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Three of the top four seeds advanced to Championship Sunday in a playoff field that was said to be as wide open as any in memory.
The Divisional Round treated us to the good, the bad and the ugly, and the latter even applies to the team hosting the AFC Championship Game. Bo Nix‘s shocking ankle injury has completely shredded the Broncos’ script. The question now, in historical terms, is whether this will be a Nick Foles-like ending … or similar to Josh Johnson replacing an injured Brock Purdy in a 49ers slaughter at the hands of the Eagles?
The Super Bowl-winning QB could be one of the two MVP front-runners — Drake Maye or Matthew Stafford — or it could be backup Jarrett Stidham or the oft-maligned Sam Darnold. To Darnold’s credit, he has stacked two very good years together, he just played through a likely painful oblique injury and he now captains an extremely dangerous Seahawks squad that has emerged — somewhat similarly to last season’s Eagles — as the team to beat.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Seattle has topped these rankings since its Week 16 win over the Rams. If the ‘Hawks can repeat that, they’ll make their first Super Bowl appearance in more than a decade.
NOTE: Up/down arrows below reflect movement from the Divisional Round Power Rankings.
This was the kind of performance that made you think the Seahawks are destined to win the Super Bowl. That obviously remains to be seen, but Sam Darnold and his injured oblique were not even asked to do that much, and Seattle still had a three-score lead by halftime. The ‘Hawks dominated from the opening kickoff return, which allowed their pass rushers to torment Brock Purdy and the 49ers all game long. Kenneth Walker III looked fresh as a daisy, rushing for a season-high 116 yards and three touchdowns, though Seattle lost complementary back Zach Charbonnet to a torn ACL. On a more positive note, it appears Charles Cross (foot) avoided serious injury, with Mike Macdonald calling the left tackle day-to-day. All in all, the Seahawks clearly are the favorites right now, given the way they’re playing, although they are about to face the one team that might be able to get them, if their first two showdowns with the Rams are any indication. The initial bout resulted in a two-point L.A. win, while the second showdown went Seattle’s way on a two-point conversion in overtime. Buckle up for what could be a classic rubber match.
Though they were far from spectacular in their win over Houston, the Patriots nonetheless find themselves one game from the Super Bowl again. Their defensive performance on Sunday gets as much credit as (if not more credit than ) the offensive effort, and now they are the favorites in the AFC title match vs. the Bo Nix-less Broncos. You can talk about the Pats’ “easy” path, and it’s worth mentioning the breaks they’ve caught in terms of their schedule and opponents’ injuries; it’s all accurate. This is not a juggernaut. Then again, neither was the Patriots squad that shocked the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI with Mike Vrabel as a player. Today, the coach and Drake Maye have turned this into a team that believes in itself. Amazingly, the pressure is squarely on the AFC upstarts, who are suddenly in line to face Denver backup Jarrett Stidham , a former New England second-stringer who threw 48 forgettable passes for the Pats back in the day. Maye and his pass protection have to be better than they were against the Texans, but this is now viewed as their game to win, even if it will take place in a stadium that has been historically wicked to New England.
