Hawks in the NFL: Divisional Round

We’re down to the final three football games of the season, you guys. But before we get weepy about football nearly being done for the season, let’s look back at the Divisional Round.

Riley Moss and AJ Epenesa

This was a helluva game that had it all. Denver dropped a touchdown on the opening drive. Buffalo took an early lead then entered turnover hell for awhile. Denver led by 13 at one point before Buffalo came back again. Bo Nix responded with the best drive of his young career before Buffalo tied it to go to a zany overtime that saw a 50/50 call go Denver’s way. Denver won the battle, but may have lost the war with Nix breaking a bone in his ankle on one of the last plays of the game before the Broncos walked it off, 33-30.

The box score looks quiet for the former Hawks involved on Saturday. Riley Moss had 4 tackles for the Denver defense, while AJ Epenesa had 1 for the Bills. But Epenesa was a menace in the pass game, knocking down two passes at the line of scrimmage. And while this won’t show in the box score, Moss had one of the plays of the game, keeping a (really bad) Josh Allen fumble alive right before halftime that appeared to be recovered by the Bills. Moss dove in on the offensive lineman right as he was making the recovery, jarring the ball loose which was recovered by the Broncos and allowed for a field goal right before halftime.

Kind of an important play in a game you win by 3!

So tough day for the Bills. I understand – the pick in overtime is a close, close play. A couple of penalties on Denver’s last drive were also iffy. But you also were -3 in turnovers in regulation and -4 for the game and you gave up 10 points in roughly 20 seconds right before halftime. Only one team had won a game in NFL playoff history when they were -3 in turnovers. In reality Denver should have put this game away earlier than they did (again, they dropped a touchdown on their opening drive.) Godspeed, Buffalo…

Tory Taylor and Alaric Jackson

This was also a wild game, with Chicago tying it late in regulation on that zany Caleb Williams-to-Cole Kmet touchdown at the end of regulation that forced overtime. Our Punting God Tory Taylor punted three times for 141 yards and a long of 51.

It was Alaric Jackson and the Rams that had the final laugh in this though, as the Rams made a walk-off field goal to advance to the NFC Championship game, 20-17. Jackson finished with an 81.6 pass block rating from PFF, best on the Rams line.

So now we’re down to Denver-New England and Seattle-Los Angeles. Moss and the Nix-less Broncos against a hot New England team that is running a wild streak of playing a Chargers team with no offensive line, a Houston team whose quarterback may be under investigation for point shaving (he’s not, but I pretend he is; that is one of the worst quarterbacking displays I’ve ever seen from CJ Stroud), and now Denver without their starting quarterback.

I will maintain Seattle looks like the clear favorite right now. Part of their 41-6 demolition of the Niners is San Francisco running out of players, but these teams played a close, meaningful game in Week 18 just over two weeks ago. Seattle made sure they blew the Niners out immediately Saturday night. Jackson and the Rams will have their hands full in the NFC title game.