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Overreactions, reality checks for NFL divisional round: Bengals save NFL? Cowboys move on from Dak Prescott?

Overreactions, reality checks for NFL divisional round: Bengals save NFL? Cowboys move on from Dak Prescott?


An exciting weekend of divisional playoff football has come to a close, with the Philadelphia Eagles squaring off against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game and the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. 

The NFL has the two best teams in the NFC all season long for the right to go to the Super Bowl and a rematch of last year’s AFC title game between two of the conference’s best quarterbacks as a nightcap. Next Sunday will be the NFL at its finest. 

Before we look too far ahead to the matchups, the divisional round provided plenty of overreactions that need to be addressed this week. Which ones are overreactions and which are reality checks? 

The Bengals saved conference championship weekend

Overreaction or reality: Reality

Let’s be honest. The NFL was salivating at the prospect of a neutral-site championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. Having 50,000 sold tickets for Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta full of Chiefs and Bills fans could have set the stage for future neutral-site conference championship games, which would have happened if the Bills beat the Bengals.

The NFL will never get the beta test they wanted, thanks to Cincinnati trouncing Buffalo in Orchard Park. If the NFL ever goes to neutral-site conference championship games, the league will have no visual evidence of an actual game to make it happen.

Thank the Bengals for making that a reality. The world will never know what a neutral-site championship game will look like. 

Overreaction or reality: Overreaction

Prescott wasn’t good in Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, completing 23 of 37 passes for 206 yards with one touchdown to two interceptions (63.6 rating). This was just another poor divisional round performance from Prescott, who still has yet to lead the Cowboys to a conference championship game.

This performance can’t be all on Prescott, as the Cowboys had just 76 rushing yards and 3.5 yards per carry. Once Dallas lost Tony Pollard with a high ankle sprain, the offense scored just six points on six second half possessions along with 146 yards on 33 plays (4.4 yards per play). 

Prescott wasn’t great in the second half either, going 11 of 21 for 125 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions (70.5 rating). He didn’t do anything to will the Cowboys to victory in the playoffs, not what Dallas is paying him $40 million a…

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