Bills v Ravens should be about two stars. It was decided by a brutal fall | NFL

Josh Allen v Lamar Jackson was going to be epic. The idea of ​​this season’s MVP favorites sharing a field was chilling. Because the quarterback who punctuated a brilliant individual season with a conference championship berth would do so because he outplayed his counterpart.

Then the game itself was played in snowy Buffalo. Turns out there’s so much more to a football game than the two men under center, even men as supremely talented as Allen and Jackson. Many will blame Jackson for Buffalo’s 27-25 win over the Ravens, especially as the weeks and months go by. They will also credit Allen. But neither player was the key factor in the result. It’s often the easy chances players don’t take, rather than flashes of brilliance, that decide games.

Jackson wasn’t perfect on Sunday, but he stepped up when it counted. Driving 88 yards in eight plays to set up a game-tying two-point conversion in the final moments of a playoff contest is what MVPs do. But Jackson didn’t make the play call for the two-point conversion, and his pass was fine — it was tight end Mark Andrews who dropped the simplest catch to effectively give the game to the Bills.

Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken decided to put the season in the hands of Andrews, who had fumbled and crushed a promising Ravens drive earlier in the half.

“We wouldn’t be here without Mark Andrews. … It’s like anything else. Destiny is a decision you make and how you handle what comes in life. And Mark will do great,” Jim Harbaugh said on his press conference after the match.

“Destiny is a decision that you make” sounds fancy and metaphysical. In this game, it was the small decisions that led to Buffalo advancing to the AFC Championship.

Playing Sliding Doors is easy, but in the moment, the decision not to put the ball in the hands of Jackson or Derrick Henry with the game on the line was unconscionable. This is Henry, who rushed for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. This is Jackson, a magician.

Jackson turned the ball over twice in the game’s first 16 minutes on a botched deep ball that Taylor Rapp scooped up and a fumble caused by Damar Hamlin. But Jackson shook it off, and the Ravens struck with a superior offense. The Ravens outgained the Bills 416 yards to 273 and averaged 7.3 yards per carry. game to Buffalo’s 4.6. Allen was pretty much a non-factor by his lofty standards. Buffalo was never able to establish a deep passing game; in fact, Allen had just 96 passing yards after three quarters.

But crucially, he didn’t turn the ball over, and neither did running back James Cook, who was excellent. Allen also muscled his way into the end zone twice, but he didn’t have to make a full play. Again, it was the little things. It wasn’t just Baltimore’s three turnovers, it was their lack of discipline. The Ravens drew five penalties for 43 yards, while the Bills were flagged just once. It was the Ravens’ decision to go for a two-point conversion late in the third quarter that resulted in an incompletion to Isaiah Likely. Had they made an extra point, there wouldn’t have been a two-point conversion attempt for Andrews to drop. Or maybe Harbaugh would have tried to win but put the ball in the hands of Jackson or Henry. We’ll never know.

And then there was the declining use of Henry. Before the Buffalo game, Henry had at least 20 carries and 135 rushing yards in each of Baltimore’s last four games. Against the Bills, Henry had 16 possessions, including just seven in the first half.

The focus will be on Jackson and Andrews, just as it was on Zay Flowers when he fumbled a would-be touchdown against the Chiefs in last year’s AFC Championship Game.

“It’s fucking annoying. I’m sick of this shit,” Jackson said after Sunday’s game.

Had Andrews held on and the Ravens had won in overtime, it would have been the Bills questioning a host of decisions and tired of the pain. They would question why their attack was particularly conservative to open the second half. The Bills punted on consecutive drives. Why they never tried to establish a legitimate passing attack when Allen’s arm is insane. Who knew Allen v Jackson would have an abundance of receiver screens.

Now the hype moves on from Allen v Jackson to Allen v Mahomes. The story of these two quarterbacks — their flair for the dramatic and their history — will be omnipresent in the lead up to Sunday. Like Allen v Jackson, it will be fun to watch. But when the game is played, the little things will almost certainly determine who advances.

MVP of the week

Jayden Daniels, quarterback, Washington Commanders. There’s poise, a word thrown around to describe Daniels throughout his rookie season. And then there’s the astonishing display of mental and physical dominance he put on in Washington’s commanding 45-31 victory to shut out the NFC’s top-seeded Detroit Lions. It was no surprise that Daniels waltzed into Ford Field brimming with confidence — after all, in the wild-card round, he became the first rookie quarterback since 2012 to win a playoff game. But how he was unfazed by the raucous crowd, how he stayed aggressive and converted three of his four fourth-down attempts, how he made virtually no mistakes … that’s the stuff of legends.

Daniels finished the day with 299 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He added 51 yards on the ground. But the state line doesn’t tell the whole story. Daniels had an answer for everything Detroit’s hamstrung defense threw at him. Washington’s punter got free in the first half as drive after drive resulted in points. Whenever the Lions answered, Daniels could have reverted to rookie mode and pressured or panicked. But Daniels is a rookie in name only.

He was especially masterful against the blitz. And in the third quarter, when the Lions pulled within three, Daniels led a 15-play, 70-yard drive, the highlight of which was the quarterback converting a fourth-and-two with his legs.

Video of the week

When NFL officials are accused of favoring a particular player or team, it often smacks of jealousy. But there’s no denying that the officiating crew working the Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs game made two of the worst calls you’ll ever see in a playoff game. Both favored Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

The first came on a Will Anderson Jr sack that was flagged for ball handling. Not only was it a clean sack, it was called on third and eight, extending Kansas City’s drive and leading to a field goal. Then in the third quarter, with the score Chiefs 13-12 Texans, Mahomes fumbled from his own 35 before recovering and getting up untouched. Mahomes is clearly a runner at this point and he gained nine yards and then danced around making the Texans touch him. Houston linebacker Henry To’o To’o did just that when Mahomes slipped late. When referee Clay Martin announced the unnecessary roughness on To’o To’o, Troy Aikman echoed most of humanity when he exclaimed, “Oh, come on.”

You can’t blame Mahomes for using every tool to his advantage, especially considering the Texans’ punishing defense. But that didn’t make two massively botched calls any easier to withstand.

The Chiefs took control in the fourth quarter and eventually won 23-14. CJ Stroud had a rough game for the Texans, so maybe the Chiefs would have won anyway. But the officials who gave Kansas City free momentum played a role in the final score.

Statistics of the week

205. That’s how many yards Saquon Barkley rushed for in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 28-22 win over the Los Angeles Rams. The only bright spot for the Rams is that they won’t face Barkley again for a while. In Week 12, the running back totaled 255 yards against the Rams, an Eagles franchise record. On Sunday, he added 205 more along with two touchdowns. Both of Barkley’s touchdowns, a 62-yarder in the first and a game-sealing 78-yarder in the fourth, were masterpieces. Barkley’s passion, vision and explosive speed were once again on display during those runs, along with the Eagles’ offensive line at its best. According to NFL on Prime, Barkley now holds the NFL record for most touchdowns over 60 yards in a season, including the playoffs (5).

“That’s why I came here,” Barkley told reporters after the game. Inspired performances like Sunday’s are why Barkley is beloved far beyond Philadelphia.

Elsewhere in the league

As expected, the Eagles offensive line was far superior to its Rams counterpart, but Sunday was still among the unit’s worst performances of the season. The Rams pass rush made some smart halftime adjustments and caught fire in the second half. All told, the Rams collected seven sacks. Philly’s line still proved to be the best in the league at times, especially on the two Barkley touchdown runs. But everyone said they were beaten more often than we are used to seeing. Given Jalen Hurts’ struggles, this line will need to be phenomenal for all four quarters next Sunday.

The award for the most disastrous unit of the division weekend goes to the Texans’ special teams. It started with Kris Boyd ripping off his helmet and pushed special teams coach Frank Ross. Then things got really bad. Houston’s special teams committed two penalties, missed two field goals and an extra point, allowed a long return and had a terrible punt.

Not only will the Dallas Cowboys have to watch their division rivals square off for the NFC championship, but Washington’s win means every other NFC team has appeared in the conference championship game since the Cowboys last played in a title game in 1995.