The Frankish Reich

That was obvious. And his speed still killed us. Sure, you took away the long bomb to Tyreek. That just means Reid will run those crossing routes where Tyreek catches it 10 yards downfield, breaks a tackle (as he always does) and gains 30 yards anyway. Or more. The Bills were playing KC the way teams (including us) beat them in the first half of the season - take away the long throws, make them beat you by matriculating the ball down the field. Problem is that KC adjusted to those tactics, while Frazier and Co failed to adjust to what KC is now doing.

True. When Beane sat on his hands at the trade deadline I thought "what if one key acquisition would be enough to pull off a victory in just one playoff game." And yes, it is very possible that someone like Von could've made the difference. One sack, one forced fumble, one play where Mahomes would've had to throw it away to avoid a sack instead of scrambling around until someone came open ... the margin was really that slim last night.

Well, if you thought he was a little too happy about KC advancing, I get it. But again - if this was saying goodbye to old friends, I totally get it. So let's give him a pass until we learn the context ...

Morse spent an awful lot of time after the game congratulating his former KC teammates and coaches. It certainly had the look of equal parts congratulations and goodbye. It's always hard to project our feelings on these players who (let's be honest) aren't our personal friends. But having said that, Morse just seems like an unusually fine and decent man as well as a true professional on the field. Good luck to him wherever the future may hold for him.

That's what hurts. The way the QBs/offenses were playing it was probably an 80% chance that the team that wins the coin flip wins the game. It's awful to see an entire season end that way. And it's even worse to see one of the great games in NFL history end that way.

Bend but don't break works beautifully over the course of a 17 game season where you are trying to get to 11 or 12 and to win a division. It doesn't really work in the in-game situation when you absolutely have to prevent the opponent from gaining 35 yards in less than 13 seconds when they have 3 timeouts. All they needed was for us to bend. And oh boy, did Leslie ever bend over. Leslie needs to learn that there's no shame in adjusting your tactics to fit the situation. As Billy Beane said in Moneyball - "My sh!t doesn't work in the playoffs."

If we just had one more full quarter I swear that Singletary up the middle would have broken it for 80 yards.

Yeah. In general, I think the team that wins the flip only has a relatively slight advantage - they win something like 53%. But with the offenses cooking like they were in the second half tonight, I would have to say winning the flip gives you an enormous advantage - maybe more like an 80% chance. We have OT in the regular season just because fans hate tie games so it doesn't really matter that much. But in the playoffs? No. Each team needs to be given at least one possession. We don't want teams advancing by coin flip. And that would add a whole new interesting dimension to OT. Does the team that scores first go for 2? If not, does the team behind by 7 go for 2 if they score? That kind of stuff is interesting ... sudden death deprives the game of that.

You mean I can't start a Spencer Brown Is Trash After All thread?

True. It would have been different if KC had no timeouts. They had all 3! So they played it perfectly. A 19 yard gain to the 44. Then about 15 more would do it. It was not a situation to lay back in a deep zone. That would have been the situation if they had no timeouts, or maybe even just one left. That initial 19 yard gain had me saying "that's it ... we're going to OT and whoever wins the coin flip wins the game." Neither offense could be stopped at the end.

Correct. The blocking of the special teams unit was atrocious. And it seems that we're not the only Great Lakes team that needs a dome.

Agreed. I started out these playoffs with an "anyone but Tampa" perspective, but if we manage to make it to the SB I think I'd prefer Tampa again. The Rams are just plain loaded and relatively healthy too.

I agree. But that's what we'll all say today. If on the evening of Feb 13 the Rams are hoisting the trophy and Bills fans have tuned out (not caring about whether the Chiefs or the Rams win), everyone will act as if it's worth mortgaging the future to get that one elusive SB win.

As was said about Paul Ryan (a little unfairly in my opinion): Rodgers is a dumb person's idea of a smart person. Actually, that applies even more to his buddy Joe Rogan.

It's fun (unless it's the Bills of course) to see these supposed manly cold weather beasts fall to their warm weather wimpy opponents.

Funny, but given the weather and Gold's limited range, wasnt there a guy back at the goal line to return a short kick?

He's immunized against playoff success

That block never would have happened to Matt Haack because he would've dropped the long snap.

Never! In the great "who deserves more credit, Brady or Belichick?' derby, it's now Brady ahead by a Secretariat at the Belmont type lead. And it gets worse if, heaven forbid, Brady gets another ring. Egotist that he is, he's gonna have one more big move left with Kraft's manipulations before he hangs it up.

And that's a big takeaway from the Wild Card round. The NFC East is still garbage. The Eagles turned in a truly pathetic performance, and the Cowboys game proved that the 3rd best team in the NFC West (well, in retrospect the 2nd best team in the NFC West) is at a minimum on an even footing with them.

Yeah, that was weird. I guess if LA is held to a FG the rest of the game and the Cards make 3 TDs/2-point conversions it's 31-24. But still, that's overthinking it a bit.

Kyler looks a little scared out there. Meanwhile Matt "Never Won a Playoff Game" Stafford seems completely in control.

Really close but the official was right there on the sideline next to the 2nd receiver so he had the best view.

What is that idiotic KC mascot thing? Does it exist because, well, you can't really have a Chief anymore? Why not just change your team's name and get a mascot that makes some kind of sense. Sick of seeing it dancing around.

I am still watching this garbage game only to see if any important Chiefs player is injured. Does that make me a horrible person?