2016 NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Round

Wild Card Weekend!  My attempts to stay caught up with the regular season were futile.  I did as well as I could.  However…the playoffs will be different.  I can handle that.  Away we go!!!!  (And yes, I know it’s 2017 now, but it’s the 2016 season still.)

@ Houston Texans 27, Oakland Raiders 14

• This game bored the heck out of me. I didn’t bother to write anything down.  Oakland greatly missed injured quarterback Derek Carr.  A mediocre Houston team won.  After the season Oakland had, they deserved better. 

@ Seattle Seahawks 26, Detroit Lions 6

• This was the first postseason game assignment for referee Brad “Alfred E. Newman” Allen, who is only in his third NFL season.[1] Congratulations to him.[2]
• The catch by Seattle receiver Paul Richardson with 7:07 left in the second for the first touchdown of the game was incredible. He was interfered with so severely that he was falling down, but he managed to reach outside the also-falling defender, Detroit DB Tavon Wilson, to snatch the ball down near his knee – with one hand.
• Somebody please explain to me why Detroit receiver Anquan Boldin thought it would be a good idea to shove a Seattle bench player in the back while returning to the field after a catch attempt with 4:57 left in the second.[3]
• Richardson made another spectacular catch while being fouled with 3:37 left in the second.[4]
• Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw a nice downfield block for running back Thomas Rawls on Rawls’ 32-yard run with 2:50 left in the third.
• Detroit returner Rodgers made a highly questionable decision to run the ball out of the end zone with 14:15 left in the fourth.
• Richardson made yet another circus catch with 4:36 left in the fourth, this time making a diving one-handed catch.
• Seattle receiver Doug Baldwin made one of the craziest catches I can remember with 4:18 left in the fourth. He got his hands under a low throw, deflecting it.  Then he kept the ball from hitting the ground by reaching under his legs and pinning the ball against his keister.
• Baldwin stole the pass from teammate Jermaine Kearse on Seattle’s final touchdown of the game, which occurred with 3:40 left in the fourth.
• Poor Matthew Stafford took a beating while trying to get Detroit back in the game during their final drive in the fourth quarter.

@ Pittsburgh Steelers 30, Miami Dolphins 12

• Pittsburgh’s first touchdown of the game came on their opening drive, capped off by receiver Antonio Brown catching a screen pass, weaving through defenders, and turning on the jets for a 50-yard touchdown.
• Brown scored another long touchdown – 62 yards – with 6:57 left in the first.
• With 7:05 left in the second, Miami quarterback Matt Moore was flattened by Pittsburgh LB Bud Dupree, who hit him under the chin with the crown of his helmet. Moore stayed down for a few minutes and had to be helped off the field.  While he was being looked at, a host of Dolphins went after Dupree, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
  • Can anyone blame Miami for being upset, especially since Dupree was running his mouth at them after knocking Moore silly?  This was a natural reaction,  Unless someone threw a punch, there should not have been a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, unless Dupree also got one.  But he didn’t.
  • Why wasn’t Dupree ejected for leading with his helmet? The NFL can’t honestly say that they care about player safety if they allow a defender to make hits like that but stay in the game.
  • Even though they didn’t eject Dupree, why was he still in the area while Moore was being checked by the training staff? Nothing good was going to come from him staying in the area.  He should have been sent back toward his bench.[5]
  • Why was it 1st-and-25? Roughing the passer is 15 yards and an automatic first down.  Unsportsmanlike conduct is 15 yards.  The UC penalty happened before the ball had been declared live once the chains had been set for the new first down.  Therefore, it should have been first and ten.
  • The officials let a Pittsburgh player stay in the game after a leading-with-the-helmet tackle last year in the Wild Card playoffs against Cincinnati. Look at what happened afterwards.  When will the league learn?[6]
• After Miami fumbled inside the 15 with less than a minute left in the second while trailing 20-6, the wind seemed to come out of their sails. Pittsburgh steamrolled them after this, leading 30-6 before Miami scored a consolation touchdown with 6:02 left in the fourth.
• The second half was a complete yawner. Sorry, Pittsburgh fans.[7]

@ Green Bay Packers 38, New York Giants 13

• I don’t know what to make of Green Bay. New York seems like a better team, but the game is in Green Bay, it’s cold, and the fans are charged up.
• New York had a promising drive on its second possession, but two dropped passes stopped the drive short, and they had to settle for a field goal from Robbie “Good As” Gould.
• Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers had all kinds of time to throw early on. I was thinking that New York needed to get better pressure on him to have any chance of winning.  New York’s coaching staff must have thought the same thing, because they immediately turned up the heat.  It didn’t last, however.
• New York punt returner Harris should have let the punt go with 10:23 left in the second. His decision to making a running, lunging catch of the punt pinned New York on their own 8.  The drive looked promising once again after the 51-yard reception by Will Tye, but they had to settle for another field goal.
• Why did it take so long for the officials to flag the NFL’s golden boy Rodgers for grounding with 5:07 left in the second? That was the most obvious grounding penalty of the season.
• New York’s inconsistent pass rush eventually caught up with them when Rodgers found Davante Adams for a touchdown with 2:20 left in the second. Adams made a spectacular catch in traffic, yes, but it shouldn’t have happened.  Rodgers, once again, had all day to throw.
• What a tremendous Hail Mary pass by Rodgers on the last play of the first half! I must point out, however, that New York blew the coverage.  There is no excuse for allowing Randall Cobb to break free behind everyone to catch that ball.  The first rule of defending a Hail Mary is to stay deeper than the deepest guy.
• I’m not a Giants fan, but I was very frustrated with the first half. New York dominated, but Green Bay led at halftime 14-6 because of an inability to finish touchdown drives and two blown coverages on defense.
• GREAT deep pass by Eli Manning to Tavares King for New York’s first touchdown with 5:23 left in the third.
• Green Bay responded by marching 63 yards for a touchdown, aided by two big plays: a pass to Adams for 20 yards and a 30-yard pass to Cobb that resulted in the touchdown.
• That was a very quick whistle for forward progress by the officials with around 12 minutes left in the fourth to nullify a fumble by Montgomery.
• Cobb made an impressive touchdown catch with 9:27 left in the fourth to give Green Bay a 31-13 lead.
• That was NOT a fumble by Manning with 8:44 left in the fourth. That was, instead, a blocked pass.  His arm was clearly moving forward before the ball was slapped.[8]
• The field goblin tripped Green Bay’s Damarious Randall while he was trying to run the game-sealing interception back for a touchdown.

Final thoughts

The home teams won every game this weekend.  Next weekend has some fun matchups.  All are rematches from earlier in the season, with the Houston-New England game being the only one that will be at the same site as the regular season game.  Seattle will travel to Atlanta to face a Falcons team that felt cheated out of a victory when they faced Seattle on the road earlier this season.  Green Bay travels to Dallas – and just about any Packer-Cowboy playoff game is entertaining.  Pittsburgh travels to Kansas City, where the Chiefs will be wanting to avenge their Sunday night blowout road loss to the Steelers earlier this season.  Houston will face New England in Foxboro, where the Patriots must be licking their chops – in Week Three, they blew out the Texans while using their third-string quarterback.

Monday, January 9, 2017 8:36 am MST

[1] Interesting tidbit about Allen: he has been a referee during his entire time in the league.  Most NFL officials start working NFL games at another position and eventually move to referee.  The last guy to do what Allen did – be the referee in his very first NFL game – was Tommy Bell in 1962.

[2] He deserved it, too.  He has done a great job all season.

[3] Boldin has received several dead-ball personal fouls and UC penalties this season.  He didn’t act like that while he was a Cardinal.

[4] No flag was thrown, but he still was fouled.  Defenders aren’t allowed to grab receivers’ shoulders and prevent them from jumping while the (undeflected) ball is in the air.

[5] Actually, he should have been sent to his dressing room, but I already mentioned that.

[6] Fortunately, this game didn’t get out of hand like the other one did.

[7] I have several friends who are Pittsburgh fans.  If you’re one of them, seriously…I’m sorry, but the second half was boring.

[8] I doubt that New York would have been able to get back in the game, though.  Green Bay had already started to steamroll by this point.