Admittedly, Donald missed the last quarter or so of the Rams dominant performance. But even after he was out, the mindset and drive he brought is just imbued by the rest of that Rams defense. The Rams defnese as a whole is incredible and was incredible, but we have to talk about Donald, who had two sacks, a few other hits & hurries, and so many run plays of just immediately teleporting to the backfield. Donald is a once-in-a-generation player and that showed as he and the rest of that front (and their secondary) humiliated the Seahawks from that second drive with the two sacks.
Runner-Up: Josh Allen (QB, BUF)
It was a toss-up here between Allen and Lamar, both third year QBs who had not won playoff games before getting that first win. I'll give it to Allen as the Bills offense was a more crucial part of that win than the Ravens offense was. Allen also was phenomenal, even after a rocky start. His throw to Gibson on the run late in the first half when they were trailing 10-7 was likely the single best offensive play of the weekend. In that first half, when Diggs was getting controlled, Allen was great even when he had to turn to the run. In the second half, he and Diggs showed up huge. Allen has reined in his game to make him truly a special player - the first 'project' QB that 100% has worked.
Goat of the Week: Mike Tomlin (Coach, PIT)
I think Mike Tomlin is a great coach. It's astounding for him to have coached 14 years without a losing season. That said, there's been a lot of just awful starts to playoff games in his run. This was the nadir, but they also trailed 28-7 to the Jags in their most recent playoff game. If we look at his tenure as a whole, we have games trailing in the first half 21-7 ('07, Jags), 21-7 ('10 Ravens, they won the game), 21-3 ('10 Packers), 20-6 ('11, Broncos). In this game they never really recovered, the defense had no real Plan-B when they realized their front wasn't winning. And then of course the two just ludicrous game management decisions - passing up a 2pt conversion after a TD made it 35-22, and then the punt on the ensuing drive. Incomprehensible, really.
Runner-Up: Russell Wilson (QB, SEA)
I don't think I've seen Russ looks so hapless since the peak LOB days when he would have a game or two like that - often against the Fisher-era Rams. This was just a disaster. Yes, he was pressured 50% of the time he dropped back, but he also was dreadful when he wasn't pressured - including that awful screne pass pick-6. He was not elusive in the pocket, he missed receivers. He was awful. He's not an awful player and I think he showed this year how great he can be, but the drop-off in the second half, and this disaster, are signs letting Russ Cook isn't the answer to everything that ills Seattle.
Surprise of the Week: Cleveland Browns Defense
The Browns aren't a good defense when healthy. They certainly aren't when they are missing their top two corners due to COVID restrictions, and when Myles Garrett has a fairly milquetoast game. For the Browns to still be so active in coverage, so good at batting balls down, so good at reacting to those batted balls. That was a masterpiece from a defense that had no business even being decent, let alone great. The Browns should get the corners back for next week and they'll need to as I can't imagine the Chiefs will be so forgiving.
Runner-Up: Indianapolis Colts O-Line
The Colts O-Line being good isn't a total surprise. Quentin Nelson is a monster and they have a few other good players. They also didn't have Anthony Costanzo and his main backup, and didn't have a healthy RT either. In the regular season, anytime Costanzo didn't play the team fell apart offensively, particularly the passing game. Not so in this one. Even in a loss, Rivers was barely touched and they rolled up 470 yards of offense. It was a great performance that came a few bounces away from stealing a road playoff win.
Disappointment of the Week: Washington's Defensive Line
It was supposed to be the big matchup of the week, and while the Football Team did end up sacking Brady twice, and Brady did throw a decent amount of incompletions (somewhat due to good pressure), the Washington defensive line was just roasted. The Bucs have a very good OL, but they've been beat by good fronts before (see the Saints and Rams games), but the Football Team could not get consistent pressure at all. Chase Young is a great young player, but he's also a green young player, and whatever hand-up game he was trying to play did not work. The Football Team's DL may have a really bright future but in their first spotlight game they were a bust.
Runner-Up: Stupid analytics arguments
Hooray, we get to rehash dumb 4th down decisions again! What's hilarious is that both sides of the analytics/"go-for-it" debate are having arguments. It's amazing that a lot of people are understandably pillorying Mike Vrabel and Mike Tomlin for ludicrous punts in the 4th quarter (Titans punting on 4th-2 down 17-13, Steelers punting on 4th-1 down 35-23), but also that a lot of people then got upset at Frank Reich for going for it on 4th-Goal up 10-7, and then going for two when scoring a TD down 24-10. For the Reich stuff, harping on him is just dumb. The 4th-Goal was from the 4, but he also schemed up a play to get a WR wide open. On the 2-pt conversion, admittedly there was a bit more time when "going-for-2 down 14" is settled science but we've had that debate. For Vrabel and Tomlin, it was just depressing to watch. Both were undefensible. Somehow Tomlin's punt is overshadowing him kicking an extra point down 13 (TD that made it 35-22) instead of so obviously needing to go for two. Just an awful weekend for the 4th down crowd, but it you want ot say that you can't have any issue at all with what Frank Reich did.
Team Performance of the Week: Cleveland Browns OL
Unlike my love for the Colts earlier, the Browns OL is good in it scurrent form. That said, they were missing Joel Bittonio and then Jack Conklin, and they were just brilliant. They road-graded the league's second best defense. They kept Mayfield clean. The Steelers have had a sack in 70+ straight games, but they couldn't touch Mayfield. Chubb and Hunt are great running backs but they were able to dominate the Steelers because the OL got hole after hole after hole for them. Watt and Heyward were silent because that OL was montrous. Just an amazing effort.
Runner-Up: New Orleans Saints defense
I guess legally I should talk about this game for a second. The Saints defense is great, but that was another level of just not letting the Bears do anything. Their secondary draped the Bears receiver (aside from the gadget-play). even without Christensen the defensive front was ridiculous, stopping any type of running game from Montgomery. Trubisky had nothing to throw to. They will have to repeat every second of that performance to beat Tampa Bay - especially since the Saints offense didn't look too hot - but if that game is an indicator, it is possible. Their secondary play is at such a high level at the moment. I never would have imagined a Dennis Allen coached defense play like this.
Team Laydown of the Week: Tennessee Titans OL
I've extolled both the Colts and Browns OLs for their performances, so let's do the exact opposite and slam the Titans, a high priced OL that has generally been excellent, for being a disaster. Yes, it's easy to knock Henry for the poor run-game performance, but his OL gave him nothing. They repeatedly got no forward push and didn't allow Henry to start running. They were decent in pass protection but overall it was a far cry from the at times dominant unit that was a central cog of honestly one of the top-3 offenses in the league this year. Sad end for what was a really fun team at times.
Runner-Up: Pittsburgh Steelers defense
Basically you can reverse everything I wrote about in the Browns OL section here, but more than just the OL winning the matchup against the Steelers front, teh Steelers in the back end seemed slow and tired, missing tackles, giving up oodles of YAC. Their scheme was lost at times, way too often leaving LBs to try to cover Landry on short route. It was a disaster for what was the league's defense through the year. Special demerits for TJ Watt, who disappeared fully in that game. Its these disappearing acts in key games that makes me hate the few times I hear anyone even hint at TJ being anything close to his brother as a player.
Storyline that will be Beaten into the Ground: Ravens, Bucs are HOT!
The Ravens have won six straight games now, coinciding with Lamar's return from COVID and the OL getting dominant again. For the Bucs, they've now won five straight games, coinciding with Ali Marpet getting healthy and the OL getting dominant. Because of hte presence of #2 seeds in Wild Card weekend we're getting a bit less 'this is the hot wild card team!' stories because in both cases both the Ravens and Bucs are playing a team that also played last weekend, but still we are going to see a lot of stories about how hot these teams are. Forget the fact the Bills are better than Tennessee at this point, and even if you feel that is debatable, certainly the Saints are a big step up from Washington. Both the Ravens and Bucs are good teams and both are playing better now than they did earlier in teh season, but the Bills and Saints are also great teams. Always beware of the team that looks too good in Week 1.
Storyline that should be Beat Into the Ground: Does HFA mean anything this year?
Over the course of the season there was barely any HFA. Not a huge surprise given there were little to no fans at most games. If you look at the first playoff weekend, this was so apparent. Home teams went 2-4, and both the wins were in teh #2 v #7 matchups that HFA aside you would assume are the most skewed (definitely so on hte NFC side). If you look at the matchups in Divisional Weekend, you get #1 v #6 and #2 v #5 - basically a normal set-up, nothing to indicate a new format (we really won't feel the impact of expanded playoffs until we get our first #7 over #2 upset and a non-#2 seed is hosting a divisional game). Now, having both #6 and #5 seeds win isn't so unprecendented - it happened as recently as 2015 (PIT over CIN, SEA over MIN, KC over HOU, GB over WAS). Strange thing though, all four of the home teams won in the Divisional Round (DEN over PIT, CAR over SEA, NE over KC and ARZ over GB). Divisional Round has been heavily in favor of home teams in recent years dating back to 2011, going 29-7 in that time period, with no seasons where more than one road team won. If that is going to change, it is going to be this absurd season.
