Bills 19 @ Texans 22
It looked like the Texans would lose another home wild-card game. They were down 13-0 at half and 16-0 in the third quarter to the Bills. But all of a sudden, Deshaun Watson and the Texans awoke. Sprung by a Watson rushing TD, the Texans scored 19 straight points to take a lead. Wide receiver Deandre Hopkins woke up after having less receiving yards than Josh Allen in the first half. The Bills drove down the field to tie the game 19-19 and send it to overtime despite a very mistimed fumble by Allen that was knocked out of bounds by tight end Dawson Knox. In overtime, both teams ended their first drives with a punt. On the second drive, Deshaun Watson avoided a sack where two Bills’ linebackers cornered him, rolled out of the pocket and found a man open 10 yards downfield which set up a game-winning field goal for Ka’imi Fairbairn.
Titans 20 @ Patriots 13
For the first time since 2009, the Patriots did not get a first-round bye after a week 17 loss to the Dolphins. They would host a red-hot Titans team that excelled at running the football with Derrick Henry, the leading rusher in the NFL. The Patriots drove down the field and scored a field goal. The Titans answered with a long, meticulous drive down the field that ended with a touchdown pass to the tight end Anthony Firsker. In the second quarter, after a few punts, the Patriots started to establish a running game and strung together a few drives that ended with a rush touchdown from Julian Edelman. The Patriots were able to move the ball well in the first quarter but were very ineffective for the rest of the game. They punted the ball 5 times, Brady missed open receivers for check-downs and downfield, and the run game came to a halt after the first quarter. The Patriots’ offense looked depleted and it showed on the field. Brady was ineffective completing 20/37 passes for 209 yards and 1 interception. He hasn’t thrown a TD in two consecutive playoff games. Both defenses played well. The Titans only allowed 13 points, the Patriots only allowed 14. The Titans held the Patriots to 1 TD on 3 red-zone drives, the Patriots allowed the Titans to score both times in the red-zone but did force 6 punts and an interception. With 30 seconds left in the game, a former Patriot, Logan Ryan picked off Brady and ran it two yards for a touchdown - after he dropped an INT earlier in the game - which was the only score of the 2nd half to seal the game. The difference in this game was in the effectiveness of the run game: Derrick Henry had 182 yards and 1 TD on 34 carries, singlehandedly wore out the Patriots’ defense, and Michel was shut down: only 61 yards on 14 carries. Henry made up for Ryan Tannehill’s mediocre game: 72 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. This is perhaps the end of an era.
Vikings 26 @ Saints 20
Wow! I did not see that coming. The Saints were 8 point favorites to win this game at home and were real contenders for the Super Bowl. Both teams exchanged field goals on their opening drives and the Saints took a 10-3 lead after a 4-yard rushing TD. He finished with 21 yards on the day. He was kept in check by a strong Vikings run-defense. The Vikings would then score 17 unanswered points - a field goal, a TD before the half and on the opening drive in the third quarter - thanks impart to a pair of rushing TDs by Dalvin Cook, who finished with 94 yards on the day. The Vikings controlled the clock on the ground and Kirk Cousins made a throw when he had to. He didn’t turn the ball over, which was the key to victory. The Vikings’ defense was depleted in the secondary, which forced them to change up some formations on defense, yet it still limited the Saints’ passing and rushing attack very well. They picked off Drew Brees to set up the TD before half down 10-6. A momentum changer! The Saints didn’t score until the fourth quarter when Brees found Taysom Hill wide open in the endzone to cut the lead to 3. The Saints missed a lot of opportunities to take a lead. Will Lutz missed a field goal before half that would have tied the game 13-13, the Saints’ defense got a fumble recovery that was called back by a false start and Brees fumbled the ball after being hit, late in the 4th quarter, down 3 points, in field goal range. After that turnover, the Saints’ defense would stand tall and would strip the ball from Dalvin Cook with 3 minutes to go and run it back for a touchdown. Unfortunately for the Saints, after a booth review, Cook’s knee hit the ground before he fumbled. The Saints would eventually tie the game but in overtime, the Vikings would drive 75 yards - with the help of a huge 43-yard pass from Cousins to Thielen to set up a first and goal at the 2 - and on 3rd and goal, Cousins would find Kyle Rudolph in the endzone for the win. There appeared to be offensive pass interference on the play, but it was not reviewed, because according to the head refereeing office, contact was made by both players, so they let the ruling on the field stand. The Saints played well - particularly Tayson Hill who had 50 pass yards, 50 rush yards and 25 receiving yards and a TD - but they missed many opportunities to win this game. They forced a stop to get one last drive to tie the game but could not stop Cook and the Vikings’ run game. The better team, the Vikings, won this game. Personally, I do think it was OPI, but its not the only reason why the Saints lost this ball game.
Seahawks 17 @ Eagles 9
Well, this was a low scoring game just as we all expected. Wentz went down on a hit from Jadeveon Clowney who appeared to be targeting Wentz’s head as he was diving for extra yards. Wentz did scramble, giving himself up as a runner and he did dive headfirst, and it is hard to tackle a moving target, however, that hit to the head should have led to an ejection. Josh McCown was serviceable, the Eagles’ basic playbook of running the ball, dump-offs to running backs and short screen passes helped McCown adapt but they were unable to score a touchdown on 5 red-zone trips (3 field goals, were stopped twice on 4th down) and 7 sacks from the Seahawks defense proved too much for the Eagles offense. It was an injured team vs an even more injured team and it showed on the field. Neither team was able to establish a run game with no players eclipsing 70 yards (Beastmode did have 7 yards and a TD on the ground, however). The difference was the Eagles’ secondary being unable to stop the Seahawks on several 3rd and longs which allowed Seattle to control the clock. Also, they were unable to contain an elusive Russell Wilson who did most of his damage through the air with the help of rookie receiver D.K Metcalf who had 7 catches, 160 yards, and 1 TD. He accounted for almost half of Wilson’s passing yards and had the game-ending catch with under 2 minutes to go, against an Eagles team that was in a cover 0, trying to stop the run. Another year without Wentz in the playoffs and another disappointing early exit for the Eagles.
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