NFL Divisional Playoffs - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It seems that every single round of the NFL Playoffs this year are managing to top the last one. We had some incredible games during Wild Card Weekend, but the Divisional Round gave us some instant classics, and a moment of redemption for a seasoned veteran. It makes one wonder what we can expect from the Conference Championships, but before we get there let's revisit the games from last weekend one more time as we look at the top stories from the Divisional Round.

1. While the New England Patriots enjoyed the win...the Kansas City Chiefs made it a close one and once again demonstrated why you have to bring your best when it comes to play on the field...and coaching into the playoffs. The fact of the matter is...a lot of the blame for this game falls on Andy Reid's shoulders. Clock management is essential for both the head coach and the quarterback when it's crunch time with the game on the line and well...Andy screwed the pooch on this one. His need to call the perfect play rather than put a little faith in his players cost precious seconds off of the clock and the end result is what it is. The Chiefs season has come to an end and Tom Brady will appear in his tenth AFC Championship and I'm hoping someone above Coach Reid has a little talk with him about his piss poor clock management skills or that maybe it's time to hand over play calling to his offensive coordinator.

2. Over the years I've heard plenty of speeches and talk from coaches about how their team didn't fight enough or how they simply didn't want it more than the other guys and I'm glad that none of that talk will ever apply to Saturday night's Cardinals/Packers game. Both teams were desperate for the win and from the moment the game kicked off to those final incredible seconds, you could see it on the field with one hard fought play after another, and while every single person on the Cardinals squad did their part, let's be honest, the hero of the night was Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The man simply pulled off miracles to put his team in a position to win and this to me is an instant playoff classic. Congratulations to the Cardinals on their hard earned win, they're going to need that battle tested mentality for the NFC Championship game.

3. The Carolina Panthers are quite good at two things. Winning games in impressive fashion, and making me eat crow as often as possible. I have given this team a lot of hell in my write ups, including this weekend's picks and I even went as far as to say that Seattle was going to win that game. So yeah...I was totally wrong about that and it's clear it's foolish of me to keep talking crap about the Panthers, because they served up an unholy beatdown on the Seahawks, the likes of which you rarely see in the playoffs. Sure, Seattle was able to surprise and hang with them a little bit in the third quarter, but none of that mattered in the end. The Seahawks were doomed from kickoff and the Panthers are going to make life interesting for the Arizona Cardinals come next Sunday.

4. There was a time when the Denver Broncos would come out on to the field and drop thirty or forty points on a team, let a few touchdowns through and call it a day and enjoy the win. Well those days are gone now and Broncos fans simply need to get used to it. This is a team that is going to win, but it's going to be ugly any way you slice it and yesterday's victory over the Steelers is proof of that. There were dropped passes, runs for a loss and not a touchdown in sight for the offense until the fourth quarter when the defense did what it does best, forcing a turnover and allowing the offense to get the big time touchdown it needed to secure the win and bring the AFC Championship to the Mile High City. We can be as critical as we want about the mistakes in this game, I know I was until a good friend pointed out that hey...they freaking won and a win is indeed a win. So I'll enjoy this one and maybe put a little more faith in the Broncos come next Sunday, simply because they always manage to find a way to do something spectacular.

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