Home field is not really an advantage
The 20 things we learned from wildcard weekend as the NFL playoffs began:
1. Media members who cover the NFL typically spend the last two months of the regular season mapping ways teams can earn playoff home games. The question is why? The 2017 playoffs kicked off with home teams losing the first two contests, while the Jaguars and Saints were hardly impressive despite winning Sunday.
2. And can we stop talking about the mythical home-field advantage the Chiefs purportedly enjoy at Arrowhead Stadium? They’ve now lost their past six playoff games there, typically in heartbreaking fashion. The next time Kansas City clinches a playoff spot, the starters should be shut down for as long as necessary to lock the team into a wild-card spot, ensuring a fighting chance to win on the road.
3. The NFL’s concussion protocol continues to be a fiasco. Even after the league and NFLPA mandated last month that players struggling to stay upright be taken to the locker room for evaluation, the Panthers seemingly failed to adhere to the new guideline when Cam Newton appeared dazed in the fourth quarter. Carolina contended the quarterback, who missed one play, was being treated for an eye injury even though Fox cameras seemed to show Newton struggling to stay on his feet on the sideline even after trainers attended to him on the field. The league withheld comment amid discussions with the team’s medical staff.
4. Rams RB Todd Gurley made the most of his 18 touches Saturday, gaining
111 yards. But he wasn’t involved enough. L.A. was 9-0 this season when he had at least 20 combined carries and receptions. When he didn’t, the Rams were just 2-5.
5. The Falcons clearly tried to put Saturday night’s game on the right arm of Rams QB Jared Goff rather than let Gurley beat them. The strategy worked as Goff ’s playoff inexperience was evident at times. He obviously deserves more time to grow into his franchise QB role — he made great strides in 2017 — and if he does (and the Rams pick up needed depth in free agency and the draft), this team should be relevant for a long time.
6. Atlanta QB Matt Ryan is interception-free in his past four playoff games, his last pick coming in the 2012 NFC Championship Game loss to the 49ers. However, his last game with more than two TD passes was last year’s NFC title game, an 18-game drought. Though Atlanta’s defense seems to have turned a corner, this team no longer looks capable of keeping pace in a shootout.
7. According to BookMaker.eu, the Falcons will open as three-point favor- ites for Saturday’s game against the topseeded Eagles. Philadelphia would be the first No. 1 seed to be an underdog against a No. 6 seed and the first top seed to be an underdog in the divisional round since 1985.
8. We wish he had a little less to say sometimes, but for our money, Jacksonville’s Jalen Ramsey is the NFL’s premier corner, full stop. His brilliant anticipation allowed him to ice Sunday’s win as he ended Buffalo’s final drive with an INT of QB Nathan Peterman. It should be fun watching Ramsey match up with Steelers WR Antonio Brown next weekend.
9. That said, we understand the frustration of Bills coach Sean McDermott after replay review upheld Ramsey’s INT just two weeks after the Bills were controversially stripped of a TD in New England. We’d say the officiating department in New York made the correct call on Ramsey, though it’s reversed plenty of plays that seemed to offer less “evidence” than this play did.
10. Titans QB Marcus Mariota has taken a lot of flak, much deserved, for his disappointing third NFL season. But he showed a lot of resolve by playing much of the season with a hamstring injury. And his restored mobility, grit, awareness (surely you saw his TD pass to himself in Saturday’s win at Kansas City) and toughness — his block sprung RB Derrick Henry for a game-icing 22yard run on Tennessee’s final series — are why his teammates absolutely adore him.
11. It’s time for the Titans to move on from RB DeMarco Murray, whose knee injury has cost him the past two games. This isn’t so much a dig at the veteran as much as an endorsement of Henry, whose wrecking-ball style was on full display Saturday. He’s better off getting the kind of heavy workload that allows him to get into a rhythm and can crack a defense late. Henry piled up 114 of his 156 rushing yards against the Chiefs after halftime.
12. No one is going to pick the Titans to beat the Patriots. But let’s give Tennessee a puncher’s chance. Establishing Henry is a key. So is stopping a Patriots run game that’s averaged 138 yards over the past six games. (The Titans ranked fourth stopping the run this season and just held Kansas City to 69 yards.) And Mariota is the type of dual-threat quarterback who has given New England problems.
13. Of course, the big story this week in New England will be the Patriots vs. the Patriots in the wake of ESPN’s detailed report on organizational tension. An us-against-the-world mentality usually galvanizes the five-time champs. It will be interesting to see how this manifests if an us-against-us dynamic truly has permeated the NFL’s only dynasty of the past two decades. Still, the Patriots are 9-1 in divisional round games at Gillette Stadium. Their only loss was to the New York Jets during the 2010 playoffs.
14. Either Travis Kelce is the Chiefs’ MVP or the team simply lacks sufficient playmakers beyond the Pro Bowl tight end, RB Kareem Hunt and WR Tyreek Hill. Kansas City was up 14-3 when Kelce
(4 catches, 66 yards, TD) left Saturday’s game right before halftime and took a
21-3 edge seven plays after he was concussed. But with Hunt largely bottled up by the Titans, and Hill — he has plenty of work to do to become a polished receiver — dropping balls right and left, Kansas City couldn’t score in the second half, when it managed just 21 offensive snaps and 61 yards.
15. That said, some NFL team will be lucky to get Alex Smith, who almost surely will be traded so the Chiefs can give the offensive keys to first-round QB Patrick Mahomes. Smith dropped to 2-5 in his hard-luck postseason career despite playing fairly well. His all-time playoff numbers now include 14 TD passes, just two interceptions and a 97.4 QB rating. Is he an elite quarterback? No. Is he good enough to win a ring in a place like Jacksonville or revitalize teams like the Jets, Browns or Cardinals? Definitely.
16. While we’re on the Smith topic, Jaguars QB Blake Bortles passed for 87 yards and rushed for 88 in Sunday’s win over Buffalo. Maybe Jacksonville should deal for Smith and convert Bortles, who’s averaged 6.3 yards per run during his four-year career, into a change-ofpace option behind Leonard Fournette. Or maybe Jacksonville should go full triple option with Bortles on the trigger. Yet given their own QB dissatisfaction, perhaps the Bills could make a play for Smith first.
17. Still, let’s give Bortles and Jaguars coach Doug Marrone due credit. That was a gutsy call by Marrone going for the TD on fourth-and-goal at the end of the third quarter with the score tied 3-3. But Bortles hit TE Ben Koyack in the back of the end zone with his best throw of the day on the game’s decisive play.
18. The loss of Saints LG Andrus Peat, who was carted off the field Sunday with what was described as a shin injury, could be huge. He’s a major component to a Saints offensive line that struggled to run the ball without him. New Orleans also relies on Peat’s mass (6-7, 316) to give shortish QB Drew Brees plenty of room to see and throw through passing lanes.
19. The Saints earned a rematch with the Vikings, who beat New Orleans 29
19 in a Week 1 contest that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. But so much has changed. Saints star rookie RB Alvin Kamara was stuck at the time behind since-traded RB Adrian Peterson. And Minnesota’s starting backfield in the opener was QB Sam Bradford and RB Dalvin Cook. The prologue really won’t provide much insight for a preview to the divisional round.
20. Chiefs coach Andy Reid is 0-2 in playoff games his team leads by at least
18 points at halftime (Kansas City’s 45
44 loss to the Colts in the 2013 playoffs was the other). The rest of the coaches in NFL history are a combined 67-2 under the same circumstance.