Without my Texans playing this weekend I felt a little lost and I’m not going to lie, not really motivated to watch any of the games. That was until we received a few emails, guaranteeing the match up to hook me into loving this sport. What did I end up going with?
AFC divisional playoffs rematch from 2021…
Kansas City Chiefs V Buffalo Bills
To start with all you could see was a sea of red; it must have been a home game for the Chiefs. The commentators set up the game well enticing me with terms such as ‘rematch’, ‘High profile’ players, with both teams wanting to prove themselves. They then made the comment of this being the top two teams in the NFL…Have we forgotten about my Houston Texans? On a side note, Tony Romo (analyst commentator) was very good at breaking down plays and forecasting the game, including calling the final score five minutes into the first quarter. Wow! He clearly knows his stuff.
Both teams appeared springy and fresh, making it look easy to push up yards. The plays were complete and crisp. A strong defence by both parties was evident with the repeated attempts at touchdown by the Chiefs throughout the first quarter. The first quarter concluded pointless…
Strong defence was carried into the second quarter before Bills took the lead, finally getting some points on the board with a field goal. The Chiefs retaliated with JuJu Smith-Schuster’s (#9) fantastic breakaway, breaking tackles and scoring the game’s first touchdown, concluding with a little yoga pose celebration dance.
The game kicked up a notch at this stage with points being given back and foe with a tie leading into the second half of the match. This was largely due to Harrison Butker’s (Chiefs #7) incredible 62-yard kick into the wind with seconds remaining. Impressive!
The third quarter let things simmer with both teams displaying excellent hard-hitting defence and smart offensive strategies. Even bringing their kickers onto field for more action to grab any points they could. I particularly enjoyed watching the quarterbacks, once I established who they were. They were very entertaining, not afraid to move around, rush yards themselves and get a little dirty. I hate to say it but I feel our Mills could pick up a thing or two from these guys.
Things were boiling over into the fourth and final quarter, and the game again kicked up a gear with plays and completing sets. With the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II (#15) literally running rings around the Bills defence avoiding being sacked and the Bills Quarterback Josh Allen (#17) jumping over players and piggy-backing off them to rush yards.
One minute remaining the stadium went quiet, when the away team stole the lead…Ouch!
A great interception by Bill’s Taron Johnson (#7) to secure the win.
Bills 24 – Chiefs 20
Okay don’t tell George, it was a very entertaining game, high energy, fast paced, plenty of action and a lot more animated then I’m use to. Perhaps I need to step out of my Texan comfort zone and maybe watch a few more games.
The one thing I didn’t enjoy, which was almost every play and both teams being guilty of, was the players themselves directing the refs to throw a flag, or pointing out where the line of scrimmage was, etc, etc. They felt they had a lot of pull over the refs and I feel it took away a little of the game, making some of the players look like spoilt children…
Let’s have a little looksie at how the rest of my picks went this weekend. Keep in mind this was the first week I put a little effort into looking into some of the team stats…
Commanders Beat Bears 12-7
Giants Beat Ravens 24 -20 (A Win)
Colts Beat Jaguars 34-27 (A Win)
Patriots Beat Browns 38-15
Bengals Beat Saints 30-26 (A Win)
Steelers Beat Buccaneers 20-18
Falcons Beat 49ers 28-14
Rams Beat Panthers 24-10 (A Win)
Seahawks Beat Cardinals 19-9
Bills Beat Chiefs 24-20
Eagles Beat Cowboys 26-17 (A Win)
Chargers Beat Broncos 19-16 (A Win)
Better results, 50/50, it turns out I missed two games in my predictions all together this week (Whoops!), not to worry as I’m almost 100% sure I would not have picked them correctly anyway and am much happier with my picks improvements. It seems there was an upset of games this week, lots of curve balls and unforeseen change ups…
Just when I thought I had a handle on these picks!
Much more to look forward to next week with my boys returning to the scene, still riding high from outplaying the Jaguars!
Keep it together.
Opmerkingen