Opinion
The NFL divisional round has come to an end, and it featured some of the greatest NFL games that I have witnessed in my three years of watching the league.
Although the whole weekend was awesome, the final two games were out of this world.
The day began with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing host to the LA Rams.
The Rams seemed to be running away with it early as Tampa was trailing their opposition 27 points to three midway through the third quarter. Almost every fan knew it wasn’t over – particularly as Tom Brady was involved.
Something like this occurred in Super Bowl 51 as Brady was also down by a severe margin (28-3) before coming back to win it all. There was no doubt in my mind that there’s a chance he could pull-off a miracle again because he had more time to work with than in that Super Bowl.
Los Angles began to come up with silly uncharacteristic mistakes as they turned the ball over four times in the remaining 18 minutes. This allowed the Bucs back into the contest as they did the near impossible, scoring three touchdowns to tie the game in a 16-minute period and did not allow Matt Stafford’s offense to score any points in that time.
The visiting side had 42 seconds on the clock to spoil a Tampa miracle. They outstandingly did exactly that as a deep 44-yard pass down the middle of the field was caught by Cooper Kupp at the opposition’s 12-yard line. Sean McVay’s team capitalised off this as kicker Matt Gay slotted a field goal to miraculously win it.
If the Buccaneers were somehow able to pull-off the upset, it would have been one of the greatest comebacks in history. Despite them in the end not being able to, I think very fan except Rams nation would have gone berserk. We need to give an overwhelming amount of credit to Matthew Stafford as he had an unbelievable game and did a great job to hold his nerve on the final drive.
He threw for 366 yards, two touchdowns and not a single interception. Cooper Kupp has continued his hot form as he recorded nine receptions.
I thought that first game of my Monday morning was crazy, but it got even better in the second battle. The Buffalo Bills arrived at Arrowhead seeking revenge after falling to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Conference Championship game last playoffs.
It was a quarterback shootout all game and you could hear the commentators saying that the last team with the ball would win. They were completely right as we witnessed one of the greatest games in history and certainly the best game I’ve watched.
The score was tied up fourteen a piece at halftime which set us up for a thrilling second period. The game was back and forth and incredibly in the last two minutes there was three lead changes after Josh Allen found Gabriel Davis in the end zone to steal the lead.
This looked to have almost certainly sent Buffalo to their second straight conference championship game as there was only thirteen seconds left on the clock.
But then something unreal happened, a two-play drive drove the Chiefs down to the Bills 31-yard line and a timeout was called in time.
Harrison Butker then nailed a field goal which extraordinarily forced overtime. The coin toss was won by Kansas City who obviously chose to receive the ball. They went down the field with no problems and Travis Kelce caught the game-winning pass.
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Before I dive into this game, I just want to respect how fortunate I was to witness on the television such a stunning event that took place.
This was one of the most intriguing matches that I’ve seen in my 14 years of living. Both teams played out of their skin which is why it had to be decided in overtime.
The two quarterbacks both led their teams well as Josh Allen threw four touchdowns, along with 329 yards. On the other side of the table, Pat Mahomes gained three-hundred and seventy-eight passing yards and three touchdowns.
To add to this, neither had an interception to their name.
This game had everything, but I need to make a point. The NFL must change the overtime rules. The fact that the game ends after one touchdown and doesn’t give a chance for Buffalo to go down and score a touchdown is just brainless.
The Bills season was all washed away because of a coin toss. Both teams had fought unbelievably hard all game and for the result to come down to a flip of the coin is just stupidness.
In conclusion this was a magnificent divisional round weekend and I’m sure the trend of nail bitting games will continue into the conference Championship games.
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