by Ryan Meehan
The playoffs are finally here. No more Jacksonville Jaguars jokes, no more wondering what the hell happened to the Houston Texans, and no more laughing hysterically at the Atlanta Falcons. These are the bottom eight of the top twelve teams in the postseason, but that also means they were all better than twenty others…But isn’t the dark side of everything what we truly enjoy as writers? If there isn’t anything to make fun of, then we have to talk about the good things in life which nobody really wants to read. Thankfully there were some downsides to the first week of the NFL playoffs, as well as some good things. And then there were some things that were just plain wild…Hence the name and this is why…
Colts 45, Chiefs 44
Wasn’t this game just a microcosm of how the Chiefs’ entire season went? They come out of the box just and just lit up that spotty Colts’ defense, blowing them to shreds and taking a commanding 28 point lead. Then they slowly but surely let the opposition creep up on them (remind you of anything?) and take the lead at the last minute. Not only was this game a lot like their season, it was dangerously like the first meeting between these two teams…only not played in KC and much more embarrassing. But let’s be honest, the injury to Brandon Flowers broke this one open for TY Hilton and changed the way that Indianapolis called the game. That allowed Indy to change the way they were exploring the real long ball, and that’s the type of thing that you have to nail if you plan on winning a shootout.
Saints 26, Eagles 24
Where the Colts were able to escape not scoring enough early on, the Eagles were hosting the Saints in an environment where neither team was ever really in control. Even when the saints went up 20-7, you got the feeling that the outcome of this game was far from being determined. I didn’t understand a lot of Sean Payton’s play calling until the Meacham catch, which I think was the game breaker. Even though they only got a field goal out of that drive, that was the momentum shift and it changed everything. I had the Eagles winning this one easily and I thought that it could have even been a blowout so I’m a little disappointed but what can you do? Philly didn’t execute in the red zone when it really counted and certainly wasn’t the point machine that I expected them to be on this day.
Chargers 27, Bengals 10
“And the award for the weakest first-round playoff game goes to…” First of all, I don’t know why it’s so hard for Dalton to not give the ball away. I’ve been to charity raffles where they don’t auction things off like the way he was handing the ball over on Sunday. The Chargers were blitzing like crazy all game long and it got to his head. Cincinnati never had control of this one, and more importantly they couldn’t ever get a hold of themselves. AJ Green had a huge drop in 4th, but luckily for him there were so many other Bengals dropping passes I’m not even sure scouts on holiday at that game noticed. With all of the giveaways present, it’s hard to really believe that the Chargers actually won this game in majestic fashion. They aren’t nearly as good as everyone is giving them credit for, but their defense stepped up in this one LAMF. But they will get killed next week for sure.
49ers 23, Packers 20
The Niners were operating at perfect pace, while Green Bay’s play calling early was very conservative and puzzling at times. If you want to go hard, you’ve got to go for broke and that happens on third down…The Packers got robbed of a facemask call that should have been called on San Francisco, which cost them a 1st and goal at the end of the half could have sent them into the locker room up one point. When Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson are on the same page, they are the deadliest combination in the NFL. But this game was all about balance, so they simply couldn’t do that every time. It was won by Colin Kaepernick, whose 3rd and 8 rushing first down on the final drive was exactly what the doctor ordered. Now we have to start talking about him as more than a one-hit wonder – He is going to be in the playoffs a lot and win a lot of playoff games from here on out. Although neither QB put up great numbers, it’s Colin’s ability to really extend drives that makes him great. It was a little anticlimactic that the whole thing ended on a Phil Dawson field goal, but this game was going to be close no matter what so I totally get it.
Divisional Playoff Weekend
The games for next weekend will be as follows:
New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks
Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots
San Francisco 49ers at Carolina Panthers
San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos
Hope everybody is well and stop by all week for updates!!!
Once again thanks for visiting First Order Historians and enjoying more of the internet’s finest in user generated content.
Meehan
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