2023 NFL Playoffs Thread

[Strange Brew]

That was so close

[ajr4013]

Feeling a bit better about next week. Cincy didn’t look much better than Buffalo today and also pretty much only won due to playing a lesser QB.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well unlike the Bills game today, where Buffalo dominated but had terrible breaks, Bengals were actually outplayed, but got some great breaks. If the Bengals O-Line isn't gonna be healthy come next Sunday they are gonna struggle to win.

[MRCboicgy]

Well, we got the expected Bills-Bengals matchup, but both teams will be coming into the game with some questions.

[Drake]

Cincinnati are frauds...

[Strange Brew]

Well they lost it on downs, so the clock management while bad, didn’t cost them. Unless as Collinsworth pointed out, you’d run it more. But the one running play really cost them big with the penalty.

So close to a miracle catch.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I expect the schedule will be JAX-KC, NYG-PHI Saturday, CIN-BUF, DAL/TB-SF Sunday.

[savemedrzaius]

A great day of football. 3 amazing games. Is the NFL the most entertaining professional sports league? Lately I've got to say yes. NHL playoffs first round is up there for sure though.

[Senator Clay Davis]

And it is

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Well unlike the Bills game today, where Buffalo dominated but had terrible breaks, Bengals were actually outplayed, but got some great breaks. If the Bengals O-Line isn't gonna be healthy come next Sunday they are gonna struggle to win.

Yeah, it seems almost destined that a rematch of last year's BUF-KC divisional round game will be this year's AFC championship... although in Atlanta.

[Sylvanfan]

I expect that the Bengals and Bills will be the game of the playoffs next week. Even with a banged up offensive line, the Bengals have that swagger that they think they're the top dog. Should be a fun game.

The Eagles should handle the Giants, but who knows, seems like once a decade the Giants have an improbable run.

Jags get another shot at the Chiefs. After this weekend's games that's no gimme, so Chiefs will need to play well to make a 5th straight AFC Championship game. Jags playing with house money so I expect Peterson will throw everything he has at K.C.

Doesn't matter who wins tomorrow, they'll get worked over by 20 points or more by San Francisco. 49'ers were by far the most dominant team this weekend

[Sylvanfan]

Bills open as a 4 point favorite 50 as the total
Chiefs 9 points with 52 as the total.
Eagles are 7 points with 47 as the total.

[Drake]

John Harbaugh lost the locker room along time ago...
@jeffzrebiec:

Dobbins on Huntley's decisive goal line fumble: "He should have never been in that situation. I don’t get a single carry. I believe I would have put it in the end zone, again.”

More Dobbins: “I’m a guy who feels like if I’m on the field all the time, I can help this team win, and I wasn’t. It’s the playoffs. Why am I not out there? Twelve carries? It's the playoffs.”

[Dion]

Cousins explains why he made the controversial pass that ended the season for the Vikings

Asked about the decision to throw to Hockenson rather than receiver Justin Jefferson or another vertical threat, Cousins said: "Just a shell read there. Saw single high. Tried to work Justin. Didn't feel good about putting it up to Justin. And then when I went to progress, I just felt like I was about to get sacked, and I felt like I've got to put the ball in play. I can't go down with a sack, so I thought I would kick it out to T.J.

"I had thrown short of the sticks on a few different occasions in the game, and even going back a few weeks, and just felt like throwing short of the sticks isn't the end of the world. It was obviously tight coverage so he didn't have a chance to pull away. I thought I was going to go down and take a sack if I didn't put it up."

O'Connell acknowledged that he approached Cousins afterward to understand why he made that throw, and the coach said: "I could have done a better job in the moment."

O'Connell said he would have preferred a downfield throw but didn't want to load up Cousins with directives before the snap.

"The intent as a playcaller is you're not going to call a primary concept where somebody's short of the sticks, especially if it's fourth down," O'Connell said. "Looking back on it, maybe I could have been a little bit more, 'Hey, this is where you want the ball to go.' But I want Kirk to be able to play and be free out there to make good decisions. He did all night long.

"In the end, I look at it as it's as much on me with that playcall, even though we had [eligible receivers] with a chance [to get] down the field maybe. There's always a play that could be better."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-13-win-season

[Senator Clay Davis]

Not to defend Cousins at all, because lord knows it's always great fun to dunk on him, but that play call was atrocious. Two options are short of the sticks, including Cook as a bailout behind the line, two guys are running deep patterns, including the best receiver in the league, and only one guy was actually a realistic option to get the first down. The play call assumed Cousins was gonna have time to go through all of his progressions, like somehow the Giants couldn't get pressure on him. It's almost like that play call was made with the idea that O'Connell wants to move on from Cousins, and watching Cousins make such a pathetic attempt will be the ammo he needs, that sneaking out another undeserved win means more Cousins, so better for short term pain for long term gain or something. Otherwise, that is as bad as it gets for a play call.

And yet, if you're Cousins, and you've seen what Jefferson has done all year, how aren't you giving him a chance? Double coverage, triple coverage, eight man coverage, let the man try and make something happen. He's proven he can make catches with absurd degrees of difficulty. Everyone would give you a pass if you threw it up there and it got picked, or batted away, because you trusted the guy who essentially has kept you employed this year. Be interesting to see what the Vikings do, they'll be prime candidates to trade up, Mahomes-style, for Anthony Richardson. But surely yesterday finally sealed Cousins fate as incapable of being anything but, well, a Cousins-tier QB: good enough to get you beat in the playoffs, never good enough to win you anything.

[dirk diggler]

Cousins gets the blame but that minnesota d was awful. i would be focusing on that, they made Jones look like a hall of famer.

[Erick Estrada]

I can't see how the Vikings could move on from Cousins until 2024. His dead cap hit would be almost $50 million next season.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

This might all work out, but very curious clock management here.

The running the clock down so the other team doesn't get the ball last has gotten extreme. You need to give yourself enough plays to get a TD. The Ravens lost 2 or 3 plays for sure and ended up throwing a hail mary.

[Sainters7]

Yeah Bengals didn't look great last night either, probably lucky to get past Baltimore. Still can't believe that design to have Huntley do the Brees/Brady leap from the 2 yard line, it cost the Ravens the game. Not to mention the brutal clock management on that final Ravens drive. Between how shaky the Bills and Bengals looked, the Chiefs' odds of coming out of the AFC seem even higher. But we'll see how everybody looks next weekend.

What a great opening weekend of playoff football, and still one more to go. Though the Cowboys and Bucs are basically just fighting over who gets the right to get stomped in Santa Clara next Sunday.

[MillerTime GFG]

Cowboys fan here. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst...

Such is life as a Cowboys fan.