Kyle Shanahan's dad was the 49ers' OC for the '94 NFC title game against the Cowboys, and the coach showed his team tape of that game this week AlbertBreer's MMQB column on wild-card weekend leads with the wild game in Big D ↓
But we’re starting with the game of the weekend, which stoked an old rivalry that had been dormant for decades.
But as we said earlier, this one wound up being no Picasso. Dallas swung back, and stayed in play, down just 16–7 at the half, only to see the Niners start to pull away again. One of a number of costly Cowboys penalties, this one a block-in-the-back with seven minutes left in the third quarter, erased an eight-yard gain on first-and-10 and eventually led to a second-and-28, on which K’Waun Williams picked off Dak Prescott at the Cowboys’ 26.
Just as Samuel had let Shanahan know he was ready for that moment, the first three quarters showed everyone the physical, edgy Niners were ready for theirs.Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports “He did throw that pick, but the ball got away from him. It did. It wasn’t a bad decision, just got away from him. And I’ve been down that road with Jimmy. … When he throws a pick, it doesn’t change him. He’s gonna still be the same, and that’s why I always have the confidence to keep going back with him and just try to call what’s right.”
“When you lose Fred, it’s the middle of your whole coverage. And then you lose your best pass rusher, one of the best pass rushers in the league, it is a little discouraging, but guys just stepped up,” Shanahan said. “And then there at the end, I mean getting to that fourth down, [coordinator] DeMeco [Ryans] calling that all-out blitz, someone’s gonna come free on that so you gotta have good coverage and you gotta hit it right.
“But our defense was awesome all day. They stepped it up huge. K’Waun’s pick was unbelievable. I’m just real proud of everybody.” “Hey, I’ve never in my life worn a ski mask coaching a football game,” McDermott said late Saturday night, from his office at the stadium after thawing out. “Yeah, just … I went out there in warmups thinking,. And nah, like I had to have somebody bring a hat out for me, because I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it back in with two ears still intact by the end of warmups.
But this didn’t happen overnight. The Bills have been building to this, really, since that Monday night, with a core group that, while still young, has been together for a while. The week after that loss to the Patriots, the Bills came back from a 24–3 deficit to force overtime in Tampa, then won four straight games by double-digits to win the East again and finish 11–6.
McDermott’s right, of course. The biggest flaw the Bills had the first three months of the season is that against good teams, they couldn’t run or stop the run, and that was highlighted in a very big way in the inclement conditions of Dec. 26. This time around, they nearly doubled-up the Patriots in rushing yards , and choked out New England’s running game when the game was still in any semblance of doubt.
Of course, Allen wasn’t the only one. McDermott even made a point of throwing praise to the team’s equipment director for getting everyone outfitted right for the conditions—“Our equipment staff, led by Jeff Mazurek, did a phenomenal job being out in front of it. And then, I know during the week, our strength and conditioning, medical staff, sports science staff and probably some others that, I wasn’t in the meeting.
And it’s mostly because they’re not as healthy as they were in 2020. Most of the secondary spent a good chunk of the season on the shelf. Tom Brady’s skill group has been nicked up. Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown missed most of October and November, before Brown, and Chris Godwin tore his ACL. And while it hasn’t been perfect, through all of it, the Bucs have mostly been able to keep the train on the tracks, even if that has meant having a late-season launching point like they did last year.
But to David, looking at his return, or who was in and who was out, would be missing the point he and his teammates have been trying to drive home all year, on that standard. But it wasn’t quite to the point where he was ready to say the team’s hit the sort of stride it did at this time last year—mostly because it didn’t finish the way he’d hoped against Philly.
The first was a third-and-3, with 3:42 left and the score 26–16. On the play, Bengals DE Sam Hubbard got in a passing lane, and Derek Carr doinked the ball off his head. The second was a fourth-and-goal from the Bengals’ 9, with the score 26–19 and 17 seconds left. Germaine Pratt stepped in front of Zay Jones there and picked off Carr and end the game.
On the first one, Anarumo explained, the Bengals only rushed three, and bracketed both Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow, while flooding the underneath area, which led to hesitation from Carr . On the second one, Anarumo explained, it was the freedom the call gave Pratt to read the quarterback’s eyes, which helped lead him to the ball.
“There’s literally nowhere I’d rather be,” he said. “And that’s just, for me, I love working here. My wife loves living here. Our kids love their friends and their school, and it’s kind of amazing how this all transpired. We were here in 2016, and then of all the places I get an opportunity to go coach, it’s right back at the city that we really loved as much as anywhere we’ve ever lived. So really special to be able to enjoy this with everybody.”The Chiefs are still the Chiefs.
So we get as good a divisional round game as you could hope for—with the high-powered Bills set to go shot for shot with Kansas City next week. This will be the second straight year the two have met in the playoffs, and the chances seem good that Allen vs. Mahomes is going to meanWhile we’re there, and before we jump into the coaching carousel, here’s the full divisional slate for next weekend:• Rams/Cardinals at Buccaneers, 3 p.m. ET, NBC.
Speaking of time, David Culley deserved more, but the way 2021 went showed that the union between him and Texans GM Nick Caserio would never be long-term. Is there a way around that? Does Wilson have the stomach for a rebuild? Would the team be better off trading him and starting over? Would he be better off giving the team another list of destinations and actually asking for a trade this time?
• The fact that a lot of these names are new is another positive, as Vincent sees it—with coaches like Rams assistant head coach Thomas Brown and scouts like Arizona’s Quentin Harris popping up for the first time, reflecting the belief that the pipeline’s only getting stronger. “You got a good mixture of wisdom and who’s the upper-comer,” he said. “That is consistent with what you’re seeing on the coaching side. The young, the innovative, the smart, so that’s encouraging.
• Weddle knew Rams coordinator Raheem Morris going back 14 years—to when Morris was Weddle’s position coach in the ’07 Senior Bowl. So when Morris called Weddle on Tuesday, having lost safeties Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp, he cut right to the chase. “Are you fat and out of shape?” Morris asked, with a laugh. From there, Morris told Weddle the Rams wanted him to give a fire-drill comeback a shot.
Even after that, there weren’t many guarantees on how the rest of this was going to go. But Weddle showed up and learned a defense he didn’t know, and by Thursday he was helping Ramsey run it on the back end. And he did it wearing No. 20—Ramsey’s old number, which the Rams had intentionally shelved for the year—with Ramsey’s blessing. “Weddle 2.0,” he’s joked. After seeing Weddle 2.
2) Even wearing the shiner they took on Saturday night, the Patriots have plenty to be excited about looking forward. There’s a 23-year-old quarterback, in Mac Jones, in an offense that might be one receiver away from being really good. There’s, for the first time in a while, a nice base of young talent. But one thing, without question, that will be tricky for New England is getting younger on defense, with so many accomplished vets set to hit free agency.
9) T.J. Watt’s been an absolute blast to watch this year, and that continued with Sunday’s touchdown. The Steelers’ defensive terrorizer deserves every penny of that new contract, as well as10) There are lots of dumbfounding Brady stats out there. Want a few? He now has 35 playoff wins. Among quarterbacks, Joe Montana is second on that list with 16.
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