Bird Words 7: Vikings quit, Mahomes and Henry are unreal and the Seahawks Seahawked
Recap from an exciting divisional weekend.
The NFL Divisional Round may have not lived up to the standards set by Wild Card Weekend, but that did not stop it from being filled with excitement. We got a few surprise victories, an incredible comeback (and then destruction) and a few exciting storylines to follow into next week.
Were the Vikings even trying?
The Minnesota Vikings offense looked entirely disinterested during the team’s 27-10 Divisional round loss to the San Francisco 49ers. They fell into a 17 point - three possession - deficit early on in the fourth quarter.
You would figure that at this point they would start to play with a sense of urgency. Their season was hanging by a thread. They had a tall task ahead of them if they wanted to play in the NFC Championship Game and they had no room to waste any plays or any seconds off the clock. This is the point in the game where you go into a hurry-up offense. You start to attack teams vertically and try to earn as much yardage in as little time as possible.
Minnesota decided not to do this. Instead, they continued to run their usual power run offense, slowly moving their way down the field as inefficiently as possible. They were not even running a hurry-up offense, as they often let the play clock get all the way into the teens before snapping the ball.
They essentially just waved the white flag when they punted the ball on a fourth and 14 with under ten minutes to go. The Vikings refused to ever take a risk in this game, even when they needed to in order to have a chance at continuing their season.
This was one of the worst, most confusing, coaching performances I have ever seen. It is rare that you see a team quit like this in a regular season game, and Minnesota essentially gave up in a game where they had a real chance to return to the NFCCG.
Lamar Jackson’s playoff struggles are officially a narrative
Lamar Jackson had another horrible playoff game.
While it does not discount the incredible, NFL MVP winning (probably), season he had in 2019, it does make him 2-for-2 in disappointing playoff performances after stinking the bed early on in the Baltimore Ravens loss to the Tennessee Titans.
The young quarterback looked incredibly nervous for the majority of the game. He was indecisive and floated a lot of throws. His decision making was poor as well, throwing passes as if he did not see defenders in the area. One of his greatest skills in the regular season was his ability to manage the pocket, and avoid bailing on plays too early or running himself into trouble - a problem many other mobile quarterbacks have. His pocket management was terrible against the Titans, and he often looked like he had no idea what was happening around him.
While those who are using this one game to write off the young quarterbacks magical season, and denying him the ability to improve despite the fact that he is only 23, it is disappointing to see him struggle again in the postseason. He finished the game with 365 passing yards and 143 rushing yards, but similar to his poor performance against the Los Angeles Chargers last year, those numbers are empty.
Derrick Henry is breaking football
A team like the Titans should not be this good in today’s NFL. Teams are supposed to be winning games with high octane passing attacks, not knocking out two of the AFC’s top teams while throwing for under 100 yards. Tennessee has been doing just that, though, and it’s because Derrick Henry is not you’re normal running back.
Henry is a wrecking ball. He is absolutely huge and has unreal speed for his size. You need an army just to bring him down in the open field, and even that may not be enough. Henry ran for 195 yards on 30 carries as the Titans pulled off one of the biggest playoff upsets in over a decade (he threw a touchdown pass too, for good measure).
In a league where players like Henry are supposed to be afterthoughts, the young running back is carrying his team to greatness. They have already exceeded any sort of expectations teams may have had for them this year by making the AFC Championship Game, and another big day from Henry could see them playing in the Super Bowl next month.
Though, their next game may be near impossible because:
The Chiefs offense is a fucking war crime
The Kansas City Chiefs were down 24-0 to the Houston Texans early on in the second quarter. They ended up winning the game 51-31. Yup.
First, let’s talk about how they got into that hole. While it would be easy to see that score and point to the Kansas City defense as the culprit, it was truly just a series of unfortunate events. The Texans first score came on a coverage bust, where two defensive backs bit on a fake bubble screen to Will Fuller V and let Kenny Stills beat them over the top for a walk in touchdown. On the ensuing Chiefs’ possession, only a minute or so later, Houston blocked a punt and Lonnie Johnson scooped it up for another touchdown. A little later in the quarter, the Texans punted, but a muffed return gave them the ball right back inside the Chiefs’ ten, setting up another score.
Houston was basically spotted 21 points by the Chiefs in the first quarter because of dumb mistakes. That is a hole that usually kills teams, as a 21 (and after a second quarter field goal, 24) point deficit is near impossible to overcome in the NFL.
Kansas City managed to overcome the deficit in under 10 minutes, though, and went into halftime up 28-24. Taking a small lead was not enough, though. They continued their tear into the second half. The Chiefs would score touchdowns on seven straight drives to put themselves ahead 48-31.
They should have been dead, but they ended up winning in dominant fashion. A performance like this would be unheard of just two years ago, but this is all the Chiefs have been doing since Patrick Mahomes took over the offense in 2018.
Mahomes finished the game with five touchdown passes on 35 attempts, and it’s amazing how unamazed by that I am. Just like the Titans - their opponent in the AFC Championship Game next week - Kansas City is breaking the sport in their own way.
The Seahawks Seahawked their way out of the playoffs
The Seattle Seahawks are the dumbest team in football. They are not bad, but they are dumb.
Seattle is an extremely talented team that can play very well when they want to. Unfortunately for themselves, they often do not want to play well.
All year they have allowed bad teams to stay in games with them, nearly throwing away wins they should have easily had in hand. When they play good teams, they often dicked around for the first three quarters, dug themselves into a huge hole, then spent the third quarter trying to claw their way back into the game.
Their divisional round matchup against the Green Bay Packers was just like the latter. Seattle’s offense was useless for the first half. They force fed the ball to a washed up Marshawn Lynch. They fell 21-3 just before halftime.
Seattle is a very good team, though, with a very good quarterback in Russel Wilson. They are probably a better team than the Packers. They showed that in the second half, outscoring Green Bay 20-7 and putting themselves in position to win late in the game.
They made the tragic decision to punt on 4th and 11 with under three minutes to play while trailing by 5, though. Seattle never got the ball back and their season ended with a whimper.
Wilson showed in the second half, just like he did all season, that when given the chance, he can carry the team to victory. He just needs to be given a chance, though, and the coaching staff seems to do everything they can to avoid that.
The Seahawks should be in the NFC Championship Game, playing against their longtime rival in the 49ers to decide who gets to play in the Super Bowl. Instead, they get to watch from home. Not because they are not talented enough to be there, but because the coaching staff clearly did not want to be there.
What I’m watching this week
The NFL Playoffs have eaten a majority of my free time recently, so this section has been a little skinny recently, but I did get around to watching a few things.
Jessica Jones, the old Marvel Netflix series, has captured most of my time in the past week. I had watched the first season when it came out a few years ago but did not get back around to the second until this week. The second season was incredible. The storyline focus’ on the relationships between Jessica, Trish and their mothers, and make us examine what the true meaning of family is, and how we may go out of our way to protect toxic people in our lives in a misguided attempt at maintaining bad relationships. The plot itself was mediocre, but the emotional beats were great.
And now there is an entire third season for me to dive into.
Other things I wrote this week
Kamala Khan is the superhero Zoomers need- Electric Lit
Pokemon became a sports game and lost its sense of character- Medium
A’Shawn Robinson film breakdown- Pride of Detroit
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Stay tuned tomorrow for my CFP recap and Thursday for my NFL Championship weekend preview!