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Kansas City Chiefs to face Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII

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CNN
 — 

The Kansas City Chiefs are advancing to Super Bowl LVII following a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

After suffering a high ankle sprain last week in the Chiefs’ Divisional Round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Patrick Mahomes led the team to a victory in a back-and-forth game.

Kansas City got out to a 6-0 lead after two field goals and before halftime, Mahomes found his favorite target – tight end Travis Kelce for a touchdown to take a 13-3 lead. Kelce was listed as questionable to play coming into the game due to a back injury.

Right before halftime, the Bengals drove down the field and kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 13-6.

On the Bengals’ first offensive possession of the second half, quarterback Joe Burrow found wide receiver Tee Higgins for a 27-yard touchdown to tie up the game at 13. However, a clearly hobbled Mahomes and the Chiefs responded with a laser touchdown throw to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to take the lead right back.

The Chiefs defensive unit shut down the high-powered Bengals offense until the first play of the fourth quarter.

On fourth down, Burrow heaved the ball down the field and found Ja’Marr Chase for a 35-yard strike to move Cincinnati deep into Kansas City territory. Two plays later, the Bengals scored on a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Samaje Perine to tie the game yet again.

The Chiefs sacked Burrow on third down to give them the ball back with less than a minute left and the score tied at 20. Chiefs returner Skyy Moore returned the Bengals punt 29 yards to set the offense up with good field position. On third down, Mahomes scrambled and as he went out of bounds, Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai pushed him and was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty which put the Chiefs in field goal range.

Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker knocked down the 45-yard field goal to send the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons.

The finale on February 12 will mark the first time in history that both teams contesting the Super Bowl will start Black quarterbacks.

Mahomes, who became the third Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl in 2020, is aiming to become the first Black quarterback in history to win multiple Super Bowls, while Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts could become the fourth Black quarterback to win the Lombardi Trophy.

Earlier in the day, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-7, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, to advance to championship game for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

The Eagles scored on their first possession and didn’t look back in the rout of the 49ers.

The 49ers were momentarily left without rookie starting quarterback Brock Purdy after he suffered a right elbow injury in the first quarter, on a hit by Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick that forced a fumble. Josh Johnson, who is the fourth string quarterback for San Francisco, filled in for Purdy until the third quarter before being ruled out of the game with a concussion.

Playing on the injured elbow, Purdy re-entered the game but the 49ers offense struggled to tally any points.

Meanwhile, Eagles quarterback Hurts and the Philadelphia run-game, ran all over the 49ers defense, notching 148 rushing yards and scoring all four touchdowns on the ground. With his rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, Hurts (15) passed Cameron Newton (14) for most rushing touchdown’s in a single season by a QB in NFL history, including playoffs, according to NFL Research.



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NFL Playoffs: Philadelphia Eagles heading to Super Bowl with dominant victory over San Francisco 49ers

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CNN
 — 

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-7, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, to advance to Super Bowl LVII.

The Eagles scored on their first possession and didn’t look back in the rout of the 49ers.

The 49ers were momentarily left without rookie starting quarterback Brock Purdy after he suffered a right elbow injury in the first quarter, on a hit by Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick that forced a fumble. Josh Johnson, who is the fourth string quarterback for San Francisco, filled in for Purdy until the third quarter before being ruled out of the game with a concussion.

Playing on the injured elbow, Purdy re-entered the game but the 49ers offense struggled to tally any points.

Meanwhile, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia run-game, ran all over the 49ers defense, notching 148 rushing yards and scoring all four touchdowns on the ground. With his rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, Hurts (15) passed Cameron Newton (14) for most rushing touchdown’s in a single season by a QB in NFL history, including playoffs, according to NFL Research.

The Eagles, who advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since winning it in the 2017-18 season, will face the winner of the AFC Championship between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs later Sunday.

Super Bowl LVII will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 12.

In the AFC, it’s the Bengals and Chiefs for the second straight season. Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes will look for revenge after last year’s crushing defeat at Arrowhead Stadium. Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow will look to replicate last year’s end result for his fourth straight win over Kansas City.

The Chiefs ended the regular season as the AFC’s No. 1 seed. They earned a week of rest in the Wild Card stage, took care of the Jaguars in the Divisional round, and are now exactly where they want to be.

The only problem is that their star quarterback isn’t 100% healthy.

Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain in the Divisional round. There’s no doubt that he will persevere through the pain, but any issues with his mobility will impact his playmaking abilities.

Mahomes will have to get creative with how he moves the ball up the field. The pressure is also on the offensive linemen to keep Mahomes protected. If he’s left exposed, there’s increased risk of further injury.

While the Bengals are the away team and the lower seed, it would be incorrect to consider them the underdogs.

In the Divisional round, they upset the Bills and made it look easy. If that game is any indicator of how things will go this weekend, the Chiefs should be ready for a battle.

It’s also worth noting that history favors the Bengals. Burrow is 3-0 against Mahomes. And in all three games, Cincinnati was either tied or behind to start the fourth quarter.

Even if the Chiefs get ahead early, the Bengals have proven that they are not to be counted out until the final whistle. To top it all off, Burrow is an even better quarterback than the last time these two met in an AFC title game. His numbers have improved across the board, and he’s gained more experience playing at a high-level.

Ultimately, the Chiefs are an elite team with an MVP-caliber quarterback, injured or not. The Bengals are a young, talented team with history on their side. Only time will tell which team has what it takes to get to the next stage.



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The next Brock Purdy: Which 2023 NFL Draft prospect could repeat the rise of the 49ers QB?

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Who is to blame for Brock Purdy being so ready to jump from Mr. Irrelevant on draft weekend to the undefeated starting quarterback of the 49ers heading into the NFC Championship Game against the Eagles?

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni — at least partially.

OK, let’s back up.

Sirianni played receiver at Division III powerhouse Mount Union. Tom Manning played left tackle. They became friends, and both went into coaching. In 2018, then-Colts offensive coordinator Sirianni hired Manning — then Iowa State’s offensive coordinator — to be the Colts’ tight ends coach. Manning spent a year in Indianapolis before going back to Ames, where Purdy had spent his freshman season in 2018 making the Cyclones’ offense his own. When Manning returned to Iowa State, he brought a revamped offense that operated much like the one Frank Reich and Sirianni used in Indianapolis.

That’s why Purdy could go into NFL team interviews this time last year and rattle off a play call like this with no difficulty whatsoever:

Sync right flex, F near, Flash 61 Y Vista left X post with F cards.

Purdy explained that call — and the Manning coaching history that generated it — last year during an interview before the NFL combine. Some college offenses require that level of memorization by the quarterback, but not many. At Iowa State, Purdy had to manage a ton of pre-snap motion. Guess who else has to manage an abundance of pre-snap motion? The quarterback in 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

We’ve spent a lot of time the past few months trying to discern how a QB who clearly has the skill to play for a long time in the NFL fell to the final pick in the draft. The truth? There are multiple reasons. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman obtained a scouting report on Purdy from a team and then interviewed the author to perform an autopsy of sorts on what was missed. One takeaway? Purdy, who started 46 games in college, may have had too much tape. This allows the evaluator to see the warts again and again, and it may obscure some of the overwhelmingly positive takeaways from a celebrated college career.

GO DEEPER

How 49ers’ ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ was described on one team’s NFL Draft scouting report

So let’s examine other factors NFL evaluators might have missed. Then let’s use those to see if there are any quarterbacks in the 2023 draft who might be able to follow Purdy’s path from under-drafted to immediate production.

One key factor NFL personnel people appear to have overlooked with Purdy is how much he had to do to simply make Iowa State competitive. In college, Purdy usually was a member of the less talented team on the field. That’s unusual for a QB in a Power 5 program who led his team to a .630 win percentage as a starter. According to the 247Sports team talent composite, which combines the recruiting rankings for every player on a team’s roster in a given year, Purdy started 27 games in which the Cyclones had inferior talent. Iowa State’s record in those games: 15-12. That’s just above .500, but it also means Purdy went 14-5 when his team had equal or better talent than the opponent.

To put those numbers in perspective, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud — a likely top-10 pick in April — played one game (the 2022 Peach Bowl against Georgia) in two full seasons as the Buckeyes’ starter in which the opponent had a higher team talent composite rating than Ohio State.

Compare that to Purdy’s situation now. He had some quality skill players at Iowa State. David Montgomery was Purdy’s starting tailback in 2018, and Hakeem Butler was the leading receiver. Purdy enjoyed three seasons with Breece Hall as his primary back. But that doesn’t compare with having dual Swiss Army knives in Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel, a field-stretching receiver in Brandon Aiyuk and a magician at tight end in George Kittle. Oh, by the way, the 49ers also have left tackle Trent Williams. Iowa State didn’t have an offensive lineman drafted while Purdy was there. Now he plays with one of the best on the planet.

Many of the flaws in Purdy’s tape involved him trying to extend plays that had broken down and then making an ill-advised throw. In the NFL, most teams have about equal talent to their opponents. Perhaps more weight should have been given to Purdy’s performances when his teammates were facing opponents of generally equal talent.

Meanwhile, Purdy’s familiarity with a popular NFL offense also should have been taken into account by teams looking for a rookie who could jump in and play. Though NFL coaches have adjusted to help players coming from college offenses that don’t require as much from the QB pre-snap, there still is a learning curve. That gives players such as Purdy or Josh Allen, who was required at Wyoming to perform many of the same pre-snap tasks an NFL quarterback performs, an advantage when asked to play early.

So what does that mean for the QBs entering the NFL in 2023? Is there a player who could follow Purdy’s path from low draft pick to critical player on a good team?

There are a few intriguing candidates.

We’ll leave out the players who appear likely to be selected in the first three rounds. Whether they’re ready or not, Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young probably will be selected with the idea that they’ll start as rookies. The same could go for Kentucky’s Will Levis. Florida’s Anthony Richardson will need time to develop, but his combination of arm and athleticism could make an executive or coach fall in love and draft Richardson ahead of where he probably should go. At 6-foot-6 and 228 pounds, Stanford’s Tanner McKee has the body type NFL scouts dream about — even if his college numbers pale in comparison to the ones produced by most of the QBs who will be drafted below him.

Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker is coming off an ACL tear suffered in November, but his combination of college production, prototypical size and intangibles should intrigue a team in the upper half of the draft.

GO DEEPER

Dane Brugler’s 2023 NFL Draft rankings: Who are the top 15 players at each position?

That leaves a host of QBs who don’t appear to be obvious fits in the NFL — including the two who started in the national title game. Meanwhile, there’s a tough-as-nails competitor who finished his career playing for the same coach who helped bring along Aaron Rodgers, the son of a pro arm-wrestler who lit up Division II and a QB who kept throwing touchdown passes in 2022 despite horrific injury luck for his receivers.

Let’s start with the players who just faced off for the national title.

Who could be the next Mr. Irrelevant?

Max Duggan, TCU, 6-1, 211

Duggan’s listed height and weight are almost exactly the same as Purdy’s combine height and weight (6-0 5/8, 212), and Duggan played a similar damn-the-torpedoes style in the same conference. Like Purdy, Duggan emerged as his team’s best QB option as a freshman. But Duggan had to have heart surgery before the 2020 season and played most of the 2021 season with a broken bone and a torn tendon in one of his feet.

Longtime TCU coach Gary Patterson, who was fired midway through the 2021 season, tweeted in November 2021 that Duggan declined surgery so he could keep playing and help the team. While Purdy’s junior season was his team’s best, Duggan’s was a nightmare. And when Sonny Dykes was hired to replace Patterson, he initially chose Chandler Morris as the Horned Frogs’ QB1.

Duggan took over as the starter in TCU’s second game and led the Frogs to a 13-2 record while completing 63.7 percent of his passes and averaging 8.8 yards per attempt with 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Unlike Purdy for most of his Iowa State career, 2022 Duggan had the luxury of a likely first-round receiver in Quentin Johnston, who caught 60 passes for 1,069 yards and six TDs.

Also unlike Purdy, Duggan played in the Air Raid offense for all of his college career. Patrick Mahomes has shown that an Air Raid QB can succeed in the NFL, but there is a steeper learning curve.


Max Duggan finished second in 2022 Heisman Trophy voting. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)

Stetson Bennett, Georgia, 5-11, 190

It will be interesting to see what Bennett weighs during the pre-draft process. While the NFL has absolutely welcomed smaller QBs in recent years, 190 is very light. Purdy and some of the other recently drafted smaller QBs are thick through their lower bodies, which should theoretically offer more durability.

Bennett couldn’t be more unlike Purdy in terms of the type of talent he played with in college. Georgia almost always had the superior talent. The Bulldogs ranked No. 1 in the nation in team talent in 2020 when Bennett first began starting games. The only two games he played when the Bulldogs had inferior talent were against Alabama in the 2021 SEC title game and against the Crimson Tide in the national title game a month later.

Still, it’s interesting to compare Bennett and Purdy. Their arms seem similar. Both were effective scramblers and runners, but Bennett probably is a tad faster. Like Purdy, Bennett played in an offense more similar to an NFL scheme than a college one. Bulldogs offensive coordinator Todd Monken was Jameis Winston’s offensive coordinator in Tampa and had been on the Cleveland Browns staff the season before he joined Georgia. Bennett, who played in three different offenses in college, should be capable of quickly assimilating any NFL team’s playbook.

GO DEEPER

Stetson Bennett didn’t just overcome public opinion. He ‘overcame us,’ the UGA coaches

Monken also pointed out something that could make Bennett potentially valuable to NFL teams. “You create value by being able to play and not take reps,” Monken said before the Peach Bowl. “Everyone will say ‘Well, they played the backup this week because in practice they saw something.’ Backups don’t get any reps. I don’t know what they’d see in practice besides running a card. They just make a decision.”

This seems especially important days after watching Chad Henne come off the bench and lead the Chiefs on a 98-yard touchdown drive following an ankle injury to Mahomes.

Here’s another way to compare Bennett to Purdy. What would Bennett have looked like had he played on a team more like Iowa State? The guess? Probably a lot like Purdy. Bennett, his teammates and coaches pointed out that a recognition of the talent around him probably tamped down some of Bennett’s gunslinger instincts. Had he been forced to elevate the level of a team that didn’t always have a talent advantage, his college playing style might have looked very similar to Purdy’s.

Tyson Bagent, Shepherd, 6-3, 210

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler recently profiled Bagent, who smashed records at his Division II school and whose father is the real-life equivalent of the people Sylvester Stallone’s character competed against in the 1980s classic “Over The Top.”

It’s tough to compare Bagent to QBs who played against FBS competition. But we’ll get a much better look at him playing with and against NFL-bound talent next week at the Senior Bowl.


Clayton Tune tied for third in the nation with 40 passing TDs in 2022. (Maria Lysaker / USA Today)

Clayton Tune, Houston, 6-3, 220

Tune has more of a prototypical QB body than most of the players discussed in this story, but his lack of consistent winning during a college career that only feels as if it took 27 years likely will raise questions in the pre-draft process. He may have a satisfactory answer, though.

Tune filled in for injured starter D’Eriq King as a freshman in 2018 and then did the same in 2019. He then spent three full seasons as the primary starter for Dana Holgorsen’s Cougars offense.

The 2020 season was a mess as the Cougars kept having games postponed or canceled because of COVID-19 protocols. The following season, Tune raised his completion percentage from 59.6 to 68.3 and averaged 8.4 yards per attempt while throwing for 30 TDs with 10 interceptions. He led Houston to a 12-2 record. Houston went 8-5 in 2022, but Tune’s numbers were fairly similar. He completed 67.4 percent of his throws while averaging 8.2 yards per attempt and throwing 40 TDs with 10 picks. Tune attempted 76 more passes despite playing one fewer game because the Cougars had little choice but to keep chucking. The biggest statistical difference between 2021 and 2022 came on defense. In 2021, Houston allowed 20.4 points a game. In 2022, the Cougars allowed 32.2 points a game.

Jaren Hall, BYU, 6-1, 205

Hall started two seasons at BYU, and it’s impressive that his completion percentage and touchdown-to-interception ratio went up (with only a slight dip in yards per attempt) when you consider that his No. 2 receiver from the previous year (Gunner Romney) played only two games because of injury and the player who was leading the Cougars in receiving in October (freshman Kody Epps) was lost for the remainder of the season to injury in game eight.

Hall still averaged 8.4 yards per attempt and threw 31 TD passes with six interceptions despite never having the kind of weapons around him that he’d expected going into the season. He spread the ball around to good receivers, but more talent around Hall could produce bigger numbers.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA, 6-1, 205

Thompson-Robinson was one of the toughest QBs in the country. He kept taking hits, and he kept playing. Another example of his resilience? Even though it was obvious UCLA coaches were trying to replace him with UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel last offseason, Thompson-Robinson hung in and bided his time. When Gabriel instead wound up transferring to Oklahoma after Caleb Williams’ transfer to USC, Thompson-Robinson reassumed his role at the head of the UCLA offense and raised his completion percentage from 62.2 percent in 2021 to 69.6 in 2022.

Thompson-Robinson’s numbers were fairly similar in each of his final three seasons. We’ve never seen him outside of Chip Kelly’s offense, so it’s unclear whether his talents were maximized by that scheme or if he might thrive playing a different style.

With all that said, here is the QB who Brugler and I agree has the best chance to follow in Purdy’s cleat marks …

Jake Haener, Fresno State, 6-1, 200

Just watch this final sequence from the 2021 Fresno State-UCLA game and try not to love Jake Haener. (You’ll also get a good look at Thompson-Robinson.)

UCLA coach Kelly called what Haener did to his team one of the best QB performances he’d ever seen. Just watch this final play, and remember that Haener made it shortly after taking a shot that would have knocked a lot of QBs out of action for weeks.

But Haener’s career was a lot more than that one game. He was remarkably consistent — and remarkably tough. We might be talking more about Haener now had he followed former Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer to Washington last offseason. It would have made sense. Haener started his career at Washington before transferring to Fresno State. He could have returned as a conquering hero. Instead, Haener elected to stay at Fresno State and play for Jeff Tedford. Michael Penix Jr. transferred to Washington from Indiana and wound up leading the nation in passing yards per game while playing in DeBoer’s offense.

Playing for Tedford allowed Haener to learn from the same coach who mentored Aaron Rodgers at Cal. But it didn’t seem like that connection would last long when Haener broke his ankle in Week 3 at USC. Instead of shutting it down and preparing for the draft, Haener sought a second medical opinion and found that he could play despite the injury.

He returned to the lineup in October and led Fresno State, which was 3-4 at the time, to seven consecutive wins. On the season, Haener completed 72 percent of his passes and averaged 8.3 yards per attempt with 20 TDs and only three interceptions.

Purdy has been successful so far in San Francisco for reasons that we outlined above, but part of his success has to do with the same intangible qualities that made Iowa State coach Matt Campbell willing to turn over the team to Purdy as a true freshman in 2018. Those qualities — intelligence, toughness, the ability to inspire teammates to be more than their talent suggests — are the same ones Haener showed over and over again at Fresno State.

So no matter where Haener gets chosen in April, there is a great chance he might wind up being just as relevant as Purdy at some point down the line.

(Top photo of Brock Purdy: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)



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One team’s NFL Draft scouting report on Brock Purdy shows how he became ‘Mr. Irrelevant’

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On the NFL team scouting report, the most eye-catching information of all the categories was in the box listed for final grade. It simply read two words in all caps.

NO INTEREST

This was the write-up for one NFL team last spring when it evaluated Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy. In fairness, that NFL organization probably shouldn’t feel too bad in its evaluation. Purdy almost went undrafted in 2022, lasting until the final pick in the draft, No. 262 overall. Yet the former Iowa State star is now just one game away from leading the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. This weekend he will become only the fifth rookie quarterback to start a conference title game, and none of the previous four were able to help their team make it to the Super Bowl.

Purdy’s rise from being selected as “Mr. Irrelevant” has been one of the most remarkable stories of the NFL season. The Athletic reviewed a pre-draft scouting report from an NFL team to explore why the four-year college starting quarterback lasted so long in the draft, then spoke to the coach who wrote that report and asked, on the condition of anonymity for competitive reasons, what he sees in Purdy now, what other teams might have overlooked and why the 23-year-old has been such an ideal fit for the 49ers.

The book on Purdy last spring was of a prospect with less-than-ideal size, at 6-0 1/2 and 212 pounds. His hand size also less than ideal: 9 1/4 inches. The athleticism he displayed at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine also didn’t impress. He ran a 4.84 40 and vertical jumped 27 inches. In his report, the coach wrote, “Did not test well, limited athlete that has a maxed out body. Very mature and experienced. Threw it ok.”

The strengths for Purdy were that he was “VERY” experienced with 48 college starts and that he manages the game well, making the routine plays consistently. He was creative as the play extends and “works through his progressions very well.”

The weaknesses: “sawed off … not a very good athlete … limited arm, both in strength and throw repertoire.”

It took a series of injuries for Purdy to get his opportunity this season in San Francisco. In Week 2, the 49ers lost starter Trey Lance to a broken ankle. Then, in early December, Jimmy Garoppolo injured his foot and San Francisco turned to Purdy. He has been terrific, posting a 13-to-4 TD-INT ratio, while completing 67 percent of his passes for a 107.3 rating, which is almost two points higher than any QB in the NFL who had enough attempts to qualify. More impressively, Purdy is now 7-0 as the 49ers’ starting quarterback.

The NFL coach who wrote the scouting report said Monday, “The biggest thing that stood out differently than from his college film, and (49ers GM) John Lynch actually said it a few weeks ago, is his athleticism. I don’t remember him moving like that at Iowa State, and he didn’t test well. He jumped 27 inches, which is terrible. He ran a 4.85 (4.84). He’s got short arms, like really short, and he’s got small hands. He’s 6-1, and his arm is OK. The twitchiness just wasn’t really there. His short shuttle was OK —4.45 — that’s not outstanding.

“There feels like there’s two or three of those guys every year, who’ve played a ton in college. They produced and know the playbook in and out but are just physically limited. They play so much and so you get a really good look at what they can’t do, where sometimes it helps guys that don’t play that much because their warts don’t show up as much.”

Evaluating college quarterbacks has always been particularly vexing for the NFL. One school of thought, the coach said, is if you’re going to take a QB in the first round, he needs to be elite at one thing. “That was the whole debate with Mac Jones,” he said. “What’s his one thing that he’s really great at? Well, he processes very well, and he’s really accurate, which is hard to see physically. That was a thing with Joe Burrow (when he was coming out of LSU) until everyone ended up coming around on him. Joe’s fast but not really fast. His arm’s good, not great. But it was, Hey, he’s just a baller. The guy is really, really good at quarterback. When it comes to that ‘it factor,’ It’s just oozing out him.”

Purdy had been an effective runner at Iowa State, rushing for 19 touchdowns and almost 1,200 yards in his career, but there was a lot of concern about how well his wheels would translate at the next level. “The requirement to juke people and outrun people in college is a lot lower than it is in the NFL,” the NFL coach said. “You saw that with Zach Wilson, Johnny Manziel, Tim Tebow — guys that looked fast in college, but they’re just not fast enough in the NFL. In college, they might be able to outrun that D-end or pull away from that linebacker, but they got hawked down in the NFL. But Purdy has kinda maintained that and almost surpassed his level of agility in the NFL. I wonder what he did in the offseason (to get ready for the NFL).”


Purdy ran a 4.84 40-yard dash at the 2022 combine. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)

The coach said Purdy’s offense at Iowa State features a lot of runs, Q-reads and RPOs, but there wasn’t a lot of true drop-back passing like what scouts saw from Burrow or Jones. In the 49ers’ games against Tampa Bay, Washington and Seattle in particular, the coach said, Purdy displayed some wiggle, lateral quickness and agility that he had not seen before he made it to the NFL. The Cowboys, who are really athletic up front on defense, corralled Purdy the best that anybody has so far in the NFL, he said.

“But,” said the coach, “what I think is really making him successful is he is processing a lot of information pre-snap because they do a lot of motion, shifts, kills, alerts in that offense. It can be hard to just snap the ball and know which way to hand the ball off. His composure late in the down — he has not made very many boneheaded mistakes — has really been impressive. He did have one (Sunday) when he threw the ball away and almost ended the half and you could see Kyle (Shanahan) MF-ing him under the call sheet for a good 10 seconds. Those plays have not shown up a lot.”

Asked where he thinks Purdy would be drafted now based on what he’s shown this year, the coach said probably second or third round.

“We undervalued his agility and probably the mental side, and San Francisco is perfect for it because they put a lot of importance on that because of their offense,” he said. “In San Francisco, he can operate and play-action and boot and screen and manage the game. It’s not like he’s playing in a system like in Buffalo where the Bills are relying on Josh Allen sitting back and just hucking the ball all over the field, where it’s like, ‘Good Lord, how are you making those throws?’”

“In San Francisco, they don’t rely on the quarterback’s production as much as most teams. It also helps that they have the best left tackle, one of the best tight ends, one of the best running backs, one of the best wide receivers and a really good defense — they are loaded around him.”

The coach is eager to see how Purdy handles facing the Eagles in the NFC Championship. “Philly does a lot to challenge you one-on-one, where he’s gonna have to make some tough throws — it’s a lot of five-man rush, a lot of read-trap coverages — it can make it hard on the quarterback. It’ll be interesting to see how they attack it, especially if they can’t run it the way they want to.”

(Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)



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Dallas Cowboys fight among themselves at AT&T Stadium after playoff loss to San Francisco 49ers

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Adding insult to injury! Cowboys fans get into WILD brawl after watch party outside Dallas’ AT&T Stadium following playoff loss to San Francisco 49ers

By Alastair Talbot For Dailymail.Com

Published: | Updated:

The Dallas Cowboys’ season came to a close with Sunday’s 19-12 playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers in California – but fans back in Texas weren’t going to accept defeat without a fight…among themselves. 

Footage from outside the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – home of Jerry Jones’ NFL team – showed Cowboys fans swinging punches at one another following the conclusion of Sunday’s game. 

Fans initially gathered for a watch party earlier in the day at the MillerLite House, where locals usually gather to tailgate before and after games. It’s located on the stadium’s premises. 

Cowboys fans were seen engaging in a fight between themselves after a 19-13 loss to the 49ers

The video starts with a fan wearing a white, Cowboys away jersey being constantly punched and kicked by other Dallas fans while crouching on the ground, trying to protect himself from any big hits. 

At one point, another fan can be seen emptying his beer on those who seemed to appear to be the brawlers in an attempt to deflect their attention from the situation. 

Then, a security guard, wearing an all black outfit, seems to come into play to knock off the fight and deescalate the fight. He grabs the fan from behind in what seems to be a protective move too. 

The basis of the brawl remains unknown, but it’s fair to say that Cowboys have lost it after suffering another early postseason exit. 

The Cowboys fan who had been hit appeared to lay motionless on the ground at one point

A security guard intervened to stop the fight after grabbing the injured fan from behind

Dallas has now failed to convert any of its last seven Division Round playoff meetings into wins

Dallas’ 27-year wait for a Super Bowl appearance goes on after once again exiting the NFL postseason early on. 

The Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC Championship game since 1995 and have failed to convert any of their last seven occasions where they’ve made it to the Divisional Round. 

‘I felt we were in a good situation to come in here and win this thing,’ owner Jerry Jones said after Sunday’s game. ‘Frankly, I wouldn’t say surprised, I would say just real disappointed that we maybe couldn’t make something happen.’ 

A franchise that won three Super Bowl titles in a four-year span early in Jones’ tenure (1993, 1994 and 1996). is now known mostly for playoff flops.

And now there will be speculation about the job security of coach Mike McCarthy, who has won one playoff game in three seasons — last week over Tampa Bay.

The Cowboys have not made a Super Bowl appearance under owner Jerry Jones since 1996 

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NFL Playoffs: Cincinnati Bengals beat Buffalo Bills just weeks after Damar Hamlin’s collapse

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CNN
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After the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles beat the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants respectively, all eyes were on the remaining Divisional Round matchups Sunday, with the Buffalo Bills facing the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Francisco 49ers hosting the Dallas Cowboys.

The Bills fell to the Bengals 27-10, and the 49ers defeated the Cowboys 19-12.

Here’s what else you need to know.

Twenty days after suffering cardiac arrest in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was in attendance as the Bills once again faced the Bengals, this time in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

But the Bengals prevailed despite Buffalo’s homefield advantage and the emotional lift of having Hamlin in the stadium.

The CBS broadcast of the game showed Hamlin arriving by cart and entering the Bills’ locker room wearing sunglasses, a face covering and a jacket sold through his Chasing M’s clothing line with a hood pulled up. Hamlin’s mother Nina, father Mario, and younger brother Damir were also shown entering the stadium.

Later, a video posted to social media showed Hamlin walking from the locker room to an elevator while being shielded by security officials.

During the game, Hamlin’s attendance was announced on the stadium public address system, drawing an ovation from the crowd at Highmark Stadium. CBS showed video of Hamlin hyping up the crowd by making his signature heart-shaped gesture with his hands and urging the crowd to make noise by raising his arms.

With a steady snow falling in western New York and all the emotion tilting in the Bills’ direction, the Bengals came out of the gate strong. A pair of Joe Burrow touchdown passes gave Cincinnati an early 14-0 lead, and the Bengals took a 17-7 lead into halftime.

The Bengals maintained a comfortable advantage, leading by 14 points heading into the fourth quarter, while the Cincinnati defense stifled the Buffalo offense throughout the contest. The Bills’ attack could never get any momentum going and only managed to get into the end zone one time in the game.

Cincinnati now advances to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. The Chiefs will host the Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium next Sunday with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 19-12 to advance to the team’s second consecutive NFC championship game on Sunday.

The San Francisco defense came out swinging, shutting down the Cowboys’ elusive offense. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott struggled against the unit, throwing for 206 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. One of Dallas’ bright spots on offense was wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who finished with 117 yards receiving.

49ers rookie quarterback sensation Brock Purdy continued to go from Mr. Irrelevant to Mr. Relevant. He improved to 7-0 as the starter after taking over for an injured Jimmy Garropolo in mid-December. Purdy threw for 214 yards in the win.

The Cowboys’ kicking struggles seemed to continue from last week’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kicker Brett Maher got off to another rough start, having his extra point blocked after missing four extra-point attempts the previous week. Maher would go on to rebound from the blocked kick, knocking down two field goals afterward.

The 49ers will now head to Philadelphia to play the Eagles in the NFC championship game and have a chance to clinch their spot in the Super Bowl for the second time since 2019. The game is scheduled for next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

Super Bowl LVII is scheduled for February 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

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Brock Purdy’s 49ers playoff debut was good, but not as good as stats suggest

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Two things can be simultaneously true: Brock Purdy is obliterating expectations for a seventh-round draft rookie, and this version of the 49ers is one of the most quarterback-proof teams in recent memory.

The combined result: In six of the seven games Purdy has played, the 49ers have scored more than 30 points. In the one game that they failed to do so, Purdy was too hurt to even throw in practices leading up to the game.

Kyle Shanahan is doing some of the best work in his career as a play designer and play caller, getting receivers wide open. Against the Seahawks in the wild-card round, Purdy’s completion percentage over expected (CPOE) was -0.5 — meaning though he threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, he wasn’t necessarily outperforming his circumstances. When Purdy gets the ball to his playmakers, the 49ers have the best collection of yards-after-catch (YAC) specialists in the league. And to go along with this QB-friendly offense, the 49ers have the NFL’s best defense.

Historically, teams with elite defenses have just needed game managers, like the 2000 Ravens with Trent Dilfer or the 2002 Buccaneers with Brad Johnson. But being a true shutdown defense in this era of passing and the increasing list of defensive penalties is difficult. Against the Seahawks on Saturday, the 49ers’ defense and Purdy were both off for much of the game — and San Francisco still dominated.

Even with the Seahawks focused on stopping the run, the 49ers rushed for 110 yards in the first half. To stop the run, the Seahawks used more base personnel (three defensive linemen, four linebackers, four defensive backs) and got another defender in the box by playing two-deep coverage less frequently than normal. Seattle instead played more traditional spot drop coverages, which Shanahan exploited with play action.

13:14 remaining in the second quarter, first-and-10

The 49ers spammed this route combination featuring a deep corner and dig route throughout the game. According to TruMedia, Purdy was 3-of-4 for 99 yards when targeting the dig route, but he also checked the ball down once when the dig was wide open.

Usually, the 49ers would run this combination with a high crosser, but in this game, they had the backside receiver run a dig instead.

The Seahawks ran a spot drop Cover 3 with three deep defenders and four underneath defenders. By running the dig route instead of the crosser, Brandon Aiyuk quickly got depth and got as far behind the underneath defenders as he could before breaking inside. If he were to cross the field earlier, the underneath defenders might have been able to recover and feel him running into their zones.

The Seahawks’ underneath defenders with their eyes on the quarterback had no idea where Aiyuk was because Aiyuk got so much depth. As soon as Aiyuk crossed the spotlighted underneath defender, he had a huge void in the coverage to run into. All Purdy had to do was anticipate that window opening up and deliver the ball.

Purdy threw the ball before Aiyuk cleared the hook defender and hit him in stride.

The fear of the run caused the Seahawks to play this style of defense, and they didn’t adjust fast enough. This concept worked so well that the 49ers used it in the two-minute drill without play action and still hit Aiyuk for a 31-yard gain.

With Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, a short check down can turn into an explosive play. Since Shanahan was hired as the 49ers’ head coach, the 49ers lead the league in YAC per reception. They purposely scout and look for players who can create after the catch, and Shanahan is adept at creating space underneath for his YAC monsters to work. According to TruMedia, Purdy ranks eighth among 39 qualified QBs in the share of his passing yards that come after the catch (51.4 percent), and Jimmy Garoppolo ranks first (59.4 percent).

11:45 remaining in the fourth quarter, first-and-10

On this play-action concept, the Seahawks were once again in their base 3-4 with a safety rotating into the box. Instead of a dig, the 49ers had Samuel run a low crosser and Kittle run a high crosser behind him. This concept was designed to high/low the weak side of the coverage and get the ball to Samuel underneath with space.

Both the weakside linebacker, Tanner Muse, and strong safety, Ryan Neal, bit hard on the play-action fake. Once Muse realized it was a fake, he desperately tried to grab Samuel before Samuel could cross his face, but his attempt was futile. Samuel caught the ball with no defender within 10 yards of him at the 49ers’ 34-yard line and ran the rest of the way for a 74-yard touchdown.

On a throw-by-throw level, Purdy didn’t play particularly well but settled down in the second half after at first appearing nervous, which is expected for any quarterback starting his first playoff game. It could have been the rain, but Purdy’s ball placement was off, he didn’t see open receivers and he was fidgety in the pocket. His passer rating on third down was 67.1. And the 49ers still scored 41 points.

15:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, second-and-11

At the start of the fourth quarter, the 49ers were only up six points. Shanahan called one of his signature shot plays: leak. Although the deep route usually comes from a player lined up away from the play fake, this version featured deep route on the same side as the play-action fake.

Rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen bit hard on the play fake even though he was responsible for covering deep, leaving Jauan Jennings open down the sideline.

The free safety in the middle of the field was the only defender who could have made a play on the ball. Purdy should have thrown the ball down the sideline but instead led Jennings inside, which allowed the free safety to almost make a play on the ball or put a big hit on Jennings.

In the end, the pass was completed, but it’s details like this that Purdy will want to iron out before the divisional round of the playoffs.

Purdy’s ability to play out of structure has been a clear advantage over Garoppolo. Including the playoffs, on dropbacks in which he took more than three seconds to throw, Purdy ranks fourth in success rate (47.1 percent). Garoppolo’s success rate on such dropbacks (35.1 percent) ranks 24th.

However, Purdy has to manage the pocket better than he did against the Seahawks. He might have had trouble seeing over the line, but he needs to step up in the pocket more often and resist his instinct to bail outside.

41 seconds remaining in the second quarter, first-and-10

On this play, Kittle ran a divide route right down the middle of the defense, but he was likely an “alert,” meaning Purdy would only look at him if he liked the pre-snap look or peeked at him after the snap.

Purdy’s first read is McCaffrey on the choice route, followed by Jennings running a stick China route.

After the snap, free safety Quandre Diggs left the middle and jumped outside. He might have thought Kittle was going to run a corner route and guessed wrong. Kittle was wide open down the middle of the field, but Purdy didn’t see him.

Based on the pre-snap look, it might have been difficult to predict Kittle breaking wide open. Purdy looked to McCaffrey, but the “lurk” defender helped on McCaffrey.

Purdy seemed to look to his next read, Jennings, but didn’t pull the trigger. Purdy had a clean pocket and plenty of room to step up but instead ran backward, bailed to his left and eventually threw the ball away.

Overall, Purdy’s ability to extend led to two touchdown passes, and he should have had another spectacular touchdown throw to Aiyuk that was dropped.

San Francisco offensive tackle Trent Williams had a fair assessment of Purdy after the game.

“I love the fact that Brock is getting the attention he deserves. He is a good player, man. And I think anybody who watches football can see that,” Williams said. “I’m not saying that he’s the next Aaron Rodgers or Pat Mahomes, but he does everything that we need him to do and more. I think we can continue to win with him, obviously.”

Purdy is playing at arguably a higher level than Garoppolo. But it’s noteworthy that his final stat line from Saturday (18-of-30 for 332 yards and three passing touchdowns, along with a rushing touchdown) isn’t reflective of his game overall. This 49ers team — including the coaching staff — is incredibly well constructed, providing Purdy with ideal surroundings.

But this is the playoffs, and better teams lie ahead, starting with the Cowboys on Sunday. The Shanahan training wheels will have to eventually come off, and Purdy will be asked to win in the straight dropback game to lead San Francisco to a Super Bowl. It might not be fair to ask this of a rookie, but will Purdy be able to succeed where his predecessor failed?

(Top photo: Michael Owens / Getty Images)



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

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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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Lamar Jackson’s future is increasingly a mystery: Mike Sando’s Pick Six

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Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh stepped to the podium Sunday night and saluted his quarterback for fighting through injuries to lead a spirited effort, albeit in defeat, against the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.

The quarterback whose toughness Harbaugh saluted prominently in his postgame remarks was Tyler Huntley, not Lamar Jackson, whose unavailability six weeks after suffering a sprained knee has fueled speculation about Jackson’s motives in the absence of a contract extension.

As Baltimore’s season ended with a 24-17 wild-card defeat at Cincinnati, the Ravens’ offseason began with NFL insiders questioning how prominently Jackson figures into the team’s plans.

The Pick Six column leads with perspectives from around the league on a subject that simmered for weeks before boiling over as it became clear Jackson would miss a sixth consecutive game, this one in the postseason, despite Harbaugh initially suggesting the quarterback might return a month ago. Will the Ravens trade Jackson? What are the alternatives? That and more in this wild-card edition:

• Lamar Jackson’s future is … where?
• Chargers, Herbert and rookie window
• Bengals’ big play joins historic list
• Under-radar Giants move pays off huge
• Officiating is always worse than ever
• Two-minute drill: Allen, Purdy & more

1. Is Lamar Jackson finished in Baltimore? The situation feels increasingly fraught.

It’s been a strange season for quarterbacks, with Marcus Mariota and Derek Carr both leaving their teams after getting benched. The mystery surrounding Jackson remains unresolved, seemingly by design.

The Ravens easily could have shot down the idea that Jackson’s unsettled contract status might be influencing his availability. Isn’t that what Andy Reid would do if Patrick Mahomes’ motives were suddenly questioned? Wouldn’t any coach do that for a quarterback he wanted to protect?

“That is absolutely how things are done, except for if your last name is Harbaugh, right?” an exec from another team said on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “That is what him and his brother do, and there is one more guy who handles business like that — he wears cutoff-arm sweatshirts with hoodies, and his name is Bill Belichick.”

A decade ago, Harbaugh reportedly clashed with legendary safety Ed Reed over practices that Reed and some players found too intense. Any gap between Harbaugh’s expectations for Jackson and Jackson’s expectations could similarly fall along generational lines.

“Harbaugh is a power coach,” this exec said. “It’s like it is 1983 and you’re going to get the kid to come back by saying he is an important part of the team and it’s not a serious injury, but that doesn’t work in today’s NFL. He tries to make it coy and tricky, but he wants to exercise power over players, just like the college coaches he comes from and admires.”

The Ravens moved on from Reed after that 2012 season.

Jackson is much more important to the Ravens now than Reed was then, but injuries have sidelined him late in the past two seasons, raising questions about how much money Baltimore should guarantee for the long term.

Jackson is averaging 10.3 rushes and scrambles per start through 61 career starts, by far the most for any quarterback through 61 starts since at least 2000, according to TruMedia. Cam Newton is next at 6.8 per start to the same point in his career, followed by Michael Vick (6.7), Josh Allen (6.0) and Russell Wilson (5.3). Newton produced an MVP season while helping Carolina to the Super Bowl in his age-26 season, but he never reached the Pro Bowl again and began to decline. Jackson turned 26 last week.

“Has he improved as a passer?” an evaluator asked. “Sure, but he is a running quarterback, and how is it different than the running back position? It is different in terms of number of hits, but the hits can be worse for a quarterback to take. I just would not commit to him more than a year or two.”

Jackson reportedly wanted a fully guaranteed deal like the one Deshaun Watson leveraged from Cleveland when Watson could have signed with other teams. Jackson does not possess that kind of leverage because Baltimore owns his rights through the franchise tag. But he could make the situation in Baltimore untenable if he wished, the way Jalen Ramsey and others have done when seeking out.

Is it really coming to that for Jackson and the Ravens?

“It is hard to get rid of a player who has helped you achieve so much,” another exec said. “You can only do that if you have a replacement ready on the roster or if the locker room is like, ‘We are good without this guy.’ They don’t have the replacement lined up, so it’s going to have to be a thing where the locker room says, ‘Eh, it is kind of messed up, what he is doing.’ ”

After the Cincinnati game, Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey offered support for Jackson, suggesting the quarterback was limping around the facility at perhaps 50-60 percent of full strength, but Harbaugh has conspicuously allowed perceptions to linger when he could have reset the narrative long ago.

“Yeah, he is letting Lamar twist in the wind,” this exec said.

“Tyler Huntley, coming in and playing the way he played, coming off the shoulder and the wrist injuries and fighting his way back onto the field and just giving everything he had,” Harbaugh said after the game.

Sean Payton predicted on the Fox pregame show Sunday that Jackson had played his final game with the Ravens. Vick, seated near Payton in the Fox studio, suggested Jackson should have “put a brace on” his knee and gutted it out. Earlier in the week, Ravens receiver Sammy Watkins suggested Jackson might be playing if he had entered into a long-term contract.

“I am not a Lamar apologist, but I don’t think any of us knows what he is going through medically,” the evaluator cautioned. “Everybody is different, and a PCL is a weird ligament, and if there is truly inflammation in there, that is hard to play through.”

An agent thought the coming offseason would be a terrible one for teams needing quarterbacks. That could increase the demand for Carr, who is on the trading block. Tom Brady could be available as a short-term fix. Jimmy Garoppolo’s durability will be a factor teams must weigh. Teams drafting outside the top picks can’t count on that avenue.

“There will definitely be a market for Lamar if the Ravens want to trade him,” an exec with ties to the Ravens said. “I was thinking maybe Houston. They have a ton of draft capital. Atlanta comes to mind. Lamar going back home to Miami would be amazing if they could find a way.”

It’s all speculation at this point, but it feels less far-fetched all the time.

“I see a divorce unless their doctors are privately telling them Lamar really can’t play because of the injury, which seems doubtful with the way Harbaugh has handled it,” a longtime exec from another team said. “I could see a trade next spring if they can get a high enough pick to get a new QB. Lamar appears to have a ceiling that Jalen Hurts poked through this year. Harbaugh is making it seem like they are tired of the situation. They will never give him the Watson-type contract he reportedly covets.”

2. Six quarterbacks have achieved Tier 1 status while on their rookie deals since I began polling coaches an executives annually for “Quarterback Tiers” in 2014. The Chargers must regret that Justin Herbert is the only one without a postseason victory.

Herbert becomes eligible for a new contract this offseason after completing his third NFL season. The Chargers could wait another year or move to get something done earlier. If they enter into a new deal this offseason, they’ll have a year or two with smaller salary-cap charges before the big cap hits make it tougher to build a team around him.

Whatever the case, the Chargers’ 31-30 defeat at Jacksonville after blowing a 27-0 lead made Los Angeles the first team since 1999 to lose a game while committing zero turnovers and forcing at least five. Teams had won 101 consecutive games when the turnover dials were cranked to those extremes.

The table below shows postseason records for Herbert and the five other quarterbacks to achieve Tier 1 status since 2014 before signing second contracts. The other five combined for a 17-10 postseason record with one Super Bowl title while still on their rookie deals.

Herbert’s Chargers are 0-1 after their historic collapse.

Playoff Wins While on Rookie Deals

Rookie Deal QB Playoff W-L Reached

4-1

SB Win

4-1

SB Loss

3-3

AFC Title Loss

3-3

AFC Title Loss

1-2

DIV Loss

0-1

WC Loss

3. How big was Sam Hubbard’s 98-yard fumble return for a Cincinnati Bengals touchdown? Bigger than all but one postseason scrimmage play since at least 2000.

The Ravens were on the verge of scoring a touchdown for a 24-17 lead in the fourth quarter at Cincinnati, or so they thought. Hubbard’s long return of a fumble after Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley extended the ball toward the goal line, but not across it, produced a 12.0-point swing in expected points added (EPA), according to TruMedia. That number represents the swing from Baltimore having third-and-goal from the 1, which was worth 5.5 EPA in favor of the Ravens, and the very unexpected actual result of the play.

Only James Harrison’s famous pick-six interception for Pittsburgh off Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner in the Super Bowl following the 2008 season produced a bigger postseason swing on a single play. Hubbard’s play felt more pivotal because it occurred in the fourth quarter.

The top five EPA swing plays from scrimmage in the playoffs since 2000 were memorable ones:

• Harrison: 100-yard pick-six off Warner in Super Bowl XLIII

• Hubbard: 98-yard fumble return for Bengals against Ravens

• Kam Chancellor, Seattle Seahawks: 90-yard pick-six off Carolina’s Cam Newton in the 2014 divisional round

• Champ Bailey, Denver Broncos: 100-yard interception return off Tom Brady against New England in the 2005 divisional round, ending with a fumble out of bounds at the New England 1

• Ronde Barber, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 92-yard pick-six for Tampa Bay off Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb in the 2002 NFC title game at Veterans Stadium, launching the Bucs to the Super Bowl

The frantic efforts of defenders to head off disaster stood out on some of these plays, adding drama to them: Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald navigating through traffic while trying to chase down Harrison; Baltimore’s Mark Andrews sprinting after Hubbard and diving at his feet; and the Patriots’ Benjamin Watson separating Bailey from the football with a big hit at the pylon. It’s that sort of effort that makes the games so compelling.

4. Isaiah Hodgins logged the 12th 100-yard receiving game in Giants playoff history during a 31-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. His claiming off the waiver wire says plenty about the Giants.

Coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen took over a Giants team that had tied the Jets for the NFL’s worst record (22-59) over the previous five seasons, just ahead of Jacksonville (25-56). While the Jaguars loaded up on expensive free agents to revive their program, including receiver Christian Kirk for $18 million per year, the Giants enjoyed less roster flexibility. They decided to tough it out in 2022, focusing on establishing a winning culture.

Claiming Hodgins off the waiver wire after trading unhappy and unproductive 2021 first-round receiver Kadarius Toney to Kansas City was consistent with this emphasis. The Giants traded a player who frequently missed practice and who, after the trade, tweeted that the hamstring sidelining him for weeks wasn’t really injured. Toney then deleted the tweet.

For the Giants, the move turned into more than addition by subtraction. It was also addition by addition, as Hodgins outproduced Toney for the rest of the season, albeit while playing in an offense affording him a much more prominent role, based on the team’s limited options.

• Toney with KC: 14 receptions, 171 yard, two touchdowns (seven games)
• Hodgins with NYG: 41 receptions, 456 yards, five touchdowns (nine games)

So far, so good for the Giants. They extracted from the Chiefs third- and sixth-round picks in unloading Toney while signaling to their team that playing time is earned on the practice field.

Hodgins caught eight passes for 105 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings. He made a 9-yard catch on third-and-7 during a drive to a field goal for a 17-7 lead. His 32-yard reception set up a touchdown for a 24-14 lead. His 19-yard grab on second-and-10 sustained a touchdown drive for the final score in a 31-24 victory. Hodgins also made three receptions on second-and-long that set up manageable third-down situations.

The table below shows Hodgins’ 105-yard day ranking 12th on the Giants’ all-time list for postseason games. Bob Schnelker holds the record with 175 yards for the Giants against Baltimore in the 1959 playoffs. He later went on to call plays for nine 500-yard games with Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota.

Giants With 100+ Yards in Playoffs

Giants Pass Catcher Season-Opp Yds

Bob Schnelker

1959-BAL

175

Hakeem Nicks

2011-GB

165

Ike Hilliard

2000-MIN

155

Plaxico Burress

2007-GB

151

Victor Cruz

2011-SF

142

Amani Toomer

2002-SF

136

Frank Gifford

1956-CHI

131

Johnny Perkins

1981-SF

121

Earnest Gray

1981-SF

118

Hakeem Nicks

2011-ATL

115

Hakeem Nicks

2011-NE

109

Isaiah Hodgins

2022-MIN

105

5. Officiating is always worse than it’s ever been, according to whoever feels aggrieved at any particular time.

You know officiating frustration has reached elevated levels when ESPN’s top news breaker, Adam Schefter, is writing bylined stories on the matter. Is officiating really bad and getting worse?

Officials’ experience levels could be one difference now compared to the past. The five referees in the wild-card games Saturday and Sunday averaged 5.6 seasons as referees. The four officials who worked wild-card weekend a decade ago in 2012 averaged 9.3 seasons in the role, by comparison. The league has turned over experienced officials in recent seasons.

“It takes four years to become truly competent, based on the complicated nature of the rulebook and the way they keep tweaking replay,” said an NFL team exec with knowledge of officiating. “You put these fifth-year guys in there and you are rolling the dice.”

A few years ago, I went back through old newspaper clippings to compile stories with coaches and team officials complaining that officiating had never been worse than it was at that very moment. There were dozens of stories over the decades, year after year after year.

In 1975, then-Vikings coach Bud Grant called the league “a multi-million-dollar operation being handled by amateurs” from an officiating standpoint. Also that year, late Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson called for a head linesman to be fired for ruling a play had been whistled dead before a fumble. Carroll Rosenbloom, then owner of the Rams, said he’d pay half of any fine levied against Wilson by the league, because officiating was so incredibly terrible.

“I know the feeling,” Rosenbloom said at the time. “I have lost two major playoff games because of bad officiating. I suffered in silence and wound up with a coronary. Wilson will, too, if he doesn’t say something.”

Rosenbloom actually did suffer a heart attack after the controversial call, which may or may not have been a factor.

A decade later, the venerable sportswriter Dick Young said officiating in the NFL was the worst he had ever seen it. Young was born in 1917, three years before Ralph Hay, owner of the Canton Bulldogs, summoned 10 other team owners into his Canton car dealership to found what became the NFL.

“Officiating gaffes more noticeable this year,” an Associated Press headline read in 2012, a quarter century after Young’s passing.

Now, in 2022, officiating is allegedly even worse than that, even though no one can quantify how good or bad officiating actually is, or ever was, or will be in the future. We just know anyone watching any game, in any sport, at any level, thinks the officiating should be better.

6. Two-minute drill: An incredible Josh Allen stat and some perspective for the red-hot Purdy

Did Bruce Arians sneak into the Buffalo Bills’ coaching booth and wrest the headset away from offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey? It sure seemed that way as quarterback Josh Allen fired away downfield in Buffalo’s way-closer-than-it-should-have-been victory against the undermanned Miami Dolphins.

Allen averaged 15.6 air yards per attempt on 39 attempts, meaning the ball traveled that far past the line of scrimmage to its target on average. The 15.6 figure ranks first among 2,372 player games since 2007 when a quarterback attempted at least 39 passes. It is nearly double the 8.2 average for those 2,372 qualifying games.

It was part of a wild ride through the wild-card round for the Bills, who might need to trade some of that volatility for consistency against the Bengals in the divisional round. …

Brock Purdy completed 18 of 30 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns in the San Francisco 49ers’ 41-23 victory against the Seattle Seahawks. The glittering stat line included the highest EPA per pass play for any quarterback in wild-card weekend so far. The 49ers appear to be running largely the same offense they ran when veteran Jimmy Garoppolo was healthy, a testament to how quickly Purdy has come along as a rookie.

The 49ers are now averaging 34.8 offensive points per game while going 6-0 with Purdy in the lineup. Coach Kyle Shanahan seems to be scheming up wide-open receivers at his usual rate, while Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey & Co. break tackles and avoid defenders while racking up yards after catch.

What’s not to like about Purdy? Purdy’s inexperience operating the two-minute offense is one area to watch if the 49ers get into high-pressure situations against top defenses. Solving the blitzes and coverages that can be difficult to handle in third-and-longer situations is another.

“What did you think that 2-minute looked like before half?” a defensive coach whose team faced the 49ers earlier in the season said, referencing the game against Seattle. “In drop-back pass, he is scrambling for his life, he is running to the border of the field three times in the same drive, throwing the ball out of bounds, getting hit. Kyle is the one beating guys by 20 in the playoffs with that offense and a top-three defense.”

San Francisco should remain unstoppable on offense as long as Shanahan can keep things on schedule.

“Purdy has done well, but it is amazing how people are trying to anoint him,” an evaluator said. “I don’t want to take anything away, but he has led the NFL in wide-open receivers. And time to throw. These guys are wide open. When they are not, George Kittle catches the ball on third down and wills his way to a first down. It is the absolute perfect setting and every quarterback would dream to be in it. Give the kid credit, but let’s not anoint him.” …

People I know who have worked for the Chargers in coaching and personnel think the team will retain coach Brandon Staley even after blowing a 27-0 lead in falling 31-30 to the Jaguars. They contend ownership will be reluctant to eat Staley’s remaining salary, while noting it could be impractical for any front office to hire a fourth head coach (general manager Tom Telesco has helped hire three already in Staley, Anthony Lynn and Mike McCoy).

The idea that the Chargers might pay top dollar for Sean Payton while parting with draft capital for him and ceding control of personnel to him would also mark a huge departure from previous form for the organization, which is why it seems unlikely.

“I’m sure Sean Payton would love to have Justin Herbert as his quarterback,” an exec from another team said, “but I don’t think he actually wants to deal with the ownership there and the spending issues they have had over the years. All that comes with that organization.”

(Top illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photo: Mark Alberti / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)



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Kawakami: Brock Purdy’s playoff debut a sign of huge things to come for 49ers

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Kyle Shanahan speaks clearest and most profoundly with his play calls and game plans. The 49ers’ offensive heart, soul and conscience are all bared right there, every weekend, through his headset and onto the field. There is no hiding from that, and Shanahan doesn’t want to hide from that.

And what happened in the 49ers’ playoff opener Saturday against a Seattle defense clearly geared to stop the run? A lot happened. Everything important happened if you want to understand what’s going on with this team as it charges toward next weekend’s divisional round and beyond.

Shanahan called for rookie Brock Purdy to throw a pass on the first play (wild incompletion with a wet ball), the second play (19-yard completion) and the fourth play (incompletion), called for Purdy to throw a long lateral on the fifth play (7-yard gain) and throw a pass on the sixth play (incompletion) on the 49ers’ way to a field goal for the first points of the game. Then Shanahan kept calling pass plays — 19 in the first half alone, compared to just nine runs.

It wasn’t dominant right away, but the tone of this 41-23 wild-card-round victory at Levi’s Stadium was set. The evidence was inescapable. This is the way for the 49ers right now, in this postseason and maybe for a lot longer than that. They’ll face either the Vikings (if they win Sunday) or the winner of Monday night’s Tampa Bay–Dallas game (if the Vikings lose). And whoever it is, the team that plays the 49ers will know they’ve got to figure out how to beat Brock Purdy.

It’s not that Shanahan will ever abandon the run, and in fact, things got balanced pretty quickly in the second half (the 49ers ended up with 33 runs and 30 passes). But now the 49ers can go to a full-tilt air attack if they want to. And they kind of want to.

In Purdy’s first playoff game and just his sixth NFL start (and this became the first playoff victory for a rookie QB since Russell Wilson in 2012), Shanahan put the game in his hands and was quite happy to stay with that for a long while. Because it was working, especially against a Seahawks defense that was stacking the line of scrimmage.

“I think they were trying to take away the run, but we came out firing,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “And definitely some meat left on the bone, but still just explosive plays all day. I understand what their plan is, we’ve got a rookie quarterback and we’ve got a heck of a run game. I’m sure they’re trying to make him throw the ball. I’m sure that’s everybody’s plan.

“But I think he’s proven that’s fine. We can make some big plays in the pass game.”

This is the way now for the 49ers because Shanahan has so much faith in Purdy, who missed a few throws early (when it was raining lightly) but kept hitting plays all game, including seven pass plays of longer than 15 yards. On the day, Purdy was 18-for-30 for 332 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 131.5 passer rating; he also ran four times for 16 yards and a TD.

“It would be easy for (Shanahan) to say, ‘All right, let’s keep trying to run the ball, let’s get 3 or 4 yards and just manage this thing,’” Juszczyk said. “I think he has that confidence in Brock that he can make plays himself.”

Of course, Shanahan famously let Jimmy Garoppolo throw it only eight times in the 49ers’ NFC Championship Game victory over the Packers in January 2020. Before that, Garoppolo threw it just 19 times in the divisional-round victory over the Vikings.

This isn’t a knock on Garoppolo; the 49ers won those games, that’s what mattered. But the point is, this is a whole new thing here. Purdy has proved he can handle more responsibility than Shanahan has trusted to any 49ers QB in six seasons, and it’s only building.

“Felt that way from the beginning, once he got into that game versus Miami, when we didn’t have the luxury to sit there and worry about stuff the way the game was going,” Shanahan said. “We just had to call plays to try to win the game, and he did such a hell of a job. And he’s done it every time since. Got a lot of confidence in him and gives us more and more confidence each week.”

And Purdy keeps doing a little more each week. He’s displayed impressive elusiveness over the six games he’s played since coming in after Garoppolo’s injury in that Miami game. But on Saturday, the performance expanded exponentially — Purdy zigged and zagged away from pressure a handful of times, leading to huge plays, a couple of TDs and, most importantly, zero terrible losses or turnovers.

“A couple of those touchdowns, I think it’s something I’ve done my whole life in terms of finding a way when it’s not there,” Purdy said.

Purdy’s best improvisation actually came on an incompletion in the fourth quarter, when he ran almost to the left sideline and then raced the full width of the field, pump-faked a Seahawks defensive lineman and then threw a laser to Brandon Aiyuk in the end zone. Aiyuk couldn’t corral the ball, but it was quite the exclamation point.

Yeah, his teammates have noticed.

“It’s great to see the things he does back there, his little slitheriness getting out of stuff,” wide receiver Deebo Samuel said. “It kind of makes us a little tired; we’ve gotta run around, too, try to get open. But it works.”

Last week, in a game against the Cardinals, Shanahan watched Purdy run around and into a 17-yard sack that took the 49ers out of field goal range and said he was yelling at him almost immediately about it.

Kyle, you just saw it really work in this game, are Purdy’s extended scrambles OK now?

“No,” Shanahan said with a deadpan shake of his head.

But …

“He was great on some,” Shanahan said. “That last one was very close, it was unbelievable the throw he made to BA in the corner. I know he just missed that. But he’s got a feel for it. He definitely makes me nervous on some of it. But he did a hell of a job getting away. He knows his body … tries to never give up on a play. And he’s been very smart with the ball so far.”

It was all enough to catch the attention of a rather notable NFL fan.

“LeBron said that?” Purdy said when he was told of the tweet, looking genuinely thrilled. “Aw, that’s great.”

Said offensive tackle Trent Williams: “I love the fact that Brock is getting the attention he deserves. He is a good player, man. And I think anybody who watches football can see that. I’m not saying that he’s the next Aaron Rodgers or Pat Mahomes, but he does everything that we need him to do and more. I think we can continue to win with him, obviously.”

It didn’t all go perfectly. But the 49ers’ veterans liked everything they saw from Purdy, when things were damp and slightly disappointing in the beginning and then when they scored 25 consecutive points to start the second half.

Typically, Purdy mainly blamed himself for the 49ers finding themselves down 17-16 going into halftime despite outgaining the Seahawks 249-176 to that point. That happened because the 49ers had to settle for two short field goals on drives into the red zone, and a few defensive breakdowns suddenly gave Seattle a lot of life.

“Coming into halftime, Kyle was straight up, he was, ‘Hey man, the plays are there, the opportunities are there; we’ve just gotta keep it simple and get it to the guys,’” Purdy said.

The response: The 49ers went on 13-play TD drive immediately after getting the second-half kickoff, concluded by Purdy himself on a 1-yard sneak. Then Charles Omenihu stripped the ball from Seattle QB Geno Smith on the next possession and Nick Bosa recovered. And the rout was suddenly on.

In middle of that spree, Purdy maneuvered around and found Elijah Mitchell wide-open in the right flat for a 7-yard touchdown. Purdy’s first read was Aiyuk on his left, but Aiyuk was covered. Then Purdy got some pressure, rolled to his left, felt more pressure, so he stepped back to the middle and flipped it to Mitchell in the right flat. Easy TD.

Then came this:

At the time, it almost looked like Purdy started throwing it to Mitchell before he even turned all the way toward him. Which Purdy basically confirmed. Instinct, both ways. Which is why he said he was celebrating so uproariously.

“Just a broken play,” Purdy said. “I was trying to go left to BA and go through my progressions from there. It just broke down. Elijah did his job in terms of staying in protection, and if he had time he could get out. He was my last read. Front side just broke down. When I scrambled, Elijah was where he needed to be.

“And that’s why I was excited. I had that trust in him to be here, and same for him in myself. Just a huge part of the game, to create momentum, just a big play for everyone and a big moment for everyone.”

The moments are getting bigger for the 49ers. Their rookie QB sure isn’t shrinking. If anything, he’s getting better. It’s right there on the field. It’s happening.

GO DEEPER

Thompson: The Seahawks struck first, but Deebo Samuel struck the loudest

(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)



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