NFL divisional round recap: Will Mahomes do it again?

The NFL divisional round has ended but not without legacies forever being changed in the process. 

From the Kansas City Chiefs maintaining the narrative to Mark Andrews’ blunder blowing the Baltimore Ravens’ chance to advance and a kid in Washington shocking the Detroit Lions, it was a wild weekend of games.

Game 1: Chiefs vs Texans

The second round of the NFL playoffs began this past Saturday, Jan 19. with the Chiefs facing the Houston Texans. The game immediately started with a bang as the opening kickoff was returned for 63 yards by the Chiefs’ Nikko Remigio, quickly resulting in a field goal.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Travis Kelce, even after having one of the quietest regular seasons of his career. The tight end had 117 receiving yards and a touchdown. This outburst by Kelce made him the all-time leader in playoff games with 100+ receiving yards, with nine, passing 49ers legend Jerry Rice.

The main story coming out of this game was the alleged favouritism shown to the Chiefs, particularly their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Two calls in particular caused outcry from Texans’ fans. 

One was a roughing the passer call on a seemingly clean hit from Will Anderson Jr. on Mahomes which led to a field goal, as well as an unnecessary roughness penalty on Henry To’oTo’o on another seemingly clean play.

Despite the controversy, this game was not close, with the Texans missing two field goals and only scoring one touchdown. With this win, the Chiefs have made their seventh straight AFC championship game. 

Game 2: Washington Commanders vs Detroit Lions

The Lions were Super Bowl hopefuls entering the playoffs and among the people’s favourites but their season was ended prematurely by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. 

The Lions injured defense simply wasn’t able to handle the 45-point onslaught by the Commanders.

The Lions, coming off their best season in franchise history, committed five turnovers, four coming at the hands of quarterback Jared Goff who threw three interceptions as well as giving up a fumble.

The rookie star, Daniels, showed his pedigree in this game. The young phenom threw for nearly 300 yards as well as two touchdowns. His passer rating of 122.9 in this game ranks fifth all-time by a rookie in a playoff game. The dual threat rookie also rushed for 51 yards.

Game 3: Los Angeles Rams vs Philadelphia Eagles

The third game of the weekend and first Sunday game was a running back duel between the Rams’ Kyren Williams and Eagles superstar Saquon Barkley, with the latter decisively outrunning the competition.

The Eagles amassed 285 rushing yards between Barkley, Jalen Hurts and backup Kenneth Gainwell. Barkley and Hurts accounted for the vast majority of these yards with Saquon rushing for 205 yards and Hurts for 70 yards. 

Barkley himself had a performance for the ages, becoming just the ninth player ever to rush for over 200 yards in a playoff game. His 205 yards rank fifth most all-time in a playoff game. 

The difference in this game was the turnovers, with the Rams surrendering the ball twice while the Eagles didn’t commit a single turnover. Despite this discrepancy, the game came down to one last drive for the Rams.

Despite being pinned on their own 18-yard line with only two and a half minutes remaining and no timeouts, they were able to push the ball all the way to the Eagles’ 13-yard line before Matthew Stafford was sacked, pushing them back to the 22 and eventually turning the ball over on fourth down. 

Game 4: Baltimore Ravens vs Buffalo Bills

The most touted matchup of the divisional round lived up to expectations with a scrappy game resulting in a play that will be scrutinized for years to come. 

Despite an underwhelming passing game from the Bills’ MVP hopeful Josh Allen, Buffalo was able to maintain control of the game throughout most of the four quarters. 

Lamar Jackson, also a MVP hopeful, of the Ravens had a lot riding on this game. At this point he has been labelled a regular-season quarterback who is unable to show up in the playoffs, this narrative was only fed more fuel after he gave up two turnovers in this contest. 

Despite the Ravens committing three turnovers on the day, this game came down to the wire after the Bills were only able to score a field goal off of a Mark Andrews fumble at midfield. This gave Jackson and the Ravens an opportunity to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Playing from their own 12-yard line, they marched all the way down the field with less than four minutes on the clock to score and set up a tense two-point conversion. The play is run to perfection, with Jackson rolling out threatening the defense with his legs. He decides to throw and flicks the ball to the reliable tight end Andrews who just needs to haul the ball in to tie the game, but it slips between his hands and the Ravens’ season ends on a play that needed to be made.

The haunting misque from Andrews was the final play before our conference championships were set.

Now, on Jan. 26, the Commanders face the Eagles and the Bills face the Chiefs after a wild week of play.

Many questions remain. Can Jayden Daniels become the first rookie quarterback to play in the Super Bowl? Can the Eagles make up for their loss against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl 57? Can the Bills make the Championship for the first time since 1993? And most importantly, can the Chiefs make it back to the big dance and keep building their resume as the greatest dynasty the sport has seen?