There are not any nigh-unbeatable 1972 Miami Dolphins or 2007 New England Patriots on this 12 months’s N.F.L. playoff discipline. Each staff has not less than one vital flaw. Opposing coaches have spent numerous hours scouring sport movie and statistical breakdowns trying to find these flaws. All you must do is learn the next capsules.
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals fumbled (“aborted,” in N.F.L. parlance) 17 center-quarterback snaps this season. Per Football Outsiders analysis, that’s the very best determine in not less than the final 12 years.
Football gamers grasp the snap early of their Pop Warner careers, so studying {that a} playoff staff botches a mean of 1 per sport is nearly as gorgeous as discovering that in addition they sometimes get misplaced on the best way to the stadium.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills completed third within the league in factors scored and first in fewest factors allowed, partially as a result of they performed what a number of analysts decided was the N.FL.’s best schedule. The Bills went 9-2 this season towards opponents that failed to succeed in the postseason, outscoring them 318-144. The Bills went 2-4 towards playoff-bound opponents, with a way more modest plus-10 rating differential. The Bills are anticipated to face solely playoff groups within the playoffs.
Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow endured a league-high 51 regular-season sacks. Poor blocking was partially responsible, however Coach Zac Taylor’s sport plans additionally seem to consist largely of: a) spreading the formation so the Bengals’ offensive line will get no assist from tight ends or operating backs; b) sending the rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase as far downfield as doable; c) hoping Burrow survives lengthy sufficient to throw the ball to him.
2021 N.F.L. Season News and Analysis
- N.F.L. Coach Firings: This 12 months, Brian Flores, Matt Nagy and Mike Zimmer all discovered themselves out of a job, becoming a member of Vic Fangio of the Broncos, who was dismissed a day earlier than.
- Last-Second Drama: The Raiders outlasted the Chargers in extra time, sliding into the playoffs and eliminating their division rival.
- Week 18 Takeaways: What we realized from the ultimate video games of the common season.
- Searching for Joy in East Rutherford, N.J.: An illustrated look on the chilly, moist Giants loss to the Washington Football Team.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have been penalized a league-high 127 instances within the common season. They have been additionally the beneficiaries of a league-high 121 penalties. Cowboys video games are practically unwatchable as a result of they’re usually determined not by nice offensive or defensive performs, however by 20-yard features negated by holding fouls or 35-yard move interference penalties when a defender nudges a receiver whereas chasing an off-target throw. That is extra a flaw of the N.F.L.’s officiating tradition than it’s the Cowboys, but it surely actually is vital.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers have the N.F.L.’s worst particular groups items. Opponents averaged a league-high 12.8 yards per punt return towards the Packers and 25.7 yards per kickoff return (seventh within the N.F.L.), whereas the veteran kicker Mason Crosby missed eight discipline targets from contained in the 50-yard line.
The kicking sport is totally outdoors quarterback Aaron Rodgers’s sphere of affect, after all, a reality he’ll make sure to remind us of if the Packers lose a playoff sport on a punt return landing or missed additional level.
Kansas City
Kansas City dedicated 25 turnovers, tied with the Tennessee Titans for the very best complete amongst playoff groups. Also, practically each turnover the staff coughs up is a Rube Goldbergian sequence of unbelievable coincidences: The supposed receiver slips earlier than Patrick Mahomes delivers a side-armed move, the ball ricochets off the receiver’s helmet and the antlers of a gazelle grazing alongside the sideline earlier than touchdown within the palms of a defender, who bobbles the ball instantly into the palms of a teammate, who practically runs for a landing earlier than being chased down by the gazelle, or by the marginally quicker Tyreek Hill.
Las Vegas Raiders
It’s tough to find out how the Raiders reached the playoffs, not to mention which of their many flaws is probably the most vital.
Los Angeles Rams
Matthew Stafford threw 17 interceptions this season, tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Trevor Lawrence for the league lead. He threw 5 of these interceptions from contained in the Rams’ 20-yard line. It’s as if each time Stafford sees that he must drive greater than 80 yards for a landing, he flashes again to his 12 seasons of Detroit Lions purgatory and turns into overwhelmed with despair.
New England Patriots
The Patriots’ offense is extra of a household SUV than a sports activities automotive, and whereas the rookie quarterback Mac Jones retains his palms at 10 and a pair of o’clock and indicators earlier than each flip, he’s not fairly prepared for rush hour on the turnpike. Jones’s effectivity score on passes of 15-plus yards downfield of 58.4 ranks twenty seventh amongst beginning quarterbacks, per Sports Info Solutions. Force the Patriots out of their running-and-defense sport plan, and Jones appears extra like one other Zach Wilson than the subsequent Tom Brady.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles are the league’s finest speeding staff, averaging an N.F.L.-high 159.7 yards per sport. Unfortunately, Coach Nick Sirianni likes to precise himself artistically on the objective line with numerous intricate passing ideas as a substitute of simply hammering the ball between the tackles. As a outcome, the Eagles scored touchdowns on solely 69 p.c of their regular-season goal-to-go alternatives. Only the Cardinals had a decrease success fee amongst playoff groups, maybe as a result of their signature goal-to-go play is a botched snap.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger, who is predicted to retire at season’s finish, now throws and runs like a great-uncle taking part in a pickup sport at a yard cookout after three I.P.A.s and two helpings of potato salad, and the Steelers’ offense appears like archival footage of a 1928 Pottsville Maroons-Dayton Triangles sport performed in a vacant lot throughout a downpour.
San Francisco 49ers
Even when Jimmy Garoppolo is wholesome, his passes that journey greater than 10 yards within the air have the trajectory, accuracy and velocity of a paper clip flung from a rubber band. He is at present coping with a finger damage on his throwing hand, so Coach Kyle Shanahan should both stretch the bounds of nano-screen passing expertise or give extra alternatives to the speedy, strong-armed rookie backup Trey Lance. The sensible cash, sadly and inexplicably, is on the nano-screens.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brady can be with out the highest playmakers Chris Godwin (anterior cruciate ligament tear) and Antonio Brown (verify Instagram) within the playoffs. Injuries and absences didn’t seem to hamper the Buccaneers of their last video games, however Brady may have crushed the Jets and Carolina Panthers just by swaggering onto the sphere and posing heroically.
Tennessee Titans
Running again Derrick Henry’s imminent return from surgical procedure on his damaged foot is a combined blessing, as a result of the Titans might count on him to once more rush 30 instances per sport, scan tickets on the stadium entrance, and sing a halftime duet with Walker Hayes. Fortunately for Henry, the Titans earned a first-round playoff bye, giving him one other week to soak his toes in Epsom salts, fancy-like.
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