Participants,

It truly was a wild in the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs!

Wincinnati Bengals 26, Oakland Las Vegas Raiders 19
That final Bagel TD should not have counted and the officials later admitted that the play should have been re-done.  And the Raiders almost scored on that final drive, only to come up short on the game’s last play.  It would have been another OT thriller, where the boys from Sin City had an unbeaten record during the regular season.  Those refs will not be calling any more games in this year’s playoffs.

That Joe Burrow to Jamarr Chase connection was evident throughout the game, as the Bagels win their first playoff game in over 30 years.  The Raiders had the messiest of seasons and should be commended for even making the playoffs.

Who Dey?  Dey playing next weekend.

HSBT Update – 2022 Winner starts out strong, with 53 points and a commanding lead of 7 points over Buffalo Bill, Comeback Kid and Pete the Terp.

Buffalo Bills 47, New England Patsies 17
7 possessions and 7 TD’s.  An almost perfect passer rating.  Can you spell U-T-T-E-R  D-O-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N??  The Bills were clicking on every conceivable cylinder, while the Patriots (playing their first-ever Wild Card game on the road under Coach Belichick) understandably never warmed up in the 5° weather.

Bills QB Josh Allen was spectacular in his passing and running game, and patiently dissected the Patriots in every conceivable way.  NE rookie QB Mac Jones delivered a rookie playoff performance, as expected.

Chalk one up for the Bills Mafia.  I’m sure during the post game interview, Belichick said 1 less word than his normal no words.

HSBT Update – Henrico FiveOh takes the honors in this one, with 67 points, edging Comeback Kid and 2022 Winner.

Tampa Bay 31, Philadelphia 15
A second case of domination pops up, this time in Florida.  No hospitalizations, but the Eagles offense spent most of the afternoon on life support.  It didn’t matter how many RB’s or WR’s were out for Tompa Bay, Bucs QB Brady just kept carving up the Philadelphia D like their name-brand cream cheese.

The Eagles did look better than the Patriots, however, if that is any consolation.  It definitely “Hurts So Good Bad” ¯ for the Eagles QB.

HSBT Update – Henrico FiveOh takes this one, too, with Comeback Kid close on his tail, while Ben the Butler posted the 2nd goose-egg of these playoffs.

San Francisco 23, Jerry’s Team 17
It wasn’t the fact that the Cowboys lost, it was more of HOW they lost.  A real nail-biter right to the bitter end.  Did the Cowboys really expect to win after committing 14 penalties, most of them coming at key times.  As CBS announcer Tony Romo observed after the 1st penalty of the day, “Penalties don’t matter until they matter.”

What were the Cowboys thinking on that last drive?  Coaching staff changes coming up soon.  Stay posted for the fallout.  This 49er team is for real, with great balance on both sides of the ball (when healthy).

HSBT Update – Greg the Great posts his 1st win of the season with 48 points, while JTB keeps the goose-egg totals growing.

Kansas City 42, Pittsburgh 21
The Steelers gave their faithful some hope after taking a 7-0 lead in the 2nd quarter.  Then, the Chiefs woke up and that was that.  Kansas City was too fast (don’t they have about 6 WR’s who run under 4.3 in the 40?) and creative, as the Steelers looked more sluggish as the game wore on.  Was this the last Big Ben sighting?

HSBT Update – JTB reverses his fortunes from the last game, by amassing 73 points (highest for the Super Wild Card round).

LA Rams 34, Arizona Cardinals 11
Another game, another thorough beat down.  The star-loaded Rams took control of this one early and never took their foot off the pedal.  Rams QB Stafford was efficient, as was the run game, with the re-energized Cam Akers.  The D looked mighty tough, too.

What happened to the Cardinals?  They were the darlings of the league early in the season and faded mightily down the stretch.  QB Kyler Murray looked sloppy and was highly inefficient for most of the evening.  More than a refresh will be needed and it will take more than sunflower seeds to get these birds back as serious contenders.

HSBT Update – Ben the Butler took the honors in this one, eking out 2022 Winner.  Meanwhile, Greg the Great posted his 2nd goose-egg of the playoffs.

HSBT Standings
After a 3-day playoff binge, including 3 late nights, for the 1st time in HSBT history we have a tie after the Wild Card games!!  This is now shaping up to be the closest competition yet.

• 2022 Winner & Henrico FiveOh – sitting atop the perch with 217 points and a nifty 5-1 record. 2022 Winner is the leader with a variance of 12.0
• Comeback Kid – a very nice opening weekend with 200 points, sporting a 5-1 record, too. He’s #2 with a variance of 12.75
• Ben the Butler surprised the critics with a terrific start, amassing 175 points. Will this be his year to finally capture the trophy?
• Buffalo Bill is off to a slower than usual start in 4th place, and has the weekend’s only 6-0 record. Willy be able to improve his performance next weekend?  He is the all-time leader with 6,480 points in the Divisional Round games.
• Pete the Terp had a quiet and moderately efficient weekend with 159 points (his 2nd highest total for Wild Card Weekend.) For sure, his eyes are focused on this coming weekend.
• JTB earned 143 points and has a little catching up to do, and the goose-egg was a big downer for him. He was in a similar position in 2018, when he captured the trophy.
• Greg the (not so) Great had a slow start, with the only sub-100 point total of the weekend. He’ll be looking to dramatically improve on that this coming weekend.

There are 4 dandy matchups this weekend, and league offices are busy with the usual analytics and evaluations.  Look for my analysis and game predictions later in the week.

Until then, I am

~~ The Commish