This weekend history was made once again. Not only it is the first time that the four visiting teams won in the Wildcard round. The streak of 22 years without a playoff victory from the Chiefs was also broken, still no luck for the Bengals in the Playoffs though, there is an apparent curse with the Minnesota kicker and it seems that everything is back to normal in Green Bay. Let’s go into the details of this Wildcard Round on Sunday.
In 11 seconds the Chiefs secured their place in the divisional round of the 2016 NFL Playoffs Kansas City in Houston was very much an unstoppable machine, thanks to a kickoff return, five turnovers generated by their defense and an attack that can generate long scoring drives took care of the Texans 30-0 at home, the 11th consecutive victory for the Chiefs squad.
What’s next for Andy Reid? They will visit the Patriots, a team that looked really bad last season against KC. Obviously many things have changed since then but there is still some of that left in the team. In fact, the beating was so strong that many “fans” took to the Tom Brady era is dead side and clamored for a Jimmy Garoppolo.
Vontaze Burfict Show, a good description of what happened on Saturday night. The Bengals LB starred for better or for worse in that game. He certainly is fighting to be the dirtiest player in the NFL, but also to be one of the most explosive defenses. His sack of Big Ben changed the landscape completely in the game (and the Playoffs, depending on his health for this weekend). His interception was about to give the first victory in 25 years for the Bengals in playoffs and the dirty hit sparked controversy after the game and ended up costing them the victory.
Burfict, for better or worse, is a special player and very talented, but the villain everyone will hate and take in sights. Unfortunately at this time, with a team like the Bengals, he’s basically uncontrolled. He needs coaching and discipline to become one of the best. He is a player to follow on his performance alone, especially in the divisional games.
Seattle is a great defense and the Vikings did everything to lose. And several points may be right. But history, beyond the failure of Blair Walsh ( who bears the blame) is that the Vikings gave a closer game than we all expected and that was thanks to their mistakes that the current NFC champions are still alive in the Playoffs.
Many have been after Teddy Bridgewater, however this game showed that he can take the weight of a big game. If his responsibility is to move the ball then he will (see the last drive or most of Minnesota’s third-down conversions, almost all from Teddy’s arm). Little by little they will be giving him more control over the offense. Regardless of how the season ended it is a great achievement and success for Mike Zimmer’s work in 2015.
At least the Packers came out of the lethargy in which they were back in December. Washington did not impose much resistance anyway, but Aaron Rodgers team deserves credit and recognition to erase an 11-0 advantage in playoffs. Their upcoming rivals will not be as easy to give up opportunities like the Redskins, but then again, when Rodgers plays at his best he is almost impossible to stop.
Things to like
-Doug Baldwin and his sensational one handed reception.
-Allen Bailey, one of the anonymous heroes from the Chiefs’ defense with 2 sacks.
-Martavis Bryant reception … never seen anything like it in my life, simply amazing.
-Randall Cobb with 64 combined yards and a TD. When he works the Packers attack works too.
-The Green Bay Packers pass rush. Six sacks and Julius Peppers was not even in the game.
Things to dislike
-DeSean Jackson. Still allergic to the end zone.
-The overall effort from Texans or the lack of it. It is a Playoffs game.
-Adrian Peterson. Back with fumbling problems and when his team needed him the most he did not bring anything to the game.
-Joey Porter / Pacman Jones. Both should have received penalties, Joey Porter had absolutely nothing to do in the field.
-RIP David Bowie
