Our playoff Sunday started in the best way possible with a close match between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills in which we were reminded of what we could imagine, namely that Josh Allen is a man on a mission from God: in the 27 to 24 with which the Buffalo Bills eliminated the Jacksonville Jaguars, the MVP of our favorite league continually found a way to respond to the Jaguars’ outbursts, proving to be ineluctable and, above all, more than deserving of the trophy he will raise should his Bills win three more games.
Bills fans, don’t curse me.
A first half that I would dare to define as a study ended at 10 to 7 for the Buffalo Bills: but how many regrets for the Jaguars.
In fact, they were unable to exploit a couple of sensational opportunities which I will report to you after the point.
After Jacksonville had found six-plus-one points thanks to Brian Thomas Jr.’s first touchdown of the day, Buffalo was guilty of the most unbearable of errors, namely the fumble on the following kickoff return.
The immediate opportunity to escape by taking two possessions up was lost in the worst possible way due to a turnover on downs in the heart of the red zone: unfortunately for them, in fact, Lawrence placed his shin on the ground well before the ball crossed the first down line.
You know the football saying “missed goal, conceded goal”? Here, something like this: in ten snaps Buffalo transformed a possible 14 to 3 Jaguars into a 10 to 7 Bills thanks to an encyclopedic drive culminating in Josh Allen’s first rushing touchdown of the day.
Before going to the locker room Little left three points on the way, failing an all in all affordable – by his unsustainable standards – 53-yard field goal which arrived in somewhat suspicious circumstances. We know that in games like this every point lost will be counted at the end of the game.
During the third quarter the two contenders exchanged a pair of field goals which left the Bills’ +3 unchanged; during the last 15 minutes of the game the game increased in intensity and level thanks to an excellent give and take opened by the touchdown of Parker Washington which put Jacksonville up 17-14.
In the most important moment of the match, however, Josh Allen proved that he was the best player on the pitch and became inescapable. First he brought his team back ahead thanks to a nice touchdown received from Dalton Kincaid and then, after Jacksonville crossed the again goal line for the touchdown of 24 to 20 Jaguars – achieved by the excellent Etienne – with four minutes to go, he composed another magnificent 9-play drive concluded with the second – and decisive – rushing touchdown of his day.
Unfortunately for the Jaguars, however, this TD was celebrated one minute before the final whistle and the dream of a comeback faded almost immediately due to an interception by Cole Bishop at the end of the first snap of this decisive series.
Hats off to the Jaguars for the excellent – and surprising – season of which they were protagonists, but unfortunately against well-established teams like the Bills in the playoffs you have to be almost flawless. Jacksonville will in fact have the opportunity to regret for several days for a couple of errors that, quite simply, in the last two astonishing months they had almost never committed: the two interceptions by Lawrence, the decisive turnover on downs in the heart of the red zone and Little’s missed field goal obviously proved lethal in a game lost by 3 points.
Although far from irresistible, Buffalo has never missed such opportunities.
I find myself forced to bow before Josh Allen who played an almost perfect match in more than complicated conditions. The front seven of the Jaguars has in fact found a way to remove James Cook from the equation, limited to 46 miserable yards in 15 courses: despite the rare lack of performance in the running game and some ailments suffered during a game from which he emerged a little battered, in every single moment of the possible truth Allen took the lead, dragging his team to scoring drive who nipped any possible escape attempt by the Jaguars in the bud and, during the last quarter, dragged Buffalo to victory by responding blow for blow to the offensive exploits of the Jaguars.
Yesterday the team that could count on the best player on the pitch won and I have the impression that Allen will be considered as such throughout the playoffs.
Now let’s move to Philadelphia where we witnessed a surprise… up to a point. To define what the San Francisco 49ers have done week after week during yet another cursed season as surprising would be an understatement, so yes, mine could be a decidedly hyperbolic lexical choice: the 23 to 19 with which Shanahan’s boys eliminated the reigning champions from the playoffs should not in fact surprise us since it is a faithful witness of what happened over the course of a season in which Philadelphia has repeatedly squandered the immense potential of a roster that remains top-notch regardless of the unfortunate outcome.
San Francisco, on the other hand, squeezed and optimized every drop of talent left alive during a championship in which almost everyone was forced to miss games due to injuries – often serious ones.
After an explosive start in which both teams concluded the first drive with a touchdown, the game definitely calmed down, even if Philadelphia for once gave us the idea that they were at least willing to try.
The 16-play drive lasted 9 minutes and ended with the second touchdown of the day Dallas Goedert – arrived on 4&2 – in fact he put us in front of a team finally capable of moving the chains thanks to a brilliant running game for once – 106 yards on 26 carries for Saquon Barkley.
The first half therefore ended at 13 to 10 for the hosts who, once they returned to the field, immediately compensated three n’ out with an important interception near midfield: even in this case, however, the attack led by Hurts remained empty-handed, returning the ball to Purdy with a sad punt.
Before venturing into the last 15 minutes of the game, Philly increased their lead with a penalty to which San Francisco responded in the best possible way, with a touchdown of CMC on Jennings throw: you read it right.
Up by one and with the defense capable of forcing Philadelphia into yet another three n’ outthe inertia seemed to have definitively passed to the guests’ side, but Purdy’s second interception restored lifeblood to the offensive carcass of the Eagles who, however, were unable to go beyond the three points – again: up by two points with eight minutes to go the Eagles found themselves a couple of defensive stops away from victory…
…but the 49ers weren’t of the same opinion.
With commendable character Purdy in fact shook off the previous mistake by putting together a drive of rare maturity which culminated in another touchdown on McCaffrey reception – this time on a much more canonical throw from his own quarterback: this touchdown would later prove to be the decisive one.
Up by 4 after Pineiro missed the extra point, San Francisco’s patched defense managed to force Hurts and his teammates into the decider turnover on downs on the line of your own 20.
This defeat was predictable in its own way since, as mentioned on several occasions, Philadelphia has never been able to fully exploit the potential of a truly complete roster, never offering us sixty minutes of complementary football. Or even just high-level football in which both attack and defense have lived up to their immense potential.
The attack, in particular, disappointed by failing to find rhythm against a defense held together with PVA glue: 5 out of 16 on third down rarely leads to final success and if we add to this the 3 paltry points obtained from Purdy’s two interceptions we will find ourselves faced with a team devoid of cynicism, something inexplicable for a team that only twelve months ago was on the top of the world.
San Francisco, on the other hand, deserves every superlative possible.
On an afternoon in which they were forced to come to terms with the loss of George Kittle – a ruptured Achilles tendon – and with a couple of absolutely avoidable turnovers, they still managed to find a way to put together a sufficient number of plays to reach the final victory.
They are never perfect, but these 49ers have character to spare and are too well trained to become protagonists of the unbearable empty turns that have marked the Eagles’ season. Kittle’s absence will weigh heavily, but if they got to the Divisional Round without Nick Bosa and Fred Warner I see no reason to deny them the chance to surprise us again.
My most sincere congratulations to Kyle Shanahan for what remains a true sporting achievement regardless of the final outcome.
I will need fewer words to summarize the last match of the day, the 16-3 with which the New England Patriots gave Drake Maye his first career playoff joy at the expense of the poor Los Angeles Chargers who, instead, will have to spend a few weeks wondering why Herbert is unable to replicate in the postseason the success he enjoyed during the regular season.
As you can imagine from the final score, in Foxborough a trench war took place between two teams who limited the opposing attacks very well.
If we could have expected it from the Chargers – although I will go into more detail shortly -, we can instead declare ourselves surprised by the Patriots who, despite never having completely convinced during the course of the regular season, did a magnificent job forcing Los Angeles to a horrible 1 out of 10 on third down – reinforced by an equally inadequate 1 out of 3 on third down.
But it doesn’t end here, as I also have to report the paltry 207 yards of total offense, or the 3.5 yards per snap made possible also by the 6 sacks totaled by a department that exploited in the best possible way the well-known defections along the Los Angeles offensive line.
The Patriots’ attack, on the other hand, struggled to find rhythm and take advantage of the various trips into the red zone – part of the field in which they recorded a sad 0 out of 3 -, but nevertheless they continually added points thanks to the reliable right foot of Borregales and then finally closed the score with a nice touchdown from the former Hunter Henry about ten minutes from the final whistle.
In the first half which ended at 6-3 for the Patriots Maye struggled enormously, but in the last 30 minutes he completed 11 throws out of 14 attempted for 173 yards and a touchdown – without forgetting the 66 rushing yards with which he ended the evening: an excellent performance also from Rhamondre Stevenson who with 128 total yards helped his quarterback enormously to keep the chains moving.
I would like to give Herbert the benefit of the doubt since playing the playoffs behind such an offensive line would have been impossible even for the best Tom Brady, but the 0-3 in the playoffs is starting to weigh like a boulder on the reputation of what for me remains one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
I have to decompress for a moment, I’ll talk to you about him in the analysis of the defeat scheduled for tomorrow morning.
However, I am impressed by New England who, on a partially difficult day for the offensive department, proved to be a complete team capable of winning in multiple ways.
Drake Maye did very well, especially in the second half where Maye rose to the next level: with a little cynicism in the red zone New England could become unstoppable… especially if the defense replicates performances like that.
