It was a wild, wild card weekend indeed as the four teams competing for a spot in the playoffs battled it out on the gridiron. Let’s have a recap of how it all played out
Kansas City Chiefs vs Houston Texans
It was the Kansas City Chiefs rolling over the Houston Texans to win the game 30-0, aided by a horrible performance by Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer, who threw 4 interceptions and 5 five total turnovers in a lopsided game dominated by Kansas City.
Though the Chiefs didn’t quite have a particularly great game, they did manage to get the job done. Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith threw an interception in the first half and completed 17 of 22 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown. This was tallied along with 143 yards rushing via the ground game. The Chiefs were forced to play a wild card game against the Texans, after falling short in winning the AFC West. However, this was good news for Kansas City as they had defeated Houston earlier in the season and it wasn’t a surprise they won this game as well.
Houston quarterback Brian Hoyer has a dismal performance, completing 7 of 14 passes for a paltry 61 yards in the first half, with three interceptions and a forced fumble. This allowed the Chiefs to take the early 13-0 lead before halftime, which they then capped off with a second touchdown in the second half, behind a great play orchestrated by Smith to take the 27-0 lead. Kansas City put up an additional field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the game.
The Chiefs now head to face the New England Patriots on Saturday, January 16th.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cincinnati Bengals
The Steelers barely scratched the win over the Bengals 18-16 last Saturday, in a controversial game that many are clamoring should be put under the lens. In fact, as many as 35,000 signatures have been collected in an online petition calling for an investigation into possible manipulation of the game.
Though the Steelers won the game, it might have come at a price. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger might not be available to play against Denver in their next game and this could spell disaster for Pittsburgh who is heavily reliant on a healthy Ben.
Cincinnati was a minute and 36 seconds away from finally winning a game in the postseason since Boomer Esiason’s era back in 91, before the football gods turned the tide on them. It was close but no cigar for the Bengals, as running back Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball, the Steelers recovered, and Ben Roethlisberger took the ball to the Bengals’ 47-yard line with 22 seconds to go. Then Vontaze Burfict was flagged for a 15-yard penalty that took them to the 32-yard line and finally Adam Jones was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, which took them to the 17-yard line and set up the game winning field goal from first-year kicker Chris Boswell.
Regardless of the controversy, the Bengals went packing home and now the Steelers head to Denver next Sunday to face the Broncos.
Seattle Seahawks vs Minnesota Vikings
10-9. That was the score in this game, that saw the Seahawks pass on to the Divisional Round. It was undoubtedly a heart-breaking affair for Vikings fans to watch kicker Blair Walsh miss the game-winning field goal with 22 seconds left in the clock. The Vikings took the ball at their 39 yard line with 1:42 left in the clock and drove deep in Seattle’s territory, however Walsh missed the winner and sent them packing home. Walsh now is the fourth Vikings kicker to miss a field goal in the past 20 postseasons. Morten Andersen had a 27-yard field goal blocked in the 2004 wild-card round, Gary Anderson missed a 38-yard field goal in the 1998 NFC Championship Game, and Eddie Murray missed a 48-yard attempt in the 1997 wild-card round.
Credit should be given to the Seahawks however, as they rallied to gain 10 points over 3 minutes of play time to take the lead in the fourth quarter, behind the craftiness of quarterback Russell Wilson who got the ball back in his hands after a bad snap and a forced turnover which led to a touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin and eventually to a field goal by kicker Steven Hauschka.
Seattle now heads to Carolina to face the Panthers in what’s expected to be an action-packed game.
Green Bay Packers vs Washington Redskins
In what was, in our opinion, the best game of the weekend, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Washington Redskins by a score of 35-18.
After a horrible first quarter, the Packers offense, led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, then rallied back and took control of the game in the second quarter to win the game. Rodgers drove the Packers for four touchdowns and a field goal in their final three possessions of the first half and their first two possessions of the second half.
It was the classic controlling of the clock, with long drives that added up to a total of 326 yards in 47 plays. In fact, how the Packers played prompted Redskins coach Jay Gruden to comment: “We couldn’t get them off the field, Aaron did what he did. Had a great game. They had a good game plan for us. Both sides of the ball.”
The win without a doubt brings much motivation as they now head to Glendale, Arizona to face off against the second-seeded Arizona Cardinals. And they’ll need every ounce of motivation they can muster if they’re to beat the Cardinals after having been defeated by them just a couple of weeks back by a score of 38-8. And, for betting fans everywhere can now look forward to one really interesting game in the desert.
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