Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Cowboys blew the game with two interceptions from Prescott and a dropped interception by Diggs on defense. Purdy has done with the Niners team what Romo and Prescott couldnt do with the Boys' ... advance to a conference championship game ...

Please guys correct me if I am wrong. With Purdy and the Niners advancing, he is now the fifth rookie QB to lead a team to a conference championship game? Sorry, but I dont count Dieter Brock as a rookie in 1985. He had been a professional in Canada for awhile.

1999 -- King
2004 -- Big Ben
2008 -- Flacco
2009 -- Sanchez
2022 -- Purdy

On to the Conference Championship Games

All 'old-school' honor aside, these 2022 playoffs just as intriguing and exciting as 2021 hence hardly less - if even at all - than '70s, '80s, '90s, etc...just as long as the dead-weight (e.g. 8-9 division-winners, 9-8 teams that backed-up into, etc) gets kicked out PRONTO! We clearly don't want an '81 Rockets nor '59 Lakers!

Both home, higher-seeded, teams each installed as slight favorites! Eagles by 3 but, even more-so, KC favored by just ONE! Yes, I'm thinking SBXVI, Jan '82 (SF over Cin by 1), but still. Both those spreads have to tell you SOMETHING!

I'll say it all now already...it's going to be FORTY NINERS/BENGALS, plain and simple! And the game will go BEYOND regulation!

Something will HAVE TO give! Brock Purdy who you can't HELP but to picture not losing for the very first time until next autumn and Joe Burrow who's seeming to be a modern-day Namath/Montana hybrid! Neither of those ever lost a SB, but last year no sweat. Burrow didn't have the O-line he has now, and - hey - look at Bart Starr (and Vince) in their first Super Bowl*? No crime losing first time around, but sure enough Burrow feels that he can't lose one again (as Vince said to his troops afterward); especially his first two, and back-to-back! Again, something will have to give.

Any idiosyncrasies that one may think (or not think) that Kyle has as a HC, you can't help but think that Purdy is the "final ingredient" to he winning that Ring as his father has done twice. And, yes, DO give Kyle credit for not going after another QB when Jimmy G went down as well as (especially) grooming this..."Mr Irrelevant' up until his Moment! Now the game-plan simply needs to go back to he being more a part of that offense, he flinging it, while running the ball just a little (just a little) bit less. Go with what GOT you there thus far!

And Zac Taylor? WHY the underrated-ness?? Anonymous as Hell thus far! Won Bengals their first playoff game since ’90 but, more important, the ONLY Bengals HC to EVER win them ROAD playoff games! Propelled Cincy to a Super Bowl without an OL yet still almost WON it…


*Yes, I'm going to call all NFL Championship Games from now on Super Bowls (yes, Steelers still got some catching-up to do)! Of course that's with exception of '66-thru-'69. And as for '46-thru-'49...there were co-SB-champs each of those years! Super Bowl I was played in a dome...and so will SBXCI three Sundays from now!!

I knew that a Doug Pederson-coached team would never quit but I think K.C. was just a little too much for JAX to handle this time around. A less-than-100% Patrick Mahomes is still better than most other QBs in the game today but his (presumed) lack of mobility next Sunday will, I think, be a factor.

The "Iggles" left no doubt which team was the better in Saturday's 2nd game. Jeff Lurie (or whomever) appears to have done a great job finding a replacement for Doug Pederson.

CIN appears to be on a mission. I really like Joe Burrow.

I had a feeling for most of the last part of the season that PHI and SFO were the two best teams in the NFC. I'm glad they didn't prove me wrong.

The networks kept going on about how SFO vs. DAL is now tied for "most meetings in NFL playoff history." But I never heard which match-up it's tied with. Anybody know?

It's tied with Cowboys-Rams and 49ers-Packers (nine meetings each). The latter matchup is notable in that all nine games have taken place over a 17-year span.

In my opinion there are really two reasons why players make the HOF ... Accoladed performance and postseason, usually championship success.

With teams usually the cream of the crop in the high-stakes divisional round of the postseason, players want to steal the spotlight with everyone watching and deliver in the clutch but when certain players for teams are non-factors or disappoint, the fan bases stay frustrated thinking about those games till next Sept ... Its tough to be critical about certain platoons or players who disappoint, after all, opposing defenses are paid to gameplan and stop them, yet with big stakes, the fans remember who disappointed or failed to perform.

In the four divisional games, nobody expected alot out of the Giants or Jaguars, who were happy to be there but the fans were disappointed that in the Giants case, the defense and receivers couldnt make any plays. Credit goes to the Philly defense but the team has issues to address in the offseason. The Jags were scrappy but you cant win with turnovers at the wrong time. The players are so young, like Agnew, who got the team in the game with special teams play, that you cant be too harsh but after his fumble and an interception from Lawrence, they will learn from their mistakes.

Then there are the Bills and Cowboys, who already have high expectations but when their top players cant deliver, the fans demand to know why?
Prescott continues to disappoint but it would help if his receivers Gallup and Hilton could make a play. Between them, only one catch. Elliot didnt do much as well. Yes, the Niner defense is strong but they aint the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. Elliot was All-Pro at one time, did he soften up once he got paid so well? Once Pollard left the game, the air went out of the Cowboys' offense.

Maybe the near-death of teammate Hamlin took a lot out of the Bills team but it didnt seem to bother the Bengals, who were there as well and shoved them around in this playoff game. Both teams were hot coming in and a letdown was bound to happen but did the Bills overlook them? Maybe they eyed the Chiefs with a gimpy QB on saturday, no Cheetah and no game in Arrowhead possibly?

The Bills ask Josh Allen to do too much and only gave the RBs, 11 carries, which isnt going to win a big game. They never utilized the exciting Hines and where were Diggs and Davis? Good defense, or poor offensive execution, or did these players simply underperform? Tough to learn from but even more frustrating to the fans that pay good money and expect better. In Buffalo, it's all ways next year.