NFL Playoff Takeaways: Wild Card Weekend

Photo by Ron Jenkins from Getty Images

No, I will not call it Super Wild Card Weekend.

I just won’t.

Anyway, the playoffs have officially begun, and it’s safe to say that we had some surprises!

Let’s dive in to what we learned.

Texans defeat Browns 45-14

Houston Texans

I’ve been banging the drum all year that football is a team sport, and I’ll bang that drum a little bit later too.

Despite that, I am still aware that the most important position on offense is the quarterback, the most position on defense is a good pass rusher, and a stable head coach is what keeps it all together.

The Texans have all three of them nailed down, and they’re all rookies.

C.J. Stroud is amazing, Will Anderson is a threat always, and Demeco Ryans not only has built a great culture, but a great coaching staff for his first ever full staff.

Even if the Texans lose Saturday in Baltimore, I think every Houston fan has to be ecstatic on how this year has gone.

Cleveland Browns

I said it all year that the Browns just needed stable quarterback play to win games because the defense was so good.

Well, the defense wound up not being good on Saturday, and it coincided perfectly with Flacco not taking care of the football and throwing two pick sixes.

Now, we find out what the future holds for the Browns and their 60 million dollar man Deshaun Watson.

I don’t imagine it’s good…

Chiefs defeat Dolphins 26-7

Kansas City Chiefs

There were mistakes. There were errors. They were far from perfect.

But Patrick Mahomes made plays to make it not matter, and move the Chiefs to the divisional round.

Will that work against the Bills, Ravens or Texans?

I don’t know!

But then again, it is Mahomes. It very well might.

Miami Dolphins

I think the “turmoil” around the Dolphins is being overstated, but I also don’t think it’s a nothing burger.

It’s overstated because that defense was beyond injured, missing 4 starting pass rushers. It’s hard to win in today’s NFL with that.

But at the same time, Tua Tagovailoa did not have a good game, and neither did Mike McDaniel.

I know the Dolphins trailed the whole game, but the game wasn’t really out of reach until about midway through the 3rd quarter, and they still ended up with almost 40 throws and only 18 total runs.

Isaiah Pacheco for Kansas City had more than that alone, and the Dolphins have a running back in Raheem Mostert who is tied for the league lead in touchdowns.

McDaniel came into KC with a game plan laid out, and refused to divert from it.

It’s an issue I’ve said Kyle Shanahan has, and they come from the same tree.

It’s something to keep an eye on.

Packers defeat Cowboys 48-32

Green Bay Packers

On the one hand, I’m thrilled for Jordan Love.

He was a draft pick hated by Packers and NFL fans for years, simply because it wasn’t more help for Aaron Rodgers (who, may I remind you, had a bad couple years and was on the wrong side of 35 when that pick was made. It was a perfectly reasonable draft pick).

Then, after 6 weeks, he was deemed a bust by national media because the Packers weren’t winning.

But they never quit on him, he had a great second half of the year, and he had a dominating performance against a very talented Cowboys team.

Good for him.

But on the other hand, the Packers went from Brett Favre, to Aaron Rodgers, to Jordan Love.

Can they miss once? Just one time? Have a couple of years where the QB is a question mark?

Dallas Cowboys

Step 1 in Dallas needs to be firing Mike McCarthy and paying Bill Belichick whatever he wants.

Step 2 in Dallas needs to be making Jerry Jones strictly behind the scenes and not a public figure head.

Will it win them a Super Bowl?

Hell, I don’t know.

But a smaller spotlight, even if it’s just extremely slightly smaller, on the inside of that program has to be a plus.

Cause those lights are far too bright right now.

Lions defeat Rams 24-23

Detroit Lions

Leading up to this game, all the experts picked the Rams to win.

The reasoning behind it was “The Rams have the better coach and the better quarterback.”

I’m not going to disagree with either of that. It’s true.

But it also dumbs football down to it’s lowest concept, and ignores things like the offensive line, or the rest of the coaching staff in general.

Sean McVay and Matt Stafford might be better than Dan Campbell and Jared Goff, but the Los Angeles Rams were not better than the Detroit Lions.

And that’s all that matters.

Los Angeles Rams

Two things stood out from this game.

First, both the Rams and Lions had three trips to the red zone.

The Lions got three touchdowns, and the Rams had three field goals.

That’s the game right there.

Second, Sean McVay was atrocious with his timeouts.

In the first half, he simply didn’t use any of his three timeouts despite having a full minute in the half and Matt Stafford was throwing dimes, and in the second half he wasted them to prevent early down 5 yard penalties which, again, wouldn’t be devastating with Matt Stafford dealing like he was.

For being better than Dan Campbell, he sure didn’t show it Sunday.

Bills defeat Steelers 31-17

Buffalo Bills

Josh Allen was fantastic, but more importantly didn’t have a side of bonehead mistakes at the same time.

If it stays that way, the Bills are Super Bowl contenders. Full stop.

The issue is, there really aren’t many signs that it will stay that way.

Pittsburgh Steelers

There’s been questions about Mike Tomlin’s future in Pittsburgh, but if the Steelers want to move on, they better be careful.

The grass may not be the greenest right now, but it sure as hell isn’t always greener on the other side.

If they let Tomlin walk, he’ll be snatched up in a second and will likely find immediate success.

Don’t let a playoff game where Mason Rudolph led the line fool you.

Buccaneers defeat Eagles 32-9

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

If everyone is going to clown on Dak Prescott for his playoff performances, then people need to start giving Baker Mayfield credit for his.

He’s only played three playoff games, but he’s played very well in all three of them.

The Bucs not only found their guy, but they might have been able to convince Mike Evans to stick around as well.

If they did, they can build off of that and continue to run the NFC South.

There was worse positions to be in, that’s for damn sure.

Philadelphia Eagles

Firing a head coach the year after going to a Super Bowl and then going 11-6 and making the playoffs seems like the ridiculous fan talk that I usually make fun of.

But in Philly’s case, I do get it.

Nick Sirianni had locker room issues this year, media issues this year, made a weird defensive coordinator switch to Matt Patricia which led to the Eagles losing to the Drew Lock Seahawks, Cardinals, Giants and Buccaneers and took them from 10-1 and easy 1st seed in the NFC, to out in round 1.

I don’t know if the Eagles will or not, and I’m not sure I’m even endorsing Sirianni being fired.

But I do get it the fans urge to do so.