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The Best NFL Playoff Weekend…Ever?

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Wow, what a weekend of football! While we all wish the Ravens were in the playoffs, aren’t we – if we’re honest with ourselves – kinda glad we weren’t too emotionally invested in any of those football games? The first three games of the weekend were all (ALL!) decided on walk-off field goals. The Bengals, 49ers, and Rams each won on the legs of their kickers as time expired, and yet none of those were even the most dramatic games of the weekend!

After Wild Card weekend was such a dud, the NFL was completely redeemed on Divisional Weekend. Let’s check out some of the highlights.

Things started off with the AFC’s top seeded Titans hosting Cincinnati. On the home team’s first play from scrimmage, Ryan Tannehill turned and faked to Derrick Henry (back from injury), then proceeded to throw his first pass in the playoffs since one that you might remember. Just like that one, this one also went into the arms of the other team.

As time wound down though, Tannehill had the chance to redeem himself. Shocker, he didn’t.

That interception turned into a game-winning Evan McPherson field goal. As for the Titans…

Ravens fans, you’ll of course Remember the Titans…losing those other two home games as the #1 seed, in 2000 and 2008 🙂

In the nightcap, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers hosted the San Francisco 49ers in single-digit temperatures at Lambeau. Obviously this was going to be a Green Bay rout, right? Things were looking that way as the Pack marched down the field easily for a 7-0 lead on the opening possession, and looked poised to score again before A.J. Dillon fumbled. Still, the home squad was ready to take a double-digit lead into the half.

At that point, Matt LaFleur’s bugaboo, special teams, reared its ugly head for the first time.

On the next play…again.

And finally, the game’s decisive play? Once again, that Packers very special teams.

Robbie Gould was true from 45 on the frozen snowy tundra as time expired, and just like that, both top seeds were eliminated.

Sunday’s games had a lot to live up to…and they didn’t disappoint.

First, Matt Stafford and the Rams headed to Tampa to take on Touchdown Tom Brady and the Bucs, who were in search of a repeat. Things looked quite grim for those prospects, as LA went up 10-0…then 17-3…then 20-3…then 27-3, midway through the third quarter. Surely Brady, once the author of a 28-3 comeback win in a Super Bowl, didn’t have a similar miracle in him again, right? Not at this age, not against a stout Rams defense featuring Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Jalen Ramsey and others? No way…

The Rams, however, suddenly looked very Falcons-esque. Could they handle the pressure? Cam Akers fumbled at the Bucs’ 1-yard line. Cooper Kupp fumbled. The LA center did…this:

Akers fumbled AGAIN.

And just like that, Playoff Lenny scored and we had a 27-27 football game with under a minute to play in regulation. Insanity.

As we would find out in the late game though, “under a minute to play” means absolutely NOTHING to offenses in 2022. Kupp redeemed himself.

That huge gain set up a chip-shot FG as time expired, and Brady was denied another chapter in his incredible story (for now, at least.)

Yet all of that action? Just an appetizer.

As that game ended, the one most of us were most eagerly anticipating kicked off in Kansas City. The Chiefs were hosting the Buffalo Bills in what promised to be a shootout, but there was no way that game could eclipse three straight walk-off field goals, right?

Wrong. So, so wrong. KC-BUF was, simply put, perhaps the most ridiculous NFL game, let alone playoff game, that any of us have ever witnessed. The final few minutes saw more points scored than only one other game in league history, one that Ravens fans will remember particularly well. Unfortunately, the NFL’s ridiculous overtime rules are again the source of discussion today, as are some very peculiar strategic moves in the waning seconds by the losing team.

Take a deep breath, grab a drink, get comfortable, and let’s get into Bills-Chiefs.

On the first drive of the game, the Bills converted not once, but twice on fourth downs, including a fourth-and-goal from the two. Josh Allen and Pat Mahomes traded incredible plays throughout the first half, and it was a fitting 14-14 at the break. KC scored the first nine of the second half, and looked to be pulling away, but a 75-yard TD strike from Allen to Gabriel Davis ended all discussion of an easy KC win. We went from 23-14 to 23-21 to 26-21, and then…things got silly.

29-26 Bills. But with nearly two minutes to play and Mahomes only needing a FG to tie, nobody in #BillsMafia was celebrating yet.

Tyreek Hill reminded us that he’s simply unfair, and just like that, KC was back on top.

Allen still had a minute to play though. While the odds were long, things didn’t seem completely bleak – not with the way Josh had been playing all night.

And indeed, Allen would once again find Davis, his favorite target at Arrowhead, for his FOURTH TD catch of the evening, an NFL playoff record.

There were now just THIRTEEN SECONDS on the clock. That’s not enough time for even Mahomes, right? The Mafia were jumping through tables all over the planet, even as they kept one eye on the TV.

But then…oh, Mafia. Then the truly inexplicable came to pass. Sean McDermott and his staff made decisions that will go down in infamy in Bills lore. He kicked the ball deep on the ensuing kickoff, taking no time off the clock.

After several timeouts, his defense continued to play soft and give up the middle of the field for big catches-and-runs (it only took two), despite KC having plenty of timeouts, and therefore no need to use the sideline.

In just two plays, Mahomes moved the Chiefs from their own 25 into relatively easy FG territory for Harrison Butker of 48 yards.

Though he’d missed one FG and one XP already on the night, the kicker didn’t miss again, and the game went into overtime.

This is where we should take a moment to appreciate John Harbaugh, Flock. Remember in Super Bowl 47 when he had Sam Koch run around in the back of the end zone and intentionally take a safety to take key seconds off the clock. Remember a few years ago when he had the Ravens punt team tackle Bengals defenders on a punt that was never even punted as time expired to secure a victory? (The latter resulted in a rule change, but Buffalo still could have done something similar last night)

McDermott and his staff could have used some tactics like that, as Warren Sharp describes above. Instead, they did…whatever it was they did, and will go down in infamy as a result.

Speaking of the Ravens…

Remember that one? Of course you do. Jacoby Jones. Toby Gerhart. Cordarrelle Patterson. Joe Flacco. Marlon Brown. Snow!

That one ended in regulation though, and KC-BUF still had to be decided. Since this is the NFL, it was decided, basically, by a coin flip. Now, a few years ago on this same field, the Chiefs were themselves screwed over by this rule, as Tom Brady‘s Patriots won the toss, scored a TD, and Mahomes never touched the ball. In 2022, turnabout was fair play. Allen’s “tails never fails” strategy indeed failed him, and the gassed Buffalo defense, to nobody’s surprise, allowed a pretty easy Chiefs touchdown drive.

The hot takes about changing the overtime rules are of course flying today. I don’t know about any of that; what I know is that “13 seconds” would forever haunt my dreams if I was a Buffalo Bills fan. Those poor people are truly cursed. Don’t believe me?

Look at this…

My heart goes out to ya, Mafia. Nobody deserves this kind of torture.

And that’s why I said at the top that part of me is kind of glad I didn’t have a dog in any of these insane fights this weekend. I’m not sure I’d be breathing to talk about it.

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Derek Arnold
RSR/ESR Senior Editor. Derek was born and raised in the Baltimore area, and still lives here with his wife and son. He’s a graduate of UMBC and has been a lifelong Baltimore sports fan. Derek tells anybody who asks that he has the best job in the world.
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