Let's chat about the National Football League. This thread will be dedicated to all post-season games, including the Super Bowl. This post will be updated with results and schedules going into February (All times Eastern):
Wildcard matchups:
2025-01-11:
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04:30PM: Los Angeles Chargers vs. Houston Texans
08:00PM: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens
2025-01-12:
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01:00PM: Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills,
04:30PM: Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles
08:00PM: Washington Commanders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2025-01-13
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08:00PM: Minnesota Vikings vs. Los Angeles Rams
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Notes -
Well, that was some football. Turns out, both theories of snow-game football were correct: the snow made the passing game difficult, and the snow increased variance; the benefit going to running teams and underdogs.
In Philadelphia, heavy snow that we're still digging out of this morning, and we saw the Eagles run for close to 300 yards and three long explosive touchdowns. Unfortunately, for drops and slips and sacks, the passing game never got going, with Jalen Hurts passing for 128 yards but losing 66 to sacks. An apparent knee sprain hobbled him for parts of the game, and when I've had back or knee stability injuries I know that slipping on snow/ice makes your whole body go haywire so I can't imagine being out there playing agile football; but he gutted it out, and most importantly avoided turning the ball over once. If the Rams had just managed to get a safety to stop those 40+ yard touchdown runs after 30 yards, the Rams win this game. But then if the Eagles had made two snow-slipping PATs, they win the game comfortably and there's not much to talk about. Both teams had drops and screwups that, if you reverse them, change the oucome of the game, it was a sloppy snowgame. So, six of one, half a dozen of the other. The Rams played well, with Jared Verse backing up his trash talk about Eagles fans, but ultimately a couple lost fumbles probably makes the difference in the game. This might be the Rams' swan song with Stafford, and if so it's a damn good run and they should be proud of it.
In Buffalo, Josh Allen won with a very similar formula to Jalen Hurts: throw for about 120 yards, run well, don't turn the ball over, score 28 points at home and count on your defense to get a last minute stop to win the game. The sacks are the difference between Jalen Hurts being criticized as a backup-tier QB, and Josh Allen being praised as a clutch winner who got it done. Which, hey, the sacks happened, including a real bad safety that could have cost the game. But I don't remember ever seeing the term "Net Passing Yards" used a lot by football writers over "Passing Yards" until writers discovered it could be used as a way to criticize Jalen Hurts, and I think a lot of readers don't notice the sleight of hand. Allen is going to get the opportunity to duel Mahomes. Over/Under on the number of plays that end in star QBs lobbying the refs?
Lamar Jackson probably won his third MVP this year, but this loss will define his season, despite it ultimately coming down to drops in single degree weather away in Buffalo. Brutal sport. There's no reason the Ravens shouldn't just run the team back as much as they can, they probably win if Flowers is healthy.
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