For fanatic fans of the National Football League who enjoy closely contested playoff games, the 2018-19 Divisional Weekend was disappointing. Three of the four games were lopsided, and no road team pulled an upset. If anything, the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints each solidified being one of the four best clubs in the NFL during the 2018 season.
The defending champion Philadelphia Eagles nearly pulled a triumph over the Saints in the last tournament match-up of the weekend on Sunday. Most likely to the surprise of very few fans, the Eagles established a 14-to-0 first quarter lead. But Philly lost, and we’ll get to the details later. In the three other games, the hosts (Chiefs, Rams and Patriots) won by a combined score of 102 to 63. Kansas City, Los Angeles and New England all had a sizable first-half margin.
If any football follower was bored with the proceedings last weekend, they’ll surely get a mulligan for the upcoming AFC and NFC Championship games. New England, Kansas City, New Orleans and Los Angeles each have justice with winning the Super Bowl. While we wait, let’s recap the Divisional Round:
Kansas City Chiefs, 31, Indianapolis Colts, 13
During the Chiefs’ domination last Saturday, one glaring head-scratcher was the failure of veteran kicker Adam Vinatieri. Very rarely does he miss kicks, especially in the playoffs; he missed two field goals in the game. But that had nothing to with the Colts’ loss; Indianapolis, as a whole, was not prepared.
And it wasn’t the snow, which stopped falling by halftime. Almost doubling Indianapolis in yards, Kansas City had a 17-to-0 lead in the early moments of the second quarter. On the first play from scrimmage, Dee Ford tackled Marlon Mack for a loss, and that’s just how this day was going to go for the Colts. The Chiefs quickly drove down the field for a score, and when the Colts’ offense came back out, quarterback Andrew Luck had two passes batted down by the defense. Completing another otherworldly throw across his body while running in the opposite direction, Patrick Mahomes primed Kansas City for another touchdown. The Chiefs had been 9-of-10 on fourth-down conversions coming in, and it gained 15 yards here, setting up a 36-yard scoring scamper by Tyreek Hill, who was surrounded by Colts’ defenders during the entire run; nobody wanted to touch him?
We referenced Indianapolis’s huge comeback against Kansas City five years ago in my Most Memorable Wildcard Games article on Jan. 5, but everything was different this time. The only bright spot for the Colts was a punt blocked for a touchdown (always fun to see that) in the second quarter and a T.Y. Hilton stutter step, tiptoe touchdown in the fourth. Amazingly, Mahomes threw zero touchdowns, but he did rush for one, just like Hill, Darrel Williams and Damien Williams, who rushed for 129 yards.
The Colts had been carrying much momentum, but here’s how the third quarter went last Saturday: interception negated by a penalty; Denico Autry twerks in front of the referee after getting a sack, loses his team 15 yards; Justin Houston sacks Luck for 11-yard loss; and Luck is stripped of the ball, Chiefs recover. Ugly and possibly boring for anyone who isn’t from Kansas City.
Los Angeles Rams, 30, Dallas Cowboys, 22
In an unrelenting performance, the Rams tortured the Cowboys with the rushing game. C.J. Anderson (123 yards) and Todd Gurley (115) split 39 carries and three touchdowns. Los Angeles’ offensive line was opening all kinds of rushing lanes and Dallas couldn’t do much about it.
As fourth-down conversions have now become a full-blown phenomenon in the NFL, the Rams and Cowboys were going all out last Saturday, completing five of six on fourth down; Dallas actually went for it on fourth down at midfield in the first quarter and got it. This paved way for a 29-yard touchdown catch by Amari Cooper, who outran four Rams’ defenders to the pylon. The Cowboys had a tiny lead (7 to 3 and 7 to 6) early on, but the scoring went dry until the later part of the third quarter. Ezekiel Elliott was no match for Anderson and Gurley, taking 20 hand offs for 47 yards.
As a 3-5 road team this season, Dallas was put under Los Angeles’ microscope. Going for it on fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter, crowd blaring, Lamarcus Joyner stood Elliott up for the stop. Ultimate props to Anderson, the veteran rusher, who did the unexpected and gave the Rams much to look forward to in the coming weeks.
New England Patriots, 41, Los Angeles Chargers, 28
In what goes down as New England’s 16th-straight win at Gillette Stadium, last Sunday’s Divisional game was over at halftime. The Patriots had a 35-to-7 lead, and as many touchdowns (five) as Chargers’ first-downs. Also, New England made more first downs than the total amount of plays that Los Angeles had run to that point.
Facing a dynasty that was enjoying its ninth consecutive first-round playoff bye, the Chargers could have made the contest interesting upon receiving a punt with three minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Desmond King muffed it, and Albert McClellan was able to secure the football for the Patriots before it went out of bounds. Soon after, Sony Michel (129 rushing yards) was in the end zone for the third time.
Don’t ask about what happened in the second half…apparently, New England let Los Angeles have a little dignity. However, Tom Brady (34 of 44 for 343 yards) never came out of the game, and no one would ever expect that. Further, Julian Edelman caught nine passes for 151 yards, and the Patriots’ defense had an afternoon that will never go unnoticed. New England is still great and still hungry. Pats might do it again.
New Orleans Saints, 20, Philadelphia Eagles, 14
Nail biter; the Eagles had the initial stronghold (14-to-0 in the first quarter) that it needed. Although, not putting any points on the board over the remaining 49 minutes of play presented some issues. If you’re gonna stomp on the Saints, you can’t let the boot off the neck, and Philadelphia eventually lost control.
When Wil Lutz missed a 52-yard field goal after Michael Bennett caused New Orleans to lose yardage with a fine tackle in the waning moments of regulation, the outcome was in the Eagles’ hands. Nick Foles, having a down day at quarterback, fired the ball to Alshon Jeffery on a slant route; the ball deflected behind Jeffery and into Marshon Lattimore’s hands for the Saints’ interception. Jeffery lay flat on his stomach in defeat. The NFL will now crown a new champion.
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