2021-22 NFL Season

Bengals 20-23 Rams

The score was close, both teams struggled against good defensive line play (especially in the 2nd half) and neither offense took control. But the Rams were the better team in the 1st half and outside of the Bengal TD on the first play of the 2nd half (on another dirty play the refs conveniently missed (*)), followed quickly by a fluke interception that led to another FG, the Rams pretty thoroughly dominated the 2nd half. Not the most exciting game, but a close hard fought contest, this was more of a defensive contest than what I had expected. 

The MVP went to Cooper Kupp, who came alive on the Rams' final drive when they took the lead, and that's fine but it was Matthew Stafford that got him the ball and it was Aaron Donald that took over the game from the interior of the defensive line that kept the Bengals from moving forward, so personally I had Kupp third on my MVP short list. Some downplay the game but it was compelling entertainment throughout and made for an interesting close to the season.  

All in all, the Chiefs and the Packers (my pre-season picks) were arguably the two best teams from beginning to end. But the Packers forgot about special teams and the Chiefs just suddenly forgot how to play in the 2nd half of the semifinal. The Rams had the most talent but probably needed some luck (like not having to go to Lambeau Field in January) and the Bills were the second best team in the AFC, but did not get their lucky break (that instead went to the Bengals). Joe Burrow is firmly among the best QB's in the league right now and Stafford is now a consensus Hall of Famer (I concur: he already had a career's worth of stats, just needed a SB win to put him in). 

All right....already looking forward to next year (when my Bills should take that next step). 

(*) Wait...isn't every scoring play automatically reviewed? Live it looked like it could've just been incidental contact (the WR slowed down a bit and the CB bumped into him) but on the replay, it is plainly obvious that the WR yanked the CB's facemask and threw him to the ground--how do you review it and not notice that? And why weren't the Rams able to throw their own review flag? Frankly that was the Bengals' finest offensive moment and it was clearly a foul that should've nullified the score.