Hewes Super Bowl Trophy
In: Updates
8 Jan 2018And then there were 8… Having just wrapped up the Wild Card Weekend games and eliminating 4 wannabe’s, now we’re down to serious business. The top seeds will be in action starting this Saturday afternoon and all 4 Divisional Playoff games look to be great matchups. Here are the Wild Card summaries:
Tennessee Titans 22, Kansas City Chiefs 21
It was truly a Dickens classic – “A Tale of Two Halves.” The Chiefs (who lost their 6th straight home playoff game – dating back to 1995) looked to sew up this one up early as they jumped to a 21-3 lead in the 2nd quarter. Then their all-world TE Kelce got hurt and it was all-things Titans for the rest of the game. The obvious highlight was the Titan QB Mariota TD pass to QB Mariota. Only the 2nd time in NFL history and the 1st ever in the playoffs. Another 2nd was the 18+ point deficit they overcame to win on the road (the 1st was the Detroit Lions 61 years ago). Comeback Kid is the 1st out of the HSBT gates with 40 points and JTB is at the other end of the spectrum (can you say goose-egg?).
Atlanta Falcons 26, Lost Angeles Rams 13
Who greased up the hands of the Rams kick returner? He had 2 key miscues that allowed the playoff-experienced Falcons to surprise the super-flat Rams in the Saturday Night Live game. The Rams were obviously jittery with their 31-year old head coach (league’s youngest) in their 1st playoff appearance since relocating from St. Louis.
The Falcons (the only repeat NFC playoff team) looked awfully good and contained a high-charged offense all night long. JTB earns 41 points to erase the “ouch” from the earlier game, as Comeback Kid records his 1st goose-egg of the playoffs.
Jacksonville Jaguars 10, Buffalo Bills 3
Talk about missed opportunities. The Bills had their chances against a very good Jags D, but just couldn’t get it past the goal line. Blake Bortles looked like, well, Blake Bortles. Highly erratic passing, but he did manage to rush for more yards than pass and those rushing yards all came at key points in the game. The Bills D was staunch and the offense had some chances but just did not have enough weapons.
The Jags are lucky to win this one and Pete the Terp goes all out with 98 points to take the lead. 2 more goose-eggs are recorded.
New Orleans Saints 31, Carolina Panthers 26
Probably the most exciting of the weekend games. Saints 39-year old QB Drew Brees has never lost a home playoff game and continued that streak with another masterpiece. Superb accuracy (23 of 33, which is actually sub-par for him) that reminds you of Blake Bortles – NOT. How long will the Panthers remember the missed 25-yard FG from Graham Gano, who made 4 of 5 for the day? That would have changed how the Panthers played the last few minutes.
The Saints go marching in – to Minneapolis. Pete the Terp (again) along with 2018 Winner take top honors in this one with 40 points each. Hey, no goose-eggs finally!
HSBT Standings
With 4 of 11 games in the books (only 13% of our total points are amassed during the Wild Card games), here is where things stand in the quest for the coveted HSBT Trophy:
Look for my Divisional Playoff analysis and game predictions later in the week. There will also be a look back at the HSBT in this our 30th Anniversary season. Plenty of good reading to come!
Until then, I am
~~ The Commish
From its inception in 1989, the premier NFL Playoff football competition incorporates a dual-scoring system that rewards participants to not only pick the winning team, but also the game score with increasing significance every week