The NFL playoff brackets were finalized; CFP Championship Preview

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🏈 Good morning to everyone, but especially…

nfl playoff teams

The NFL playoffs are set. Here is the AFC field And how did they get there:

1. crows (Received No. 1 seed and bye last week)
2. Bills (caught a berth with jaguar‘Lose 28-20 titans, clinched the No. 2 seed and defeated the AFC East 21–14. dolphin,
3. Chiefs (Earned the No. 3 seed last week)
4. texans (clinched berth with 23-19 win colts, Jaguars win AFC South with Titans loss)
5. Browns (Earned No. 5 seed last week)
6. dolphin (Lose to Bills to earn No. 6 seed)
7. steelers (clinched berth with 17-10 win crows and the Jaguars’ loss to the Titans)

And Here is the NFC field,

1. 49ers (Received No. 1 seed and bye last week)
2. Cowboy (clinched the No. 2 seed and won the NFC East with a 38–10 win) commanders,
3. lions (No. 3 seed with Cowboys win)
4. buccaneers (won the NFC South 9-0 win Above panthers,
5. Eagles (Cowboys clinch No. 5 seed with win)
6. rams (clinched the No. 6 seed with a 21-20 win over the 49ers)
7. PACKERS (clinched berth with 17-9 win Bear,

so Here is the schedule for the first roundWith initial thoughts on each game:

• No. 5 Browns at No. 4 Texans, Saturday, 4:30 PM | nbc
  CJ Stroud Absolutely fantastic. The Browns’ defense is similar.
• No. 6 Dolphins at No. 3 Chiefs, Saturday, 8 PM | Peacock
  Dolphins don’t like the cold, and the temperature in Kansas City that night will be around zero degrees.
• No. 7 Steelers at No. 2 Bills, Sunday, 1 PM | cbs
  Buffalo (five consecutive wins) and Pittsburgh (three consecutive wins) are on a high.
• No. 7 Packers at No. 2 Cowboys, Sunday, 4:30 PM | fox
  Top two touchdown passers of the year– dak prescott (36) and jordan love (32)–To meet.
• No. 6 Rams at No. 3 Lions, Sunday, 8 PM | nbc
  Matthew Stafford And Jared Goff Both face their former teams, the first such matchup in NFL playoff history.
• No. 5 Eagles at No. 4 Buccaneers, Monday, 8 PM | abc
  Let’s talk about Eagles…

Some teams are advancing to the postseason. Others are limping – literally and figuratively – and the Eagles are one of those squads. Philadelphia sent several of its starters to the bench before halftime, but the offense did nothing and the defense did nothing, ultimately resulting in a 27–10 loss. veteran, To make matters worse, aj brown Got a knee injury in the first quarter,

The Eagles have lost five of their last six games. Using defensive success rate (a measure of down-to-down efficiency), only commanders have been worse over that period. The pass rush – which was dominant last year – is milquetoast. The linebackers and secondary are a complete mess. It’s not much better on offense: 25th in success rate over the last six weeks, just behind jet And giants.

The slate is wiped clean after the season, but right now it’s really ugly.

Here’s more about the playoff teams…

😄 Honorable Mention

😞 And not such a good morning…

NFL teams eliminated from playoffs

Week 18 can be as brutal as it is beautiful. You work for months and months – years and years – for games like this, only to lose everything in agonizing, infuriating fashion. The devastation on the Jaguars’ sideline became apparent after a 28-20 loss to the Titans eliminated Jacksonville from playoff contention.

When we talk about the game of inches, we talk about trevor lawrence inches are coming down Late on fourth and goal. We talk about Lawrence’s disappearance calvin ridley By inches on a potential long touchdown on Jacksonville’s final drive of the season.

But we should also talk about why it should never have gotten to this point. The Jaguars have lost five of their last six games. For all the “game of inches” talk, this was a game of much more yard Permission was granted and many mistakes were made.

• derrick henry, Will likely play his final game with the TitansRan for 153 yards and a touchdown.
• Ryan TannehillPossibly playing his final game with the Titans (and only playing because Will Lewis was injured), threw two touchdown passes. he had two all Seasons Entry on Sunday.
• Lawrence threw two interceptions, one from a terrible fall. evan engramAnother terrible throw (or miscommunication) ze jones, The Jaguars’ offense finished with the fifth-most expected points loss on turnovers this season.

I still believe in Lawrence, who need to get healthyAnd the Jaguars need to invest in their line and wide receivers in what will be a very long offseason.

here are five Other Teams out over the weekend:

• one of arthur smithserves as the final act of Falcon coach was shouting at dennis allen after late game Saints The touchdown in a 48–17 defeat that eliminated Atlanta from the playoffs. Watch Smith was attacked at midnight (Literally, the firing was announced at 12:02 a.m.) After three 7–10 seasons and zero playoff appearances. Our Coach and GM Tracker Is up and running.
• seahawks And the Saints were eliminated with the Packers’ victory. The Seahawks need defensive help. The Saints are in salary cap hell (again) after putting together a win-now roster that didn’t even make the playoffs (again).
• vikings Were eliminated after losing to Lions. All eyes will be on the quarterback scheme cancer cousin Ready to hit free agency.
• The Colts were eliminated after losing to the Texans, but things are looking up. I can’t wait to get healthy Anthony Richardson In Shane SteichenCrime of.

As far as the teams that were eliminated long ago are concerned, The first 18 picks of the NFL Draft are set, The top five will be…

1. Bears (via Panthers)
2. commanders
3. Patriot
4. Cardinals
5. chargers

😕 Not so honorable mention

🏆National Championship Game Preview, Predictions

And then there were two. Number 1 and Number 2, to be precise.

michigan face’s Washington tonight in the national championship gameand we have Tom Fornelli’s last best bet of the season, His sport selection?

• Fornelli: “From an efficiency standpoint, Michigan matches up well with Washington’s offense. … The Wolverines have the best defense in the country, thanks primarily to their excellent defensive line. It’s better than your offensive line. And the depth runs deep. … Washington has excellent players on defense at every level … but it doesn’t boast the depth of Michigan’s talent pool. Pick: Michigan -4.5,

However, Tom also notes that when you have Michael Penix Jr., Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan And Jailyn PolkIndividual talent can easily make enough plays to win, and I loved that. This Dennis Dodd story on Penix,

Meanwhile, Michigan’s biggest name is its coach. Is this jim harbaughLast game at Michigan? Will he face discipline for certain controversies? What type of coach is he (other than a successful coach)? dennis A deeper dive into one of the game’s great mysteries,

we do have Michigan’s key to victory And to washington And What both teams need to fix,

buckle up. Determining which school will be the eventual champion from the four-team field should be a strange process tonight in Houston.

🎾 Rafael Nadal withdraws from Australian Open

Rafael NadalThe final season got off to an inauspicious start. 22 time Grand Slam champion Withdraws from Australian Open due to hip injury,

• After missing all of 2023 due to a hip injury, Nadal suffered the injury at the last Australian Open Return to Brisbane InternationalAdvance to the quarterfinals.
• However, he Suffered a “micro tear” in his hip, This injury is not in the same place on which the operation was done in June 2023.
• 37-year-old Nadal is now eyeing the French Open to be held in May. He has won 14 titles at Roland Garros.

📺 What we’re watching on Monday

CFP National Championship: No. 2 Washington vs. No. 1 Michigan7:30 pm on ESPN
sun on clippersNBA TV at 10:30 PM