Divisional Playoff Weekend

Saturday:

BENGALS 19, TITANS 16

The next time the Titans are in position to be a #1 seed they need to tank. I picked the Bengals for this very reason. The visitors weren't amazing, in a game where both OLs were garbage (9 sacks on Burrow), but were able to hit a couple more big plays, and their QB didn't throw 3 interceptions, including that absolute dagger right at the end. I think this is where it ends for Cincy, although they seem way more legit than the Browns did last year. As for the Titans, they probably overachieved a little. The Chiefs and Bills respective slumps kind of handed them the 1 seed. 

49ERS 13, PACKERS 10

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I never thought the 49ers were going to win this game until the final kick was splitting the uprights. The game started so badly that I wasn't sure I would even make it til halftime. Green Bay went right down the field for a TD. The 49ers offense wasn't doing a thing. But then their defense (led by maybe future Vikings HC DeMeco Ryans) clamped down and for basically the last 3+ quarters made Aaron Rodgers look about as bad as he has ever looked in a playoff game. They even blocked a field goal. It never seemed like it would matter though, cause the 49ers still couldn't score. Jimmy G threw a horrible redzone pick. Guys were dropping balls. Refs didn't even need to step in to aid their preferred team. It just felt like, okay, this is just going to be a very low scoring Packers win. Then came the punt block touchdown. But I still figured Rodgers would get one of those absurdly easy game winning drives. But no, he never came close. The 49ers did just enough to get in field goal range, and the kick was true, and once again a Packers team that looked like a super bowl favorite goes home early.

Good. Couldn't have happened to a bigger prick than Rodgers. Mr. Anti-vaxxer. Mr. "Ooh the woke mob is after me." Mr. "I'm being silenced" (even as we are all subjected publicly to every stray though that enters this fucking idiot's mind).  Aaron Rodgers is a piece of shit, and a symbol of everything that is wrong with this country. And now he is finally starting to get blame for playoff losses. He won a super bowl quickly (because his defense got dominant at the right time), so that insulated him from getting a rep as a playoff choker. But look at some of those losses the last 10 years. If ANY other QB has that list they would be a joke.

Is this the end of Rodgers in Green Bay? I doubt it. He will return to the Packers, but he is a shameless narcissist so he will milk his decision for maximum attention throughout the offseason. But the Packers are in true cap hell and will lose a lot of their supporting cast. They will be a far weaker foe in 2022. 

Sunday:

RAMS 30, BUCCANEERS 27

You know how like a dying animal thrashes about just before it finally dies? Well, the Brady Bullshit thrashed at a heretofore unseen level in this game...but then with one throw and one kick the Brady Bullshit was put down.

This game was a thorough pummeling until the Brady Bullshit got going. The Rams looked very sharp early on both sides. Yeah they had to settle for a couple field goals, but built a 20-3 lead. It was about to be 27-3 just before the half after the LOAT threw an amateurish pick. But inside the 5, Cam Akers fumbled, costing the Rams almost certainly 7 points. 

The Rams pushed it to 27-3 after halftime. Tampa kicked a field goal late in the 3rd. Then the Brady Bullshit really got going. Cooper Kupp fumbled. Tampa got a TD. LA got a strip sack, but then immediately after that a bad snap flew 30 yards the other way, and Tampa recovered. The Rams later got into FG range, but Matt Gay was somehow short from 47 yards on a kick that would have made it a 3 score game and essentially over. Captain Checkdown then made his only meaningful throw of the day for a long TD against terrible coverage. Akers fumbled AGAIN with barely 2 minutes left, giving Tampa a short field that they soon turned into a tying touchdown.

27-3 was now 27-27. Of the ten or so biggest plays of the game, Brady was only on the field for maybe 2 of them. But that is a key feature of the Brady Bullshit. Things happen with Brady not on the field, yet he gets credit. Even Cris Collinsworth specifically credited Brady for one of the fumbles. It is idolatry. It is the Brady Bullshit. 

I was laughing as all this shit was happening though. I mean, how could you not?

But the Rams did still have a chance, cause you know if it went to OT Tampa would win quickly due to the Brady Bullshit. Matthew Stafford launched a deep ball down to Kupp, who had blown past good old Antoine Winfield Jr. Kupp hauled it in, Stafford raced everyone up to kill the clock, and Gay drilled the field goal.

It happened! THE BRADY BULLSHIT WAS DEAD! Just when it appeared as strong as ever!

The Rams avoided the kind of loss that can truly destroy franchises (see also Oilers and Falcons). The Tampa frauds, for the first time in 2 years, faced a playoff opponent willing and able to show up. Even the Brady Bullshit couldn't carry them. I would like to think this is the end, that the Brady Bullshit will go away forever. But I thought that 2 years ago too.

For now, I will just sit back and bask in the joy that comes from having my 2 most hated players ever both being knocked out before the semis for the first time in over a decade. 

CHIEFS 42, BILLS 36 OT

The main event of the weekend lived up to the hype. Almost certainly one of the 10 best postseason games of all time. Well played throughout. Big plays. Preposterously exciting finish. 

Fun fact: This game was 26-21 Chiefs at the 2 minute warning.

Buffalo went ahead on a 4th and 13 TD pass against a falling Mike Hughes.

Mahomes then hits Tyreek Hill for a throw over the middle that became a 64 yard TD sprint.

But the Bills still had time and timeouts, and Josh Allen drove down and then fired a TD pass with 13 seconds left that had to be the dagger. 

But in the best 13 second drive in NFL history, the Chiefs (who scored so fast earlier they still had timeouts) managed to hit Hill for 19 and Kelce for 25. Harrison Butker (who looked like a goat with 2 missed kicks earlier) hit the field goal to send it to OT. 

At this point it was pretty certain that whoever won the toss would win the game, cause neither defense could stop anybody. Chiefs won the toss and quickly drove for the winning touchdown. 

I do hate the current OT rules for the playoffs. The NHL has different OT rules for regular and postseason. I don't see why the NFL can't do the same. 

But the Chiefs take out the Bills for the 2nd year in a row. I think these two will have many more meetings in January.

So, this is new. We are into the final four and I have no strong rooting interest either pro or against. I think any of the possible super bowl matchups are possible.

I don't write off the Bengals, although I do think that the Chiefs just took out their top threat. Yeah the Bengals did beat the Chiefs not that long ago, but that was in Ohio and that game meant way more to to Cincy.

In the NFC, the 49ers have kind of owned the Rams, but beating a team 3 times in a season can be extra difficult. The 49ers were frankly lucky as hell to win in Lambeau. The Rams meanwhile played (at least for 3 quarters) the far better game, and when you can overcome a much Brady Bullshit it just may be your year.