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A coin toss and field goal send the Chiefs and Bengals to the AFC Championship
By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews
Last Saturday’s opening AFC divisional round playoff game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tennessee Titans began a weekend of incredible games. The outcome of each of the four in NFL postseason matchups were decided on the final play.
The Bengals, the AFC’s No. 4 seed, knocked off the top seeded Titans by 19-16 on the road on a field goal as time expired to advance to the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. With the score tied at 16, rookie Evan McPherson kicked a 52-yarder advancing the Bengals to the conference championship game for the first time since 1988.
They will be taking on the Kansas City Chiefs, who are returning to the conference final for a fourth straight time. The Chiefs are also the first team to ever host four consecutive conference championship games. The winner moves on to the Super Bowl. “That’s a kicker’s dream,” said McPherson, “to have the game on your shoulders.” Overall McPherson was 4-4 on field goals, including a long of 54 yards. “We’re here to make some noise, and teams are going to have to pay attention to us,” Bengals second-year quarterback Joe Burrow emphatically stated. Burrow was impressive in completing 28 of his 37 passes for 348 yards and one interception. He endured endless pressure from the Titans defense and was sacked nine times. While the Bengals-Titans game was low scoring, the Chiefs-Buffalo Bills pairing was an offensive slugfest, with the Chiefs landing the final blow. They defeated the Bills 42-36 in overtime in what was an epic playoff battle. The teams combined for 25 points in the last 2 minutes of regulation with the lead exchanging three times. The Chiefs’ Harrison Butker’s 48-yard field
goal at the end of regulation sent the game into overtime. The Chiefs won the coin toss and their sensational quarterback Patrick Mahomes led them on a eight-play, 75-yard drive capped off by an eightyard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce to end the game and send them to a meeting with the Bengals this Sunday (3:00 p.m.). Mahomes threw for 378 yards, connecting on 33 of his 44 passes and three touchdowns. He also ran for a team-high 69. Bills QB Josh Allen was just as spectacular, going 27-37 for 329 yards with 68 on the ground. Buffalo’s most glaring fault was calling the wrong side of the coin before it was tossed to deterQuarterback Pat Mahomes and the Kansas Chiefs will be mine which team would get the ball seeking their third straight appearance in the Super Bowl when to start overtime. NFL rules state that they host the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship if a team scores a touchdown on the Game on Sunday (Still photo courtesy of YouTube) opening possession in overtime, it ends the game. “All you can do is play the rules the way the rules are explained, and that’s what we did,” said Mahomes. This will be the second meeting this season between the Bengals and Chiefs. The Bengals had a narrow 34-31 win in Cincinnati on Jan. 2. Jalen Ramsey, the Los Angeles Rams’ three-time Firstteam All-Pro cornerback, will play a pivotal role in the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday (Wikipedia photo)
The Rams and 49ers pull off upsets to advance to the NFC title game
By JAIME C. HARRIS
Amsterdam News Sports Editor
Seedings in the NFL playoffs this season have been of little importance. There are no No. 1 seeds remaining of the four teams still in the tournament and only a single No. 2 (the Kansas City Chiefs). In the National Football Conference, two upsets last weekend in the divisional round set the stage for familiar foes strapping on their helmets for the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.
On Saturday, the No. 6 San Francisco 49ers went into Green Bay where temperatures were in the low teens and vanquished Aaron Rodgers and the top seeded Packers 13-10 on a 45-yard field goal by Robbie Gould as time ended in regulation. A day later in Florida, where the weather was much warmer, quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFC’s No. 2 seed, fell short of engineering an improbable comeback and were defeated by the No. 4 seed Los Angleles Rams 30-27 as Matt Gay guided a 30-yard field goal through the uprights as the final second ticked off the scoreboard.
“Always tough to lose at the end of the year,” said Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion who led the Bucs to the title last season. “One team, one year, it’s never the same after that. It doesn’t feel good to lose any one of those games. I’ve lost at every one of those stages. It all sucks to lose in the end.”
After trailing 27-3 with a little over seven minutes to go in the third quarter, the Buccaneers made a furious comeback and tied the game at 27 on a 9-yard rush by running back Leonard Fournette with 42 seconds left in the fourth. But the Rams were able to move into field goal range on two passes from their quarterback Mathew Stafford to wide receiver Cooper Kupp totaling 64 yards.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Stafford. “I mean, we sure let ‘em back in the game with a bunch of mistakes on offense. Our defense played outstanding.” A Rams win over the 49ers at home on Sunday (6:30 p.m. kickoff) will afford them the luxury of also playing the Super Bowl at their home two weekends later as it will be held at gleaming SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
But first things first. The 49ers have beaten their NFC West division rival six straight times and handed Rodgers, arguably the most complete combination of skill and acumen to ever play QB, another disappointing loss in NFC championship games. His record is now 1-4 and the Packers’ loss for the second consecutive season at home as the conference’s No. 1.
The 49ers offense and their quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo failed to generate a touchdown but one by the special teams on a blocked punt and a defense that pressured Rodgers all night were the difference. The victory was the 49ers’ sixth in the last seven games and fourth in a row, including a 27-24 OT win over the Rams on the road in their final regular season game. It was a must win for the 49ers to clinch a playoff spot.
“When a team gets hot, it’s dangerous,” said Garoppolo, who has weathered constant criticism about his mediocre performances this season. “So we’ve just got to keep this thing going, focus on next week now, and keep this thing rolling.”
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