Chiefs and Rams move to brink of Super Bowl with divisional playoff wins
Patrick Mahomes picked apart the Colts in his postseason debut, the Chiefs defense answered their chorus of critics with a stout performance, and Kansas City rolled to a 31-13 victory over Indianapolis in the divisional round Saturday to end 25 years of playoff frustration.
Mahomes threw for 278 yards while running for a touchdown, and Damien Williams ran through snow and muck for 129 yards and another score, as the Chiefs beat Indianapolis for the first time in five playoff meetings to earn their first AFC title game appearance since January 1994.
There was a lot of excitement here, the fans were awesome, the defense played amazing and the offense, we did enough to get the win in the end,” Mahomes said.
The AFC West champions will play the winner of Sunday’s game between the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers and the New England Patriots next weekend for a spot in the Super Bowl in Atlanta.
Andrew Luck was held to 203 yards passing for the Colts, while Marlon Mack was a non-factor on the ground. He had 46 yards rushing before leaving late in the fourth quarter with a hip injury.
With persistent snow turning Arrowhead Stadium into a winter wonderland, the Chiefs waltzed all over a Colts defense that nearly shut out the Texans a week ago. Mahomes and co scored on their first three possessions, then again just before halftime, to take a 24-7 lead into the break.
If there was any question whether this would be Kansas City’s day, it was answered when Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri missed a 23-yard field goal try off the upright just before halftime. It was the first time in 22 postseason attempts that he’d missed from that close.
Not that the Chiefs thought they had it wrapped up.
They’ve had bigger playoff melt-
downs against the Colts.
There was the 10-7 loss in which Lin Elliott missed three field goals when the Chiefs were the No 1 seed, and the loss at Arrowhead Stadium in 2003 in which nobody punted.
Five years ago, they blew a 38-10 second-half lead against Luck and the Colts to spoil Andy Reid’s first season. Not this time.
Not with this Kansas City quarterback.
After shattering nearly every franchise passing record, Mahomes picked up right where he left off in his regular-season finale. He led the Chiefs on touchdown drives of 90 and 70 yards to open the game, quickly identified a favorite target in Travis Kelce, and shook off a banged-up knee to scramble for a touchdown late in the first half to give his team a big cushion.
Of course, the Chiefs didn’t need it the way their defense was playing.
The Colts went three-and-out on their first four possessions, were outgained 185-12 in the first quarter, and Luck didn’t complete a pass until he found TY Hilton early in the second.
Their lone bright spot came when Zach Paschal recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown.
Even when the Colts caught a break and Sammy Watkins fumbled the ball to them late in the third quarter, they were quick to give it back. Dee Ford stripped Luck and fellow linebacker Justin Houston plopped on the ball, ruining another red-zone opportunity.
The Colts finally scored an offensive touchdown with 5:31 left in the game. But in the perfect summation of their lousy afternoon, their erstwhile star kicker missed the extra point.
By that point, the party in the stands already had begun.
The Chiefs had lost six straight home playoff games, including heartbreakers to Pittsburgh and Tennessee the past two years. But a proud franchise that won its only Super Bowl title with Len Dawson in 1970, and last played for a spot behind Joe Montana, is once more one step away.
Rams 30, Cowboys 22
CJ Anderson rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and Todd Gurley rushed for 115 more yards and another TD in the Los Angeles Rams’ first playoff victory in 14 years, 30-22 over the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round on Saturday night.
Gurley and Anderson punished the Cowboys’ normally sturdy run defense and sent the second-seeded Rams (14-3) to the NFC championship game for the first time in 17 years. Los Angeles racked up a franchise playoff-record 273 yards on the ground – also the most ever allowed in the postseason by the Cowboys, who were playing in their NFL-record 63rd postseason game.
The long-struggling Rams had won only one postseason game since their last trip to the Super Bowl in February 2002, but 32-year-old coach Sean McVay has added his first playoff victory to his spectacular two-season franchise turnaround.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed for a TD and Amari Cooper caught an early TD pass for the Cowboys (11-7), who still haven’t won a playoff game on the road in 26 years. After winning the NFC East and beating Seattle last week, Dallas lost in the divisional playoff round for the sixth consecutive time and fell short of its first trip to the NFC championship game since January 1993.
Next weekend, the Rams will face the winner of the other divisional playoff game in New Orleans between the top-seeded Saints and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The Rams are one win away from another Super Bowl trip after McVay’s high-flying, inventive offense largely kept it on the ground, methodically punishing the Cowboys’ normally sturdy run defense with their unlikely running back tandem.
“It’s scary,” Anderson said. “We’ve got two different styles, and we can keep teams off balance.”
The Cowboys, who largely shut down Seattle’s league-best rushing attack last week, hadn’t allowed two 100-yard rushers in a playoff game since the NFL-AFL merger.
Dak Prescott passed for 266 yards and rushed for a TD with 2:11 to play, but the Cowboys couldn’t climb out after falling into a 23-7 hole midway through the third quarter. Elliott managed just 47 yards on 20 carries as Dallas lost for just the second time in its last 10 games.
Jared Goff passed for 186 yards and spent much of the night handing off, but the gangly quarterback improbably scrambled 11 yards for a first down with 1:51 to play, essentially wrapping up his first playoff victory.
“Incredible what they did today,” Goff said of his offensive line. “We know this defense and we prepared for it well all week.”
It was also the first postseason victory for the anchor of that line, 37-yearold left tackle Andrew Whitworth, and veteran defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh.
Gurley and Anderson became the fourth set of teammates in NFL history to rush for 100 yards apiece in a postseason game, an improbable development just a few weeks ago. Gurley is the Rams’ offensive centerpiece and one of the NFL’s elite running backs, but Anderson is a veteran playing only his third game with the Rams after signing last month when Gurley was struggling with a knee injury.
They both ran with equal verve while Los Angeles racked up more yards than the Cowboys had allowed on the ground all season. Dallas hadn’t given up 200 yards in a playoff game since Eric Dickerson did it for the Rams in 1986.
But with the Rams’ veteran offensive line cutting holes in the Cowboys’ defense, Anderson became the third Rams player with more than 100 yards and two rushing TDs in a game, joining Dickerson and Marshall Faulk.
Three years to the day after the NFL approved the Rams’ return to Los Angeles, the franchise earned its first playoff victory since coming home from 21 years in St Louis.
The Rams chewed up the ground and the clock on four lengthy scoring drives in the first half. They kept it up after halftime, particularly on a decisive 12-play, 65-yard drive in the fourth quarter capped by Anderson’s bold 1-yard TD plunge on fourth down with 7:16 to play.
Los Angeles’ first two drives stalled into field goals by Greg Zuerlein, and the Cowboys briefly led in the first quarter on Cooper’s 29-yard TD catch. But the Rams’ defense corralled Elliott while LA’s run game steady rolled ahead.
Anderson reached the end zone seven minutes before halftime on a 1yard plunge. Just 3 1/2 minutes later, Gurley broke through the middle and went 35 yards for his first career playoff touchdown, putting the Rams up 20-7 at halftime.
Elliott scored on a 1-yard plunge and the Cowboys got a two-point conversion to trim the Rams’ lead to 23-15 in the third quarter.