Category: 2021 NFL Postseason

Joe Burrow’s next challenge? Avoiding Dan Marino’s fate

Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals fell short in Super Bowl LVI. Here is how he and the Bengals can avoid a fate suffered by Dan Marino.

In some ways, the road Joe Burrow traveled to the Super Bowl began in the wake of a brutal hit that left him on the turf at the Fiesta Bowl, struggling to catch his breath.

The setting was the Fiesta Bowl between LSU and Central Florida, at the end of the 2018 college football season. The Tigers trailed 7-3 in the first quarter, but Burrow had LSU on the move. Facing a 3rd and 8, Burrow dropped to throw, but his pass found defensive back Brandon Moore, and was returned for a touchdown to give the Knights a 14-3 lead.

What sent Burrow to the turf? This hit from defensive lineman Joey Connors:

The Tigers now stared at a 14-3 deficit, and their quarterback was trying to get his bearings.

“The only thing I am going to say about it is, the only reason I didn’t get up in one second was because I got the wind knocked out of me,” said Burrow after the game. “I would have got up immediately if that didn’t happen.”

Burrow eventually did get up, and after that interception, he and the Tigers stormed back. Burrow and LSU would score the next 21 points, with the quarterback throwing three touchdown passes, and the Tigers eventually won the game, by a final score of 40-32.

The quarterback finished the contest having completed 21 of 34 passes for 394 yards, four touchdowns and the sole interception. But that interception perhaps taught Burrow a lesson. That in the wake of a mistake — even one that left you struggling to breathe — there could be redemption on the other side.

Prior to the interception, Burrow had completed just two of six passes. But after the turnover, and the hit? The quarterback caught fire, completing 19 of 28 passing attempts for the four touchdowns.

After the game, Burrow shared some of this thoughts. On the interception and the hit itself? “I didn’t really think about the hit too much after I got up. It hurt for a second, then I got right up and went on to the next play.”

On what leadership at the quarterback position entails? “It’s very important from leaders to exude toughness throughout the entire game and it doesn’t start in the season, it starts in the weight room in the offseason and if your best leaders aren’t your best workers then you’re not going to be a very good football team.”

On what the win could mean for the Tigers the following season? “It gives us a lot of momentum going into next year. I think we can be really special. think we can do some great things as long as we keep our foot on the gas pedal and keep working.”

You know how that story ends. With Burrow, cigar in hand in the bowels of Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, having led the Tigers to a 15-0 season and a National Championship. That Fiesta Bowl, specifically that hit, would be arguably the final low point of his college football career.

Fast forward to tonight. After seeing his rookie season cut short due to a knee injury, Burrow and the Bengals reached a Super Bowl in just his second season in the league. But they fell short, instead watching Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams hold the Lombardi Trophy aloft at SoFi Stadium.

Here is how Burrow and the Bengals can finish the job next season, and avoid a fate another quarterback suffered decades ago: Dan Marino. After Marino and the Dolphins reached Super Bowl XIX, falling short to Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers, many believed Marino would get another shot at a title. Maybe even multiple chances at a Super Bowl ring.

He never returned to the big game.

Here is how Burrow can avoid that fate.

Matthew Stafford reaches the top of the football world

After over a decade in the NFL, Matthew Stafford finally has a Super Bowl title. On reaching the mountaintop and the lessons the league might apply this offseason.

Just over a year ago, then-Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was doing what many NFL players and their families do in the off-season. He was vacationing in Mexico, recovering after another tough football season. Stafford was just one of a few different NFL personalities enjoying some rest and relaxation in Cabo San Lucas. Others who were in town included New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, and one more NFL head coach.

Sean McVay.

McVay and Stafford had a run-in early in the trip, spurred on by another member of the Rams who was in town, left tackle Andrew Whitworth:

Over drinks, they chatted for more than an hour. McVay asked Stafford about one of the memorable clutch moments of his career, in October of 2016, when he threw a touchdown pass in the final seconds to beat Washington, for whom McVay was the offensive coordinator. Stafford instantly recalled the sequence. Down 17-13, 1:05 left, 75 yards to go, three timeouts. First play, Stafford dropped back, moved left and winged it sidearm, off the wrong foot and over the middle — a throw exclusive to the great arms — to Marvin Jones crossing the opposite way for 23 yards. Next play: Stafford ran up the middle for 14. Then he hit Andre Roberts over the middle for 20. Two plays later, 22 seconds left, Stafford found the soft spot against Washington’s single-high buzz coverage — where the defense shows Cover 2 and brings one of the safeties down to cover short routes — and hit Anquan Boldin on a seam route for six.

“Broke my heart,” McVay says now. But that day, at the pool, it also impressed him. Not only that Stafford had pulled off the drive — but also that he remembered it perfectly five years later, and after a few cocktails. It was a glimpse of a vast “inventory,” McVay says, knowledge earned from reps and scars and most of all, from surviving more than a decade in a ruthless league.

The trade came together quickly. McVay spent some of his precious hours of vacation studying film of Stafford, and in just two days the deal was done.

Why did McVay feel the need to make the move? There were a few factors. “McVay realized that Stafford had in abundance what he needed at quarterback: the ability to fix plays, to correct problems in split seconds — maybe a function of witnessing disasters in Detroit, maybe part of his natural skill set — with pocket movement, with eyes, with arm angles.”

In football, seconds, even split seconds, matter a great deal. Perhaps no coach knew that better than McVay. After a few seasons with Jared Goff at the helm, McVay had learned the limits of his offense in Goff’s hands, and how hesitation can be a deathblow for Super Bowl dreams. Recall perhaps the most critical play of Super Bowl LIII, when Goff had an opportunity to hit Brandin Cooks in the back of the end zone.

Goff hesitated, backside cornerback Jason McCourty did not, and the rest is football history.

Armed with a chance to acquire a quarterback who, in a critical moment, would not hesitate, McVay jumped at the chance. Sure, the price would be steep, but the payoff could be huge.

As in, Super Bowl Champions huge.

It was not perfect, and there were mistakes along the way that perhaps are reflective of his career. But for the rest of his life the words Super Bowl champion will be attached to Stafford’s name.

Here is a look at how Stafford delivered for McVay and the Rams, highlighting how those traits that McVay traded for proved huge during the final game of the season.

 

Super Bowl LVI: The official Touchdown Wire predictions

The writers of Touchdown Wire go on record with their predictions for Super Bowl LVI.

Super Bowl LVI is nearly upon us. Doug Farrar, Laurie Fitzpatrick and Mark Schofield have watched all the film humanly possible, the game has been broken down from every potential angle, and it is time to our experts to plant their flags.

Here are the official Touchdown Wire predictions for Super Bowl LVI. From key matchups, the battle on the ground, how each team can win, who will win, and more.

 

Three things to watch for when the Bengals have the ball in Super Bowl LVI

Three questions that will need to be answered when the Bengals have the football during Super Bowl LVI.

Super Bowl week is fully upon us. Super Bowl “Opening Night” is in the rear-view mirror, the Cincinnati Bengals held their send off rally at Paul Brown Stadium complete with tight end C.J. Uzomah taking off a knee brace to the delight of fans, and now the team is on the ground in Los Angeles.

Let the over-analysis begin.

By the time the week ends, analysts like myself will have talked ourselves into believing that a little-used reserve tight end could be the key to football immortality for either team.

And that right there is what makes the two week buildup to the Super Bowl so much fun.

When the Bengals have the football during Super Bowl LVI, here are three things to watch for as they take on the Los Angeles Rams defense.

Three things to watch for when the Rams have the ball in Super Bowl LVI

Three questions that will need to be answered when the Rams have the football during Super Bowl LVI.

Super Bowl week is fully upon us. Super Bowl “Opening Night” is in the rear-view mirror, the Cincinnati Bengals held their send off rally at Paul Brown Stadium complete with tight end C.J. Uzomah taking off a knee brace to the delight of fans, and now the team is on the ground in Los Angeles getting ready to take on the Los Angeles Rams.

Let the over-analysis begin.

By the time the week ends, analysts like myself will have talked ourselves into believing that a little-used reserve tight end could be the key to football immortality for either team.

And that right there is what makes the two week buildup to the Super Bowl so much fun.

When the Rams have the football during Super Bowl LVI, here are three things to watch for as they take on the Cincinnati Bengals defense.

How Matthew Stafford gives the Rams the chance to beat the final boss

The Los Angeles Rams face their final boss on Sunday night in the Cincinnati Bengals. Here is why Matthew Stafford might be the leveling up they needed to get over the top.

Every video game player knows the concept of the final boss.

After hours spent griding through different maps and leveling up your skill-set, you end off in a staredown against the toughest challenge the game can put in front of you.

Super Bowls are often football’s version of the final boss. The toughest task a team faces to date. For the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI, they might face such a boss in the form of Lou Anarumo’s defense. A unit that turned the AFC Championship game around and, in the process, turned the football world on its head.

The challenges the Rams face Sunday from this group, however, might be the reason they made a decision last winter to trade for Matthew Stafford.

As some argued at the time, including this author, a reason for the move came down to one word. Decisiveness. Where Jared Goff would be hesitant at times in the pocket — perhaps costing the Rams a shot at beating a final boss in Bill Belichick in Super Bowl LIII — Stafford is anything but.

With what the Bengals do on defense, from rotations in the secondary to dropping seven and eight into coverage, Sean McVay will need Stafford to be at his most decisive during Super Bowl LVI.

How the Bengals forced the two biggest sacks of their season

The Kansas City Chiefs seemed on the verge of winning the AFC Championship. But Sam Hubbard and the Bengals defense had other ideas.

With under two minutes left in the AFC Championship game, it seemed the ending was inevitable. The Kansas City Chiefs, after letting a 21-3 lead slip away, faced a 2nd and goal from the Cincinnati Bengals’ four-yard line, trailing by three points. Patrick Mahomes and company would surely find a way to get into the end zone, booking a date in Los Angeles for Super Bowl LVI.

Someone forgot to tell the Bengals their role in this play.

Instead of reaching the end zone, the Chiefs were forced to settle for a game-tying field goal. While they managed to convert that and push the Bengals to overtime, in the extra frame Mahomes threw an interception on the first possession, giving Cincinnati a chance to book their own ticket to the west coast.

How did the Bengals force the Chiefs to settle for three? By delivering their two biggest sacks of the season.

The first came on second down, with Kansas City needing just four yards to take the lead. They line up with Mahomes in the shotgun in a condensed 2×2 formation:

Everything about this play, from the formation to the personnel and even the situation, screams running play. The Bengals are out of timeouts, and Kansas City does not want to leave too much time for Joe Burrow, so running the football might be on the table. The condensed formation, coupled with the fact that Blake Bell is in the game at tight end and not Travis Kelce, helps sell that idea.

Instead, the Chiefs look to throw, working off play-action:

Mahomes looks to the left side first, where he has Tyreek Hill running the spot route from the outside while Mecole Hardman runs the flat route from the inside alignment. But his primary option, Hill, is erased due to incredible press coverage from Chidobe Awuzie, who sticks to the receiver and does not let him get away from his clutches. That sets in motion the first of two huge sacks from Sam Hubbard:

Mahomes looks first to Hill, but with Awuzie locking him up, he brings his eyes late to Hardman in the flat, but with Mike Hilton lurking, he does not make the throw. Instead, he tries to escape the pocket to the left, but that is when D.J. Reader disengages from left guard Joe Thuney to the outside, and the big defensive tackle is quick enough to cut off Mahomes’ path to the edge.

As this is playing out, Hubbard is doing some disengaging of his own, separating from left tackle Orlando Brown. As Mahomes reverses field, Hubbard tracks him down, looping to the quarterback and tripping him up for the sack.

Third down.

With the Bengals out of timeouts, the clock continued to roll, and the next play would begin with under 40 seconds left in the game. Now facing a 3rd and goal from the nine-yard line, the Chiefs are looking to throw out of this formation, now with Kelce back in the game:

They isolate Hill on the left, and put Kelce as the middle receiver to the trips formation on the right. Here is the route concept they dial up:

Kansas City tries to get everything flowing to the left side, from the post-corner route from Hill to the three routes coming from the trips side of the formation.

Now, the bigger question is this: How do the Bengals and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo play the biggest snap of the season?

By doing what they turned to in the second half of the game. Rushing three and dropping eight:

The critical component to this is Hubbard, highlighted here:

Hubbard is going to spy Mahomes, dropping to about the five-yard line and mirroring the quarterback in the pocket. Mahomes takes the snap and looks first to the left side of the field, before coming to the three routes breaking in his direction from the right. But there is nowhere to go with the football…and Hubbard is lying in wait:

That is when Mahomes tries to slide to his right to make something happen, and Hubbard, seeing a path open up, decides to pounce:

Hubbard explodes downhill, crashing into the quarterback and jarring the football loose. Only a quick reaction from Mahomes prevents the Bengals from recovering the loose football and ending the game right there.

Kansas City managed to convert the field goal to force overtime, but Mahomes would throw an interception and the Bengals would get their chance, and punch their ticket.

Some might look to how Mahomes handled these two plays and wonder if he could have done things differently, and there is certainly room for such discussion. But on these two snaps, the biggest of the season for the Bengals defense, they stepped up. Whether it was Awuzie erasing Hill on the first play or Reeder cutting off Mahomes, or the effort from Hubbard on both in combination with a drop coverage call from Anarumo, Cincinnati’s defense stepped up, and set the stage for a climactic win in overtime.

Twitter reacts to the CBS halftime audio debacle

Thanks to the placement of some speakers and a performance from Walker Hayes, the CBS halftime show drew reaction on Twitter.

The production team for CBS Sports has struggled a little bit during the AFC Championship game, particularly on the audio side of things. It began during the National Anthem, as Ashanti tried to deliver the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Those watching on CBS could only hear portions of her performance.

However, the crowd at Arrowhead Stadium had her back during the song, and the microphones were able to pick up the crowd’s backup vocals:

Then there was the halftime show.

While fans at home were trying to listen to the analysis from Boomer Esiason, Phil Simms, Nate Burleson, Bill Cowher and James Brown, the halftime performance was going on from Walker Hayes.

And it was nearly impossible for anyone to hear what was going on, including the analysts, thanks to the positioning of the speakers:

Twitter, of course, was ready with the reactions.

 

Mahomes Magic provides a pair of early Chiefs touchdowns

The Kansas City Chiefs have a pair of touchdowns early against the Bengals, and both came with a side of Mahomes Magic.

In the early going at Arrowhead Stadium, it looks like Patrick Mahomes has decided to play in God Mode.

The Kansas City Chiefs have an early 14-3 lead over the visiting Cincinnati Bengals, and both touchdowns came with more than just a splash of Mahomes Magic.

The Chiefs capped off their first drive of the game with Mahomes finding Tyreek Hill on the move for this touchdown:

Kansas City runs a pair of post routes on the left side of the formation, with Hill working on the outside. Mahomes drops and looks in that direction first, but seeing the routes covered by the Bengals’ zone coverage, he slides to the right to buy a little bit of time. As he moves, Hill tracks Mahomes across the field, working along the back line of the end zone.

Eventually, Mahomes lets fly, and Hill is able to outstretch the defenders and pull in the throw for th game’s first touchdown.

As you can see from this replay angle, Mahomes dropped the arm angle just as he was approaching the line of scrimmage to let this pass go:

Then came the second touchdowns.

After the Bengals got onto the scoreboard with a field goal, the Chiefs took over possession. On their first defensive drive of the game, the Bengals operated primarily with two-deep safety coverages, as many expected. But they made the decision to play single-high to begin the drive, and Mahomes immediately made Cincinnati pay:

Mahomes hits Mecole Hardman on a vertical route, immediately putting the Chiefs into Cincinnati territory.

It would not take long for the Chiefs to get back into the end zone, and again the magic was on display from the Kansas City quarterback:

The Bengals rush just four, dropping seven into coverage. They try and contain Mahomes in the pocket, using wide rushing lanes on the edges. But somehow, Mahomes is able to skip and dance to the edge of the pocket. He first looks to escape to the left, but when that is cut off by Trey Hendrickson, Mahomes reverses field and rolls to his right. Late in the play, he spots Travis Kelce working across the field, and Mahomes is able to connect with his tight end for the touchdown.

Magical.

If this level of Mahomes Magic is going to be on display all afternoon, then the Bengals face a tall task as they try to advance to the Super Bowl.

What’s the weather forecast for Bengals-Chiefs AFC Championship clash?

How is the weather looking for the AFC Championship Game in Kansas City?

The weather will be delightful — for late January — Sunday when the Cincinnati Bengals face the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

At stake is the AFC spot in Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13 in Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium.

The temperature in Kansas City is expected to be a balmy 48° for a high with little wind and virtually no chance of precipitation.

Sunday, January 30

48°/31°
Mostly Sunny
Chance of precipitation 4%
WNW 6 mph

That forecast means conditions will be ripe for Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes, two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, to put on an air show.