Any Given Monday: Divisional Playoff Recap

Divisional Weekend Scaries 

The weekend started how it was predicted to start, with a controversial Chiefs win. I don't have a problem with the Chiefs, they are using the calls and advantages to their advantage, however, I am mad at how blatant the media and NFL is with implementing these new rules under false pretenses. The kickoff did not need to be changed, you should still be considered a runner as a scrambling QB, guardian caps should be worn by everyone, and Metlife field should be changed, if the NFL actually cared about the safety of the players. What they (Roger Goodell) actually care about is the selfish need to configure a legacy that isn’t based on a team that hated you dominating for 2 decades, the Patriots and Goodell despised each other, to the point Matt patricia, the offensive coordinator of the pats was wearing a Goodell clown shirt to games. It even got to a point where Goodell literally quit going to the Patriots games, unless it was a Superbowl, which concludes that Goodell cares more about his own selfish pride/legacy than the actual sport of Football. It's clear as day that the refs are confused as hell trying to call a football game now, it's like they have someone in their ear during certain games and then don’t other games, because you can’t sit here and watch Jawann Taylor false start on every single passing play, and think the refs are just missing it? It’s like when my dog barks at me for walking up to the house but lets the mailman walk right up to the door because she's being manipulated by treats, and can't see what is right in front of her. There is no way that the NFL is not incentivizing these refs to call penalties during certain games and during certain points throughout the game, but that enough with the speculation, just had to get that off my chest. The Texans didn’t play well enough and the fall off from Stroud's rookie season to this one has been shocking. There's a reason they call it the Sophomore slump, but golly man, get off that podcast and start throwing the ball more. Thankfully, that wasn’t the only football game on Saturday: 

THE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS AND DAN QUINN ARE METHODICAL 

Detroit vs. Washington once again was the game everyone thought had no shot of being good. Detroit looked like an army, borderline unstoppable all season, and had all the hype going into these playoffs, just to get mollywhopped by the team no one had faith in. Then came 8:30pm, and Jayden Daniels, the kid's poise, calmness, and awareness is something I haven’t ever seen from a rookie in the playoffs. Right when the broadcast panned over to Daniels on the bench with 0 emotion, straight faced, no jitters, it was like watching the greats of the greats handle the moment. It was very reminiscent of the way Brady would make a mistake and then sit on the bench with a straight face and fire in his eyes. The difference is Brady learned that throughout his career, Daniels is a damn rookie with the mentality of the best already. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not comparing the careers of the greats to Daniels, but for the first time in this new era of football, someone has been drafted with a humble, poise, calm mentality, who is outplaying EVERY SINGLE QB IN THE PLAYOFFS RIGHT NOW. Arguably, other than Mahomes, and maybe Allen, Daniels has performed the best out of any new school/era QB in his playoff career. The throws and decisions he was making against the Bucs, and Lions have been truly beautiful to watch. Whilst all other vet QB’s are struggling to put up a dominant performance this playoffs, the Rookie is making it look like a game of recess football. Then you have Dann Quinn, and Bobby Wagner, being instantly able to adapt to the Lions offense and shut it down before the second half and then the whole second half. The biggest asset to a coach is his adaptability in game, a coach who is stuck in one gameplan, has no chance against the luck of the sport. Dan Campbell got extremely outcoached, and could tell right when he ran that stupid trick play with Williams that he had no plan for coaching from behind. Washington's ever changing offensive scheme was too much for an injured Detroit defense, and the defensive scheme was to simply shut down the run and make Jared Goff antsy in the pocket. Once that run game was stopped, the Lions were finished. All around a great game, from 2 great and gritty teams who both should be in the Championship game more than the Eagles.

SAQUON BARKLEY (no other Eagles need to be mentioned) 

The Eagles vs. Rams game was like watching 4 hours of a marathon, because that's practically all it was. Saquon Barkley running for 206 yards off 26 carries and 2 tds is diabolical. That stat-line should not be happening against a playoff team, which begs the question, what the hell was Mcvay doing? I guess Barkley is just that good that even when it's the only thing that the team relies on, it still works. Letting Barkley average 7.9 yards a carry, when Jalen Hurts is throwing the ball like a duck, is something that you can’t let happen as a coach or a defense. The dumb thing is, if it wasn’t for Matt Stafford falling into a pit of his former gunslinging self, he throws the checkdown to Kyren Willams on 4th down, leading to either a first down, or a touchdown if he makes one guy miss. Instead, Stafford gets antsy and thinks he has to score on the play, so he throws a duck of a ball 6 feet out of bounds, Eagles win. Just look at this:

(this is also ignoring Cooper Kupp getting up over the middle if Stafford knew how to time throws)

Quoth The Raven Nevermore 

To the night game we go, the most anticipated game all year, MVP vs. MVP, grit vs. guts, Bills vs. Ravens, and it did not live up to that anticipation. Allen had more carries than passes by the second half, and Lamar didn’t look like a leader at all, freaking out after an underthrown ball that Henry drops, which is unlike his cool, calm, smooth usual self. Lamar clearly had let the media get to him about his lack of playoff performance and then was doubting his abilities because of the snow, leading to him freaking out, not knowing what to do or who to blame which creates a locker room that is constantly overthinking. All Lamar had to do to win this game was keep his cool and believe in his abilities, but he didn’t trust himself which led to him making mistakes and a loss of confidence in the team. Once you see your leader fail, your hope will fold without reassurance. However, when your leader fails, it's up to the team to pick him back up and protect him, which wasn’t happening, instead it was like they were a team playing not to get blamed instead of playing to protect and win. Therefore making it easy for the Bills, they just had to let Baltimore beat themselves.