The NFL’s inaugural “Tremendous Wild Card Weekend” unfolded with a reasonably dramatic tripleheader kicking off the 2020 season’s playoffs.
Backup quarterbacks performed main roles – as did grizzled vets and passers both getting into or reaching their primes. All three video games have been pretty shut, although just one produced an upset … and a gentle one at that.
However there was ample drama and loads of open-ended questions – Rams stars Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp could not end in Seattle because of accidents – and none of Saturday’s victors know who they will face subsequent weekend for the reason that league reseeds the sector.
However we do have a couple of solutions, i.e. Saturday’s winners and losers …
Winners
Payments Mafia: The ardent followers of Buffalo, the AFC’s model of Inexperienced Bay, acquired to take pleasure in their first playoff win in 1 / 4 century – and a few of them even attended the Payments’ defeat of the Colts in Orchard Park, N.Y. Excellent news: Payments Stadium will host one other recreation subsequent weekend.
Tom Brady: He now has as many playoff wins (one) with out Invoice Belichick as Belichick has with out TB12. Brady’s thirty first postseason victory prolonged his personal file amongst quarterbacks.
Jared Goff: Saturday’s aid look was the previous No. 1 draft choose’s first playoff motion since he and the Rams have been stifled 13-3 by the Patriots in Tremendous Bowl LIII. Within the interim, Goff was the main target of L.A.’s offensive struggles – his numbers tumbling because the workforce missed the postseason in 2019 earlier than a 2020 resurrection largely credited to the protection. However he got here by way of in Seattle, offering a gutty efficiency 12 days after the damaged thumb on his throwing hand was surgically pinned collectively. Below the circumstances, a 155-yard day that included a backbreaking TD cross to Robert Woods in a 30-20 defeat of the Seahawks appears fairly good.
New York Jets: Seattle’s loss means the Seahawks can be selecting earlier in every spherical of the 2021 draft … besides the Jets personal their alternatives in Rounds 1 and three by advantage of the Jamal Adams commerce. Adams had a fairly tough recreation in opposition to the Rams, and the workforce he pressured to deal him benefited.
Josh Allen: This season’s coming-out celebration for the third-year Payments quarterback is now full. Allen threw for 324 yards and a pair of scores and ran for 54 yards and one other TD. Fairly a redemptive efficiency after he flinched in his playoff debut at Houston final 12 months.
Cam Akers: The operating again set a Rams rookie playoff file with 131 dashing yards, and his 176 yards from scrimmage have been the second most amongst all rookies within the Tremendous Bowl period. Washington’s Timmy Smith had 213 yards in Tremendous Bowl XXII.
Andrew Whitworth: After struggling injury to a number of knee ligaments in opposition to the Seahawks on Nov. 15, the Rams’ veteran left sort out returned Saturday – resuming his fifteenth NFL season and ongoing quest for his first championship.
Taylor Heinicke:Valiant effort by Washington’s emergency quarterback, who handed for 306 yards and a TD and ran for a club-high 46 yards and one other rating. Heinicke even performed by way of an harm to his non-throwing shoulder, revealing after the sport he had suffered an AC joint separation. He possible ensured he’ll have a job within the NFL subsequent 12 months … and will even get a glance as Washington’s starter relying on how issues pan out.
Former Jags: It is solely been three years for the reason that Jacksonville Jaguars got here inside minutes of beating New England to succeed in Tremendous Bowl LII. However it did not take lengthy for what gave the impression to be a proficient younger Jags workforce to unravel earlier than being dismantled in pretty quick order. However fairly a couple of have landed in good conditions. CB Jalen Ramsey is starring for the Rams, who additionally make use of QB Blake Bortles – previously the Jaguars’ starter however maybe L.A.’s major backup subsequent weekend. RB Leonard Fournette had a starring position within the Bucs’ win at Washington. Sunday, former Jags DEs Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell will line up for the scalding Ravens. And subsequent week, longtime Jacksonville TE Marcedes Lewis can be among the many well-rested Packers internet hosting a divisional spherical recreation.
John Wolford: Regardless of failing to outlive the primary quarter of his first playoff look, the Rams’ first-year QB2 was credited with the victory … largely because of the NFL’s antiquated guidelines for awarding wins and losses to quarterbacks. (Basically, begin the sport, and also you turn out to be the pitcher of file.)
Losers
John Wolford: After making his NFL debut within the Rams’ playoff-clinching Week 17 victory, Los Angeles caught with the Wake Forest product and former AAF star forward of Goff. However Wolford sustained a blow to the top/neck space on a questionable hit from Adams. Wolford, 25, who’s been delaying a profession in funding banking to proceed his soccer journey, left Lumen Discipline in an ambulance for additional remark at a Seattle hospital however finally rejoined his victorious teammates.
Alex Smith: And, for readability’s sake, neither Smith nor Wolford is a “loser” … each simply misplaced hard-won alternatives Saturday. Within the case of Smith, the presumptive NFL comeback participant of the 12 months, he simply did not have sufficient time to get his balky calf prepared to write down one other chapter to his Cinderella story.
Seahawks offense: Common at greatest within the second half of the season, QB Russell Wilson and Co. have been abysmal Saturday. Wilson accomplished 11 of 27 passes for 142 yards, threw a pick-six, was sacked 5 occasions behind his sometimes problematic O-line, all whereas overseeing an “assault” that was 2-for-14 on third down. Whoa, ‘Hawks.
Philip Rivers: Was {that a} wrap for one of many biggest gamers in league historical past to by no means attain a Tremendous Bowl? Rivers, who ranks fifth all time in passing yards (63,440) and TDs (421) – he overtook Corridor of Famer Dan Marino in each classes in 2020 – and simply turned 39, was taking part in on a one-year, $25 million cope with the Colts. Based on NFL Community, he’ll want foot surgical procedure this offseason as he and the workforce weigh their choices. Rivers has already been named head coach of St. Michael Catholic Excessive College in Fairhope, Alabama, efficient upon his retirement. However lots of the males who performed with Rivers throughout an NFL profession that is spanned 17 years thus far need to see him hoist a Lombardi Trophy earlier than he is finished. However Saturday’s loss clearly took an emotional toll on No. 17.
Chase Younger: Nice as his first NFL marketing campaign was, a reminder that rookies are supposed to be seen and never heard. The defensive finish shouted “Tom Brady! Tom Brady, I am coming. I need Tom!” after Washington escaped the tanking Eagles in Week 17. Cautious what you would like for, Chase … but when it is what you need, be sure to stroll the stroll subsequent time.
CenturyLink Discipline home-field benefit: The Seahawks entered the weekend with a 10-game playoff successful streak at residence, a lot of it below CenturyLink’s company flag. Nevertheless, their stadium was renamed two months in the past amid the corporate’s rebrand. The Seahawks at the moment are 0-1 in postseason at Lumen Discipline, the place they weren’t so luminous. Their final playoff loss in Seattle occurred practically 16 years in the past to the day … to the St. Louis Rams – when this constructing was known as Qwest Discipline.
Officers: They did not penalize Adams for what appeared a fairly clear-cut unlawful blow to Wolford. However the zebras in Buffalo practically value the Payments a victory, giving the Colts a second likelihood to win or tie after they did not accurately award a fumble by Indianapolis WR Zach Pascal with 26 seconds remaining that may have sealed the end result with out additional drama.
Colts analytics division: Indianapolis coach Frank Reich gambled fairly a bit Saturday. He misplaced a key second-half timeout on a questionable problem. He went for 2 factors when a PAT would’ve reduce Buffalo’s fourth-quarter result in seven (although the analytics bore this one out when the Colts transformed on a subsequent two-point play that reduce the deficit to a few). However Reich’s resolution to eschew a 22-yard subject objective proper earlier than halftime – if transformed, Indianapolis would have taken a 13-7 lead – backfired when Rivers missed WR Michael Pittman Jr. at the back of the tip zone on fourth down. Positively would have been good to have that timeout and people factors on the finish, but it surely should be famous Reich’s aggressive model has sometimes served the Colts nicely and earned his gamers’ respect.
Dwayne Haskins: He may have been within the lineup for the Washington Soccer Crew, taking part in for redemption in a playoff recreation rather than injured Smith. As a substitute, Haskins, a first-round choose in 2019, was planning to go to the Panthers in a bid to rekindle his nascent profession after falling out of favor in Washington.
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Observe USA TODAY Sports activities’ Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis
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