Tag Archives: Divisional

Patrick Mahomes goes nuclear on Chiefs’ sideline over needing X-rays in AFC divisional round game, doc shows – Fox News

July 12, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

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Most head-scratching moments from NFL divisional round: Patrick Mahomes playing, coaching blunders make list

January 23, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

On Saturday, we witnessed Patrick Mahomes hobbling up and down the field at Arrowhead Stadium to lead the Kansas City Chiefs back to their fifth consecutive AFC Championship in a 27-20 win against the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars. We also saw the Philadelphia Eagles tie their biggest margin of victory in a playoff game in franchise history with their 38-7 curb-stomping of their NFC East rival, the New York Giants.

Sunday around the NFL was pretty wild as well. The Cincinnati Bengals marched into Buffalo and trounced the Bills, 27-10, to prevent a neutral site AFC Championship Game. The Cowboys had multiple chances, but they couldn’t overcome an injury to running back Tony Pollard, as well as their poor execution, in their season-ending 19-12 loss at the San Francisco 49ers.

The second week of the NFL playoffs included the league’s eight most elite teams, so there was obviously some high-level football being played. However, there was also plenty of confounding football as well across the weekend. Here are some of the head-scratching decisions that occurred this divisional round weekend.

Chiefs’ handling of Patrick Mahomes’ injury

Every Chiefs player, coach and fan experienced their worst nightmare in the Chiefs’ 27-20 win in the opening game of the divisional round playoffs on Saturday afternoon: an injury to Mahomes. The 2022 first-team All-Pro passer got sandwiched by two Jacksonville Jaguars defenders as he threw a pass, causing his leg to bend at a painful angle. Mahomes initially grabbed both his right knee and ankle in agony after the play.

Even though Mahomes asked head coach Andy Reid to stay in the game, it was head-scratching to see him skip around like he was playing hop-scotch to execute basic, under-center handoffs to his running backs. He did not receive any brace before going back out for the next play, not missing any time. Mahomes then got his ankle taped and came back in the game, continuing to not miss any plays.

Eventually, the Chiefs inserted back up quarterback Chad Henne into the game. Henne, who led Kansas City to victory in the 2020 AFC divisional round against the Cleveland Browns after a Mahomes injury, led Kansas City on a 98-yard touchdown drive that he capped off with a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce. That pass marked Henne’s first touchdown in his playoff career.

The game was tied at 7-7 when the injury occurred. The Chiefs turned that drive into a field goal to make it 10-3 and extended their lead to 17-7 after Henne’s first-career postseason TD pass. Yet, Mahomes went back on to the field to start the second half. Mahomes was still hopping around while running under-center handoffs near the goal line in the fourth quarter. The presumptive league MVP’s mobility was clearly hampered by the injury, as none of his 18 passes were outside of the pocket following the injury.

Patrick Mahomes before/after injury

Comp/Att	10/12	12/18
Attempts outside pocket	6	0
Average time to throw	3.12	2.57
Passer rating	121.2	103.5

While it is the postseason, it was still strange seeing the Chiefs risk a long-term injury to the face of their franchise. Mahomes continuing to hobble around on his injured ankle during the divisional round game could put him in a worse spot for the AFC championship game as well next week, a game he says he’ll play in after being diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain.

Andy Reid loses timeout over unnecessary challenge

Facing second-and-seven from their own 23 with 7:48 remaining in the third quarter, Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco caught a swing pass toward the left sideline from Mahomes and gained six yards, getting marked just short of the line to gain for a first down. Reid decided that instead of facing third-and-inches, having two plays to get just under a yard, he would rather have the first down immediately.

With the call on the field being short of a first down, Reid needed indisputable video evidence to win the challenge, something that didn’t happen, so Kansas City lost a timeout and a challenge early into the final 30 minutes of action. The Chiefs then opted to run a direct snap to tight end Noah Gray in order to pick up the first down that was stuffed by the Jaguars defensive line. Kansas City then punted since it was already backed up in its own end of the field. That sequence marked a few poor coaching decisions in terms of play-calling and timeout usage that didn’t end up hurting Chiefs this week, but that type of sequence could come back to burn them against the Bengals, the team that ended their season a year ago in the AFC Championship.

Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase blows by defenders on a regular basis for wide-open touchdowns, as his six receiving scores of 50 or more yards are the most in the entire NFL since he entered the league in 2021. However, his 28-yard touchdown to begin the AFC divisional round matchup between the Bengals and the Bills was unusual because he was stunningly WIDE OPEN against a secondary that ranked inside the top 10 for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed in the regular season.

It appeared there was a coverage bust in the middle of Buffalo’s zone coverage, but nevertheless, it’s still head-scratching to see such a high-profile top option THAT open in a divisional round playoff game. Seeing the play in dots form, courtesy of NextGen Stats, makes the defensive coverage look even more mind-numbingly off.

Controversial TD overturn

Initially, Chase had caught his second touchdown of the first half Sunday, this time from 10 yards out on third-and-goal. However, replay review overturned the call on the field of a touchdown, and Cincinnati settled for a 28-yard field goal to take a 17-7 lead instead of a 21-7 lead. The NFL has re-written its catch rule several times in recent years, especially after backlash from the Cowboys and their fans when Dez Bryant’s fourth-down catch with just more than four minutes left in the 2014 divisional round was overturned on a replay review.

While it has since softened its stance on surviving the ground, the NFL is apparently still looking for perfection when it comes to the football’s movement while securing a catch. It’s quite understandable to come away from looking at the replay of Chase’s near-score and only see the call on the field, which was Chase hauling in another touchdown.

Kyle Shanahan’s first-half timeout usage

Following Dak Prescott’s second interception of the first-half, the 49ers took over at their own 28-yard line with 1:24 left in the first half of a tie game. Head coach and offensive play-caller Kyle Shanahan then opted for a curious sequence of play-calling: a run with wide receiver Deebo Samuel and a run with running back Christian McCaffrey. Those two plays gained only nine yards, making it seem like Shanahan was content to go into the locker room tied at six.

However, he then called the 49ers’ second timeout after those two plays, leaving his team a third-and-one with 30 seconds to go. Following the timeout, quarterback Brock Purdy threw a 10-yard pass to Samuel that reached their own 47, and Shanahan called another timeout. The initial two plays, followed by the conversion, would lead most to think that was going to be it for the first half. However, the 49ers then had zero timeouts and a first down near midfield. It ended up all working out for Shanahan and San Francisco, as Purdy sandwiched a 21-yard completion to receiver Jauan Jennings in-between three incompletions, the last of which sailed out of bounds with only a second left on the first-half clock.

Although the 49ers were able to take a 9-6 lead into the break, it appeared as though Shanahan couldn’t decide what he wanted to do to end the half, leading to some confusing timeout usage and mixed messaging.

The Cowboys were on the ropes after punting the football back to the 49ers trailing, 19-12, with just over two minutes to go, but they still had four opportunities for the clock to be stopped between the two-minute warning and all three timeouts. Two or three first downs, if handled correctly, would have sealed the game and kept the Cowboys from getting one last chance.

Fast-forward to 1:53 left in the game, and the 49ers facing a second-and-nine. The Cowboys had already used a timeout, so staying inbounds for another first down would have all but sealed the game. Mitchell checked the first box, blowing by the Dallas defense for a new set of downs. But here was the problem: he went out of bounds. Almost every time a player gets in that situation, they go out of their way to do a baseball slide in the field of play to keep the clock moving, but Mitchell’s adrenaline likely got the best of him as he jogged out of bounds. That decision allowed the Cowboys to get the ball back, and he’s fortunate his defense stood tall. Otherwise, he would be dealing with some uncomfortable thoughts entering the offseason.

49ers’ conservative final offensive drive

Kyle Shanahan gets praise for his offensive innovation, and rightfully so, but his play-calling on the final drive became uber-conservative, and the risk-averse play-calling allowed the Cowboys to get the ball back one last time. After Mitchell picked up a first down, the next three plays gained a combined zero yards: a Mitchell run up the middle for one yard, another Mitchell run up the middle that went for no gain, and a horizontal pass from Purdy to McCaffrey that lost a yard. For all the motion and unique usage of his fullbacks, tight ends and receivers, Shanahan going run, run, pass when one more first down would’ve ended the game was bewildering.

Cowboys’ cringeworthy end to season

In college football, a player can complete a catch while getting just one foot down inbounds. However, two feet are required to do so in the pros. It appeared as though Schultz had a brain-fart regarding those rules in a humongous spot. It appeared as though he initially made a critical 15-yard gain to get Dallas into Hail Mary range with six seconds left in the game. Unfortunately for the Silver and Blue, the Cowboys tight end clearly didn’t get his second foot down upon review, pushing them back to their own 24-yard line.

Dallas appeared to choose to go with a hook-and-ladder play to try and score a miracle touchdown, but multiple components of the play resulted in the failed execution. The first one is using return man and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin as the player to pitch the ball to a sprinting teammate. Turpin is the fastest player on the Cowboys, meaning he should have been the one receiving the pitch after the initial catch, not the one setting up the play. The other flaw was Turpin’s execution in the initiator spot since he completely failed to get the ball out of his hands quick enough for even one other Cowboy to touch the football. A failure in scheme and execution doomed the Cowboys’ final play of their 2022 season.

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What we learned from NFL playoffs divisional round, Day 1: From Eagles’ resurgence to Patrick Mahomes’ injury

January 22, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

The next wave of NFL playoff football is well underway. The divisional round kicked off Saturday with a pair of regular-season rematches, and, boy, do we have a lot of ground to cover just in the wake of that action. The Chiefs are headed back to the AFC Championship, thanks to a 27-20 victory over the upstart Jaguars. And the Eagles will host the NFC Championship for the second time in five years after routing the Giants, 38-7.

Here are some immediate and big-picture takeaways from the opening day of the divisional round:

Hurts and the Eagles are back

We say “back” because, frankly, it felt a lot like they “left” over the last month. Ever since Jalen Hurts, once a virtual lock to go head to head with Patrick Mahomes for this year’s MVP honors, went down with a shoulder injury, Philly kind of plateaued, if not regressed, on the way into the postseason. But on Saturday night against a Giants team fresh off an impressive upset of Minnesota, they looked back to peak form. Hurts, for one, had seemingly no limitations, excelling early as a passer and, perhaps more notably, on the ground. And the Haason Reddick-led defense got after Daniel Jones and Co. all night, handing New York what Brian Daboll later called a “crash landing.” It’s time to consider the Birds true title contenders once again.

The Giants need more help than we thought

This year was still a success for New York. The G-Men weren’t even supposed to make the playoffs, considering the torn-down roster Brian Daboll inherited. Daniel Jones certainly registers as a different prospect than he did even months ago. But unlike even Jacksonville, which took Kansas City to the wire under a first-year coach (more on that below), the Giants had hardly any fight or urgency in Philadelphia. That’s not primarily the fault of either Jones or Daboll, but rather a lineup still severely undermanned at premium spots. General manager Joe Schoen badly needs to prioritize upgrades along the offensive line, out wide and at linebacker, among other positions.

Mahomes’ ankle is a legitimate concern

The big story of the Chiefs earning a fifth straight AFC title-game appearance had nothing to do with the actual win, or the highlights that led to it — Isiah Pacheco’s open lanes, Kadarius Toney’s heavy involvement, some big D-line moments. As soon as star quarterback Patrick Mahomes briefly exited with an ankle injury in the second quarter, his health became paramount. The MVP candidate was visibly resistant to medical attention and fought through a noticeable limp to keep Kansas City in front and seal the win.

CBS Sports’ Doug Clawson also points out that Mahomes, who is used to relying on his mobility, has accounted for 41% of the league’s touchdown passes outside the pocket (15 of 36) in the last five postseasons.

He’ll surely do everything in his power to remain under center moving forward, but that doesn’t mean it won’t affect his mobility and/or Andy Reid’s play-calling, even if just to a slight degree. Thankfully, for the Chiefs …

It doesn’t really matter who’s under center; few players produce so consistently when it matters most. No. 87 was all over the place, working the middle against Jacksonville to the tune of 14 catches for 98 yards and two scores. There’s really not much else to be said other than: Kelce’s presence, with or without an imposing No. 1 receiver drawing attention on the outside, is often enough to keep K.C. moving up and down the field. At 33, he’s still at the top of his game.

The Jaguars are here to stay

It’s been apparent for a while that Jacksonville made the right call by hiring ex-Eagles coach Doug Pederson, but this team’s performance in the postseason — just the second Jaguars’ playoff bid in the last 15 years — justifies the brewing optimism in Northeast Florida. Coming back from down 27 to beat the Chargers was a miraculous confirmation that Trevor Lawrence and Co. are on the rise. But keeping the Chiefs on their toes at Arrowhead was arguably just as impressive, even with Mahomes limping around for much of the day. Pederson called the game with his trademark aggressiveness. Lawrence flashed veteran-level confidence. Best of all, reinforcements should be coming as Calvin Ridley and others join play-makers like Travis Etienne Jr., Christian Kirk and Jamal Agnew; the latter two showed with untimely miscues they might shine in more secondary roles.

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Eagles vs. Giants score: Live updates, game stats, highlights, analysis for 2023 NFL playoff divisional game

January 22, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

PHILADELPHIA — A statement has been made by the Philadelphia Eagles in this first half as they jumped out to a 28-0 lead over the New York Giants, as Philadelphia has dominated through the air and on the ground. Jalen Hurts started 7 of 7 for 89 yards as the Eagles built a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, finding Dallas Goedert and DeVonta Smith on touchdown passes to give Philadelphia a commanding lead.

The Giants have just 64 yards at halftime as Daniel Jones has thrown an interception and has been hit five times. Haason Reddick has two sacks for the Eagles in the first half, tying the franchise record for most sacks in a playoff game. James Bradberry has the interception for the Eagles, the first by an Eagles cornerback since Week 9.

Boston Scott scored a touchdown for the Eagles in the second quarter to put them up 21-0, his 11th touchdown in nine career games against the Giants. Scott has 19 career touchdowns, living up to his “Giant Killer” reputation. Hurts had a rushing touchdown to cap off the dominant first half, as he finished 12 of 17 for 118 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions (129.0 rating). Hurts also has seven carries for 31 yards and a score.

We’ll have all the action from the stadium in the live blog below, along with all the real-time updates and analysis! Be sure to follow along!

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Our Eagles vs. Giants predictions for NFL divisional round

January 21, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

The No. 1-seeded Eagles are hosting the No. 6-seeded Giants on Saturday in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

To the predictions:

Reuben Frank (13-4)

It’s natural to feel skittish about this game. We just saw the Giants play their best game of the year, on the road, against a 13-win Vikings team. We just saw their young quarterback fashion a masterpiece in his playoff debut. We just saw their rookie coach lead his team to its first postseason win in a decade. But facing an almost completely healthy Eagles team that went 14-1 under Jalen Hurts and is playing at home and is rested after a bye week is an entirely different thing. The Giants scored 31 points against the Vikings’ 31st-ranked defense. If they score 31 on the Eagles’ No. 2-ranked defense, more power to them. But I don’t think they can. I expect Jalen Hurts to be close to 100 percent, and with a healthy Hurts the Eagles are just a better team than the Giants across the board. Hats off to Daboll and the job he’s done this year, but it ends at the Linc.

Eagles 27, Giants 20

Dave Zangaro (13-4)

The Eagles are better than the Giants. They just are. I understand that the Giants looked good last week against the paper tiger Vikings and give them credit. But the Eagles had a more impressive weekend sitting on their couch. They earned that No. 1 seed and let’s be real: If they needed to play the Seahawks last week as the No. 2 seed, they would have smashed them. Brian Daboll clearly has the Giants pointed in the right direction but the Giants’ talent just doesn’t match up.

We’ve seen a couple different versions of that Giants defense this season but I have confidence the Eagles will be able to dissect either. If the Giants want to be aggressive and blitz Jalen Hurts, then Hurts will beat them with 1-on-1 mismatches with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and also have the ability to scamper away from pressure. If Wink Martindale wants to do what he did last week against the Vikings, then Dallas Goedert is going to have a huge game like T.J. Hockenson did in the wild card round.

And when the Eagles are on defense, the Giants just don’t have enough firepower. Saquon Barkley looks healthy, Daniel Jones has gotten better and they have a decent trio of receivers. But it’s going to take a perfect game for the Giants to beat the Eagles. Sure, it’s possible. But as long as the Eagles don’t beat themselves, they’ll be hosting the NFC Championship Game next weekend.

Eagles 33, Giants 24

Barrett Brooks (13-4)

It’s time to stop talking about what the Giants have accomplished this year. I respect head coach Brian Daboll and what he has done producing wins with the level of talent he possesses. I am tired of all the hoopla the Giants have received from beating an average Vikings team. Offensively, the Giants have a really good running back in Saquon Barkley. He looks like the rookie back that was so explosive. Daniel Jones has also taken over the offense, meaning it is no longer Saquon left and Saquon right. Daboll is trusting Jones’ arm and his ability to open up the passing game. Jones is now starting to use his legs and scramble more. In my opinion, Mike Kafka is telling his QB that if the first read isn’t there, pull the ball down and run.

DC Don ‘Wink’ Martindale is a blitzer by nature. When I watched the Vikings film, Wink didn’t send the blitz as much. In saying that, I can’t see Wink blitzing Jalen Hurts, because you must run man-to-man. When you play that style, the DBs backs are turned around, which allows Hurts to scramble for more yards. I also see the running game of the Eagles being a potent weapon against the bad run defense of the Giants.

Eagles 32 Giants 18

Mike Mulhern (14-3)

The Giants will fight, they’ll pull out all the stops, but they just simply won’t have enough to beat the Eagles. The national and New York media seem desperate for any semblance of success from either of the teams in East Rutherford, but pump the brakes on the 2007 Giants Super Bowl comparisons. It’d be like expecting the Eagles to hoist the Lombardi Trophy every time the backup quarterback comes in just because Nick Foles was magical in 2017. Yet, winning three of your last nine games, including a win over the fraudulent Vikings now somehow equates to the Giants being “on a roll.”

Yes, Daniel Jones looked great a week ago, but Minnesota’s defense is one of the worst in the league. He should have diced them up. In fact, he had just done so in Week 16, albeit to much less fanfare. The Eagles pass rush is on a different level. They have two elite corners on the back end. Keep Jones contained in the pocket, and it’ll be a long day for him.

Brian Daboll has built great culture in New York, but so has Nick Sirianni here in Philly. His Eagles will be laser-focused, starting with Jalen Hurts and his healing shoulder. The Birds quarterback dealt with detractors after last year’s ugly playoff exit to the Buccaneers. On Saturday he’ll show just how far he’s come. I expect an MVP-level performance which has become the norm for him this season. The Giants will likely bring lot of pressure, which should lead to plenty of opportunities for A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith down the field. Plus, Dallas Goedert saw how little resistance the Giants posed to T.J. Hockenson last week and told our John Clark that he asked for more plays this week as a result. He could be in line for a big day himself. The Eagles move one step closer to Arizona.

Eagles 34, Giants 20

Adam Hermann (15-2)

If you listened to some football analysts this week, they told you the Giants are hitting their stride at the right time and Daniel Jones has become a reliable, borderline elite QB.

Let’s be real.

The Giants have won four games since the start of November. They beat the Texans (3-13-1), they beat the Commanders (8-8-1), they beat the Colts (4-12-1), and last week they beat the most fraudulent 13-4 team in NFL history.

This is a perfectly acceptable-to-good football team, one with youth and upside and one that is absolutely playing better football than I thought possible this season. Hats off to Brian Daboll, Saquon Barkley, and Daniel Jones.

But the Eagles are beating this team by multiple scores this weekend.

Here’s why.

1. The Giants can’t stop the run. They rank 31st in rush yards per attempt allowed, 27th in total rush yards allowed, 20th in rushing touchdowns allowed. The Eagles are one of the best rushing teams in the NFL, particularly when Jalen Hurts is healthy and allowed to play his full game. The last time these two teams met the Birds put up 253 rushing yards. I have no reason to expect anything different this time around.

2. The Giants can’t stop good tight ends. Guys like T.J. Hockenson, Dalton Schultz, and Evan Engram absolutely abused New York’s defense this year: Hockenson caught 23 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns in two outings. Yeesh. Dallas Goedert only saw action against the Giants once, in a hamstrung version of the Eagles’ offense, and caught six passes for 46 yards. I expect Goedert to be heavily involved on Saturday in a number of different ways – and good luck putting the clamps on Goedert when your secondary is fighting for its life against A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

3. The Giants’ offense doesn’t scare me. There’s no question that Barkley is a dangerous weapon and that Jones has figured out how to stop turning the ball over at an absurdly high rate. But you’re telling me I should sweat Richie James and Darius Slayton when the Eagles have one of the best cornerback duos in the NFL and C.J. Gardner-Johnson is back from injury? OK. The only thing I worry about is Jones’ legs beating the Eagles over and over. But if your biggest threat in a playoff game at the Linc is Daniel Jones on the run, I’ll take those odds.

You can have all the questions in the world about Hurts’ shoulder, and Lane Johnson’s adductor, and bye week rust. The Eagles are a superior team. We saw it in Week 14 when the Eagles nearly hung a 50-burger on the G-Men, and we’ll see it again this weekend.

Give me a red-hot first half and a double-digit margin of victory.

Eagles 34, Giants 23

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Sports

2023 NFL divisional playoff picks: Giants shock Eagles, Cowboys upset 49ers, Bengals stun Bills

January 20, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

I’d like to start things off today by apologizing to the NFL. When they decided to change the name of “Wild Card Weekend” to “Super Wild Card Weekend,” I thought it was going to be the biggest marketing failure since Crystal Clear Pepsi, but I was wrong, because the football we got over the weekend was Super Wild.

That being said, if anyone from Pepsi is reading, can you bring back the crystal clear stuff, because I actually liked it. One thing I don’t like though is trying to pick games in the divisional round. The key to picking divisional games is to not overthink it, which could be tough for me because I overthink everything. I mean, I once spent four days thinking over a chess move and I wasn’t even playing anyone.

The reason you don’t want to overthink things in the divisional round is because the home team usually dominates. Over the past 10 years, home teams have gone 29-11, which basically means we’re getting an average of roughly one upset per year, which means I should probably pick at least one upset this week.

On the other hand, home teams went 1-3 last year, so maybe I need to get wild and pick all upsets. Crap. I literally just told myself not to overthink my picks this week and here we are, one paragraph later, and I’m already overthinking them.

So will I actually pick any upsets this week? Let’s get to the picks and find out.

Actually, before we get to the picks, here’s a quick reminder that you can check out the weekly picks from every CBSSports.com NFL expert by clicking here. If you click over, you’ll notice that I went 5-1, which I would brag about, but I can’t, because two of our guys went 6-0.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to hang out with me and watch football, then make sure you head to our Pick Six YouTube page. I go live on YouTube with Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson after every playoff game and it’s a good place to make fun me for missing picks.

Alright, I’m going to quit stalling so we can get to the picks.

Divisional round picks

No. 4 Jacksonville (10-8) at No. 1 Kansas City (14-3)

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

Featured Game | Kansas City Chiefs vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

I think I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again, there are three guarantees in life: Death, taxes and Andy Reid winning off the bye. Since I’m not dead and I haven’t paid taxes since 2001, I don’t know much about those first two things, but I do know enough to never pick against Reid when his team is coming off a bye.

In his 24-year coaching career, Reid is 28-5 coming off a bye, including playoff games. He’s been so unbeatable that Ryan Wilson, Will Brinson and I once wrote a song about it. However, as you’ll notice below, we didn’t put much effort into singing it or writing it, and it’s not very catchy.

Hopefully, Rihanna will sing our song at the Super Bowl halftime show so that America will finally be able fully appreciate our musical genius.

As for Reid’s success off the bye, if you only include the games where Reid has had Patrick Mahomes, then he’s actually even better. Mahomes has a career record of 9-1 off the bye and the Chiefs have averaged 30.1 points in those 10 games.

Of course, if there’s one person who can beat Andy Reid coming off a bye, it might just be Doug Pederson and that’s because he knows Reid better than anyone. The Jaguars coach spent 10 years with Reid, including three as a player in Green Bay (1997-99) and seven as an assistant coach (Philadelphia (2009-12) and Kansas City (2013-15). In short, Pederson is not going to be intimidated going into Kansas City and he’s not going be intimidated by the fact that people are writing songs about Andy Reid.

The Jaguars have enough firepower to keep this close as long as Trevor Lawerence doesn’t do anything crazy, you know, like throw four interceptions in the first half. Although I think the Jags will be able to hang with the Chiefs, I can’t pick the upset here. My main issue with the Jags is that their biggest weakness on defense is stopping tight ends and that’s not a weakness you want to have when you’re facing Kansas City’s offense.

The Jaguars surrendered 1,087 receiving yards to tight ends this year and 13.1 yards per reception to tight ends, which were both the third-worst in the NFL. Travis Kelce might have 300 receiving yards by the time this game is over. If the Jags go all-out trying to shut down Kelce, then that will almost certainly open other things up for everyone else on the Chiefs’ offense. The Jags are going to have to pick their poison and it’s going to lead to a slow death, which brings me back to my original point: The only things guaranteed in life are death and Andy Reid winning off the bye, and taxes, I guess, but only if you actually pay them. (And if anyone from the IRS is reading this, I actually love paying taxes. It’s literally one of my three favorite things about living in this country).

THE PICK: Chiefs 31-24 over Jaguars
Record picking JAX-KC games this season: 1-0
Record picking Jaguars games this season: 8-10
Record picking Chiefs games this season: 16-1

No. 6 N.Y. Giants (10-7-1) at No. 1 Philadelphia (14-3)

Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET (Fox)

Featured Game | Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants

On paper, this game seems like it could turn into a blowout: The Eagles have the better offense, the better defense and a healthy Jalen Hurts is better than Daniel Jones. And as I said earlier, I am NOT going to overthink things this week and the most notable thing about this game is that these two teams have already played twice this season with the Giants getting outscored 70-38.

When two division rivals meet in the playoffs, I don’t necessarily pay attention to what happened during the regular season, but in this game, it’s kind of hard to ignore. The Eagles blew out the Giants twice this year with wins of 48-22 and 22-16, and yes, I count that second score as a blowout because it was 19-3 midway through the fourth quarter.

Apparently, it’s supposed to be tough to beat a team three times in one season, but I wanted to find that out for myself, so I decided to actually do some research (This actually just involves me emailing our research department, so there’s not really too much work involved on my end, so don’t feel sorry for me).

Anyway, since 1970, a total of 24 teams have gone 2-0 against a divisional opponent in the regular season and then faced them again in the playoffs and those 24 teams have gone 15-9 in the third game, which means 62.5% of the teams have finished the three-game sweep, but that also means that the 0-2 team has won the third game 37.5% of the time, and I think what I’m trying to say here is that I just did all that research for nothing, because that’s not enough information to help me pick this game.

The Eagles are a huge favorite, but I’m not sure if I can trust them right now due mainly to the fact that I watched them play three straight bad games to end the season.

Week 16: Eagles lose 40-34 to the Cowboys. Yes, Gardner Minshew was starting, but he doesn’t play defense and the defense got gashed for 40 points by the Cowboys.
Week 17: Eagles lose 20-10 to the Saints. In this spot, they lost a home game to a team that eventually finished the season with a losing record. That’s not ideal.
Week 18: Eagles beat Giants 22-16. With the the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line, the Eagles barely beat a Giants team that was resting nearly all of its starters. I repeat, the Eagles struggled against the Giants backups. I know I listed this game as a “blowout” a little bit earlier, but I’m now retracting that statement. As we all know, I’m allowed one retraction per picks column.

By the time this game kicks off, Jalen Hurts will have only played one game over the past month and he didn’t look good in that game. Also, during the Eagles blowout win in Week 14, the Giants were missing three starters — DL Leonard Williams, CB Adoree’ Jackson, S Xavier McKinney — who all could have a huge impact this week. I mean, just look at what Jackson did to Justin Jefferson during the wild-card round.

If he pulls that off against A.J. Brown, the Eagles will be in trouble.

I’m not saying the Giants are this year’s team of destiny, but it’s kind of starting to feel that way. The last THREE times the Giants have won their opening round playoff game, they’ve ended up in the Super Bowl and I’m going to say they take one step closer on Saturday night by shocking the Eagles.

THE PICK: Giants 23-20 over Eagles
Record picking NYG-PHI games this season: 2-0
Record picking Giants games this season: 10-7-1
Record picking Eagles games this season: 11-6

No. 3 Cincinnati (13-4) at No. 2 Buffalo (14-3)

Sunday, 3 p.m. ET (CBS)

Featured Game | Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals

There’s a good chance we could see one of the most emotional pregames in NFL history before these two teams kickoff on Sunday. This game will be played exactly 20 days after Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati in what was one of the most frightening moments in NFL history.

With Hamlin out of the hospital and now back in Buffalo, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him make an appearance at Highmark Stadium this week for what could easily end up being the best game of the divisional round. If we don’t count the six minutes of football that these two teams played on Jan. 2 — and let’s not — then this will be the first meeting ever between Joe Burrow and Josh Allen.

If you like offensive fireworks, then this is the game for you: Both teams ranked in the top eight in the NFL in points per game, offensive yards per game and passing yards per game during the regular season. Although the Bengals offense struggled against the Ravens in the wild-card round, I’m not sure I would read too much into that. Joe Burrow struggled against AFC North teams this year, but he dominated everyone else he played. Here’s a look at how Burrow has done in the Bengals’ 17 games, including the playoffs:

Joe Burrow vs. AFC North teams (4-3): 257.9 passing yards per game, 13 TD, 9 INT
Burrow vs. Non-AFC North teams (9-1): 287.9 passing yards per game, 23 TD, 3 INT

What this means is that teams that aren’t used to playing Burrow are getting destroyed by Burrow. The Bills got a small taste of that in Week 17. Although the stats don’t count, Burrow had a perfect QB rating (158.3) after starting 4 of 4 for 52 yards and a TD.

Of course, it’s also worth noting that the Bills also beat up on non-divisional teams. The difference is that Allen wasn’t necessarily a better QB in those games.

Josh Allen vs. AFC East teams (5-2): 269.3 passing yards per game, 15 TD, 5 INT
Allen vs. Non-AFC East teams (9-1): 250 passing yards per game, 23 TD, 11 INT

The problem with Allen is that he has been turnover machine this year. Besides his 16 interceptions, he’s also lost six fumbles, and although I’m not good at math, I do know that 16 plus six equals 22, which was the most turnovers by ANY quarterback in the NFL this year.

Not only has Burrow had fewer turnovers, but he’s also been an objectively better in the fourth quarter this year.

I think what I’m trying to say here is that if we’re only looking at the 2022 season, the quarterback I trust more in this game is Burrow.

That being said, even if I trust Burrow more, the Bengals could still be in some trouble this week and that’s because they just lost their starting left tackle (Jonah Williams). Through the first 16 weeks of the season, the Bengals were one of just two teams in the NFL that started the same offensive line in every game, but after losing Williams, they’ve now lost three starters over the past three weeks, which could make things dicey (They’ve also lost right tackle La’el Collins and right guard Alex Cappa). Cappa and Williams are both “Week-to-Week,” but it seems unlikely that they’re going to play.

The Bengals are 0-3 this year when Burrow gets sacked five or more times, but 13-1 when he’s sacked fewer than five times, which means they just need to make sure that the revamped offensive line is functioning well enough so that Burrow doesn’t spend the entire game running for his life.

The last time these two teams played each other in January came at the end of the 1988 season when they met in the AFC Championship, which seems kind of fitting, since the winner of this game will be headed to the AFC Championship.

Burrow has NEVER lost in the month of January (6-0) in his career, so I feel like I have to roll with him here.

THE PICK: Bengals 27-24 over Bills
Record picking Bengals games this season: 13-4
Record picking Bills games this season: 14-3

No. 5 Dallas (13-5) at No. 2 San Francisco (14-4)

Sunday, 6 p.m. ET (Fox)

Featured Game | San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys

This is a rematch from last year’s postseason, although I’m guessing that most Cowboys fans don’t remember that game because they’ve already repressed the memory to a dark corner of their brain. Even if Cowboys fans don’t remember it, Mike McCarthy definitely does and that’s because everyone on the internet basically spent six straight months making fun of McCarthy and the Cowboys for the way the game ended.

If you need a reminder on how that game ended, here’s a quick refresher:

The Cowboys had no timeouts and no way to stop the clock, but they still called a QB draw with 14 seconds left. People on the internet don’t unite on much, but they definitely united to make fun of that call. In a sense, America’s team brought America together, but I’m guessing that’s not how they wanted to do it.

The crazy thing about this game is that there’s definitely a chance that it could turn into an offensive shootout. Since Week 7, these have been the TWO HIGHEST SCORING teams in the NFL and that mainly has to do with the fact that both teams had something big happen that week: The 49ers traded for Christian McCaffrey while Dak Prescott returned from his injury.

Although this game could turn into a shootout, it also could turn into a defensive struggle and that’s because both of these teams rank in the top five for fewest points allowed during the 2022 season.

The most fascinating coaching matchup in this game definitely involves Kyle Shanahan’s offense going up against Dan Quinn’s defense. I swear, any time those two guys are on the same field together, something crazy happens. I’m sure everyone remembers the Falcons’ epic collapse in Super Bowl LI. In that game, the Falcons head coach was Quinn while the offensive coordinator was Shanahan, so I guess we’re going to finally find out who we should blame for Atlanta’s collapse.

The 49ers have been one of the best teams in the NFL this year, but I’m still not sure how they’re going to look against a good team. The 49ers had the easiest strength of schedule in the NFL this year and half their wins came in a bad division (Including the playoffs, they went 7-0 against NFC West teams and 7-4 against everyone else). Also, since Brock Purdy took over the starting job, the 49ers haven’t really been tested because they haven’t really faced any good teams. Purdy has looked great, but he faced five teams in the regular season that finished with a combined record of 35-49-1.

Last year, the 49ers were the underdog and I picked them to upset the Cowboys. This year, I’m doing the opposite. Only four rookie quarterbacks — Shaun King, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez — have ever made it to a conference title game and I don’t think Purdy is going to be the fifth.

And you know what, I’ll even say this things ends with a game-winning field goal from the guy (Brett Maher) who can’t make an extra point.

THE PICK: Cowboys 34-31 over 49ers
Record picking Cowboys games this season: 10-8
Record picking 49ers games this season: 13-5

Last Week

Best pick: Last week, I predicted that the Jaguars would pull off an upset win over the Chargers and guess what happened? The Jaguars pulled off an upset win over the Chargers. Now, did I know that the Chargers were going to choke away a 27-point lead during one of the biggest meltdowns in NFL playoff history? Of course, I did.

This is the Chargers we’re talking about and there’s no team better than them at epic collapses, except maybe the Falcons, but we can argue that another time. I was so sure the Chargers would find a new, fantastic way to lose that I might have willed it into existence.

I mean, just look at what I wrote about the game last week, “This could be the craziest game of the wild-card round… I just have this sinking feeling that the Chargers are going to find a way to Charger things up… I’m not exactly sure what will happen, but whatever it is, we’ll all feel sorry for the Chargers when it happens, and it will only get more awkward when Jaxson De Ville celebrates the miscue while wearing a speedo.”

The only thing I missed on was Jaxson De Ville celebrating in a speedo, so to make up for that, here’s Jaxson De Ville in a speedo.

As this tweet notes, the Jaguars didn’t start to turn around their season until their mascot started wearing a speedo. Maybe all mascots should wear speedos.

Worst pick: I only missed one pick during the wild-card round and that was because I decided to take the Buccaneers over the Cowboys for some reason. If you watched the Buccaneers play at all this season, it was pretty clear that their offense was horrible and that they had no shot of winning in the playoffs. However, I talked myself into believing that Tom Brady could somehow will them to a win, but I was wrong. I would say this was Brady’s biggest loss of the week, but I’d probably also be wrong about that since this also happened.

The moral of the story here is that you should never pick a team to win if their quarterback just lost out on 1.1 million shares of something.

Picks record

Straight up in wild-card round: 5-1
SU overall in playoffs: 5-1
Against the spread in wild-card round: 3-3
ATS overall in playoffs: 3-3

Final 2022 regular season record
Straight-up: 165-105-1
Against the spread: 129-133-9

You can find John Breech on Facebook or Twitter and if he’s not doing one of those things, he’s probably doing his taxes.

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Sports

2023 NFL playoffs: Ranking all eight divisional round teams, with Chiefs and Eagles headlining talented field

January 19, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

The divisional round of the NFL playoffs is arguably the best weekend of the season. All of the narratives disparaging the Super Bowl contenders are thrown out the window as contenders settle the score on the field.

Look at the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers squaring off. Ditto with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. All four of these teams are amongst the best in the league, but this weekend will prove how good each of these teams are as they face a team with equal talent across multiple areas on the roster.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs are out to prove they are deserving of the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences. On the other side, the underdog New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars are seeking to prove their trip to the divisional round wasn’t a fluke.

While the games are going to be settled on the field, how would we rank each of the eight playoff teams left? Part of these rankings compute the path to get to the Super Bowl, but talent level on the rosters plays a huge role.

All NFL odds via Caesars Sportsbook.

8. New York Giants

Odds to win Super Bowl: +3000
Odds to win NFC: +1300

The Giants deserve a ton of credit for being here, beating the Minnesota Vikings on the road to have an opportunity to play Philadelphia in the divisional round. New York doesn’t turn the football over (7.3% turnover rate on offense is the best in the NFL) and can run the ball, ranking fourth in the league in rushing (148.2 YPG) and fifth in yards per carry (4.8).

The offense only has two games in which it scored 30-plus points all season (although they have come in the past three games) and is just 15th in points scored per game (21.5) and 18th in yards per game (333.9). The defense is 17th in points allowed per game (21.8) and 25th in yards allowed per game (358.2), with a run defense that is 27th in yards allowed per game (144.2) and 31st in yards per carry allowed (5.2).

New York needed Daniel Jones to play his best game of the year against a bottom-three defense to get past Minnesota. The Giants are 3-6-1 in their past nine games, but have made it to the final eight.

The talent discrepancy is apparent when comparing the Giants to the rest of the field. However, Brian Daboll and the coaching staff seem to know what they’re doing, and they play a style of football that lends itself to knocking off better opponents. Because of those factors, New York has a shot.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars

Odds to win Super Bowl: +3500
Odds to win AFC: +1300

The AFC South champions weren’t supposed to be here six weeks ago, sitting with a 4-8 record and a small chance of winning the division. Jacksonville hasn’t lost since, thanks to the play of Trevor Lawrence and a run defense that has allowed just 90.5 yards per game over the past four contests. Then there’s Doug Pederson, whose in-game adjustments and creative fourth-down play calls have helped Jacksonville win games, not to mention what he has done with the culture of the locker room.

Jacksonville is in the divisional round for the first time since 2017, as Pederson is playing with house money against his former coach in Andy Reid. The Jaguars are still riding high after erasing a 27-0 first-half deficit to stun the Los Angeles Chargers last weekend.

The Jaguars have a top-10 offense in points (23.8) and yards per game (357.4), while Mike Caldwell’s defense has allowed just 13.0 points per game over the past four. Its 27 takeaways is also fifth in the NFL.

Don’t sleep on Jacksonville, but the Jaguars have a tall task against Kansas City.

Featured Game | Kansas City Chiefs vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

6. Cincinnati Bengals

Odds to win Super Bowl: +800
Odds to win AFC: +400

The Bengals are red hot heading into this stage of the playoffs, winning nine in a row to capture the AFC North — beating the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens (twice) in the process. The defending AFC champions deserve respect with Joe Burrow at quarterback throwing to playmakers like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Cincinnati showed it can go into Kansas City and win a playoff game last year, so the Bengals’ ability to win big games shouldn’t be questioned.

The Bengals don’t have a good run offense, ranking 29th in rush yards per game (92.9) and 29th in yards per attempt (3.8). The pass defense can be a weakness, too, ranking 23rd in pass yards per game (227.9) despite allowing just 17 passing touchdowns (fourth in NFL). The Bengals give up yards, but are sixth in scoring defense.

The offensive line injuries are why the Bengals are this low. Losing La’El Collins and Jonah Williams are huge blows for a team that needs to protect Burrow, not forgetting Alex Cappa is also week-to-week. These injuries may be too much for Cincinnati to overcome, but teams with Burrow shouldn’t be counted out.

5. Dallas Cowboys

Odds to win Super Bowl: +850
Odds to win NFC: +350

The Cowboys have been one of the best teams in the NFL all season, and they are as good as any team in the league when Dak Prescott isn’t turning the ball over and the offense isn’t going through lapses where it can’t move the ball. This team was fourth in scoring (27.5 PPG) despite being 11th in yards per game (354.9) and 19th in yards per possession. The run game of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard makes the Cowboys dangerous, despite the Cowboys only ranking 18th in yards per carry (4.3). Their 24 rushing touchdowns was second in the NFL, while their red-zone scoring percentage of 71.4 was the best in the league.

Dallas had the most takeaways in the league (33) and has one of the top-five defensive players in the game in Micah Parsons. They’re fifth in the league in points allowed (20.1 PPG) and eighth in pass yards allowed (200.9). The clear weakness is the run defense, which ranks 22nd in yards allowed per game (129.3) and 17th in yards per carry allowed (4.4). Over the past four games, the run defense has allowed just 96.8 yards per game — massive for a team that struggles to tackle at times.

Dallas has the most experienced quarterback of the remaining NFC clubs in Prescott, but can this team beat San Francisco? Can it beat Philadelphia with a healthy Jalen Hurts? This is a Super Bowl contender, yet there are questions.

Featured Game | San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys

4. San Francisco 49ers

Odds to win Super Bowl: +380
Odds to win NFC: +160

How can a team as talented as the 49ers be in the middle of the pack? All San Francisco has done is win 11 games in a row — six of which have been with a third-string quarterback who has a 121.4 passer rating in those starts. Brock Purdy has been great, yet he hasn’t faced a pass rush that can get to the quarterback like Dallas and Philadelphia yet. Sunday will be the biggest test for Purdy this season.

Besides the Purdy reservations, this 49ers team is loaded. They have Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle — all of whom are considered top five at their respective positions. Brandon Aiyuk is also a very good receiver, and Kyle Shanahan is a master at putting these guys in the best situations to win football games. San Francisco is sixth in points per game (26.8) and fifth in yards per game (365.6), while the rushing offense has averaged 175.3 rushing yards per game over their past six games.

The 49ers defense is No. 1 in points (16.3) and yards allowed (300.6) while allowing the fewest points per possession in the league. The run defense is second in yards allowed (77.7) and in yards per carry allowed (3.4), but the pass defense is 20th in yards allowed (223.2). That said, the unit does have the most interceptions in the NFL (20).

San Francisco is the hottest team in the NFL, but its path to the Super Bowl is very difficult. This is another team that has a legitimate argument to be No. 1.

3. Buffalo Bills

Odds to win Super Bowl: +350
Odds to win AFC: +165

Buffalo could easily be No. 1 on this list with the talent on this roster. The Bills are built to win the Super Bowl this season with Josh Allen at quarterback, leading the No. 2 offense in points (28.8) and yards (399.1) per game. Buffalo — not known as a running team — also finished seventh in rushing yards per game (137.6) and second in yards per carry (5.2). The Bills were also second in points and yards per possession, making this offense one of the most dangerous in the NFL. Their three losses were by a combined nine points.

The defense was second in points allowed per game (18.6) and fifth in yards allowed per game (313.9). They have a top-five run defense in yards per game (100.9) and rank seventh in rushing touchdowns allowed (10). Buffalo’s pass defense isn’t as strong as in years past (15th in yards allowed and 13th in touchdown passes allowed), but this defense creates turnovers (27 takeaways are fourth in NFL).

This Bills team is good enough to win the Super Bowl, and they’ll get the benefit of playing the Chiefs in a neutral-site title game if it comes to fruition. If Josh Allen can take care of the football, Buffalo is going to be very hard to beat — even if its path to the Super Bowl includes Cincinnati this week.

Featured Game | Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals

2. Philadelphia Eagles

Odds to win Super Bowl: +525
Odds to win NFC: +165

Somehow, the Eagles aren’t getting the respect for how good they’ve been all season long. This team cruised to the No. 1 seed in the NFC and was 14-1 in games Jalen Hurts started at quarterback. Perhaps the Hurts shoulder injury affects Philadelphia, but the reality is the Eagles had to win just one of their last three games to wrap up home-field advantage and had an extra week of rest to prepare for their next opponent — which is huge for Hurts and the offense.

Philadelphia had the No. 3 offense in points per game (28.1) and yards per game (389.1) while also having a top-five rushing offense (147.6 YPG) and leading the league in rushing touchdowns (32). It was also top five in points and yards per possession.

The defense is a top-five unit, too, ranking eighth in points per game (20.2) and second in yards per game (301.4). Philadelphia had the No. 1 pass defense (179.8 YPG) with James Bradberry and Darius Slay and also had 70 sacks on the season. Four players had 10-plus sacks on the Eagles, the most by any team in NFL history.

The Eagles are one of the most complete teams in the NFL, and Hurts has had plenty of rest to get that shoulder right. This team wins when Hurts is on the field.

Featured Game | Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants

1. Kansas City Chiefs

Odds to win Super Bowl: +310
Odds to win AFC: +145

Not only are the Chiefs the No. 1 seed in the conference, but Kansas City has Andy Reid as its head coach and Patrick Mahomes as its quarterback. Those two factors alone make Kansas City dangerous come this time of year (remember that Mahomes has never played a road playoff game, nor has he ever had a season as a starting quarterback during which he failed to reach the conference championship game).

The Chiefs had the top scoring offense (29.2 PPG) and the top offense in yards per game (413.6). They had the top offense in points and yards per possession, and the run game has significantly improved over the final nine weeks of the season. The defense gets pressure on the quarterback (second in league with 55 sacks) and has the highest-ranked defense in points per game allowed (11th) since Steve Spagnuolo took over as defensive coordinator in 2019.

Kansas City lost to Buffalo and Cincinnati this year, but this team has the ultimate advantage in Reid and Mahomes. That puts the Chiefs as the best team remaining in these playoffs.

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Sports

2023 NFL playoffs bracket: Divisional round schedule, TV, odds as Cowboys and 49ers renew playoff rivalry

January 18, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

Super Wild Card Weekend was wild to say the least. Saturday, the San Francisco 49ers went on a 25-point run in the second half to defeat the rival Seattle Seahawks, and Trevor Lawrence threw four straight touchdowns after throwing four straight interceptions to complete the third-largest comeback in NFL history after being down 27-0 to the Los Angeles Chargers. Sunday was full of surprises as well.

Skylar Thompson and the Miami Dolphins gave the Buffalo Bills quite the scare, the New York Giants upset the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis behind a great performance from Daniel Jones and then the Cincinnati Bengals won a close game with the Baltimore Ravens.

On Monday night, the Dallas Cowboys destroyed Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, snapping an eight-game playoff road losing streak.

This upcoming week, the No. 1-seeded Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles enter the fray. Remember, first-round byes didn’t exactly help the No. 1 seed teams last year, as both the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers were upset in the second round of the playoffs. What will happen this year? Below we will break down the NFL divisional round schedule, kickoff times, spreads and more. We are one more round closer to Super Bowl LVII.

All NFL odds are via Caesars Sportsbook.

AFC

When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC | Stream: FuboTV
Line: Chiefs -8.5, O/U 52

These two teams faced off in November, with the Chiefs defeating the Jaguars, 27-17. Jacksonville’s defense struggled to stop Patrick Mahomes, who threw for 331 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. That Jaguars defense has been playing some good ball as of late, however. They scored the game-winning touchdown against the Titans in Week 18 to earn a playoff berth, and then held the Chargers to just three points in the second half on Saturday night while they waited on the offense to shape up after a nightmare start.

It says something about the Jags that they were able to bounce back and complete the third-largest comeback in NFL postseason history, and Lawerence deserves a ton of credit. On his first seven drives, he completed 5 of 18 passes for 35 yards and four interceptions. On his last five drives, he completed 23 of 29 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns to pull out a 31-30 win.

Looking forward to this next weekend, the Jaguars offense can’t afford a slow start vs. what is statistically the top offense in the league. Hopefully, we are in for a shootout, with both offenses trading blows.

(3) Cincinnati Bengals at (2) Buffalo Bills

When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET
TV: CBS | Stream: Paramount+
Line: Bills -5, O/U 50

It feels right we get this matchup. Bills vs. Bengals was set to be our Week 17 Monday night finale, but everything came to a screeching halt when Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field. Thankfully, he has recovered, and both teams have been able to refocus on football. It looked like we were in for quite the shootout before that unfortunate event took place, and now, we get a rematch.

The Bills defeated the Dolphins on Super Wild Card Weekend, 34-31, but it didn’t feel like much of a victory. Despite playing a third-string rookie quarterback, Skylar Thompson and the Dolphins went on a 17-0 run in the second quarter to tie the game with 33 seconds remaining before halftime, and then the defense recovered a fumble for a touchdown early in the second half to acquire a 24-20 lead. While Buffalo eventually gutted out a win, the Bills were the biggest favorites in NFL wild-card round history. They didn’t exactly live up to expectations.

Josh Allen threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions and fumbled three times, losing one of them. Buffalo can’t lose the turnover battle against Cincinnati if it wants to advance to the AFC Championship Game.

Cincinnati didn’t put together an incredibly impressive performance on Super Wild Card Weekend either, as Joe Burrow and Co. downed the Ravens, 24-17. Tyler Huntley and J.K. Dobbins gave Cincy a run for its money, but a 98-yard fumble recovery touchdown from Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard early in the fourth quarter ended up being the game-winning touchdown.

Both teams will have to play better moving forward. I’m not sure how many people expected Miami to drop 31 points on Buffalo with a third-string quarterback, or the Ravens to record 364 yards of total offense with an injured backup quarterback.

NFC

(6) New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (1)

When: Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET
TV: Fox | Stream: FuboTV
Line: Eagles -7.5, O/U 47.5

Here’s a divisional matchup in the divisional round. The Eagles swept the season series with the Giants this year, blowing them out by 26 points in December, and then Davis Webb kept the rematch close in the regular-season finale, with the Giants ultimately losing, 22-16.

The Giants offense looked pretty awesome in their 31-24 win over the Vikings Sunday. Daniel Jones became the first player in NFL playoff history to record 300-plus passing yards, two passing touchdowns and 70-plus rushing yards in his first postseason start, while Isaiah Hodgins caught eight passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Saquon Barkley wasn’t too shabby either, as he recorded 109 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns. Sunday marked the Giants’ first playoff win since Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots on Feb. 5, 2012.

While the Giants were able to take advantage of a bad defense in the first round of the playoffs, a much tougher challenge awaits them next weekend. The Eagles are the only team in the NFL to have a top three offense and top three defense, as they’ve looked like an elite team since the 2022 season began. Philly is going to be rocking as Jalen Hurts takes the field for his second career playoff start.

(5) Dallas Cowboys at (2) San Francisco 49ers

When: Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: Fox | Stream: FuboTV
Line: 49ers -3.5, O/U 46

Fresh off snapping an eight-game playoff road losing streak, the Cowboys will look to carry the momentum from a blowout victory over the Bucs into Santa Clara as they take on the 49ers. The last time these two teams met came last postseason when San Francisco went into AT&T Stadium and pulled off the upset, sending Dallas home early on Super Wild Card Weekend.

As they look to avenge that loss from a year ago, Dak Prescott will have to take on arguably the best defense in the NFL in the Niners. That unit held the Seahawks to just six points in the second half of their playoff win on Saturday and also boasts an offense that has been sparked by rookie sensation Brock Purdy. Interestingly enough, both Purdy and Prescott threw for multiple touchdowns and rushed for a score in their playoff wins. There’s also no shortage of star power at the skill positions in this head-to-head with Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, Deebo Samuel, and Tony Pollard.

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Sports

2023 NFL playoffs bracket: Divisional round odds, schedule, preview as Cowboys and 49ers renew playoff rivalry

January 17, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

On Monday night, the Dallas Cowboys destroyed Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, snapping an eight-game playoff road losing streak.

All NFL odds are via Caesars Sportsbook.

AFC

When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC | Stream: FuboTV
Line: Chiefs -8.5, O/U 52

(3) Cincinnati Bengals at (2) Buffalo Bills

When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET
TV: CBS | Stream: Paramount+
Line: Bills -5, O/U 50

NFC

(6) New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (1)

When: Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET
TV: Fox | Stream: FuboTV
Line: Eagles -7.5, O/U 47.5

(5) Dallas Cowboys at (2) San Francisco 49ers

When: Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: Fox | Stream: FuboTV
Line: 49ers -3.5, O/U 46

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Sports

NFL divisional round schedule: Chiefs-Jaguars and Giants-Eagles open weekend

January 16, 2023 Admin Leave a comment

The Chiefs will host the Jaguars on Saturday afternoon to kick off the NFL divisional round, the league announced Sunday along with the rest of the round’s schedule. Here’s what you need to know:

Full schedule and how to watch

Saturday, Jan. 21

Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs, 4:30 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock, Universo)
New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles, 8:15 p.m. ET (Fox, Fox Deportes)

Sunday, Jan. 22

Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills, 3 p.m. ET (CBS, Paramount+)
Dallas/Tampa Bay at San Francisco 49ers, 6:30 p.m. (Fox, Fox Deportes)

Conference championship game schedule

The NFL also released its schedule for the conference championship games.

Sunday, Jan. 29

NFC Championship Game, 3 p.m. ET (Fox, Fox Deportes)
AFC Championship Game, 6:30 p.m. ET (CBS, Paramount+)

(Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images)

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Chiefs’ handling of Patrick Mahomes’ injury

Patrick Mahomes before/after injury

Andy Reid loses timeout over unnecessary challenge

Controversial TD overturn

Kyle Shanahan’s first-half timeout usage

49ers’ conservative final offensive drive

Cowboys’ cringeworthy end to season

Hurts and the Eagles are back

The Giants need more help than we thought

Mahomes’ ankle is a legitimate concern

The Jaguars are here to stay

Divisional round picks

No. 4 Jacksonville (10-8) at No. 1 Kansas City (14-3)

No. 6 N.Y. Giants (10-7-1) at No. 1 Philadelphia (14-3)

No. 3 Cincinnati (13-4) at No. 2 Buffalo (14-3)

No. 5 Dallas (13-5) at No. 2 San Francisco (14-4)

Last Week

Picks record

8. New York Giants

7. Jacksonville Jaguars

6. Cincinnati Bengals

5. Dallas Cowboys

4. San Francisco 49ers

3. Buffalo Bills

2. Philadelphia Eagles

1. Kansas City Chiefs

AFC

(3) Cincinnati Bengals at (2) Buffalo Bills

NFC

(6) New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (1)

(5) Dallas Cowboys at (2) San Francisco 49ers

AFC

(3) Cincinnati Bengals at (2) Buffalo Bills

NFC

(6) New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (1)

(5) Dallas Cowboys at (2) San Francisco 49ers

Full schedule and how to watch

Conference championship game schedule

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