Make way for one of the great weekends of the year in the NFL. The big guns, on leave last week, are embarking in turn in the playoffs. Defending champions the Chiefs, as well as the Packers, with presumed Tour MVP this season, Aaron Rodgers, are on a mission. The survivors of the first round last week are serious rivals, however, and all will fight for one of the four places in the conference finals. To prepare for a solid football weekend, The newspaper brings you 10 stories to watch in the second round of the playoffs.
“Little old people” in the spotlight
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Tom Brady et Drew Brees
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Today, Drew Brees is blowing 42 candles. For his part, his rival Sunday night, Tom Brady, is 43 years old. The combined age of 85 between the two quarterbacks will be the highest total in history between two opponents. Earlier this week, Brady approached the situation with humor when he posted on social media a faked photo of Brees and him as old men. The previous playoff record came two years ago when Brady and Philip Rivers crossed paths, for a total of 78 long years between the two. Including the college duel between Michigan and Purdue in 1999, this will be the ninth time the two veterans have crossed paths on a field. Brady, since joining the Buccaneers, still hasn’t gotten the better of Brees.
Regulars
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Packers set NFL record in playoff game for 34e year. They thus surpass the 33-year mark they held with the Cowboys. These same Packers are among the eight finalists for a 17e times. The Rams, who face them, find themselves in the group of eight for a 14e times. For the Packers, 15 of his 17 appearances have occurred since 1990, like what the good years of uninterrupted success between Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers spoiled the fans. For the Rams, only five of their 14 second-round playoff appearances have been in the past 30 seasons.
Two teams on fire
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Tomorrow night, the Ravens and Bills could potentially offer the best duel of the weekend. Both teams are literally on fire. The Ravens have six straight wins, compared to seven for the Bills. The Bills will have to resist the land assaults from Baltimore. The Ravens have indeed recorded an astronomical 296.3 yards rushing average in their last three games, including last week. It is simply amazing! There’s a lot of talk about Lamar Jackson’s exploits, but rookie forward JK Dobbins is no extra, having scored at least one touchdown in each of his last seven games. Among the rookies in history, only Maurice Jones-Drew did better with eight straight games in 2006.
The student and the teacher
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In 2017, the Rams caused a big surprise when they hired a young and bright attacking spirit to become their new head coach, Sean McVay. He then hired his good friend Matt LaFleur to become his first offensive coordinator. LaFleur has since graduated to become the successful Packers driver, with back-to-back 13-winning seasons. It is the classic confrontation of the pupil against the teacher, even if in this specific case, the pupil is seven years older than the teacher! Other coaches who will be opposed at the end of the week will experience a kind of reunion. In the duel between Ravens and Bills, it should be noted that the two coaches John Harbaugh and Sean McDermott played in Philadelphia under the orders of Andy Reid, from 1999 to 2007. Kevin Stefanski, who directs the Browns, has meanwhile started as an intern under Reid and the two go head to head.
Favorite premises
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Arrowhead Stadium
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During the week, you were told that home advantage in the first round of the playoffs was clearly not one in the last few years. The proof is that four visiting teams (Rams, Buccaneers, Ravens and Browns) won. This week all four home teams (Packers, Bills, Chiefs and Saints) are established as favorites and the trend of the past few years clearly proves the bookmakers right. For the past seven years, local teams have maintained a strong 22-6 record in the second round of the playoffs. In times of COVID with bald stadiums, it will be necessary to see if the advantage will be also marked. Tomorrow, there will only be 6,000 fans admitted to Green Bay, while a similar crowd of 6,700 is expected in Buffalo. On Sunday, the Chiefs will play in front of 16,000 fans, while 3,000 fans will be admitted to New Orleans.
The return of Hunt
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In 2017, the Chiefs made running back Kareem Hunt their third-round pick. In his rookie season, he quickly made a splash, finishing first in his position with 1,327 rushing yards. Then, in 2018, it all fell apart when a video of him physically attacking a woman popped up. The Chiefs released him and a few months later the Browns gave him a second chance. A few days before the clash with his old love, Hunt said he was making it a “personal matter.” Even though he shares the fullback with Nick Chubb, Hunt scored two first-round touchdowns last Sunday.
Class of 2018
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The coming weekend of the playoffs is also the one that validates the decisions of three teams regarding the choice of their franchise quarterback, in the 2018 draft. Three years ago, the Browns had thrown their vested in Baker Mayfield in the very first row. In the same draft, the Bills opted for Josh Allen with the seventh pick. The latter transported the Bills to the playoffs for the past two seasons. The Ravens also had a happy hand with Lamar Jackson, at 32e and last place of the first round. This will be the second time only that three quarterbacks from the same vintage have found themselves in the second round of the series. The other time was in 2008, with Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger, from the class of 2004.
First against first
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This season, the Packers have been the first on the offense in points per game, averaging 31.8. For their part, the Rams led the defense in points allowed, averaging 18.5 per game. It will be the eighth playoff game between offense and number one defense in the NFL since 1990. To date, the team with the best defense have won four of the first seven games. The Rams, with star defensive players like Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, haven’t had their last word even though they’re underdog.
Taken 2 !
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Patrick mahomes
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If Sunday’s duel between the Browns and the Chiefs is like the 2016 duel between Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes, the fireworks will be there. At the time, the two quarterbacks worked on the university scene; Mayfield in Oklahoma and Mahomes at Texas Tech. In a ridiculously offensive clash that ended with a 66-59 score in Oklahoma’s favor, Mayfield threw seven touchdown passes and racked up 545 yards. Mahomes, not wanting to be outdone, had for his part thrown five touchdowns and amassed 734 yards. Ah, Mahomes had also run for 85 yards and two more touchdowns. No, there is no typo in these intergalactic statistics …
Dorsey teams
The meeting between the Browns and the Chiefs will be special for former general manager John Dorsey. By a strange coincidence, he was GM of the Chiefs from 2013 to 2016 and the Browns from 2017 to 2019. He is therefore partly the architect of these two teams. For the Chiefs, he oversaw crucial drafts that helped get their hands on Travis Kelce and Eric Fisher (2013), as well as Chris Jones, Tyreek Hill and Demarcus Robinson (2016), in addition to several other big names that have subsequently served as a bargaining chip. Along with the Browns, the Myles Garrett, Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb and Denzel Ward, among others, were selected under his watch. Why, already, does he no longer have a job?
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