No major hiccups on Wildcard Weekend
The National Football League (NFL) Wildcard Weekend kicked off last Saturday with a tighter than expected encounter, where the Buffalo Bills outlasted the Indianapolis Colts 27-24 to register one of two wins for the home teams. Buffalo’s last play-off victory (prior to last Saturday) was in 1995 and they were at home in the play-offs for the first time since December 1996. Before Indianapolis’ visit last weekend, Buffalo was 0-5 in the play-offs since 1995, including blowing a 16-point, second-half lead in a loss to the houston Texans last season.
The Buffalo offence, led by their young quarterback (QB) Josh Allen, was held in check by Indianapolis but did just enough to ensure an appearance in this weekend’s Divisional Round.
Allen was 221 days old when the Bills last hosted a play-off game and, now as an NFL most-valuable-player (MVP) candidate, he is the main reason they have broken the 25-year dry-spell. The Bills will now host the Baltimore Ravens on tomorrow night in a matchup of two young, electrifying QBS.
The Ravens, with an opportunity to exact revenge for being eliminated from the playoffs last year and for a Week 11 loss where their opponents stomped on their midfield logo, went into Tennessee to take on the Titans in the early game last Sunday. However, unlike Week 11, where Tennessee posted 173 rushing yards, the Baltimore defence completely shut down Derrick Henry (40 yards) and the Titans’ run-game and held them to just 13 points.
The reigning NFL MVP and Ravens’ QB, Lamar Jackson, was thrilling (especially running the ball) and orchestrated his first play-off win in the Titans’ backyard, giving the Ravens an opportunity to return the ‘stomping’ favour. The Titans rolled out to an early 10-0 lead following a Jackson interception but, with their run-game neutralised, the Ravens’ defence was able to zone in on an offence that lacked dimension, resulting in the 20-13 victory.
Baltimore has an imposing defence that is number two in the NFL — number six against the pass, number eight against the run — and, combined with the talents of Jackson, they should have enough to get pass a formidable opponent in the Bills, but it will be close.
The Seattle Seahawks hosted the Los Angeles Rams last Saturday afternoon, where the Rams lost starting QB John Wolford to a neck injury in the first quarter and, in the third quarter, they lost their best player, defensive lineman Aaron Donald to a rib injury.
Regular starting QB Jared Goff (9 of 19 for 155 yards and a touchdown) entered the game, despite recent thumb surgery, and completed what Wolford had started – the Rams’ defence did the rest. Los Angeles went in at half-time with a 20-10 and the writing was on the wall. Head Coach Sean Mcvay has never lost after holding a firsthalf lead (36-0) and, with the Rams’ defence standing stoutly, 37-0 was a more-than-likely outcome.
The Rams emerged 30-20 winners and will now travel to Green Bay to tackle the Packers tomorrow. With Jared Goff’s injured thumb and Donald’s participation in question, a win may be too much to ask for the visitors.
The Washington Football Team’s Cinderella-run ended (expectedly) last Saturday night when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to visit. QB Alex Smith did not play due to injuries, but Taylor
Heinicke performed creditably in his stead and gave Washington a good chance to win. Washington lost 31-23 but Heinicke provided the mobility that Smith lacked against the New York Giants two weeks ago and had his team still holding on to a slim chance in the final minutes of the game.
The Buccaneers will march into the Mercedes-benz Superdome this Sunday evening to tackle the only other home team to win last weekend, the New Orleans Saints — they defeated the Chicago Bears 21-9. This will be the third meeting of these teams this season and the first-ever postseason matchup of future Hall-of-fame QBS Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
The Saints were victorious in the regular season games (34-23 last September and 38-3 last November) and will be looking for a three-game sweep this weekend. While it may be difficult to beat the same team three times in the same season, Brees has his main weapons (Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara) together for the first time this season and, combined with their top-5 defence, should survive the expected shoot-out.
The Pittsburgh Steelers started the season 11-0 but stumbled into the play-offs with a 12-4 record. They welcomed the Cleveland Browns into Heinz Field last Sunday night and gifted them with three early turnovers (including a fumble on the first play from scrimmage 22 seconds into the game) that contributed to a 28-0 first-quarter lead for the visitors. Pittsburgh demolished Cleveland 38-7 in Week 6 and almost beat them at Firstenergy Stadium on the last weekend of the regular season with reserves at multiple starting positions but got things very wrong in the wildcard game.
The Steelers were obviously the more talented team on the pitch but, handing the ball over to your opponent through unforced errors, will quickly render talent useless – and it did. By half-time, the Browns had built up a 35-10 lead and the hole was already too deep from which to climb.
The Browns went on to win 48-37, but the victory was based not on what they did right but on all the things the Steelers did wrong. The Browns visit the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday afternoon as the biggest Justbet underdog (10 points), where the fairytale is expected to end.
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