NFL divisional-round weekend grades | Yardbarker

Brett Maher’s blocked extra point doubled as his sixth missed PAT in his past seven tries. Although that historic bout of inaccuracy crested in Tampa, it created bigger issues in San Francisco. The Cowboys (13-6) passed on a 52-yard field goal in the second quarter, and while they converted a fourth-and-4, game-altering sequences followed. Tony Pollard’s fibula fracture occurred on the next play, and Dak Prescott’s second INT Sunday (and 17th this season, despite Dallas’ franchise QB missing five games) one play later denied the Cowboys a chance to take a halftime lead. The 49ers, with unusual clock management aside, did so instead. Other factors contributed to another Dallas divisional-round defeat, but this second-stanza stretch set the table for the familiar ending.

COWBOYS GRADE: C-plus

He of seven touchdown catches since Brock Purdy took over, Kittle has become the 49ers’ most consistent aerial weapon. His juggling reception, with a snare-and-tuck finale that prevented a Trevon Diggs dislodging, moved the 49ers (15-4) back onto the path their offense has traveled for months. After punts or Robbie Gould field goals for 2 1/2 quarters failed to dispatch the Cowboys, the 49ers rode Kittle’s 30-yard grab to a go-ahead touchdown. Kittle’s 95-yard day helped Purdy shake off more early rust, this time against DVOA’s No. 2 defense, and allowed San Francisco to close out another divisional-round win. Kittle has already accumulated more playoff yards (132) than he did in the 2019 or ’21 postseasons.

49ERS GRADE: B-plus | NEXT: at Eagles (Sun.)

This loss is the Cowboys’ seventh straight in the divisional round — the longest such skid in NFL history. The pillars of modern Dallas football — Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, Prescott — have been unable to end it. Considering the Amari Cooper trade and Randy Gregory snafu, the Cowboys bouncing back to reach this point constitutes a quality season. Mike McCarthy is off to a better start than Jason Garrett, who did not make the playoffs until his fourth season. But Dallas may soon lose its defensive boss. If Sean Payton turns down Denver, Dan Quinn looks primed to bolt. Pieces are here — Diggs, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons — but linchpins Zack Martin, Tyron Smith, and DeMarcus Lawrence are on the back nine. 

DeMeco Ryans went through two coaching interviews while piecing together a winning game plan. His All-Pro linebacker led the way, intercepting Prescott to finish off what turned out to be the Cowboys’ final red zone trip. Warner’s second-quarter INT came after Deommodore Lenoir picked Prescott, buying Purdy and Co. more time. No Purdy-guided avalanche followed Sunday, but Ryans’ troops holding Dallas to 5 of 15 on third down helped ensure another scoring onslaught was unnecessary. Warner allowed just two catches on five targets, including a well-covered deep incompletion to Lamb, and has joined Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, and Dre Greenlaw — whom the team did well to extend before his best season — as defensive anchors on San Francisco’s recent run of NFC title-bound teams.

Kyle Shanahan’s 10-22 start followed the Jim Tomsula-Chip Kelly futility that sent the 49ers into their deepest abyss since the 1970s, but the second-generation head coach guiding a third-string QB into the championship round — San Francisco’s third NFC title game cameo in four years — should be viewed as one of this era’s signature coaching jobs. The 49ers’ 18th conference championship game berth tops the NFL since the 1970 merger, and their 12-game win streak matches 1984’s for the longest single-season run in team history. Shanahan restoring the 49ers to a top-tier operation without any starts from a franchise QB is a Joe Gibbs-like achievement.

The Bengals not only played without three starting O-linemen — their top three investments up front — but saw center Ted Karras suffer a knee injury. The battered unit was not the liability last year’s crew was; instead, it mowed down the Bills in a second-round masterclass. Joe Mixon topped 100 yards (105) for the first time in a playoff game, and the Bills’ No. 2-ranked defense could not sufficiently disrupt Joe Burrow, who outplayed Josh Allen as a result. Left tackle Jackson Carman, right guard Max Scharping and right tackle Hakeem Adeniji — whom the team signed La’el Collins to replace — held up in a tough environment, paving Mixon lanes to prevent any comeback route. The Bengals (14-4) will head to Arrowhead, a better team than last year’s AFC champions.

BENGALS GRADE: A-plus | NEXT: at Chiefs (Sun.)

Like last season, when the absence of Tre’Davious White was glaring as Tyreek Hill torched the Bills late in a divisional-round classic, Buffalo’s defense entered Round 2 shorthanded. Von Miller, Micah Hyde and Damar Hamlin being out limited the favorite, but the ease with which Burrow, Mixon and Co. navigated the second-ranked unit was alarming. The Bengals breaking a team record with 30 first downs in a playoff game a year after the Chiefs’ explosion — immortalized by those infamous 13 seconds — dings Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier’s unit. The Bills (14-4) mustering three hits on Burrow and being outmuscled by a backup-laden O-line (season-high 85 yards before contact allowed) represented a sobering finale for a team that keeps hitting a January wall.

BILLS GRADE: D-minus 

The last Bills performance with fewer than 17 points: the windy night in which Bill Belichick refused to let Mac Jones pass. That was 26 games ago. The Bengals contained Stefon Diggs and kept the heat on Josh Allen; Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard and B.J. Hill combined for 13 pressures. Lou Anarumo’s defense has played without top cornerback Chidobe Awuzie most of the way, but since last season, it has made tremendous strides in points allowed (17th to sixth) and DVOA (19th to 11th). Seeing improvement on all three levels, the Bengals’ defense dominated to the point Sunday’s result was far less shocking compared to the second-round win in Tennessee last season. After they silenced a scarier Chiefs offense last January, the Bengals will not be treated as longshots this time.

At their best before Allen’s elbow injury and Miller’s ACL tear, the Bills have obvious excuses. But Sunday’s no-show marks this resurgent team’s second playoff blowout loss in three years. Buffalo is the first preseason Super Bowl favorite to fail to reach the conference title game since Seattle in 2015, and despite the Bills beginning their ascent with a 2019 playoff berth, the Bengals have surpassed them in the AFC hierarchy. Twice victorious at Arrowhead since 2021, the Bills should have more to show for the roster they have assembled. Diggs will turn 30 soon, while Miller will be 34 and coming off his second ACL tear. The Hyde-Jordan Poyer safety duo could splinter, with the latter a free agent. The Bills’ window is not closed, but their standing took a hit Sunday.

Although the Bengals’ persistent outcries against the NFL’s neutral-site scenario veered toward overkill — Zac Taylor using Atlanta’s ticket sales as motivation did the trick — they held a legitimate gripe regarding the Bills matchup. The Bengals preventing the Atlanta compromise could shut down neutral-site momentum. That is important, as a neutral site would unnecessarily minimize the No. 1 seed and give NFL semis bowl-game vibes. College football beats the NFL with its home-site energy but undercuts that with tame postseason scenes. The NFL’s best home-field atmospheres come in January. Introducing neutral sites for conference title games (when virtually no one was asking for it) would be extraordinarily lame and an example of the league getting in its own way. Through that lens, the Bengals’ win may have done long-term good.

A well-built and (mostly) healthy Eagles offensive line buried the Giants on Saturday night, clearing lanes for a rushing attack that amassed 150 yards before contact. The Eagles’ 268 rushing yards were the most Giants have allowed in 20 years — a 2002 Eagles matchup featuring 295 — and by far the most the franchise has yielded in the playoffs. While the Giants (10-8-1) stuffed Dalvin Cook, the Eagles tagged them for 250-plus on the ground for the second time this season. Despite New York boasting one of the NFL’s top defensive tackle tandems (Dexter Lawrence-Leonard Williams), its front seven had nothing for Philadelphia’s ground attack. That made life easier for Jalen Hurts and squashed any suspense associated with this rivalry matchup.

GIANTS GRADE: F 

Most of what play-caller Shane Steichen dialed up worked; the Giants effectively served as a sparring partner ahead of the Eagles-49ers matchup. Hurts did not look himself in Philly’s Week 18 win over New York’s backups, but he made quick work of Big Blue’s starters in a game that resembled the teams’ Meadowlands encounter. Hurts was in the MVP race in Week 14, but his shoulder sprain removed him from the running. The third-year QB totaled just 188 yards Saturday, but he triggered the RPO-heavy attack that produced the most Eagles rushing yards in a playoff game since Steve Van Buren’s masterpiece in L.A. — 74 years ago. Hurts’ 12th TD on a designed run more than doubles any other QB this season, and his form made the Eagles (15-3) more closely resemble their peak version.

EAGLES GRADE: A-plus | NEXT: vs. 49ers (Sun.)

Saquon Barkley overcame his three injury-plagued seasons at the right time, and despite the five-year veteran not saying so, he can command a top-market running back contract. While a franchise tag expected to fall well south of Christian McCaffrey’s $16 million-per-year running back standard ($10.1M) aids the Giants, they could also need the tag to retain Daniel Jones. The four-year vet’s Philly showing could prompt some examination of his Vikings-propelled homestretch, but the Giants should need to be prepared to dole out a $30M-AAV payment to Jones after passing on his fifth-year option. Retaining both will be expected, but after this unexpected divisional-round journey, Big Blue filling its bevy of needs — while extending Lawrence — will be trickier with Jones and Barkley re-upped.

The Eagles now have 75 sacks on the season, and while they probably need to play two more games to take down the 1984 Bears’ combined total (82; 10 in the playoffs), the five Philly posted Saturday were a single-game postseason record in team annals. Haason Reddick sack-stripping Jones on a stunt gave the Eagles early momentum, denying the Giants on an odd fourth-and-8 attempt on their first drive, and highlighted his three-QB-hit night. Fellow free agency pickup James Bradberry, facing the team that refused to release him until May, intercepted Jones and allowed a 16.7 passer rating when targeted. The Eagles will not present many deficiencies for Brock Purdy to exploit.

In addition to Reddick and Bradberry, Roseman’s A.J. Brown and C.J. Gardner-Johnson trades have respectively generated an Eagles single-season receiving record and the NFL’s interceptions lead. The 2021 Eagles reaching 9-8 was unexpected, given the Doug Pederson-Carson Wentz turmoil that began that offseason, and the Buccaneers’ wild-card romp revealed the gap between Philly and the NFC’s top tier. A year later, the Eagles broke through that ceiling and have recreated their 2017 formula — rookie-QB salary, veteran-flooded nucleus — to form another NFC title game host. Also prying a 2023 first-rounder from the Saints (No. 10 overall), the veteran GM turbocharged his team’s refueling effort. Hurts’ contract and the ages of the Eagles’ Super Bowl holdovers do raise the stakes for this year’s team, however.

Facing a wounded Patrick Mahomes and having the chance to match up with Chad Henne for a stretch, the Jaguars could not keep up. Christian Kirk scored on a well-designed play but also dropped a well-placed deep ball and stumbled twice on a third-down route. Chris Jones finished with six pressures, leading a D-line that came through to help a suddenly restricted offense. Jamal Agnew’s late miscue sank the Jaguars (10-9), who had shown life after repeated efforts to test Kansas City’s flats produced little of consequence. Mahomes’ limitations could qualify this as a missed opportunity for the Jags, who matched the Chiefs with 144 rushing yards, but capitalizing against even a diminished version of the AFC’s most consistent team was a lot to ask of this particular roster. 

JAGUARS GRADE: C-plus 

An eight-loss Jaguars team being the opponent helped the Chiefs (15-3) withstand a stadium-silencing scene. Mahomes fighting through a high ankle sprain and helping the Chiefs hold off the Jags provided yet another notable line on perhaps the NFL’s greatest early-career QB resume. Remaining a reasonable semblance of his MVP self after hopping for a third-quarter first down displayed Mahomes’ obvious toughness, but the Kansas City icon’s escapes — for improbable completions or well-timed scrambles — represent his signature trait. An immobile Mahomes, with a less explosive receiving cadre than last season, faces an uphill battle against a Bengals team on a much higher plane. The superstar QB played through turf toe in the 2020 playoffs; this should be a greater challenge.

CHIEFS GRADE: B-plus | NEXT: vs. Bengals (Sun.)

Lawrence-led comeback wins over the Raiders, Ravens, Cowboys and Chargers re-routed the Jaguars’ season and placed one of the NFL’s worst franchises in new territory. Showing the benefits timely losses can bring — tanking well-timed losing streaks set up half the AFC’s divisional-round field — the 2021 No. 1 pick showed star traits after the Urban Meyer-overseen mess effectively cost him a year of development. Mark Brunell piloted the Jags to their franchise apex in the late 1990s, and the “Sacksonville” team was on the doorstep of Super Bowl LII. But the staying power Lawrence offers is new for the Jags, who have a seat at the table in an AFC arms race that could soon become one of the defining periods in quarterback history.

Entering the NFL via the second-round choice the Dolphins obtained in the 2007 Chris Chambers trade, Chad Henne later spent seven seasons with the Jaguars. The Blaine Gabbert and Blake Bortles backup never panned out as a starter, but Henne’s Chiefs relief efforts may end up being his NFL legacy. Two years after replacing a concussed Mahomes to hold off the Browns in the divisional round, the 37-year-old backup directed a Chiefs playoff-record 98-yard drive. Heavily assisted by Isaiah Pacheco — a clear Chiefs upgrade from what they brought into last season’s Bengals showdown — the march that ended with a Travis Kelce TD showed Kansas City was far from a sitting duck without Mahomes. Andy Reid has coaxed solid insurance from Henne and Matt Moore; Henne has come up big during the Chiefs’ unprecedented run to five straight home conference title games.

Not previously attached to relevant games, the Bengals-Chiefs series received a jolt over the past two years. In the post-merger era, Kansas City-Cincinnati is the seventh repeat matchup in the conference/league championship round. It follows Cowboys-49ers (1970-71), Raiders-Steelers (1974-76), Oilers-Steelers (1978-79), Browns-Broncos (1986-87), Cowboys-49ers (1992-94) and Ravens-Patriots (2011-12). Of the previous instances here, the loser of the first title game won the rematch just once (the Ravens 10 years ago). With Mahomes gimpy and Hill in Miami, a scarier-looking Bengals team — compared to their 7.5-point underdog last season — could well be favored by kickoff. None of the above-referenced teams that prevailed twice did so on the road each time.