For the second time in this tournament, the Kansas City Chiefs came from behind to defeat the New England Patriots . . . but this game propels KC to the AFC Championship game, and sends the Pats home.

Once again it was Patrick Mahomes, the remarkable Chiefs’ quarterback, leading the way, completing 23 passes for 405 yards and 4 TD’s!

Tom Brady tried to keep the Pats in it, with New England closing to within 3 points with only 10:00 to play.  Then, after another Mahomes TD pass to increase Kansas City’s lead to 31-21, Brady hit Julian Edelman for a 67 yard TD pass . . . only to see it wiped out because he had crossed the line of scrimmage before he threw the ball!

 Kansas City is now 5-0 in the playoffs and Mahomes has been other-worldly.  Here are his remarkable numbers after five victories:

            ATT         COMP          YARDS         INT            TD          PASS RATING

             174           120              1,956             3               25              138.79

By any measuring stick, this man is AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Being a life-long Dallas Cowboys fan, I have to admit I was pretty jazzed up when they rolled to a 14-0 lead in this NFC Semi-Final game!  But, reality set in when Drew Brees and the Saints scored the next 35 points to win handily 35-21 and to advance to the NFC title game!

Earlier in this tournament, the Cowboys actually defeated New Orleans, but that was with Brees hurt and Teddy Bridgewater at the helm.  Not this game.  Brees completed 22 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns to Michael Thomas, who ended up the game with 125 receiving yards.

The Saints now await the winner of the Eagles-49ers game to see who they will play in the NFC Championship contest.

We have whittled this list down from the original 32 teams to the final 8, and I believe that there are some very compelling matchups for this round.  What follows are the tournament brackets, as well as the leaders from the round just completed as well as the list of injuries for each team still in the tournament, the two most important ones being George Kittle, who will miss the 49ers game against the Eagles, and Tra’Davious White of the Bills, who will sit out the game against the Ravens.

Lamar Jackson is downright scary!  And, he put it all together for this quarterfinal matchup versus the Chargers.  He completed 24 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns.  But, he also added another 93 yards on the ground on only 13 carries and another score in leading the Baltimore Ravens to an easy 48-7 victory.

In fact, Los Angeles didn’t even score until there were only ten seconds remaining in the game, as quarterback Philip Rivers was picked off four times by the talented Ravens’ secondary.

And, Baltimore’s remarkable offensive line was in full display, allowing the Ravens to rush for 254 yards on 44 carries – nearly six yards a pop!

Baltimore will now host the Buffalo Bills in an AFC semi-final game.

The Detroit Lions’ improbable “Cinderella” run came to an end at the hands of Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers 48-20.  But, for a while, the Lions hung in there!  Late in the first half, Detroit kicker Matt Prated nailed a 47 yard field goal to cut San Fran’s lead to only 21-17.

But, after that, it was all Niners . . . . as they scored four more touchdowns and held the Lions to one field goal the rest of the way.

Garoppolo had a very good game, hitting on 22 passes to nine different receivers for 265 yards and four TD’s.  George Kittle hauled in two of those scoring passes, and running-back Tevin Coleman added 2 on the ground as San Francisco completed their rout.

The 49ers will now host the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC semi-final contest.

Meeting for the second time in these playoffs, the Buffalo Bills relied on their stellar defense and the remarkable rushing ability of their quarterback, Josh Allen, to upset the favored Houston Texans 13-3 to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

Allen only had a so-so game through the air, but he scrambled for 99 yards on only 11 carries, including a 34 yard run for the game’s lone TD in the third period!  But it may have been his 4th quarter scramble that was the big difference maker for the Bills.  On a 3rd and 15 he scrambled for 17 yards for an important first down that kept their drive alive, eventually setting up Stephen Hauschka’s 44 yard field goal with only 1:40 left – that made it a two score game and, effectively, won the game for Buffalo.

The Bills’ offensive line was terrific all game long – as Buffalo averaged 7 yards per carry in tallying 268 yard rushing!  Next up for the Bills?  The winner of the Chargers-Ravens game.

With 10:30 to play in quarter #1, the Eagles took the lead on a Miles Sanders TD run, but missed the extra point.  They lost the lead later in the quarter when Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook scored on a short run, followed by a successful PAT.  And, Philadelphia did not retake the lead until only 3:00 remained in the game in a very close four point victory on the road over the Vikings.

And, it was interesting how they did it.  Down by only 3 points late in the 4th quarter, the Eagles decided on a taboo strategy – they took a successful game-tying field goal off the board to take advantage of a taunting penalty on Minnesota to move the ball to a first and goal at the Vikings’ 10 yard line.  Two plays later Carson Wentz found Sanders alone in the end zone for the game-winning score.

Sanders had a terrific game, rushing for 139 yards on 17 carries, and he scored three TD’s in the victory.  Philly now awaits the winner of the Lions-49ers game.

I know it doesn’t look like it, but the Browns actually hung around in this game until the fourth quarter.  After three periods, Kansas City led only 17-10, but it was then that Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs decided to get serious, throwing three TD’s in what turned out to be a rout!

Cleveland really shot themselves in the foot the whole game.  Quarterback Baker Mayfield completed nearly as many passes to Kansas City (7 interceptions) as he did to his own teammates (12 completions).  And, his most costly pick happened in the second quarter when Tyrann Mathieu intercepted a pass intended for Odell Beckham in the Chiefs’ end zone.

Mahomes, who was injured on Kansas City’s very first series, still had a phenomenal game, hitting on 27 completions to ten different receivers for 462 yards and 5 touchdowns.  In fact, the Chiefs accumulated a remarkable 600 yards of offense in this game!

Nick Chubb, Cleveland’s talented running-back had a fantastic game in defeat, rushing for 193 yards on only 18 carries, including a 41 yard run on his very first touch and a 54 yard TD scamper late in the first half.

KC will now host Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in an AFC semi-final game.

The favored Green Bay Packers hosted the Dallas Cowboys at the stadium where these two teams have played some very memorable games in the past . . . but, this time it was the Cowboys who came out on top 37-17 to bounce the Packers from the tournament.

Green Bay actually ran 20 more plays than Dallas, but a combination of great field position for the Cowboys and Packer quarterback, Aaron Rodgers being sacked 7 times, was the difference in the contest.

Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott both had sold games in the victory – Prescott with 21 completions for 247 yards and a pair of TD’s, and Elliott rushed for 89 yards on 17 carries and also scored twice.

The Cowboys now travel to New Orleans for a rematch with the Saints.

The New England Patriots rolled to an 15-point victory over Indianapolis to advance to the next round of these playoffs and to eliminate the Colts.  Pats’ quarterback Tom Brady did what Tom Brady has been doing for years – he made big plays when he needed to.

The Colts, behind ex-New England backup, Jacoby Brissett, got to within 8 points at the end of the third quarter.  But, after trading punts, the Patriots went on an 89 yard, 17 play, 9:30 drive, with Brady hitting clutch passes to Rex Burkhead of 24 yards and Julian Edelman for 45 yards before Sony Michel took it in from one yard out for his second TD of the game.

New England now waits for the winner of the Browns-Chiefs game to see who they will play in the next round.