NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round Hits and Misses

The NFL Divisional Round proved once again that home is sacred as three of the four teams with home advantage progressed to the Conference round.

Here is a recap of the results and the hits and misses from this round of the NFL playoffs.

Results

Hits

Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bounce

New team and a new conference? No problem for the 43-year-old. Despite two average performances – by his standards – against Washington Football Team and New Orleans Saints, where he only completed18 of 33 passes for a modest 199 yards, Brady became only the fourth player in NFL history to lead teams to AFC and NFC Championship games after the Buccaneers ran out 30-20 winners against the New Orleans Saints in the only away victory.

He joins an elite club alongside Joe Montana (49ers and Chiefs), Jay Schroeder (Washington and Raiders), and Craig Morton (Cowboys and Broncos).

Sunday’s result also meant that the Buccaneers avenged their two losses against the Saints earlier in the season and made it to the Conference round for the first since 2002, where they went on to win the Super Bowl. They did by stifling Saints QB Drew Brees and capitalising on four turnovers by scoring points on each.

Sean McDermott and the Buffalo Bills

It was a special win for the Buffalo Bills. In an inspired display, they emphatically stifled the Baltimore Ravens offense to reach the AFC title round for the first time since 1993.

It was a pretty ugly first half at a windy Orchard Park with the scores level at 3-3, but two critical second half plays changed the face of the game. Although it wasn’t Josh Allen’s best performance, he found the goods to deliver the only offensive score of the night after locating Stefon Diggs in the end zone for a Buffalo touchdown to lead 10-3.

With possession, the Ravens ate up nearly nine minutes of game time on a 15-play drive all the way to Buffalo’s nine-yard line with less than a minute of the third quarter left. Baltimore failed to convert a third-and-goal end-zone shot, which would’ve tied the game had it gone in for a TD, but Lamar Jackson inexplicably threw into triple coverage.

The resulting interception saw Taron Johnson run the ball 101 yards to score a touchdown and increase the Bills lead to 17-3. Buffalo never looked back and sealed the victory whilst the Ravens’ disappointing night was compounded by Jackson leaving the field in the fourth quarter due to a concussion – he had only made around 200 yards all night and that one interception proved costly.

Chad Henne

There’s 1:17 left on the clock, Chiefs lead by five but Patrick Mahomes is in the locker room due to concussion protocols, and reserve QB Chad Henne, who hadn’t thrown a playoff pass in 12 seasons, charged with a fourth & inches in the midfield. It was a gutsy call from coach Andy Reid to not punt the next play, but fortune favoured the brave as Henne executed the key throw under pressure to Tyreek Hill.

Rewind to third down and Henne made a critical play after a shaky introduction that saw a wayward throw overshoot the receiver by eight yards. Henne was sacked on second down, leaving the Chiefs facing a third-and-14. With no receivers open, Henne opted not to force a throw to a heavily covered receiver, and instead ran 14 yards to the first-down marker. Although he was judged a few inches short, that play inspired the fourth down call that enable the Chiefs to see out the victory.

Bearing in mind that Henne had only four carries of 14 yards or more in 71 games, it was a respectable performance for a player that barely saw the field at the Jacksonville Jaguars.  

Misses

Brown’s Fumble 2.0

A sense of déjà vu for the Cleveland Browns after another fumble on the one-yard line proved costly in the one-score defeat at the Kansas City Chiefs.

With less than two second quarter minutes left, and trailing 16-3, Browns QB Baker Mayfield completed a pass to Rashard Higgins a few yards away from the goal line. As Higgins stretched out to get the ball into the end zone, Chiefs defender Daniel Sorensen knocked it away. The ball went out of the end zone, resulting in a touchback on the Chiefs 20-yard line, even though the Chiefs didn’t recover the ball.

To add salt to the wounds, the Chiefs kept the Browns from scoring a vital touchdown and then kicked a field goal to extend their lead. This fumble-touchback rule cost the Browns in the AFC Championship match back in 1987 against the Denver Broncos, at least the ball was recovered by the opposing team in that case.  

This is an infuriating rule as it has a clear disadvantage on the fumbling team. The officials also missed calling the helmet-to-helmet contact from Sorensen that caused the fumble and the Browns could not review. Ultimately, the Chiefs prevailed 22-17 in spite of Mahomes leaving the field in the third quarter.

Drew Brees

New Orleans Saints’ postseason woes continued as they made it four consecutive playoffs without reaching the Super Bowl. QB Drew Brees has often carried the Saints through but this year the veteran cost them dearly despite having a team that were more than capable of reaching Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay.

Brees finished Sunday’s game with 19 pass completions from 34 throws, made 134 yards and had three interceptions. This was the first time since 2016 that Brees had thrown three picks in a game. Statistically, Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers was his second worst game of the 244 he has played for the Saints – averaging just under four yards a throw.

A lot of talk was swirling before the game about two veteran QBs going head-to-head but Tom Brady didn’t have a stellar game either. However, it was six-time Super Bowl winner Brady who won the battle as Tampa Bay ran out 30-20 winners at the Superdome.

Rumours on Drew’s retirement have been building and his below-par performance on Sunday was the biggest hint yet that this could be the 42-year-old’s last season.

Goff let down by the LA Rams defense

Jared Goff put in an admirable display considering his thumb injury but his wasn’t backed up by his teammates as they fell to the Green Bay Packers. Goff achieved a respectable 174 passing yards and one touchdown, whilst only failing to complete six passes.

Ironically, it was the Rams’ defense that let them down and it was clear they missed a fully fit Aaron Donald to stand a chance of an upset at Lambeau Field. Goff was sacked four times and hit seven times all too often on third down when the Rams could ill afford it. In the Packers camp, Aaron Rodgers didn’t need to wash his crisp jersey after the game as the Rams failed to sack Green Bay’s MVP candidate.

Much like the Browns, the Rams hung on in the game against their first seed opponents, but they were simply outplayed and a fragile defense made an uphill task nigh on impossible as the Packers ran out 32-18 winners.