What a run of NFL football we just had! Now that the slate has been wiped clean, let’s take a look back at the games that were and stack rank every team that played during Wild Card Weekend’s offensive performance.
Bye: Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers
Bye: Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens will face the Texans. This won’t be easy for Baltimore, it will be a good one.
Bye: San Francisco 49ers
The niners are big time favorites over the Packers in San Fran.
12. Philadelphia Eagles
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Man, it was a really tough few weeks for the Eagles—its offense included down the stretch of the season. Critics were coming back out of the woodworks to besmirch Jalen Hurts good name and dance on the metaphorical graves of Eagles fans.
People were even out there calling for Nick Sirianni’s job!
And you know what… they were right! What an embarrassing performance from all involved with the Eagles offense. 9 points in a playoff game? Tough.
11. Miami Dolphins
Well… I guess we can finally say—and we can say it without the slightest bit of consternation… The Miami Dolphins and its high-flying offense led by Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa, and, of course, Mike McDaniel are frauds. After being one of the top offenses in the league all season (at least when they were facing off against inferior competition), they were humiliated on the national stage.
Miami managed just 264 total yards of offense on Saturday, as the Chiefs bullied them all game. What was particularly disappointing from the Fins was their inability to move the ball, they finished with only 13 first times, largely because they converted just one of 12 3rd conversions.
10. Cleveland Browns
Sad, but true, the Cleveland Browns-Joe Flacco Cinderella story came crashing down on Saturday evening. The Browns moved the ball reasonably well, but way too many drives stalled out, largely because of their inability to run the ball. Neither Kareem Hunt nor Jerome Ford could get up over 30 yards and the team finished with just 56 rushing yards in total.
Flacco’s old demons resurface as well, as the veteran quarterback surrendered two backbreaking interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. It is tough to win football games when you are essentially giving the opposition 14 points straight off the bat.
To be fair to Flacco though, Cleveland’s offensive line didn’t do him any favors, as they allowed the Texans d-line to get in the backfield time and time again, which resulted in four sacks. Tough showing getting shut out in the second half.
9. Dallas Cowboys
What a pitiful showing from Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys offense on Sunday! The team came out completely flat against a Green Bay side that came into the game as the 7th seed and considerable underdogs.
There may have never been an emptier 400-plus yard stat line than the one that Dak Prescott put up. The Cowboys quarterback looked absolutely mortified throughout the entire first half and tossed a couple of horrendous interceptions, one of which got returned for a touchdown. It wasn’t until late in the game, once the outcome was all but decided, that Prescott was able to do anything even remotely productive.
Part of the problem was Dallas’s continued inability to run the ball as well. Tony Pollard managed just 56 yards on 15 carries. All in all, just a horrible offensive performance from the entire unit.
8. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers got off to an extremely rough start on the offensive side of the ball on Monday Night. With the way that they struggled in the first half—and Mason Rudophi’s earl redzone interception—it looked like the Bills might end up pulling away entirely long before the game’s proper ending.
Credit to Mike Tomlin though because the veteran head coach was able to make some key adjustments and rally off the momentum that followed the blocked field goal and the unit really picked it up from that point on.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay’s offense struggled during their last couple of games of the regular season, so the fact that even showed up at all against the Eagles this week must have been a relief.
But all the credit in the world to Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans and the rest of that Bucs offense, who balled out with the season on the line against what was once a strong Eagles defense. The team racked up 426 yards of total offense and an impressive 32 points in the win.
6. Los Angeles Rams
The Rams offense went blow for blow with the Lions all night on Sunday, putting up over 400 yards of total offense. Matt Stafford reminded everyone that he is as tough as they come, standing in there and taking a handful a monster hits in route to a 25 for 36, 367 yard, and two-touchdown performance.
Puka Nacua also deserves a lot of credit for the way that he balled. The single-season rookie receiver record holder hauled in nine catches for 181 yards and a touchdown and it seemed like every time he got his hands on the ball that the Rams had a chance to score.
Unfortunately, Los Angeles did sort of fall asleep after the intermission. The team managed just six second half points. Part of the problem for the Rams was that they couldn’t get much going on the ground. Kyren Williams, who was nearly unstoppable during the second half of the regular season, struggled to get any consistent usage.
5. Buffalo Bills
After the way that the Buffalo Bills started off on Monday Night, it looked like that offense was about to catch fire and be unstoppable all night. Josh Allen was in full Superman-mode, scoring three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) in the first half of the game.
The production, however, came to a screeching halt, largely due to the momentum shift following the blocked field goal that was ultimately converted into a touchdown and the end of the first half and Bills looked like a completely different offense from that point on.
Pittsburgh’s defense does deserve credit for battening down the hatches, but we have come to expect more out Allen, Stefon Diggs, and co.
4. Detroit Lions
At long last, the Detroit Lions have broken their string of bad luck and won a playoff game—and the Jared Goff-led offense was a huge reason why. Detroit came out of the gates hot, picking up a David Montgomery touchdown on the very first drive of the game.
The Lions were able to put 21 points on the board in the first half, all of which they needed considering they fell back into first gear in the second half only scoring three more points.
To Detroit’s credit though, they did just enough to outlast the Rams, largely because the Lions stars showed up. Goff completed 22 of 27 for 277 and a score, Amon-Ra St. Brown went for seven catches and 110 yards, and the two-headed monster of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combined for 136 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Even Sam LaPorta was able to get in the end zone despite battling through that nasty injury we saw him sustain last week.
All in all, a fantastic showing for the fellas from the Motor City.
3. Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs offense still wasn’t reminiscent of the super-dynamic iterations of it we’ve seen in years past, but they were still extremely impressive on Saturday in the frigid conditions at Arrowhead.
Andy Reid deployed a balanced offensive attack, leaning just as heavily on Isiah Pacheco as he did Patrick Mahomes. Most importantly, the Chiefs got a much-needed, game-changing performance out of a wide receiver. In fact, Rashee Rice, even outplayed Travis Kelce. Mahomes and the rookie wideout connected eight times for 130 yards and one touchdown.
Kansas City finished this night having racked up 26 points and over 400 yards of total offense.
2. Houston Texans
The Houston Texans had an explosive showing on Saturday as they shredded the once-mighty Browns defense. Of course, they were aided by an impressive performance from the Texans defense itself, as it put up 14 points via two pick-sixes.
That said, C.J. Stroud and the boys were putting in work themselves. The surefire Rookie of the Year absolutely carved up the Browns secondary despite only having 21 attempts. Stroud completed 16 of them for 274 yards and three touchdowns, each of them to a different receiver.
Nico Collins led the way for Houston on Wild Card weekend, hauling in six catches for 96 yards and one of those aforementioned touchdowns.
1. Green Bay Packers
What a showing from the Green Bay Packers offense on Wild Card Weekend. Led by Jordan Love, the Packers came out of the gates firing on Sunday, jumping out to a 27 – 7 lead on the road. The Cowboys defense had absolutely no answer for the balanced offensive strategy that Green Bay deployed.
When all was said and done, the Packers had racked up over 400 yards of total offense and a mammoth total of 48 points—marking an emphatic win for the 7th seed in the NFC Playoffs.
