🐺 Wolf Sports Weekly

Good morning! The start of the NFL postseason was headlined by the struggles of a couple of very highly-paid quarterbacks. Here’s the schedule for this weekend’s Divisional Round:

🏈 Wild Card Round recap

To kick off the NFL playoffs, the Texans defended homefield by winning a wild game over the Chargers—an eventual 32-12 blowout victory that included four interceptions by Chargers QB Justin Herbert after he threw just three picks during the regular season. Los Angeles controlled the game for much of the first half, but a third-and-16 broken play by Texans QB C.J. Stroud gave Houston momentum and they never looked back.

“It looked like a movie, bro. I’m not going to lie to you.” The Ravens jumped ahead of the Steelers by three touchdowns and ultimately won 28-14 behind 186 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns from RB Derrick Henry—leading to Lamar Jackson saying watching Henry break away reminded him of the kids’ movie Cars. While the Steelers had their share of issues with five straight losses, Henry is obviously a major difference-maker for Baltimore at this time of year.

The Bills again advanced to the Divisional Round behind a balanced offensive attack and consistent pressure by the defense, running away from the Broncos. Denver started fast with the first rookie-to-rookie touchdown in NFL postseason history from QB Bo Nix to college teammate WR Troy Franklin, but the Bills racked up 31 consecutive points the rest of the game—the back-breaker for the Broncos being a tremendous fourth-and-one throw from Josh Allen to RB Ty Johnson, who somehow stayed in bounds in back of the end zone.

The Eagles handled a beat-up and struggling Packers offense, intercepting QB Jordan Love three times in a 22-10 victory. But it came at a cost for Philly, with LB Nakobe Dean suffering a torn patellar tendon in his knee that’ll keep him out for the playoffs and likely into the start of next season. Eagles WR A.J. Brown (one reception, 10 yards) was caught by FOX’s cameras reading on the sideline, but—as he posted on X—Brown has done this in the past. The book (Inner Excellence) instantly jumped to No. 1 on Amazon.

The magic continued for the Commanders, with an upset win at the Bucs being completed on Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard field goal that hit the upright and went in as time expired. It was a back-and-forth battle, but Washington’s ability to win close games shined yet again—and one of their fortunate bounces came on a fumbled jet sweep where Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield says he botched the handoff on a fumble recovered by the Commanders. The mishap came right after the Tampa defense made a great goal-line stand.

The Rams defense dominated with nine sacks in a 27-9 rout of the Vikings, ending Minnesota’s 14-win campaign. LA’s nine sacks tied an NFL playoff record. The game was played in Arizona due to the tragic wildfires in the Los Angeles area, and the Rams came out determined versus an offense that struggled mightily for the second consecutive week. The Vikings’ four losses this season were to the Lions twice and Rams twice.

👀 Latest coaching updates

The 2025 coaching carousel is heating up. Things intensified yesterday, when the Cowboys and HC Mike McCarthy announced they are parting ways after five seasons. They were reportedly unable to agree on the contract length in discussions. The former Super Bowl-winning head coach with the Packers is expected to draw interest from the Bears, Saints, and potentially Raiders. The first name on the candidate list for Dallas… Deion Sanders.

Patriots land Mike Vrabel. The former Patriots LB and Titans HC was seen as the heavy favorite to land in New England and a deal came together very quickly after just four candidate interviews. Vrabel said in his introductory press conference that he’s going to push a culture of “winning, competitive spirit… and the ability to put the team first.”

Vegas cleans house. The Raiders fired HC Antonio Pierce, who didn’t get his wish for a franchise quarterback last offseason, after one full season at the helm. After further deliberation, the franchise also fired GM Tom Telesco, a 2024 hire that surprised many people last year following his tenure with the Chargers. The thought is that Raiders minority owner Tom Brady has a huge role in the football operations right now, with a desire to start fresh and align the head coach and general manager. (Also, while calling the Packers-Eagles game, Brady subtly didn’t sound thrilled that Vegas allowed tone-setting RB Josh Jacobs to walk to Green Bay in free agency.)

The Titans also fired their GM, moving on from Ran Carthon after two seasons. Carthon appears to have potentially missed on hopeful franchise QB Will Levis and added a bunch of veteran talent—but Tennessee seemingly had no plan or clear direction and ended up with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

NFL assistant moves include the 49ers:

• San Francisco will not retain Nick Sorensen as the DC, but the hope is that he remains on the staff in another role. Former DC Robert Saleh, who also has HC interviews, has talked to the Niners about the role.

• The Falcons fired DC Jimmy Lake after one season.

• The Dolphins parted ways with ST coordinator Danny Crossman and WR coach Wes Welker.

Bills QB Josh Allen joked that OC Joe Brady has done “nothing” to help him and that “teams should stay away from him” if looking for a new HC.

One to watch: NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that multiple NFL teams—including Tom Brady and the Raiders—have inquired about whether legendary coach Bill Belichick would consider NFL jobs. Of course, Belichick took over at North Carolina in December and might not want to leave the school hanging, but his buyout is only $10 million (and drops to $1 million this summer).

📰 More NFL news and notes

Lions RB David Montgomery is expected to play in the Divisional Round after it previously looked like his season may be over due to a knee injury that he got multiple opinions on.

Browns QB Deshaun Watson re-tore his Achilles, putting both his 2025 season and his long-term future in doubt.

The 2024 NFL All-Pro Teams were unveiled, headlined by unanimous choices WR Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson.

Uncertain futures: Chargers OLB Khalil Mack says he’s unsure if he’ll continue playing, Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill has apparently cleared the air with the team after saying he didn’t want to play for them, and Falcons GM Terry Fontenot claims the team is “happy” to keep high-priced QB Kirk Cousins as a backup.

Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix says he played through three transverse fractures in his back suffered earlier this season.

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan again makes clear that QB Brock Purdy is his guy, stating that he plan of “being with Brock the whole time I’m here. Brock’s been a stud.”

Colts GM Chris Ballard says the team plans to bring in completion at QB given Anthony Richardson’s struggles staying healthy through two seasons.

The Jaguars, Browns, and Jets have been revealed as designated home teams for the 2025 NFL London Games.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared last Friday, January 10, 2025, as Mike Evans Day for his on-field performance and community work.

Other Sports Updates

🏆 College Football Playoff: Notre Dame won a thriller over Penn State in the Orange Bowl, while Ohio State separated in the final minutes to beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The Fighting Irish and the Buckeyes meet in the National Championship Game on Monday, January 20 at 7:30 PM ET.

🐐 Legendary coach Nick Saban will be joining the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

📝 Staying in school: After previously declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft, QB Carson Beck is instead transferring from Georgia to Miami. Meanwhile, Penn State stud RBs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton are both returning next season.

⚾️ The Giants signed three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to a one-year deal.

📰 LSU WR Kyren Lacy, who declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, was arrested for a crash that killed one person and injured two others. He was released on $151,000 bail.

🐺 Found on wolfsports.com

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• Wolf Sports 2024 All-Pro Offense

• Latest 2025 NFL Draft order