How are the 2022 NFL playoffs

After 18 weeks of competition, the regular season of the NFL came to an end. The road to Super Bowl LVI is getting shorter and the distance between the teams and SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, California -the venue that will host the most important night of American football on February 13-, begins to decrease with the divisional round matchups.

In total there were 12 teams that faced each other from Saturday, January 15 to define who would be the six classified for the instance (two were already classified). Once those duels were over, eight teams would fight to reach the finals of the American Conference and the National Conference. And after some of the most intense games of the season, the top contenders for the Super Bowl already have their opponents set.

On January 30, the final duels will be held by the AFC and NFC to know the final head-to-head. Until that comes PATTERN With The Sports Cathedral We tell you the keys to each confrontation.

Buccaneers vs. rams

The current champion is measured with one of the top candidates for SB LVI: the Rams. With Tom Brady accumulating 709 touchdown passes, including postseason and surpassing by 101 the former quarterback (QB) of the Saints, Drew Brees, Tampa has one of the best offensive weapons in its favor. Along with that, a stat that could well herald the weekend: Brady has won 35 playoff games so far, more than 28 NFL teams.

Although for this Sunday, January 23, the “Bucs” have 12 players on the injury report, having Leonard Fournettesecond player to whom he sent the most passes and also the second who caught the most in the regular season, will be a point in his favor.

In front those commanded by Sean McVay they have their stellar QB, matthew stafford, who after 13 years as a professional achieved his first postseason victory against the Cardinals. And although under his direction as HC they have a 3-0 record at home in the playoffs, as a visitor (in that capacity they will play on Sunday the 23rd), they have not won since 2017.

This will be the ninth meeting between the 49ers and Packers in the playoffs. What’s more, since that first duel in the 1996 divisional round with two legends like Brett Favre Y Steve Young which ended in victory for Green Bay by 27-17 (in January 1997), no other pair of teams has met more than five times in the playoffs.

Who then has the biggest weight for this match? Aaron Rodgers, QB of the Packers, has reached the playoffs eight times since 2010, but in none of them has he managed to settle in the Super Bowl. San Francisco, meanwhile, the last time he came to this instance with Jimmy Garoppolo It was in 2020 against the Chiefs of pat mahomes.

Who will win is a question that may only be answered on Saturday the 22nd, but one important fact is that whoever wins a game between the 49ers and Packers has reached the SB four times: 1996, 1997, 2012 and 2019.

To date there are 76 games played between the Titans and the Bengals, and of the last 10 it is the Bengals who lead with six wins. For the same, the weight for Joe Burrow Y Ja’Marr Chase (receiver) will not be little, because they will have the option of take his team to the AFC final for the first time since 1989.

One of the keys to the match will be how the Bengals stop Derrick Henrywho had 937 yards and 10 touchdowns in eight games, and how they block the rest of the running game led by Ryan Tannehill. In favor of the Titans is the rest day they had to have been, along with the Packers, the best in the NFL.

If he fully regains his ability after injury, with Henry the Titans are able to severely limit the offense of Burrow and company.

In a 42-21 victory over the Steelers, Pat Mahomes became the player with the most games totaling more than five TDs and more than 400 yards in American football history, reaching four. With that mark he distances himself from Peyton Manning, Dan Marino Y joe montana.

An antecedent that the Bills will have to take into account to stop Kansas City is that Tyreek Hill Y Travis Kelce in total they reached 290 yards and two TDs in the last conference finals, being one of the key pieces along with Mahomes, in the team’s offense. However, Buffalo limited the duo to just 13 receptions and 120 yards in their Week 5 matchup.

In addition to that, the Bills come into this game having played the first offensively perfect game in NFL history: in the 47-17 beating of the Patriots, they didn’t return the ball, they didn’t fumble, they didn’t kick goals. from the field and all of his drives ended in TDs. Yeah, all of that against one of the top five defenses in the entire league.