The NFL Roundup: Divisional Round - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

(Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

For a moment there, it seemed as though the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs was going to be pretty by the numbers. The home team would win, there would be a couple of blowouts, nothing too special. But then Sunday arrived, and big surprises came our way and despite the fact that this was an up and down weekend of football, there were still plenty of fascinating stories to come out of every single game and here is our recap of the top stories from the Divisional Round.


The Pittsburgh Steelers took advantage of every opportunity to secure their win. 
What's always been incredibly interesting about the Pittsburgh Steelers, is that they don't concern themselves with statistics or rankings or anything like that...they only care about the win, and that was never more evident than it was last night. They knew they were up against a great defense, but rather than let that D frustrate them, they were patient, and waited for opportunities to move the ball into field goal range, where they let their kicker Chris Boswell handle the rest...and well, it wasn't the prettiest way to win a game, but win it they did, and one has to admire the Steelers resolve to worry about the victory over anything else and while they will certainly need to do better on offense to keep pace with Tom Brady in the AFC Championship game, they can bask in this win in the meantime and let it serve as a reminder to the rest of the league that patience and execution always pay off.

The Green Bay/Dallas matchup was the absolute best game of the weekend. 
Playoff football has always carried with it a reputation of featuring close and hard fought games where two teams battle it out not only for a chance to advance, but because their entire season and all of their accomplishments are on the line. It doesn't always work out that way, but when it does, we are treated to one incredible game, and that's precisely the best way to describe the Green Bay/Dallas game. Everything you could have asked for and more was on display in this matchup and it was truly a tale of two halves as the Packers left the Cowboys stunned before Dallas mounted one hell of a comeback attempt and well, when all is said and done, once again Aaron Rodgers demonstrated just how elite of a quarterback he is in this league and Dallas has plenty to look forward to in 2017. Either way, this one will likely be regarded as a classic as time marches on, because this one was quite the thriller.

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The Houston Texans squandered away an incredible opportunity.
For a moment there during Saturday night's game...it seemed as though the Houston Texans were about to shock the football world. This motley crew had Tom Brady confused and frustrated, two big components when it comes to beating him and they even kept the score close for a little while...but alas, bad habits resurfaced and everything fell to pieces on the offensive side of the ball, leading to another painful loss and well...the Texans are in need of more than just a quarterback at this point, they need leaders. They have them in spades on defense, but there was no one on the offensive side of the ball to tell this team to settle down and play their game...and the end result was another ugly end to the Houston Texans season. 

The Seattle Seahawks are not mentally tough. 
The word 'toughness' is thrown around football often and with good reason. This is a sport that prides itself on the physical prowess of its players and that they can achieve anything when the game is on the line. But we often forget that mental toughness is just as important as bouncing back from a big hit and for proof of that...look no further than the Seattle/Atlanta game from this weekend. The Seahawks came out and took control early, but one mistake, the safety where Russell Wilson fell into the end zone, completely changed the momentum of the game for Seattle. Suddenly they were undisciplined and made plenty of dumb mistakes and oddly enough their frustration didn't end when the clock struck zero, since Michael Bennett fired off an expletive fueled tirade at a reporter after the end of the game and well...this is stunning to say the least because it shows that the Seahawks need to spend their offseason program working on mental toughness, and it will be up to the coaches to teach this to their players because every team now knows that they can rattle Seattle, and they will all try to do just that in 2017...

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