Category: 2021 NFL Postseason

Mike Hilton ends a Titans threat with an incredible interception

Mike Hilton ended a Tennessee Titans’ scoring threat with an incredible interception.

Things are certainly going the way of the Cincinnati Bengals in Tennessee.

The visitors are out to a ten-point lead over the Titans, and just when it looked like Tennessee was going to cut into that lead in a big way, defensive back Mike Hilton ended a scoring threat with a tremendous interception.

Joe Mixon gave the Bengals the ten-point lead on this touchdown run in the third quarter, taking advantage of the cutback angle for the score:

But then, the Titans got things rolling on their ensuing possession. D’Onta Foreman, in the game to give Derrick Henry a spell, ripped off this huge gain to give Tennessee great field position:

Foreman looked a lot like Henry on that run, and the Titans seemed to be in business. But on the next play, Cincinnati showed pressure with Hilton on the edge. Ryan Tannehill looked to throw quickly in that direction, and Hilton was ready:

That turnover was Tannehill’s second of the day.

The Titans defensive front is applying heavy pressure on Joe Burrow, having sacked him six times already. But if the Titans offense keeps turning the football over, Tennessee might be looking at an early exit.

 

Bengals counter Titans pressure with a quick strike to Ja’Marr Chase to set up another field goal

The Tennessee Titans defense has been pressuring Joe Burrow, but a quick screen to Ja’Marr Chase delivered a huge play for the Bengals.

An early story of the AFC divisional round game between the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals is Tennessee’s ability to generate pressure on quarterback Joe Burrow. The Titans sacked Burrow on each of the Bengals’ first two possessions of the game, and as Cincinnati started their third, it sure looked like another sack was in the cards.

Instead, rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was off to the races:

As they do more than almost any other team, the Bengals align with Burrow alone in the backfield. The Titans show pressure up front, with seven defenders on the line of scrimmage. Rather than try and protect Burrow against all seven potential threats, Zac Taylor has his quarterback target Chase on the quick screen, hoping he can make a defender miss.

Chase does just that, skipping past cornerback Kristian Fulton, his former LSU teammate, for a huge gain into Titans’ territory.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, the Titans were not done sacking Burrow. They got to the Cincinnati quarterback two plays later, forcing the Bengals to settle for a field goal and a six-point lead.

Divisional playoff preview: How the Chiefs can beat the Bills

How can the Kansas City Chiefs win in this rematch of last season’s AFC championship game? Here is how they can beat the Buffalo Bills.

Now we have the game that many are calling the de facto AFC championship game.

And with good reason.

After all, on Sunday night when the Kansas City Chiefs clash with the Buffalo Bills, it will not only be a rematch of last season’s AFC championship game, but also a matchup between two of the more impressive teams on the AFC side of the ledger.

The Bills enter Sunday as the top team in DVOA over at Football Outsiders, while the Chiefs sit in sixth position. Those are the two highest-remaining teams left in the conference, well ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals (18th) and the Tennessee Titans (20th).

While those teams will meet on Saturday, the winner will take on the winner of this game, which is a rematch of a contest from back in Week 5, which saw the Bills win going away, by a final score of 38-20.

What happens in the rematch? Do the Bills exact revenge for the loss in last year’s AFC championship game, or do Stefon Diggs and company have to endure another playoff loss at Arrowhead Stadium?

Here is how the Chiefs can beat the Bills.

Divisional playoff preview: How the Bills can beat the Chiefs

How can the Buffalo Bills get past the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round? Here is what they need to do on both sides of the ball.

Now we have the game that many are calling the de facto AFC championship game.

And with good reason.

After all, on Sunday night when the Kansas City Chiefs clash with the Buffalo Bills, it will not only be a rematch of last season’s AFC championship game, but also a matchup between two of the more impressive teams on the AFC side of the ledger.

The Bills enter Sunday as the top team in DVOA over at Football Outsiders, while the Chiefs sit in sixth position. Those are the two highest-remaining teams left in the conference, well ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals (18th) and the Tennessee Titans (20th).

While those teams will meet on Saturday, the winner will take on the winner of this game, which is a rematch of a contest from back in Week 5, which saw the Bills win going away, by a final score of 38-20.

What happens in the rematch? Do the Bills exact revenge for the loss in last year’s AFC championship game, or do Stefon Diggs and company have to endure another playoff loss at Arrowhead Stadium?

Here is how Diggs can wash away the memories of watching Kansas City celebrate after last year’s playoff win. Here is how the Chiefs can beat the Bills.

Divisional playoff preview: How the Titans can beat the Bengals

Looking at what the Tennessee Titans have to do to advance to the AFC championship game.

For many football fans, we have reached the best weekend of the season.

The divisional round.

Over Saturday and Sunday, fans will be treated to four games, with the final eight teams left standing playing over the weekend for a shot at a conference championship.

Adding to the excitement is that the two teams who enjoyed bye weeks during wild-card weekend are now in action, as the Tennessee Titans and the Green Bay Packers join the fray.

The divisional round slate kicks off Saturday afternoon as the Titans, fresh off their bye week, host the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks to their win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Bengals are in the divisional round for the first time since the 1990 season, when they lost to the then-Los Angeles Raiders.

The team they beat in the wild-card round? The Houston Oilers, who would move a few seasons later to Nashville to become the Titans.

How can the Titans avoid that fate this time around? Here are the two things the Titans need to do to beat the Bengals.

Divisional playoff preview: How the Bengals can beat the Titans

What the Cincinnati Bengals must do to advance to the AFC championship game.

For many football fans, we have reached the best weekend of the season.

The divisional round.

Over Saturday and Sunday, fans will be treated to four games, with the final eight teams left standing playing over the weekend for a shot at a conference championship.

Adding to the excitement is that the two teams who enjoyed bye weeks during wild-card weekend are now in action, as the Tennessee Titans and the Green Bay Packers join the fray.

The divisional round slate kicks off Saturday afternoon as the Titans, fresh off their bye week, host the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks to their win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Bengals are in the divisional round for the first time since the 1990 season, when they lost to the then-Los Angeles Raiders.

The team they beat in the wild-card round? The Houston Oilers, who would move a few seasons later to Nashville to become the Titans.

How can the Bengals repeat that effort? Here are the two things the Bengals need to do to beat the Titans.

Twitter reacts to Kyler Murray’s brutal pick-six

Twitter erupted when Kyler Murray threw a brutal pick-six against the Los Angeles Rams.

To say that things are not going the Arizona Cardinals’ way would be an understatement. In the final game of wild-card weekend, the Cardinals are on the wrong end of a 21-0 deficit. The third touchdown scored by the Los Angeles Rams? It came due to an atrocious pick-six thrown by Kyler Murray, a pass attempt that fluttered out of his hands while being tackled in his own end zone, falling into the waiting arms of Rams defender David Long.

The reaction on Twitter was swift.

How the Chiefs attacked Steelers coverage — and what is says about their Super Bowl chances

Breaking down how the Kansas City Chiefs passing game answered the questions the Pittsburgh Steelers asked them in the secondary.

October feels like a lifetime ago.

While that statement could be applied to life in general,it can certainly be applied to the NFL. Back in October, the Kansas City Chiefs were at the bottom of the AFC West. Sure, they were among a cluster of teams with either 4-2 or 3-3 records, but there were concerns about the Chiefs.

Many were on the defensive side of the football, as that unit looked like a true liability. But concerns over the defense bled into the offense, as Patrick Mahomes and company seemed to have a serious problem.

Two-deep safety coverages.

Teams were playing with two-deep safeties against them, whether Cover 2, Cover 4 (quarters) or Cover 6 (quarter-quarter-half) and forcing the Chiefs to either try and throw deep against those looks, settle for underneath options, or even run the football.

It was working.

Now, since then the Chiefs have started to figure out how to attack these defense. Part of the adjustment has come thanks to what the defense has figured out, as that unit has shored itself up. Mahomes feels he can settle for easier throws and checkdowns now and not turn every throw into a touchdown. Part of it was also the idea that Kansas City did not, as some argued, really have a problem.

However, down the stretch the Chiefs offense looked more like the unit we were expecting to see when the season began. That was true again on Sunday night, as Kansas City dismantled the Pittsburgh Steelers by a final score of 42-21.

While the Chiefs got off to a slow start, and actually trailed early in the game, their offense got on a role and did not stop. After punting on three of their first five possessions, and turning the ball over on the other two, Kansas City scored a touchdown on their next six possessions to pull away.

Looking at their passing game, the Chiefs seemed to have an answer, particularly as they pulled away, for whatever the Steelers threw at them.

Leighton Vander Esch joins the army of jersey misspellings

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch took the field with his name misspelled on his jersey. He joins a list of other players who experienced similar treatment.

Things did not get off to a good start for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC wild-card round against the San Francisco 49ers.

The visitors have scored on each of their first three possessions, and with the Cowboys struggling to get anything going on the offensive side of the football, the 49ers have an early 13-0 lead. Thankfully for the Dallas fans, the Cowboys managed to put a touchdown on the board, and the teams headed to the locker room for halftime with the 49ers leading 16-7.

However, needing a comeback is just one of the problems the Cowboys are dealing with. Another? The nameplate on the back of linebacker Leighton Vander Esch’s jersey:

This is not the first time that a name has been misspelled on a jersey. Let’s look at some other examples.

Mike Edwards prevents the Philadelphia touchdown

The Philadelphia Eagles looked like they had their first touchdown of the game. Then Mike Edwards came out of nowhere.

In the first half of the NFC wild-card game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the visitors were struggling to get any semblance of offense going. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles could not get the running game going, and the young quarterback could not get into a rhythm.

But late in the first half with Philadelphia trailing 17-0, the Eagles offense finally started to move the football. A big passing play to Quez Watkins set the Eagles up with a 1st and 10 inside the Tampa Bay 30-yard line. After a short completion to DeVonta Smith, Hurts then rolled to his left on second down and tried to find the rookie wide receiver in the end zone after the defender covering him fell down.

Hurts let fly, but reading him was Mike Edwards:

As you can see from this replay angle, Smith works himself open on the double-move, as cornerback Jamel Dean falls down. Hurts, facing pressure in the pocket, slides to his left while keeping his eyes downfield. He spots Smith open, but Edwards flies into the screen to make the play:

Perhaps the best view of this play comes from the “dots,” provided by NFL’s NextGen Stats:

The Buccaneers drop into single-high coverage at the snap, with Jordan Whitehair sliding underneath and Edwards dropping deep. As Hurts vacates the pocket, Edwards does a tremendous job of mirroring him, putting him in position to back up Dean after he slips and prevent the Eagles from finally reaching the end zone.

So far in this game, the Buccaneers safeties have made a number of great plays. Whitehair has been good against the run, helping force an early third-down stop on the Eagles’ first possession. Edwards has the interception, and fellow safety Antonie Winfield Jr. notched a sack of Hurts as well. With the Buccaneers struggling a little to protect Tom Brady, particularly with Tristan Wirfs hobbled and now ruled out of the game, the Tampa Bay defense can perhaps close this out on their own.