Patriots, Saints seal advancement of top 4
New England earns rematch with KC after ousting Chargers • New Orleans tops Eagles, to host Rams
The 32 things we learned heading into the NFL’s conference championship games:
1. How crucial are postseason bye weeks? All four teams that had one this year prevailed in the Divisional Round.
1a. It’s the first time the league’s final four has been comprised of its top four seeds since 2015.
1b. This marks the sixth straight season that no team which played on wild-card weekend will reach Super Sunday. The 2012 Ravens were the last to do so.
1c. Defense wins championships, eh? For the first time in the 53-year Super Bowl era, the league’s top four scoring offenses all advanced to the championship round.
2. Kudos to Sarah Thomas, who became the first woman to officiate a playoff game Sunday. “She’s well respected in the industry,” said CBS analyst and former Cowboys QB Tony Romo.
3. The Eagles became the first team in this season’s playoffs to score first but ultimately lose. Philly gave up 20 unanswered points to the Saints after bolting to a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
4. The Saints are now 6-0 in playoff games at the Superdome with Drew Brees and Sean Payton, who both arrived in New Orleans in 2006.
4a. But the #WhoDats actually have a seven-game playoff winning streak at home. It began in the 2000 wild-card round against the St. Louis Rams. The Los Angeles Rams, who lost their first game this season in Week 9 at New Orleans, head to town for a rematch in the NFC Championship Game – which will be the franchises’ second postseason meeting.
5. The Saints’ 45-35 defeat of the Rams on November 4 didn’t feature a single sack. For either team.
5a. But the teams did combine for 10 offensive touchdowns and 970 total yards.
6. Saints WR Michael Thomas’ 171 receiving yards against Philadelphia were a team playoff record.
7. Eagles QB Nick Foles is 0-2 against New Orleans in postseason and 4-0 against everyone else. However if he makes a seventh playoff start, it probably won’t come for Philadelphia given Foles is expected to join a new team in the offseason.
8. Very classy move by the Patriots to hold a pre-game moment of silence in honor of Makenna Mebane, the infant daughter of Chargers NT Brandon Mebane. After being born prematurely in November, Makenna died from a heart defect earlier this month.
9. Sorry, Chargers fans... the “best quarterback to never play in a Super Bowl” debate continues – with Philip Rivers’ case starting to outstrip ex-Bolt Dan Fouts’ and others.
9a. Rivers is now 0-8 head-to-head against Tom Brady, including 0-3 in postseason.
9b. Brady is 5-2 in the playoffs against quarterbacks picked in the first round of the 2004 draft: 3-0 against Rivers, 2-0 against Ben Roethlisberger... and, yep, 0-2 against Eli Manning.
10. Crazy to think that it took 15 seasons, and 89 regular-season TD hook-ups, before Rivers and TE Antonio Gates finally connected for six in a playoff game.
11. Meanwhile, Brady extended his record for playoff victories by a quarterback to 28. Yawn.
12. And the Patriots extended their record by reaching the AFC title game for the eighth consecutive season. Yawn.
13. But as TE Rob Gronkowski continues to fade, who is Brady’s primary offensive weapon nowadays? WR Julian Edelman, who set a Patriots playoff record with his fifth 100-yard receiving game Sunday? RB James White, who tied a league playoff record with 15 catches? Or rookie RB Sony Michel, who ran for 129 yards and three TDs in his postseason debut?
14. Crazy – Edelman’s 98 career playoff receptions are second only to Jerry Rice (151).
14b. Perhaps crazier, White became the first player in postseason annals with two games of at least 12 receptions, a figure Rice never reached.
15. Oddly, even though the Chiefs and Patriots were among the AFL’s original franchises in 1960, they’ve only met in the playoffs once. New England triumphed 27-20 in the Divisional Round three years ago.
15a. However, since coming to Kansas City, Andy Reid has won two of three in the regular season against the Patriots, embarrassing them 41-14 in 2014 and 42-27 in the opening game of the 2017 season.
15b. But Bill Belichick & Co. won 43-40 in Week 6, dealing Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes his first professional loss.
15c. But what a game. The Patriots and Chiefs combined for eight touchdowns and 946 yards of offense before Stephen Gostkowski’s 28-yard field goal on the final play proved decisive.
15d. Of course, that game was in Foxborough, where the Pats are 9-0 this season. The AFC title game will (finally) be held in Kansas City, where the Chiefs are 8-1 this season. The Patriots, meanwhile, are 3-5 on the road.
16. New England has never reached the Super Bowl after losing it the previous season.
17. The Rams won their first playoff game at the LA Memorial Coliseum in more than 40 years Saturday night. (Of course, they’d won a few postseason games in Anaheim and St. Louis in the interim.)
18. No teams have met more in postseason history than the Cowboys and Rams, who now hold a 5-4 edge.
19. Has any late-season knee injury to an all-pro running back ever proved more beneficial? Had the Rams’ Todd Gurley not been banged up the final two weeks of the regular season, the team never would’ve salvaged C.J. Anderson from the scrap heap. Now LA has the best two-headed backfield going, rolling the Cowboys for a playoff franchise record 273 rushing yards (Anderson and Gurley both exceeded 100 while combining for 238 and three TDs).
19a. But Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram might have something to say next Sunday.
20. On the other side of the ball, the Rams allowed a league-worst 5.1 yards per carry in the regular season. Against Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys on Saturday, LA ceded just 2.3 yards per rush while limiting Elliott to a postseason career-low 47 yards.
21. Just when you think you’ve seen it all in the NFL, there’s that first time you witness a right tackle sack his quarterback. And I would’ve thought Dak Prescott could escape La’el Collins’ grasp...
22. Cowboy who needs a contract: WR Amari Cooper, who’s entering the fifthyear option of his rookie deal.
22a. Cowboy who really needs a contract: Prescott, who earned $630,000 in base pay this season but will be eligible for a major extension for the first time in March.
22b. Cowboy who really, really needs a contract: Pro Bowl DE Demarcus “Tank” Lawrence, who registered 10½ sacks while playing under the franchise tag in 2018.
23. In eight full seasons, coach Jason Garrett has led Dallas to the playoffs three times. He is 2-0 in wild-card games but 0-3 in the Divisional Round.
23a. The Cowboys haven’t played in the NFC Championship Game since the 1995 club won Super Bowl XXX.
24. Congrats to the Chiefs, who ended the longest home playoff losing streak (6 games) in NFL history, winning their first postseason game at Arrowhead Stadium in 25 years. Joe Montana was their quarterback in the 1993 win.
24a. Now they will host the AFC Championship Game for the first time ever.
24b. Reid is 1-4 in the championship round, all five of those occurrences with the Eagles.
25. Of the four quarterbacks who made their playoff debuts this season, only Mahomes notched a victory. (Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson and Mitch Trubisky were the others.)
25a. Ironically, Mahomes, the MVP front runner after throwing an NFL-high 50 TD passes in the regular season, was shut out in that department Saturday by the Colts. Jacksonville was the only other team to prevent Mahomes from finding pay dirt through the air in 2018.
26. Chiefs defense at home = 17.4 points allowed per game this season.
26a. Chiefs defense on the road = 34.6 points allowed per game this season.
27. So you thought the Chiefs offense was out of whack following the dismissal of RB Kareem Hunt, the NFL rushing champ in 2017? Saturday, the unit rushed for 180 yards, its second-best total of this campaign to date, and posted a season-best four rushing TDs.
27a. The two-year extension Kansas City gave Hunt’s replacement, Damien Williams, appears like an especially savvy move. He had 154 yards from scrimmage against the Colts, a total Hunt exceeded just twice in 2018.
28. Tweet of the weekend goes to Charles Woodson, still salty from being on the wrong end of the “Tuck Rule,” after watching Adam Vinatieri uncharacteristically miss two playoff kicks 17 years after he broke Woodson’s heart in a snowstorm. Prior to Saturday, Vinatieri had never missed a postseason extra point or fieldgoal attempt inside 25 yards. Woodson tweeted “Now he misses in the snow…”
29. Speaking of Twitter, time for the Chargers to retire that weak #FightForEachOther hashtag that produces the lightning bolt emoji... especially now that the Rams have clearly won the fight for LA.
30. After fighting all the way back to the 53-man roster from a torn ACL in May, Chargers TE Hunter Henry finished with one target and no catches Sunday. Stephen A. Smith must be so disappointed.
31. Indianapolis’s 48.6 percent conversion rate on third down this season was the NFL’s best. The Colts were 0-for-9 on third down Saturday and went three-and-out on their first four drives.
32. But don’t weep for the Horseshoes. LB Darius Leonard and G Quenton Nelson became the first rookie teammates named first-team all-pro since Hall of Famers Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers did so for Chicago in 1965 – before the Super Bowl even existed. GM Chris Ballard owns an extra second-round pick in this year’s draft and, even better, the most salary cap space in the league (more than $120 million) heading into free agency. Expect the Colts to be a popular Super Bowl LIV pick, especially with revitalized QB Andrew Luck.
(USA Today/TNS)