets and nearly a fourth. The finisher was a show down between the two best QBs in the NFL present on Sunday night. It was so good it bumped Tom Brady vs. Matt Stafford to the early game. Both ended in astonishing fashion. If you love football, this was a great weekend.
Loser: NFL Sunday Secondaries
Sunday offered a taste of some of the worst defensive football imaginable, as the Rams, Bucs, Chiefs and Bills secondaries put on a clinic in how not to protect a lead, giving up massive plays on the regular. I picked the Cupp catch above as the example of giving up the one play you cannot give up, but there were probably a dozen of these yesterday. That is incredible for a play that should NEVER happen. The Bills and Chiefs combined for 25 points in 2 minutes. That should be impossible. There were probably 10 blown coverages there. The Rams got two huge pass plays in 30 seconds to some how got 64 yards in two plays. Somehow, despite being the Bucs only deep option, Mike Evans caught a 55 yard TD with the Rams trying to salt away a win ON JALEN RAMSEY. Just a terrible display of defensive football all around. LOOK AT THIS.
Yikes. How can you let something like this happen. I know the Bills were really missing Tre’Davious White this week. In fact, this was probably the first game they truly needed him, but there is still no excuse for this complete breakdown in both games.
Winner: Offensive coaches
I said last week that the herd of defensive coaches was thinning fast, and this weekend finished the job. There are four offensive coaches left. If you think you can win the Super Bowl with a defensive head coach, you are probably wrong. The best offensive minds win. Period.
Loser: Green Bay Packers Special Teams unit
To follow up on those last winners, coaching still matters a lot in the NFL. More than probably any other major sport. The Packers lost Sunday because they had the worst special teams in the NFL this season. In a 17 game sample, the results are real, and they showed up right on schedule in their first playoff game. The 49ers had a Special teams rating of +10. It’s not as simple as the blocked field goal and blocked punt TD, but that was the difference in a game where their offense simply didn’t exist. A lot of times, special teams plays are fluky, but when you are the absolute worst at something over a large sample size, you can begin to predict it. The Packers lost this game because of that. Period. Aaron Rodgers also had yet another playoff dud in a long line of them, but blaming him for the loss is a bit much. He did enough, and their defense certainly did. The 49ers were the better coached team in the end.
Winner: Wild Speculation
If you were in a rush to get to offseason speculation, this was the weekend for you. Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady made surprising exits, and both have question marks surrounding their future. I find it hard to believe both of these super competitive athletes would consider retirement while still being peak performers. Rodgers maybe more so because of his frustration with the NFL’s COVID policies and his generally miserable nature. He could also push for a trade, but where would he go? My top three guesses: 49ers, Saints, Broncos. Brady still seems to have all the fire inside him, and he hasn’t lost much. Some other things to keep an eye on are the Titans dissatisfaction at QB, and what steps the Bills will take to get over the hump.
Loser: Ryan Tannehill
When the Dolphins “traded” Ryan Tannehill to the Titans, most Dolphins fans were fairly nonplussed. Tannehill was an average QB, who had shown some moderate improvement through his time there, but overall was nowhere near elite and injury prone. Upon landing in Tennessee, he was such a clear improvement over Marcus Mariota that Titans fans were thrilled. The NFL world rejoiced at the Dolphins foolishness and Ryan capably lead a run first offense with effective play-action passing and helped to get them to a conference championship game2. The problem is, he never really stopped being that mediocre QB. He just stopped getting hurt. The playoffs have revealed his mediocrity. In 5 games, he is averaging 150 yards passing and has 7 TDs and 5 INTs. The Titans are hoping he goes on a Joe Flacco Memorial Run3 so they can win a Super Bowl, but that just isn’t realistic. The chances of any player having a four game sample that great, in a row, against pinnacle defenses when the rest of their play is so mediocre is nearly impossible. The Dolphins didn’t trade them a miracle, they traded them a trap. Now the Titans are trapped in a quick playoff exit loop with no clear way out.
Winner: Brian Daboll
I’m sure he doesn’t feel like a winner today. It’s hard to take a loss like that. But with that said, I am not sure his coaching stock will ever get higher. He lead a phenomenal offense with Josh Allen to two huge performances in the playoffs, and his team got bounced early, which means a team can stop waiting an pounce on him. It surprising how often a team would rather just get their coach right away than wait until later. You would think a few weeks wouldn’t matter, yet very often teams get antsy and can’t even wait until after the Super Bowl for the best coaches on the best teams. The incredible performance combined with the early exit boosts his stock to the top of the list. I expect him to be hired this week, maybe before you read this.
Loser: Aaron Rodger’s Super Bowl boycott.
Maybe this is a winner. Either way it is happening.
like the overuse of the taunting penalty… again
Although if you look at the stats, it’s clear he simply didn’t PREVENT them from getting there.
In 2012, Flacco had 11 TDs and 0 ints in 4 games. In his other 11 playoff starts he had 14 TDs and 10 INTs.