- Dan Graziano
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Ben Solak
Shut
Ben Solak
ESPN
- Ben Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a nationwide NFL analyst. He beforehand coated the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Inexperienced Nation and The Draft Community.
The NFL playoffs are formally underway. The Rams narrowly edged the Panthers, and the Bears took down the NFC North-rival Packers in a wild comeback. On Sunday, the Payments held off the Jaguars earlier than the 49ers took down the defending champion Eagles.
What are the primary classes and takeaways from every wild-card matchup, and what’s subsequent for these groups? We requested nationwide NFL reporter Dan Graziano and NFL analyst Ben Solak to assist dimension up each matchup from the opening spherical and look ahead from all angles. For every wild-card recreation, Solak is answering one massive remaining query and Graziano is judging the legitimacy of 1 potential overreaction.
Let’s bounce in, making sense of the Eagles’ potential offensive modifications, the Payments’ Tremendous Bowl window, the Jaguars’ speeding assault, Caleb Williams’ progress and Bryce Younger’s future. And verify again all weekend for extra snap reactions as video games occur.
Leap to:
SF-PHI | BUF-JAX
GB-CHI | LAR-CAR
‘The 49ers could make a legit Tremendous Bowl run.’ Overreaction?
Sure, overreaction. The 49ers are a straightforward group to love and respect. They’re TOUGH powerful. They have been with out their two greatest gamers on protection (linebacker Fred Warner and defensive finish Nick Bosa) for months. They performed greater than a month with out quarterback Brock Purdy. Tight finish George Kittle was out and in of the lineup all season — and he is now out for nonetheless lengthy their season continues after tearing his Achilles in Philadelphia. It’s a straight-up miracle they’re one of many eight divisional-round groups, and so they deserve admiration for the extent to which they have been in a position to trend hen salad out of … effectively, every thing that is occurred to them this yr.
That stated, they need to go play in Seattle now, and we simply noticed that recreation final weekend. Enjoying the Seahawks at residence with the division title and the NFC’s prime seed on the road, the Niners put up a meager 173 yards of complete offense in a 13-3 loss. Now, the Seahawks will likely be at residence and coming off a bye, whereas the Niners will limp in after a bodily brutal win over the defending Tremendous Bowl champs.
Will it assist that left deal with Trent Williams, who did not play in Week 18, ought to play subsequent week? Positive. However they nonetheless will not have Kittle, and their run recreation is not superb with out him. Working again Christian McCaffrey stays a playmaker for Brock Purdy within the cross recreation, however they averaged 3.5 yards per rush try in Sunday’s win. That is not out of character for them, as they averaged 3.8 within the common season (thirtieth within the NFL). They’re restricted in what they will do on offense, and the Seahawks have the sort of protection that may make the most of that.
There was some extent within the fourth quarter once I thought to myself, “Whoever wins this recreation is getting smoked within the subsequent spherical,” and I sort of stand by it. The 49ers are nearly out of gamers, and the Eagles could not do something in opposition to a group that was nearly out of gamers.
It was a becoming finish for a 2025 Eagles group that was by no means pretty much as good as its good thing about the doubt. Whilst they marched down for the go-ahead rating, you simply by no means felt like they have been going to get it. A baby born through the third quarter of this recreation may have discovered they have been going to Dallas Goedert on the ultimate play, and so they did regardless of him being triple-covered. It was peak 2025 Eagles — no creativity, no juice. They weren’t an excellent group, they simply received a awful division. In the meantime, the Seahawks received the one division in NFL historical past through which three groups received not less than 12 video games. Kudos to Kyle Shanahan, Robert Saleh & Co. for getting so far as they obtained with their roster crumbling round them. Nevertheless it’s solely going to get harder from right here. — Graziano
The lingering query: Is the Eagles’ offensive breakup inevitable?
There isn’t a worse-kept secret within the NFL that there’s frustration internally and externally with the Eagles’ offensive teaching this season. Coordinator Kevin Patullo, promoted to interchange the outgoing Kellen Moore, has been a longtime assistant for coach Nick Sirianni. However Patullo was evidently underqualified for his position. Extensive receiver A.J. Brown was visibly upset to various levels all year long. Working again Saquon Barkley was not practically as productive as he was final season. Quarterback Jalen Hurts continued to wrestle throwing to the center of the sphere.
There’ll virtually definitely be a brand new offensive coordinator in Philadelphia subsequent season — the fifth in 5 years. However maybe the best query is that if the rest will likely be new within the Eagles offense? Brown, who went over 20 minutes of recreation clock within the second half with no goal and was caught by cameras arguing with Sirianni on the sideline, was a rumored goal for a lot of groups on the commerce deadline. He represents a considerable lifeless cap ($66.9 million) if traded, and would seemingly need to collaborate with the Eagles’ entrance workplace and finagle the funds if he calls for a commerce.
Past Brown, tight finish (and key pink zone possibility) Dallas Goedert will likely be a free agent. At 31-years-old, he’ll need to money in on his ultimate good years, and the Eagles do not have a ton of cap to pay him. However in addition they do not have TE2 ready within the wings. Proper deal with Lane Johnson, a franchise mainstay for over a decade, missed the top of the season with a foot harm and can flip 36 this spring. How for much longer does he need to play — and the way efficient would he be? It looks like an even bigger change than a mere coordinator swap is on the horizon for Philadelphia’s offense as they appear to get again on prime of the NFC. — Solak
0:28
49ers cease Eagles on 4th right down to clinch victory
Eric Kendricks makes an excellent play on protection to cease the Eagles from scoring and safe the 49ers’ 23-19 win vs. the Eagles.
‘This actually is Josh Allen’s greatest probability to win the Tremendous Bowl.’ Overreaction?
No, not an overreaction. This has been the #narrative for the reason that preseason. The Payments have been arrange with one of many easiest-looking schedules. They’ve performed one recreation all season outdoors of their residence time zone. Patrick Mahomes missed the playoffs. Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson missed the playoffs. Allen and the Payments, the speculation went, had the highway cleared for them and have been in line to lastly recover from that postseason hump.
However a humorous factor occurred on the best way to the coronation. This season’s Payments turned out to be … not so good as traditional. The protection by no means actually obtained it collectively and nonetheless appears very weak. Jacksonville ran for over 100 yards outdoors the tackles in Sunday’s recreation, the primary time a Jaguars group has carried out that in additional than three years. Buffalo is extremely banged-up and short-handed on either side of the ball. It did not have a solution for Trevor Lawrence till the gorgeous tipped-ball interception that locked down Sunday’s win. The Payments will seemingly be a highway underdog subsequent weekend.
However what the Payments do have is guts and expertise — and Allen, who performs with a number of simultaneous accidents and does not have a star WR1 however someway finds a method to do no matter it takes. Sure, even when that is a 10-yard tush push on fourth-and-1 on the opponent’s 11-yard line with a minute left in a playoff recreation. The Payments have a successful tradition, put in place by coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane, who each get quite a lot of grief for not getting over the hump. However they’ve constructed a postseason mainstay out of a group that — their critics might overlook — had missed the playoffs 17 years in a row earlier than it obtained there.
Jacksonville had the higher group this season. Actually, it regarded very a lot as if it had the higher group Sunday. However Allen and the Payments willed their method to a win, and so they’re nonetheless going. There may be nonetheless no Mahomes dragon to slay. There isn’t a group left within the area with wherever near Buffalo’s postseason expertise. That is the yr with out the dominant group. That is the NFL playoffs, the place nobody is aware of who’s purported to win; the place everybody’s favourite group is an NFC 5-seed that hardly beat a sub-.500 group within the first spherical. There isn’t a means we are able to rule out a Josh Allen Tremendous Bowl run, even when that is removed from the most effective group he has ever delivered to the playoffs. Somebody has to win this factor.
Discover me a group that has been by means of greater than the Payments. Discover me a group that is hungrier. Discover me a group that is extra sure it could do what it takes to win video games this time of yr. Discover me one other group with Josh Allen. — Graziano
The lingering query: Why did not the Jaguars run it extra?
About midway by means of the third quarter, you, me and each armchair coach in America have been questioning the identical factor: Why weren’t the Jaguars counting on the operating recreation? Jacksonville was gaining virtually 10 yards per carry by means of their first seven drives, and the deficit was by no means higher than one rating. Lawrence was not unhealthy, however he was definitely erratic, and it felt just like the Jaguars’ passing recreation is perhaps one massive mistake away from catastrophe.
Nicely, the Jags rolled down the sphere on their subsequent two drives, scoring touchdowns on 11- and 10-play sequences that collectively took up 11 minutes of clock. The operating recreation was sprinkled in, nevertheless it was Lawrence ripping throws with accuracy and aggression that created the scoring alternatives. Through the again half of the common season, the Jaguars had been a particularly one-dimensional offense, rating fourth in success fee on dropbacks however thirty first in success fee on designed runs. They have been third in EPA per play on dropbacks however thirtieth in EPA per play on designed runs. It is laborious to cease dancing with the one which introduced you, even when the Payments have been so prepared to play with mild packing containers and give up floor in opposition to the run.
0:24
Travis Etienne Jr. shakes off a deal with try and put Jags again up late in 4th
Trevor Lawrence finds Travis Etienne Jr., who powers by means of a deal with try to offer the Jaguars a lead with somewhat over 4 minutes remaining.
Even regardless of his shaky accuracy and first-quarter interception, Lawrence had a 48.5% dropback success fee (Allen was 42.1%) on the day. The Jaguars definitely may have run the ball extra in an effort to shorten the sport and reduce the variety of second-half possessions Allen obtained. And I might make a robust guess that coach Liam Coen and GM James Gladstone will make investments severe offseason sources into bolstering the offensive line to make sure they’ve the form of operating recreation that they will belief all season lengthy.
On the finish of the day, the Jaguars misplaced a brutally shut recreation to a wonderful Payments group. As with all dropping groups, there have been loads of little issues they may have carried out higher. However somebody has to lose the ballgames, and Jacksonville — regardless of its really glorious season and legit Yr 1 leap underneath Coen — drew the shorter straw Sunday. — Solak
‘Caleb Williams goes to win the MVP award subsequent season.’ Overreaction?
No, not an overreaction. The Bears fell behind 21-3 at halftime. Williams accomplished lower than 50% of his passes and threw two interceptions. And regardless of pouring it on within the second half, the Bears have been down 27-24 on the two-minute warning — at residence because the No. 2 seed — to their oldest and most hated rival. It was all establishing for an enormous Bears playoff letdown. Till they received.
Williams hit DJ Moore for a 25-yard go-ahead landing cross with 1:43 left to finish a livid comeback, and for the seventh time this season, Chicago received a recreation it trailed within the ultimate two minutes of regulation. Williams can put you thru the total spectrum of emotion on actually any snap. However you watched him decide up a fourth-and-8 and a third-and-10 on his method to the landing cross that lower the result in three and turned the Soldier Subject crowd all the best way as much as 11, and also you most likely thought one thing alongside the traces of, “Yeah, there’s one thing magic about this child.” You watched him get the ball again after the Packers’ missed a area objective try with 2:56 to go and also you thought, “Yeah, I sort of suppose he is obtained this.”
Williams could make throws different quarterbacks cannot make, and he seems to be the sort of participant whose pulse chills all the best way out within the moments that ship the pulses of others by means of the roof. That is why even when it isn’t going nice, you are feeling as if there is a good probability it will definitely will. With Williams in his second season as an NFL quarterback and Ben Johnson in his first yr as an NFL head coach, Chicago went 11-6, received a division out of which the opposite three groups made final season’s playoffs and nonetheless has an opportunity to win the entire thing. The Bears have younger ability place expertise everywhere round Williams. They’ll spend their offseason beefing up the protection, too. Is there a compelling purpose to imagine they’re going to be worse subsequent season than they have been this season? Nope.
Williams ought to proceed enhancing with this group round him and Johnson teaching him. If subsequent season’s Bears win 12 or extra, and Williams wins 5 – 6 of these within the ultimate two minutes, he might be the darling of the MVP voting physique. There are quite a lot of “ifs” there, positive, however this is not far-fetched. — Graziano
The lingering query: What’s incorrect — and proper — with Ben Johnson’s fourth-down decision-making?
The fourth-down haters have been out in full drive on the finish of the primary half, as Johnson’s Bears went 1-for-4 there, together with a failed fourth-and-5 at their 32-yard line. This was a very aggressive name. The NFL Subsequent Gen Stats mannequin favored a punt, whereas the ESPN mannequin very, very narrowly favored a “go.”
Ought to Johnson have gone for all these early fourth downs? I am unsure. The protection felt as if it had no stops in it, however as evidenced by the second half, it did. It is laborious to know from the skin what goes into each resolution.
What we are able to say confidently is that the Bears have been making huge, straightforward errors on fourth down. The interception concentrating on Luther Burden III on fourth-and-6 got here as a result of the rookie receiver was confused on the line. The second-half fourth-and-1 failure within the pink zone was a results of a blown cross safety. Even the fourth-and-5, means backed up, regarded like an enormous Burden catch-and-run … till the ball was tipped on the line.
0:27
Bears pull inside 3 after TD to Zaccheaus
Caleb Williams throws an exquisite cross to Olamide Zaccheaus for the Bears landing, and the two-point conversion is nice.
The story of the Bears’ win — and the Bears’ season — is not certainly one of selections; it is certainly one of execution. Chicago made quite a lot of sloppy errors on offense to begin the season and improved later within the schedule. On this first playoff recreation for a younger offense, the Bears made loads of straightforward errors and improved as the sport progressed. These cardiac Bears reside by the hair on their chinny chin chins, and its laborious to win your whole playoff video games that means. However they’re doing precisely what a younger group must do within the playoffs: settling down, combating again and studying what it takes to win January soccer. — Solak
‘Bryce Younger goes to get a top-10 QB contract this offseason.’ Overreaction?
Sure, overreaction. Look, huge respect to Younger and the Panthers right here. The Rams received, however Carolina made all of us who thought it may pull off an upset look good. Younger was fearless and enjoyable and every thing groups need their quarterbacks to be in massive moments. He was 21-for-40 for 264 yards and a landing cross, and he additionally ran for a landing. He hit Jalen Coker for the go-ahead TD with 2:39 to go, solely to look at his protection inexplicably go into forestall mode with means an excessive amount of time left, because the Rams marched down the sphere for the successful rating. However Younger did every thing he may to attempt to preserve his season — through which he threw for 3,011 yards, 23 landing passes and 11 interceptions for a division champion — alive. Sure, an 8-9 division champion, however nonetheless.
All of that stated, it is too quickly for the Panthers to commit. If Younger needs to signal a Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield kind of deal, go forward and try this, Carolina. Nicely value it, given the promise Younger confirmed this season and the funding the group has already made in him. But when he needs Tua Tagovailoa cash? Uh-uh.
Younger is signed by means of 2026, and the Panthers have an possibility for 2027, which I really feel extraordinarily assured they may decide up as a result of there isn’t any purpose not to take action. They’re going to mainly have him for $30 million over the subsequent two years in the event that they try this. That is a very cheap funding that may enable them to collect extra information and resolve whether or not he is the franchise man they believed him to be once they traded as much as choose him first in 2023. The fifth-year possibility (and the franchise tag, frankly, in the event that they need to try this in 2028) afford the group the chance to make Younger show it once more.
Younger does not appear to be the sort of man who wants the affirmation that may include the long-term deal. I am positive he is aware of a ton of issues he can do higher and appears ahead to an opportunity to work on them. Heck, he is higher off ready and having a good higher yr in 2026 and negotiating off that. Huge hat tip to Younger and the Panthers, nevertheless it’s nonetheless means early. — Graziano
The lingering query: What have the 2 video games in opposition to the Panthers taught us in regards to the Rams?
There are many massive variations between the Panthers’ regular-season upset of the Rams and their close to postseason repeat. The connecting thread is how efficiently the Panthers examined the Rams’ defensive backs in protection. Within the first matchup, it was with shot performs late in drives to attain massive touchdowns; on this recreation, the Panthers ripped off explosives to Tetairoa McMillan and Coker. The ball got here out quick from Younger, which helped neutralize the Rams’ cross rush, as Carolina wagered on its supersized receivers in opposition to the Rams’ smaller defensive backs. It usually labored.
Nickelback Quentin Lake returned to the beginning lineup for the primary time since Week 11, and the Panthers instantly examined him, too. Lake was focused 10 occasions and allowed 7 receptions for 83 yards, as the large slot Coker particularly gave him hassle (5 catches on 5 targets for 62 yards). Because the Rams advance, I might anticipate extra groups to check that secondary in 50-50 and contested conditions, whether or not deep down the sideline or in the midst of the sphere. It is not an enormous group, and bodily receivers give it challenges accordingly.
1:19
Ought to Rams be involved after tight win over Panthers?
Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi, Rex Ryan and Randy Moss focus on the Rams’ 34-31 wild-card win over the Panthers.
In fact, the Rams have struggled with turnovers in opposition to Carolina, as effectively: three takeaways within the first recreation, then one (plus the blocked punt) within the second recreation. Normally, the Panthers do effectively discouraging the play-action cross and forcing Matthew Stafford to play extra patiently. And when he performs patiently, he is pressured to scramble extra or take extra checkdowns — not his most well-liked fashion of play. — Solak
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