The NFL Roundup 2019: Divisional Round – What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

​I said it the other day, and I will say it again, this year’s Divisional Round ended up surprising me in just about every single way imaginable. After all, we usually see some kind of wild upset, or some kind of earth-shattering play. But this past weekend’s slate of games featured little of either, instead it was old school football, and downright domination from some teams as the cream of the NFL’s crop punched their ticket to Championship Sunday. But, despite the fact that this weekend wasn’t quite as wild as we might have liked for it to be, there’s still plenty to discuss when it comes round two of the NFL Playoffs, so let’s get right down to it and break down exactly what we learned from the Divisional Round.
 
Irony, meet the Indianapolis Colts.
One of the highlights of Wild Card Weekend, was the intensity that the Indianapolis Colts brought to the field. Because their fierce style of play, and obvious preparation is precisely why they dominated the Houston Texans. But boy, what a difference a week makes. I don’t know if Indy spent the whole week riding high on that victory or what, but they were not prepared in the slightest when they took the field against the Kansas City Chiefs, and apparently, they left their swagger in Houston because wow…they were manhandled in KC. The Chiefs simply carved them up like a Holiday roast in the ugliest of fashion and well, all we can do is hope that this is a fine lesson for Indy in that, you can’t take a week off when it comes to intensity and it’s on to the next one as soon you get back to work on Monday.
 
The Los Angeles Rams exercised great patience in their win over Dallas.
Make no mistake about it, the Dallas Cowboys had one hell of a year, and their energy and swagger down the stretch made them a lot of fun to watch in the playoffs, and that joy extended to Saturday night’s game. Because the Cowboys came to play in L.A. and were fierce on the field and hungry for a win. But the Rams, who were similar in their enthusiasm last year, made sure to not let the moment get the better of them, and they were quite patient in this game, and waited for the right opportunities on both offense and defense, and for their patience, they were rewarded with a magnificent playoff win over a quality team, and now they are one step closer to the biggest game in all the land and I tip my cap to the Rams and their supremely zen style of play in this matchup.
 
The Los Angeles Chargers embarrassed themselves in Foxboro.
What I continue to find funny about teams that face the Patriots in the playoffs, is that they all seemingly forget that the Pats are in fact beatable, and that there is a formula to making that happen. For time and time again, teams that play tight man coverage on Brady’s receivers, and hit #12 or sack him, are the ones who walk away with an important regular season or postseason victory. The Chargers undoubtedly knew this heading into Foxboro, and they demonstrated in their victory over the Ravens that they are able to adapt their defense to defeat a particular offense when necessary. But instead, they chose to go the ‘safe’ route this weekend and embarrassed themselves in the process. They played zone or Cover 3 (and up) all game long against a quarterback who thrives on that, and to make matters worse, the Chargers offensive game plan was as vanilla as it gets and it didn’t exploit a weak secondary and well, when all is said and done, hopefully this blowout loss will teach Los Angeles a big lesson in how properly preparing for an opponent can reap all kinds of benefits.
 
The New Orleans Saints didn’t let adversity rattle them.
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again; great teams are defined by how they perform with adversity surrounding them and for proof, look no further than the Eagles/Saints game. Because Philadelphia came out swinging and stunned the Saints early on with a beautiful interception of Drew Brees before quickly putting 14 points on the board, and let’s be honest, that kind of fast and dominant play can and will rattle most teams. But the Saints didn’t let it bother them in the slightest and they stuck with their game plan, made adjustments on the fly and eventually put up all the points necessary to secure the win and by keeping a level head during this game, Drew Brees gets another chance to lock up a conference title for the Big Easy since the Saints will be hosting the NFC Championship Game.   

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