Coming into Wild-Card Weekend, there have been totally different narratives in regards to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Cleveland Browns than standard. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid spent the second half of the season making an attempt to persuade us that one thing was off — then Kansas Metropolis rolled Miami, 26-7. The opposite recreation featured a Browns squad that’s been so freaking good that it hasn’t mattered who was beneath heart, or what number of occasions they turned it over. Joe Flacco threw back-to-back choose sixes, and Houston gained 45-14.
Why? Why can we do that? Mahomes is the most effective quarterback within the NFL, and the staff with the most effective QB often wins so f*ck me. I assumed, hey, the Dolphins had the higher floor assault all season, it’s -23 at Arrowhead, and the complete playing public is aware of the stat about Miami in chilly climate. Perhaps it’s time to zag?
Miami operating backs carried the ball 14 occasions for 42 yards. In the meantime, Isaiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire mixed for 110 yards on 31 touches, and Kansas Metropolis was the extra bodily staff. It’s not stunning, which is why the weekly overreactions within the common season are pointless to heed.
Roll off the bed, choose Mahomes, and return to sleep.
The nickname for Browns Stadium is actually the Manufacturing facility of Disappointment — and so they weren’t even taking part in at dwelling. It wasn’t that I trusted Flacco; it was extra that the Browns had been successful regardless of him. Cleveland’s two essential aims had been: Fluster rookie QB CJ Stroud and don’t flip the ball over.
Neither occurred, the Browns reverted to pumpkins, and the complete Baltimore Ravens’ fan base had a superb snicker at Flacco’s expense. Stroud was unflappable, turning into the youngest beginning quarterback to win a playoff recreation that simply occurred to be his first playoff recreation. He completed 16 of 21 for 274 yards and three TDs. He was 1.1 factors shy of turning into the fifth participant ever to document an ideal passer score within the postseason.
The Browns gave up 333 fewer complete yards than the second greatest protection, and had been tied for first in opponent yards per play at 4.6 this season. The Texans averaged 8.1 yards per snap, and that’s with Davis Mills in reduction for the ultimate two three-and-outs, the second of which was all kneel downs.
There’s not a lot else to say about Saturday’s slate until you signed up for Peacock to look at the Dolphins go 1-12 on third down. Usually if I would like one thing to induce me right into a nap, I’d activate a James Bond film.
A notice on NBC placing Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift behind a paywall
Credit score karma for NBC-Common’s kickoff to the playoffs starting with two video games that noticed the victors outscore their opponents 71-21. Thought you had been slick placing Cris Collinsworth, Mike Tirico, and the primetime recreation on a streaming service, didn’t ya? Then NBC had the audacity to inform the viewers to tune to “witness historical past.”
The primary playoff recreation performed behind a paywall isn’t the form of historical past I wish to witness. That’s like congratulating the primary particular person to spend $20 on a pack of smokes, or pay $10 for a banana. They, too, had been historic — traditionally a schmuck.
Don’t fear. In case you missed it, Kelce had seven grabs for 71 yards, and T-Swift had the complete suite doing a coordinated dance quantity. God I can’t anticipate Swift to complete retroactively dwelling out the highschool expertise she at all times wished.
