Divisional Round Afterword, Part I

Tom Brady broke Joe Montana's record for postseason touchdown
passes with the 46th of his career Saturday evening against Baltimore.

Cory Puffett

Baltimore at New England

Joe Flacco continued his playoff hot streak by throwing two touchdown passes in the first quarter Saturday evening. After the Patriots erased the 14-point deficit, Flacco hooked up with Owen Daniels for his third touchdown pass of the game with ten seconds left in the first half.

The Patriots would not lose a home playoff game to the Ravens for the third time in the last five years, though. They let the Ravens build their lead back to 14 early in the second half but again erased that deficit.

Flacco had played a mostly perfect game, but with less than two minutes to play and trailing by four, he made a very poor throw and Duron Harmon made the interception.

The Ravens did get one last shot at the end zone with four seconds left, but Flacco’s Hail Mary was not answered.

The Patriots are the first team in NFL history to twice trail by 14 points and still win a playoff game.

With a win to clinch a Super Bowl birth next week, Bill Belichick would break Tom Landry’s record for postseason wins by a head coach. He’ll be watching tomorrow’s Denver/Indianapolis game to prepare for that opportunity.

Doug Baldwin was the first of four Seahawks to reach the end zone
Sunday night in a 31-17 divisional round win over the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina at Seattle

The late game was an endurance race for the ages. A great defensive battle took center stage in the first quarter half as Carolina’s defense did an excellent job of conserving their energy by getting off the field quickly by the Seahawks, as usual, used their home crowd to help them do the same.

The Seahawks got on the scoreboard first and the two teams exchanged blows on the way to a 14-10 Seattle lead at halftime.

Both defenses used the break to rest again and the third quarter brought no scoring as neither team could break through until a 12-play drive by the Seahawks at the end of the quarter led to a field goal at the start of the fourth.

Seattle won the enduring race as Carolina’s defense finally wore down. A 90-yard interception return by Kam Chancellor with six minutes left put the nail in the Panthers’ coffin.

Kelvin Benjamin had a very impressive day against the legion of boom, catching 7 passes for 75 yards and two scores. Overall, Carolina played a very good game. Despite the margin of victory, they were not an easy team to put away for the defending Super Bowl champions.

Seattle will host the winner of Sunday’s game between the Cowboys and Packers next Sunday.

Wild Card Afterword, Part I

Luke Kuechly's fourth quarter interception sealed Carolina's
first playoff win since January 2006.

Cory Puffett

Arizona at Carolina

Cam Newton praised his defense following Carolina’s victory to open wild card weekend. Newton played a solid game, but he was absolutely right to give credit for the win to his defense.

Sure Ryan Lindley was the opposing quarterback, and sure Andre Ellington couldn’t play Saturday afternoon; but even with that handicap, it’s amazing that Carolina’s defense allowed just 78 yards of total offense to Arizona. That was a team that started the season 9-1 and has offensive guru Bruce Arians at the helm.

I picked Carolina to win and was very close to picking the correct final score (Arizona scored an extra three points), but I had no premonitions of their defense manhandling the Cardinals offense the way they did. Arizona’s two touchdown drives, and I use that term loosely, were a combined 10 plays for 47 yards consuming 4:19 of game time.

Luke Kuechly played a masterful game with 10 tackles, 2 pass deflections and an interception. Carolina may have lifted their season record to just .500, but the defense makes this a dangerous team whether they have to play in Seattle or Green Bay next week.

It didn't matter how much pressure Pittsburgh brought, Joe Flacco shrugged
it off to deliver a terrific performance Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

The later game was as exciting as we’ve come to expect from the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, unlike their last regular season meeting when Ben Roethlisberger tossed six touchdown passes for the second consecutive game.

I survived the 2013 postseason, so I pray I can do it again this year because Ravens fans are about to get very obnoxious. They’ll have to go into New England next weekend, but John Harbaugh has coached the Ravens to playoff victories there before and the team has plenty of reason to believe he can do so again.

Harbaugh first led the Ravens to a postseason win in New England in 2009, thanks in part to Ray Rice setting the tone with an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Three years later, the Ravens went into Denver to beat Peyton Manning in his first season back from injury and then won in New England a week later en route to the team’s first Super Bowl victory since 2000.

The Ravens twice lost playoff games in Pittsburgh during Harbaugh’s first five years with the team, but they returned to the Steel City with a vengeance on Saturday. They didn’t blow the Steelers off of Heinz Field, but they sure came close to it.

Justin Forsett had been inconsistent over the last quarter of the season, but the team hoped he could duplicate his 119-yard performance from last week against Cleveland. That wasn’t the case as he lost a fumble and only managed 36 yards in the contest.

Fortunately for the Ravens, their defense played great and Joe Flacco continued his playoff hot streak. The 7th-year pro out of Delaware has 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in his last five playoff starts and had a terrific game Saturday in Pittsburgh.

It’s too early to make predictions for the divisional round, but it’s safe to say I’m going to be wrestling with Ravens vs. Patriots all week as I try to make sense of that matchup and find a definitive reason to pick either team to win that game.

Puff’s Picks, 2015 Wild Card

Happy New Year, everyone! Thursday evening I watched the first ever college football playoffs. The first game was more than a little disappointing. I was pulling for Jameis Winston and the Seminoles, but the main disappointment was with how poorly Florida State played in the second half. They didn’t even put up a fight.

Thankfully, the late game offered much more excitement. I generally can’t stand college football, and the touchdown catch for OSU at the end of the first half annoyed me more than a little (seriously, NCAA, you only need one foot in bounds? Is this grade school?). But it was a fun game and it’s nice to see four teams get to compete for the chance to play in the national championship game.

Now it’s time for the real tournament to begin, the professional one. The clock doesn’t stop for a first down and you better get that second foot down in bounds.

Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers

Saturday, January 3, 4:35pm – ESPN

Someone had to win the NFC South. The Panthers finally emerged from a pack of teams that didn’t seem to want to play in January and earned a playoff birth with a four-game winning streak to end the season.

Whether the Panthers earned the right to host a playoff game is another matter. Maybe in 2016 they wouldn’t be hosting, but this year they are. The Arizona Cardinals are a depleted bunch with their first- and second-string quarterbacks both injured. They do not have Andre Ellington available.

If there is any good news for the Cardinals, it’s that most of the defensive players who appeared on their injury report have been able to practice in some capacity this week.

Sadly for them, I don’t think that will be enough. The Arizona offense doesn’t bother me at all if I’m Carolina, and the Panther offense has hit their stride lately, despite Kelvin Benjamin have some trouble catching the ball lately.

I hate to pick against Bruce Arians, I think he’s one of the best head coaches in the NFL right now. But I don’t think Arizona is healthy enough to pull out this game on the road.

 Puff’s Pick: Panthers over Cardinals, 27-13

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

Saturday, January 3, 8:15pm – NBC

As much as Ravens fans annoy me and I’m not thrilled that their team made the playoffs, I am thrilled that we get a third matchup between these two teams this season. This is my favorite rivalry in the NFL.

The only disappointing thing about this weekend’s matchup is that the two teams aren’t at full strength. The Ravens will be without starting left tackle Eugene Monroe as well as rookie defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan.

The Steelers are lucky to have most of the players on their injury report listed as probably. The one exception is second year running back Le’Veon Bell, who recorded the second most rushing yards in the NFL this year behind DeMarco Murray. Bell was also the only player in the top 15 for rushing yards this season without a fumble and had the most receiving yards in the NFL from the running back position.

Early in the week, when Bell’s status was still unknown, I was leaning heavily toward Pittsburgh winning this game. The Ravens have been inconsistent, even as Joe Flacco has quietly put together the second-best season of his career. Then again, the Steelers have had some inconsistencies themselves.

Pittsburgh is playing at home, but given Bell’s status and unknown quality of depth at the running back position I have to give the nod to the Ravens this weekend.

Puff’s Pick: Ravens over Steelers, 24-23

Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts

Sunday, January 4, 1:05pm – CBS

This might be my least-anticipated game of the weekend. The Bengals have yet to win a playoff game under Marvin Lewis and the Colts have not impressed lately. Their near-shutout loss to Dallas in week 16 aside, Andrew Luck has been turning the ball over a lot lately.

To be fair, Luck had been turning the ball over a lot all season. He has only recorded three turnover-free games all year, and he three seven interceptions in two playoff games a year ago. But early this season and even last postseason he made up for the turnovers by racking up tons of passing yards and a slew of touchdown passes. He led the NFL with 40 of them this season.

He hasn’t kept up that trend in the past few weeks, though, and so I expect this to be an ugly game with neither team truly winning it. It’ll come down to which team does more to lose it.

The good news for the Colts is that they’re playing at home and are much healthier than the Bengals. With A.J. Green doubtful and two other wide receivers out, Cincinnati may have to rely solely on Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard on offense. That won’t be enough, even if Cincy’s defense forces a few mistakes by Luck.

Puff’s Pick: Colts over Bengals, 20-14

Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys

Sunday, January 4, 4:40pm – FOX

The Lions are very lucky that Ndamukong Suh’s suspension was overturned and he will be permitted to play this Sunday. I understand the decision, though I certainly don’t agree with it.

I don’t think it will mean much, though. The Lions offensive unit is equipped with more talent than they’ve ever had. Their rookie tight end is a little shaky, but Joique Bell and Reggie Bush are excellent runners with a solid backup in Theo Riddick. Meanwhile, Golden Tate has finally given the team the viable second receiver they’ve needed to keep defenses honest rather than letting them focus their entire secondary on Megatron.

Yet this offense has failed to gel on a consistent basis. They looked great in their season opener against the Giants, but they’ve only shown flashes of that since.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys avenged their home loss to the Redskins with a huge win in week 17. Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray both throughout and came out uninjured and looking terrific. Any concerns about Murray’s hand were put to rest.

Even the talent on Detroit’s defense will not be enough to stop Dallas, and I have no problem saying that the Cowboys will shut down Detroit’s offense for the majority of the game.

Puff’s Pick: Cowboys over Lions, 30-17

Sunday Football Afterword: Bengals vs Ravens

Andy Dalton had a rough game, but he set franchise records for
passing yards and touchdowns this season while helping lead
Cincinnati to a third playoff birth in his three NFL seasons.

Cory Puffett

After five straight playoff appearances, the Ravens follow in the footsteps of the 2006 and 2009 Steelers and last year’s Giants as recent Super Bowl championship to miss the following postseason.

Baltimore had a chance to clinch a playoff birth on Sunday with a win and either a Miami or San Diego loss. They also could have made the playoffs with a loss in Cincinnati but that would require too much help.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who started the season 0-4, finish 2^nd in the AFC North, just ahead of the Ravens who fell to third with their loss.

A relatively high scoring game, Sunday’s AFC North matchup was sloppy. Neither team lost a fumble, but there were seven total turnovers. Andy Dalton threw four interceptions and Joe Flacco threw three. One of Flacco’s was returned for a touchdown.

Dalton’s first three picks turned into field goals for Baltimore. The fourth was answered with Flacco’s second interception of the game. Flacco’s third was returned for a clinching touchdown.

Cincinnati will finish no lower than third in playoff seeding and could clinch a first round bye if New England loses to Buffalo in their late-afternoon game.

Baltimore’s defense did everything it could to keep their offense in the game and helped take a 17-17, tie game into the fourth quarter. But when your running backs average just 3.4 yards per carry and your quarterback averages just 3.8 yards per attempt (6.4 per completion), you’re bound to let it slip down the stretch.

The Bengals scored at least 34 points in six of eight home games this season, despite never scoring more than 27 on the road, and finish the season undefeated at Paul Brown stadium.

Final Score:

Baltimore Ravens – 17

Cincinnati Bengals – 34

Sunday Football Afterword: Ravens vs Patriots

Shane Vereen wasn't a mainstay in the Patriots' gameplan, he only had
three offensive touches, but one was this four-yard touchdown reception.

Cory Puffett

In lieu of bashing the Ravens, which they absolutely deserve, I’d rather focus on the Patriots and how well they played on rainy day in Maryland.

Tom Brady only threw for 172 yards and a touchdown on 14/26 passing, but that’s because New England came in with a game plan that involved more running and less passing. This is exactly what they’ve always needed to do when big targets like Gronkowski aren’t available. Unfortunately, it hasn’t always been what they’ve done.

Today that’s just what they did and LeGarrette Blount and Stevan Ridley had really nice games, rushing for 76 and 54 yards respectively. Blount also had two touchdowns.

New England defense also played very well, giving an injured Joe Flacco trouble and picking off two of his passes. The Patriots also had a fumble return touchdown and then a pick-6 off Tyrod Taylor in the game’s final minutes.

The victory puts New England in a position to clinch a first-round bye with a win, and maybe even the AFC #1 seed if Oakland manages to beat Denver, next week.

Baltimore will be in a tough position next week. Though they hold the tiebreaker over San Diego, Miami has a better in-conference winning percentage and hold that tiebreaker. And the AFC North is no longer in play as their loss to New England gave that to Cincinnati.

So Baltimore has to win in Cincy next week (the Bengals are 7-0 at home this season) and they need Miami to lose to the Jets (which looks more likely now, after a terrible game for them against Buffalo and a pretty good game for the Jets today). That should make for a pretty interesting Week 17 for the AFC playoff picture.

Final Score:

New England Patriots – 41

Baltimore Ravens – 7

Monday Football Afterword: Lions vs Ravens

The Ravens continued to focus on the passing game in Detroit, but
Ray Rice still gained 56 yards on just 12 carries in Baltimore's win.

Cory Puffett

Matthew Stafford has hit a bit of a rough stretch. He’s thrown 13 interceptions in the last seven games. Monday night was his fourth multi-interception game in that stretch. To put in perspective, he had just four interceptions and no multi-pick games in the Lions’ first seven games of the season.

But last night wasn’t just about Stafford playing poorly. Calvin Johnson’s stat line is respectable on first look – six catches for 98 yards. But just six catches on 14 targets isn’t so hot. He had two very unusual drops in the first half and another play on the sideline where he could have gotten his feet down but didn’t. Sure he’s hurt, but he’s been playing well through this injury all season.

Detroit’s defense struggled to stay disciplined, getting called for eight penalties for 89 yards, including a big one on 3^rd & long when they were called for unnecessary roughness on Ravens receiver Marlon Brown, allowing Baltimore to move into position for a 32-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.

Of course, even if the Lions hadn’t been penalized on that play, it may have just been a second 61-yarder for Tucker.

The Ravens kicker was the player of the game, no doubt. He converted all six of his field goal attempts including a 61-yard game winner with 38 seconds to play. The Lions had scored a touchdown on their previous drive but failed to convert their 2-point try, which would have made this a game-tying kick. Instead, Tucker drove the ball just inside the right upright.

On Detroit’s final drive, Stafford threw his third interception of the night, this one to Matt Elam who made headlines earlier in the week when he questioned Calvin Johnson’s physical ability.

The Lions have failed to take advantage of their NFC North rivals’ lack of consistency at the quarterback position and right now are behind both the Bears and the Packers. They’ve lost four of five and though their last two games are both against very weak opponents, nothing is guaranteed with this team.

The Ravens are still in the fight for the AFC North. It won’t be easy. They have to win out to do so. They host New England next week and then they play at Cincinnati, who is 6-0 at home, in Week 17. But their win on Monday also put them back in control of the AFC #6 seed over Miami.

Final Score:

Baltimore Ravens – 18

Detroit Lions – 16

Sunday Football Afterword: Ravens vs Vikings

Joe Flacco threw three picks on a snowy day in Baltimore. But he
also threw three touchdowns, including a game-winner to Marlon Brown.

Sean Kennedy

Frozen fields and snow was the theme of Sunday’s game. What started as a gritty, low-scoring game turned into a track meet in the 4^th quarter.

The Ravens looked good early, capitalizing on a Minnesota turnover to strike first. Joe Flacco had a nice run in the first quarter, juking two defenders and rushing down to the 3-yard line, setting up the Ravens’ first score.

Adrian Peterson went down with an ankle injury early in the game. Toby Gerhart took over and had some monster runs late in the game.

Other than a few field goals by the Vikings, nothing much happened except a lot of punting until the 4^th quarter started.

An astounding 42 points were scored in the last quarter with most of them coming inside of the 2-minute warning. From then it became a nail-biting slug fest that featured an assortment of big plays and return touchdowns, one after another.

A controversial pass interference call kept the Ravens’ last drive alive and they were able to score with four seconds left in the game to put it away.

The win keeps the Ravens’ playoff hopes alive at 7-6 and keeps them as the top contender for the 6^th seed in the playoffs.

Final Score:

Minnesota Vikings – 26

Baltimore Ravens – 29