NFL Reactions: Divisional Round Recap

Texans at Chiefs

We've seen many versions of this Chiefs team over the years. The one constant is that they'll be in their seventh straight AFC Championship game. I can easily nitpick Kansas City's performance against the Texans. They appeared to be playing too soft on defense for three quarters. On their first two drives, they struggled to move the football. On a fourth-quarter drive when they needed about 10 yards to get into field-goal range, they went three-and-out. The wide receivers posted 37 scrimmage yards (all of the yardage belonged to Xavier Worthy). Also, the rushing attack was unable to sustain drives until late in the game. None of it mattered. When the Texans made a serious challenge to win the game, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo turned his defense loose with his patented blitz packages. As a result, C.J. Stroud was sacked eight times. With many of those sacks coming in the fourth quarter, the defense showed up when it was needed. Patrick Mahomes engineered a drive that led to a field goal to give the Chiefs a 23-12 lead with less than four minutes left.

Although the Chiefs offense posted just 227 scrimmage yards, there were three notable takeaways. First, Travis Kelce caught seven passes for 117 yards and a TD. Houston was down to a third-string free safety. As a result, the tight end often had wide-open space to roam. Give the Chiefs credit. Houston had a weakness and Patrick Mahomes made them pay. Next, Isiah Pacecho looks as if his ability to explode on runs has not returned after he missed a large chunk of the season with a broken fibula. It looks like Kareem Hunt, who played well, will retain (at least) an even split with Pacheco. On the TD pass to Kelce that put the Chiefs ahead 20-12 with 11:52 left, we saw vintage Patrick Mahomes. The QB was being brought to the ground for a sack. Right before he hit the ground, Mahomes found Kelce for an 11-yard TD. 

Give credit to the Texans. They played an excellent game. Offensively, Joe Mixon had success on the ground. On the scoreboard, Houston stayed close until midway through the fourth quarter. That allowed the offense to remain balanced until the fourth quarter. If Houston was going to win this game, a big game from Nico Collins would have helped. On a few occasions, the receiver was on the sidelines, so he may have been dealing with some type of injury. Still, just like the Week 16 meeting between these teams, the Chiefs made it a priority to limit Collins' ability to run after the catch. Without Collins unable to be a gamebreaker, that capped the ceiling  The lack of other high-end receiving options hurt them when they needed to make a comeback. Special teams were an issue. On the opening kickoff, Houston allowed the Chiefs to return the kick into field-goal range, which led to a 3-0 deficit. In addition, Ka'imi Fairbairn missed a field goal and extra point. There was also a blocked field-goal at the end that, if converted, would have given the Texans a shot at an onside kick with 1:46 left. 

It was hard to expect more from Houston. All season, the offensive line was a major issue. The team suffered season-ending injuries to Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs. On the bright side, the Texans appear to have a defense that made great strides this year. If the team continues to improve on defense, and  if C.J. Stroud can be put in a better situation, this could be a team to watch in 2025.

Commanders at Lions

When I create my notes for each round of the playoffs, I speculate as to how many games a team would win against that opponent if they played 10 times. Part of that process is the venue and which round of the playoffs the games are in. I saw the Commanders as a good team with a lot of holes. In addition, the team was playing in a hostile road environment against a battle-tested Detroit squad. I projected Washington to earn one win in 10 tries. Maybe this game was the one scenario in which the Commanders would win. Instead, Jayden Daniels showed a quality that not many quarterbacks possess. The moment was not too big for him. Actually, Daniels seemed to thrive in the moment. Obviously, Daniels has done many great things on the field as a rookie. He also led a number of incredible comebacks. To do that in the second round of the playoffs made a big statement. For the second playoff game in a row, Dyami Brown stepped up with a strong performance. Now the team appears to have a reliable wide receiver complement to Terry McLaurin. Also, the defense is still prone to giving up big plays on the ground and through the air. However, they were opportunistic in getting Jared Goff to turn the ball over four times while also intercepting a pass from Jameson Williams. Even though the defense as well as the offensive line have questions, this team must be given a realistic chance to get to the Super Bowl.

Remember that Week 18 game the Lions played against the Vikings? Going into that game, the decimated Detroit defense had given up 32.5 points per game in their prior four contests. I should have known after the Wild-Card round when the Vikings were crushed by the Rams that the Lions defensive performance in that season finale was a one-game mirage. In the first half, the Commanders scored 31 points (a pick-six helped) and 312 scrimmage yards. After halftime, the Lions got a defensive stop. Things went downhill after that. The next two Washington drives netted 14 points while taking 12 minutes off the clock. Game over.

I don't want to pile on Jared Goff. He has been very productive the last few years with the Lions. However, the veteran's timing for a bad game couldn't have been worse. Goff lost a fumble early in the game. In addition, he threw three interceptions. The Lions needed the offense to win in shootouts if they hoped to make it through the NFC bracket. With the season on the line in a pressure-packed game, Goff wasn't up to the task. During his time in Detroit, I've viewed him as a good quarterback in a great situation. The Lions have a strong line, great skill-position players and excellent coaching. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has been masterful in crafting an offense to the strengths of his quarterback. I assume the coach will take a head-coaching job and leave Detroit. Without great coaching, I am concerned that Goff will regress. I hope I'm wrong. Moving to Jahmyr Gibbs, he needs to be a full-time running back. He's one of the most incredible players in the league. I love David Montgomery, but on this version of a Lions team that needed to win in shootouts, any snaps in which Gibbs was on the sidelines was not good for the offense. Maybe a new offensive coordinator can find a way to get both RBs on the field more often. Also, Sam LaPorta saw far fewer targets than he did in 2023, but the tight end was more productive on a per-snap basis. LaPorta should be a top tight end for years to come. On the other side of the ball, the defense should get a lot of players back from injury next year. Between having fantastic weapons on offense and potential for a solid defense, I hope they can make a run next year.

Rams at Eagles

The first eight games of the playoff season provided one game that kept me interested. This contest had me on the edge of my seat all afternoon. 

Saquon Barkley's performance was one for the ages. His touchdowns runs of 62 and 78 yards were electrifying. Barkley not only rushed for 205 yards, but he was the Eagles' second-leading receiver. Throw in a 44-yard TD run by Jalen Hurts, and Philly's rushing attack led the team to the NFC Championship. Otherwise, I'm not convinced that A.J. Brown is healthy right now. He missed practices in each of the last two weeks with a knee injury. In two playoff games, the star has three catches for 24 yards. Also, Hurts injured his knee in this game. The QB finished the contest, but it'll be interesting to see if Hurts can play at full capacity next week. Overall, I wasn't happy with the performance of the Philadelphia offensive line. They allowed a smaller Rams' defensive front to sack Hurts seven times. The line will need to be better next week. During the regular season, I had a major concern with the team. Kicker Jake Elliott was terrible this year. The veteran made 77 percent of his field goals, which is unacceptable. Elliott also missed a number of key kicks during the season. It was surprising that the kicker wasn't replaced by a team with Super Bowl aspirations. In this contest, the kicker missed two extra points. Had the Rams scored on the last drive, those missed kicks would have been the difference between winning and losing. Finally, had the weather not been a factor, I don't believe the Eagles would have been able to hold off the Rams. So what! The Eagles earned the home-field advantage. Weather is part of that advantage, so the team deserved it. 

The Rams had a great season. Not having earned a second-round home game may have been the factor that ended their season. Matthew Stafford had the offense moving the ball well. However, the snow became a bigger issue as the game progressed. Kyren Williams and Stafford both lost second-half fumbles. Between the lost opportunities, and the Eagles kicking field goals after each of those miscues, those six points were the margin of loss. Still, Los Angeles nearly came back from a 28-15 deficit with a few minutes left. Stafford engineered a TD drive, and came up just short on a potential game-winning drive. As long as coach Sean McVay has Stafford at QB, the Rams will continue to have a dangerous offense. I am also excited to see this defense next year. Led by Jared Verse, Los Angeles sacked the QB seven times. The last of those sacks forced the Eagles to punt the ball back to the Rams with 2:23 left in the game. Los Angeles already has a great pass rush. If they can add some better cornerbacks next year, the defense could take a major leap. 

Ravens at Bills

The Bills are headed to Arrowhead to try to finally get past Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. This was a weird game for Buffalo. Josh Allen threw for 122 yards and rushed for 20 more. Aside from Khalil Shakir, no WR or TE had more than 13 yards. Instead, the team ran the ball 36 times compared to 22 attempted passes. Sure, Buffalo took advantage of three Baltimore giveaways to help them maintain a lead for most of the last three quarters. However, on the four possessions that Buffalo had in the second half, they punted on the first two and kicked field goals on the latter two. We could give credit to the Ravens defense. However, I was not impressed by the lack of aggression on offense. Being passive seemed to give the Ravens a chance to get back in the game. Again, credit to the Bills. They won a critical playoff game. That said, they may not have the luxury of making those types of decisions when they play at Kansas City next week.

Baltimore moved the ball right down the field and went up 7-0 less than five minutes into the game. On the next drive, Lamar Jackson threw an interception before fumbling the ball away on the drive after that. I'm sure many were thinking that we were getting another year of 'Playoff Lamar.' I can confidently say that was not the case. Jackson did everything in his power to bring the Ravens back. Unfortunately, the two early mistakes left little margin for error. In the fourth quarter, the Ravens were over midfield in an attempt to take the lead. Mark Andrews was in the midst of a catch and run when he had the football punched out. That didn't fall on Jackson. Still, the QB had one more chance. Jackson drove the ball down the field, resulting in a TD to cut the game to two points. Stunningly, Andrews dropped the two-point conversion that would've tied the game. So, Jackson deserves credit for playing a strong game after a slow start. No, he didn't get to the Super Bowl, which was the goal, but I want to put to rest the idea that he cannot function in the biggest playoff games. Also, I was disappointed that the Ravens did not use more heavy personnel sets early in the game. The Bills were putting extra bodies up front to slow Henry. Had Baltimiore brought in extra blockers, the star RB could've had a bigger impact on the game. Next year, this team needs to avoid losing games to teams like the Raiders and the Browns. Had the Ravens won those games, this game could have been played at home, and that may have gotten the team a better result.