Welcome to the Conference Championship Sunday edition of the Sunday FreakOut, where we react and overreact to everything that happened in the Sunday afternoon games. For the full Sunday roundup podcast-style, be sure to subscribe to The MMQB Podcast, in your feed every Monday morning…
Things That Made Me Giddy
Joe Burrow Maximum Escapacity: This was the more spectacular of the two spectacular escapes he had on Sunday. He’s being tasked with operating a veteran offense in his second year in the league, and he doesn’t always have the answers provided for him. But, frequently, he’s creating his own answers.
Lou Anarumo Had Answers: Save for a shaky call on a third-and-1 around midfield on the final drive of regulation, the Bengals played coverage and velcroed on to the Chiefs’ receivers. This has quietly become a very good unit the past two seasons.
The Audacity of Evan McPherson: He’s 11-for-11 in the postseason now, with another 52-yarder and another walk-off make on Sunday.
Eli Apple Is Suddenly Everywhere You Want to Be: A seven-point tackle at the end of the first half following a defensive pass interference that seemed like it would be the key play on a Bengals scoring drive.
In the End, Chiefs Offensive Line Held Up . . . Fine: Granted, the Bengals sprinkled in a few three-man rushes, but the worry all season that the offensive line would do them in again ended up being unfounded. Cincinnati played coverage, the receivers didn’t get open and Mahomes played poorly.
Regrets
Chiefs Play Clock Games and Lose: The one at the end of the first half, when Patrick Mahomes insisted the offense stay on the field with five seconds left and no time outs, was entirely on Mahomes. If you know Tyreek Hill is coming in motion and will have to make the catch short of the end zone, he’s not an option unless there are no defenders on that side of the field with him. At the end of regulation, they first tried to bleed the clock to try to keep Joe Burrow from getting another possession by starting the series with a throwaway run. Then, they changed their tack with a play-action call that resulted in a coverage sack. That put them in third-and-goal from the 9, which was followed by another coverage sack.
Halftime in Kansas City: As bad as the final play of the first half was for Kansas City, bringing on the guy who does the off-brand Achy Breaky Heart song from the commercial everyone hates to play halftime (and drown out CBS’s halftime show) was much more a harbinger of doom for this organization. That cannot be your halftime show.
Mecole Hardman Has to Relax: Things can get heated on the sideline, and Hardman has a right to say something if he thinks they’re missing him. But he’s a drop-prone third receiver on an offense led by an All-Pro quarterback and featuring arguably the best wide receiver and best tight end in the NFL. You can’t complain so demonstrably that the cameras pick it up.
C.J. Uzomah Goes Down: Honestly, he seemed to be among the most pedestrian players in the NFL coming into this season, and then suddenly, in Year 4, emerged as a key component to this spread offense as a moveable chess piece. Seeing him carted off on Sunday, putting his Super Bowl availability in question, is a bummer.
Moments We’ll Tell Our Grandkids About
Jessie Bates’s Perfection:
B.J. Hill Wasn’t Even Supposed to Be Here!: Stepping up in place of an injured Larry Ogunjobi…
What We’ll Be Talking About This Week
Zac Taylor’s Offense: Everyone hates it, because it asks so much of its young quarterback (c’mon Zac, just do the Shanahan thing!). But, as with any offense, what the quarterback wants matters. Spreading things out, dictating matchups, moving safeties around post-snap and fitting in contested-catch throws isn’t easy, but apparently it is what Burrow is comfortable doing.
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