Final NFL Super Wild Card Weekend Observations ... With Miami Dolphins Angles
This was a whole different NFL wild-card weekend, with games all day Saturday and Sunday and the innovative idea of putting one of those games as a simulcast on Nickelodeon.
As for the quality of the games? Some good, some not so good.
What sadly stood out, though, were some dubious officiating calls — most, though not all, fortunately overturned by replay — and some even stranger coaching decisions.
Colts coach Frank Reich took some flak for going for a touchdown late in the first half against Buffalo on fourth-and-goal from the 4, and deservedly so, but that was nothing compared to Mike Vrabel and Mike Tomlin opting for punts on fourth-and-short with their team trailing.
Like, there's not enough evidence in that being aggressive in those situations is the way to go?
Vrabel got a second chance after his questionable (translation: bad) decision when Baltimore was called for a bogus offensive pass interference penalty that was nowhere near as egregious as what A.J. Brown did when he pushed off on his first-quarter touchdown catch.
Unfortunately for the Titans, Baltimore all but clinched the win when Ryan Tannehill was intercepted by Marcus Peters.
And that brings us to talking about the former Dolphins quarterback.
And we'll start by saying that pick clearly wasn't on him because his wide receiver fell on the play, though replays showed he locked in on intended target Kalif Raymond from the start when Brown was creating separation down the left sideline.
Tannehill ended up passing for 165 yards against Baltimore and the one touchdown to Brown. Tannehill certainly wasn't to blame for the loss against the Ravens, but it was yet more evidence that he's not the most important player on that Titans offense.
Tannehill has now played four playoff games for Tennessee and he has passed for 534 yards in those games, or an average of 133.5 yards per game.
The stat that really stands out involves Derrick Henry: He was held to 40 rushing yards Sunday and the Titans lost. He was held to 69 yards in last year's AFC title game against Kansas City and the Titans lost.
In Tennessee's two playoff victories last year, Henry rushed for 182 yards against New England and 195 yards against Baltimore. Tannehill's passing yardage in those two games: 72 and 88 yards.
So, yes, we can acknowledge that Tannehill has become a good quarterback with Tennessee, maybe even very good. But this notion that he's elite or at MVP level? Sorry, not buying it.
-- One former Dolphins player who had a good game Sunday was wide receiver Jarvis Landry. His touchdown catch in the first quarter was a thing of beauty and showed the kind of run-after-catch ability he showed in Miami. And since it came up on social media, the Dolphins' decision to trade him after the 2017 season had nothing to do with ability; it was about his contract status and relationship with then-coach Adam Gase.
-- On the flip side, former Dolphins safety Minkah Fitzpatrick did not have a good night. He was in on six tackles, but most of them came downfield after long Cleveland run, and did not make an impact play. Fitzpatrick made the Pro Bowl again in 2020 and tied for first-team All-Pro honors, though he's still got a long way to go to reach his goal — as stated before the season — of having his name spoken in the same vein as all-time great safeties Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu.
-- Though they made a valiant comeback effort in the second half, the Steelers were spectacularly bad in the first quarter against Cleveland. Of course, one can't help but wonder how much, if at all, they were hurt by resting four starters in their Week 17 game against those same Browns. And, of course, had they played those four starters, maybe they would have beaten Cleveland instead of losing 24-22 and then that would have put the Dolphins in the playoffs.
-- The Rams victory at Seattle had the defense's signature all over it, but rookie running back Cam Akers had another big outing with 131 rushing yards. Jonathan Taylor, meanwhile, rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown for the Colts, while J.K. Dobbins rushed for 43 yards on nine carries with a touchdown for Baltimore. And once again we're left to look back at the 2020 draft when the Dolphins decided to draft cornerback Noah Igbinoghene with the 30th overall pick instead of taking any of those three running backs or any of the other three selected in the first two rounds. This will remain a point of contention until Igbinoghene emerges as a bona fide NFL contributor.
-- Big props to Saints head coach Sean Payton, who lived up to his promise of allowing himself to get slimed if his team defeated the Bears in the Nickelodeon game. Big props also to the telecast, which did a great job of explaining the game (loved the Young Sheldon penalty descriptions) and had some cool graphics, such as the Slime Zone obviously. The telecast actually was much better than the game itself, which we accurately ranked last week as the least appealing of the six.
-- We'll close with Browns guard Michael Dunn, who replaced star Joel Bitonio (out because of COVID-19) and did an admirable job in advancing his remarkable story of perseverance. Before making his first NFL start against the Steelers, Dunn was waived five times and had stints in both the AAF and the XFL. One of his stops happened to be with the Dolphins, with whom he spent training camp in 2019.
