Plenty of excitement in first-round games
Bucs get first playoff win since ’02; Ravens exact revenge on Titans
It was a supersize wildcard weekend, with the NFL’s expanded playoff format requiring six games, rather than four, in the first two days of the postseason. There were no surprises in the results of the first five games, but most were close enough to provide plenty of entertainment.
Here’s what we learned:
• Tom Brady is leaving no stone unturned. Brady, the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (that still sounds weird), already had plenty of NFL records, but he broke one Saturday that had lasted for 50 years, passing George Blanda to become the oldest player to throw a touchdown pass in a playoff game.
Brady, at 43 years, 159 days, threw two touchdown passes in Tampa Bay’s 31-23 win Saturday over the Washington Football Team, and will most likely push the record further nextweekend in the divisional round.
As DrewBrees is the only other active quarterback in his 40s, and is potentially retiring after this season, Brady’s record — should he ever choose to stop playing — could be safe for quite some time.
Brady’s triumph led to jokes on social media after an NBC graphic showed how much younger Brady looks than Blanda did in 1971. But Blanda’s fans still have some bragging rights: A versatile player for the Oakland Raiders, he not only had two touchdownpasses in that AFC championship game against the Baltimore Colts, but he also kicked the extra point after both touchdowns and connected on a 48-yard field goal.
• It is time for a new Lamar Jackson narrative. It was hard to tell if the Baltimore Ravens were a top contender or a beneficiary of one of the NFL’s weakest schedules over the final five
weeks of the regular season.
And with consecutive seasons that each ended in a disappointing playoff loss, there were those who questioned whether Jackson’s run-heavy style could translate to postseason success.
Afterwatching Baltimore race for 236 yards on the ground in a 20-13 win on the
road against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, those narratives can be retired. Baltimore won’t surprise anyone, but knowing what’s coming is a lot different from knowing how to stop it.
With his first playoff win and his team’sdefense playing well, Jackson should finally be able to relax. That should terrify opponents, because Jackson, who rushed for136 yards Sunday and 143 in last year’s playoff loss to Tennessee, already owns two of the top three playoff rushing performances by a quarterback in NFL history.
• Nickelodeon should broadcast a game every week.
Keeping things interesting when a heavily favored team wins easily can be hard, but a broadcast on Nick aimed at children managed to do just that. The announcers explained the game at a base level, but had entertaining insights along the way, as when former NFL player Nate Burleson described being tackled as feeling like “falling down wooden stairs.” As for the actual game, the New Orleans Saints barely broke a sweatwhile beating the Chicago Bears 21-9.
The only real misstep of the broadcast was a fan vote leading to Mitchell Trubisky, the losing quarterback, being named the game’sMVP. Overall, the innovations led to the least competitive game of the weekend being must-see
TV. (Related: The writer of this article has two children.)