National reaction to Ravens advancing to AFC Championship game with 34-10 win over Texans

We’re looking at the national reaction to the Baltmore Ravens advancing to the AFC Championship game after a 34-10 iwin over the Houston Texans

The Ravens avoided the repeat of 2019, advancing to the AFC title game after a dominant 34-10 win over the Houston Texans at M&T Bank Stadium.

The win gave Baltimore two wins over DeMeco Ryan’s team, and the combined scores of 56-19 provide insight into how far Houston has to climb before they start thinking about championship Sunday.

Lamar Jackson was dominant from start to finish and will likely win his second NFL MVP after accounting for 252 yards, four total touchdowns, and a `121.8 quarterback rating.

Mike Macdonald’s defense held Houston to 213 yards of total offense on 47 offensive plays, limiting C.J. Stroud to 19-33 passing for 175 yards and no touchdowns.

After overcoming past failures, here’s the national reaction to the Ravens’ dominant victory.

Ravens vs. Texans: 10 takeaway from first half of Divisional Round matchup

We’re looking at ten takeaways from the first half as the Ravens and Texans are tied 10-10 in AFC Divisional Round matchup at M&T Bank Stadium

Baltimore got off to a slow start on Saturday before kicking things into gear on both sides of the football.

All-Pro quarterback Lamar Jackson was 7 of 11 passing, for 52 yards, one touchdown, and a 105.1 quarterback rating. Jackson had runs of 23 yards and 15 yards in the second quarter, scoring a drive that put the Ravens up 10-3 on the youthful Texans.

Houston responded on special teams, as recently elevated running back Steven Sims brought a punt return back 67 yards with 5:00 left in the first half.

With both teams back on the field, we’re looking at ten takeaways from the first half.

Projecting the Ravens depth chart for divisional round matchup vs. Texans

We’re looking at the Baltimore Ravens updated depth chart of ahead of the Divisional Round playoff matchup vs. the Houston Texans

We’re a little over five away from the Ravens (13-4) and Texans (11-7) kicking off the AFC divisional round of the playoffs on ESPN.

Houston advanced to the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs for the fifth time in franchise history with a 45-14 win over the Browns in Super Wild Card Weekend.

The playoff win earned the Texans a rematch against the Ravens, and they’ll return to M&T Bank Stadium hoping to avenge a 25-9 loss in Week 1.

Baltimore has ruled out Marlon Humphrey for the contest, while Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews won’t be active after being listed as questionable.

With Humphrey out, Brandon Stephens and Ronald Darby are the likely starting cornerbacks against C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins and the Texans’ dynamic passing attack. Darby has made seven starts this season, as Humphrey will miss his eighth game.

Outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney returned from an illness that kept him out of practice Wednesday and told reporters he’ll play. Wide receiver Zay Flowers (calf) and outside linebacker Odafe Oweh (ankle) also both returned to full practice and said they’ll suit up.

With kickoff fast approaching, here’s a projected two-deep depth chart for Baltimore.

 

17 ex-Broncos players involved in divisional round of NFL playoffs

The NFL playoffs will feature several former Broncos this weekend including Von Miller, Kareem Jackson, Randy Gregory and Ronald Darby.

The NFL playoffs continue this weekend with four games in the divisional round, and 17 former Denver Broncos players are involved.

The Houston Texans will utilize fullback Andrew Beck and tight end Eric Saubert on offense with Case Keenum serving as a backup quarterback. On defense, Houston has safety Kareem Jackson and practice squad defensive lineman McTelvin Agim.

The Texans will face the Baltimore Ravens, who have backup quarterback Josh Johnson and cornerback Ronald Darby.

Over in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers with running back Emanuel Wilson will take on the San Francisco 49ers, who have backup quarterback Brandon Allen and pass rusher Randy Gregory.

Elsewhere in the NFC, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and pass rusher Shaq Barrett will face the Detroit Lions and offensive lineman Graham Glasgow, wide receiver Kalif Raymond and backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

To wrap up the divisional round, the Buffalo Bills have running back Latavius Murray, pass rusher Von Miller and punter Sam Martin on the roster ahead of a clash with the Kansas City Chiefs.

With former Denver players on all but one team still alive in the playoffs, the two conference title games next weekend are guaranteed to feature ex-Broncos.

Ravens’ updated 53-man roster for AFC Divisional Round matchup vs. Texans

We’re looking at the updated 53-man roster for the Baltimore Ravens AFC Divisional Round matchup against the Houston Texans

After producing the NFL’s best record (13-4), the Baltimore Ravens return to M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday after earning a No. 1 playoff seed.

They will host the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round (Jan. 20, 4:30 p.m.).

The Ravens clinched the AFC’s top postseason spot for the second time (2019) in franchise history. The 2023 season also marked Baltimore’s first division title since 2019 and the fifth (2011-12, 2018-19) under head coach John Harbaugh.

Star tight end Mark Andrews is not expected to play after returning to practice, and he’ll join cornerback Marlon Humphrey on the list of inactives.

With kickoff a little over 24 hours, we’re looking at Baltimore’s updated 53-man roster for the divisional round matchup against C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans.

AFC Divisional Round picks: Who the experts are taking in Ravens vs. Texans

The NFL experts have made their picks, and the Baltimore Ravens are favored to defeat the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round

We’re a little over 30 hours away from the Ravens (13-4) and Texans (11-7) kicking off the AFC divisional round of the playoffs on ESPN.

Houston advanced to the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs for the fifth time in franchise history with a 45-14 win over the Browns in Super Wild Card Weekend.

The playoff win earned the Texans a rematch against the Ravens, and they’ll return to M&T Bank Stadium hoping to avenge a 25-9 loss in Week 1.

With kickoff fast approaching, here’s the NFL expert picks.

Ravens divisional round preview: 10 things to know about the Houston Texans

We’re looking at ten things to know about the Houston Texans ahead of their AFC Divisional Round matchup against the Baltimore Ravens

The Texans advanced to the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs for the fifth time in franchise history with a 45-14 win over the Browns in Super Wild Card Weekend.

The playoff success earned Houston a rematch against the Baltimore Ravens, and they’ll return to M&T Bank Stadium hoping to avenge a 25-9 loss in Week 1.

The Texans are a different team since that humble welcome to the NFL moment for C.J. Stroud, and all the former Ohio State star has done is shatter records and lead his team to the postseason as a rookie.

With final preparations for Saturday’s kickoff underway, we’re looking at ten things about the Houston Texans.

More thoughts on the Broncos’ uniform rumors

The Broncos told KOA Radio that the uniform concept floating around on social media has never been discussed by the team.

Last week, we passed along information from Mario Vetanze describing what the Denver Broncos’ next uniform will look like. Based on the descriptions from Vetanze and an anonymous poster on the Broncos’ forums, several fans created mockups of the upcoming uniform changes.

The most notable (and perhaps most controversial) changes were adding mountains to the shoulders and switching to a white helmet. It turns out those details might not be accurate.

After mockups with the mountains went viral on social media last week, the team got word out through KOA Radio’s Benjamin Allbright that such a design has never even been discussed by the club.

It’s hard to take that statement as completely truthful because Vetanze described what was described to him, and the people who leaked information to him had to have based it on something (perhaps early concept designs).

Vetanze said in an interview with Paul Lukas of Uni Watch that two people who briefly saw the uniforms described them to him. Vetanze did not specifically say his two sources were team players, but the massage therapist lists Broncos players among his clients on his website.

We know that the Broncos involved their team captains in the process of switching to a new alternate white helmet, and we know from Twitter/X that Vetanze seems to have a working relationship with safeties Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson (who were team captains in 2023).

Whoever it was that leaked descriptions to Vetanze, they likely described something they really saw. Whether they saw just a concept design or the final design is uncertain. The team claims no design resembling the recent concept leaks has ever been discussed.

Based on that response from the team, it’s probably safe to assume the final design won’t look like the fan mockups that went viral last week. We’re skeptical that such a design was never discussed at any point, however.

During his end-of-season press conference last week, team owner/CEO Greg Penner indicated that the process has taken longer than he expected.

“Nothing to announce on new uniforms today,” Penner said on Jan. 9. “That’s also been [some] learning for me. I just figured when you wanted to change your uniforms, you just made a new uniform. But boy, it’s a several-year process with the league and Nike to get there. We’ll be having some things coming there in the future, but nothing to announce today.”

The Walton-Penner family purchased the Broncos in late summer 2022. Getting a new uniform designed and approved in time for 2023 was too short of a turnaround. It remains to be seen if a new look will arrive before the 2024 campaign.

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20 potential free agent targets for Vikings from Saturday’s Wild Card round

Taking a look at some of the top potential free agent fits for the Minnesota Vikings from Saturday’s Wild Card games

The 2024 Minnesota Vikings team is likely going to look a lot different than the 2023 squad. Whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but change is inevitable in the NFL from year-to-year. Minnesota is going to have a lot of difficult decisions to make in the offseason, chief among them is what are they going to do with the Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter situations.

These are two very different situations, but both need resolution nonetheless. On the one hand, Cousins clearly makes the Vikings’ offense run to a degree that is exceptionally hard to replicate. We saw it over and over again this season. Despite the Vikings staying in the playoff race until the very end, they were a markedly different team with Cousins out.

On the other hand Danielle Hunter was a force for the Vikings defense this season, and had arguably the best year of his career. Both players are in line for significant paydays, and Minnesota has to choose whether or not they’re going to be the ones to cough up the money. Additionally, Minnesota has a number of other potential free agents to make decisions on, and there’s bound to be significant roster churn.

Some of that churn will come via the 2024 NFL draft, but a large part of it is going to come through free agency. With that as our backdrop, let’s take a look at some of the top potential free agent fits for the Vikings — five from each team — playing in Saturday’s Wild Card games.

15 takeaways from the Broncos’ first season under Sean Payton

Here are 15 quick takeaways from Sean Payton’s first season with the Broncos.

After starting 4-11 last season, the Denver Broncos fired first-time head coach Nathaniel Hackett with two games remaining. Jerry Rosburg then took over on an interim basis and the club split their final two games to finish the year with a 5-12 record.

After firing Hackett, the Broncos’ new ownership group wanted to go big, so they agreed to trade first- and second-round draft picks to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a third-round pick and the rights to head coach Sean Payton last January.

While Denver did not qualify for the playoffs, the team did take a step forward in Year 1 under Payton, improving from 5-12 in 2022 to 8-9 in 2023. That marked the team’s best record since 2017. The next step is posting a winning record and qualifying for the postseason in 2024.

So, what did we learn from Payton’s first season in Denver? Here are 15 quick takeaways from the Broncos’ 2023 season.