JIM LANG’S 10 NFL THINGS: WILDCARD EDITION
Hi there! Well they don’t call it the Wild Card Weekend in the NFL for nothing. Before we get to the games, the day after I filed last week’s 10 Things, the Giants fired Joe Judge. After the year the Giants had and the way their season ended, they had no other choice but to make a coaching change. One day later, following a putrid 4-13 season, the Houston Texans fired David Culley. If I owned the Texans, I would trade their first-round pick (third over-all) to the Saints for the rights to Sean Payton. That’s just me. Then again, the Giants should think about doing the same thing! As far as Wild Card Weekend is concerned, there is a lot to cover, so let’s get to what happened their past week.
1 – The Jungle – Up until Saturday in ‘The Jungle’, the Bengals had not won a playoff game since January of 1991. Well, things are different now when it comes to the Bengals. The biggest reason is the combination of Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. By no means was their win over the Raiders smooth and easy. Having said that, this playoff win was a big step in the Bengals franchise. With Burrow and Chase, coach Zac Taylor has a great nucleus of talent to build around. I loved the message after the game in the Bengals locker-room, ‘Won, not done.’
2 – Same Old Bills – When things go bad in Buffalo and Western New York, sad fans would always mutter, ‘same old Bills’. Saturday night, in a game played in bitterly cold weather, nobody was saying ‘Same Old Bills’. Josh Allen and the Bills gave Bill Belichick and the Patriots one of their biggest beatings, ever. Allen was near perfect as he shredded the helpless Patriots for 5 touchdown passes. The Bills defence did a great job reminding the Patriots Mac Jones how tough it is to win in the playoffs as a rookie quarterback. Jones will learn and get better. For now, Allen and the Bills deserve all the praise in the world for that remarkable performance. And thumbs up to their die-hard fans who sat through that kind of weather to cheer on their team.
3 – Tom Brady – Tom Brady is 44 years old, and he is also one step closer to going back to the Super Bowl. Thanks to a combination of boneheaded mistakes from the Eagles, and typical Brady precision, the Buccaneers had little trouble beating Philly and moving on to the next round. I was also impressed by Antoine Winfield Jr and the Bucs defence. The Bucs will only go as far as their defence takes them.
4 – The Bullies by the Bay – 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan is 42 years-old, part of the class of young coaches in the NFL. However, Shanahan plays a brand of football that would have fit in nicely with the NFL of the 1960’s. The 49ers used their old-school brand of blunt force trauma to good use in their crazy win over the Cowboys. A few things stood out. First, Deebo Samuel is even better than we all thought. He is a special and dangerous offensive player. Second, Mike McCarthy has no clue what he is doing sometimes. There is a good reason die-hard Cowboys fans were sitting in the stands and crying, you would cry too if you paid to watch the end of that game. There is a rule in the NFL that has been around for decades, and everyone knows it, everyone but McCarthy. With time running out, the Cowboys ran a play to put them in a position to throw a Hail Mary pass to the end zone. One problem, the play took too long. And then they forgot an official HAS to touch the ball before the ball is snapped. Because they forgot, time run out of the game and out of the Cowboys season. Of all the ways to lose a playoff football game, this has to rank as one of the very worst.
5 – Ben’s Last Ride – Thanks Ben, thanks for 18 years of great football. The whole time that Patrick Mahomes was flinging 5 touchdowns to lead the Chiefs to a decisive win over the Steelers, I kept thinking that Big Ben’s career is over. And while Ben stood on the sideline and watched Mahomes, he had to nod his head in approval at the greatness he witnessed. Travis Kelce’s mom Donna pulled off the ultimate parent move. She watched one son, Jason (of the Eagles) in Tampa, then hopped on a plane and made to KC in time to watch Travis. I am impressed.
6 – I Love LA – The LA Rams have gone all out this season, trying to build a team that can go all the way. Monday night, all of that talent and money paid off in their impressive win over the Cardinals. Matt Stafford threw 2 TD’s and ran for another as the Rams won easy and Stafford picked up his first ever win in the post-season. The Cardinals offence looked out of synch from their first possession. Then in the 2nd quarter, a desperate Kyler Murray blindly flung the ball out of the endzone to prevent a safety and Rams cornerback David Long returned it 3 yards for a touchdown. Game, set, match; thanks for coming out, Arizona. Von Miller and the Rams defence sacked Murray twice, they intercepted him twice and the result was the Cardinals were a pathetic 0-9 on 3rd down attempts. Heck, at one point, Odell Beckham Jr had more passing yards than Murray.
7 – Lambeau Field – There are not many teams in the NFC that are built to travel to Green Bay in late-January, the 49ers are one of them. In what should be a great match-up, the 49ers will travel to Lambeau Field Saturday night to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The Packers will build their game plan around ways to slow down Deebo Samuel. The 49ers need to get consistent pressure on Rodgers to keep the game close. With so many players healthy and back in the line-up, the Packers are the team to beat in the NFC. And like any great quarterback, if Rodgers has time to work, he will carve you up. That is why the 49ers are praying that Nick Bosa is cleared from concussion protocol and able to play this week. Without him, the 49ers will be in trouble.
8 – Remember the Titans – Derrick Henry, the Titans all-world 245-pound power running back is healthy, rested, and ready to be unleashed upon opposing defences. That is what the Bengals will face when they travel to Tennessee Saturday. Mike Vrabel and the Titans haven’t changed their style or approach to football all year, and they are not about to change as they face Joe Burrow. And the Titans won a lot of important games and clinched the top seed in the AFC, without Henry in the lineup. The return of Henry is the last thing the Bengals or anyone else would want to face in the playoffs.
9 – Sunday Fun Day – This should be a real treat for football fans on Sunday. In the early game, Matt Stafford and the Rams are in Tampa to take on Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. Since both teams have an explosive offence, it comes to a battle of what team can make the most plays on defence to determine the winner. In the late game, Josh Allen and the Bills take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in what is going to be a slobberknocker of a game. Both quarterbacks threw 5 TD’s last week and both teams believe they what it takes to go all the way to the Super Bowl. And even better, this is a re-match of last year’s playoff battle.
10 – Refs Gone Bad – Hey, stuff happens in a football game. But there is no excuse for some of the horrible officiating we witnessed this past round of playoff games. Especially when you consider the highest graded officials from the regular season are assigned playoff games. However, even the NFL head office and the head of officiating couldn’t stomach Jerome Boger and his crew during the Bengals and Raiders game. I love the Raiders, but they called a roughing the passer penalty against the Bengals that wasn’t close to a penalty. And the, was it a whistle, wasn’t it a whistle, incident was just as bad.
Football fans don’t ask for much. Just give us an officiating crew that has a good working knowledge of the rule book and calls a fair game.
That is all for now. Enjoy this weekend games and I will talk to you next week.
(Jim Lang is Canada’s foremost expert on the NFL. Follow him on Twitter at @JimLangSports)
