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Aaron Gash/Linked Press
The Wild Card Round of the 2021-22 NFL playoffs changed into all about chalk—5 of six video games last week were obtained by the elevated-seeded team.
Saturday, that chalk went out the window.
The vital day of the divisional spherical featured the main postseason performances from the No. 1 seeds in every convention. The Tennessee Titans done host to the Cincinnati Bengals, whereas the Inexperienced Bay Packers welcomed the San Francisco 49ers to Lambeau Discipline.
Saturday also marked the last playoff sport of the season for both of the terminate seeds. Inexperienced Bay and Tennessee were both timorous on last-second field targets.
The Packers lost a snowy, frigid sport 13-10, whereas younger quarterback Joe Burrow led the Bengals to a 19-16 upset in Nashville.
The stunners left us with several takeaways as we derive up for the opposite two semifinalists to be decided on Sunday.
Here’s a gaze at a few, initiating keep with a quarterback who totally has to up his sport to present his team an opportunity subsequent week.
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Matt Ludtke/Linked Press
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is widely even handed one of many NFL’s brightest offensive minds.
Nonetheless, it be no secret that for all Shanahan’s innovation, he has one thing of an veteran-college blueprint. The 49ers rob by working the football and playing defense.
Or not it is a strategy the team employed efficiently in Saturday’s elegant upset of the terminate-seeded Inexperienced Bay Packers at Lambeau Discipline. It changed into also (this week finally) a plan born of necessity.
The Niners didn’t rob thanks to outmoded quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo—they obtained despite him.
To be vivid, Garoppolo came into the game nursing injuries to both his upright thumb and shoulder. But as Cut Wagoner wrote for ESPN, the signal-caller mentioned sooner than the game that he knew he would must tricky it out and play well to rob.
“Or not it is playoff football,” Garoppolo mentioned. “All of us know what time it is, and there ain’t no time to rest upright now.”
The toughing it out he did. The playing well fragment—not so unheard of.
Moderately the opposite, in fact, as Garoppolo completed factual 11 of 19 passes for 131 yards with a passer rating of factual 57.1. He also threw a brutal interception deep in Packers territory factual sooner than the tip of the main half of.
San Francisco overcame Garoppolo’s uncomfortable exhibiting by grinding out 106 yards on the floor and holding Inexperienced Bay’s potent offense to factual 263 yards of offense and one touchdown.
This changed into a sport done in brutal weather prerequisites in which the Packers had a huge meltdown on special groups (extra on that in a second). Subsequent week, the Niners will both be internal or playing in Florida and are assured an opponent that ranks internal the terminate-10 in both yards and facets per sport.
Garoppolo will must sharpen up to bag the 49ers into the Trim Bowl for the second time in three years. He’ll must produce extra throws and steer certain of making mistakes.
Cease that, and 49ers usual manager John Lynch could perchance perchance well hold rather the offseason resolution to produce between Garoppolo and rookie Trey Lance.
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Trace Zaleski/Linked Press
There’s factual news galore for the Cincinnati Bengals after the team upset the terminate-seeded Tennessee Titans. The Bengals are headed to the AFC Championship Game for the main time since the 1988 season and hold obtained a playoff sport away from the Queen City for the main time in franchise historical previous.
Younger quarterback Joe Burrow persisted his ascent to superstardom, throwing for 348 yards. Rookie huge receiver Ja’Marr Toddle caught 5 of Burrow’s passes for 109 yards.
Gather away the chili and (shudder) cinnamon—it be celebration time in Cincinnati.
But amongst the total celebrating and motivate-slapping, there could be a gargantuan wretchedness looming over the Bengals as they prepare to hit the avenue again and head to Buffalo or Kansas City. A host that could perchance perchance well hold to wretchedness “Who Dey” nation a lot.
9.
That’s how time and again that Burrow changed into sacked in opposition to the Titans. Per the CBS telecast, he joined Donovan McNabb because the glorious two quarterbacks in postseason historical previous to rob a sport after being dropped eight or extra cases.
Those nine sacks also tied for the most in a playoff sport, and Burrow absorbed 13 QB hits and changed into stressed factual about whenever he dropped motivate to pass.
Now, it be not devour we didn’t know that the Bengals weren’t namely expansive alongside the offensive line. Totally two groups allowed extra sacks than Cincinnati in 2021, and Burrow hit the floor 51 cases, extra than every other single quarterback in the league.
In PFF’s final offensive line rankings for the 2021 season, the Bengals checked in 20th.
But if the Bengals are going to hold any likelihood of pulling off one other upset subsequent week and reaching Trim Bowl LVI, Zac Taylor wants to devise some manner to enhance the protection in entrance of Burrow, namely with both the Bills and Chiefs amongst the NFL leaders in producing rigidity on quarterbacks.
They are most likely to be not going to bag away with permitting nine sacks again.
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Quinn Harris/Getty Pictures
It wasn’t supposed to extinguish this style. No longer devour this. No longer after one other 13-rob season—Inexperienced Bay’s third in a row.
There’ll most likely be no scarcity of second-guessing about what went so terribly scandalous for the Packers Saturday night.
Why Inexperienced Bay marched the length of the field on their first force of the game after which didn’t bag one other touchdown the remainder of the game. Why Inexperienced Bay is instant of the Trim Bowl for the 16th time in Aaron Rodgers’ 17 NFL seasons.
Or not it truly isn’t that moving to see why Inexperienced Bay changed into timorous 13-10 by the visiting 49ers, even though.
The Packers special groups were incorrect.
This is rarely always a fresh topic. Mason Crosby has struggled to kick the ball for far of the 2021 season, hitting on not up to 75 percent of his field-purpose attempts for factual the second time in his occupation.
In his most modern rankings of the league’s special groups items, Rick Gosselin of Sports Illustrated slotted the Pack dumb last in the National Soccer League.
In a exhausting-fought, defensive wrestle in opposition to the Niners, it changed into Inexperienced Bay’s special groups that doomed the Packers.
With an opportunity to develop their lead factual sooner than halftime, Crosby had a field purpose strive blocked by Niners safety Jimmie Ward. A fourth-quarter punt changed into also blocked by defensive lineman Jordan Willis sooner than Talanoa Hufanga scooped it up and bumped into the tip zone for San Francisco’s most efficient touchdown.
This changed into a sport where Rodgers outplayed Jimmy Garoppolo by a nation mile. The keep Inexperienced Bay out-gained the 49ers by a mountainous margin and restricted San Francisco to factual 212 yards of offense.
But because Inexperienced Bay’s special groups were the rest but special, the Niners are headed to both Tampa or Los Angeles, and the Packers are headed dwelling.
And the Aaron Rodgers period in Titletown can also simply hold ended with a thud.
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John Amis/Linked Press
There changed into talk out of Nashville sooner than Saturday’s divisional-spherical sport that the AFC’s No. 1 seed changed into being “disrespected.”
Of the groups ideal in the postseason getting into the weekend, Tennessee had the third-worst odds to rob the Trim Bowl thru DraftKings sportsbook. Per Soccer Outsiders’ DVOA rankings, the 2021 Titans were the worst No. 1 seed since 1983.
From searching at lots of the stats from the game, one can also mediate that Tennessee had proven all these doubting Thomases scandalous. Despite Derrick Henry being held largely in take a look at, the Titans gathered 140 yards on the floor, averaging over 5 yards a lift.
Defensively, the Titans allowed factual 65 rushing yards, didn’t renounce a touchdown thru the air and dropped Joe Burrow nine cases.
But when the AFC Championship Game kicks off subsequent week, the Titans will most likely be watching it on TV rather then web hosting it at Nissan Stadium. And there could be one main cause why Tennessee’s season is over.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill changed into abjectly dreadful.
Tannehill’s first pass of the game changed into intercepted by Bengals safety Jessie Bates III. His first throw of the second half of changed into picked off by cornerback Mike Hilton. His final throw of the game changed into snared by Cincinnati linebacker Logan Wilson.
Two of these picks resulted in facets for the Bengals, in conjunction with the 52-yard field purpose that despatched Cincy on to the AFC title sport.
Total, Tannehill changed into 15-of-24 for 220 yards with a touchdown and these three interceptions. His passer rating for the game changed into a unpleasant 66.7. It changed into the lone spot in the game where the Titans were outplayed—and Tannehill changed into outplayed badly.
While speaking to journalists after the game, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel came to the defense of his quarterback.
“Or not it is in no blueprint going to be about one particular person,” Vrabel mentioned.
The topic is that Saturday afternoon, it truly changed into.
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