This weekend's opening NFL Wild Card Playoff games were honestly mostly boring unfortunately. Two of the six games were close, the rest were literally blowouts. Still, there was a lot on the line this weekend, and the Divisional Matchups are now official.
#4 Benagls win 26-19 over the #5 Las Vegas Raiders in a close game
This opening game of the 2021-22 Playoffs was actually a pretty fun game. This game was back and forth and pretty tight. Both teams competing well overall.
The Raiders actually messed up in several ways though. Penalties, and super dumb mistakes really cost them a lot of points and opportunities for points. The refs in this game were also very questionable. This was indeed a tight game but also a weird one for those reasons.
Even after all of those unfortunate errors, the Raiders did have a chance to force overtime at the very end, but it wasn't meant to be for them. The Bengals did enough to get the win.
A big part of football is playing a clean game, and being opportunistic. Doing those two things can lead to success and you've got to give the Bengals credit for doing that.
But, you've got to wonder if better teams will make those mistakes?
Bengals QB Joe Burrow and WR Ja'Marr Chase are definitely dangerous though. They will be dangerous for many years in the NFL. We shall see how they handle an away crowd and better competition!
#3 Buffalo Bills dominate the #6 New England Patriots, 47-17
In hindsight, I guess this result is not all that surprising. Many people thought the Bills would win, but the Pats are a tough divisional opponent of the Bills and the Pats have the greatest coach ever so I think most football watchers assumed this might be at least competitive. But man, I don't think anyone really expected the Bills to just run through the Pats like a hot knife through butter.
Bills' QB Josh Allen put on a historically awesome performance as he treated the Pats defense like they were community college second stringers.
The Bills look like one of the more dangerous teams in these playoffs.
The #2 Bucs smash the #7 Eagles 31-15
I really thought the Eagles has a chance in this one, WHOOPS! This game was not as close as the score may imply, even though 31-15 is already a decent beatdown. The 15 points the Eagles did manage to score were pretty much in garbage time.
For the second year in a row, Tom Brady lucks up and gets an NFC East opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
The Eagles were just outmatched in every phase of the game. Their roster just seemed way to young and inexperienced. It will be interesting to see if they stick with young QB Jalen Hurts or not. Tough call, but I lean towards Hurts not being the guy.
The #6 49ers win a close one against the #3 Cowboys, 23-17
This game was actually decent to watch, and also sorta kinda came down to the final play. Although, the Raiders overall may have had a better shot in their game.
The 49ers held a decent lead throughout a lot of this game, but they definitely let the Cowboys hang around and it almost cost them.
The Cowboys would have had one last shot at the endzone if it wasn't for an unfortunate hiccup when their QB Dak Prescott was trying to stop the clock by spiking the ball. The team couldn't get the ball to the ref in time before the clock ran out, and it was just a weird situation. If I were a Cowboys fan I would have had a heart attack in that moment. It's being debated whether this blunder is the Cowboys fault or the refs fault but it just seemed like an unlucky situation to me. I guess all I can say for the Cowboys is, don't let the game be that close to begin with.
The #2 Chiefs wreck the #7 Steelers, 42-21
This game was arguably had the most predictable result of all the Wild Card games. Nobody was really surprised. The Steelers simply ran into a team more talented than them. Like, a lot more talented. It was frankly a miracle that the Steelers were in the playoffs to begin with.
The Chiefs handle business in basically a bye week. Good practice for the real playoffs.
#4 Rams easily eliminate the #5 Cardinals, 34-11
Yet another boring game!! Sheesh. The Rams really controlled this game from start to finish.
The Rams defense made Cardinals QB Kyler Murray look truly scared in the pocket. Kyler looked spazzy and uncomfortable all game long.
The Rams QB Matthew Stafford on the other hand looked pretty outstanding and got his first career playoff win! That must be a huge relief for him.
The Cardinals looked like a legit Super Bowl contender earlier this season, everything has seriously fallen apart in the last two months or so. Pretty depressing stuff.
The Rams have a bunch of superstars and look pretty scary.
All in all an underwhelming weekend in terms of thrilling games, but still, it was entertaining to watch! Teams really set themselves apart as we head into an epic Divisional Playoff Weekend!
What are some of your thoughts about this weekend's games?
