Any Given Monday: Conference Championship Recap

The weekend was set up for 2 amazing games. The underdog Washington Commanders facing their division rival the BIG BAD Eagles for a trip to the Superbowl. Then we travel to Kansas City where the everlasting dominant Chiefs face off against the gritty Buffalo Bills. Unfortunately the results did not end up covering the expectation. Why is that? What happened? 

Washington had Butter Fingers 

This was setup to be a dog fight, Washington's first drive, 2 4th down conversions leading to a field goal, which I will say was a weird play call from Kingsbury after getting it twice already, but they did get the field goal, and I always say guaranteed points are the best points. However, on the Eagles first drive, first play, Saquon breaks one 68 yards like someone playing Madden on rookie mode, which is what started the Commanders downfall. Commanders get the ball back, and instantly Dyami Brown fumbles trying to get more yards, Eagles take possession on the 50, we all know what is about to happen? 2 easy passes from Jalen Hurts, Eagles are now in the red zone, and who's coming into the game? Saquon Barkley, coming off that bench like Michael Meyers on Halloween, 1 handoff, 1 touchdown, the guy is a demon. He got an O-line and never looked back, just kept running into the endzone. If the Eagles win the Superbowl, the Giants letting him go, may go down as one of the worst decisions ever made. Anyways, the second quarter was looking bright for the Commanders again, they made the game reasonable with 2 scores unanswered, just to get tush pushed to go down by 8. That's not bad though, 1 min 40 on the clock, plenty of time to drive down and score to go to half. Is that what happened? No, Jeremy Mcnichols thought he was prime Devin Hester and fumbled the ball on the kickoff, leading to another Eagles touchdown and killing all of Wahington’s momentum going into halftime. Both teams come out of half time firing, with back to back 3 and outs, but then the Commanders score a field goal and the Eagles decide to score another touchdown making the score 34-15 with about 8 min left in the 3rd. Jayden Daniels then becomes Jayden Daniels again putting on a clinic leading them to a touchdown, making the score 34-23 Eagles. The Commanders now only down 2 scores with time left in the 3rd and a whole fourth quarter. Just like that they had the momentum back and were scoring, Dann Quinn was finally gonna be the one coming back instead of being on the opposite side of the comeback. Bobby Wagner and the defense finally stop the Eagles, and they punt it back to the Commanders. The ball is back in Jayden Daniels hands with all the momentum, boom one strike to Ertz for a first down, boom another strike to Ertz for a big first down. “Hey, if its not broke don't fix it”, one more throw to Ertz, and boom the third fumble of the night by a third different player sealing the win for the Eagles. Washington never was coming back after that and they didn't, the score ended up a blowout at 55-23 with Jayden Daniels throwing a garbage time interception. Moral of the recap, Saquon Barkley is not human, 3 fumbles in a playoff game is crazy, Eagles played smart and are going to the Superbowl again!

(Saquon haunts the Giants dreams like Ray Lewis haunts mine)

What is a Catch? Or first down? Are the Chiefs using Magic? 

This game was a prime example of being out coached in every aspect. Mahomes once again was clinical, like always, proving his greatness once again, but other than open runs and short passes he didn't really do much, which is why they won. So many times in games, teams' star players will try to get fancy or go off the playbook and just throw the whole game away because of the pressure. Mahomes, just like Brady, only does things that will help the team win. I’m not saying there weren't some questionable calls, this whole season, including last night's game has taught me no one knows what a catch is anymore. That and who the hell is in New York giving these refs an extra opinion, are they blind or is it just Goodell personal cell line, and he chooses what happens. With review, there is no way you can’t see that Allen is clearly over the line, it really wasn't close, so not close that the far line judge even called it a first down on the field, but I digress because that is not why the Bills lost. The Bills lost because they kept taking their best player out of the game like he was struggling to breathe, to just have Allen either not convert a terrible tush push play, or for him to throw a duck 4 feet over a receivers head. The only reason the Bills were in this game was because of James Cook, they couldn’t stop him. He had 30 yards a td in the first half, not great stats until you realize they only gave him the ball 4 TIMES. They then trusted him again during the third quarter leading to his second TD of the game. Did they stick with it? No, for some reason Mcdermott thought running Josh Allen who had been stopped all game was obviously the better play call. Cook ended the game with 13 carries for 2 tds and 86 rush yards, Josh Allen with just 2 less carries (sneak or not) had 39 yards, and still Mcdermott thought Allen was the better option. I get that it's been working all year, but you're playing the Chiefs, you have to adapt, which would have just been handing the ball off to your Pro Bowl running back who's averaging 7 yards a carry. Without adapting, you're leaving yourself open to have one or 2 bad calls that change the whole game, and mentality, which is exactly what happened. JUST LET JAMES COOK! At the end of the day, it comes down to Sean Mcdermott being a terrible play caller, James Cook not getting the ball and all Mahomes/Reid having to do is watch and not mess up, and just like that congratulations to the Chiefs for another Super Bowl appearance!