MOBILE, Ala. — The Ravens had a golden opportunity and squandered it. The best team in the league all year long had home-field advantage and good health and just couldn't get out of their own way far too often on Sunday. Three turnovers, including two in the end zone - Zay Flowers being stripped as he tried to dive across the goal line and Lamar Jackson underthrowing a ball into triple coverage - is no way to make a Super Bowl, and lo and behold, they are going there if they buy a ticket or their publicist gets them in gratis.
"It's crazy. We had some opportunities out there. We've just got to take advantage of them," Jackson said. "Can't turn the ball over, fumble, interception, stuff like that. That gave them opportunities to put points on the board and win the game. We've just got to finish, and we didn't do a good job of finishing. The defense did a wonderful job and held a great offense to 17 points. We scored one touchdown, and that's not like us. That was early on in the year. No excuses, though."
For those who want to say Lamar is overrated or what have you, I'm assuming his performance against the Chiefs will only make you puff out your chest a little more. Consider:
- Jackson completed just five passes for 67 yards in the first half, one of which was a ball he caught after his pass got tipped at the line of scrimmage. The five completions tied a career low with at least 12 or more pass attempts in the first half. In other words, it's pretty pedestrian from the guy who will win the league MVP.
- He is now 0-5 in his career with a halftime deficit of 10+ points, including the playoffs. Three of those five defeats have come against the Chiefs. Jackson must be saying, "Call Patrick Mahomes and KC my daddy."
"That's an explosive offense," admired Andy Reid. "Start looking at categories of efficiency; they're number one on a few spots there. You gotta make sure when you come in with that you've got to keep that quarterback somewhat in the pocket. He's an unbelievable competitor. Our guys were able to do that upfront."
"We knew the whole time that Lamar was going to run around," said cornerback L'Jarius Sneed. "The whole week, Spags put it in our heads: Make sure you plaster your guys, and we made sure we stayed on 'em."
Sgags...Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs' mad scientist of a defensive coordinator, did it again. He blitzed Jackson repeatedly but then pulled back and dropped seven or eight into coverage at nearly all the right times. His players love the man; they wore "In Spags We Trust" t-shirts before and after the game.
"Spags, I've known him a long time, since the ole' college days; I just appreciate his effort and putting all these game plans together," admired Reid. "He's not - he and I are about the same age - we've seen a couple of games."
Postgame, defensive lineman Chris Jones stumped for Spags to be assistant coach of the year. While this may be Mahomes' team, the defense's play this year helped pull KC through some offensive lulls. And now, if you're into DVOA, the Chiefs have played their best two games of the season in their last two. Talk about peaking at the right time.
"When it came time to put the hammer down, they put the hammer down, which was important," said Reid. "And the best part is we're not done. We've got another game. You'd love these seasons to carry on as long as they could possibly carry on, and we're there. And now we've got to get right back at and start grinding…"
The Ravens' loss doesn't all fall on the quarterback, nor should it. The defense, while excellent in the second half, could not find answers for Mahomes, Reid, and the Chiefs' offense during their first two drives. The first series was a 10-play, 86-yard march capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce. It chewed up nearly 6 minutes off the clock but came after KC won the toss and deferred, then got Baltimore off the field on a three-and-out.
"Of course, Travis ran the wrong route, and he ended up getting the football," smiled Mahomes of Kelce's TD. "I was trying to find a way to run, but they were doing a good job of containing with the D line, and then Travis just worked his way to get open. When he's one-on-one, I give him a chance. I threw the ball, and he made a heck of a catch. He's a special player. When the lights get brighter, he plays better, and that's the true mark of a champion, and that's what he is."
The second drive answered a quick Ravens score by keeping Lamar and company on the sidelines. 16 plays, 75 yards, and 9:02 time elapsed. No one did that to Michael Macdonald's defense this year- no one. But Pat and Andy did because, of course.
"We have the best quarterback in the world," said KC linebacker Drue Tranquill. We also have the best tight end, coach, defensive coordinator, and general manager.
"When you have all of that? It's only a matter of time."
Mahomes and Reid aren't Brady and Belichick yet, but they are on one hell of a run. Four Super Bowl trips in six seasons together, and though Florio has been trying to stir up the "Reid might retire" chatter, no one else seems to be buying what he's selling. Hell, unless Reid is burned out - and he's shown no signs of that - why would he walk away now? He turns 66 late in late March, and at this rate, he might be the one to overtake Don Shula for the all-time wins record, not Belichick.
As for Mahomes, he has won each of his last six playoff games and had zero INTs in that span (11 TDs, 70%, just 5 sacks). He's the only QB since at least 1950 to do that, and trails only Tom Brady (10), Joe Montana (7), Terry Bradshaw (7), John Elway (7) and Troy Aikman (7) for longest postseason win streaks. Pretty good company, I'd say.
"Job's not done," said Mahomes. "Our job now is to prepare ourselves to play a good football team in the Super Bowl and get that ring."
OH NO
The Lions were going to the Super Bowl. They were up three scores and in complete control in San Francisco against that choking dog Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers. And then, poof, the dream evaporated faster than water in the desert.
Dan Campbell is getting a lot of heat for these fourth-down decisions, but his team had plays to make, and they didn't make 'em.
In the third quarter alone, you had a 4th down drop by Josh Reynolds, Kindle Vildor had an interception bounce off his face that resulted in a 51-yard catch by Brandon Aiyuk, a third-down drop by Reynolds, a fumble by Jahmyr Gibbs and a terrible job by the punt team when they could have pinned the Niners at the one-yard line.
"You feel like your heart gets ripped out," said Campbell. You wish you could keep going together, but that's not the reality."
At 24-10, Campbell had the opportunity to send on the field goal team and attempt a 46-yard field goal. He bypassed that, as he has done so many times this season. The Lions had gone for it 25 times in 4th and 3 or fewer situations this year, converting 20 of those. So, of course, this made sense, but Goff missed Reynolds, turning the ball over to the Niners. The ensuing possession featured the Aiyuk catch, and now it's 24-17.
At 24 all (Gibbs's fumble set up the tying score), the Lions had a nice drive going but had not one but two drops to put themselves in another fourth-and-short situation. The choice was a 48-yard field goal or going for it. Campbell went for it again and fell short again. The Lions didn't make plays they've made all year, and in the second half, the 49ers made all the plays they needed to.
"It's easy in hindsight," Campbell said of the second-guessing. But I don't regret those decisions. ... It's part of the gig."
Meanwhile, after dropping the last two NFC title games, San Fran and Shanahan will get another crack at a Lombardi. The 49ers got there by outscoring the Lions 27-7 in the 2nd half. Teams were previously 21-0 when leading by 17 or more heading into the second half of a Conference Championship game.
Guard Aaron Banks cited linebacker Fred Warner for setting the team straight at the break: "Fred said, 'We got 30 minutes left. 'You want to go to the Super Bowl or not?'"
The answer was a resounding yes.
Brock Purdy threw for 174 of his 263 yards after halftime but also rushed for 48 yards with a couple of critically timed scrambles.
"I thought it was the difference between winning and losing," said Shanahan of Purdy's running. "He made some big plays with getting out of the pocket, moving the chains on some first downs, some explosives. He competed his ass off today. Wasn't easy for any of us. He kept grinding. He was unbelievable there in the second half."
"I don't have enough good things to say about Brock," said Christian McCaffrey. "All he's done since he's been here is play at an elite level. And everything starts with him. We're lucky he's our quarterback. He takes a lot of heat for absolutely no reason. All he's done is been a great leader and a great player."
Purdy becomes the eighth starting quarterback to reach a Super Bowl in his first two seasons and looks to join Kurt Warner, Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and Russell Wilson as the only quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl within their first two seasons. To do so, he'll have to help Shanahan and the 49ers conquer the Chiefs, who snatched a Lombardi away from San Francisco four seasons ago.
"There's been unfinished business for a while, man," said Shanahan.