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The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs mentioned Mahomes was evaluated for a concussion, and he didn’t return after exiting early within the second half Sunday. The Chiefs outlasted the Cleveland Browns and superior to the AFC championship sport after a roller-coaster fourth quarter by backup Chad Henne, however your entire NFL shook slightly when Mahomes trembled. The reigning Tremendous Bowl MVP suffered probably the most feared harm within the sport, and it stays to be seen whether or not he can play subsequent week.
Mahomes grew to become the second MVP to endure a head harm within the divisional spherical. Lamar Jackson didn’t play within the fourth quarter of the Baltimore Ravens’ loss to the Buffalo Bills after his head slammed towards the turf. It was an indication of progress, maybe, that each quarterbacks didn’t return and followers appeared to simply accept their absences as a matter in fact.
With or with out Mahomes, the Chiefs will host the Payments, who’re making an attempt to make their first Tremendous Bowl in a era towards the group that received it final yr. If Mahomes performs, championship weekend shall be a distinction in quarterbacks.
The AFC would function Mahomes and Josh Allen, passers aged 25 and 24 who possess excessive arm power and uncanny athleticism. The NFC could have Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, ages 43 and 37. They’re the very best quarterbacks of the previous dozen years, inarguably probably the most profitable quarterback ever and one of the vital proficient.
All 4 quarterbacks emerged after an uneven weekend. The Inexperienced Bay Packers are rolling, Drew Brees is completed, and that is what to know.
Tom Brady goes again to championship weekend. It’s tough to put Brady’s profession in context, as a result of what he has achieved is to date past any profession in NFL historical past. At 43, Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFC championship sport with a 30-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
It is going to be the 14th convention title sport Brady has performed in and his ninth in 10 years. He has received 32 playoff video games — double Joe Montana, who ranks second on that record. He got here to a franchise that had not received a playoff sport because the 2002 season and notched at the least two postseason victories. The franchise he left, which he had led to 11 straight division titles, missed the playoffs.
The Packers are rolling, particularly on offense, and scoring with them at frigid Lambeau Subject shall be a tall job. However Brady has taught us by no means to depend him out.
The tip is bitter for Drew Brees. For the previous 4 seasons, the Saints have maxed out their wage cap to construct contenders, content material to pay a monetary penalty in future years. The longer term has arrived with out the payoff they needed. The Saints received 11, 13, 13 and 12 common season video games over the previous 4 seasons. All it acquired them in the end was one look within the NFC title sport and three dwelling playoff losses.
The Saints’ unfulfilled renaissance ended with the loss to Tampa Bay that in all probability doubled as Brees’s last sport. For the second straight season, the Saints fell sufferer to Brees’s obtrusive lack of arm power. In final yr’s playoff loss, the Saints didn’t acquire greater than 18 yards until Taysom Hill touched the ball. On Sunday, the one Saints move that gained greater than 16 yards was thrown by backup Jameis Winston on a trick play. Brees merely couldn’t produce explosive performs, and it allowed Tampa Bay’s protection to cling to receivers with impunity, which led to 3 interceptions and a misplaced fumble.
Brees will go down as one of many all-time greatest, a Tremendous Bowl champion who overcame a career-threatening shoulder harm and doubts about his peak. However his résumé is way from spotless. After profitable the Tremendous Bowl, Brees went 5-7 within the playoffs and missed the postseason 4 occasions. And he by no means reached a second Tremendous Bowl, not to mention received one other.
“I’m going to present myself a possibility to consider the season and take into consideration quite a lot of issues, identical to I did final yr, and decide,” Brees mentioned throughout a video information convention after the loss. However every little thing in regards to the efficiency appeared like the tip.
Andy Reid has some guts. The boldest resolution of the playoffs sealed the Chiefs’ harrowing victory, and it got here from the league’s most aggressive coach. The Chiefs confronted fourth and inches close to midfield with a few minute left after Henne’s third-and-14 scramble fell simply quick. After they lined as much as go, particularly with Henne in shotgun, it appeared like a ruse to attract the Browns offside.
It was not. Henne rolled proper, Tyreek Hill ran a fast out, and Henne delivered a easy move that allowed the Chiefs to finish the sport in victory formation.
The play was a snapshot of how a lot in-game teaching issues. What number of coaches would have known as a move play on fourth and inches … from shotgun … with a backup quarterback … when not getting it could have meant the opponent was already in vary for a Hail Mary? Certainly, most would have punted. Reid noticed a possibility to finish the sport, and he wasn’t afraid to take it.
The explanation the Chiefs might finish the sport on that possession additionally owed to teaching. Browns Coach Kevin Stefanski entered the endgame with just one timeout as a result of he misplaced one on a no-chance problem and wasted one other making an attempt to stop a delay of sport.
Lamar Jackson has to get higher — and the Ravens need to get higher round him. The Ravens’ season ended for the second straight January in dispiriting trend, with their high-powered offense rendered inept. Jackson fell to 1-3 within the playoffs, and the blame for scoring solely three factors lands on each him and his franchise.
Jackson accomplished 14 of 24 passes for 162 yards and threw a backbreaking, 101-yard pick-six earlier than a concussion knocked him out of the sport on the ultimate play of the third quarter. He was adequate the earlier week to beat the Tennessee Titans along with his operating, and he was adequate to maintain the Ravens within the sport till the interception towards the Payments. However Jackson proper now looks as if a quarterback able to main superb common season groups however not nice January groups.
That doesn’t make Jackson distinctive — Brees went 2-3 in playoff video games over the identical span, for what it’s price — and it doesn’t imply he can’t change into a Tremendous Bowl-caliber quarterback. In his present state, it’s laborious to check Jackson beating three good-to-excellent groups in a row.
However the Ravens want to assist him within the passing sport. Their receivers don’t scare anybody, and as Jeff Zrebiec of the Athletic famous, the Ravens’ route ideas may be stale and predictable. Baltimore is a well-run franchise that has steps it should take to change into a Tremendous Bowl-caliber group.
The Packers have a championship-level offensive line. The Packers’ 32-18 victory over the Los Angeles Rams was a clinic in offensive effectivity and execution. Rodgers handed for 296 yards, and the Packers racked up 188 dashing yards whereas gaining 28 first downs and scoring on six of their 9 possessions towards the top-ranked protection within the NFL.
On the coronary heart of the efficiency was Inexperienced Bay’s offensive line, even taking part in with out injured left sort out David Bakhtiari, probably the greatest linemen within the NFL. Billy Turner crammed in capably for Bakhtiari. All-pro middle Corey Linsley and second-year guard Elgton Jenkins dealt with Aaron Donald, who within the first half grew so pissed off he drew a 15-yard penalty for grabbing Jenkins’s face masks after the whistle.
The Rams didn’t sack Rodgers and hit him solely as soon as. He described his blockers as “stellar” and known as them the “stars of the sport.” The Packers could have one other problem subsequent week towards Ndamukong Suh, Jason Pierre-Paul and Todd Bowles’s aggressive scheme.
Eric Bieniemy won’t get a head teaching job. Bieniemy, the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, gave the impression to be the slam-dunk candidate of this hiring cycle. He’s a Tremendous Bowl offensive coordinator who apprenticed below Reid, one of the most reliable mentors of head coaches within the NFL. He had interviewed for at the least eight vacancies over the previous two years. He was achieved, and he was prepared.
And but, a number of plugged-in reporters have gotten the sense that Bieniemy shall be handed over once more. 5 of the seven openings have been crammed, together with the Detroit Lions’ hiring of Saints tight ends coach Dan Campbell and the Los Angeles Chargers’ alternative of Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley.
The truth that Kansas Metropolis stays within the playoffs is a reliable hurdle as a result of it impacts interview schedules, and the NFL ought to do extra to deal with how profitable within the playoffs hurts aspiring head coaches. However any concept that Bieniemy will not be certified, or overqualified, is absurd.
Bieniemy’s plight reminds of a narrative Tony Dungy advised final yr, when requested if he was shocked Bieniemy had not but landed a job.
“I’m not shocked, as a result of I’ve seen it earlier than,” Dungy mentioned late within the 2019 common season. “This performed out 20 years in the past with Mike Holmgren. Inexperienced Bay was profitable, and Mike was growing these nice offenses, and so they’ve acquired Brett Favre. All people that went by way of that place — Andy Reid, [Steve] Mariucci, Mike’s the pinnacle coach, he’s calling the performs, but it surely’s an ideal system. All people needs that. Mariucci will get a job. Andy will get a job.
“Sherman Lewis is the subsequent in line. They’d the identical kind of success, and Sherman doesn’t get a job. And why is that? He’s doing the identical job that Steve did and the identical job that Andy did. However then on the subject of Sherman Lewis, ‘Nicely, Mike Holmgren actually calls the performs, and it’s his offense; we’re actually in search of any person who calls the performs.’ Type of the identical factor occurred to Eric final yr. It ought to be a pure development — ‘Okay, we’re in search of younger, dynamic guys. Right here’s a man who’s been on this system. Let me at the least speak to him.’ It appears slower to occur for the African American guys.”
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