This week in the NFL was very short, but very chaotic, as almost every game was within one score. The first round of the NFL playoffs started in Carolina as the Los Angeles Rams took on the Panthers. The Carolina Panthers were playing catch up the entire game, and were never able to take a commanding lead, as the Rams’ offense was too much, and they beat the Panthers 34-31 to advance to the second round. The second game on the Saturday slate was the Chicago Bears hosting the Green Bay Packers. In this game, the Bears happened to be the one catching up and were down by 18 points at one point! All thanks to Caleb Williams, who had all of the fight in the world inside him, marched back and took the lead late for Chicago in the 4th quarter. The game ended on a Bears interception thrown by Packers’ Quarterback Jordan Love to complete the Bears comeback victory.

The first of the three games on Sunday took place in Jacksonville, as the Jaguares took on the Buffalo Bills. This was one of the most entertaining games, climaxing with a Josh Allen late touchdown to take the lead by three. On the Jaguars’ potential game-winning drive with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, Quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw an interception, and Bills came up with their biggest stop of the season. In the second game, the San Francisco 49ers traveled to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles in a defensive battle. Both teams unfortunately had lots of injuries, but the backups stepped up all game. The 49ers pulled off a miracle, as it felt like the Eagles were in control the entire game but that didn’t shake the 49ers’ mindset, as they took the win in a 19-23 battle. In the last game of Sunday’s Wild Card round, the New England Patriots hosted the Los Angeles Chargers in the second most dominating defensive performance of the round. The Pats never had the opportunity to get their offense going, but their defense stepped up big time, holding the Chargers and Pro-Bowl Quarterback Justin Herbert to only three points! The Chargers became first round exits, losing 16-3.

Monday night football was one of the most dominating defensive playoff performances this year. Adding to the brutal loss, this could have been legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ last ever football game. The Houston Texas traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers and absolutely dominated. Scoring on both offense and defense, points were not a problem for Houston. Aaron Rodgers’ potential last throw ever was a touchdown though…. for the defense, as a pick six capped off the Houston Texans dominant defensive night, winning 30-6. Sophomore Blake Calixte shared his thoughts on the close competition in the playoffs, saying “the Houston Texans are looking to dominate on the defensive side of the football and as soon as they get their offense rolling, they will be unstoppable.”