It’s fair to say that the first weekend of the NFL Playoffs lived up to the “Wild” part of its Wild Card Weekend moniker.
While many of the games might have not been the most appealing matchups on paper, the action and drama we saw over the last three days made it well worth tuning into the expanded format.
Even the San Francisco-Seattle game that finished as a blowout was close into the third quarter before the 49ers class showed through.
We’ve got our five big takeaways from the weekend and have them ready for your consumption below.
1 – The Chargers Franchise is Broken
Every NFL team has some sort of defining moment in their history or a series of moments that tells you all you need to know about them.
Those moments are not always good ones to remember, especially since there are two sides to every story.
Take the Buffalo Bills, most will remember them for losing four Super Bowls in a row, but that also includes a loss that the New York Giants will remember as one of their happiest moments.
New England will always remember their 28-3 comeback in Super Bowl LI, while Atlanta will be forced to live with that unbelievable choke job.
For the LA Chargers, they just had their Falcons moment, losing a seemingly unlosable game which will forever be a stain on their franchise.
But when you are up 27-0 in a playoff game, there is simply no excuse for losing from that position, no matter who is on the other side of the ball.
Especially when the opposing quarterback had thrown four interceptions in the first half and looked like he was well and truly overawed.
Even more especially when your head coach earned the job because of his work as a defensive coordinator.
Doug Pedersen deserves all sorts of credit for his creativity to help coach his team out of the hole they were in, and the creativity he showed getting the team in position for the game winning field goal.
It capped a 31-3 run for the Jaguars and helped book a trip to Kansas City for the Divisional Round.
Another win might not be that likely, but would you really want to back against them now?
2 – You Have to Go With Your Best Players
Fourth down, the game and the season on the line for the Minnesota Vikings and first year head coach Kevin O’Connell came up with this play.
Or if you need a diagram of what was drawn up, how about this.
Tight end TJ Hockensen was the target on the play and with the game he was having, setting him up for the big catch made total sense in the moment.
What did not make sense was having him run a three yard out, then expecting him to break a tackle and rumble for another five yards before the swarming Giants defence got hold of him.
Especially when the route and throw took him away from the first down line as opposed to running something that would have his momentum going forward at the catch.
Just get him to push the cut a few more yards down the field and give him a chance to reach out and get the ball over the line as he’s tackled.
Or alternatively, in a scenario where the optimism is more hopeful than anything else, throw it up to your best player Justin Jefferson.
New York did a phenomenal job covering him with two guys all afternoon, but in a crunch situation, you can always give him a chance to make something happen.
After all, he’s done it before.
Maybe the moment was too big for the Vikings or maybe they were finally found out after riding their luck all season.
As for the Giants, they continue their own charmed run of results and they will now take on an Eagles side they have extra motivation to defeat given the historic rivalry between the two teams.
3 – Style Points Don’t Matter
The brutal truth a lot of people have trouble reconciling with at this time of year is that the only thing that matters is which team has the most points when the game comes to an end.
Sure it would be great to put together a perfect performance, win 50-0 and have everyone feeling great about themselves, but Josh Allen summed it up best after his up and down day against Miami.
Plenty of pundits expected the Bills and Bengals to steamroll their way through the undermanned Dolphins and Ravens but a combination of the big stage, end of season desperation and the any given Sunday factor meant that those teams were pushed right to the end.
Miami’s defence came to play and there were times when we saw flashes of the bad version of Josh Allen as he struggled after a hot start with these three turnovers that brought Miami back into the game.
Of course it was only a temporary ray of hope for the Dolphins who came so close to an upset win, but ultimately fell short because… well they still have Skylar Thompson as their quarterback.
It was the same story in the late game when the Bengals hosted division rivals the Ravens, where Cincinnati allowed Baltimore to hang around after leaping out to an early lead.
Both teams had their share of ugly plays in the game and the Bengals rode their luck on more than one occasion, but they took advantage of the big moments to come away with a seven point win.
Were it not for that 14 point swing, we would be having plenty of different conversations about the game, but Hubbard’s TD stood, the Bengals won and the Ravens botched the end of the game.
But at least Harbaugh has his last timeout to keep him comfortable throughout the offseason.
And the Bengals can travel to Buffalo next week for what could be an all time classic if both teams bring their A-game.
4 – It Turns Out Tampa was Just REALLY Bad
Dak was dialled in, the Dallas defence brought it and they had their way with an overmatched Tampa team that just about everyone overrated this season.
The 8-9 record that saw them back into the playoffs as the winner of the most dysfunctional division should have been a massive red flag, but at this time of year you always have to feel a bit nervous backing against Tom Brady.
But when Dallas’ pass rush is in the sort of mood it was here, even the greatest quarterback of all time had no hope.
Meanwhile on the other side, Dak was having the game of his life and could barely put a foot wrong.
It’s fair to say that this season has not got anywhere close to how Brady or the Bucs would have planned it to, but there is still
With his deal in Tampa Bay expiring, the question becomes what next for TB12?
Considering he tried to manufacture an exit from Tampa for Miami last year, something that may have contributed to the locker room dysfunction over the last few months, if he keeps playing it won’t be in Tampa Bay.
Miami might not be an option either if the rumours of Tua being cleared to return next season are in fact accurate.
Does he reunite with Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas, or maybe Brian Daboll with the New York Giants?
Or does he head to the broadcast booth, potentially in time for Super Bowl LVII in a few weeks featuring Dallas’ next opponent, the San Francisco 49ers?
5 – Kliff Kingsbury Has The Right Idea
Long touted as one of the hottest coaching prospects going around despite a mediocre record as a college coach, Kliff Kingsbury’s first stint as an NFL head coach ended in a spectacular failure.
Less than 12 months after signing a contract extension to stay with the Cardinals franchise, Kingsbury was fired and found himself on the open market.
But instead of rushing into the first coordinator job that was offered to him for a bit of security, Kingsbury has taken a different approach.
The rush for teams to fill their respective vacancies as quickly as possible once their offseasons begin is understandable, but from a coaching perspective, taking some time away to evaluate their options (especially while they are still collecting a sizeable pay packet from their former employer) might make the cycle a bit more interesting.
Not to mention when you’ve got several million dollars coming in, Thailand is a pretty awesome place to go.
And if a team wants him that badly, they’ll wait a few weeks for his holiday to wrap up.