The Detroit Lions are one step closer to their first Super Bowl appearance. The Lions faced a resilient Tampa Bay Buccaneers team in the NFL Divisional Round on Sunday and came out with a 31-23 win to advance to the NFC Championship.

This is the first time since the 1991 season that the Lions reached the NFC Championship game and only the second time in franchise history. The Lions won four NFL championships, but they all came before the Super Bowl era.

The Bucs went toe to with the Lions throughout the first three quarters, and it seemed like they could come up with another upset after previously eliminating the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card. However, the Lions stepped it up in the fourth quarter, scoring two quick touchdowns to make it 17-31

Tampa Bay gave themselves a chance by putting six points on the board with a 75-yard touchdown drive that also included a failed two-point conversion. The Bucs got the ball back with 1:59 left on the clock, but their final drive ended after two plays thanks to an interception by Lions’ linebacker Derrick Barnes.

The Lions will now travel to Levi’s Stadium next Sunday to face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

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The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lauded his team’s performance following their 27-24 win over the Buffalo Bills to book their place in the AFC Championship Game. This is Mahomes’ first true road playoff game since joining the Chiefs.

“Guys took it as a challenge,” Mahomes said in his post-match press conference. “We just came in with the same mindset, that we’re going to come together, put our best foot forward and see if we can come out with a win. And that takes the mentality throughout the week, it takes every single play executing, and we did a great job of that today and were able to score enough to win.”

Mahomes emerged as a standout player for the Chiefs on the night, throwing just 23 passes by securing 215 yards and two touchdowns. With an impressive road record of 8-2 this season, the Chiefs will face the Baltimore Ravens in yet another challenging road game on Sunday as they look to book their place in Super Bowl LIII.

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The Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews will not play in his team’s NFL divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans on Saturday. The Ravens did not reactivate him from injured reserve, meaning that he will have to wait at least another week to return from the left ankle injury he suffered two months ago.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh stated on Thursday that Andrews’ injury status was “still up in the air”. Still, the player showed signs of recovery, participating fully in practices on Wednesday and Thursday and showing full running ability.

In Andrews’ stead, tight end Isaiah Likely is expected to be relied upon to fill the void. He has played six games in Andrews’ position, leading the Ravens to 322 yards receiving and five touchdown catches. The Ravens will hope that Andrews will be available for the AFC Championship Game should they progress.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers live to see another day in the playoffs. Facing the favored Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card game, the Bucs delivered a dominant performance that saw them grab a 9-32 win.

The Buccaneers advance to the Divisional Round, where they’ll face NFC North champions Detroit Lions.

The Bucs were the lone underdogs hosting a postseason game in the 2023 NFL Playoffs. The weakness of their division and 9-8 record didn’t project much confidence against the talented 11-6 Eagles. On top of that, Tampa Bay’s quarterback Baker Mayfield was questionable for the game while dealing with a rib injury.

Despite all of this, the Bucs and Mayfield rushed to a 0-10 lead in the first half and didn’t take the foot off the gas until late in the fourth quarter. Mayfield finished the game with 337 passing yards and three touchdowns while being careful with the football.

The Bucs’ defense also showed up ready to play, limiting the Eagles to 276 total yards while not allowing a single third-down conversion. 

“We worked extremely hard to get a chance to be in the playoffs, and we just wanted an opportunity. Our guys came out and played really really well. … Once again, the defense played lights out. We’re happy, but we’ve still got more to go,” Mayfield said after the game.

The Bucs will once again be the underdogs when they travel to Detroit to face the Lions, but it appears that this team isn’t too concerned about that.

“We were underdogs, we’re going to be underdogs next week, too,” Tampa’s head coach Todd Bowles said. “We understand that. We embrace it. We like it.”

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Quarterback Patrick Mahomes battled through his high ankle sprain to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, thereby booking his team’s place in Super Bowl LVII.

“People don’t realize how hurt he was,” Kansas City general manager Brett Veach said of Mahomes. “We all saw the injury. High ankles are terrible injuries, and sometimes guys miss two, three weeks, and he was out there and running for a first down and a big play in the game that got us in field goal range. But it just adds to an already great legacy.”

Mahomes was injured during his team’s victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars a week ago. Despite incurring the injury midgame, Mahomes pushed through to see out the remainder of the contest and went on to state his intention to play in the following game against the Bengals.

Despite playing through injury, the Chiefs quarterback made 29-of-43 passing while fumbling the ball just once throughout the game against the Bengals. In addition, he performed his final snap 17 seconds before the end of the game, thereby handing his team a last-minute victory.

Kansas City will face the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.

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The Philadelphia Eagles had plenty of doubters throughout the 2022 regular season despite their 14-3 record. However, they proved them all wrong on Sunday when they blew out the San Francisco 49ers 7-21 in the NFC Championship game to advance to Super Bowl LVII.

The Eagles showed their dominance from the get-go, scoring a touchdown in their first drive of the game. The defense also did its part, keeping the 49ers scoreless in the first quarter while forcing a fumble.

San Francisco managed to respond early in the second quarter with a TD of their own, but that ended up being their only contribution to the scoreboard. The Eagles immediately hit back with another touchdown drive and then continued to run the table on San Francisco’s highly-touted defense.

Philly’s great performance was also helped by the injuries to the 49ers’ quarterbacks. San Francisco’s starter Brock Purdy suffered an elbow injury on the sixth offensive snap of the game and was forced to head to the sidelines. Veteran Josh Johnson, originally the fourth-string QB for the 49ers, came in to take his place but ended up suffering a concussion in the third quarter. Purdy had to come back in with a badly injured elbow and, expectedly, couldn’t do much to get the offense going.

We might have seen a more competitive game if the 49ers had a healthy QB to lean on, but that still doesn’t take anything away from the Eagles’ win. Philadelphia will now head to Super Bowl LVII, where they’ll face the Kansas City Chiefs. This will be the fourth Super Bowl appearance for the Eagles in franchise history and the first since 2017 when they won it all.

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The Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been declared fit to play in the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. This comes after the 33-year-old player was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report due to experiencing back spasms during the Chiefs’ practice session on Friday morning.

The tight end has enjoyed a strong season to date, making 110 regular-season receptions and gaining 1,338 yards. Kelce was particularly impressive during the Chiefs’ NFL Divisional Round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, making 14 passes and scoring two touchdowns as the Chiefs bulldozed their way to a 27-20 victory.

Kelce is one of several Chiefs players who have been an injury doubt as the team continues its journey in the NFL playoffs, with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes picking up a high ankle sprain during the early stages of the win over the Jaguars. While he missed out on some plays, Mahomes returned to the field to finish the game, albeit adopting alternative tactics in an effort to avoid aggravating his injury.

The Chiefs proved strong throughout the regular season, winning the AFC West with a 14-3 record.

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The Cincinnati Bengals tight end Hayden Hurst is set to play in Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Bengals coach Zac Taylor confirmed on Friday.

Hurst was a full participant in the Bengals’ practice session on Friday, with Taylor observing, “I thought he had a good practice today.” This came after Hurst was listed as a limited participant in Thursday’s practice after picking up a calf injury the previous day. Taylor confirmed that Hurst’s participation was simply limited as a precautionary measure.

This is Hurst’s second calf injury of the season. He previously tweaked his right calf in Week 13 when the Bengals overcame the Chiefs in the regular season and went on to miss three games as a result.

While Hurst is expected to start in Sunday’s game, the Bengals are going to be without two other starters, namely right guard Alex Cappa, who is harboring an ankle injury, and left tackle Jonah Williams who is struggling with a dislocated kneecap.

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The Dallas Cowboys answered the question about whether they are legitimate Super Bowl contenders on Monday Night. In a dominant performance, America’s team beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-14 to set up a Divisional Round playoff meeting with the San Francisco 49ers.

Both teams started the game sluggish, combining for four straight punts before Dallas went 80 yards down the field to break the deadlock. This opened the floodgates, as the Cowboys were unstoppable from that point on.

Dallas was 18-0 at the half and up 24-0 to start the third quarter, with Tampa Bay unable to get their offense going. The Bucs only managed to get on the scoreboard late in the third and added another meaningless touchdown just before the two-minute warning to ease the blow.

The star of the show was the Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott, who completed 25 passes out of 33 attempted while throwing for 305 yards and four touchdowns. Prescott also added one touchdown on the ground, being responsible for all of Dallas’ points in the game.

On the other hand, veteran Tom Brady struggled for the better part of the game. The Bucs’ QB completed just above 50 percent of his passes while throwing for 351 yards and two TDs. He also threw one red zone interception.

The Cowboys now travel to Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to take on the 49ers and their standout rookie QB Brock Purdy. The Bucs head to the offseason with question marks about Brady’s future and the direction of the franchise.

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The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Baltimore Ravens 24-17 in their wild-card playoff game, making franchise history in the process. This marks the first time that the Bengals have managed to win a playoff game in back-to-back seasons.

Having reached the Super Bowl last season, the Bengals defeated the Ravens to advance to the divisional playoffs, where the reigning AFC North champions are set to face the Buffalo Bills, who defeated the Miami Dolphins 34-31.

“It’s a whole team, era, whatever you want to call it,” defensive end Sam Hubbard exclaimed following the historic win. “That’s just the mentality we have. We’re not worried about curses or the past or anything like that.”

Dubbed “The Curse of Bo Jackson” due to the then Los Angeles Raiders running back suffering a career-ending injury in a playoff win against the Bengals, the team from Cincinnati had gone 31 years without a playoff victory before finally tasting victory last season.

Last season, the Bengals managed to match its franchise record for most victories in a single season after securing its 12th win against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.

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The Detroit Lions are one step closer to their first Super Bowl appearance. The Lions faced a resilient Tampa Bay Buccaneers team in the NFL Divisional Round on Sunday and came out with a 31-23 win to advance to the NFC Championship.

This is the first time since the 1991 season that the Lions reached the NFC Championship game and only the second time in franchise history. The Lions won four NFL championships, but they all came before the Super Bowl era.

The Bucs went toe to with the Lions throughout the first three quarters, and it seemed like they could come up with another upset after previously eliminating the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card. However, the Lions stepped it up in the fourth quarter, scoring two quick touchdowns to make it 17-31

Tampa Bay gave themselves a chance by putting six points on the board with a 75-yard touchdown drive that also included a failed two-point conversion. The Bucs got the ball back with 1:59 left on the clock, but their final drive ended after two plays thanks to an interception by Lions’ linebacker Derrick Barnes.

The Lions will now travel to Levi’s Stadium next Sunday to face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

The post Lions Beat the Bucs, Make the NFC Championship Game for the First Time Since 1991 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lauded his team’s performance following their 27-24 win over the Buffalo Bills to book their place in the AFC Championship Game. This is Mahomes’ first true road playoff game since joining the Chiefs.

“Guys took it as a challenge,” Mahomes said in his post-match press conference. “We just came in with the same mindset, that we’re going to come together, put our best foot forward and see if we can come out with a win. And that takes the mentality throughout the week, it takes every single play executing, and we did a great job of that today and were able to score enough to win.”

Mahomes emerged as a standout player for the Chiefs on the night, throwing just 23 passes by securing 215 yards and two touchdowns. With an impressive road record of 8-2 this season, the Chiefs will face the Baltimore Ravens in yet another challenging road game on Sunday as they look to book their place in Super Bowl LIII.

The post Patrick Mahomes Celebrates Chiefs’ Road Playoff Win appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews will not play in his team’s NFL divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans on Saturday. The Ravens did not reactivate him from injured reserve, meaning that he will have to wait at least another week to return from the left ankle injury he suffered two months ago.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh stated on Thursday that Andrews’ injury status was “still up in the air”. Still, the player showed signs of recovery, participating fully in practices on Wednesday and Thursday and showing full running ability.

In Andrews’ stead, tight end Isaiah Likely is expected to be relied upon to fill the void. He has played six games in Andrews’ position, leading the Ravens to 322 yards receiving and five touchdown catches. The Ravens will hope that Andrews will be available for the AFC Championship Game should they progress.

The post Ravens’ Mark Andrews Ruled Out Against Texans appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers live to see another day in the playoffs. Facing the favored Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card game, the Bucs delivered a dominant performance that saw them grab a 9-32 win.

The Buccaneers advance to the Divisional Round, where they’ll face NFC North champions Detroit Lions.

The Bucs were the lone underdogs hosting a postseason game in the 2023 NFL Playoffs. The weakness of their division and 9-8 record didn’t project much confidence against the talented 11-6 Eagles. On top of that, Tampa Bay’s quarterback Baker Mayfield was questionable for the game while dealing with a rib injury.

Despite all of this, the Bucs and Mayfield rushed to a 0-10 lead in the first half and didn’t take the foot off the gas until late in the fourth quarter. Mayfield finished the game with 337 passing yards and three touchdowns while being careful with the football.

The Bucs’ defense also showed up ready to play, limiting the Eagles to 276 total yards while not allowing a single third-down conversion. 

“We worked extremely hard to get a chance to be in the playoffs, and we just wanted an opportunity. Our guys came out and played really really well. … Once again, the defense played lights out. We’re happy, but we’ve still got more to go,” Mayfield said after the game.

The Bucs will once again be the underdogs when they travel to Detroit to face the Lions, but it appears that this team isn’t too concerned about that.

“We were underdogs, we’re going to be underdogs next week, too,” Tampa’s head coach Todd Bowles said. “We understand that. We embrace it. We like it.”

The post Bucs Take Down the Eagles With a 9-32 Upset Win appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes battled through his high ankle sprain to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, thereby booking his team’s place in Super Bowl LVII.

“People don’t realize how hurt he was,” Kansas City general manager Brett Veach said of Mahomes. “We all saw the injury. High ankles are terrible injuries, and sometimes guys miss two, three weeks, and he was out there and running for a first down and a big play in the game that got us in field goal range. But it just adds to an already great legacy.”

Mahomes was injured during his team’s victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars a week ago. Despite incurring the injury midgame, Mahomes pushed through to see out the remainder of the contest and went on to state his intention to play in the following game against the Bengals.

Despite playing through injury, the Chiefs quarterback made 29-of-43 passing while fumbling the ball just once throughout the game against the Bengals. In addition, he performed his final snap 17 seconds before the end of the game, thereby handing his team a last-minute victory.

Kansas City will face the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.

The post Mahomes Pushes Through Injury to Guide Chiefs to Super Bowl appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Philadelphia Eagles had plenty of doubters throughout the 2022 regular season despite their 14-3 record. However, they proved them all wrong on Sunday when they blew out the San Francisco 49ers 7-21 in the NFC Championship game to advance to Super Bowl LVII.

The Eagles showed their dominance from the get-go, scoring a touchdown in their first drive of the game. The defense also did its part, keeping the 49ers scoreless in the first quarter while forcing a fumble.

San Francisco managed to respond early in the second quarter with a TD of their own, but that ended up being their only contribution to the scoreboard. The Eagles immediately hit back with another touchdown drive and then continued to run the table on San Francisco’s highly-touted defense.

Philly’s great performance was also helped by the injuries to the 49ers’ quarterbacks. San Francisco’s starter Brock Purdy suffered an elbow injury on the sixth offensive snap of the game and was forced to head to the sidelines. Veteran Josh Johnson, originally the fourth-string QB for the 49ers, came in to take his place but ended up suffering a concussion in the third quarter. Purdy had to come back in with a badly injured elbow and, expectedly, couldn’t do much to get the offense going.

We might have seen a more competitive game if the 49ers had a healthy QB to lean on, but that still doesn’t take anything away from the Eagles’ win. Philadelphia will now head to Super Bowl LVII, where they’ll face the Kansas City Chiefs. This will be the fourth Super Bowl appearance for the Eagles in franchise history and the first since 2017 when they won it all.

The post Eagles Advance to Super Bowl LVII After Blow-Out 7-31 Win Over the 49ers appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been declared fit to play in the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. This comes after the 33-year-old player was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report due to experiencing back spasms during the Chiefs’ practice session on Friday morning.

The tight end has enjoyed a strong season to date, making 110 regular-season receptions and gaining 1,338 yards. Kelce was particularly impressive during the Chiefs’ NFL Divisional Round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, making 14 passes and scoring two touchdowns as the Chiefs bulldozed their way to a 27-20 victory.

Kelce is one of several Chiefs players who have been an injury doubt as the team continues its journey in the NFL playoffs, with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes picking up a high ankle sprain during the early stages of the win over the Jaguars. While he missed out on some plays, Mahomes returned to the field to finish the game, albeit adopting alternative tactics in an effort to avoid aggravating his injury.

The Chiefs proved strong throughout the regular season, winning the AFC West with a 14-3 record.

The post Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce Expected to Play AFC Championship Game appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Cincinnati Bengals tight end Hayden Hurst is set to play in Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Bengals coach Zac Taylor confirmed on Friday.

Hurst was a full participant in the Bengals’ practice session on Friday, with Taylor observing, “I thought he had a good practice today.” This came after Hurst was listed as a limited participant in Thursday’s practice after picking up a calf injury the previous day. Taylor confirmed that Hurst’s participation was simply limited as a precautionary measure.

This is Hurst’s second calf injury of the season. He previously tweaked his right calf in Week 13 when the Bengals overcame the Chiefs in the regular season and went on to miss three games as a result.

While Hurst is expected to start in Sunday’s game, the Bengals are going to be without two other starters, namely right guard Alex Cappa, who is harboring an ankle injury, and left tackle Jonah Williams who is struggling with a dislocated kneecap.

The post Hurst to Play in AFC Championship Game Despite Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Dallas Cowboys answered the question about whether they are legitimate Super Bowl contenders on Monday Night. In a dominant performance, America’s team beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-14 to set up a Divisional Round playoff meeting with the San Francisco 49ers.

Both teams started the game sluggish, combining for four straight punts before Dallas went 80 yards down the field to break the deadlock. This opened the floodgates, as the Cowboys were unstoppable from that point on.

Dallas was 18-0 at the half and up 24-0 to start the third quarter, with Tampa Bay unable to get their offense going. The Bucs only managed to get on the scoreboard late in the third and added another meaningless touchdown just before the two-minute warning to ease the blow.

The star of the show was the Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott, who completed 25 passes out of 33 attempted while throwing for 305 yards and four touchdowns. Prescott also added one touchdown on the ground, being responsible for all of Dallas’ points in the game.

On the other hand, veteran Tom Brady struggled for the better part of the game. The Bucs’ QB completed just above 50 percent of his passes while throwing for 351 yards and two TDs. He also threw one red zone interception.

The Cowboys now travel to Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to take on the 49ers and their standout rookie QB Brock Purdy. The Bucs head to the offseason with question marks about Brady’s future and the direction of the franchise.

The post Cowboys Deliver a Dominant Performance in 31-14 Win over the Bucs appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Baltimore Ravens 24-17 in their wild-card playoff game, making franchise history in the process. This marks the first time that the Bengals have managed to win a playoff game in back-to-back seasons.

Having reached the Super Bowl last season, the Bengals defeated the Ravens to advance to the divisional playoffs, where the reigning AFC North champions are set to face the Buffalo Bills, who defeated the Miami Dolphins 34-31.

“It’s a whole team, era, whatever you want to call it,” defensive end Sam Hubbard exclaimed following the historic win. “That’s just the mentality we have. We’re not worried about curses or the past or anything like that.”

Dubbed “The Curse of Bo Jackson” due to the then Los Angeles Raiders running back suffering a career-ending injury in a playoff win against the Bengals, the team from Cincinnati had gone 31 years without a playoff victory before finally tasting victory last season.

Last season, the Bengals managed to match its franchise record for most victories in a single season after securing its 12th win against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.

The post Bengals Make History With Back-To-Back Playoff Wins appeared first on SportzBonanza.