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      Could Tampa Bay Be the New Titletown?

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.Will the Harden Trade Work Out?The N.B.A. Wanted HerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCould Tampa Bay Be the New Titletown?The success of the Buccaneers, Lightning and Rays — pro sports punch lines turned finals contestants — is a run that rivals past glory years in Boston, New York or Los Angeles.Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans waved flags and cheered as they watched their team win the N.F.C. championship game against the Green Bay Packers at a bar in St. Petersburg, Fla.Credit…Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesJan. 26, 2021, 9:31 a.m. ETTwenty-six straight losses in football. Acres of empty seats at Tropicana Field. A court order to seize the local N.H.L. team’s skates and other equipment if needed to pay a debt. Let’s just say Tampa Bay had not earned a reputation as a hub of professional sports excellence.Until now. In a purple patch to rival the best of them in Boston, New York or Los Angeles, Tampa’s three top-level men’s pro teams have all made their league’s finals over the last five months. The amazing run was capped on Sunday by Tom Brady leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a victory over the Green Bay Packers, clinching the first home stadium Super Bowl.Tampa Bay as Titletown? It just might be so.Tom Brady transformed the Buccaneers.Tom Brady helped lead the Buccaneers to an upset of the top-seeded Packers Sunday. Tampa Bay won three straight road playoff games to earn a Super Bowl berth.Credit…Dylan Buell/Getty ImagesThe Buccaneers became a symbol for futility in the N.F.L. when they debuted in 1976 and lost 26 straight games over two seasons before their first win. “I couldn’t wish that on my worst enemy,” said Richard Wood, a linebacker on those teams. Even a run to the N.F.C. championship game in the 1979 season couldn’t shake the impression for most fans that “Buccaneers” was synonymous with “futility.”And the team lived up to that reputation for some time, posting three 2-14 seasons in the mid-1980s. Since the Buccaneers’ only Super Bowl title, after the 2002 season, they have put up a two-win season (2014), a three-win season (2009) and three four-win seasons (2006, 2011, 2013). The Bucs had gone 12 seasons without a trip to the playoffs until the franchise ended that drought this year.When Brady, 43, decided to play quarterback for the team after 20 seasons in New England some assumed it would be a sinecure in the sun. Not at all. Tight end Rob Gronkowski came out of retirement to join his old teammate, and the Buccaneers also added running back Leonard Fournette to a loaded offense. A young defense looked consistently good. The signs were there for a better season.But an 11-5 regular season? Three road playoff wins, including upsets of the second-seeded New Orleans Saints and the top-seeded Green Bay Packers? A trip to the Super Bowl? Few saw that coming.The Rays had a small budget and few fans, but claimed a World Series spot.The Tampa Bay Rays upset the Houston Astros in a seven-game American League Championship Series in 2020.Credit…Orlando Ramirez/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Tampa Bay Rays started their first Major League Baseball season in 1998 as the Devil Rays. They promptly posted 10 straight seasons of 70 or fewer wins, notably finishing with a 55-106 record in 2002 that plumbed the depths of ineptitude for a modern professional sports team.Failure and the Rays seemed to go hand in hand, especially because the team’s average attendance at Tropicana Field nearly always ranked at the bottom of the league — even when the team performed well — providing bad optics for fans tuning in on TV. And the Rays worked with a much smaller budget than the behemoths of the game, making sustained contention difficult.The team emerged from its doldrums to earn an unlikely World Series trip in 2008 (their first season as merely the Rays), losing to the Phillies in five games, and it’s been pretty good in the years since.Still, the signs did not point to a return to the World Series in 2020. The Rays were 0-4 in playoff series in the 11 years between World Series appearances.But Tampa Bay beat the Yankees in the 2020 division series, then eliminated the defending American League champion Houston Astros in the A.L.C.S. As World Series underdogs again last October, they took the Dodgers to six games before falling just short of the big prize. Brandon Lowe hit 14 homers in the abbreviated 60-game season and reliever Nick Anderson had an 0.55 ERA in 19 appearances, but the team got this close to the championship mostly without stars, and continued to have one of the five lowest payrolls in the league.The Lightning put their skates and pucks to good use.Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov kissed the Stanley Cup following Tampa Bay’s finals-clinching win over the Dallas Stars. He led all players in playoff points.Credit…Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesThe Tampa Bay Lightning started slowly when it began N.H.L. play in the 1992-93 season, and hit rock bottom from 1997 to 2000 when they couldn’t manage 20 wins in an 82-game schedule even once. Financial losses and debt piled up, leading to a court order in 1998 allowing seizure of the team’s sticks, pucks, nets, uniforms and skates if the team couldn’t meet its debts. (The team paid up.)But in more recent times, the Lightning have been carrying the banner for Tampa sports, with a Stanley Cup win in 2004, and a finals loss in 2015.In the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, most figured the Lightning as a contender, and they delivered, tying for the third-highest points percentage with a 43-21-6 record and ripping through playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Boston Bruins, Islanders and finally, in September, the Stanley Cup finals against the Dallas Stars. Tampa Bay lost just six games over the four playoff series. Brayden Point led all playoff scorers with 14 goals, and defenseman Victor Hedman won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s most valuable player.Now comes a hometown Super Bowl.The Buccaneers will become the first N.F.L. team to play in a Super Bowl at their home stadium when Tampa Bay hosts the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 7.Credit…Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesThe recent success of some of the area’s pro teams, which each began as expansion-era punch lines, has raised the question: Who’s next?While Tampa has been mentioned as a possible expansion city for both the N.B.A. and M.L.S., other cities seem to be ahead in the queue.Because of coronavirus concerns in Canada, the Toronto Raptors of the N.B.A. began the 2020-21 season playing its home games in Tampa. Given the area’s current sports magic, it may be too soon to dismiss the possibility of them making a championship run.Tampa Bay’s current enchanted run of sporting success will culminate on Feb. 7 at Raymond James Stadium, when the Buccaneers will become the first N.F.L. franchise to play in a Super Bowl in its home venue. And when The Weeknd takes the stage at halftime, he’ll be performing, improbably, in what is now the sports capital of the country.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      NFL Playoffs: What We Learned From the Conference Championship

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From the N.F.L.’s Conference ChampionshipsThe Chiefs will try to defend their Super Bowl title against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers — who are playing at home.Patrick Mahomes is headed back to the Super Bowl. The 25-year-old has a chance to be the first quarterback to win the game in back-to-back years since Tom Brady did it after the 2003 and 2004 seasons.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesPublished More

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

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      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

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

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      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

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

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      #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

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      NFL Playoff Predictions: Our Picks in the Conference Championships

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      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

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      NFL Playoff Predictions: Our Picks in the Divisional Round

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      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

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      NFL Playoffs: What We Learned From the Wild Card Weekend

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From the N.F.L.’s Wild-Card WeekendLamar Jackson finally won a playoff game, Tom Brady continued to break records and Nickelodeon’s broadcast of a game for children offered a welcome distraction.Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens has rushed for more than 130 yards in two of his three career playoff games.Credit…Mark Zaleski/Associated PressJan. 10, 2021Updated 9:18 p.m. ETIt was a supersize wild-card weekend, with the N.F.L.’s expanded playoff format requiring six games, rather than four, in the first two days of the postseason. There were no surprises in the results of the first five games, but most were close enough to provide plenty of entertainment.Here’s what we learned:It is time for a new Lamar Jackson narrative. It was hard to tell if the Baltimore Ravens were a top contender or a beneficiary of one of the N.F.L.’s weakest schedules over the final five weeks of the regular season. And with consecutive seasons that each ended in a disappointing playoff loss, there were those who questioned whether Jackson’s run-heavy style could translate to postseason success. After watching Baltimore race for 236 yards on the ground in a 20-13 win on the road against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, those narratives can be retired. Baltimore won’t surprise anyone, but knowing what’s coming is a lot different from knowing how to stop it.With his first playoff win and his team’s defense playing well, Jackson should finally be able to relax. That should terrify opponents, because Jackson, who rushed for 136 yards on Sunday and 143 in last year’s playoff loss to Tennessee, already owns two of the top three playoff rushing performances by a quarterback in N.F.L. history.[embedded content]Nickelodeon should broadcast a game every week. Keeping things interesting when a heavily favored team wins easily can be hard, but a broadcast on Nick aimed at children managed to do just that. The announcers explained the game at a base level, but had entertaining insights along the way, as when the former N.F.L. player Nate Burleson described being tackled as feeling like “falling down wooden stairs.” As for the actual game, the New Orleans Saints barely broke a sweat while beating the Chicago Bears, 21-9. The only real misstep of the broadcast was a fan vote leading to Mitchell Trubisky, the losing quarterback, being named the game’s most valuable player. Over all, the innovations led to the least competitive game of the weekend being must-see TV. (Related: The writer of this article has two children.)Credit…NBCTom Brady is leaving no stone unturned. Brady, the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (that still sounds weird), already had plenty of N.F.L. records, but he broke one on Saturday that had lasted for 50 years, passing George Blanda to become the oldest player to throw a touchdown pass in a playoff game. Brady, at 43 years 159 days, threw two touchdown passes in Tampa Bay’s 31-23 win on Saturday over the Washington Football Team, and will most likely push the record further next weekend in the divisional round. As Drew Brees is the only other active quarterback in his 40s, and is potentially retiring after this season, Brady’s record — should he ever choose to stop playing — could be safe for quite some time.Brady’s triumph led to jokes on social media after an NBC graphic showed how much younger Brady looks than Blanda did in 1971 (above). But Blanda’s fans still have some bragging rights: A versatile player for the Oakland Raiders, he not only had two touchdown passes in that A.F.C. championship game against the Baltimore Colts, but he also kicked the extra point after both touchdowns and connected on a 48-yard field goal.The Los Angeles Rams were leading the Seattle Seahawks, 6-3, when Darious Williams stepped in front of a pass by Russell Wilson and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.Credit…Ted S. Warren/Associated PressThese are not the 2018 Los Angeles Rams. In the 2018 season, Coach Sean McVay used a groundbreaking offense — and a fairly mediocre defense — to lead the Rams to the Super Bowl. The script has officially been flipped, with Los Angeles going as far as its defense can take it. Facing the Seattle Seahawks, who finished eighth in the N.F.L. in scoring, Aaron Donald and the Rams’ front seven put a ton of pressure on Russell Wilson, sacking him five times in the Rams’ 30-20 victory on Saturday. The Rams also showed an aggressive streak when cornerback Darious Williams burst through a pair of Seattle players at the line of scrimmage to intercept a pass by Wilson, returning it 42 yards for a touchdown.Strong performances from the team’s defense and its rookie running back Cam Akers (28 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown) were particularly important since quarterback Jared Goff appeared limited after recent surgery on the thumb of his throwing hand.Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills are a problem for opposing teams. Buffalo’s defense might be the only thing standing in their way.Credit…Adrian Kraus/Associated PressThe Bills aren’t going to make it easy — for them or their opponents. A 27-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday gave Buffalo its first playoff win since 1995. The game managed to show off the Bills’ strengths and weaknesses. Quarterback Josh Allen (324 yards passing, 54 yards rushing, three total touchdowns) and wide receiver Stefon Diggs (128 yards receiving and a touchdown) were dominant, and safety Micah Hyde saved the day with a late pass deflection, but alarm bells should be ringing that Buffalo’s defense allowed 472 yards of total offense and nearly gave up what had been a 24-10 lead in the fourth quarter. The Bills did not have a sack or a turnover in the game, and got almost no contribution from the team’s running backs. As good as Allen and Diggs are, the rest of the team will need to step up for this run to continue.The expanded playoffs are a major time investment. As some feared, expanding the playoff field to 14 teams, from 12, led to an 8-8 squad — the Chicago Bears — qualifying for postseason play. In addition, the N.F.C. East was won by the 7-9 Washington Football Team, leaving only five of the N.F.C.’s entrants with winning records. But this year’s A.F.C. provided a good argument for the format, because it allowed the formidable 11-5 Indianapolis Colts to qualify. The conference even had a team with a winning record — the 10-6 Miami Dolphins — that did not make the playoffs.The ultimate goal of the Super Wild Card Weekend, however, was money. Games were broadcast across multiple networks and streaming platforms for more than 10 hours on both days. With the smaller in-person crowds, you could almost hear the league’s cash registers welcoming that boost in advertising revenue.The Dearly DepartedThis weekend, we said goodbye to the following teams. Each team has things it can look forward to and things it can work on heading into next season.If the Seattle Seahawks want to succeed in the playoffs, the team will need to give quarterback Russell Wilson more time to throw.Credit…Scott Eklund/Associated PressThe Seattle Seahawks12-4 | N.F.C. West championsIn the first half of the season, the Seahawks appeared to have a Super Bowl-quality offense and a high-school-level defense. While Seattle ironed out many of its defensive woes, it was Russell Wilson and the team’s offense that looked overwhelmed on Saturday — that happens a lot against the Los Angeles Rams’ underrated defense. Where does that leave the Seahawks? They need to find upgrades on the offensive line to protect Wilson and should probably go back and study the tape of the early-season games in which they seemed far more aggressive with their passing game.The Tennessee Titans11-5 | A.F.C. South championsDerrick Henry had an incredible season, rushing for 2,027 yards and becoming the first player to repeat as the N.F.L.’s rushing champion in more than a decade. A blend of his running and Ryan Tannehill’s passing led the Titans to the fourth-most points in the N.F.L. While many will focus on Henry’s disappointing effort in Sunday’s loss, Tennessee’s biggest issue this season was its defense. The easiest way to support Henry and Tannehill is to not make it imperative that they score on every drive.The Indianapolis Colts had their season end on Saturday, but rookie running back Jonathan Taylor has stepped up to become a major force for the team. Credit…Rich Barnes/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Indianapolis Colts11-5 | A.F.C. Wild CardThere were a lot of positives for the Colts this season. Some shrewd off-season moves led to the team having its best record since 2014 — and just its second playoff appearance since then. Indianapolis is unlikely to get similar turn-back-the-clock performances from quarterback Philip Rivers and cornerback Xavier Rhodes going forward, but the team’s trading for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and drafting of running back Jonathan Taylor should set the Colts up for more success next season.The Chicago Bears8-8 | N.F.C. Wild CardWhat a weird season. Chicago got off to a superficially strong start, was badly exposed by a midseason losing streak, rallied to make the playoffs and then was overwhelmed by the New Orleans Saints. A No. 7 seed being crushed by a No. 2 seed isn’t exactly an endorsement of the expanded playoff structure, but the Bears could probably be a relevant team fairly quickly provided that they admit Mitchell Trubisky is not their long-term answer at quarterback.The standout rookie Chase Young was clearly impressed with the play of quarterback Taylor Heinicke. Heinicke was the fourth quarterback to start a game for Washington this season.Credit…Brad Mills/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Washington Football Team7-9 | N.F.C. East championsLaugh all you want about the team’s record — Washington matched the 2010 Seattle Seahawks for the worst record of a playoff team in the 16-game era — but the Footballers are walking away with their heads held high and their future looking bright. The rookie defensive end Chase Young is a top-shelf disrupter and poised to lead his unit into relevance for years. On offense, the team has found its answers at running back (Antonio Gibson) and wide receiver (Terry McLaurin). And after a gutsy performance against Tampa Bay, where he impressed with his arm and his legs, Taylor Heinicke should get some serious consideration as the team’s quarterback of the future.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More