On Wild Card Weekend, Jared Goff proved that you don’t need working thumbs to have a good time in the playoffs. Mike Vrabel and Mike Tomlin made some inexcusable punting decisions. And the Baltimore Ravens made fullbacks cool again. All this, plus slime in the end zone and obscenities on a children’s television network in the Wild Card edition of NFL Recap’s Studs ‘n’ Duds!
Editor’s Note: For the rest of Mike Tanier’s individual NFL Divisional Round playoff previews, make sure to check out his full NFL Wild Card Recap. Not only does he give in-depth breakdowns of each game, but he also provides you with his Studs ‘n’ Duds.
NFL Wild Card Weekend Studs ‘n’ Duds
Stud: Patrick Ricard, Fullback, Baltimore Ravens
Hooray for fullbacks! They’re the ultimate #Relatable wish-fulfillment surrogates for chonk dads! So while Lamar Jackson silenced doubters and Marcus Peters sealed Sunday’s Ravens victory over the Tennessee Titans with a clutch fourth-quarter interception, NFL Recap was celebrating Ricard’s three receptions for 26 yards, all of which came on the touchdown drive which gave the Ravens the lead at the start of the third quarter.
That’s because while the more athletic kids in the neighborhood dreamed of growing into Joe Montana or Eric Dickerson, Recap wanted to be just like Leroy Harris or Dan Doornink. So go get ‘em, Ricard! Those flat passes are not going to catch themselves!
NFL Duds: Mike Vrabel, HC, Tennessee Titans; Mike Tomlin, HC, Pittsburgh Steelers
Vrabel punted on 4th-and-2 from the Titans’ 44-yard line while trailing early in the third quarter, then ordered a second punt on 4th-and-2 from the Ravens 40-yard line while trailing early in the fourth quarter. Vrabel revels in his tough-guy persona, but that’s what playing scared looks like.
Tomlin must have seen Vrabel lose to the Ravens because of ultra-conservative punting and said, “Oh yeah, let me get in on THAT action.” Tomlin punted on 4th-and-1 from the Steelers’ 46-yard line while trailing 35-23 but moving the ball easily against the depleted Cleveland Browns secondary.
(The Steelers actually punted from the 46-yard line after a delay of game penalty, but you get the idea). The Browns got the ball back with renewed confidence and quickly drove 80 yards to derail the Steelers’ comeback effort.
Quarantined Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski probably did a little dance around his home office when Tomlin ordered the punt. Old-school defensive coaches love to hate analytics. On Sunday night, Tomlin lost to a team coached by a literal nerd in his basement.
Stud: Jared Goff, QB, Los Angeles Rams
Goff takes a lot of flack for being a midsized economy quarterback with a luxury sedan price tag. But it took guts to come off the bench less than two weeks after thumb surgery and find a way to manufacture some passing offense against the Seahawks.
Goff’s deepest pass on Saturday was a Taysom Hill Special — Cooper Kupp essentially had to turn around to come back to retrieve it — but Goff put mustard on a few throws when he absolutely had to, and he even improvised and made a few plays on the run.
Goff may never be a truly great quarterback, but he proved on Saturday that there is more to his game than waiting around for Sean McVay to tell him where to throw the ball.
Dud: Brian Schottenheimer, Offensive Coordinator, Seattle Seahawks
Schottenheimer remains the only coach in the NFL who can consistently slow Russell Wilson down, making him eligible for an NFL Studs ‘n’ Duds lifetime achievement award.
Schottenheimer’s entire game plan on Saturday was one huge mistake, so NFL Recap will point out that Schottenheimer called running plays on both 2nd-and-34 and 1st-and-25 at various points in the Seahawks’ loss to the Rams. It takes a truly unique coach to call plays on purpose to set up 3rd-and-24.
NFL Studs: The Nickelodeon broadcast
NFL studs Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson, Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, and Lex Lumpkin explained the rules of football in a lively way while Saints and Bears players were virtually “slimed” after (rare) touchdowns and SpongeBob SquarePants’ enormous head filled the rectangular region between the uprights on field goal attempts during the innovative NFL-Nickelodeon simulcast.
The broadcast team was burdened with a game that was too long and low-scoring to be kid-friendly, and the frequent asides about Nickelodeon’s 40-year history seem to have been aimed at the wrong audience (NFL Recap’s past love of Rugrats won’t get us to tune in to Ollie’s Pack).
But the youth-friendly discussions of NFL strategy and personalities were just as informative — and far less pompous and bombastic — than the typical telecast bibble-babble.
Dud: The Nickelodeon broadcast sound editors
Whoops. Welp, kids are going to be exposed to this sort of language, anyway. Especially when watching Mitch Trubisky.
NFL Duds: The officials
Brad Allen’s crew blew a replay call that almost cost the Buffalo Bills a victory late in the fourth quarter. Zach Pascal clearly fumbled after getting up from the ground after a fourth-down reception on the Colts final drive, but the officials (who didn’t even stop the clock to review the play until Sean McDermott called a Bills timeout) inexplicably ruled that Pascal was down when the ball came loose.
Jerome Boger’s crew made an even worse call late in the Ravens-Titans game, flagging Willie Snead for offensive pass interference for a pick play on what appeared to be a Ravens fourth-down conversion. The Snead call was defensible — he did get in a defender’s way — but officials let A.J. Brown toss cornerback Marlon Humphrey to the end zone turf on a touchdown catch. Letting the fellas trade paint all afternoon, then suddenly calling a ticky-tack foul on a late fourth down, is just bad officiating.
Alex Kemp’s crew in the Bears-Saints game flagged Bears’ tight end Cole Kmet for unsportsmanlike conduct for tossing the football to the ref after jawing with safety Malcolm Jenkins after a tackle. The dubious foul nearly knocked the Bears out of field goal range. But maybe Kemp realized the game was on Nickelodeon and thought Pop Warner’s 70-pound division rules of sportsmanship applied.
None of these calls impacted the final results. But the NFL narrowly avoided a Wild Card Weekend in which officiating overshadowed the games.
And now moving on from NFL Studs ‘n’ Duds to hand out NFL Recap’s Wild Card Weekend awards.
NFL Recap’s Wild Card Weekend Awards
Offensive Line of the Week
The Cleveland Browns offensive line of rookie Jedrick Wills, Mike Dunn (subbing for Joel Bitonio), J.C. Tretter, Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin, and Kendall Lamm (who filled in when Conklin suffered a hamstring injury) helped Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt rush for 124 yards, kept Baker Mayfield upright against the most fearsome pass rush in the NFL, and delivered a few blocks like this one.
Defender of the Week
Aaron Donald played just 30 snaps before suffering a rib injury against the Seahawks, but he sacked Russell Wilson twice and knocked him down a third time in that span. He then spent the second half huffing and puffing along the sidelines with a don’t make me get back in there expression on his face that may have motivated his teammates to not let the Seahawks stage a comeback.
Special Teamer of the Week
This was not a big weekend for noteworthy special teams play, so let’s give the award to Ryan Succop for four short field goals in the Buccaneers’ 31-23 victory over Washington.
Best Supporting Actor in Someone Else’s Highlight
This week’s entry comes via the Twitter feed of USA Today editor and friend of the Recap Doug Farrar. Tom Brady delivered a vintage dime to Mike Evans along the deep left sideline early in the Buccaneers victory over Washington. But check out center Ryan Jensen as he basically tosses defender Tim Settle to the ground directly in front of Brady. Holding? It ain’t holding when you are guarding a national treasure, pal.