The Kansas City quarterback hurts his ankle then returns to the field to lead the hit on Jacksonville. Giants swept in Philadelphia
The conference’s top seeds make a lavish entrance into the playoff scene. Kansas City and Philadelphia win their respective Divisionals without ever trembling, in an authoritative way, despite the Chiefs having found themselves with Mahomes in half service, with a distorted ankle. The picture of the Conference finals will be completed today with the winners of the Buffalo-Cincinnati (9.00 pm) and San Francisco-Dallas (from half past midnight) matches.
Kansas City Chiefs-Jacksonville Jaguars 27-20
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The Chiefs win, by prediction. But with a gigantic scare: Patrick Mahones, the probable MVP super quarterback, suffers a right ankle sprain at the end of the first quarter and after being forced to stop in the locker room for spokes (negative, nothing broken) and a bandage, returns to the gridiron in second half clearly limping. Yet Kansas City wins without risking anything. Because Travis Kelce, the tight end, rages with 14 catches, 98 yards and 2 touchdowns, the kicker, Harrison Butker, hits the posts twice from 50 yards and in the end the defense forces two turnovers: a fumble by Agnew and the interception to Trevor Lawrence. Mahomes makes the difference on one leg. Highlighting the limits of the defense of the Jaguars, which also undergoes a drive of 98 yards and 6 points led by Chad Henne, the backup quarterback. Trevor Lawrence reiterates that he is growing, but still immature. He struggles in reading and accuracy, he gives his best when he runs, this time. Jacksonville closes a more than positive season anyway, after a bad start. It has a young core and a quality head coach, Pederson.
The match
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Immediately Mahomes for Kelce for the 7-0. Then Agnew exhibits a magical kickoff return from 63 yards capitalized by the Lawrence-Kirk combination. Mahomes was hit in the right ankle with 2′ to play in the first quarter. Butker with the field goal from 50 yards extends 10-7, but Mahomes limps conspicuously. Enter Henne, the Veteran. Then we think Isiah Pacheco, the running back, who invents a run from 49 yards. Henne then finds Kelce for a touchdown to make it 17-7. Jaguars defense unspeakable. However, Patterson’s kick between the posts from 41 yards is worth the 17-10 at the interval. Mahomes returns to the field at the beginning of the second half and at the end of the third quarter Butker hits the goal again from 50 yards. Kelce and Butker: Chiefs winning recipe. Travis Etienne’s 6-point run reopens the game with 7′ to play, but Mahomes, although lame, replies by finding Valdes-Scantling in the end zone. Jaguars Defense Unforgivable Again: 27-17. Agnew’s fumble 5 yards from the opponent’s end zone closes the game, then to lock it down with a double throw for Kansas City, which will face the winner of Buffalo-Cincinnati in the AFC final, comes the interception of the freshman Watson.
Philadelphia Eagles-New York Giants 38-7
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The Eagles beat the Division rivals Giants for the third time this season. They dominate them this time. Jalen Hurts turns out to be completely recovered from the right shoulder problem that had afflicted him at the end of the regular season, the forward line opens up highways to run to Miles Sanders, Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott and Hurts, who gallop for a combined 268 yards. The defense of the Eagles, then, had never disappeared and the host attack was devoured. At halftime the game was essentially already over, at 28-0. Philadelphia returns to the NFC Conference final which it has been missing since 2018, when it then won the Super Bowl, in Minneapolis, against Brady’s New England. New York badly ends an excellent season, enhanced by success in the first round of the playoffs in Minneapolis. Nobody, or almost, preseason imagined them in the postseason. The new coaching staff has done wonders, first of all Coach Daboll, the head coach, but also the defensive coordinator, Wink Martindale. Not this time, though. This time around they were helpless in the face of a team with too much more talent overall.
The match
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Hurts, even praised by LeBron James on Twitter, immediately finds tight end Dallas Goedert for the 7-0 try. Then another short pass of his turns into a touchdown throw due to the prowess of another offensive point guard of his, DaVonta Smith. There’s no match, it’s a green monologue. In the second quarter, runs in the end zone by Scott and Hurts close the game early. The Giants find the goal that saves at least the honor with a run by Matt Breida, but in the final Philly rages by scoring a touchdown again with Gainwell’s long-range gallop.
January 22 – 10:07
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