NFL

Around the NFL: Bills End Dolphins Season, Ravens on Fire Heading Into Playoffs

Published

3 years ago

January 4, 2021

Welcome to Around the NFL, where Cale Berger of Steelers Now will recap early-week action and take a look ahead at some of the most important matchups from the Pittsburgh Steelers perspective.

AROUND THE NFL THIS WEEKEND

Buffalo Bills 56 Miami Dolphins 26

The Bills locked up the No. 2 seed in the AFC on Sunday with a thumping of the Dolphins, crushing Miami’s playoff hopes in the process.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen continued his dominance of the Dolphins, completing 18 of 25 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Allen has now tossed 17 touchdowns and holds a 5-1 record in six career games against Miami. He finishes his 2020 campaign with 4,544 passing yards and 37 touchdown passes, which is 17 more than he had in his first two seasons combined.

HOLY SMOKEs. 😤

📺 #MIAvsBUF on CBS pic.twitter.com/7DsHqXd5UN

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 3, 2021

Allen showed again why wide receiver Stefon Diggs may have been the acquisition of the season, catching seven passes for 76 yards on the day. Diggs led the league with 127 receptions, which are the sixth-most in a single season in NFL history.

Just as the Bills offense torched Miami, their defense puzzled and pummeled Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa all game. The rookie entered Sunday having only thrown two interceptions all season, but he was picked off three times by the Buffalo defense, one of which was taken back to the house by cornerback Josh Norman. Tagovailoa still did rack up some serious stats in the loss, throwing for a touchdown and a career-high 361 passing yards.

Buffalo will host Indianapolis at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday in next weekend’s Wildcard round, while Miami will miss the postseason. The Dolphins still mounted a phenomenal season, and own the the No. 3 and 18 picks in Aprils’ draft.

Baltimore Ravens 38 Cincinnati Bengals 3

The NFL’s hottest team kept on rolling Sunday, as the Ravens smacked the Bengals and won their fifth-straight game.

The Baltimore has been red hot to close out the regular season, scoring at least 35 points in each game of their win streak. Their recent success can be attributed to the one-two punch of rookie running back J.K. Dobbins and quarterback Lamar Jackson, who have been dominant down the stretch. Dobbins terrorized the Bengals to the tune of 160 yards and two scores, and now has scored a rushing touchdown in six-straight games, the third-longest such streak by a rookie in the Super Bowl era. Jackson was excellent in his own right, adding 97 yards of his own. Baltimore’s 404 rushing yards as a team set a new franchise record, and are the fourth-most in a single game since 1950.

RAN IT BACK‼️

Tune in on CBS! pic.twitter.com/OaWei4x1M0

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 3, 2021

Jackson set a record of his own on the ground, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to record multiple 1,000-yard seasons. Still, he did it through the air as well, passing for 113 yards and three touchdowns.

The Ravens’ defense appears to be peaking for the postseason as well, as they held the Bengals to just 48 yards passing on Sunday. It was Cincinnati’s lowest passing yardage total since Week 17 of 2010, when they threw for just 31 yards on the Jets. The Ravens also picked off the Bengals’ Brandon Allen twice, one for Marcus Peters, the other by Chuck Clark.

Baltimore gets a rematch of last year’s Divisional round, as they will host Tennessee at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. Cincinnati will look to keep rebuilding, and hope to head into the 2021 season with a healthy Joe Burrow under center.

Los Angeles Rams 18 Arizona Cardinals 7

A dominate defensive performance powered the Rams into the postseason, while the Cardinals struggled in the absence of quarterback Kyler Murray.

Murray was knocked out of the game early and missed the majority of the afternoon, an unfortunate circumstance for Arizona that Los Angeles fully took advantage of. Cardinals backup Chris Streveler stepped in for Murray, but was picked off by Rams cornerback Troy Hill, who took the interception back 84 yards for their fourth defensive touchdown of the season.

Déjà vu 🤩@thrilll_32 with the pick-6! pic.twitter.com/1C3c75Z0an

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 3, 2021

Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald was relatively quiet in the win with four tackles and a pair of tackles-for-loss, all but confirming Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt will win NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Still, Donald reminded every one why he is a human cheat code and first-ball Hall of Famer.

💪 @AaronDonald97 💪 pic.twitter.com/R4VDaS0Mon

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 4, 2021

Los Angeles defense also recorded a safety and blocked a kick on the afternoon, two cherries on the top of a smothering outing.

Quarterback John Wolford was effective stepping in for the injured Jared Goff on the Rams’ offense. Seeing the first action of his NFL career Sunday, Wolford passed for 231 yards with an interception, while consistently moving the chains with his 56 yards rushing. It is unknown what Goff’s status is for next week.

The Rams will have an opportunity to avenge their loss in Seattle two weeks ago, as they will make the trip North again to battle the Seahawks at 4:40 p.m. Saturday. The Cardinals head into the offseason seeking answers for their late season collapse, as they lost six of their last nine down the stretch.

Tennessee Titans 41 Houston Texans 38

Titans running back Derrick Henry eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards Sunday and set a number of records, as Tennessee burst their way into the postseason with a shootout win in Houston.

Henry bludgeoned the Texans for a career-high 250 rushing yards, and joined former Titan running back Chris Johnson as the only other player to reach the 2,000-yard mark in franchise history. He found the end zone twice as well and became first player in NFL history with five career games with at least 200 rushing yards and two rushing scores. Henry also finishes the season as the league’s rushing, becoming the first player to do so in consecutive seasons since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006-07.

But it was not all just the ground game for the Titans, as they showed the balanced offensive attack that has made them so dangerous over the last two seasons. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill passed for 216 yards and accounted for three total touchdowns (one pass, two rush), while wide receiver A.J. Browns demonstrated his physical dominance once again in the passing game. Brown caught ten passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, including this 52-yarder that set up the game-winning field goal.

ARTHUR JUAN BROWN @Brown1arthur

📺: Watch #TENvsHOU on CBS pic.twitter.com/lJ4h4LK2z7

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) January 4, 2021

For as difficult as this season has been for Houston, quarterback Deshaun Watson was not going to go out lightly, and he definitely did not. The star quarterback passed for 365 yards and three touchdown on the afternoon, and finishes the 2020 season with career-highs for passing yards (4,823), passing touchdowns (33) and completion percentage (70.2%), while tossing a career-low seven interceptions.

Tennessee will visit the Baltimore next Saturday. Houston enters the offseason with a number of questions, and their No. 3-overall pick in the hands of Miami.