HERE'S WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE
DIVISIONAL ROUND:
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 31, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 13
1. Ding, dong, the Witch is dead. OK, the Chiefs play
on the Missouri side of Kansas City, not Kansas, but the Chiefs exorcised
their personal demons of postseason history after entering Saturday's game 0-4
against the Colts.
The Chiefs used
a dominant first half to jump out to a 24-7 halftime lead by totaling 18 first
downs compared to the Colts'
four, 42 offensive plays compared to the Colts'
19 and outgained the Colts by
a 274-91 margin. Andy Reid's offense went 3 of 4 on fourth-and-short
opportunities, and two of the conversions eventually led to 10 first-half
points. The Chiefs slowed
down in the second half, but the first 30 minutes more than established the
tone. And when the final second ticked off the clock, the full grasp of
the Chiefs'
victory could be found on the scoreboard and in all offensive and defensive
statistical categories. The win also snapped a six-game home playoff losing
streak for the Chiefs,
with the last victory coming in the 1993 Wild Card Round against the Pittsburgh
Steelers on Jan. 8, 1994.
2. A much-maligned Chiefs defense
picked a good spot to be a reason K.C. has a shot at a trip to the Super Bowl. Defensive coordinator Bob
Sutton's unit, which finished the regular season ranked 31st in the league,
manhandled the Colts with
three sacks and five quarterback hits and limited the Colts to
263 total net yards of offense. Outside linebacker Justin
Houston paced the Chiefs with
three sacks, two quarterback hits, two tackles for a loss and a fumble
recovery. While the Colts got
on the scoreboard early courtesy of a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown,
the Chiefs shut
down quarterback Andrew Luck and
the league's seventh-best offense until surrendering a fourth-quarter score.
The Colts entered
the game as the top team in the league in third-down efficiency, converting 104
of 214 attempts for a 49 percent conversion rate. On the game, the Colts converted
0 of 9 third-down attempts, and went three-and-out on their opening four
possessions. The Colts'
running game, which pounded out 200 yards and a touchdown in the opening round
of the postseason, found no sledding against the Chiefs and
managed 87 yards. A lot of credit must go to Sutton for devising a scheme to
confuse Luck and Co. Luck finished the game completing 19 of 36 passes for 203
yards and a touchdown for a 78.8 passer rating.
3. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes showed
why he is a frontrunner for the league's MVP, as he picked apart the Colts'
Cover 2 defensive coverage by completing 27 of 41 passes for 278 yards and
rushing for a touchdown. Mahomes also put his shortstop-like sidearm throws in
the face of pressure on full display, connecting numerous times from different
platforms with various receivers. Mahomes got a lot of help from his All-Pro
teammates. Tight end Travis Kelce caught
seven passes for 108 yards, while wide receiver Tyreek Hill hauled
in eight catches for 72. The league's MVP award was voted on at the end of the
regular season. But any doubt as to whether Mahomes should win it likely ended
Saturday as the Chiefs simply
don't enjoy a 12-4 season, clinch the top seed in the AFC and advance to the
AFC Championship Game without him.
LOS ANGELES RAMS 30, DALLAS COWBOYS 22
1. It is often said in order to deter a bully on the block,
punch them in the mouth. In Saturday night's instance, the bully entering the
game was the Cowboys'
physical run defense. Dallas finished the regular season ranked fifth in the league
against the run and came off a wild-card win during which the Cowboys held
the Seahawks'
top rushing attack to just 73 yards. The Rams decided
to take it right to the Cowboys early
and often, and totaled 273 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 48
carries. Todd Gurley rushed
for 115 yards and a touchdown, while C.J. Anderson totaled
123 yards and two scores. Gurley and Anderson became the fourth set of
teammates to each rush for 100-plus yards over the last 30 postseasons.
The Cowboys simply
had no answer for the Rams'
punishing ground game, which flipped the tables on Big D by becoming the new
bully on the block. Before Saturday night, the previous high the Cowboys allowed
came in Week 15 when the Indianapolis
Colts produced 178 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 39
carries.
2. With the running game firing on all cylinders, the Rams'
potent passing game took a back seat. Still, quarterback Jared Goff turned
in an efficient outing by completing 15 of 28 passes for 186 yards, and sealed
the game with an 11-yard run. Goff distributed his passes among seven
receivers, with Robert Woods leading
the way with six catches for 69 yards. The offensive line, which deserves all
the credit for opening gaping holes in the ground attack, also performed
admirably in protecting Goff, who wasn't sacked on the night and was hit just
one time. As a team, the Rams totaled
an impressive 459 yards against the league's seventh-best defense.
3. The Rams'
defense, which had been up and down during the regular season, turned in a
stout performance against the league's 10th-best rushing offense. Running
back Ezekiel
Elliott, who won the 2018 rushing title with 1,434 yards, found the
going very tough and finished with just 47 yards on 20 carries, averaging a
paltry 2.4 yards per attempt. On the game, the Cowboys managed
50 yards on 22 carries, which placed the game squarely in quarterback Dak Prescott's
hands. If the defense combined with a devastating rushing duo of Gurley and
Anderson can repeat Saturday's performance in the NFC Championship Game,
the Rams could
very well be on the way to Atlanta.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 41, LOS ANGELES CHARGERS 28
1. In frigid Foxborough, Chargers fans
felt a throbbing disturbance in the Force right away, as Tom Brady and
his charges authored the longest opening postseason drive of Bill Belichick's
tenure in New England. The 14-play masterpiece chewed 7:11 off the clock and
saw Brady find the versatile James White for
45 yards off five grabs. Setting the tone with a wily mix of screens, pinpoint
lobs and Sony Michel runs
-- including the opening score -- TB12 picked apart a defense that showed none
of the uber-creative DNA that confounded the Ravens a
week ago. In that saucy tilt, the Chargers employed
a wire-to-wire mix of seven defensive backs that threw Lamar Jackson into
chaos, but Brady exists in a different world. It was surprising to hear
next-level color man Tony Romo call New England's Josh McDaniels -- shown on
screen as much as any coordinator league-wide -- an "unsung"
play-caller. He's as good as they come and showed it on an opening march that
resembled so many other artistic gems from Patriots lore.
2. The question was how the Chargers would
respond in freezing, hostile conditions. Rivers didn’t flinch, uncorking a
43-yard scoring shot to a wide-open Keenan Allen.
It was nothing more than a fleeting bright light, though, as anyone watching
could feel this tilt turn ugly for Los Angeles by the end of the first frame.
The Patriots controlled
both lines from the start, while the swarming Chargers defense we saw
against Baltimore morphed into a soft cadre of would-be tacklers who appeared
mystified on how to disrupt Brady and allowed White to make an NFL
postseason-record 15 grabs. The lack of a pass rush allowed the 41-year-old to
pull pages from his younger days, hitting 15 of his first 19 passes and burying
the Bolts in a 21-7 hole with a well-placed 15-yard rope to Phillip
Dorsett in the back corner of the end zone. The Patriots punched
in touchdowns on their first three drives for the first time in the franchise's
playoff history. Their fourth consecutive score made this club the first to do
so in the playoffs since the Colts pulled
off that feat against the Jake Plummer-led Broncos in
2003.
3. Belichick, meanwhile, dialed up a key defensive
adjustment minutes into the affair, challenging Rivers with a cover-zero
approach to free up rushers and force the field general into a handful of
desperate deep lobs against an underrated Patriots defense. Dont'a
Hightower tangled with Rivers more than once, while Trey Flowers flashed
moments of dominance for a gang that piled up two sacks, seven hits and 28
hurries and coaxed the Chargers into
three delay of game flags.
1. The home crowd was silenced on the first play from
scrimmage, with nickelback Cre'Von LeBlanc intercepting an underthrown Drew Brees deep
ball meant for streaking speedster Ted Ginn.
Clicking on all cylinders with impressive focus and precision, the
undaunted Eagles jumped
out to a 14-0 lead with Foles thoroughly outplaying a jittery Brees. The Saints'
fortunes changed in the middle of the second quarter with an aggressive
fourth-and-1 fake punt in which special teams dynamo/gadget player Taysom Hill powered
his way to a first down. A buoyed Brees followed up with a 42-yard pass play
to Michael
Thomas and an end-zone floater to rookie Keith
Kirkwood, halving Philadelphia's lead.
The Superdome crowd was a factor from then on, shaking the
press box and sending the decibel-level soaring. The Eagles'
offense fell dormant in a morass of penalties, wasted timeouts and general
chaos. The Saints took
control of the festivities coming out of halftime, going 92 yards (or 112,
counting penalties) in 18 plays while burning nearly 12 minutes of game time
during an instant-classic drive that culminated in a Michael
Thomas touchdown -- and New Orleans' first lead of the day.
2. As the Saints rolled
toward juggernaut status prior to the Cowboys'
upset victory in Week 13, a throw from Brees to Thomas had become the most
reliable positive outcome in football. After a few hiccups in December, that
connection returned with a vengeance Sunday. Thomas proved too talented and
physical for Philadelphia's cornerbacks, carrying the Saints'
offense with 171 yards and a touchdown on 12 receptions. With swaggering
assassin Foles warming up on the sidelines, ready to repeat last week's
fourth-quarter magic, a leaping Thomas boxed out Josh Hawkins to
convert third-and-13. Will Lutz went on to miss a 52-yard field goal that would
have extended the lead to two scores with three minutes remaining. The Rams'
All-Pro tandem of Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters will
have their hands full with Thomas in next week's NFC Championship Game at the
Superdome.
3. Brees, on the other hand, will have to play better -- as
he did in the Saints'
45-35 victory the last time these NFC powerhouses met in Week 9. Although the
newest member of the age-40 QB club continues to make plays in key situations
such as second-and-long or third-and-short, he missed a pair of long touchdowns
due to ostensible arm-strength limitations on his deep ball -- a weakness
scouts have been hinting at for a few years. The best downfield throw of the day
came from the arm of Taysom Hill,
who hit Alvin Kamara in
stride on a 46-yard touchdown that was nullified by penalty during the 18-play
scoring drive. Early in the game, a mistake-prone Brees also dropped a snap,
took a bad third-down sack and fumbled twice.
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