The NFL playoffs are here and while the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers have earned the week off, 12 other teams will be battling it out in the league’s wild card round.
As if that in itself isn’t exciting enough there are also a host of intriguing storylines to follow, from Jared Goff facing off against the quarterback he was traded for to the next chapter in a $2.5 million fairytale few people saw coming.
Watch an average 6 NFL games each week LIVE on ESPN via Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
Falcons sack Smith at seasons end | 00:33
TYREEK HILL GETS HIS CHANCE TO SHOW CHIEFS WHAT THEY’RE MISSING
Look, the Chiefs already proved last season that they could win the Super Bowl without Tyreek Hill. It just required a bit more Mahomes magic than usual.
But this season has been different and no amount of magic dust can seemingly save the Chiefs from the sorry state of their receiving corps without Hill this time around.
From Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s inexcusable drops to the complete non-factor that was second-year receiver Skyy Moore, Mahomes has hardly had any reliable targets to throw to.
An injury disrupted Travis Kelce’s start to the season and has seemingly hindered him all year long, resulting in the superstar tight end failing to top 1,000 receiving yards for the first time since 2015.
Instead, it has been rookie Rashee Rice who has emerged as the most dynamic aspect of this Kansas City offence and yet he has only caught one pass that has travelled at least 20 yards in the air all season.
That came in Kansas City’s Week 17 win over Cincinnati.
That in itself speaks not so much to Rice’s shortcomings as a player but the fact he is still a rookie who has gradually gained the confidence of the coaching staff, having otherwise been largely restricted to work behind or around the line of scrimmage.
All of that is to say that Hill is in the perfect position to remind the Chiefs what they have been missing this season with another big game on Sunday afternoon.
It is not as if Kansas City need a receiver of Hill’s calibre anyway.
They just need another consistent option to stop the never-ending game of musical chairs their wide receiver room has become.
Hill alone (1799) has double the amount of receiving yards as Kelce (984) while Kansas City’s entire wide receiver room has just 2,411 yards compared to the Miami speedster’s 1799.
The point that former NFL quarterback and now ESPN analyst Dan Orlovksy made back in late December still rings true, there is a lack of trust that has limited Kansas City’s offence.
“I’d say Rashee Rice is playing the best football on this offence right now outside of maybe Creed Humphrey,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s ‘NFL Live’ at the time.
“That says a lot about this football team. The reality is, if we go back to Week 1, the drops — I remember saying my biggest concern was, ‘Was Patrick only going to start looking at Travis Kelce if this continued throughout the season?’. That absolutely is happening.
“Patrick is playing at a lesser rate because 1) the tackles, neither of them are playing good and 2) the only person he has a viable trust in is Travis Kelce.
“His play has now been impacted by it. There is no question about it that he is in a stretch of poor play. They play shotgun football, catch-and-throw football, they are not good enough. When they play catch-and-throw football they expose their weaknesses.
“They have to start to cover up those weaknesses and try get Patrick to play better outside of those variables he cannot control.”
If there is one silver lining for Mahomes and the Chiefs it is the fact Miami’s defence is severely beaten up right now, with outside linebackers Andrew Van Ginkel, Jerome Baker and Cameron Goode all suffering injuries on the weekend.
They join top edge defenders Jaelan Phillips (Achilles) and Bradley Chubb (ACL) as unavailable for Sunday’s game while cornerback Xavien Howard is questionable with a foot injury, although coach Mike McDaniel said the Dolphins are planning to play without him.
TEXANS HAVE THEIR QB OF THE FUTURE…WATSON IS NOW CLEVELAND’S PROBLEM
A few years ago, Deshaun Watson was Houston’s problem.
Now the Texans, once a dumpster fire of a franchise with a chaotic front office and unhappy quarterback, are one of the best stories in the league.
And regardless of what happens on wild card weekend, Texans fans have something they haven’t had for some time now — hope.
Hope that this is just the start for a young group that has exceeded expectations and yet done so in a way that has not once seemed like a fluke or mirage.
C.J. Stroud has been a revelation in his rookie year and will finish the regular season with 4,108 yards, 23 passing touchdowns and five interceptions, having booked Houston a ticket to the post-season.
He did it behind an offensive line that has battled injuries and with a receiving corps that is plenty talented, highlighted by Nico Collins and rookie Tank Dell, but also elevated by Stroud’s combination of poise, arm strength and accuracy.
While there are plenty of fanbases around the NFL right now who wish Stroud was their quarterback, Cleveland may actually not be one of them — for the time being.
The magical run that veteran quarterback Joe Flacco has the Browns on right now has the fanbase chanting his name, hoping their late-season fairytale will never end.
But it will. Because their front office decided to trade a haul of picks and pay Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year contract worth $230 million in order to get him to Cleveland.
Flacco, on the other hand, signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract.
Benching Watson would mean admitting they made an expensive mistake and Cleveland wouldn’t be prepared to do that just yet, especially given he had his best game in a Browns uniform the last time he was healthy as they beat the Baltimore Ravens.
Although if Flacco somehow takes the Browns deep into the playoffs — and, potentially, as far as the Super Bowl — would Cleveland have much of a choice?
It makes for an interesting sub-plot to follow, although for now Browns fans are just enjoying the fact they can rely on dependable quarterback play every week to pair with one of the best defensive units in the league.
GOFF’S CHANCE TO HAVE A CROWNING MOMENT OF HIS OWN
Sometimes the story writes itself.
Matthew Stafford returns to Detroit for his first game at Ford Field since being traded by the Lions in January 2021.
He won a Super Bowl because of it. Lions fans celebrated him for it too, selling ‘Detroit Rams’ T-shirts. After 12 years, Stafford had earned this chance. It was an exit on his terms.
The same can’t be said for the Lions’ current quarterback, Jared Goff, who was blindsided by the move. Rams coach Sean McVay admitted he could’ve handled the situation better.
Goff, meanwhile, told reporters back in 2021 that there was “some disrespect felt towards the end” as he prepared to face his former team for the first time since the trade.
“Of course you have the chip on your shoulder — I’ve spoken about that,” Goff said.
“… There was some sourness toward the end. And you still feel that, you still have that chip on your shoulder.”
It is a chip that Goff continued to carry once he arrived in Detroit, externally billed as a “bridge” quarterback — part of the solution but not the solution. How about now?
How about after he helped the Lions to their first division title win since 1993?
How about if on Monday, he secures Detroit its first postseason victory since 1991 and in the process ends the longest playoff win drought in the league?
“He’s a mature guy, he understands that’s three years removed,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket.
“He knows that’s going to be a storyline, as we all do, but it’s why he’s done as well as he’s done because he can just focus on the job at hand — this is what’s right in front of me.
“He wants to win this game just like we all do, because we get to move on to the next round, and I think that’s the most important thing.”
For Goff, Monday’s game seems to be less about proving the Rams, McVay or anyone in particular wrong.
Instead, it seems to be more a case of proving himself right. That he was right to embrace the chip on his shoulder that told him he was good enough to be a franchise quarterback.
That his first season in Detroit, which ended with the team winning just three games and the second season, which started in similar fashion with a 1-6 record, was just part of the process for a rebuilding team still finding its way.
Often in sport there has to be a winner out of a trade. And, of course, there has to be a loser too.
In the case of the Goff-Stafford trade though, it seems to be one of those rare occurrences where both teams are winners.
Stafford is a Super Bowl champion and the Rams, with an eye towards winning in the short-term, got the quarterback they needed to take them there.
The Lions, meanwhile, received Goff and a haul of draft picks that they have since turned into crucial pieces of its rebuild including breakout rookies Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta.
Those pieces may be young but they look to be the right kind of pieces to eventually put Goff in a similar position to the one Stafford found himself in with the Rams in their 2021 Super Bowl run.
Now it is time for Goff to have a crowning moment of his own.
THE REGRET THAT MEANS COWBOYS COACH WON’T MAKE SAME MISTAKE
Speaking of reunions, the NFL’s script writers did it again with Super Bowl winning coach Mike McCarthy having to go through Green Bay.
But the now Dallas coach isn’t going to make the same mistake he made last time. In other words, you won’t be hearing anything about his former team before Monday’s game.
“Last year, I thought it was important for me to talk about Green Bay in the beginning of the week. I did with the team. I regretted it,” McCarthy said this week, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer.
In case you’ve forgot, McCarthy took time to reflect on his 13 seasons with the Packers before playing Green Bay in his return to Lambeau Field last year.
Everything seemed to be going to plan, with the Cowboys leading 28-14 in the fourth quarter and the Packers in a 4th-and-7 situation from Dallas’ 39-yard line.
Aaron Rodgers found rookie Christian Watson for the score and Green Bay didn’t look back from that point, storming home to win 31-28 and leave McCarthy visibly frustrated.
“I answered the questions honestly in here last year about my experience up there. It just will not help us win. So if it doesn’t help us win a game, I’m not interested in it,” McCarthy added, now speaking ahead of Monday morning’s wild card game against Green Bay.
McCarthy has since turned the page and so have the Packers, who have become the youngest team to make the playoffs since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, according to Stat Muse.
Jordan Love put an exclamation mark on what has been a spectacular first full season for the 25-year-old with 316 yards and two touchdowns in Monday’s must-win game against the Bears.
“That was pretty masterclass performance by Jordan,” Aaron Rodgers said of his predecessor on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’.
“He played great. He took care of the football and made a lot of plays. Now they’re in the playoffs… where is all the criticism? A little bit quiet, isn’t it?
“A lot of s*** talking was going on — a little quiet now. I don’t know if (Love) used any of that for motivation but it’s always fun to quiet those people.”
Love has already shown enough this season with a young and often injured receivers to prove he can be Green Bay’s long-term franchise quarterback and even if he struggles against a top defence like Dallas there is little reason for Packers fans to be anything but optimistic about the future.
That is especially true given the state of the team’s receiving room too, with rookie duo Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks emerging as key pieces of the offence in Christian Watson’s absence.
Green Bay & Tampa clinch playoff spots | 00:39
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EAGLES TEAM THAT MADE THE SUPER BOWL?
The city of Brotherly Love isn’t so lovely right now.
Philadelphia sports fans have a reputation for being the most passionate in America.
That can be a good thing, especially when you were the Eagles of last season who got all the way to the Super Bowl off the back of a breakout season from quarterback Jalen Hurts.
But, as Hurts and the team is learning this season, things can change pretty quickly.
Now, just 11 months removed from the Super Bowl coach Nick Sirianni seems to be in the hot seat — at least externally — as the Eagles prepare to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on wild card weekend.
It was always going to be a challenge for Philadelphia to replicate the heights of last season after a brutal opening to last summer’s free agency period, where the team lost four starters from its impressive defence in T.J. Edwards, Marcus Epps, Javon Hargrave and Kyzir White.
As such, the defence was expected to struggle — but not this much.
The Eagles enter the playoffs conceding the second-most passing yars (252.7) and most first downs through the air (13.1).
It is how the Cardinals and Giants, who finished the season with the seventh and second-least average passing yards in the league, were still able to easily beat the Eagles through the air on the way to a combined 62 points in the past fortnight.
Philadelphia’s defensive struggles wouldn’t have been as much of an issue if the offence wasn’t without its own problems, as ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky broke down in detail on ‘NFL Live’ after the loss to the Giants.
Of particular concern from the Week 18 loss was Philadelphia’s inability to handle the Giants’ blitz.
According to ProFootballReference’s advanced stats, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was blitzed on 38.7 per cent of his dropbacks this season, marking the second-highest rate in the NFL among full-time starting quarterbacks.
The Giants blitzed Jalen Hurts on 74 per cent of his dropbacks, with the Eagles quarterback completing five of his 12 passes on those plays for 41 yards and an interception.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise for the Philadelphia coaching staff given only the Vikings blitz at a higher rate than the Giants according to ProFootballReference.
And this week Philadelphia plays a Buccaneers team that ranks third in the league for blitz rate at 37.9 per cent.
If the Eagles have no answers for the blitz again it could be an early exit for a team that had Super Bowl aspirations coming into this season.
‘NOTHING TO LOSE’: IS THIS A DANGER GAME FOR HIGH-FLYING BILLS?
On the surface the Steelers look no match for the runaway freight train that is the Buffalo Bills right now.
But the same was true for the Chargers and as it stands, they are the team that have got the closest to handing the Bills their first loss in over a month.
Buffalo went into the final stage of the regular season knowing it couldn’t afford to drop a single game as it looked to overcome a slow start and book its spot in the playoffs.
That pressure seemed to bring the best out of the Bills, who better balanced their run and pass game to sneak past the Chiefs and then overpower the Cowboys in a 31-10 statement.
The wins beyond that point haven’t been as convincing but the Bills have done enough, not just to make the playoffs but to finish at the top of the AFC East.
Of course, being in the post-season in the first place is a victory in itself for a Buffalo team that looked in all sorts after a 25-20 loss to Jacksonville in London last year.
But given the momentum the Bills carry into the playoffs, could the sudden weight of expectations be what brings them down and in the most unexpected of losses?
Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms at least thinks it is a risk.
“They don’t have a chance, I don’t think, to go real deep,” Simms said on his podcast of the Steelers.
“I do think they can win one game at the Bills. I do. I mean, Buffalo’s offence, 20, 21 points. That’s kind of what they are right now.
“I don’t think they’re going to move the ball up and down the field on this Pittsburgh defence and Pittsburgh’s one of those teams that’s going to go, they’ve got nothing to lose.
“They’re going to take some chances on defence.”
The loss of T.J. Watt, who has already been ruled out with an MCL injury, certainly will hurt the Steelers on that front.
But he is right in saying that Pittsburgh has nothing to lose — and that doesn’t just make them dangerous on defence.
Steelers centre Mason Cole also told ‘93.7 The Fan’ after their 34-11 win against the Bengals that the team was “at a point and time where we had nothing to lose”.
The result?
Dynamic young receiver George Pickens erupted for 195 yards and two touchdowns as an aggressive and fearless approach sparked Pittsburgh’s sputtering offence to life.
The Bills should continue their charge towards an unlikely Super Bowl appearance on Monday morning but a few Josh Allen turnovers may be all it takes to flip that script on its head.
#Wild #card #storylines #Jared #Goff #Matthew #Stafford #trade #revisited #Joe #Flaccos #Cleveland #Browns #contract
