Cry, Eagles, Cry!

Well, how about that Monday of football? The Steelers are taking the bus back to Pittsburgh, and the Eagles are flying home with some broken wings after a terrible end-of-season slide that will probably leave Nick Sirianni unemployed for the rest of 2024.

Shall we?

Pittsburgh Steelers 17 | Buffalo Bills 31

👉️ If I’m the Chiefs DC, I’m way more worried about Josh Allen than Tua in the playoffs. Even though the Steelers’ defense is down without TJ Watt, Josh Allen still produced a heckuva playoff performance while completing 21 of 30 passes for 203 yards and 3 TDs. He also ran for 74 yards and 1 TD that came on a 52-yard run.

👍️ / 👎️ There was some good and bad for the Steelers. Mason Rudolph threw two touchdown passes in his first playoff start, but he also threw an interception. The Steelers’ defense didn’t help much at first, letting the Bills get out to a 21-0 lead, which would be tough for even a veteran QB to recover from.

👀 Even though the Bills were the better team yesterday, they didn’t really close this game out until the middle of the 4th quarter, where they got help from a QB-friendly call when Josh Allen took an “illegal hit” when he was sliding on a run. The Bills had a field goal blocked in the 2nd quarter, which led to the first of the Steeler's scores. Instead of 24-0, it was 21-7. Both teams would trade field goals in the 3rd quarter and the Steelers would score in the 4th to make it w 24-17. Without Allen taking the illegal hit in the 4th quarter, the final touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir might not have happened, and we could be looking at a different result.

👉️ It’s a great win for the Bills, and they’ll be hosting another playoff game next weekend. Just remember next week that Buffalo can’t leave a 4th quarter door open to Patrick Mahomes because Mahomes will walk through that door, and even Drake from State Farm can’t protect the Bills’ house at that point.

Philadelphia Eagles 9 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers 32

😁It’s a little sad for Cowboys fans that they lost to the Packers on Saturday, but a great consolation prize is having the Eagles lose in the same wild-card weekend.

👉️ Baker Mayfield balled out last night with a lot of help from the Eagles defense, who might have set the record for missed tackles past the line of scrimmage. Baker finished 22 of 36 for 337 yards and 3 TDs. He spread the ball around all night and had big receptions from TE Cade Otton, who caught 8 passes for 89 yards. Chris Godwin also made some big catches when he caught 4 passes for 45 yards and a TD. David Moore had a massive 45-yard touchdown catch on a ball that was only thrown 8 yards. Even Trey Palmer had a big catch and run for a score in the 3rd quarter.

📉 While the Buccaneers were finishing their season on a high, the Eagles were doing the opposite: they lost 5 of their last 6 regular season games. I didn’t even want to believe that last year's Super Bowl contenders weren’t going to get past the Bucs in the wild-card round, but outside of a few big catches from Devonte Smith, the Eagles’ offense wasn’t producing much. Jalen Hurts was 25 of 35 for 250 yards and 1 TD. That one touchdown came after a big 55-yard catch by Devonte Smith, who was the only playmaker for the Eagles, as he caught 8 passes for 148 yards.

❓️ We know what’s next for the Bucs. They face the Lions in Detroit this weekend. The big question is what happens to the Eagles. Will Nick Sirianni be fired just a year after taking the team to the Super Bowl? Is Sirianni even a good coach, or was it just Shane Steichen leading the offense last year? Was putting Matt Patricia in charge of the defense the worst move you could’ve possibly done this year?

👋 Here’s the one thing we do know. This Eagles line won’t be the same next year, and “brotherly shove,” aka tush push, won’t be the same either. Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce is retiring. He played 13 seasons with the Eagles, made 7 Pro Bowls, was named All-Pro six times, and won a Super Bowl. Congrats, big dawg!

Here’s Something I Love From Coaches

👉️ Mike Tomlin gets paid $12.5 million to coach the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is usually pretty good with the media, and I know he just lost a tough playoff game to the Bills, but is there a reason he can’t just answer a simple question instead of walking off? Give the most basic answer you possibly can. Is it that hard?

👉️ Kalen DeBoer was getting paid $4.2 million to coach the Washington Huskies this year. He likely got bonuses for winning the Pac-12 and the Sugar Bowl, too. He was also named the next coach at Alabama, where he’ll get paid a lot more to coach the Crimson Tide. Did he really leave Washington without addressing any of his players? That’s the story we’re hearing, and if that’s true, then that would be the wildest news I’ve heard in a while.

That’s enough football for today. We’ll be back tomorrow, and we’ll bring some NBA, NHL, and PGA Tour talk over the next few days.

Have a great day!

-The Daily Breakroom