The first week of the NFL postseason completed on Monday. Here are five headlines of the weekend that was.
5) Excellent defense.
We saw great defense from the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams. The Texans picked off Justin Herbert four times, the Ravens and Eagles prevented their opposition from scoring a first half point, the Bills blanked the Broncos in the second half, and the Rams sacked Sam Darnold nine times.
4) Rams win in Arizona.
Due to the California wildfires, the wildcard game between the Rams and Minnesota Vikings was moved to Arizona. The change in location did not impact the Rams at all as they were completely in sync all night long in a 27-9 win. The Vikings meanwhile seemed to have been impacted by their poor performance in Week 18 against the Detroit Lions, and simply did not respond.
3) Rare defensive extra point return.
A major turning point in the Texans win over the Los Angeles Chargers came in the fourth quarter. That is when Cameron Dicker’s convert was blocked by Denico Autry of Albemarle, North Carolina and returned by D’Angelo Ross of La Puente, California for a rare two point play. At the time, the Texans took a 25-12 lead.
2) Three upsets.
Three underdogs won on the weekend. The Texans beat the Chargers handily 32-12 as a 2.5 point underdog. The Washington Commanders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday night 23-20 as a three point underdog. The Rams beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-9 as a 2.5 point underdog.
1) Commanders win a classic.
The best game of the weekend was by far Sunday night between the Washington Commanders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In his playoff debut, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was exceptional as he had 268 yards passing, two touchdown passes, and a quarterback rating of 110.2 in a 23-20 Washington win.
