NFL Round Up - Wildest Divisional Round Of All Time
There really are no words for what transpired over this weekend.
3 Road Dogs going into hostile territory, and winning outright.
Punctuated by an all-time, instant classic, shoot-out between Buffalo and Kansas City that we all wish was still going.
In the end, the real winner is the NFL. Say what you may about the league, the (slime ball) guy who runs it, but they somehow manage to produce a product that continues to outdo itself. Time and time again. There's a reason we can't stop coming back, or lapping it up like thirsty dogs dying for water all week, and finally finding that full, ice-cold dog bowl each Sunday.
Jerry did what Jerry does and encapsulated each game with his Thornton-ian prose.
But here's a recap of each game from the 2022 NFL Divisional Round.
Scot Tucker. Shutterstock Images.
Adam Lacy. Shutterstock Images.Cincinatti Bengals at Tennessee Titans -3.5
O/U 47.5
The big news coming into this one was Derrick Henry was back
Ja'marr Chase and Burrow are feeling like the new Rice and Montana
Vrabel's game plan was similar to what the Titans did a few years ago to beat Brady in Foxboro. Pressure the fuck out of him with exotic blitzes, over and over. Burrow took a pounding in this one.
Derrick Henry had a decent day
Henry ran for a touchdown and finished with 66 yards.
But the Bengals would not be denied
And had a RB of their own
Tannehill was brutal
He finished with 220 yards passing, of which was to AJ Brown, and a TD.
But THREE INTERCEPTIONS.
Including this back breaker which sealed the deal
Burrow was 28/37 for 348 yards.
On came Mcpherson
This kid is a stud
FINAL-
Bengals 19
Titans 16
Leon Halip. Getty Images.San Fransisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers -5.5
O/U 47.5
Green Bay came out rolling
On both sides
San Fran was scoreless through the first half. And Green Bay seemed in control.
Looked like they'd be up two scores at halftime. But San Fran's special teams had other plans.
The lone San Fran TD came on a blocked punt where they brought the house against the Packers AWFUL special team protection
The tide turned, and San Fran went to Mr. Dependable, Deebo Samuel.
Before bringing on Robbie Gould to seal the deal
Rodgers finished 20/29 for 225 yards, and 0 TDs
FINAL-
49ers 13
Packers 10
Charles Baus. Shutterstock Images.Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers -3
O/U 48.5
Everytime I see Cooper Kupp do something incredible, which is often, I imagine Bill Belichick also watching, and trying to concoct a scheme to attain him and become invincible.
Brady got whacked by Von Miller late and flipped on Ed Hochuli's obnoxious son for no flag
Aaron Donald was unstoppable
LOL Suh, the irony
At halftime things didn't look so great
And it worked. The Bucs D came out in the 2nd half tough as nails. And Brady's receivers began finding ways to get open.
Starting to look like OBJ wasn't the problem in Cleveland
Tampa Bay came STORMING back in the 4
Tying it up with :45 seconds left
But… was it too much time?
A communication breakdown led to a Cooper Kupp bomb
Which led to a game-winning field goal as time expired.
FINAL-
Rams 30
Buccaneers 27
Peter Tarry. Shutterstock Images.Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs -1.5
O/U 53.5
Now for perhaps the craziest game in NFL history.
Buffalo would score, but Kansas City would answer with a huge play
Except for a huge missed FG.
Josh Allen looked like a create player in Madden with 99 everything in this game.
This game was truly back-and-forth, back-and-forth.
With Allen looking like he might pull it out.
And he saved the Bills lives with 2 or 3 of these drive extending scrambles for first downs
Gabriel Davis was juking CB's out of their cleats
Yah, I'd say so.
But oh no, wait.
Holy fuck is Tyreek Hill fast-
Shocking no-call here against the Chiefs in Arrowhead…
The lead changed hands three times in the final two minutes of regulation, and there were 25 points scored over that stretch. It was insanity.
Allen connected with :13 seconds left to send the Bills to their first AFC Championship this century…
But Mahomes pulled the greatest act of his career so far, and connected on two lasers, called two quick timeouts, and setup Butker for the tying field goal.
In OT the Bills looked spent. The Chiefs marched and Travis Kelce caught the game-winning TD
FINAL-
Bills 36
Chiefs 42
Mahomes finished with 378 yards passing and three touchdowns. And was a class act in victory.
Now many people are saying the Bills should have squib kicked it instead of booting it through the end zone with 13 seconds left.
The thing is, doing that allows the Chiefs to "return" the ball to around the 40, essentially putting them in the same place, with the same amount of time left (7-8 seconds) to run the play to setup the kick. So it was 6 of one, half dozen of the other.
The craziest hypothetical I’ve seen so far came from Warren Sharp
It's safe to say Josh Allen might be the truth
BONKERS weekend.
Championship Sunday is set:
Bengals at Chiefs, 3:00 EST on CBS
49ers at Rams, 6:40 EST on FOX