Welcome back to another edition of Football Morning in Columbia, where KCOU’s Quentin Corpuel highlights the week’s best, worst and everything in-between from the NFL.

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Super Wild Card weekend lives up to its relatively new adjective

From 1978-2020, Wild Card weekend was just…Wild Card weekend. Then, the playoffs expanded in 2021 to allow an extra Wild Card team into the playoffs per conference, which prompted the league to add “super” to the weekend’s name to accommodate the new number of teams that would be participating. If I ever make a dish one day, then make a bigger portion of it a second time, I’ll put “super” in front of the second portion. I shall announce with the utmost valiance one night “family, I’ve made us a super lasagna!”.

The first iteration of Super Wild Card weekend wasn’t very super. The combined margin of victory was 17.2 points, and only two games saw the winning team emerge victorious by one possession. The storylines weren’t incredibly hot – the only big one was Dallas’ epic late-game collapse against the 49ers.

The next iteration was a lot more super. The Jaguars came back from 27 points down to defeat the seemingly cursed Chargers. The Bills barely survived the Skyler Thompson-led Dolphins, and the Bengals escaped the Tyer Huntley-led Ravens. The Giants also picked up their first playoff win in over a decade. 

This year, the third time proved to be…sort of the charm? There were not only spicy storylines –  Mike McCarthy versus his former team, Matthew Stafford versus Jared Goff, Tyreek Hill versus his former team, teams with bleak histories getting a shot at a Super Bowl – they actually delivered. McCarthy and the Cowboys got embarrassed, bucking the trend of seven-seeds getting smacked (their average margin of defeat since 2021 was 12.2). Stafford and Goff both brought their A+ games, and the Rams and Lions were dead even for most of Saturday evening, but Detroit emerged victorious in front of a ruckus home crowd for their first playoff win in 32 years. While victories by the Bills and Chiefs were fairly convincing, Mother Nature’s power of freezing weather and snow made both interesting. Now, one of Brock Purdy, Jordan Love, Jared Goff or Baker Mayfield will be starting in the Super Bowl. 

Now this..this is super. 

Pack ‘em up

Out of the six Wild Card games that happened, I decided to choose one to spotlight in Front Page Headlines. Halfway into Sunday’s game between the Packers and Cowboys, a clear top candidate emerged. 

After the Raiders put a nationally-televised 60-piece on the Chargers back in Week 15, I wrote this about the feeling of being blown out:

You feel like you’ve been hit by a meteor. In a way, you lose yourself, not like an “in-the-zone” Eminem-style lose yourself, but rather, you’re just kind of flesh and bones without an identity. Eyes that were once filled with anticipation become blank. 

Sunday night in Dallas was exactly that. A 12-win season and the hopes of a Super Bowl all came crashing down in a matter of 20 minutes. At halftime, Jimmy Johnson, who is 80 years old and has been out of coaching for 25 years, gave an…impassioned speech to the Cowboys. 

So this is what Jonathan Gannon meant by having fire in your gut. I’ve been on the receiving end of these kinds of talks; you’re playing so poorly that your head coach’s actual advice is to remember how to play the game you’re playing. Every single person is called out for letting hours of hard work evaporate amidst a single-game dismantling. These kinds of talks signal that your team’s morale is beyond repair.

Since their last Super Bowl win in 1995, the Cowboys have made 13 more postseason appearances. While they’ve all ended in defeat, most have ended in one of the following two ways; a heartbreaking late-game defeat, or a regular ol’ loss to a superior or evenly-matched team. There’ve only been a couple of blowouts; a 29-10 loss to the Panthers in the 2004 Wild Card, and a 34-3 loss to the Vikings in the 2010 Divisional Round. This time was different. Their 48-32 loss wasn’t just a super defeat; it doesn’t even accurately represent how dominant the Packers were. They led by as much as 32 in the fourth quarter. They became the first two-seed to ever lose to a seven-seed in the new playoff format (established 2021). They weren’t just embarrassed; they were embarrassed on their home turf by a team they were supposed to beat. 

For the Packers, the hard seemed easy; for the Cowboys, the easy seemed hard. Green Bay convertedbroken plays; meanwhile for Dallas, Brandon Aubrey, seemingly the lone piece of consistent goodness in white, bonked an extra point off the uprights. When that happened, I knew it was over. 

Dak Prescott finished 41/60 for 403 yards and three touchdowns. The box score will glisten a little bit; unfortunately, it’s a big ol’ liar. A lot of those yards came when the Cowboys were already down big in the fourth quarter. The desperation for offensive output padded the statistics. Prescott and Lamb couldn’t get into a rhythm until it was too late; the duo that had looked connected all season long looked anything but for a large chunk of the first half. 

It was a funny scene in our apartment between my Cowboys fan roommate and I. In Dallas’ first game of the season, he watched me wither as the Cowboys annihilated the Giants 40-0. In their last game of the season, it was me who watched him slowly die inside with every flash of green and yellow moving forward without much resistance. It was truly a full circle moment or, in this case, a full star moment. 

Questions now loom large. McCarthy’s seat is hotter than Jordan Love. Prescott is still seen as a failure come playoff time. Jerry Jones was looking around his suite for answers, unable to find any at the moment. But there might be some in the future. It’s not like there aren’t quality head coaches available, and Dallas has one pick in the first, second and third rounds in the upcoming draft, which is promising for a team that’s drafted super well recently.  

But the fact of the matter is that this has been the story of the Cowboys for years; they’re a legitimate Super Bowl contender until it matters most. Until they can figure it out under the brightest of lights, they’ll remain within the darkness of football history. 

Quick(ish) hitters

The wrath of Mother Nature

I’m currently in the middle of Missouri. Over the past few days, the wind chill has resided somewhere between 0 and minus-25 degrees Fahrenheit. As a Marylandian, I’ve grown to tolerate the cold, but this kind of cold is different. It hurts you; it pierces your skin with such ferocity that simply existing becomes a chore. It’s as if the atmosphere had just watched highlights of the Bad Boy Pistons and felt inspired. 

All of this makes this past weekend’s games in Kansas City and Buffalo all that more ridiculous. At Arrowhead Stadium, temperatures reached a toasty minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-27 degrees including wind chill). It didn’t stop Mahomes from throwing the ball; he actually threw it way farther than usual, as his average depth of target of 8.5 was way higher than his season-long average of 7.3. The Dolphins, on the other hand, looked extremely cold. In their last 10 games played in temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, they were 0-10, and it certainly looked the same in Kansas City. 

In Buffalo, it snowed so much that they had to move their originally scheduled game from Saturday to Monday. Fans were jumping off of snow piles onto burning tables. Every Bills touchdown saw chunks of snow thrown joyfully into the air. It makes me all the more excited for Chiefs-Bills III, which will be held in Buffalo for the first time in the series. 

Buffaloes rumbling

If you want a two play summary of Steelers-Bills, here you go. 

Third-and-8t on the Buffalo 48-yard line. Josh Allen drops back to pass, and a big ol’ gap opens up at the line of scrimmage. 

Goodbye. 

This is one of the funniest touchdown runs I’ve ever seen. It’s like Josh Allen’s body told him to slide, but his brain told him “you can zoomy fast. You are literally buffalo. Run!”.

Flash forward midway through the fourth quarter. Khalil Shakir catches a pass two yards beyond the line of scrimmage and is immediately met by Minkah Fitzpatrick.

I will now copy and paste some notes from NFL analyst Lance Zierlein on Shakir’s 2022 NFL Draft profile:

“Voracious competitive spirit”, “motor rarely gives opponents a chance to catch their breath”, “relishes contact and can play through it”, “absolute menace with the ball in his hands”. For Zierlein, this play was a Wendy’s meal: Four for four. 

Where does this catch and run rank among all-time catch and runs? I’d probably put it in the pantheon. It wasn’t just the bewildering broken tackle; it was also Shakir juking Mykal Walker and breaking another tackle while entering the end zone fully upright. The effort earned him a spot atop his teammates’ shoulders and almost a Rudy-style carry off the field entirely. 

University of Miami tight ends

While schools like Iowa, Notre Dame and Stanford have arguments to be Tight End U, Miami might have the strongest case. Jimmy Graham, Greg Olsen and Jeremy Shockey are just some of the awesome tight ends to suit up for The U.

This past weekend saw a pair of UM tight ends ball out. David Njoku (seven receptions, 93 yards, 90+ receiving yards or a touchdown in his final five games) and Brevin Jordan (76-yard touchdown) were putting on for the green and orange. 

Coaching carousel gone haywire

Bill Belichick. Pete Carroll. Nick Saban. The first two were let go, while the latter retired. While Carroll, like 99% of all football coaches, doesn’t touch Belichick or Saban in terms of career accomplishments, he is still a legend. He has been the coach of the Seahawks since 2012, which is right around the time I started to really get into football. That’s three coaching legends who’ve been at the top of their profession for most of my childhood all gone from their teams within a 48-hour span. Interesting times we now find ourselves in.

Awards and superlatives

Him: CJ Stroud

Saturday’s matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans wasn’t just a battle for a spot in the Divisional Round. The winner of this game would also be the feel-good story out of the AFC that everyone would latch onto for at least another week. Would it be the team that’s been downtrodden over the past few seasons, led by a rookie quarterback and a first-time head coach? Or would it be the team that’s been downtrodden for decades, led by a 38-year old quarterback who’s been on a several weeks long heater reminiscent of his playoff Linsanity run 11 years ago?

The answer was emphatically the former. Cleveland’s offense was ok in the first half, as they strung together back-to-back six-play, 75-yard touchdown drives. The only issue is that Houston was even more efficient and explosive. They registered six plays of 20+ yards (all through the air) en route to 24 first half points. The second half was defined by a 119-second stretch that saw Flacco throw two pick-sixes; after the second house call by rookie linebacker Christian Harris, the game was essentially put on ice. After the Texans forced a turnover on downs, Devin Singeltary put an olive in the victory martini with another score. Texans 45, Browns 14.

So many Texans played well. Nico Collins’ ascent into legit WR1 territory continued with a 6-96-1 line. Defensively, the two touchdown scorers (Harris and cornerback Steven Nelson) were all over the place. Derek Stingley Jr. shut down Amari Cooper, who went bananas the last time these two teams played. 

Then, there was Stroud, who put up another elite performance and continued to eviscerate the standard for what a rookie QB should look like. Rookie QBs usually get eaten for breakfast in their playoff debuts – entering this weekend, rookies had a glistening 6-19 playoff debut record since 2008. This also looked like an unfavorable matchup for the Texans offense on paper. They did a lot of their damage this season against zone coverage; entering Saturday, Stroud was first among all quarterbacks in QBR versus zone coverage. Against man, that number sunk to 27th. It was easy to see why; no Texans receiver really strikes fear into defenses other than speedy Tank Dell, but he’d been out since early December with a broken leg.  

You know what else was on paper? The results of the S2 cognition test that saw Stroud score the lowest of every top QB prospect in last year’s draft, prompting doubts about his NFL future. Despite history and numbers not being on Houston’s side, Stroud did what he had been doing all season: prove his worth on the field. 

He had an almost immaculate afternoon; 16/21, 274 yards, three touchdowns, no turnovers. A lot of credit can be given to Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who called a bunch of successful plays that involved moving Cleveland defenders out of position and making their lethal man defense look like a no-man defense. 

Credit can also be given to Stroud for making throws like this:

And this:

Rookie quarterbacks aren’t supposed to do this. They’re supposed to look unsure of themselves amidst an increase in game speed and screw up a lot as a result. Stroud is the complete opposite. The level of comfort on his dropbacks is astounding; he always looks like he’s in complete control, even when a 6’2”, 221-pound human being beelines right at him. Per Next Gen Stats, Stroud was 7/8 for 118 yards when facing pressure against the Browns. 

There isn’t one “perfect” type of quarterback. But Stroud is certainly an ideal type. He’s not a highlight reel in the open field like Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. Rather, he’s a magician with his mind, and his arm strength combined with his ability to release the ball quickly (with touch) create plays like the ones above. 

The Texans are set to play the Ravens in the Divisional Round. Stroud is about to go toe-to-toe with the almost certain MVP in Lamar Jackson. Translation: Stroud has an opportunity to launch his supernova rookie season into a new stratosphere with another elite performance. 

Also Him: Jordan Love

Yes, the title of “Him” implies one person receiving the distinction. But I make the rules around here, and I hereby declare it ok for multiple people to be “Him”. 

Love is an interesting quarterback. He doesn’t look as sure in the pocket as other top-tier signal-callers. He hops around when he scans the field, and his natural throwing motion is off of his backfoot, which is rather unusual. But guess what? It works. He was lofting beautiful rainbows and zipping fastballs all afternoon against a Cowboys defense that looked like they were the ones coached by Joe Barry (not a compliment). Check out this hummer to Romeo Doubs through an air-tight window that pushed the Green Bay lead to over 30. 

If I had a nickel for everytime a Packers quarterback became wildly successful while throwing off of their backfoot, I’d have three nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened three times.

All that’s to say Love looks like the real deal. Check out these splits from his first nine games and his last nine games. 

First nine games: 176/300, 2,009 yards, 14 TD’s, 10 INT’s

Last nine games: 212/300, 2,422 yards, 21 TD’s, 1 INT

Maybe one day, just one day, the Packers will have experienced prolonged instability at quarterback. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, that day isn’t today. 

Most super QB duel: Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff

So yeah, the quarterback play this weekend was pretty awesome. It featured a handful of young passers shine, but Sunday night saw a pair of veterans. Stafford came to knock out the franchise he’d tried so desperately to build up for over a decade. Goff came to prove that he could succeed without Sean McVay in the playoffs and that he was an adequate Stafford replacement. 

They dueled like titans. Neither made a major mistake. Both were slinging frozen ropes left and right. As the game progressed, it felt like the difference would be whichever quarterback blinked first. The only problem was that neither Stafford nor Goff ever really did. 

Stafford looked like the quarterback that Detroit grew to love – a cyborg with a wicked arm. Check out the no-look sidearm laser! 

​​https://x.com/NFL/status/1746706715515752782?s=20

But it was Goff who not only matched Stafford, but ended up winning the day. A common knock on Goff was his ability to succeed on his own; he did just that against the Rams. He never seemed phased by pressure, and he was delivering heaters like this one:

HIs final line: 22/27, 277 yards, one touchdown, no turnovers, one monumental victory. He had the second-most efficient game of his entire career when Detroit needed him the most. Even if Detroit falls to Tampa Bay in the Divisional Round, the 313 will always have this moment, and Goff will always be remembered as the man who led the Lions to their first playoff win in 33 years. Dan Campbell’s line to Goff as he tossed him the game ball felt like it was out of a movie. 

“You’re good enough for Detroit, Jared Goff.”

Unbroken: The Philadelphia Eagles

After the Eagles defeated the Chiefs in Week 11, Nick Sirianni shouted the following as he entered the tunnel right after the game:

“Hey! I don’t hear sh** anymore!…See ya!”

As his team was being shipwrecked by the Buccaneers on Monday night, I thought of what Sirianni’s reaction might be after the game, or perhaps what Philly’s locker room would be like. I tried thinking of quotes from elsewhere, until I realized that the perfect one was right in front of me. Rather, this is what I (and probably many others) thought as the Eagles imploded, not Sirianni or the Eagles. 

“Hey! I don’t hear sh** anymore!…See ya!”

On Monday, the Eagles were quiet on the field, because that’s what the Eagles have been since they got blown out by the 49ers in Week 13. They looked like a glum 7-5 ACC team who had most of their players opt out of the Gasparilla Bowl. Even Troy Aikman, who was doing color commentary for ESPN alongside Joe Buck, made note of Philly’s demeanor. 

“This is a defeated team, and it was when they came in. And there’s been no life to this team, for really the entire ball game,” Aikman said at the start of the fourth quarter. 

It was apparent from start to finish that the Eagles were missing the required competitive spirit to win an NFL playoff game. Offensively, the Buccaneers, who failed to score a touchdown against the 2-15 Panthers just a week ago, had little trouble moving the ball on Monday night. Defensively, the Buccaneers’ strength (blitzing) matched up fantastically with the Eagles’ weakness on offense (facing the blitz). It has been a problem area for Philly all season, and it was the last time these two teams played. I mentioned this in my column about the Giants two weeks ago, but I’ll put down the full Next Gen Stats breakdown from buccaneers.com’s Scott Smith again:

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Bucs sent at least one extra pass-rusher at Hurts on 61.0% of his dropbacks, which is the second-highest blitz rate that he has faced in a game in his career. When he faced a blitz, Hurts threw 23 passes, completing 13 of them for 152 yards, no interceptions and two touchdowns. He compiled a -9.3% completion rate over expected (CPOE) and a Total Expected Points Added (EPA) of -8.8. Those are comfortably his worst numbers against the blitz this season, and those interceptions – by Devin White and Dee Delaney – were his first two in 2023.

Hurts’ passer rating on those 25 throws against a blitz was 40.5. In contrast, he finished the game with a passer rating of 122.6 when he wasn’t blitzed, completing 10 of 14 passes for 125 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. The Bucs’ blitzes weren’t even extraordinarily effective at generating pressure, as Hurts was pressured on 33.3% of those snaps. However, that was far better than the Bucs’ pressure rate on Monday night when they didn’t blitz, which was 14.3%.

Monday night saw a similar story. Tampa Bay sent lots of pillagers many times, and Philly couldn’t ever figure it out. 

The warning signs of an Eagles postseason implosion have blared for a while. Elevating Matt Patricia to defensive coordinator has, uh, backfired. They got dunked on by not just the Niners and Cowboys, but Drew Lock, Tyrod Taylor and the Arizona Cardinals. Players have aired their frustrations publicly. ESPN’s Tim McManus did a deep-dive into Philly’s internal struggles that showed classic signs of an unhealthy team environment: unsteady leadership, frustration and finger-pointing.

I guess I should also explain the name of this superlative. It references the book/movie “Unbroken”, which is a story about an American WWII soldier named Louis Zamperini who was taken by Japan as a prisoner of war and endured a harrowing experience inside of a Japanese POW camp. Despite taking an absurd amount of physical punishment at the camp, Zamperini survived, and when the Allied powers emerged victorious, Zamperini returned home to the United States. He was, in a literal sense, unbroken. The Eagles were the complete opposite. When faced with adversity, they crumbled. They were broken. 

Other than the 2020 Steelers, who followed a similar trajectory of starting hot (11-0) then completely collapsing (1-4, then a Wild Card loss), this might be the saddest double-digit win season ever. Eagles fans were in the stands with paper bags on their heads like they’d gone 1-16 instead of 11-6. Thankfully for them, they’ve got plenty of time to think of solutions before the 2024 season commences.