What a wild weekend (minus the Pats blow-out) of playoff football!
- My hometown Eagles pull out a tight on that came down to a last second goal line play
- Out of nowhere, Blake Bortles doesn't look like an average high school QB and the Jags defense continue to be Big Ben's kryptonite... Jags pull out an upset
- Then of course, a play that will go down in history. But it should go down as one of the WORST defensive plays of all time, not any "best plays" list...
How does that guy miss the tackle?
Anyway, let's get to my take on the weekend:
- These QBs are not good. The QB lineup heading into the NFC and AFC Championship games is quite lackluster. Foles, Bortles, Keenum doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of their opponents, but all 3 managed the game well enough to get the Ws.
- Keenum does deserve a bit more credit. All year people have been saying the guy is not very good and he continues to outperform most QBs in the NFL... this past week beating out one of the all time greats in Drew Brees.
- Defense is the name of the game - Outside of the Patriots, the other 3 teams made it on defense. The QBs that lost this week were Matt Ryan, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger... the latter 2 are guaranteed Hall of Famers and Matt Ryan needs a couple more good years to be in the same conversation. The key - all 3 teams pressure the quarterback. Of all of the playoff teams, the Eagles, Jags, and Vikings do it best.
- Last take - is this a walk in the park for the Pats? - Will be interesting to see if the Jags defense / running game is as great as they showed last week, or if Brady / Belichick rip them apart and the Pats stroll into the Super Bowl without a really fight.
- Real last take - GO BIRDS - All Eagles fans were terrified when Wentz went down. Then Foles came in and didn't look bad for a week, then he looked like a complete train wreck for 2 weeks before the playoff bye week.
He didn't look amazing, but he didn't do anything dumb which is all we needed. After seeing the defense perform at another level this past week, I'm as confident as ever we can ride them to the promise land. SUPER BOWL ALL THE WAY!
I was lucky enough to attend the Eagles game in person this past weekend.... here is a pic post game:
Look out for another recap after the NFC and AFC Championship games next weekend!