Things That Made Me Giddy
Matthew Stafford Is on the Postseason Board!: They didn’t need him to do a ton of heavy lifting, but Stafford was near-perfect anyway. He finished 13-for-17 for 202 yards (11.9 per attempt) and two touchdowns—of his four incompletions, three were wide-open drops.
So Is Odell Beckham Jr.!: Chemistry or not, this is what can happen if you devote a double to Cooper Kupp. Beckham had the game’s opening touchdown on a goal-line fade and added a 31-yard catch and run. And completed a 40-yard pass, because why not?
Aaron Donald: And Von Miller. And Leonard Floyd. And Greg Gaines. The Rams went out of their way to assemble the NFL's best front four, and this is what they can do in a postseason game.
DeMeco Ryans’s 0-Blitz: On fourth-and-11 at midfield. Yup, they almost got burned, but it took a superhuman play by Dak Prescott to even give the Cowboys a chance. Ryans dominated the Cowboys’ offensive coaches in this one. Early on, it was the front four taking over for the Niners, but after the Nick Bosa injury, with the pass rush drying up, Dak Prescott consistently had to work late into the down, completely uncomfortable with the looks he was getting in the secondary.
The 49ers’ Front Four: They wrecked the first half, and they might have wrecked the second half too had Nick Bosa not gone out with a concussion.
Todd Bowles Has What He Needs: The return of Lavonte David, particularly, on Sunday was just in time for the Eagles’ multi-faceted run game, and the Bucs defense is now as healthy as it’s been since the season opener. It was the defense that keyed Tampa’s Super Bowl run a year ago, and now they’re poised to do it again. Even with the injuries on offense, Tom Brady just needs to keep that side of the ball operating at a B-plus level for this team to make another run.
Josh Allen Devoured Bill Belichick’s Soul: We don’t need to rehash it (at least not this weekend), but the Patriots’ wind-swept win in Orchard Park last December birthed tens of thousands of terrible takes. The worst of them was along the lines of: . In three of their past four matchups, Bill Belichick and the Patriots have had zero answers for Josh Allen. That isn’t hyperbole; they have not come up with any kind of strategy—micro or macro—to stop this offense. Throw out the gale force game, and Allen has averaged 39.3 points in his last three against New England. The Bills didn’t punt in the past two. Belichick has never been beaten this thoroughly, and repeatedly, by one player and one team at any point in his career.
Josh Allen Out of Structure: He made the opening touchdown drive happen, with a long scramble and then a looked-much-easier-than-it-was flip to Dawson Knox in the back corner of the end zone. (I was going to write that it’s the kind of thing you don’t get from Mac Jones, but Jones delivered two of those plays on the subsequent drive!)
Kyle Shanahan’s Opening Drive: If you win the toss against the 49ers, take the ball.
Joe Burrow Is Going to Win MVPs: He’s operating the kind of offense that would normally be run by a 10-year veteran, and he’s doing it with two street-free-agent types holding down the right side of the line.
At Least Bryan Anger Showed Up!: Not just the fake-punt completion that kept the Cowboys alive, but Anger was bombing punts in this one, a 53.6 average not including the one he banked off Jerry Vision.
Cam Akers and J.J. Watt on the Field Monday night: That is science fiction.
Derek Carr Is, Actually, Underrated: The NFL is full of quarterbacks who twist into knots trying to brand themselves as disrespected or underestimated in some way. For three seasons Carr watched as his coach subtly and not-so-subtly flirted with other quarterbacks, only to outlast that coach and drag the Raiders to an incredibly unlikely playoff appearance, and within one throw of pushing that playoff appearance to overtime. Whatever the length of Jon Gruden’s contract was, Mark Davis should give Carr the same.
That Bills Offensive Line: They were pretty good in 2020. They were not very good in 2021. On Saturday night, they mauled a Patriots front that doesn’t often get mauled.
