Home Field (Dis)advantage on Wild Card Weekend

Home Field (Dis)advantage on Wild Card Weekend

The goal of every team is to ultimately win the Super Bowl and the easiest way to do it is through your home field. As for this Wild Card Weekend, being at home meant nothing, as 3 of the 4 home teams are eliminated with the road teams prevailing. Let’s break all four games from this wild weekend.

YOU LIKE THAT! Kirk has his signature moment against the Saints

Kirk Cousins has been doubted. Called a “choke artist”, “overpaid”, or “a player that will never get it done” through his career, it has been a rollercoaster ride for the franchise quarterback. Despite all the doubts, Kirk Cousins led the troops into the Superdome to take down the 3 seeded New Orleans Saints 26-20 in overtime. The play of the game was a 43-yard bomb to Adam Thielen in overtime to set up the game-winning touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph to push Minnesota across the finish line. Despite Cousins efforts, this game was still won by the rushing attack of Dalvin Cook and their defensive attack, who gave up only 324 total yards. Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen were on Drew Brees’ back the whole game, and it disrupted the rhythm of the fluent Saints offense. Michael Thomas led the Saints offense with 7 catches for 70 yards, but that was basically it for New Orleans, who will once again come up short of a Super Bowl title. As for Minnesota, they will travel to Santa Clara to take on the top-seeded 49ers in a ground and pound matchup on Saturday.

Carson Goes Down, Eagles Can’t Recover, Seahawks Move on

Eagles QB Carson Wentz has had the injury bug his entire career, and it struck again on Sunday night against Seattle. Wentz was going down when he was hit by Jadeveon Clowney helmet-to-helmet on a hit that many people are calling “dirty”. Dirty or not, it knocked Wentz out of the game, putting it in the hands of Josh McCown, who is an established quarterback, but not good enough to will a team like the Eagles to victory. As for Seattle, they didn’t do a lot offensively, but key third-down conversions and timely stops on defense kept them in control the entire game. D.K. Metcalf made his presence known in the playoffs, catching 7 balls for 160 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown. No running back no problem. With basically every Seattle running back done for the season except for a newly signed aging Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson had to find other ways to win and just like he always does, he found a way. Wilson threw for 325 yards and a touchdown in a methodical performance. He also led the team in rushing yards with 45. As for the Eagles, the offense was limited. Miles Sanders led the running game with 14 carries for 69 yards and Dallas Goedert led all receivers with 7 catches for 73 yards. With the win, Seattle will travel to Green Bay as Russell Wilson will look to take down Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs yet again.

Watson plays magician, prevail as the only home team to win

The only home team to win on Wild Card weekend was the Houston Texans, who defeated the Buffalo Bills 22-13 in overtime. Houston trailed most of the game, but like he always does, Deshaun Watson carried his team back into the game. On the day, Watson combined for 302 yards and 2 touchdowns, one being an impressive run on a scramble to get them within one score. Deandre Hopkins chipped in 90 yards, and Bradley Roby led the way on defense with 7 tackles. As for Buffalo, heads should still be held high. While they came up short, the future is bright in Buffalo, especially for young dual-threat QB Josh Allen. Allen threw for 264 yards, ran for 92, and also caught a touchdown, but besides this trick play, Buffalos offense was held to 4 field goals. Late in overtime, Watson dropped back to pass when two defenders were on his back trying to tackle him. Watson broke both tackles, spun out of the play, and ultimately completed the pass. It took a wizard-like effort to make the play, and Watson has made a career of those. The Texans will have a tough test against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs next week in Arrowhead.

DOWN GOES BRADY!! Tannehill and the Titans hold on against New England

This entire season, The New England Patriots have struggled on the offensive side of the ball. With no Gronk, there was no clear number one target for Tom Brady except for Julian Edelman, a player who led the league in drops. As great as Tom Brady is, he needs help, and this year, there was no help for him on the offensive side of the ball. Now to give credit where it is due, hats off to the Tennessee Titans. The Titans were in the dump when they handed the keys to Ryan Tannehill due to the benching of underperforming Marcus Mariota. But when they handed those keys over, the offense took off. The one staple on this team was Derrick Henry, who led the league in rushing. Anyone who was giving the Titans a shot was saying it would be through Derrick Henry, and he dominated on Wild Card Weekend. Henry ran the ball 34 times for 182 yards and a touchdown. A gritty performance and savvy coaching by up and coming great coach, Mike Vrabel, is what was needed to win this game, and they did that. To cap it off, Logan Ryan picked off Brady and returned it to the end zone to extend the lead from 14-13 to 20-13 with only 10 seconds left. With that being said, is this it for Brady? Will he re-sign or sign with another team? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, the Patriots will be sitting at home while Derrick Henry and crew will travel to take on the Super Bowl favorite Baltimore Ravens. It is going to be an extremely tough task, but if Tennessee can establish the run and keep Lamar Jackson from running wild, Tennessee will have a shot to win this game.

-By: Richie Dordas