Our Super Wild Card Weekend Recap

Jacksonville Completed a Historical Comeback over the Chargers

At one point in Saturday’s game, the Jacksonville Jaguars were down by 27 points. They cut the lead down to 20 before halftime, but by that point Trevor Lawrence had already thrown 4 interceptions and the Chargers were rolling towards a playoff victory. The Chargers must have started drinking the victory champagne at halftime because their play calling in the second half was horrible. The goal with a monster lead should be to try and milk the clock as much as you can, but also try to score. Los Angeles instead threw the ball 27 times compared to 8 rush attempts. Of their 5 drives in the second half, 3 took less than 3 minutes off the clock. This gave Lawrence just enough time to score on his next 4 possessions and steal a win. If I’m the Chargers owner, I’m firing everyone who had anything to do with this debacle, but I’d start with Brandon Staley and Joe Lombardi. This has to be the final straw. Get them out the door. 

This was a statement win for a Jacksonville team that hasn’t had many of them since Blake Bortles took them to the AFC championship many seasons ago. It’s something you can build a franchise upon even if they lose next weekend at Kansas City. A new juggernaut in the AFC South has emerged. 

San Francisco Shows their Strength against Seattle

Geno Smith and the Seahawks gave it their best shot but were ultimately no match for the 49ers. Brock Purdy struggled in the first half. This was understandable and expected from a rookie only making his 6th start. Once he settled down and the rain stopped, he was able to regain control of the offense and leave the Seahawks in the rearview mirror. We picked San Francisco to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and after this win, I’m even more confident. There are simply too many weapons on offense and a plethora of studs on defense. 

Buffalo Survives against Miami

This game has to have every Buffalo fan doubting whether or not their team still has enough to compete against the likes of Cincinnati, Kansas City, San Francisco or even Philadelphia. Josh Allen continues to turn the ball over and they blew a 17 point lead against a team using Skylar Thompson as their quarterback. Buffalo continues to have no run game and they force Josh Allen to make something happen on every play. When you have a quarterback who is wild to begin with, you can’t give him the keys to the offense and say “Go have fun”. There has to be structure and the Bills don’t have an ounce of it. If Waddle and Hill had been ready to play from the beginning, Buffalo could’ve lost this game. They both had bad drops negating big gains that stopped any Miami momentum before it was started. It wasn’t a bad season for Miami, but they need to figure out Tua’s health in the offseason if they want to have any hope of seriously contending in the AFC. 

Jones Leads the Giants over Minnesota

Talk about a career defining game for Daniel Jones. Jones had 301 passing yards and 2 touchdowns to go along with 78 yards on the ground. He played perfectly and was the biggest reason for the Giants 31-24 win over the Vikings. Jones also more than likely locked up a big contract extension with that performance and Daboll secured Coach of the Year. If the Giants can keep this momentum rolling, they have a real shot at taking Philadelphia down next week. As they say, it’s hard to beat a good team three times. 

For Minnesota, their luck finally ran out. They were an astounding 11-0 in one score games in the regular season but ended the campaign 11-1. Their terrible defense came back to bite them again. Cousins completed almost 80% of his passes for 273 yards and 2 touchdowns. He wasn’t the problem, and neither was the run game that averaged 4.0 YPC. If the Vikings can just get an average defense on the field next season it will drastically increase their chance at post season success. 

Cincinnati Relies on Defense to Beat Baltimore

Before this game started, I would have predicted a final score somewhere in the range of 31-17 in favor of Cincinnati. It wouldn’t have been a crazy prediction either. Cincinnati has a much better quarterback, much better weapons, a slightly better defense. The only advantage for Baltimore would maybe be the offensive line. It didn’t matter though as the Bengals stumbled again in the playoffs but relied on their opponent’s incompetence to secure a win. As an 8.5-point favorite, Cincinnati was 6 inches and one boneheaded mistake by Huntley away from being down 7 in the fourth quarter. You could argue that wouldn’t have mattered, but the Ravens defense was eating Joe Burrow’s lunch all game. Burrow was pressured a lot, and he only threw for 209 yards and one touchdown. The Bengals continue to have a horseshoe shoved up their ass and sooner or later it’s going to fall out, maybe even as early as next week in Buffalo.

Dallas Wrecks Tom Brady and the Buccaneers

The Dallas Cowboys absolutely destroyed Tampa Bay last night. After Tom Brady threw a RedZone interception on the Buccaneers first sustained drive there was no longer a doubt on who would win. Micah Parsons was in Brady’s face all night long and was a major reason why Tampa couldn’t get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. Dak Prescott played a near perfect game. He threw for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns with another touchdown added on the ground. An all-around great win for Dallas that will be chomping at the bit to get a piece of San Francisco next week.

With this loss, Tom Brady’s career in Tampa Bay is likely over. Honestly, he should probably call it quits altogether, but knowing him he most likely won’t. It will be very interesting to see who the Buccaneers bring in to replace him this offseason and where Tom ultimately ends up.