Kansas City 27, Jacksonville 20
Four mistakes.
Four mistakes cost the Jaguars a remarkable trip to the AFC Championship Game.
- They dropped an easy Chad Henne interception that would have likely been returned for a touchdown.
- Christian Kirk dropped a beautiful Trevor Lawrence deep shot that Cris Collinsworth inexplicably described as “overthrown.” (Collinsworth’s praising of Patrick Mahomes during this game became comical at times. Throws into the ground were being called brilliant.)
- Jamal Agnew let the kicker tackle him on a return when he was coasting into the open field. Every return man will tell you that the kicker can NEVER be the tackler.
- Agnew committed an unforced fumble, with the Jags driving for a score, down ten, just over five minutes to go.
A dissertation could be written about the Jaguar approach to Travis Kelce but even with the tight end’s dominant performance, Jacksonville should have won this ballgame. They didn’t. Because of four mistakes.
Eagles 38, Giants 7
It’s not surprising the Eagles won. It is a bit surprising that the Giants – who have been defined lately by their grit – were completely toothless. I came away from this snooze of a game with three thoughts.
- I don’t remember a more difficult evaluation than Daniel Jones and I don’t envy Joe Schoen in the coming weeks. Jones is clearly a starting quarterback in the NFL but is he an upper echelon starting QB? Do upper echelon starting quarterbacks pitch quarterback ratings of 53 in the postseason? Would Jones accept a contract in the Kirk Cousins realm: short-term and fully guaranteed? Three years, $75 million?
- The Vikings were the hollowest 13-game winner in the history of the NFL.
- Did the Eagles even need Robert Quinn? They have pass rush coming from every direction and that’s going to make them incredibly difficult to beat in their building next week. Folks are fond of saying the Niners have the best roster in the sport. The Eagles have a real argument.
Bengals 27, Bills 10
The Bills had been playing sloppy football for weeks. Sunday, they played sloppy football against a terrific team and that team manhandled them. That’s the game. That’s it. The clearly better team advanced to the AFC title game and questions will now be rightfully asked in Buffalo. Question one might be, what the hell is your offense, aside from “Josh, go do stuff.”
49ers 19, Cowboys 12
Why did the Cowboys lose this game? Dak Prescott. In a tough game, against a tough opponent, the Dallas quarterback was awful.
