The second week of the 2024 NFL playoffs is in the books, so it’s time for another round of games to recap for anyone who may have missed watching them live.
On Saturday, the Green Bay Packers marched into San Francisco with high hopes after an absolutely dominant performance in the Wild Card round in Dallas the week before.
They struck first, with a field goal from Anders Carlson being the only points scored on either side in the first quarter.
The 49ers struck back with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy to George Kittle. The Packers put up another field goal, making it a close 7-6 game at halftime.
The Packers opened up the third quarter with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Love to Bo Melton, but within two minutes, Christian McCaffrey took their lead back with a 39-yard touchdown run. Unwilling to give up the lead they had briefly attained, Love threw another touchdown to Tucker Kraft, followed by a completed two-point conversion thrown by Love to Aaron Jones, making the score 21-14 going into the fourth quarter.
The Packers defense was able to hold the 49ers to a field goal, but couldn’t get anything else done offensively. Then, San Fransico ripped out the hearts of every Green Bay fan with a 6-yard game-winning touchdown run from McCaffrey to end the game and advance the 49ers to the NFC Championship next week.
Saturday’s other matchup between the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens was significantly less dramatic. After absolutely handling the Cleveland Browns last week, the Texans ran out of whatever magic they’d been harnessing. That said, it was a much closer game than the score would imply.
Justin Tucker and Ka’imi Fairbairn traded a 50 and 53-yard field goal in the first quarter.
In the second, Lamar Jackson threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor to put the Ravens ahead, but Steven Sims evened the score going into halftime with a 67-yard punt return touchdown.
The Ravens came out strong on their first drive of the second half, culminating in a 15-yard running touchdown for Jackson to put them ahead 17-10.
However, it was the fourth quarter when the Ravens pulled away completely, with a touchdown pass from Jackson to Isaiah Likely and another running touchdown for Jackson, followed by a final 43-yard field goal from Tucker.
The game ended with a brutal 34-10 score, sending the Ravens to the AFC Championship.
Moving into Sunday’s games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traveled to Detroit to play against the Lions.
The first half perfectly mirrored the Ravens Texans game from the day before, with Michael Badgley and Chase McLaughin each getting a field goal for their teams in the first quarter.
In the second, Jared Goff threw a touchdown to Josh Reynolds for the Lions, and then Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown to Cade Otton to tie the game 10-10 going into halftime.
The Lions took the lead back with a touchdown run from Craig Reynolds, but the Buccaneers wouldn’t let them extend their lead, tying the game once again with a touchdown from Mayfield to Rachaad White.
Finally, in the fourth quarter, Detroit was able to put up back-to-back touchdowns with a run from Jahmyr Gibbs followed by a pass from Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Tampa Bay was able to match one of those touchdowns with a pass from Mayfield to Mike Evans but then failed to convert their two-point attempt. They were ultimately stopped on their second try, ending the game 31-23 and sending the Lions to their second NFC Championship appearance, their last being in 1991.
The weekend’s final game took place in Buffalo, where the Bills took on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Surprisingly enough, this one also started off with off-setting field goals from Tyler Bass and Harrison Butker in the first quarter.
However, this game picked up speed quicker than the previous two, starting with a touchdown run from the Bills’ quarterback, Josh Allen. Kansas City responded with another field goal, followed by a touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce. With 26 seconds left in the half, Josh Allen ran for another touchdown to put Buffalo ahead 17-13 at halftime.
The Chiefs kicked off the second half with Mahomes throwing another touchdown pass to Kelce. The Bills retook the lead with a touchdown pass from Allen to Khalil Shakir to end the third quarter.
The only score of the 4th was a running touchdown from Isiah Pacheco to put the Chiefs ahead 27-24. Then, Kansas City clamped Buffalo’s offense for the rest of the game to send them to the AFC Championship.
This weekend, the Baltimore Ravens will host the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC Championship, and the San Fransisco 49ers will host the Detroit Lions for the NFC Championship.