Offtopic » It was a bad day all around for us from start to finish

CHICAGO (AP) — Maybe it was the absence of all those high-powered offenses on byes.Perhaps it was the jitters for some younger teams Marshon Lattimore Jersey White , particularly their quarterbacks: Deshaun Watson, Mitchell Trubisky and Lamar Jackson.Or maybe defense actually still has a place in the NFL, especially in the playoffs.The most points anyone scored during wild-card weekend, when only Dallas won at home, was 24 by the Cowboys. In total, 145 points were scored, an average of 36.2 per game. The Chiefs averaged 35.3 all by themselves this season.As Nick Foles — St. Nick in Philly for his clutch work as a relief pitcher and, oh yes, as a Super Bowl champion — observed following the Eagles‘ 16-15 comeback escape in Chicago : “Our defense really kept us in this game. It was a hard-fought defensive battle tonight and we were able to come up big in the end.”Or as coach Anthony Lynn noted following the Chargers‘ 23-17 win at Baltimore in which Los Angeles forced three turnovers and held the Ravens to 229 total yards, 90 on the ground: “Our defense was outstanding. We held that team down to 100 yards rushing. No one has played that team the way our defense played today. I was really impressed with the way our defense stepped up.”All the winning defenses will need to step up a few more rungs next weekend. Consider that aside from the Chiefs scoring 565 points this season, the Rams got 527, the Saints 504 and the Patriots 436. All of them will be at home.The Colts (11-6) head to Kansas City (12-4) on Saturday, followed by the Cowboys (11-6) at the Rams (13-3). On Sunday, the Chargers (13-4) are at the Patriots (11-5), while the Eagles, who lost 48-7 at the Saints during the season, finish off the divisional round at New Orleans (13-3).While the NFL loves to tout all the scoring records set during the 2018 season https://www.thesaintslockerroom.com/authentic-drew-brees-jersey , all of the yards gained and general wide-openness of weekly contests, when it comes down to deciding who winds up in the conference title games, maybe the guys trying to stop those video-game offenses will have a say.It’s unlikely that any of the wild-card victors can win a Super Bowl without being balanced. The Eagles will need to play far better defense in the Big Easy or Drew Brees will have, well, an easy time picking apart a secondary playing mostly backups. The Chargers likely will require more than 24 points to succeed in Foxborough, where the Patriots had the NFL’s only unbeaten home record this season.Dallas needs more offensive imagination and another huge performance against the run to win at L.A. Only Indianapolis, which was superb on both sides of the ball at Houston, displayed enough of the formula needed to get the conference championship game.Then again, the Colts must slow down All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes and crew at Arrowhead Stadium.“We’re not worried about who’s on the other side,” said Colts rookie linebacker Darius Leonard, himself an All-Pro. “We always talk about whoever’s playing on the opposite side is gray matter. So we’re always talking about doing what we can do and controlling what we can control, and that is going out, playing each play, play by play and going from there.”What about the four teams coming off byes? Which ones are best suited to come up with a solid defensive showing?The two most suspect are the Chiefs and Rams. Sure, KC averaged all those points weekly. It also yielded 26.3, including 43, 54 Womens Marshon Lattimore Jersey , 29 and 38 in its losses, and the 421 points opponents scored by far were the most any playoff team surrendered. The Rams allowed 384, easily the most of any NFC postseason qualifier; L.A. had seven games in which it allowed at least 30 points.New England also can be vulnerable on defense even though it’s been stingy at times when it comes to giving up touchdowns. The Patriots aren’t a force in the pass rush and against quality quarterbacks the linebackers and secondary have had trouble in coverage.New Orleans probably has the most well-rounded roster, with some standouts on defense to accompany Brees and All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas and the terrific running back duo of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram.And don’t think defense won’t be needed through the rest of January and into February. Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden had issued warnings about the perils of giving Saints quarterback Drew Brees second chances.His words went unheeded, and a humbling lesson followed.Having allowed an NFL-low average of 187.3 passing yards through three games, the Redskins kept the Saints' first two drives alive with three penalties on what would have been third-down stops. Both drives ended in touchdowns, and helped the Saints build a comfortable first-half lead in what became a 43-19 rout.Washington allowed Brees to throw for 250 yards in the first half alone and move ahead of Peyton Manning as the NFL's all-time passing leader."This league and this game is hard enough when you do everything right," linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said. "When you beat yourself, then you have no chance, and we did that too many times tonight."Kerrigan sacked Brees on third down during the Saints' second series, but the play went for naught when teammate Montae Nicholson was penalized for unnecessary roughness on running back Mark Ingram after Brees hit the ground."He (Nicholson) is a better player than that," Gruden said. "There was a lot of jabbering going on, but we have to rise above it and understand the ramifications if you get in a pushing and shoving match after the play. He deserved the penalty."The Redskins thought they had stopped the Saints again when Brees was tackled short of the goal line on a third-down scramble later in the drive, but cornerback Quinton Dunbar was called for holding.Given an automatic first down, Brees hit wide open tight end Josh Hill for a 3-yard score in the back of the end zone.New Orleans scored its first touchdown after a holding call on cornerback Josh Norman extended a drive that appeared to be a three-and-out."When you give Drew Brees extra snaps, he's going to make you pay," Gruden said. "They (the penalties) were huge. You can't put a finger on how huge they are. We have not been a very good team when we get behind for whatever reason."After the spate of flags Alvin Kamara Jersey White , the Redskins could not touch the Saints the rest of the way. Brees completed 26 of 29 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns, including the record-breaking 62-yard strike down the sideline to uncovered rookie receiver Tre'Quan Smith that made the score 26-6 with 2:36 left in the first half.Smith, who had one catch in the Saints' first four games, was one of many open receivers."Obviously we didn't show up today," Dunbar said. "There were a lot of busted coverages out there. We just have to get together and work on communication."Washington stayed within range early on a pair of field goals from former Saints kicker Dustin Hopkins, trailing 13-6, but not for long. New Orleans scored touchdowns on six of its first eight possessions, with the only exceptions being a fumble and a kneel-down at the end of the first half.The Redskins did not force a fourth down until the beginning of the fourth quarter, when the Saints kicked a field goal to go ahead 43-13. New Orleans punter Thomas Morstead never put his foot into the ball."It was a bad day all around for us from start to finish," Kerrigan said. "I didn't know they had a punter."Gruden benched Norman at the start of the second half, and Smith beat backup cornerback Greg Stroman for a 35-yard score as the Saints went ahead 33-13."That was my call there for the first series," Gruden said of sitting Norman. "He finished the game and played a lot better in the second half."Norman did not address his brief benching directly, talking instead about the coverage breakdowns the Redskins (2-2) needed to address as a team.Still leading the NFC East, they play host to Carolina on Sunday."We have to fix it," he said. "We have six days to do it."