Jared Goff vs Matthew Stafford
Jared Goff, the first draft pick that could never take the players to the top Rams in five seasons. Matthew Staffordanother who was taken with the first selection and who in 12 years was never able to change the face of some Lions marked by defeat. And a trade that changed the course of two franchises.
On Sunday night Stafford and Goff will have a chance to show their former team that they made the wrong decision that March 18, 2021when the Rams sent Goff and three draft picks to Detroit in exchange for Stafford’s services.
From then on, it only took one year for Stafford to present him with the World Cup trophy. Super Bowl a Sean McVay and the Rams. And since then, Goff has given the Lions something they haven’t had in more than 30 years: a division title.
Now, fate wants Stafford’s first game back in Detroit (12-5) to be against the quarterback he was traded for and for the right to stay alive.
For Goff, however, the game is about more than showing the Rams (10-7) that they made a mistake in getting rid of him. It is a historical question. It’s been 32 years since the Lions won a playoff game, and now that they have the fifth-best offense in the NFL and a head coach in Dan Campbell who are not afraid of risks, the opportunity is in front of them.
The Rams, for their part, have defied the odds all season and will have to do it again on Sunday. Down by three points at the oddsmakers, Los Angeles won seven of its final eight games of the season — its only loss came in overtime to Baltimore —so it will take more than nostalgia and a movie story to stop them.
Cheetah’s return
Tyreek Hill You can expect anything on your return to Kansas City, minus a warm welcome. It certainly won’t be well received and conditions will undoubtedly be anything but warm.
The NFL’s leading receiver (1,799 yards) spent the first six years of his career with the Chiefs and won a Super Bowl in 2019 before being traded to the Dolphins for the 2022 campaign. Since then he has not returned to Kansas City, where a cold reception awaits him. Icy, rather.
Forecasts call for temperatures between -17.7 and -22 Celsius (0 and -9 Fahrenheit) for Saturday night in Kansas City. Adverse conditions for fans and players alike, and possibly devastating for the Dolphins who have a 0-10 record in games with the mercury below 4 Celsius (40 Fahrenheit) since 2017.
But just because Hill isn’t well received doesn’t mean he won’t be missed in Kansas City.
The Chiefs’ offense took a huge step backwards during the current season, ranking just above the league average in points and being particularly affected in their aerial performance. Patrick Mahomes’ strengths were squandered by a Kansas City receiving corps that led the entire NFL with 44 dropped passes.
Hill, meanwhile, was a vital part of the NFL’s most prolific passing offense. “Cheetah” ended with 119 receptions, 13 of them for touchdowns, and surpassed 100 yards in half of the regular season games. Now, the challenge will be to produce against the second-best defense in the NFL.
Although Kansas City stopped being the points machine of Mahomes’ first five years as a starter, it now has other weapons. Some that come very handy when you have the vertical Dolphins in front of you. The Chiefs did not allow more than 27 points in any game this season nor did they give up more than 259 passing yards to a quarterback all year.
Mike McCarthy vs Green Bay Packers
Sunday afternoon, Green Bay (9-8) travels to Dallas (12-5). The Packers have won 9 of the last 10 meetings against the Cowboysincluding two in the playoffs.
Now the head coach of Dallas, Mike McCarthy, will face the team where he had his greatest success. HC led the Packers for 13 seasons in which they won a Super Bowl — precisely in Dallas — and led the team to nine postseason trips.
Now he will be looking to end the Cowboys’ bad streak in the Playoffs, however, first he will have to leave behind the team with the lowest average age in the entire NFL.
THE REST
The wild card round of the playoffs begins Saturday afternoon, when the Browns (11-6) travel to the house of the Texans (10-7). Por Cleveland, el quarterback Joe Flacco has seven career postseason road wins, most of all time, tied with Tom Brady. Houston, meanwhile, became the first team in the Super Bowl era to win its division with a quarterback and head coach in their first year in the NFL.
The action will continue on Sunday at noon with the visit of the Steelers (10-7) a Buffalo (11-6). T.J. Watt, candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, is ruled out with a knee injury and Pittsburgh is just 1-10 without Watt in the lineup. For the Bills, Josh Allen has at least three touchdowns in three of his last four postseason starts.
The first round of the postseason concludes Monday night, when Is it Tampa?and (9-8) receive the Eagles (11-6), current champions of the NFC. Philadelphia lost five of the last six games of the regular schedule, a period in which it allowed 30.3 points per game. The Buccaneers won five of their last six games of the season, in which they scored 22.6 points on average.
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2024-01-12 01:54:03
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