There’s always that one game before the Super Bowl that we all wish was the Super Bowl. The contest between legendary quarterbacks, amazing teams, titans of the NFL — who just so happened to be locked in the same conference.
Normally it comes in the AFC or NFC Championship, but for the 2024 season we’re being treated to it a week early. The Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills are poised to give us the best game of the season, and in the Wild Card round, both teams proved why.
The best quarterbacks all came out of the AFC this season. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are both vying for MVP, and it’s a total toss-up on who will be hoisting the award come Feb. 6, while in any other season, Joe Burrow would be in contention too — but was essentially eliminated from the discussion when the Bengals failed to make the postseason. While MVP voting is now closed, being a regular season award, next week will go a long way in the mindshare of football fans to determine whether the MVP, Lamar or Josh, truly deserves the award, or whether this was another fool’s gold of a season.
There is no doubt that Jackson and Allen were phenomenal in 2024. Leading their teams to 12-5 and 13-4 records respectively, Lamar had to fight out of the brutal AFC North (one of football’s best divisions) while leading the Ravens to win the North while playing the 4th most difficult schedule in the conference (+0.6).
Meanwhile, in Buffalo, it was about getting the job done. There’s no question the Bills had a softer schedule with their -1.1 being the 2nd easiest opponents in the AFC this season, but this was a season where Allen hardly had a No. 1 receiver or a top-tier running back to his name on offense. James Cook was good, Khalil Shakir was good, but there’s nobody at the Bills’ skill positions outside of Allen you’d come close to saying was “great.”
Now the two teams meet in the AFC Divisional Playoff round in what feels like a prelude to who will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. That might come across as deep offense to Chiefs fans, but if you’re being honest with yourself, you know Kansas City doesn’t have the same magic they have in years past. The roster is shallow, the receivers are weak, and the defense (which carried them to the Super Bowl a year ago) isn’t nearly as good a year later.
Back to the Ravens and Bills though: How good is this game going to be? There’s a reason the MVP race is purely down to a hair, because both Jackson and Allen have been playing out of their minds this season.
- Lamar Jackson: 316-of-474, 4,172 yards, 41 TD, 4 INT — 915 yards rushing, 4 TD
- Josh Allen: 307-of-483, 3,731 yards, 28 TD, 6 INT — 531 yards rushing, 12 TD
Two dual-threat quarterbacks who have very different styles, both effectively are 4,000-yard passers (or near enough), and each of whom are able to punish teams in a variety of ways. To cap it all off, both the Ravens and Bills have stellar defenses that rank 9th and 11th respectively in points allowed, meaning that they each have units that are tailor made to stop the kind of game-breaking players that each team has.
This is why Ravens vs. Bills is the Super Bowl we never knew we needed. It also underscores how deeply unfair the seeding ended up being that each team has to meet this early in the proceedings. Nevertheless, these teams have felt destined to see each other at some point these playoffs, giving Buffalo a chance to get revenge on Week 4, when they were beatdown by Baltimore 35-10
What made that past meeting so interesting was how well the Ravens were able to completely take Josh Allen out of the picture. He finished the day competing barely 50 percent of his passes, for a paltry 180 yards, and no touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jackson was very good, but Derrick Henry was the difference maker as he ran all over the Bills for 199 yards and a touchdown.
That is the quandary Buffalo will need to navigate. These 2024 Ravens are unlike any past season. Previously it was all about stopping Lamar Jackson, and the rest would take care of itself. This year you can take Jackson out of the equation, and they can simply focus the offense on Derrick Henry and you have another massive problem to deal with.
The question is whether Buffalo can boast the same ability to pivot if things aren’t working, and this season has shown us they simply can’t. The Bills are 1-3 this season when Allen doesn’t generate 200+ yards of offense on his own, and the only game where Allen didn’t score a single touchdown with his arm or legs this season was that Week 4 matchup against Baltimore. Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are 1-0 in games where Jackson exceeded 200 yards of offense, and there wasn’t a single game in the 2024 regular season that he failed to lead a touchdown drive.
We’re left with a circle-your-calendar, can’t-miss, slugfest between two of the NFL’s best teams, with the two most dynamic quarterbacks, in a game where the season is on the line. Football doesn’t get any better than this, and we’ll all be glued to our screens next week.
Now onto the rest of the winners and losers from the NFL Wild Card Playoffs.
Winner: The Houston Texans’ defense
For some teams, the playoffs are about stepping up when it matters and tilting a game by achieving the seemingly impossible. On Saturday that award belonged to the Texans, who utterly dismantled Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers and made them look like utter frauds.
If you picked Los Angeles this in the game you really couldn’t be blamed. Houston entered the Wild Card round allowing 21.9 points per game (14th in the NFL), and seemed poised to get dismantled by Harbaugh’s hard-nosed approach.
Instead, the Texans obliterated Justin Herbert and made one of the league’s most consistent and risk-averse QBs look like one of the worst passers in the NFL. This season Herbert totaled three interceptions, but threw four against the Texans in one game. Pressure, coverage disguised, and manufactured pressure were all on display as Houston did a lot to quiet the considerable doubt around their team in the playoffs.
This team still has problems on offense. Of their 32 points, only 14 came off touchdowns — with a lot of drives stalling out before the Red Zone. Still, if this team can build off the confidence of their initial playoff win there’s a chance they could go on a run.
Loser: Jim Harbaugh
Seeing a Jim Harbaugh team lose isn’t unique, but watching a Harbaugh team get completely manhandled is another. The Chargers lost in every phase of the game on Saturday, and the Cinderella story of this team is now over.
The positive news for fans is that this is barely the beginning. Truth be told, Harbaugh had more success than anyone imagined in his first year and it’s clear there’s something to build on. The personnel aren’t all in place, the team is still in need of a three-down running back, and there are no weapons in the passing game other than Ladd McConkey. Still, there’s something here.
That doesn’t stop the sting of the weekend, and the Chargers getting bodied.
Loser: Jordan Love
Well, that was ugly. It’s unfair to expect Love to come out and be the heir apparent to the Packers kingdom at once, but most expected the team to at least be competitive against the Eagles. For the majority of the game on Sunday, it didn’t look like they belonged, with a paltry fourth-quarter TD bringing them close, only to see hope vanish once more.
At the center of all this was Jordan Love, who threw three interceptions and crumbled, much like Justin Herbert did the day before.
The big shame is that the Packers’ defense largely did its job. Saquon Barkley was held to a respectable number, and Jalen Hurts really didn’t burn Green Bay. It was simply a case of the Packers’ offense being unable to do anything. Maybe that can be fixed over time, but once again the same issue is rearing its head: The Packers need weapons.
Winner: Jayden Daniels
These flowers belong to everyone on the Commanders who helped the franchise win their first playoff game since 2006, but it’s especially-meaningful for the rookie QB. The No. 2 pick flourished this season, and he needed to show some special heroics against one of the best defenses in the playoffs.
Daniels generated 304 yards of the Commanders’ 350 against the Buccaneers, propelling Washington to the Divisional Playoff round. It’s going to be brutal against the Lions, but this team is gutsy and plays with a lot of confidence.
Of course, this is all secondary in a way to knowing how sad Dan Snyder is today — and that’s the real joy of the week.
