USA TODAY International Edition
Kudos to top four seeds and Sarah Thomas
27.
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.
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.
5. The Saints’ 45-35 defeat of the Rams on Nov. 4 didn’t feature a single sack. For either team.
6. @Cantguardmike indeed. Saints WR Michael Thomas’ 171 receiving yards against Philadelphia were a New Orleans playoff record.
7. Eagles QB Nick Foles is 0-2 against the Saints in the 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 pregame 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 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.
10. Crazy to think it took 15 seasons, and 89 regular-season TD hook-ups, before Rivers and TE Antonio Gates finally connected for six in the playoffs.
11. Meanwhile, Patriots QB Tom Brady extended his record for playoff victories by a quarterback to 28. Yawn.
12. 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?
13. Oddly, even though the Chiefs and Patriots were among the AFL’s original franchises in 1960, they’ve met in the playoffs only once. New England triumphed 27-20 in the divisional round three years ago.
14. New England has never reached the Super Bowl after losing it the previous season.
15. The Rams won their first playoff game at Los Angeles 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.)
16. No teams have met more in postseason history than the Cowboys and Rams, who now hold a 5-4 edge.
17. And we thought LeBron was a a Dallas fan ...
18. 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 scrapheap. Now Los Angeles has the best two-headed backfield going, rolling the Cowboys for a playoff franchise-record 273 rushing yards (Anderson and Gurley combined for 238 and three TDs). But New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram might have something to say this Sunday.
19. 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 Dallas on Saturday, they ceded just 2.3 yards per rush while limiting Elliott to a postseason careerlow 47 yards.
20. Just when you think you’ve seen it all in the NFL, you witness a right tackle sack his quarterback. And I would’ve thought Dak Prescott could escape La’el Collins’ grasp ...
21. Cowboy who needs a contract: WR Amari Cooper, who’s entering the fifth-year option of his rookie deal.
22. 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.
23. Congrats to the Chiefs, who ended the longest home playoff losing streak (six games) in NFL history, getting their first postseason win at Arrowhead Stadium in 25 years. Joe Montana was their quarterback in the 1993 win.
24. 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.)
25. Chiefs defense at home = 17.4 points allowed per game this season.
26. So you thought the Chiefs’ offense was out of whack after the dismissal of 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.
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. Before Saturday, Vinatieri had never missed a postseason extra point or field goal attempt inside 25 yards.
28. Speaking of Twitter, it is 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 Los Angeles.
29. 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.
30. Indianapolis’ 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 possessions.
31. 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. General manager 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 a revitalized quarterback ...
32. Dearest mother — a gallant and intrepid offensive by @CaptAndrewLuck and his Colts has ended in honorable defeat to their Chief adversaries. Andrew, uninjured in this operation, beams with pride amid his personal recovery and faith in the reconstituted unit — one that will certainly emerge victorious on battlefields of import in the near future. For now, they endure bitter cold on the road home but are upbeat knowing they’ve got ample scrip to lure future recruits, perhaps even the Bell Man. When Andrew comes marching home again, Hurrah! Hurrah! We’ll give him a hearty welcome then, Hurrah! Hurrah! The men will cheer and the boys will shout, the ladies they will all turn out, and we’ll all feel gay (sic), when Andrew comes marching home.