Reviewing the NFL Wild Card Round Blowouts
“Super Wild Card Weekend” was a lot of fun for football fans. We got to watch six football games, one of which had a controversial ending, another in which we got to see the loveable Joe Burrow get his first career playoff win in a close ending versus the Las Vegas Raiders. Unfortunately, the other four games were very ill-competitive. The average margin of victory in these games was 22.5 points. Additionally, each winning team in these four games went on streaks of 27+ unanswered points. The Chiefs scored 35 straight, Bucs scored 31 straight, Rams scored 28 straight, and Bills scored 27 straight. In the past five wild card rounds, only 1 team went on a point streak like this (Browns scored 28 straight in the first quarter last season vs the Steelers). How did so many teams get blown out so bad? Let’s see if some of the statistics tell the story.
Buffalo Bills 47, New England Patriots 17
Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick: Image by Jamie Germano via YardBarker
Coming into this game, Bill Belichick had a playoff record of 30-10. Bill Belichick’s playoff record with Tom Brady running the offense? Also 30-10. In his first playoff game without Brady, Belichick and the Patriots looked lost. In all seven of the Bills drives, the Bills scored a touchdown. It was the first NFL game in history that a team allowed this to happen; the fact that it was a playoff game featuring the most successful coach in league history coaching the losing team is bamboozling. J.C Jackson allowed 98 yards when targeted and a 118.7 rating, both more than any regular-season game this season. The Patriots tallied 36 sacks in 17 regular season games, but 0 on Saturday against Buffalo (also 0 TFL). The Bills gained 8.93 yards per play! The offense wasn’t the worst… 305 total yards of offense with 7/14 third downs converted and 4/4 fourth downs converted. However, the best field position they had to start a drive was at their own 30. Hard to score when the defense sets you up for failure.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, Philadelphia Eagles 15
Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts: Image by Mark LoMoglio/AP via AL.com
The final score of this game is very misleading. After three quarters, the Bucs held a 31-0 lead and had the opportunity to let their foot off the gas without any worries of letting the Eagles come back. The Bucs showed why they were a top 3 run defense this season as they held the prolific Eagles run offense to 10 rushing yards in the first quarter as they went out to a 14-0 lead. Once the Eagles were down, they had to stick to Hurts’ arm and his typical first-year QB decision making. On the first drive of the second quarter, Sirianni interestingly went for it on 4th and 10 at Tampa’s 37 yard line and did not convert. On the second drive, Hurts threw a devastating interception in the endzone. At this point, the Eagles were down three scores at half and continued to force the issue in the third quarter. In four third quarter drives, the Eagles gained 51 yards with one interception and three punts. The Bucs forced the Eagles to throw early with a stout run defense, which left the Eagles with little chance of winning.
Kansas City Chiefs 42, Pittsburgh Steelers 21
Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Image by Dilip Vishwanat via CBS Sports
If I had to choose one game I thought would be a blowout coming into this weekend, it would’ve been this one. Ben Roethlisberger’s body was not built for any more games of NFL football, Steelers receivers have been addicted to the drops for multiple years now, and the Kansas City Chiefs offense was going to leave Pittsburgh’s defense in the dust no matter how hard they tried. For the first 20 minutes of the game, the Steelers looked like they could prove the doubters wrong. With less than six minutes left in the second quarter, the Steelers had a 7-0 lead. They held one of the best offenses in the NFL to 70 yards in the first five drives along with an interception and a fumble returned for a touchdown. In the next 12 minutes of game-time, Patrick Mahomes threw five touchdowns on 327 yards of offense. The Pittsburgh defense was simply tired and left to dry. The Pittsburgh offense scored 0 points and tallied only 38 yards by the time KC scored 35 points. By the fourth quarter, Mahomes was over 400 yards and the game was out of reach, just like that.
Los Angeles Rams 34, Arizona Cardinals 11
Cardinals Quarterback Kyler Murray, Image by Ronald Martinez/Getty via Sports Illustrated
Kyler Murray did not look good in his playoff debut. Sure he was missing his star WR, and sure it was his head coach’s first career playoff appearance. I don’t think either of those things explain why Odell Beckham Jr. had more passing yards on one attempt than Kyler Murray did in total early in the THIRD quarter. He ended the game with a rating of 40.9, with barely 4 yards per attempt and two interceptions. The Arizona offense did not convert a single third down! It’s hard to believe that a team that started 7-0 had fallen so drastically, despite losing few players to injury and getting multiple previously injured players back for the playoffs (Chase Edmonds, J.J Watt). We can’t pin this game all on the Cardinals and their demise. The Rams star-studded roster showed their true potential. Von Miller had 3 tackles for loss and a sack. Jalen Ramsey shut down A.J Green and Christian Kirk for the entirety of the game. OBJ and Cooper Kupp each put up 50+ yards and a touchdown. Stafford didn’t have to do much this game, and the Rams should keep it that way moving forward. Lean on that defense and capitalize when possible.
