A Freight Train Came Through

There was a moment that it appeared the Houston Texans would get the best of the top seeded Baltimore Ravens. After their punt return for a touchdown, Houston had tied the game before halftime. If only the Texans offense could have mustered anything in the second half. Baltimore’s defense suffocated Houston and the Ravens offense just needed to avoid making mistakes. It was a cake walk from that point on. This isn’t taking anything away from what Houston accomplished this season. They are positioned to return to the playoffs for the foreseeable future. They just missed on this opportunity against a better opponent. Baltimore will now host the AFC Championship for the first time in franchise history.

It Was Close, Closer Than It Should Have Been

It wasn’t the best time for the San Francisco 49ers to play a game of cat and mouse with the Green Bay Packers. For their sake, the Packers didn’t exactly run away with it, but they were well within reach of the lead in the first half. When the second half started, Green Bay was relentless. Their defense was getting crucial stops and RB Aaron Jones was controlling the pace on offense. Yet, when it mattered the most, the 49ers had an ace in the hole with RB Christian McCaffrey getting two crucial rushing touchdowns, including the eventual game winner. Green Bay still had a chance, but QB Jordan Love reverted back to being a first year starter in the fourth quarter. That last interception he threw into double coverage is one that no quarterback should ever make. Call it what you want, but the Niners came out on top and will play in the their fourth conference championship game in the last five years.

This Era Looks To Be Over

If there was ever a time that worked in the Buffalo Bills favor, it was the 2023 season in which they had a higher seed than the Kansas City Chiefs and hosted them in a playoff game in Buffalo, New York. What ended up happening was a host of questionable play-calls, poor play on defense and an unnecessary fake punt that could (and should) have cost them dearly. QB Josh Allen had moments where a turnover could have happened. Including on their final drive that almost ended the game when he fumbled the ball. After that play he seemed to be more gun shy about rushing the ball when he was effective the entire game before the fumble. Allen was going for the home run threat too often on that final drive as well instead of hitting the open man underneath. Their defense did them no favors either and that is what ultimately cost them the game. Kicker Tyler Bass missing a game tying field goal would not have guaranteed the Bills an overtime to possibly win the game. They would have once again left too much time on the clock (1:47 to be exact) for QB Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense to simply kick a game winning field goal of their own to avoid overtime. I said before the season started that this seemed like a ‘make or break’ season for the Buffalo Bills. It’s broken and there are a lot of issues that need to be hashed out.

They Are One Step Away Now

For all that talk about the Detroit Lions getting hosed in Dallas by the referees, I bet most Lions fans don’t care about it anymore. Fact of the matter is with the Dallas Cowboys being eliminated by the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round, Detroit was able to host two playoff games as a result. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were Detroit’s next opponent and while the score would indicate that it was a close game, it really wasn’t. While Bucs QB Baker Mayfield had a good season, he did not have a great game against the Lions. He threw two interceptions and in large part were due to the constant pressure he was under by Detroit’s pass rushers. Mayfield was sacked four times and Tampa Bay’s offense seemed to abandon the run game with RB Rachaad White only carrying the ball 9 times for 55 yards. A respectable 6.1 yards per carry. With Detroit’s defense doing its job, their offense took care of business with rookie RB Jahmyr Gibbs having 114 total yards through the air and ground with one rushing touchdown. With this victory, Detroit will be playing in the NFC Championship for only the second time in franchise history.