With the conclusion of Monday Night’s game between the Rams and Cardinals, the 2022 Wild Card Round was completed and the matchups for the Divisional Round were set. In my opinion, the games this past weekend ranged from being really boring blowouts to very exciting games. However, I believe that the divisional round games will be much better.

Wild Card Round

•  Raiders vs Bengals: This game was one of the more exciting games of the weekend, with Cincinnati winning their first playoff game in 31 years with a 26-19 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. The first half was all Bengals, as QB Joe Burrow and the offense of Cincinnati dominated the Raiders defense and scored 20 points in 2 quarters. The Bengals defense also shined behind DE Trey Hendrickson, DE Sam Hubbard, LB Germaine Pratt, and many others. However, the Las Vegas Raiders really started to click in the 4th Quarter and had a real chance to win with a final drive down by 6 points. The Raiders offense, led by QB Derek Carr, were able to get to the Bengals 9 yard line, in prime position to take the lead and win the game. Unfortunately for Las Vegas, on 4th and Goal, Carr had a pass that was going to WR Zay Jones intercepted by LB Germaine Pratt, which sealed the game for Cincinnati. Bengals QB Joe Burrow led the way for Cincinnati with 244 yards and 2 touchdowns. Also, on the ground, RB Joe Mixon had a down game coming off of protocols, with 17 carries for 48 yards and WR Ja’Marr Chase had 9 receptions for 116 yards to lead all receivers. Las Vegas was led by QB Derek Carr, who went 29-54 for 310 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Running the ball, RB Josh Jacobs performed pretty well with 13 carries for 83 yards and TE Darren Waller led everyone through the air with 7 receptions and 76 yards. Overall, the Raiders ended their very up and down season at 10-7 (or 10-8 if you count the playoffs,) and were eliminated in the Wild Card Round, while the Bengals improved on their regular season record of 10-7 to 11-7 counting the playoffs and advanced to the Divisional Round to play the AFC top seeded Tennessee Titans.
• Patriots vs Bills: For the Bills and their fans, this game meant everything to them. Despite this game being a blowout, the Buffalo Bills enjoyed every minute after destroying the team that dominated them for the better part of 2 decades. Led behind fantastic QB Josh Allen, Buffalo never punted and scored touchdowns on every single possession they had, except for the ones right before halftime and the end of the game. These factors, along with a dominate defense led to the Bills 47-17 victory. From the jump, Buffalo had this game on lockdown and the Patriots couldn’t do anything to stop the runaway train of the Bills offense. A huge interception of New England QB Mac Jones by Buffalo CB Micah Hyde on the Patriots first drive in the 1st Quarter pretty much decided who would win this game. Rookie QB Mac Jones led the way for New England with 232 yards, 2 TDS, and 2 interceptions. Also, the Patriots run game was completely stopped by the Buffalo defense, with the leading rusher being RB Damien Harris, who had 9 carries for 30 yards. Through the air, WR Kendrick Bourne had a pretty good game with 7 receptions for 77 yards and both TDS for the New England Patriots in the entire game. For the Bills, QB Josh Allen almost had a perfect game when he went 21-25 for 308 yards and 5 TOUCHDOWNS! Along with Allen, RB Devin Singletary continued his success from the end of the regular season with 16 carries for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns, while TE Dawson Knox had the best game receiving with 5 receptions for 89 yards and 2 TDs. The Patriots will finish the season at 10-8 and are eliminated from the postseason, while the Bills will improve their record to 12-6 and advance to the Divisional Round of the playoffs to face the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead.
• Eagles vs Buccaneers: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers once again won in the playoffs under QB Tom Brady. The defending Super Bowl Champions defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 31-15 in their first playoff home game (other than the Super Bowl,) since 2008. Tampa Bay dominated the Eagles every which way throughout the entire game, but Philadelphia was able to score 15 points in garbage time. The Eagles got into the postseason because of their ability to run the ball, but the Buccaneers were able to completely dismantle the run game for Philadelphia, which is probably a huge reason why the Eagles lost the game. The 44 year old Tom Brady still had another fantastic season for Tampa, even with key injuries happening down the stretch for the Buccaneers. Right now, they have lost WR Chris Godwin for the year, WR Antonio Brown because of release, and a couple of their RBs in Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones. During the game, they also lost offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs and center Ryan Jensen. I believe that Jensen will be fine, but Wirfs may need time to recover, which would really hurt Tampa in their next playoff game. Leading the Eagles was second year QB Jalen Hurts, who struggled mightily in his first playoff game with 258 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. On the ground, QB Jalen Hurts was the leading rusher with 8 carries for 39 yards. Receiving, TE Dallas Goedert had the best game with 6 receptions for 92 yards. For Tampa Bay, Tom Brady obviously led the way with 29 completions on 37 pass attempts for 271 yards and 2 TDs. Running the ball, RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn had 17 carries for 53 yards, and 1 touchdown. Finally, WR Mike Evans led the way through the air with 9 receptions for 117 yards, and 1 break away touchdown. The Eagles will finish the season at 9-9, with a first round exit in the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will improve to 14-4 with the playoff win and advance to the Divisional Round to play the Los Angeles Rams in Raymond James.
• 49ers vs Cowboys: The most craziest game of Wild Card Weekend was this matchup, between two historically successful teams in San Francisco and Dallas. In the beginning, the 49ers dominated this game, while the Cowboys couldn’t do anything on offense and couldn’t stop the Niners run or pass game. This led San Francisco to an early 13-0 lead and 16-7 lead at halftime. After the break, the Cowboys were able to get more success on offense and their defense started to play well, but an interception by Dallas QB Dak Prescott led to an easy score by the 49ers towards the end of the 3rd Quarter. However, the Cowboys did their best to not panic, and worked their way to a field goal. Then, San Francisco QB Jimmy Garoppolo threw a horrible pass that was intercepted by the Cowboys and Dallas was able to get a touchdown out of it. This is when the game got really interesting, as the Dallas defense was able to hold on and stop the Niners next drive. However, the San Francisco defense without it’s biggest stars kept the Cowboys in check and on 4th and 11, the 49ers were able to force an incompletion from Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, which resulted in a turnover on downs and the Niners getting the ball back with a chance to put the game away. To add to the drama, the 49ers with a chance to basically win the game on 3rd down ran a great play to WR Deebo Samuel that was originally ruled a first down, but through replay it was overturned to 4th & 1. As a result, San Francisco punted the ball and Dallas got the ball back. The Cowboys on this final drive had big play after big play not wasting to much time. Now, on 2nd down, the Cowboys decided to have QB Dak Prescott run the ball with 14 seconds left in the game to set up a Hail Mary attempt, but this run chopped off too much time on the clock and because the Dallas offense decided to set the ball themselves instead of handing it to the referee to set it down, they were not able to get the spike off to stop the clock from hitting triple zeros and the 49ers escaped with a 23-17 victory. Leading the way for the Niners was QB Jimmy Garoppolo, who had 172 yards for 172 yards and 1 interception. On the ground, RB Elijah Mitchell had 27 carries for 96 yards and 1 touchdown along with WR Deebo Samuel, who had 10 carries for 72 yards and 1 touchdown. Samuel also had 3 receptions for 38 yards. The leader through the air for San Francisco was WR Brandon Aiyuk, who had 5 receptions for 66 yards. For Dallas, QB Dak Prescott went 23-43 for 254 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Rushing the ball, the Cowboys had a rough game with their leader being RB Ezekiel Elliott, who had only 12 carries for 31 yards. Finally, the 49ers will improve to 11-7 on the season and advance to the Divisional Round of the postseason to face the Green Bay Packers, while the Cowboys will fall to 12-6 and be eliminated from the playoffs.
• Steelers vs Chiefs: In Patrick Mahomes’ first Wild Card game, the Kansas City Chiefs dominated Pittsburgh after a very rough first half. Things looked rough when Kansas City fumbled the ball, which allowed for Steelers LB T.J. Watt to recover the ball for a TD and form a 7-0 lead for Pittsburgh. However, from then on out the Kansas City offense stepped it up and decimated the Steelers. As a result, the Chiefs won 42-21. The big problem for the Steelers was their offense, which couldn’t do anything for the first three quarters of the game. This game will also most likely be Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger’s final game in the NFL. The leader for Pittsburgh was QB Ben Roethlisberger, who went 29-44 for 215 yards and 1 touchdown, with most of his big plays coming in garbage time. On the ground, the Steelers really struggled with their leading rusher being RB Najee Harris, who had 12 carries for 29 yards. Pittsburgh did have a couple of good receivers in wide receivers James Washington, who had 2 receptions for 37 yards and 1 touchdown, along with Diontae Johnson, who had 5 receptions for 34 yards and 1 touchdown. For Kansas City, QB Patrick Mahomes in a winning effort went 30-39 for 404 yards, 5 TDs, and 1 interception. Rushing and receiving the ball, RB Jerick McKinnon had a fantastic game with a total of 142 yards and 1 touchdown. Also TE Travis Kelce had a great day receiving with 5 receptions for 108 yards and 1 touchdown. The Steelers will finish the season at 9-8-1 and be eliminated from the postseason, while the Kansas City Chiefs will improve to 13-5 and move on to the Divisional Round of the playoffs to face the Buffalo Bills.
• Cardinals vs Rams: In the final game of Wild Card weekend, Rams QB Matthew Stafford finally got his long deserved first playoff win with a dominant 34-11 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. In this game, everything went wrong for Arizona after a fantastic start to the season. The Los Angeles defense kept the Cardinals offense in check the entire game, along with forcing two turnovers from Arizona QB Kyler Murray. The offense for Arizona also struggled and wasn’t able to convert on a single 3rd down the entire game. The Rams offense wasn’t super explosive, but they did want they needed to do to win. The leader for Arizona was QB Kyler Murray, who went 19-34 for 137 yards and 2 interceptions. Rushing the ball, the Cardinals struggled mightily with their leading rusher being RB Chase Edmonds, who had 8 carries for a measly 28 yards. Through the air, their best receiver was WR Christian Kirk, who had 6 receptions for 51 yards. For Los Angeles, QB Matthew Stafford led the way, with 202 yards for 2 touchdowns. On the ground, both running backs had good games, with Sony Michel having 13 carries for 58 yards and Cam Akers had 17 carries for 55 yards. Finally, incredible WR Cooper Kupp had 5 receptions for 61 yards, along with 2 touchdowns and WR Odell Beckham Jr. had 4 receptions for 54 yards and 1 touchdown. The Cardinals will fall to 11-7 on the season and be eliminated from the postseason, while the Los Angeles Rams will improve to 13-5 on the season and advance to the Divisional Round to face Tom Brady and the beaten up Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a rematch of Week 3’s mathcup that resulted in a Rams 34-24 victory.