For Pete's Sake - Divisional Round
This week's episode of For Pete's Sake, Nicole Chatham is back and we're talking about the playoffs! Our reactions to games and how they shape our view of the Cleveland Browns.
We touch on the wildcard round, discussing the results of the losses by the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. We were both surprised by just how poorly the Cowboys fared. The fact the Cardinals lost wasn't a surprise to me, but just how poorly they fared was.
The question I'd have for Kliff Kingsbury is what changes that enables this team to deal with teams that can take limit their passing attack.
In the divisional round, Saturday was all about defense and special teams. Quarterback play is critical to NFL success, but a combined 32 points is all that was required to qualify for the conference championships.
We continue to express our concern regarding the health and safety of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who continues to sustain an unholy beating from opposing teams, including nine sacks at the hands of the Tennessee Titans.
The Bengals are on a tremendous run and hope to win the Super Bowl, but there is a real question in terms of how long Burrow can last under these conditions.
The Bengals defense deserves a ton of credit for their performance, though the Titans made any number of costly mistakes.
Nicole takes a deserved victory lap at someone else's expense for a change in regards to believing the San Francisco 49ers would defeat the Green Bay Packers, though I picked that game wrong along with two others.
The 49ers may not have the best quarterback in the playoffs. They might arguably have the worst in Jimmy Garoppolo. However, they were dominant both on defense and special teams, which allowed them to stay in the game, ultimately win it.
We both marvel in Tom Brady's ability to will his team forward even if they ultimately fell short. Nicole has strong opinions on Matthew Stafford and how he should be viewed given what he's been able to do.
Finally, we get into the legendary quarterback duel between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, weigh in with thoughts on overtime.
