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32 things we learned in NFL divisional playoffs: More Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce magic
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- 32 things we learned in NFL divisional playoffs: More Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce magic
The 32 things we learned from the 2023 NFL season's divisional playoff round:
1.The NFL's version of the Final Four is set; the Baltimore Ravens , San Francisco 49ers , Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs all advancing to next Sunday's conference championship games and now each one win from reaching Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas .
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2.K.C. QB Patrick Mahomes improved his playoff record to 13-3 with Sunday's thrilling 27-24 defeat of the Buffalo Bills, who have now been eliminated by the Chiefs in three of the past four postseasons. The win at Highmark Stadium, which involved five lead changes, marked Mahomes' road playoff debut, his three Super Bowl starts all classified as neutral-site games.
2a."(T)his is a great environment, man," Mahomes said in reference to Buffalo. "It really is. We did hear it all week, man, about playing a road game, and we're here to prove a point and show that we can play anywhere."
3.With megastar Taylor Swift in attendance, Mahomes hit her boyfriend, Pro Bowl TE Travis Kelce , for a pair of touchdowns. Mahomes and Kelce have now, uh, hooked up for 16 playoff trips to the end zone, surpassing Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski as the most prolific postseason couple ever. (Don't be jealous, Taylor.)
4.Since becoming QB1 in 2018, Mahomes has led the Chiefs to the AFC championship game every year.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes improved his playoff record to 13-3.
5.Bills QB Josh Allen was exceptional in defeat, accounting for 258 yards and three TDs combined between his arm and legs. Allen was responsible for a league-best 51 TDs this season between the regular season and playoffs.
6. Poor Tyler Bass. Hard to believe the Buffalo kicker was going to be the one undone by the local weather conditions.
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7. San Francisco will participate in its fourth championship game in the past five seasons. The Niners' only win in that stretch occurred four years ago, when they hosted the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium before eventually losing Super Bowl 54 to the Chiefs.
7a.49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is now 5-0 at home in the playoffs. He's also 3-0 in postseason against the Pack.
8. Green Bay has now lost five straight overall to San Francisco in the playoffs, and – despite all the good feelings engendered by first-year QB1 Jordan Love this season – his game-clinching interception Saturday on a cross-body throw toward the middle of the field definitely evoked the bad Brett Favre memories. (Or, as one snarky social media site noted – and I'm paraphrasing – Love owns the Bears and Cowboys but not the 49ers and, hence, might be the next Aaron Rodgers.)
OPINION: What's worse than Patrick Mahomes breaking the Bills' hearts? Wide right.
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9.Saturday's win was San Francisco's 37th in postseason since joining the NFL in 1950. The 49ers are tied with the Packers and New England Patriots for the most.
10.Next weekend will mark just the second appearance in a conference championship game for the Lions. Only one team in the league has fewer berths ...
11.... and that would be the Houston Texans , who dropped to 0-5 in the divisional round with Saturday's 34-10 loss at Baltimore.
12.This season was the first in the 94-year history of the Lions that they hosted multiple playoff games, improving their postseason record at Ford Field to 2-0. Prior to beating the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round, the Lions had only played regular-season games in their building since it opened in 2002.
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12a.Detroit also won multiple postseason games in the same year for the first time since 1957 – when the Lions scored their last championship.
13.But the Leos have bigger fish to fry. Beat the Niners, and Detroit will no longer be among the quartet of NFL teams to never qualify for the Super Bowl. (The Texans, Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars are the others.)
14.Second-year Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson , a Michigan native who played collegiately at the University of Michigan, soaked in an unfamiliar scene that he'd never experienced as a Detroit fan growing up.
14a.Hutchinson, who has eight sacks in his past four games, is racking up legions of his own Motown fans now as a key to both the Wolverines' and Lions' renaissances.
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15.The Ravens will appear in their fifth AFC title game, yet will host it for the first time at M&T Bank Stadium.
16.The only time the AFC crown was decided in Baltimore occurred 53 years ago, when the Colts topped the Oakland Raiders 27-17 at old Memorial Stadium. They would go on to defeat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl 5, the first that was played following the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
17.But what a stage for presumed league MVP Lamar Jackson , the 2023 All-Pro quarterback having what was easily the best playoff performance of his career Saturday – passing for two touchdowns and running for another pair. Next Sunday will also be his AFC championship game debut.
18.Thanks in large part to Jackson's legs, Baltimore did most of its damage against Houston on the ground. Three Ravens had at least 10 carries, while Jackson led the way with 100 of his team's 229 rushing yards.
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19.The Texans ran for all of 38 yards.
20.Even newly acquired (and promoted) Baltimore RB Dalvin Cook broke off a 19-yard gallop.
20a.His longest run in 15 games with the New York Jets this season was 14 yards.
21.Jackson has now rushed for at least 100 yards in three playoff games, a record for a quarterback.
22.His 93.4-yard rushing average in postseason is the sixth-highest figure in league history among players with at least four playoff appearances – and the most among quarterbacks.
23.Baltimore's three first-quarter points Saturday marked the first time the Ravens had scored in the opening period of a playoff game with Jackson at the helm.
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23a.Meanwhile, Mahomes has led the Chiefs to points on the opening drive in their last seven postseason outings. Most impressive.
24.San Francisco's Brock Purdy was the only quarterback in the divisional round who wasn't a first-round selection (and he played like "Mr. Irrelevant" for worrisome stretches of SF's struggles against GB). That will obviously also be true next weekend, when he will hope to last longer in the NFC championship game than he did last year, when he ripped up his throwing elbow at Philadelphia .
25.Purdy will be opposed by Detroit's Jared Goff , the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016. Goff spent the past two weeks vanquishing fellow former top picks Matthew Stafford (2009) of the Rams and Baker Mayfield (2018) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers .
26.And Goff, who played collegiately at Cal, could get a nice boost playing in front of friends and family in his native Northern California.
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27.Mayfield passed for 349 yards and three TDs in defeat at Detroit. Much of that production went to WR Mike Evans (8 catches, 147 yards, TD).
28.The Bucs will soon face some major offseason decisions, with Mayfield, Evans and All-Pro S Antoine Winfield Jr. all hurtling toward free agency.
29.In two games at Baltimore this season, the Texans didn't score one offensive touchdown.
30.Houston also committed 11 penalties, many of the pre-snap variety, for 70 yards Saturday – one indication a very young but very promising team wasn't quite ready for this level of competition.
31.Two major injury situations to monitor going into next weekend: the status of 49ers WR Deebo Samuel 's shoulder injury, which knocked him out early against Green Bay, and whether Ravens Pro Bowl TE Mark Andrews will be activated 10 weeks after suffering a severe ankle injury.
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32.Saving the best for last here – and it should come as no surprise to anyone that that means Jason Kelce . The soon-to-be ex-Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center, per reports, certainly had a whale of a time rooting on his brother in Buffalo on Sunday, which, per entirely different reports, was also the first time he met Swift in the flesh. What an indelible impression big brother must have made, maybe even worthy of a chart-topper.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL takeaways: Championship games set with more Patrick Mahomes magic
