Winners, losers from Sunday’s wild-card games

Ugly but entertaining

The first round of the playoffs is now in the books after Sunday’s wild-card games, which saw the Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears advance.

Much like Saturday’s two-game slate, the two games Sunday were rather ugly affairs. But at least they were entertaining.

In the first game between the Chargers and Baltimore Ravens, Lamar Jackson showed he still has a lot to learn as the Ravens were rendered impotent on offense through three quarters. The road team won the game, 23-17.

Later in the evening, the Chicago Bears hosted the Philadelphia Eagles. Right before halftime, we found out that NFL refs still have no clue what a catch is. We also found out that Nick Foles is still a playoff GOAT.

These were the biggest winners and losers from Sunday’s wild-card games.

 

Winner: Chargers shut down Ravens’ greatest asset

The Ravens came into the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in football. A big reason why they had been so hot is that the Lamar Jackson-led offense was running over opposing defenses and keeping the Baltimore defense fresh.

On Sunday, the Chargers absolutely shut down the Baltimore run game. Outside of some big scrambles by Jackson, there wasn’t much running room for Ravens ball carriers. Even counting Jackson’s 54 yards, the Ravens averaged just 3.9 yards per carry and totaled 90 yards on the day.

Gus Bradley drew up a perfect game plan. Until the fourth quarter, the Chargers absolutely owned the Ravens, and it took some miraculous stuff by Jackson late to turn it into a close game. If Los Angeles can play this caliber of defense throughout the playoffs, it has a legitimate chance to go all the way.

 

Loser: Lamar Jackson’s first playoff game was a learning experience

The youngest quarterback in the history of the league to start a playoff game, Jackson played like it on Sunday for more than three quarters.

The rookie opened the game completing just 3-of-10 passes for 25 yards with an interception and he lost a fumble. At that point, Baltimore actually had a net minus-two passing yards due to the sacks he took, and the Chargers gained a 23-3 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the game. Fans embarrassed themselves by booing him and leaving the game early, too.

Of course, if you watched the game you know the young dual-threat quarterback bounced back and came awfully close to bringing his team back. He completed 10 of his last 17 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, a strip-sack in the game’s final minute sealed his fate as a loser in his first playoff game.

 

Winner: Melvin Ingram, Adrian Phillips dominate

Joey Bosa seems to make all the headlines for the Chargers, but Melvin Ingram is a constant threat and was unstoppable on Sunday. The edge rusher led the Chargers with seven solo tackles, took down Lamar Jackson twice on sacks and came away with the game-sealing fumble recovery on a sack-strip by Uchenna Nwosu.

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The Ravens turned the ball over three times on Sunday, and safety Adrian Phillips came up with two of them.

He was Johnny on the spot in the first quarter recovering a fumble by Kenneth Dixon that led to the first points of the game for the Chargers. Then, later on he picked of Jackson after his high pass was tipped into the air, making an incredibly athletic play on the ball (watch here).

These two playmakers sparked a defensive effort that overwhelmed the Ravens from the start of the game into the fourth quarter.

 

Loser: Baltimore’s offensive line was awful

Credit is due to Los Angeles’ front seven for executing an outstanding game plan and putting forth a relentless effort. In no way do I want to take away from what the Chargers accomplished. That being said, it would be irresponsible to overlook just how bad the Ravens were up front on offense.

Jackson was sacked seven times for 55 yards, and he was hit nine times. Some of those sacks were certainly on him for holding onto the ball too long. But there were others that he simply could not avoid because the pressure was in his face almost immediately.

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Ronnie Stanley was beat repeatedly off the edge, and the Chargers were able to bring pressure up the middle with consistency as well. Baltimore’s offensive line was also bad on running plays and just stunk it up all game long.

 

Winner: Mike Badgley was Mr. Reliable

The Chargers have been seemingly cursed to have a bad kicker for years. They’ve gone through what feels like dozens of kickers trying to find a guy who can come through in the clutch.

On Sunday, Mike Badgley, an undrafted rookie out of Miami this past spring, broke the curse. This rookie provided 15 of Los Angeles’ 23 points. He converted 5-of-6 field goals, including a 47-yarder and one from 53 yards out.

The only kick Badgley didn’t convert was blocked by Baltimore (watch here). He was a huge reason why the Chargers are moving on.

 

Loser: The Howard/Cohen combo fell flat

Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen have been key players for the Bears on offense all year. In particular, Cohen has been a Swiss Army knife player who is a matchup nightmare.

On Sunday, the two of them combined for 62 total yards on 14 touches. Chicago’s run game was pretty much non-existent, too. The Bears had a total of 65 yards on the ground. 20 of those yards came on two jet sweeps by Taylor Gabriel.

Without any threat on the ground, Chicago’s offense turned into a one-dimensional attack that ultimately proved to be too little, too late.

 

Winner: Mitch unleashed the fury

Much like Mitch in the movie “Road Trip” back in the day, Mitch Trubisky took a while to warm up to the task on Sunday but once he did he went full bore.

The second-year quarterback really came alive in the fourth quarter when his team needed him the most. Making big throw after big throw, he brought Chicago back, tossing a beauty to Allen Robinson — who also had a huge game — for the go-ahead touchdown midway through the final stanza (watch here).

What’s really remarkable is that Trubisky tweaked his ankle early in the game and was clearly favoring it. But he never stopped being aggressive and ended up outplaying Nick Foles, who nearly brought the Eagles back.

Then, Trubisky did this.

All told, Trubisky passed for 303 yards and the touchdown. Even better, the young kid didn’t turn the ball over once.

Unfortunately for him, it didn’t result in a win.

 

Loser: Adrian Amos’ blunders gave Philly six points

Midway through the third quarter with Chicago up by a field goal, the Eagles greatly benefited from a couple of mistakes made by safety Adrian Amos.

Philly was deep in its own territory facing a third-and-six when Nick Foles attempted to hit Zach Ertz deep down the left sideline. Ertz was already not going to complete the reception, but then Amos came flying in from the side and delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit that cost his team dearly.

That penalty kept the drive alive for the Eagles, who proceeded to utilize another penalty along with a handful of other productive plays to score their first touchdown of the game. And wouldn’t you know it? Amos was the defender victimized by Dallas Goedert, who blew past him in coverage for the too-easy score.

Yikes. This touchdown proved to be quite painful for Amos and the Bears, as you’re about to see.

 

Winner: Nick Foles still has that magic

We’ve seen this movie before. In a game that seemed like it was going the wrong way, Nick Foles brought the Eagles back and sparked yet another playoff win.

Down by five points with just under five minutes left to play, Foles led a come-from-behind victory. Completing six clutch completions on this drive, he capped it all off with a touchdown pass to Golden Tate.

This game appeared to be one in which Foles’ mojo had gone missing. He threw two interceptions, including one ghastly pass into the end zone he never should have thrown. In the end, it mattered not, because the magic is still there and the Eagles are headed to New Orleans after a thrilling 16-15 win.

 

Loser: Cody Parkey with the legendary double-boink 

It all came down to one play. Cody Parkey, who made headlines earlier in the season for one of the worst games we’ve ever seen from a kicker, had a chance to win the game with a 43-yard field goal.

He took a practice kick as Philly iced him with a timeout. Of course, it went through.

Then, with the nation watching, he came out of the timeout, lined up, and drilled it…right…into…the…left…upright.

The ball actually came back down and then hit the bottom of the crossbar, too.

The agony of the double-boink heard ’round the world.

 

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