Ranking the 5 dumbest mistakes from the Divisional Round losers (and the Patriots)

The Conference Championship Round is set and chalk it up to the power of first-round byes, because they’re, uh, chalk. All four of the top seeds advanced in a Divisional Round that mostly lacked drama, but promised some fireworks next weekend with the rematches between the Patriots-Chiefs and Rams-Saints.

There weren’t really any game-deciding gaffes this weekend, not when the closest final score in the Divisional Round was the Saints’ 20-14 win over the Eagles. That’s been a change of pace. During the regular season, a record 73 games were decided by three points or fewer. This postseason, there were just two and they both happened during Wild Card Weekend.

The blunders just aren’t as catastrophic when the winning teams are all clearly superior than their competition. But there were still some SMH moments in each divisional game, even if they weren’t super obvious.

And in case you’re wondering, no, we’re not including Alshon Jeffery’s drop. Not everyone needs to be turned into a Steve Bartman or Bill Buckner (reminder to Bears fans who won’t leave Cody Parkey alone for having the audacity to go on The Today Show).

Here are are the dumbest mistakes from this weekend’s four losers — plus the Patriots, so Tom Brady can keep pretending everyone thinks they suck.

Keenan Allen capped off his second straight Pro Bowl season with a 97-catch, 1,196-yard season that made him the focus of opposing secondaries throughout 2018. Not the Patriots on this play, though:

Los Angeles scored an early equalizing touchdown when All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore outright forgot to cover Allen, who snuck into the end zone for the easiest score of his football career.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, it was their only score of the first half and Allen had just one more catch after that. But even for a few glorious seconds, we’ll take our Patriots brain farts when we can get ‘em.

Last week, the Colts came out swinging against the Texans, racing out to a 14-0 lead while we were all still making our gameday nachos. This week, the Colts were on the other end of that kind of whupping. Early in the second quarter, the Chiefs were already up 17-0 while the Colts couldn’t muster a single first down.

That was no reason to panic, not against a team that has found new and inventive ways to choke at home in the playoffs — especially against the Colts.

But the Colts needed something to go right on offense. They faced third-and-6 from their own 29-yard line when Andrew Luck connected with Eric Ebron. Unfortunately, Ebron ran short of the sticks, so it was only a 5-yard gain:

Surely the same guy who went for it on fourth-and-4 from his own 43-yard line in an overtime game would do the same here on fourth-and-1, right? The Colts needed a measly yard against a defense that gave up the second-most rushing yards on the season.

Frank Reich had them punt instead.

Maybe that was the right choice. Or maybe it would’ve set an aggressive tone for the offense that it lacked all game. Either way, it’s disappointing Reich decided to play it conservative when his team needed no-effs-given Reich.

For what it’s worth, the Colts, who had the best third-down offense in the league, went 0-for-9 against the Chiefs. They finished 1-for-1 on fourth down, though.

Los Angeles struggled to contain the Patriots’ run-heavy offense with 11 men on the field. The Charger had no chance with only 10.

The Chargers were a man short as the Patriots faced first-and-goal from the LA 2-yard line. They barely got a finger on Sony Michel on his ensuing touchdown run, a dive up the middle that gave New England a 7-0 lead.

It set the tone early, too. The Patriots went into halftime with a 35-7 lead.

The Cowboys were almost perfect on fourth downs, converting three of four against the Rams. Their one miss was a killer, though.

Late in the third quarter. Cowboys had scored on their previous drive to make it a one-score game and then forced the Rams to punt for the first time all game. This was the most momentum Dallas had all game since a brief window the first quarter. Noah Brown, a receiver known mostly for his blocking, came up with a great catch on third-and-long to set up a fourth-and-1 at the LA 35-yard line right as the final quarter began.

The Cowboys were going to go for it, as they should have. What they shouldn’t have done was run Ezekiel Elliott straight into a nine-man box, especially when two guys in the middle are Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald:

Elliott had no chance, not with Scott Linehan’s predictable play call and not when the Cowboys didn’t even pretend that attacking the edge was a possibility.

The Rams got the ball and went on to score the touchdown that would put the game out of reach.

Philadelphia makes this week’s list for what probably seemed like the right decision at the time — but one that let the Saints right back into their eventual Divisional Round win in the process. The Eagles had just stuffed Alvin Kamara for no gain on third-and-1 when offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk was flagged for holding. Rather than accept a 10-yard penalty that would have allowed the home team to take another stab at converting third down — the Saints offense had converted just one all game at that point — head coach Doug Pederson declined the penalty to bring up fourth-and-1 from the New Orleans 30.

That gave Saints head coach Sean Payton the chance to get tricky, and anyone who has ever watched the Saints should’ve known what was all coming. Heck, the Eagles knew what was about to happen, based on they were crowding the line of scrimmage:

Backup quarterback/special teams upback Taysom Hill took a direct snap right into the middle of his offensive line, gaining four yards and providing the catalyst that sparked a comeback win in New Orleans. That extended a drive that ended with the Saints’ first seven points of the game — the start of 20 unanswered points for Payton’s team.