The Super Bowl picture is getting a lot clearer.
The teams that were expected to contend for the richest prize in American sports have advanced, while the Cinderella’s and media darlings are planning their next golf outings.
But before we break down this week’s playoff action, let’s hit it around the league.
Big Yes to NFL Mock-Draft season starting.
One of my favorite things to cover, discuss, and break down is the NFL Draft and process leading up to it. Admit it: if your favorite team has another team’s 1st round pick, you are paying extra attention to draft position. Now, major media outlets have begun releasing their first mock drafts and no one knows who the first overall pick will be this season.
If the Bears trade the first overall pick (which I’m 99.9% they will, Ryan Poles is going full-Sam Hinkie and will try to get as many picks as possible), it would most likely be for a QB. Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, and Will Levis can all stake a claim to being the first overall pick. From what I’ve read/heard, Levis is the most likely the first overall pick barring him bombing at the combine. Him and Josh Allen are very similar with the exception that Allen played at a REALLY small school (Wyoming) while Levis (Kentucky) played against the best competition in college football in the SEC.
Big No to Neutral Site Conference Championship Games
Due to the Damar Hamlin nightmare, the NFL ruled that a Bills/Chiefs AFC Title game would have to be played at a neutral site in the interest of fairness (the Bills beat the Chiefs but played one less game due to Bengals/Bills being stopped.) According to Andrew Brandt, this may not be a one-time thing. Brandt tweeted out that the NFL would explore making each Championship game a neutral site game (similar to the NCAA and bowl games.)
Yeah….no. This is a bad look by the NFL if true. The importance of getting the number one seed is not only the bye-week, but having home-field throughout the playoffs. Diminishing that to make more money is just….dirty.
Chiefs limp past the Jaguars, host 5th straight AFC Title game
Andy Reid keeps cementing his Hall of Fame-candidacy. Since he began being a head coach, he’s now coached his team to his conference’s Championship game ten times. This one may have been the most difficult. Early in the game, Patrick Mahomes bent his ankle in a way that an ankle should not be bent. Only up by three, Big Red had backup QB Chad Henne come in and Henne led the Chiefs on a 98-yard touchdown drive. That drive ultimately was the downfall for Doug Pederson and the cardiac Jags as they would never get close to tying the game the rest of the way. Mahomes would eventually come back in a gutted out the rest of the game, it is still a big concern for KC how effective he can be dealing with that sprained ankle. A big part of Mahomes’ game is to scramble out of the pocket and make this Sportscenter-reel throws. Reid will have to lean on the ground-game, something he has notoriously ignored throughout his coaching career.
For the Jaguars, they had one of the best bounce-back seasons in recent memory and appear to be on the fast track to reaching elite status in the AFC. I really like Trevor Lawrence’s game and Doug Pederson is one the least heralded coaches in the NFL. The Jags also have a lot of cap space entering free agency and will certainly look to bolster their team. They also will be getting Calvin Ridley off suspension as well. The Jags are my super early pick to make the biggest leap in 2023.
Eagles stomp Giants, third time is not the charm for New York
Once again, the national media gaslit a fan base into thinking their team is much better than they are. All week, ESPN, Twitter, and other major sports outlets talked about how this was going to be the upset of the week. The only “upset” are millions of Giants fans watching their team lose their third game this season to their biggest rival, the Philadelphia Eagles.
Not since NFTs crashing have we seen the stock of something, or in this case someone, fall faster than Daniel Jones. After carving up the Vikings defense (by the way, the Vikings canned their Defensive Coordinator Ed Donatell after that game), Jones laid an egg versus the Eagles and looked like the Pat Shurmur/Joe Judge “Danny Dimes” as opposed to the more polished QB we saw under Brian Daboll. The Giants were rumored to pay Jones in the upper-echeleon of elite QBs if they won on Saturday, but now they may let Jones walk (or at least, offer him a fair market deal.)When Jones threw an early INT down 14, the game felt over. The Eagles never looked back.
The Eagles clearly spent Weeks 16-18 prepping for the postseason. While it was frustrating that they didn’t lock up the NFC’s first seed sooner, they look refreshed and focused on making a Super Bowl run. Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon are both in-demand to be head coaches for a reason: they check-off the boxes a lot teams want in head coaches in the modern NFL. Both are analytically driven and in the case of Gannon, employs a defense that was the best against the pass in the NFL.
Bengals roar past Bills, Joe Burrow is on the precipice of greatness
The Cincinnati Bengals have been the most overlooked team in the NFL during the 2022 season. When they dropped to 0-2 after losing to the Cowboys, the spotlight faded and many pundits wrote them off as the latest victim to the Super Bowl hangover.
Then, Joe Burrow went off. Despite missing his best receiver in Ja’Marr Chase for a month (and missing all of training camp after having an emergency appendectomy), Burrow repeated his numbers from last season. He’s thrown himself into the conversation for the league’s best quarterback and given that he’s 3-0 against Mahomes in his career, there’s certainly an argument to be made. He’s certainly eclipsed Josh Allen. Burrow made mincemeat of the Bills’ elite defense while Allen struggled despite being at home.
For the Bills, they enter the offseason with serious questions. They need to upgrade their offensive line and boost their pass rush. Since going out and trading for Stephon Diggs, Buffalo has been relatively quiet in free agency (except for signing Von Miller.) Seeing how the Bengals, Chiefs, and Eagles have all been highly active in free agency the past couple of seasons, there isn’t much of an excuse for Buffalo.
Niners survive versus Cowboys, social media goes up in flames
Oh boy. I think many people expected this game to be close but most likely did not expect such a defensive battle (or offensive ineptitude, depending on your viewpoint). Brock Purdy became only the third rookie QB to win two postseason games in his inaugural season in the NFL, joining Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez. The 49er defense held the Cowboys to only 12 points. However, I feel the Niners looked vulnerable, especially with Purdy. He threw a few passes that should have been intercepted. Dallas overloaded the right side of the line and forced Purdy to throw to his left, where he struggled to complete his throws and threw off his timing. The Eagles were taking notes.
Meanwhile, for the Cowboys, it’s another heartbreaking loss. What separates this one from previous ones is that Cowboy fans went in on Prescott on Twitter, including whoever runs the Cowboys Twitter account:
Yikes. While Prescott certainly contributed to the loss, the Cowboys clock-management and in-game decision making (abandoning the run in the second half) should fall on their coaching staff. I know fans are calling for Dak to be released or traded, but for 2023, that’s not realistic. The Cowboys would get a $50 million cap penalty if they released Dak, and if they traded Dak, his cap number would nearly double. It’s safe to say that Dak will be in Dallas in 2023.
