The road to the playoffs in the N.F.L. is short but tough, and the path to its second round has proved difficult for even the game’s best (sorry, Tom Brady). It takes lots of skill and plenty of luck to survive a field of 32 teams to be among what are now the final eight in line to win the Super Bowl. So for each of the remaining playoff teams, our staff experts answer the question: Which player has been the most essential to getting his team this far?
(And, no, it’s not always the quarterback!)
Tennessee Titans — Derrick Henry, Running Back
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On Oct. 13, the Tennessee Titans had a 2-4 record, and an anemic offense could be blamed for most of the losses. Ryan Tannehill replaced Marcus Mariota at quarterback.
The switch to Tannehill signaled a move toward a more conservative, ball-control offense, which meant that Coach Mike Vrabel was making the fourth-year running back Derrick Henry the focus of the Titans’ attack. Henry changed the season for the Titans.
Tennessee won seven of its last 10 regular-season games behind Henry’s bruising and explosive rushing, and Henry ended up leading the N.F.L. in rushing yards (1,540), rushing touchdowns (16) and rushing yards per game (102.7). In his first six games, he had rushed for only four touchdowns.
As the Titans chased a playoff spot in the final six games of the season, a period when they compiled a 5-1 record, Henry averaged 149.3 rushing yards per game. And he saved his best game for the regular-season finale. In a rout of Houston on the road, Henry ran for 211 yards with three touchdowns, a victory that helped the Titans clinch the final A.F.C. playoff seed.
Kansas City Chiefs — Patrick Mahomes, Quarterback
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In some ways, Patrick Mahomes’s season wasn’t quite as spectacular as his first as a starter, which won him the Most Valuable Player Award a year ago.
He threw 26 touchdowns instead of a superhuman 50. He didn’t break the 300 passing-yards-a-game barrier. Most of his other stats were down a little, too. He missed two games because of injury.
But yes, his across-the-board passing numbers were still better than those of Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo and the other pretenders to his throne.
And he was more disciplined, getting intercepted only five times compared with 12 in his M.V.P. year.
Last season, the passes went heavily in the direction of two 1,000-yard receivers, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. This season, Kelce’s numbers were down, and Hill missed four games because of injury. So Mahomes threw more to Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson and worked the rookie Mecole Hardman into the mix.
Make no mistake, Mahomes is still the engine that drives the Chiefs.
Might you be reading an article like this again? And then again and again? You can bet on it. He’s still only 24 years old.
Minnesota Vikings — Dalvin Cook, Running Back
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The Vikings ran the ball 476 times this season, fourth most in the league. But, defying the N.F.L. trend toward running-back-by-committee, the bulk of those went to one man: Dalvin Cook.
Cook was handed the ball 250 times in all, gaining 1,135 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns. He also caught 53 passes for an average gain of nearly 10 yards. All of those numbers were easily the best of his three-year career.
Cook didn’t lead the league in anything, except, perhaps, certainty. The Vikings (and their opponents) knew they were going to get him the ball. They knew he would do the right things once he got it.
His speed and ability to cut were on display most notably in a 75-yard run at Green Bay in Week 2 that put the league on notice. With only Cook in the backfield, it hardly seemed like a play that would bring anything unexpected: a routine off tackle. But Cook went left, cut sharply right, accelerated and eluded a diving safety on the way to a touchdown.
When you are sending out quarterback Kirk Cousins to face the likes of Drew Brees or Jimmy Garoppolo, it helps to have a little something extra. For the Vikings, that’s Dalvin Cook.
Houston Texans — Deshaun Watson, Quarterback
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Defending Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson isn’t easy. He’s creative, mobile and relentless, which he showed last weekend when he led the Texans back from a 16-point deficit to topple the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round. It was a game that encapsulated what makes Watson so key to Houston’s success.
The Texans have a good running game, led by Carlos Hyde, but Watson was the team’s second-leading rusher and had more rushing touchdowns. As defenders keyed in on DeAndre Hopkins throughout the season, Watson spread the ball around to his other receivers, and completed 67.3 percent of his attempts. Ultimately, though, it was Watson’s ability to improvise under pressure that sunk the Bills. He will be facing a less impressive defense this weekend, which could be a difference-maker, even in a cold Arrowhead Stadium. But as so many teams have learned this season, no matter the conditions, the true difference is Watson himself.
Seattle Seahawks — Russell Wilson, Quarterback
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Every week, the Seattle Seahawks tend to play 60 (or more) minutes of football that border on nonsensical. Late lead changes, turnovers, touchdowns: No team plays crazier games than Seattle. No team wins crazier games, either, and the prevailing reason is that the Seahawks have a quarterback in Russell Wilson who is capable of doing anything and everything at any time.
Wilson is the Seahawks’ great equalizer. He minimizes his coaches’ mismanagement, conservative approach and penchant for early-down running. His elusiveness and pocket awareness offset poor pass-blocking. The Seahawks were 10-2 this season in one-possession games.
Just last week against Philadelphia, Wilson converted five third downs when needing at least 10 yards, including a 36-yard pass to DK Metcalf that iced Seattle’s 17-9 victory. The Seahawks’ style begets close games, but Seattle seems more lethal when its defense struggles just enough to open up the playbook and let Wilson pass, as he did in the second half of a loss to San Francisco in the regular-season finale.
If not for Lamar Jackson, Wilson would be the league’s most valuable player. He will have to settle for being Seattle’s.
Green Bay Packers — Za’Darius Smith, Linebacker
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In Green Bay’s first padded training camp practice, left tackle David Bakhtiari neutralized Za’Darius Smith, the team’s new edge rusher, in a one-on-one drill.
And then.
“The next day, he was in front of me one moment,” Bakhtiari said, “and the next moment he wasn’t.”
So as Bakhtiari spoke that night, Dec. 23, he might have empathized with Minnesota’s offensive line after Smith wrecked it for three and a half sacks in a Packers victory that clinched the N.F.C. North title.
In a season that began with such uncertainty — a new coach, a new offensive scheme, new personnel — Smith’s production and presence have been a constant, guiding force.
After signing a four-year, $66 million deal in free agency, Smith led the N.F.L. with 93 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, establishing his candidacy for the league’s defensive player of the year award. He invigorated a stolid locker room with his energy and leadership, the rare outsider elected as captain.
He is as disruptive on the field as he is dynamic off it. And without him the Packers would not be one of the last eight playoff teams standing.
Baltimore Ravens — Lamar Jackson, Quarterback
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Lamar Jackson was not only the most indispensable player for the Ravens this season — he is the prohibitive favorite to be the league M.V.P. It was during off-season workouts last spring that the Ravens unveiled their plans to build their offense around the multidimensional Jackson, who was preparing for his second pro season. But no one could have predicted how productive Baltimore’s attack would be with the resourceful Jackson at its helm. Indeed, there had been scores of skeptics who considered Jackson no more than an elusive runner lining up behind center rather than a complete quarterback with the all-around skills necessary to lead a modern N.F.L. passing offense.
Those doubts were most likely put to rest in the opening game of the season when Jackson threw for five touchdowns and completed 17 of 20 passes in a 59-10 romp over Miami.
“Not bad for a running back,” Jackson said to reporters after the game.
Jackson has not looked back from there, throwing a league-high 36 touchdown passes this season while completing 66.1 percent of his passes — with only six interceptions. He also rushed for 1,206 yards, a record for a quarterback.
San Francisco 49ers — George Kittle, Tight End
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No single play defined the 49ers season more than George Kittle’s catch-and-run on fourth down that set up a game-winning field goal in San Francisco’s victory over the New Orleans Saints in Week 14. With 39 seconds left, Kittle caught a low pass, eluded one defender, stiff-armed another one and was finally hauled down by three Saints.
The team’s offense feeds off his speed, strength and grit. While Kittle had more than 1,000 receiving yards for the second straight year, he is also an impressive blocker, which has helped propel the 49ers’ running game to second in the N.F.L. Because Kittle lines up all over the field, the Vikings may have a hard time figuring where Kittle is headed this weekend. So many other teams know how that feels.
Source: Football - nytimes.com
