Playoff Games

Subterms

    More stories

    • 175 Shares129 Views

      in Football

      How Tom Brady and the Buccaneers beat the Packers for a Super Bowl berth.

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyNFL Live: Mahomes’ Masterful Performance Extends Chiefs Lead Over BillsHow Tom Brady and the Buccaneers beat the Packers for a Super Bowl berth.Jan. 24, 2021, 6:26 p.m. ETJan. 24, 2021, 6:26 p.m. ETAfter the game, Coach Bruce Arians was asked what Tom Brady had brought with him to Tampa Bay. “The belief he gave everybody in the organization that this could be done,” he said. “It only took one man.”Credit…Matt Ludtke/Associated PressIn March, seeking a rewarding second chapter to a glittering career, Tom Brady signed a $50 million free-agent contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after 20 seasons and six Super Bowl victories as quarterback for the New England Patriots. The hope in Tampa was that Brady’s megawatt celebrity and proven talent could sprinkle a little stardust on a middling N.F.L. franchise and perhaps vault it to the league’s upper echelon.On Sunday, Brady and the Buccaneers got their wishes. And maybe more.In a stirring, tense duel between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Brady and the Buccaneers held off a late charge by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers for a 31-26 upset victory in the N.F.C. championship game in Green Bay, Wis. The Buccaneers will become the first N.F.L. team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium, on Feb. 7.After the game, when Coach Bruce Arians was asked what Brady had brought with him to Tampa Bay, he said: “The belief he gave everybody in the organization that this could be done. It only took one man.”Brady, in a postgame interview, tried to deflect credit for the victory, but said: “Who would have even thought a home Super Bowl for us? But we did it.”Addressing Buccaneers fans, Arians shouted: “We’re coming home, and we’re coming home to win.”Tampa Bay, which has won three successive postseason games on the road this month, took an 11-point halftime lead on two Brady touchdown passes. The Packers, the top seed in the conference, stormed back, trimming the deficit to 5 points late in the third quarter. But Brady, who will be making his 10th Super Bowl appearance, led fifth-seeded Tampa Bay to a pivotal fourth-quarter field goal, and the Packers failed to score a touchdown on a crucial, late possession despite a first-and-goal at the Buccaneers’ 8-yard line.The Buccaneers will play the winner of Sunday night’s A.F.C. championship game, between the Buffalo Bills and the host Kansas City Chiefs, in the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Brady, 43, will become just the fourth quarterback to lead two franchises to the Super Bowl. It was also done by Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning and Craig Morton.For Rodgers, who won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2010 season, Sunday’s loss was his fourth in a conference championship game.With both teams depleted by injuries — the Packers were without running back Aaron Jones and Tampa Bay was missing both starting safeties — Green Bay charged back from an 18-point deficit with two third-quarter touchdown passes by Rodgers, who completed 33 of 48 passes for 346 yards. The Packers, assisted by a penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit near the goal line, cut the Tampa Bay lead to 5 points after a 2-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Davante Adams. Green Bay attempted 2-point conversion was unsuccessful, and it trailed Tampa Bay, 28-23.The Packers’ rally was greatly assisted by three interceptions thrown in the second half by Brady, who completed 20 of 36 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns. But only one of those interceptions led to a Packers touchdown. More significant was Green Bay’s last possession, when Rodgers led his team to the Tampa Bay 8-yard line with the chance to tie the game with a touchdown and a successful 2-point conversion. Rodgers instead threw three successive incompletions — the last two directed at Adams — and Green Bay settled for a field goal rather than trying for the end zone again on fourth down with slightly more than two minutes remaining.That decision proved consequential since the Packers never possessed the football again.After the game, Rodgers called his future with the team “uncertain.” The Packers traded up to select quarterback Jordan Love from Utah State in the first round of the 2020 N.F.L. draft, which led to some friction between Rodgers and the franchise.“There’s a lot of unknowns going into this off-season now,” Rodgers said Sunday. “I’m just going to have to take some time away for sure and clear my head and just kind of see what’s going on with everything. But it’s pretty tough right now, especially thinking about the guys that may or may not be here next year. There’s always change. That’s the only constant in this business.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 163 Shares179 Views

      in Football

      Tom Brady Is Back in the Super Bowl, Because of Course He Is

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyon pro footballTom Brady Is Back in the Super Bowl, Because of Course He IsAt 43, Brady will be playing in his 10th Super Bowl, proving that he can still compete at the highest level after reinventing himself at Tampa Bay.Ten months after signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Brady has led them to their first Super Bowl appearance since 2002.Credit…Dylan Buell/Getty ImagesJan. 24, 2021, 9:16 p.m. ETTom Brady changed coaches. He changed conferences. He changed cities. He changed climates. In his tornado of an off-season, he also celebrated a birthday. In August, he turned 43.At that age, N.F.L. players are playing golf or reconnecting with their families or pursuing business ventures.What they are not doing is playing in the N.F.L. They are not choosing to sign with downtrodden franchises or shredding defenses or winning three consecutive playoff games on the road.They are not quarterbacking teams to the Super Bowl.Except when they do.Except when Tom Brady does it.After his Tampa Bay Buccaneers escaped Lambeau Field with a 31-26 victory on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, just one game remains in this bizarre, disjointed curiosity of a season, and Brady will be playing in it. Of course he will. Not only that, but it will be played on Feb. 7 in his home stadium (against either Kansas City or Buffalo).He signed with Tampa Bay in March, bolting the most successful N.F.L. organization of the modern era for one of the least, for the challenge as much as a change. The challenge was this: that, untethered from New England and Bill Belichick, he could learn new teammates, master a new offense, acclimate to a new region and produce at an elite level, a level he demanded of himself.In defying the aging process, Brady advanced to his 10th Super Bowl. He emboldened a franchise that, until he arrived, had won as many playoff games over its 44 seasons (six) as he had Super Bowl rings, all while delivering perhaps the most staggering statistical season of his career: Only Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson threw for more yards than Brady, and only the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers threw for more touchdowns.“For me, I don’t think about what it means,” Brady said after Sunday’s game. “I do think about what it means for everyone else.”Even so, on some level, Brady must understand the magnitude of his accomplishments.How until these playoffs, he had never taken the long path to the Super Bowl, qualifying as a wild card and beginning his playoff quest on the road, where he had played in all of three games across the nine other postseasons that culminated in a Super Bowl berth.How with off-season workouts and preseason games canceled because of the pandemic, he still managed to transform a team that hadn’t won a playoff game since its Super Bowl-winning season of 2002 — that had finished last in the N.F.C. South in seven of the past nine seasons — and lead it to three consecutive playoff victories, all against division champions.N.F.L. PlayoffsLive UpdatesUpdated Jan. 24, 2021, 9:14 p.m. ETThe Chiefs are getting creative to beat the Bills defense.Patrick Mahomes has things under control through the first half.Edwards-Helaire’s run makes it three touchdowns on as many Chiefs’ possessions.How he himself overcame a disappointing 2019 season in New England, undermined by a diminishing stockpile of talent around him, to average 333.3 passing yards per game over the final quarter of this season, with 12 touchdowns and one interception.How he went from throwing an interception on the final play of his last season with the Patriots to helping the Buccaneers become the first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium.“It’s hard to envision this as a goal, but at the same time, it’s a week-to-week league,” said Brady, who will become the fourth quarterback to start a Super Bowl for more than one franchise, joining Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Craig Morton. “We’re at 7-5 seven games ago, not feeling great. We felt like we needed to find our rhythm. Played four great games down the stretch the last quarter of the season. After that, it was just all bonus. And we just had to go play well.”As a team, the Buccaneers did play well on Sunday, and their comprehensive effort validated Brady’s decision to sign with them. He saw a team with elite receivers, an ascending young defense and a bevy of offensive coaches primed to maximize his final seasons. Instead of throwing to N’Keal Harry and Phillip Dorsett, Brady zipped balls this season to Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, and to Antonio Brown, whom Tampa Bay added in October.The game on Sunday unfolded early as if following a rough draft of the teams’ Week 6 matchup, when Tampa Bay sacked Rodgers five times, coaxed two turnovers and coasted to a 38-10 victory. But then Brady, after connecting on the last of his three touchdowns, threw interceptions on three consecutive drives, all in the second half, as Green Bay tried to overcome an 18-point deficit.Backed by a defense that again sacked Rodgers five times and that twice held Green Bay’s league-best red zone offense without a touchdown when it had first-and-goal, Tampa Bay allowed just 6 points off Brady’s turnovers.When Brady signed with Tampa Bay, Rodgers figured they would meet in the playoffs, as if preordained. Brady fled the A.F.C. at a pivot point in the league’s quarterbacking evolution, just as Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson seemed primed to lord over the conference. He went to an N.F.C. ruled by two aging stars, Drew Brees and Rodgers, and Brady, older than both, beat them both in the playoffs. In one season in the conference, Brady already has as many N.F.C. titles as Rodgers and Brees.With the exception of his first appearance, every other time Brady reached the Super Bowl with New England — that is to say, the next eight times — he did so as a member of a dynasty: In 18 seasons as the Patriots’ starter, he played in 13 conference championship games. The Buccaneers do not have that sheen, or at least they didn’t.“He’s probably the biggest reason we are where we are,” receiver Scotty Miller said.Now the Buccaneers are in the Super Bowl, an exotic place for them but an altogether familiar one for the man who would probably be retired right now if he weren’t Tom Brady.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Football

      Retirement in Florida? Tom Brady’s Next Move Might Be to the Super Bowl

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and Cases13,000 Approaches to TeachingVaccine InformationTimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRetirement in Florida? Tom Brady’s Next Move Might Be to the Super BowlThe inglorious interception at the end of his career in New England seems a distant memory as he leads the Buccaneers into the N.F.C. championship game on Sunday.Florida man, 43, vows to play in the N.F.L. until he is 45.Credit…Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesJan. 22, 2021Updated 4:59 p.m. ETOne year ago, Tom Brady’s last pass as a New England Patriot was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, the final mortifying act of a bitter first-round playoff loss.Brady, 42 at the time, had endured an erratic season, his 20th in the N.F.L., and with that performance slump came incessant conjecture about whether he would, or should, retire.Less than a minute into a news conference after the Patriots postseason exit, Brady, a six-time Super Bowl champion, was asked if he was going to quit football.Brady paused, with a faint look of exasperation.“I would say it’s pretty unlikely,” he finally said.Now, he is a game away from another Super Bowl appearance. He will lead his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, into the N.F.C. championship against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.For Brady, win or lose, his 14th appearance in a conference title game will serve as the most defiant answer to those who wondered if — or secretly hoped — he would walk away from pro football forever, leaving a substantial void in the game itself.The N.F.L. finds itself at an inflection point with aging stars at quarterback like Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees in their final years as emerging young stars like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson put their stamp on the position with multifaceted talents.But Brady is perhaps the most polarizing of the elders because of his longstanding ties to the Patriots, who have been heavily fined and punished with lost draft picks for various violations of league rules for nearly 15 years. Then there was Brady’s showcased role in the contretemps known as Deflategate, when the search for the cause of underinflated footballs in a 2015 playoff game resulted in a four-game suspension for Brady.For now, Brady is not going away. Often called the greatest quarterback in history, and a fixture of the N.F.L. playoffs this century in a Patriots uniform, he will appear on televisions screens Sunday in the pewter and red colors of the Buccaneers. Fans may have to adjust to that scene for a while, because Brady has for years indicated that he plans to play until he is 45. And who is going to stop him?“I’m definitely older,” Brady said this month after helping Tampa Bay win its first playoff game in 18 years. “But I’m hanging in there.”Brady, who won 30 postseason games with the Patriots, is also clearly relishing a period of vindication, since the second chapter of his career would seem to prove that past successes were not solely the result of his partnership with New England’s coach, Bill Belichick, or the influence of the noted “Patriot Way.”After the Buccaneers’ divisional round playoff victory over the New Orleans Saints last weekend, Tampa Bay Coach Bruce Arians was asked if he could tell that Brady was savoring a different kind of career milestone — a momentous playoff victory detached from the Patriots.“Yeah, you could tell,” Arians responded with a smile. “The emotions were really good — good moments on the field, in the locker room.”The Coronavirus Outbreak More

    • 113 Shares149 Views

      in Football

      The Bills Rack Up Wins. Folding Tables Get Wrecked.

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Bills Rack Up Wins. Folding Tables Get Wrecked.Though the team prohibits it, Bills fans are carrying on a new table-slamming tradition deep into the playoffs.The outpouring of emotions during this Bills season has proved cathartic, yet bittersweet because coronavirus restrictions prevented fans from attending regular season home games.Credit…Libby March for The New York TimesJan. 22, 2021, 4:12 p.m. ETDevoted N.F.L. fans show their love in lots of ways that don’t make sense out of context. Green Bay Packers fans wear foam blocks of cheese on their heads. Raiders fans paint their faces in black and silver and torment visiting players from their seats in the “Black Hole.” In Kansas City, Chiefs fans drive tricked-out school buses painted in red and gold, the team’s colors.Then there are Buffalo Bills fans, who make the ridiculous look routine. For the past few years, growing numbers of Bills tailgaters have ended their pre- and postgame debauchery by jumping from a high place — the back of a pickup truck, say, or the top of a Porta Potty — and slamming into a folding table. The WWE-inspired idea is to destroy the table, entertain friends (many of whom record the mayhem on smartphones) and get fired up for the game.So when Vincent Spano returned to his home in Buffalo around midnight after the Bills beat the Baltimore Ravens last Saturday, he was not surprised to see hundreds of fans down the street cheering a large man as he jumped off a step stool and crashed onto a table in the middle of a busy intersection. He was also not surprised that a video of the pandemonium that his friend posted on Instagram instantly went viral.“The guy jumped cleanly through it, popped up fine and everyone cleaned it up,” said Spano, a lifelong Bills fan who lives in the Allentown neighborhood, a center city area which now welcomes visitors with a sign that reads “Josh Allentown” in honor of the team’s quarterback, Josh Allen. “It’s all adrenaline and you’re so happy for the Bills, it takes over and you don’t think about it.”For his part, Allen said in an interview that he would jump through multiple tables if the Bills win the Super Bowl.The prevalence of table slamming is part of the frenzy sweeping Western New York as the Bills rumble through their best season since their glory years in the early 1990s, when the team played in four straight Super Bowls, losing all of them. Week by week, as the Bills marched toward their first division title and first playoff win in a quarter century, fans across the region have expressed their joy in bigger and more public ways.Seemingly every storefront in the city includes a ‘Go Bills’ sign. Huge banners celebrating the home team hang in front of city hall. Sales of retro Bills gear at Spano’s store, My Cuzin Vintage, have soared more than 50 percent this season. Restaurants as far away as Erie, Penn., are selling pizzas in the shape of buffalos. A Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Buffalo sold folding tables alongside Bills merchandise. Table slamming has become so closely linked to the Bills that ESPN designed a graphic video of Josh Allen jumping off a bus and onto a table.The popularity of table slamming, reckless as it may be, has coincided with the emergence of the Bills Mafia, a Twitter account started as a joke by three fans that has morphed into a kind of virtual identity for fans to show their passion. The seemingly random way in which these two elements quickly turned into traditions is part of their appeal to Bills fans.“We started Bills Mafia before people started jumping through tables,” said Del Reid, one of the account’s co-founders. Though Reid said he has never table slammed, he said he has no issue with the practice. “As long as people are being safe, however they want to express their fandom is fine,” he said. “People are trying to outdo themselves.”The outpouring during this Bills season has proved cathartic yet bittersweet because coronavirus restrictions prevented fans from attending regular season home games. Most fans made do by gathering with a few friends and family to watch games.Ashleigh Dopp, who could not use her family’s season tickets, turned her garage into a fan cave, complete with a Bills-themed mural, a refrigerator, a television and a heater. Dopp said she has not bought a folding table to slam in the driveway, though she got tossed on a table at a road game a few years ago.“Table slamming is about showmanship,” Dopp said. “It kind of ends your tailgate.”The Bills, though, have a complicated relationship with table slamming. Alarmed by excessive drinking and the violence of table slamming, the team told fans in 2018 that they could face criminal charges, have their tickets revoked, or be ejected from team-run parking lots for destroying folding tables.“The viral videos on social media, it’s embarrassing when we see that,” Andy Major, the team’s vice president of operations and guest experience, told The Buffalo News in 2019. He said a few fans “make a big stink out there — a few knuckleheads who wreck it.”So as the Bills began their postseason run and Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed about 6,500 fans to attend the team’s two home playoff games, the team is discouraging table slamming in the parking lots surrounding Bills Stadium.Eric Matwijow, who lives a three-minute walk from Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. has no trouble with the policy. He runs a parking lot on game days across the street from his home. Matwijow, whose nickname is “The Hammer” because he strictly polices his patrons before games, said his longtime customers clean up after themselves and don’t get out of hand.He has less tolerance for some of his younger customers, whom he calls “junior adults.” He banned table slamming because “people jump off vans and knock themselves out,” he said. “The power of alcohol can be strong.”Some team backers, though, said they will take their flying leaps on the road. The Bills travel to play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday and are one win away from returning to the Super Bowl. Months ago, Therese Forton Barnes, a Bills season-ticket holder since 1999, reserved a rental house near Tampa, Fla., site of this year’s Super Bowl, to work remotely in the warmer weather. She arrived there this week and one of her first purchases was a folding table that she uses as a desk.If the Bills win on Sunday, she’ll try to get tickets to the Super Bowl and wear the Jim Kelly jersey she brought with her. And if the Bills win their first Super Bowl title, Forton Barnes plans to stomp on her new folding table.“If we win, I may jump through a conference room table,” she said. “Go big or stay home!”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Football

      NFL Playoff Predictions: Our Picks in the Conference Championships

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Playoff Predictions: Our Picks in the Conference ChampionshipsWith a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, Tom Brady leads Tampa Bay into Green Bay while Josh Allen and the Bills take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.The conference championship games have M.V.P. candidates on each team: Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.Credit…Clockwise from top left: Brynn Anderson/Associated Press; Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press; Jamie Squire/Getty Images; Jeffrey T. Barnes/Associated PressJan. 21, 2021Updated 9:42 a.m. ETA complicated and stressful N.F.L. season is nearing its conclusion, with four star-studded teams facing off on Sunday with a Super Bowl appearance on the line. Each of the remaining teams has a Most Valuable Player Award candidate at quarterback, stars at wide receiver and defenses that can make big plays. The questions for this weekend include which of the N.F.C.’s celebrated quarterbacks will make his return to the Super Bowl and whether the upstart Buffalo Bills can knock off the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.Here is a look at the conference championship games. Unlike in the regular season, the picks in the playoffs are not made against the spread to emphasize which teams we believe will win.Playoff record: 8-8N.F.C. Championship GameTampa Bay has numerous receiving options, but Mike Evans, at 6 feet 5 inches, is a dominant force in the red zone.Credit…Brynn Anderson/Associated PressDavante Adams of the Green Bay Packers had a career year, with 1,374 yards receiving and 18 touchdowns.Credit…Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports, via ReutersTampa Bay Buccaneers at Green Bay Packers, 3:05 p.m. Sunday, FoxLine: Packers -3 | Total: 51More than a hundred players will suit up for this game, but the spotlight will fall on two of them: Tom Brady of the Buccaneers and Aaron Rodgers of the Packers. It isn’t unusual for quarterbacks to command most of the attention, but this matchup goes beyond that.Brady, with more career touchdown passes and more Super Bowl wins than any other player, had a terrific 2020 season, throwing 40 touchdown passes and ending Tampa Bay’s long postseason drought. Rodgers, a two-time winner of the Most Valuable Player Award and one-time winner of the Super Bowl, had perhaps the best season of his career, throwing 48 touchdown passes while leading the N.F.C.’s top team.The quarterbacks have combined to start 551 games, including in the postseason. But largely as a result of playing in different conferences for most of their careers, they have faced off as starters just three times. Two came in Brady’s time with the New England Patriots, with Brady beating the Packers in 2018 and Rodgers beating the Patriots in 2014. They faced each other in Week 6 of this season, with the Buccaneers winning, 38-10. It was the Packers’ lowest scoring game of the year.Brady, 43, has a career edge in accomplishments. Rodgers, who is six years younger, has a physical edge. After a few quiet seasons, by his standards, Rodgers in 2020 used wide receivers Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to shred defenses as the Packers led the N.F.L. in scoring and finished fifth in total yardage. Brady’s statistics were also impressive, but he is more physically limited than he was in the past, frequently relying on talented receivers like Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown and tight end Rob Gronkowski to turn short passes into long gains.In a more neutral environment, Tampa Bay could have counted on its young defense to shift the balance in the Buccaneers’ favor by pressuring Rodgers. In that scenario, the team would rely on Brady to put up points against a good defense that is not nearly as explosive. But in Green Bay, with snow showers in the forecast and a game-time temperature expected to be around 30 degrees, a team from Florida — even one with a New England icon at quarterback — will be out of its element.The Packers fought hard to secure home field advantage throughout the N.F.C. playoffs, and this game should reward them for that effort, ending the Buccaneers’ attempt to be the first team to appear in a Super Bowl in its home stadium. Pick: PackersA.F.C. Championship GameStefon Diggs was acquired by Buffalo in an off-season trade. He responded with the best season of his career.Credit…Rich Barnes/USA Today Sports, via ReutersTravis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs set an N.F.L. record with 1,416 yards receiving as a tight end.Credit…Reed Hoffmann/Associated PressBuffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs, 6:40 p.m. Sunday, CBSLine: Chiefs -3 | Total: 53.5The Chiefs’ pursuit of a second straight Super Bowl victory hit its first real speed bump last weekend when Patrick Mahomes had his neck twisted by a defender as he was dragged to the turf, putting him in the N.F.L.’s concussion protocol and forcing him out of Kansas City’s 22-17 win over the Cleveland Browns. The Chiefs iced that victory with key plays by the backup quarterback, Chad Henne, but Mahomes’s absence was palpable in a game Kansas City was expected to win in a blowout.Mahomes has practiced lightly this week while working to be cleared, but there is little fear he will miss the game. As a result, the A.F.C. will get a strength-against-strength matchup between the conference’s best teams of the regular season.The Bills had an offensive renaissance this season thanks to the development of quarterback Josh Allen and the arrival of wide receiver Stefon Diggs. They led Buffalo to the second most points in the league and its first division title since 1995. While the defense took a major step backward from a brilliant 2019 season, a strong performance last weekend against the Baltimore Ravens proved the unit could be great when needed.Buffalo might have to play a perfect game to compete with Kansas City. The Chiefs stormed back to win last season’s Super Bowl behind Mahomes’s brilliance, and lost only two games in the 2020 season — one a meaningless Week 17 game in which Mahomes and other starters were rested. The Chiefs will be at their best if running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire returns from a Week 16 hip injury, but the offense has plenty of options without him, including wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce.The Chiefs are the clear favorites, particularly at home, but Buffalo should not be counted out. If its defense can play the way it did in the divisional round and Allen can avoid mistakes, the Bills can turn this into quite a fight. But the most likely result is a Kansas City victory, which would give the Chiefs the chance to be the first team since the Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Pick: Chiefs.All times are Eastern.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 88 Shares99 Views

      in Football

      Drew Brees Considering Retirement After Playoff Ouster

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyDrew Brees Considering Retirement After Playoff OusterBrees, 42, said he will weigh ending his 20-year career after the Saints’ loss to Tom Brady’s Buccaneers in the divisional round.“I’ll answer this question one time, and that is I’m going to give myself an opportunity to think about the season, think about a lot of things, just like I did last year, and make the decision,” Brees said after Sunday’s game.Credit…Brynn Anderson/Associated PressJan. 17, 2021Drew Brees, who overcame a career-threatening shoulder injury to become the most statistically prolific quarterback in N.F.L. history, likely played the final game of his 20-year career Sunday, when his Saints lost, 30-20, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a divisional round playoff game in New Orleans.For his part, Brees declined to discuss his future, and said the outcome of Sunday’s game will have no bearing on whether or not he’ll choose to keep playing.“I’ll answer this question one time, and that is I’m going to give myself an opportunity to think about the season, think about a lot of things, just like I did last year, and make the decision,” Brees said.Brees, 42, has a year remaining on the two-year, $50 million contract extension he signed last March and has been approaching his status on a season-by-season basis. But in April he agreed to join NBC Sports as a football analyst, raising speculation that the 2020 season would be his last.“You find out so much about yourself, and you fight through so much when you play this game,” Brees said. “I’d say this season, I probably had to fight through more than I’ve ever had to in any other season in my career, from injuries to all the Covid stuff to just crazy circumstances, and it was worth every moment of it, absolutely.”Brees missed a month with 11 broken ribs and a punctured lung but returned for the Saints’ final three games of the regular season, winning two to help them capture the No. 2 seed in the N.F.C. playoffs. Instead of rounding out his career with a second championship to further elevate his legacy, Brees delivered a jarring conclusion, throwing three interceptions Sunday — including on both of the Saints’ fourth-quarter possessions.Over his 20 N.F.L. seasons, Brees set numerous passing records, including most career passing yards and completions, and won his only Super Bowl appearance, with New Orleans after the 2009 season. He ranks second in completion percentage, passing yards per game and touchdown passes, in that category trailing only Tom Brady, who threw two on Sunday to help eliminate the Saints.A second-round pick in 2001 by the Chargers out of Purdue, Brees made a Pro Bowl in San Diego but was discarded in favor of Philip Rivers. In the final game of the 2005 season, Brees, an impending free agent, dislocated his right shoulder and tore his rotator cuff and labrum, an injury so severe that he wondered whether he would ever play again.Only two teams pursued him that off-season — Miami and New Orleans, which had a 3-13 record in 2005 after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Undeterred by both the state of the city and the uncertain state of the organization, Brees chose to revive his career in New Orleans, where he joined forces with new coach Sean Payton.Together, they brought respectability to the franchise and hope to a devastated region. In his first season, Brees led the Saints, who had made the playoffs five times in 39 seasons before he came, to the N.F.C. championship game. In his fourth season, he led the Saints to a Super Bowl, beating three Hall of Fame quarterbacks — Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning — in the playoffs to do so.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares109 Views

      in Football

      NFL Playoffs: What We Learned From the Divisional Round

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From the N.F.L.’s Divisional RoundThe Buffalo Bills rode their defense to victory while the Green Bay Packers thrived on offense. The Kansas City Chiefs, who lost Patrick Mahomes to a concussion, simply survived.Chad Henne is not known for his legs, but the veteran backup scrambled for a 13-yard gain late in the game helping set up his game-sealing pass to Tyreek Hill.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesJan. 17, 2021Updated 8:02 p.m. ETHome teams won the first three games of the N.F.L.’s divisional round, but there was plenty of fretting along the way. The Buffalo Bills rode their defense to a win, the Green Bay Packers relied on their offense and the heavily favored Kansas City Chiefs, who lost quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a concussion, mostly survived.Here’s what we learned:The Winners’ BracketChad Henne sealed the deal for the Chiefs to get to another AFC Championship game 🔥 @PatrickMahomes @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/Yk3Kay5CnW— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) January 17, 2021
      Andy Reid trusts Chad Henne. Forced into action after Mahomes’s concussion, Henne, a 35-year-old backup, showed determination, skill and a bit of recklessness in protecting Kansas City’s lead over the Cleveland Browns, helping to give the Chiefs a 22-17 victory and sending them to their third consecutive A.F.C. championship game. Henne’s performance wasn’t flawless — he threw a particularly ugly interception in the end zone — but Coach Andy Reid’s decision to have his backup attempt a pass on fourth-and-short to ice the game, rather than running or punting the ball away, was about as strong of an endorsement as a player can receive. And Henne will undoubtedly be reminding people about his wild 13-yard run on the preceding play for years to come.There is no question that Kansas City is hoping Mahomes can be back for next week’s game against the Buffalo Bills, but his injury — and injuries sustained by Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens and Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams in their divisional round games — showed just how precarious each game can be in the N.F.L. Having a reliable backup can be the difference between winning and losing.A crowd of 8,456 fans was spread out in the stands of Green Bay’s Lambeau Field on Saturday. The team had not allowed fans to attend games during the regular season.Credit…Sarah Kloepping/USA Today Sports, via ReutersLambeau Field is ready for its (frigid) close-up. Green Bay’s stadium opened in 1957, and has been the site of several classic games, but it has seen relatively little action late in the playoffs. Thanks to Green Bay’s 32-18 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Saturday’s divisional round game, the Packers will host the N.F.C. championship game next Sunday — the 10th time in franchise history that Green Bay has played a game with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. Most of those games, though, were on the road, with this being just the fourth time Lambeau has hosted such a game. The last resulted in a loss to the Giants in the 2007 season; Aaron Rodgers, still serving as Brett Favre’s understudy, watched from the sideline.The Packers’ raucous fans will not have much chance to affect next week’s game — Green Bay allowed only 8,456 people to attend the divisional round game — but Wisconsin’s weather could play a role. Weather.com’s 10-day forecast is calling for possible snow on Sunday, with temperatures in the 20s. That’s cold, but by Packers standards it wouldn’t qualify as particularly harsh: It was 3 degrees Fahrenheit at kickoff in 1997 when Favre led Green Bay past Carolina; and it was a bone-chilling minus-15 — with a wind chill bringing things down another 20 to 30 degrees — when the Packers, on their path to Super Bowl II, beat the Dallas Cowboys in the 1967 N.F.L. championship, better known as the Ice Bowl.Buffalo’s defense was lying in wait. After a 2019 season in which the Bills’ defense ranked second in points allowed and third in yards allowed, it was expected that Buffalo would live and die on that side of the ball in 2020. Instead, the Bills’ defense was routinely overwhelmed, leaving quarterback Josh Allen and the team’s much-improved offense to bail out that unit. In Saturday’s divisional round game, those roles again reversed. Defensive stars like linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, safety Micah Hyde and cornerback Tre’Davious White were at their best, and cornerback Taron Johnson delivered the key play of the game with an incredible 101-yard interception return for a touchdown.Johnson’s pick-6 should result in his never buying another drink in Buffalo, and the Bills are back in the A.F.C. championship game for the first time since the 1993 season. But Buffalo faces an even stiffer test next week in the form of Kansas City.The Losers’ BracketBaker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns was forced to watch from the sideline as the Kansas City Chiefs successfully ran the clock out in their divisional round game. Cleveland had wasted two timeouts earlier in the second half.Credit…Jeff Roberson/Associated PressTimeouts are important. The Cleveland Browns had the franchise’s best season since it was resurrected in 1999, and the team’s defense, its running game and even quarterback Baker Mayfield should provide fans plenty of optimism going into next season. But Cleveland’s wasting two timeouts in the second half — one on a challenge of a play that wasn’t particularly close and one when there was miscommunication at the line of scrimmage — lowered the Browns’ chances of getting the ball back one last time when trailing by 5 in the game’s closing minutes.The Browns and their fans will probably view this as a lost opportunity to knock off the vaunted Kansas City Chiefs — the injury sustained by Mahomes had seemed to kick the door wide open — but the franchise should instead see this as the start of what could be a strong A.F.C. rivalry. The Browns are young, talented and came close to a win on the road. Given another shot, perhaps the outcome would be different.Slowed by a rib injury, Aaron Donald of the Rams, right, couldn’t find his typical burst. That gave Aaron Rodgers of the Packers plenty of time to pick apart the Los Angeles defense.Credit…Matt Ludtke/Associated PressThe Rams’ defense goes as far as Aaron Donald can take it. After a disappointing 2019 season that ended without a playoff appearance, Los Angeles surged back into contention in 2020 thanks to its defense. Multiple players stepped up to look like stars and the Rams were not only the top-rated overall defense in the N.F.L. — both in total yardage and scoring — but they showed balance, finishing as a top-three unit in both run and pass yards allowed. All of that, however, was built on the dominance of Donald, an All-Pro defensive tackle who anchors the team in all facets of the game. There was concern entering Saturday’s game against Green Bay that Donald could be limited by a rib injury sustained in the wild-card round, but he insisted he was healthy. It was clear from the beginning that was untrue. Donald was on the field for 40 of the Rams’ 75 defensive snaps and he was limited to one tackle and one pressure. He didn’t hit Aaron Rodgers a single time, and the lack of pressure had a cascading effect for the rest of the Rams’ defenders, who did not produce a sack and hit Rodgers just once all game. A devastated Donald was seen crying on the Rams’ sideline at the end of the game.Struggling against Rodgers hardly makes the Rams unique, but the final numbers were stark: It was just the second time all season that Los Angeles allowed more than 30 points, and it was the team’s worst effort of the season against both the pass (296 yards) and the run (188 yards).Justin Tucker missed two field-goal attempts of less than 50 yards in Saturday’s loss to Buffalo. In nine seasons for Baltimore, and two college seasons at Texas, the steady kicker had never missed two such kicks in a game.Credit…John Munson/Associated PressThe Ravens are familiar with Murphy’s Law. The adage states anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Baltimore got an extreme lesson in that during Saturday’s 17-3 loss to the Bills.Justin Tucker, the game’s most reliable kicker from inside 50 yards, missed 41- and 46-yard field-goal attempts, with both attempts bouncing off the uprights. It was quickly reported that Tucker had not missed two such kicks in any single game over his 154 career regular-season and playoff games in the N.F.L., but that was understating how unusual it was for Tucker. He also never missed two such kicks in any college game.Lamar Jackson, a quarterback celebrated for efficient passing and thrilling runs, had the third-worst passer rating of his 41 career starts (including postseason) while gaining just 34 yards rushing. He had a mistake in the red zone turn into a 101-yard pick-6 and he had a bad snap get away from him, leading to a hard hit that gave him a concussion.Tucker and Jackson were hardly alone in their misery. Mark Andrews, one of the game’s best tight ends, caught just four of the 11 passes thrown his way, dropping at least one pass that looked like a sure touchdown. He was also Jackson’s target on the play that turned into a pick-6. Only Patrick Mekari had a worse day. A second-year player out of Cal, Mekari inherited the starting center job from an ineffective Matt Skura during the regular season. On Saturday, two of Mekari’s snaps resulted in fumbles — one of which was the play in which Jackson was concussed.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Football

      NFL Playoff Predictions: Our Picks in the Divisional Round

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Playoff Predictions: Our Picks in the Divisional RoundThe A.F.C.’s young quarterbacks fight for a trip to the conference championship, while veterans, and defense, lead the way in the N.F.C.Jalen Ramsey of the Los Angeles Rams, foreground, largely nullified D.K. Metcalf of the Seattle Seahawks, lying on field, in three meetings this season. Can he neutralize Green Bay receiver Davante Adams?Credit…Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesJan. 14, 2021, 12:01 a.m. ETFew thought the Los Angeles Rams or the Cleveland Browns would get this far, and the Buffalo Bills had far more success than could be expected. The Baltimore Ravens stormed back into contention, a pair of 40-something quarterbacks will face off in New Orleans and everyone is (or should be) scared of the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The wheat has been separated from the chaff, and the divisional round will narrow things further.Here is a look at this weekend’s N.F.L. playoff matchups. Unlike in the regular season, the picks are not made against the point spread.Saturday’s GamesLos Angeles Rams at Green Bay Packers, 4:35 p.m., FoxLine: Packers -6.5 | Total: 45.5Much will be made about the relationship between Coach Sean McVay of the Rams and Coach Matt LaFleur of the Packers. LaFleur served as McVay’s offensive coordinator in 2017, and they were offensive assistants together on Washington’s staff from 2010 to 2013. They are key figures in an offensive revolution, but if you are hoping for a high-scoring affair, you might want to try another game.Green Bay led the N.F.L. in scoring thanks to a turn-the-clock-way-back season from Aaron Rodgers that has him in contention for the Most Valuable Player Award. His success came with help from the running of Aaron Jones (1,459 yards from scrimmage), the vertical threat of Marquez Valdes-Scantling (20.9 yards per reception) and the all-around brilliance of Davante Adams (115 catches, 1,374 yards and 18 touchdowns).But if there is a team designed to slow the Packers, it is the Rams.Few defenses can match the relentless pass rush of Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd, and while Rodgers does not fluster easily, the few times he has shown weakness in recent years have come when he is under consistent pressure. Complicating matters is the absence of the star left tackle David Bakhtiari, whose season ended with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Week 16.Jones could be neutralized by a Rams front seven that ranked third in the N.F.L. in run defense — yes, Donald leads the way there too. Green Bay relying on the home run threat of Valdes-Scantling is risky thanks to his propensity for dropped passes.That leaves the most intriguing matchup as the one between the shutdown cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Adams, who can make a case as the N.F.L.’s best, and most underappreciated, current receiver.“You know me, I’d like to go against anybody and have good-on-good as much as possible,” Adams said this week when asked about Ramsey.On neutral ground, and with equal health, this could add up to a Rams upset. But Green Bay fought hard to gain the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and that hard work could be the team’s saving grace. It is expected to be around 30 degrees at kickoff in Green Bay, Wis., and Rams quarterback Jared Goff is only a few weeks removed from surgery on the thumb of his throwing hand. He appeared to struggle with his grip last week, and the cold, combined with a good-enough Packers defense, should give Green Bay all the edge it needs. Pick: PackersLooking for his first playoff win against the Titans, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens took care of things himself. He led his team with 136 yards rushing last week.Credit…Wesley Hitt/Getty ImagesBaltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills, 8:15 p.m., NBCLine: Bills -2.5 | Total: 50The Ravens have not lost a game since Dec. 2. The Bills have not lost one since Nov. 15. Both have weatherproof offenses and defenses capable of game-changing plays. And both overcame some psychological weight in the wild-card round — Buffalo got its first postseason victory since the 1995 season; Lamar Jackson of the Ravens won a playoff game for the first time.There are myriad reasons to pull for both teams — and a persistent belief that either team advancing is just signing up to lose to Kansas City in the next round — but it is hard to believe that Buffalo, even at home, can slow Baltimore’s juggernaut running game.When the Ravens hit the “reset button” after a midseason lull, the team focused nearly all of its attack on the running of quarterback Lamar Jackson and running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. That led to Baltimore’s rushing for 230 or more yards in four of its final five games of the regular season, including a ludicrous 404 — the fifth-most rushing yards in N.F.L. history — in a Week 17 win over Cincinnati. That kept up in the wild-card round, with the Ravens running for 236 yards.Buffalo ranked 17th in run defense this season, but that ranking would have been worse had teams not been forced to pass to keep up with the Bills’ electric offense. That shows up in the fact that Buffalo ranked among the N.F.L.’s six worst run defenses in yards per carry (4.6) and rushing touchdowns allowed (21).The Bills’ defense has several players capable of serious disruption, but much of that comes in the secondary. On a chilly day in Orchard Park, N.Y., the Ravens could focus on running the ball, and it is hard to see the Bills being able to stop them. Buffalo’s offense can’t be counted out, even against a solid Ravens defense, but Baltimore should control the clock and the game. Pick: RavensSunday’s GamesM.J. Stewart of the Cleveland Browns made an incredible interception of a Ben Roethlisberger pass last week. It was Cleveland’s second takeaway in the first five minutes of the game.Credit…Joe Sargent/Getty ImagesCleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs, 3:05 p.m., CBSLine: Chiefs -10 | Total: 56.5For all intents and purposes, Cleveland advanced to the divisional round after slightly more than 13 minutes of its wild-card game against Pittsburgh. A playoff game has rarely gone sideways so quickly, with the Browns’ defense forcing three quick turnovers and their offense handling its end of the deal by running up a 28-0 lead with 1 minute 56 seconds left in the first quarter.The Browns’ 48-37 win should not be written off as a fluke — Cleveland has its best team since Coach Bill Belichick was roaming the sideline in the mid-1990s — but taking advantage of Ben Roethlisberger’s mistakes is a lot different from forcing Patrick Mahomes into some, so expecting a repeat of that lightning-fast start would be foolish.Kansas City might get running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire back from a scary-looking hip injury in Week 15. Even if they don’t, a combination of Le’Veon Bell and Damien Williams provides enough balance that Mahomes should be able to shred Cleveland’s secondary with deep passes to wide receiver Tyreek Hill and throws underneath to tight end Travis Kelce.Cleveland’s offense has occasionally shown some burst — last week’s effort was the franchise’s highest-scoring postseason game since the 1954 N.F.L. championship — and the Browns can chew up the clock thanks to the superb combination of running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. But even Baker Mayfield’s most ardent believers should struggle to take him in a head-to-head matchup with Mahomes. The Browns aren’t pushovers, but they probably cannot do much to stand in Kansas City’s way. Pick: ChiefsTampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints, 6:40 p.m., FoxLine: Saints -3 | Total: 52The oldest starting quarterback left in the A.F.C. playoffs is Baker Mayfield, who doesn’t turn 26 until April. Three of the four starters in that conference were first-round picks in the 2018 draft. By the time any of the four had started a game in the N.F.L., Tom Brady had already won five Super Bowls and Drew Brees was closing in on Dan Marino’s record for career passing yards.The young players have largely reimagined the quarterback position, using their mobility to empower their passing while contributing to a leaguewide scoring explosion. Yet Brady and Brees, museum-quality examples of a forgotten age of pocket passers, carry on, leading serious Super Bowl contenders in the second week of the playoffs.In truth, this game shouldn’t be defined just by its famous quarterbacks. Brees’s Saints had plenty of offense this season — running back Alvin Kamara led the N.F.L. with 21 total touchdowns — but relied just as much on the defense, which Dennis Allen, the team’s defensive coordinator, built into a powerhouse.Tampa Bay has a talented young defense as well — the support on that side of the ball undoubtedly played a role in Brady’s decision to sign there — and in recent weeks, the Buccaneers have started to truly click on offense. The team’s wealth of receiving options — wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown; tight end Rob Gronkowski — powered Brady to his best statistical season since at least 2017 and one of the best of his career.The regular-season meetings between these teams were laughable. The Saints won both, with a combined score of 72-26. And they are playing at home, which plays a role for them even if the impact is lessened by the tiny crowds that the team is allowed to host. The Buccaneers are a good enough team that they should be respected — in many ways, this feels like a tossup — but the Saints are rightly narrow favorites in what could be the most competitive game of the weekend. Pick: Saints.All times are Eastern.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More