My thoughts on several NFL talking points following an electric weekend of Divisional Round football.
And then there were four.
The NFL Divisional Round produced plenty of fireworks as not one, but two favorites were sent packing. I won’t go into the ins and outs of each game, it’s now Wednesday evening and if you haven’t read or listened to the in-depth analysis by now, you probably aren’t interested.
What I will say though, is that we’ve seen some dramatic fall-offs over the two playoff rounds so far. First it was Sam Darnold and the Vikings, who were comfortably dispatched by a sharper, better-coached Rams team. This past weekend, the Lions came unstuck with some really poor errors, both on the field and on the sidelines.
Lions Tamed In Detroit
The Lions have got to where they are this season by executing the fundamentals to a high degree, consistently. The flair and trickery of Ben Johnson‘s offense thrilled and delighted onlookers, but it was getting the basics right that made Detroit so hard to beat.
Saturday’s game should go down as one of the most entertaining playoff games in recent memory. For Lions fans though, two plays in particular will likely haunt the franchise until the day they finally get their hands on a Lombardi.
13 Reasons Why
Just one play into the fourth quarter, the Commanders found themselves with a fourth and two on the Lions five-yard line. The Lions, down by just three points, had an opportunity to swing momentum in their favor with a stop. Instead, the Lions drew a flag for having too many men on the field. The Commanders were given a first down at the goal line and duly scored a touchdown courtesy of a Brian Robinson run.
Just seven plays later and now down by ten, the Lions ran a trick play which saw Jameson Williams attempt a 35-yard pass to Jahmyr Gibbs. Ben Johnson has been rightly lauded for his work in Detroit, scheming up one of the most attractive and ruthless offenses in the league. He messed up on this one, but Williams needs to look at himself too.
There’s no way there wasn’t a get-out option for Williams on that play, no play-caller would design that play without a least a run option. If it was a Gibbs-or-nothing play, he’d have been told to throw the ball away if the pass wasn’t there.
It was fist and ten, the Lions clearly fancied themselves on second and third down if the play failed, but they never got that chance. Either way, Johnson will have to take responsibility for putting a young wide receiver in the position to have to make that decision in such a crucial moment.
When you factor in Jared Goff‘s three interceptions and lost fumble, Detroit’s intimidating efficiency completely abandoned them when it mattered most. The NFL will remember this game for Jayden Daniels, and rightly so, but Saturday’s game will be remembered very differently in Detroit.
Josh Allen – MVP
I made it a point to announce Josh Allen as my shout for MVP before the game on Sunday to avoid appearing reactive. Don’t get me wrong, Lamar Jackson has been outstanding and deserves immense credit for his performances this season, but Allen is the MVP for me.
Among QB’s with 200+ pass attempts this season, Jackson was tied with Aidan O’Connell for the second-fewest interceptions with four. Only Justin Herbert and Deshaun Watson bettered that with three, though Watson and O’Connell amassed just 14 starts combined.
Jackson was tied-second with Baker Mayfield in passing touchdowns (41), but led the league in touchdown percentage, finding the end-zone with a ridiculous 8.6% of his pass attempts. Jackson also led all quarterbacks in rushing yards with 915. That stat sounds more impressive still when you factor in that only he and Jayden Daniels ran for more than 630.
But if the MVP was simply a stat-based award then Allen wouldn’t even be in contention and Joe Burrow would arguably be the front-runner. The Bengals quarterback led the league in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. Cincinnati failed to make the playoffs though, so Burrow isn’t even in the conversation.
Why It’s Allen
Josh Allen finished the regular season with positive yet unremarkable stats as a passer. Among all quarterbacks with 200+ attempts in 2024, Allen finished 14th in passing yards (3731), tied-seventh in passing touchdowns (Aaron Rodgers, 28) and 25th in completion percentage (49.1).
So why is it Allen?
With no real alpha receiver, Allen led the Bills to a 13-win season and the No.2 seed in the AFC. Allen spread the ball around all year, with Khalil Shakir, Dawson Knox, Mack Hollins, Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid all getting regular work.
There were five occasions during the regular season in which a quarterback finished a game with two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns, three of those were Josh Allen.
Superman
When it mattered most, in the biggest of games, it was Allen who stepped up and delivered for his team. The Bills were the only team to beat a Mahomes-led Chiefs in 2024 and one of only two teams to defeat the Lions in the regular season.
On both occasions, Allen put the team on his back, delivering heroic performances when the lights shined brightest. His fourth-down rushing touchdown against Kansas City will be remembered for years to come. CBS’s Jim Nantz sums up my point perfectly here:
And that’s the real separator for me. In five-ten years time, when you look back on this season, it’ll be Saquon Barkley, potentially a Chiefs three-peat, and Josh Allen. The run vs the Chiefs, the huge individual performance to beat the Lions, the lateral touchdown vs the 49ers. Not to mention this incredible play that was devastatingly called back for a hold:
Allen was Superman this year.
Thoughts on “Flopping”
Nestled among the talking points taken away from the weekend’s Divisional Round games, the Texans-Chiefs game in particular, is “flopping”.
Personally, I find “flopping” to be the most rage-inducing thing about watching football. For American readers, take it from a guy who’s grown up watching soccer over the last 25 years: this doesn’t end with late slides or sideline dallying.
Just about every rule in the book, particularly those based around player safety, are exploited with infuriating regularity in soccer. If the opposition is on the attack: fake a head injury, an opponents hand/arm even brushes your face: throw yourself to the ground and pretend to check for blood.
Reverse-Engineering Yards
For me, quarterbacks can slide to protect themselves, they don’t need the referees to help them further. If a player tackles dangerously, throw the flag, otherwise let the players play. When players have to worry about flags, this is what happens:
While many argued to the contrary, it’s not a coincidence that this was Mahomes. He’s in a league of his own when it comes to manufacturing flags and the 49ers were all too aware of it. Kevin Givens (#90) shouldn’t completely give up on the play like he does, but hitting Mahomes near the sidelines has become something that defenders are unwilling to risk.
Football is a contest, yards and points are prizes to be earned, not handed out on technicalities. A player shouldn’t be able to reverse-engineer yards via the referees. The yards you earn are the yards you get, if you want to protect yourself, go down.
Mahomes is the best player on the planet, possibly of all time, but you want to see the best teams win because they were the best teams. I’m not suggesting for one second that the Chiefs didn’t deserve their win at the weekend, the Texans shot themselves in the foot time and time again, yet we’re still talking about the referees.
It Needs to be Stamped Out, Immediately
“Flopping” is still in it’s relative infancy in the NFL, but it needs to be stamped out before it gets any worse. If certain players continue to get extra yards and first downs for that behavior, eventually others will follow. That’s what happened in soccer and now it’s the norm, commentators now criticize players for being too honest at times, it’s ridiculous.
There isn’t a yardage amount or timeout that can be deducted in soccer. Instead, if a player is deemed to have thrown themselves to the ground to win a dangerous free kick or penalty, they receive a yellow card.
In football, there are more immediate ways to punish players and teams for trying to con the officials. As I mentioned, quarterbacks can slide if they want to protect themselves. The sideline offers not only a safe space from tackles, but strategically stops the clock, defenders should be able to do everything in their power to stop you getting there if they need to.
With regards to late slides, a simple video review could overrule bad calls like this one at the weekend.
Defenders are elite athletes too, they’re a huge part of the game we love and they have to be able to attempt tackles honestly without worrying about nonsense penalties like this.
Let quarterbacks protect themselves on the sidelines and treat hits on slides like roughing the passer calls with the two-step rule. Treat “flopping” with a ten-yard penalty and suddenly there’s no benefit to doing it anymore.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to the future of football that this isn’t allowed to get out of hand.
Anyway, that’s me done for today. Thank you to anyone that read this far, it’s the longest piece I’ve written this year. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment either here or on socials.
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In-depth stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference.
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