A Round 2 Roller-Coaster Ride, Denver’s QB Plight, and Josh’s Lost Weekend With Cousin Sal
Episode
92 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Productivity, History
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Josh Allen's playoff pattern: Allen is now 0-6 in divisional round games and 0-5 in overtime playoff situations where he possessed the ball, scoring just three points total. He missed critical throws to Knox and Hardman that would have won the Buffalo-Denver game, continuing a pattern of failing to close winnable playoff games despite superior talent.
- ✓Weather impact undervalued: Indoor teams playing outdoors show measurable disadvantages in playoff performance. The Rams' receivers struggled with footing in Chicago, and their average top speed of 12.81 mph ranked sixth-slowest in the NFL. Teams should weight weather conditions more heavily when evaluating matchups, particularly for dome-based offenses facing outdoor elimination games.
- ✓Young quarterback volatility: Caleb Williams and Drake May demonstrate extreme game-to-game inconsistency typical of rookie playoff quarterbacks. Williams excels on fourth down with nearly a dozen miraculous conversions but throws critical interceptions in overtime. Teams with first-year starters should expect 45-minute adjustment periods before quarterbacks find rhythm, particularly in hostile road environments.
- ✓Backup quarterback Super Bowl path: Jared Stidham has one career win and hasn't thrown a meaningful pass in 2.5 years, yet faces the easiest conference championship path in modern NFL history. The 2019 Chiefs won with similar weak opposition (Texans, Titans, Jimmy Garoppolo), proving championship legitimacy isn't determined by opponent strength during a single playoff run.
- ✓Defensive line impact on playoffs: The Patriots' run defense allowed just 30 carries for 61 yards combined against the Chargers and Texans when Christian Barmore played. Teams with elite defensive line play force 22 negative plays per half in playoff games, neutralizing opponent offensive advantages and creating short-field opportunities regardless of offensive line quality.
What It Covers
Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal analyze NFL Divisional Round results, focusing on Josh Allen's playoff struggles, CJ Stroud's four-interception performance, Caleb Williams' fourth-quarter heroics, and the Patriots' unexpected path to the AFC Championship against Denver's backup quarterback Jared Stidham.
Key Questions Answered
- •Josh Allen's playoff pattern: Allen is now 0-6 in divisional round games and 0-5 in overtime playoff situations where he possessed the ball, scoring just three points total. He missed critical throws to Knox and Hardman that would have won the Buffalo-Denver game, continuing a pattern of failing to close winnable playoff games despite superior talent.
- •Weather impact undervalued: Indoor teams playing outdoors show measurable disadvantages in playoff performance. The Rams' receivers struggled with footing in Chicago, and their average top speed of 12.81 mph ranked sixth-slowest in the NFL. Teams should weight weather conditions more heavily when evaluating matchups, particularly for dome-based offenses facing outdoor elimination games.
- •Young quarterback volatility: Caleb Williams and Drake May demonstrate extreme game-to-game inconsistency typical of rookie playoff quarterbacks. Williams excels on fourth down with nearly a dozen miraculous conversions but throws critical interceptions in overtime. Teams with first-year starters should expect 45-minute adjustment periods before quarterbacks find rhythm, particularly in hostile road environments.
- •Backup quarterback Super Bowl path: Jared Stidham has one career win and hasn't thrown a meaningful pass in 2.5 years, yet faces the easiest conference championship path in modern NFL history. The 2019 Chiefs won with similar weak opposition (Texans, Titans, Jimmy Garoppolo), proving championship legitimacy isn't determined by opponent strength during a single playoff run.
- •Defensive line impact on playoffs: The Patriots' run defense allowed just 30 carries for 61 yards combined against the Chargers and Texans when Christian Barmore played. Teams with elite defensive line play force 22 negative plays per half in playoff games, neutralizing opponent offensive advantages and creating short-field opportunities regardless of offensive line quality.
Notable Moment
CJ Stroud became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw five-plus interceptions and commit five-plus fumbles in a single postseason. Despite four interceptions in the first half against New England, including a pick-six, the Texans nearly won before losing in conditions where Stroud appeared visibly uncomfortable getting hit in freezing weather.
Episode Transcript
This episode is brought to you by Firehouse Subs, who just dropped the game changing sandwich, the French dip. Literally one of my favorite, sandwiches slash subs, roast beef, caramelized onions, melty cheese, little freshly toasted garlic, butter roll, and the warm, savory. Oh, shoot. I've been eating these forever since I was living on the East Coast in LA. I think to me, this versus the cheesesteak, the French dip, no contest, way better. And I think it's really because of the au jus. I don't know anybody who doesn't like au jus. An elite game day sub. Fun to order, by the way, if you want it delivered because they usually put the au jus in the in the special little container you can pour it on, knock yourself out. The French dip. Here for a limited time. I wish it was longer. Only at Firehouse Subs. Limited time at participating Firehouse Subs restaurants while supplies last. The Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. We're also presented by the Ringer Podcast Network. We're having new rewatchables coming up on Monday night. So we did just one of the guys. Oh, that's a great one. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Yeah. It's one for us week because we go to we go to Netflix next week. Mhmm. And, we wanted to bang out a couple. I'm turning off my hide self view. There we go. Yeah. We wanted to bang out a couple before we started. Anyway should flash you should flash everyone at the end. I mean, that was the big thing. Right? Yeah. That's what I do. I should've I should've pulled my shirt off at the tail end. There's there's some time. Coming up, Sal and I are going to talk about an unbelievable weekend of football right after this. Cousin Sal is here. Best Super Bowl draft. Here are the Super Bowl nominees, Sal. Wait a minute. May May versus Stafford, May versus Darnold, Stidham versus Stafford, or Stidham versus Darnold. What are you the most excited about? I like Stidham Darnold. I mean, I've been rooting for that all year. You know me. I'm not a front runner. That's the one I had targeted all year, Stidham and Darnold. And, it looks really looks like it's gonna happen. It's unbelievable. That's two of them is one career win? Oh, man. How do you do it? How do you do it? Don't even start. Can we talk about Rams Bears first? This was hope we could talk about Rams Bears to a point where you forget about your team. Maybe we can go the whole hour and a half if you want. How dare you? Rams, Bears. Would it have been the Colt Kamek game or the Caleb Tecmo Bowl game for you? Because that was the original Tecmo Bowl offense of just running backwards 25 yards and heaving it toward the end zone, and then the guy catches it. But how …
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