EL BARRIO, EL FALLS – Happy Monday people! New year, same old me. Staying up late to recap the weekend’s events, for all those that missed it or want to re-live it. 
And as its still the football season, lets talk playoffs…On the menu for today is NFL Wild Card Weekend Review.
AFC Wild Card
Being in Buffalo, I was stuck consoling Buffalo fans on why them losing wasn’t a big deal or shouldn’t be the end of the world. The Bills are a young team that is greater than the sum of their parts. They are still learning to win and heart & hustle will get you a long way during the regular season but in the playoffs you need play-makers and that is something the Bills are sorely lacking. On the offensive side of the ball they only have the young gunslinger in Josh Allen with no scary receivers and a RB combo of a guy past his best and one that is not yet ready to be the man. On defense, they have Tre’davius White in the secondary but no play-maker on the defensive line or linebacking corps. This became clear a couple of weeks ago when the Patriots had two long drives to win the game and in this game the same thing happened.
The Texans have Deshaun Watson at QB, a better RB combo and 2 receivers that both went for 1000+ yards. Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball they have J.J. Watt on the line, Aaron Cunningham leading the linebackers, but a weak secondary. All of this could be seen in overtime when it was 3rd & 25 for the Bills and the Texans lined up deep on the first down marker and a quick throw by Allen to a Bills receiver was dropped. When Houston had the ball on a 3rd & 18 the Bills tried to play soft coverage and failed as they were too soft and let a short pass beat then. Then the key play of the game we saw two bills failed to tackle Watson (as a rugby player, the lack of proper tackle technique pained me) letting him scramble out to make a 34 yard pass leading to the game winning kick. That is the difference play makers make.
Ed Oliver greets #Bills fans at the airport. It’s 2am and 22°. #BillsMafia #BUFvsHOU #WildCardWeekend #BillsTexans @BuffaloBills pic.twitter.com/uVPq27pkUu
— Christopher Schiller (@ckschiller) January 5, 2020
In the second game, we saw the Patriots show that without a bye, they are just run of the mill chumps. The Pats offense has been living off the defense for a while but Tom Terrific has been a fraud this season. 
Belichick-spawn Mike Vrabel coached the Titans and the student won this match up as the Tits D gave the Patriots offense headaches all day while the offense did just enough to send the Pats home and finally end the dynasty, we all hope.
NFC Wild Card
The Eagles had battled injuries all season. They got rocked with an injury to Carson Wentz in the first quarter (Why did they keep him and Foles go again?). They never bounced back, as Seattle was relentless on both sides of the ball and sent them home. Seattle had one problem during the regular season and it was that they played up or down to their opponent but in playoffs, that was not a problem as they played up to the challenge and never looked back.
As for the other game, I am sick to my stomach about the Saints falling to the Vikings. Two years after the Minnesota Miracle, the Saints once again snatched defeat from the Jaws of Victory and effectively meant that future Hall of Famer Drew Brees would end his career with 1 Super Bowl. The Saints called a few trick plays for their slash like QB3 Taysom Hill, as he helped power them to come from behind. However, with the clock running down Head Coach Sean Payton decided to not go for the throat and played for overtime. As can be expected in OT, the Vikings, led by the underrated Kirk Cousins, came up big with a touchdown to win the game.
Share your thoughts and come back tomorrow for Big Ben Whitney. You can also find us on Twitter: @JunoirBlaber, @MeetTheMatts & @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram– @MeetTheMatts – and Facebook – Meet The Matts
