Plenty of stories as playoffs begin
Teams enter post-season on winning streaks, losing streaks and with questions about quarterback
After a final Sunday of the regular season that contained a few twists (including the Washington Redskins’ unspeakably dreadful performance on offence to miss the playoffs by losing to the New York Giants), the NFL playoff field is set.
The Atlanta Falcons won Sunday to secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC and join the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys in having opening-round post-season byes. In the AFC, the New England Patriots wrapped up the No. 1 seed and the Kansas City Chiefs overtook the Oakland Raiders for the second seed. They will have this coming weekend to rest and prepare for the conference semifinals the following weekend.
Here are quick looks at the four opening-round games:
Dolphins at Steelers
The third-seeded Steelers enter the playoffs on a seven-game winning streak after Sunday’s meaningless-for-them overtime triumph over the Cleveland Browns. The sixth-seeded Dolphins lost at home to the Patriots.
Given the way the Steelers are playing, they might be the biggest threat to the Patriots in the AFC. But the path to Houston would not be easy for them. They would have to beat the Dolphins at home Sunday and then go on the road to win at Kansas City and, presumably, at New England to reach the Super Bowl.
The Dolphins have been a terrific success story this season by reaching the playoffs under their firstyear coach, Adam Gase, following a 1-4 start. They present problems for anyone because of the way they can run the ball with tailback Jay Ajayi.
But Matt Moore has been starting for the injured Ryan Tannehill at quarterback. The Dolphins’ feelgood season probably ends here. The Steelers were able to rest their offensive centrepieces in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, tailback Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown on Sunday. They are likely to be too much for the Dolphins to handle.
Raiders at Texans
Matt McGloin vs. Tom Savage? Connor Cook vs. Brock Osweiler? Or some combination therein? It should be epic.
Call this the no-quarterback playoff game.
The Raiders began Sunday with a chance to overtake the Patriots for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Instead, New England secured that with its victory at Miami and the Raiders dropped to a wild-card spot and the No. 5 seed when they lost at Denver and the Chiefs won at San Diego.
Oakland already was without its quarterback and league MVP candidate, Derek Carr, after he suffered a broken bone in his leg. Now the Raiders also could be minus Carr’s replacement, McGloin, after he suffered a shoulder injury against the Broncos. Cook, a rookie chosen in the fourth round of the NFL draft out of Michigan State, took over Sunday and would be in line to make his first NFL start if McGloin is not ready to play.
The quarterback situation is no more certain for the Texans. They benched Osweiler, their failedto-this-point US$72 million man, in favour of Savage. But then Savage suffered a concussion during Sunday’s defeat at Tennessee. So the quarterback decision might not even be coach Bill O’Brien’s to make, with Savage subject to the sport’s concussion protocol. The Texans might be going back to Osweiler by default.
Figure that the far-from-ideal quarterback situations negate each other. The Raiders are the better team around the quarterback, with so many other elements of a championship-calibre operation in place. They have excellent receivers and a very good offensive line, although left tackle Donald Penn hurt his knee Sunday. They can run the ball and they can play defence.
That won’t be enough for them to overcome their quarterback issues later in the playoffs. But it should be good enough Saturday against the Texans.
Giants at Packers
Perhaps the two most formidable challengers to the Cowboys in the NFC meet in the opening round.
The fifth-seeded Giants knocked the Redskins from the playoffs with their victory Sunday at FedEx Field. They have two wins this season over the Cowboys and their rebuilt defence has played very well. Quarterback Eli Manning is a two-time Super Bowl winner and knows how to dial things up for a post-season run.
But Manning and the offence are an issue. The Giants have gone five straight games without a 20-point performance. They reached 19 points Sunday against the Redskins only with a final-play defensive touchdown on a recovery of a wayward lateral. Meaningful game or meaningless game, throwing the ball 63 times (as Manning did during the next-to-last game of the regular season at Philadelphia) or running it a bunch (as was the case Sunday), the Giants just can’t score a lot.
That certainly could be a problem Sunday at Lambeau Field. Green Bay has six straight wins after falling to 4-6 with a November loss at FedEx Field. The Packers won Sunday night at Detroit to secure the NFC North title. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes against the Lions to give him a league-leading 40 for the season and bolster his MVP case.
“I love these guys,” Rodgers told NBC following the game Sunday night. “It’s fun working with them. They never broke. And we could have fractured at some point. But we stuck together, believed in each other, kept knowing it just takes one: ‘If we get one, it’s gonna happen.’ And every game, we came with a great focus, great preparation, and when adversity hit in the game, we pushed right through it. I’m really proud of these guys.”
This is a true toss-up of a game between solid teams and accomplished quarterbacks. But Rodgers and the home-field advantage give the Packers the ever-so-slight edge.
Lions at Seahawks
The Seahawks do not look particularly like a viable Super Bowl threat right now. They struggled Sunday at San Francisco to put away the twowin 49ers before escaping with a two-point victory to clinch the NFC’s No. 3 seed. That came on the heels of a loss at home to the Arizona Cardinals. The defence has not been the same since losing injured safety Earl Thomas.
But the Seahawks still have Russell Wilson at quarterback. They still have front-line players on defence. They will be playing at home.
All of that should be plenty Saturday night against the sixth-seeded Lions, who stumble into the post-season on a three-game losing streak. But it’s doubtful that it will be enough beyond this coming weekend, unless a far different version of the Seahawks shows up very soon.
Notes
Six NFL teams now are in the market for new head coaches after the Chargers’ Mike McCoy and the 49ers’ Chip Kelly were fired Sunday and the Broncos’ Gary Kubiak told his players he is retiring. Those three teams join the Los Angeles Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills ... The clock is now ticking on San Diego’s decision on whether to exercise its option to join the Rams in L.A., with its season completed. The Chargers have until Jan. 15 to exercise it . ... The Browns’ loss Sunday to the Steelers capped a 1-15 season that gives them the top overall selection in the NFL draft this spring. The 49ers are to pick second after going 2-14.