NFL Playoff Schedule Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl 2020: Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers Date: Sunday, February 2, 2020 Time: 6:30 p.m. ET Location: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida TV Channel: FOX 2020 NFL Playoff Scores and Results Championship Round AFC Championship game: (6) Tennessee Titans at (2) Kansas City Chiefs Final: Chiefs def. Titans 35-24 Recap: Chiefs headed to Super Bowl for first time in 50 years after beating Titans NFC Championship game: (2) Green Bay Packers at (1) San Francisco 49ers Final: 49ers def.
The Seattle Seahawks will now have just two players in the 2020 Pro Bowl game on Sunday. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and his staff will coach the NFC roster, but one of his players will be at home resting. In an interview with NFL Network's Omar Ruiz at the NFL's Huddle for 100 event, Carroll confirmed All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner will not participate in Sunday's game.
Russell Wilson isn't likely to win the NFL's MVP Award. Wilson led PFF's WAR metric by a significant margin. It's worth noting that Mahomes missed two games with a knee injury, but even with those extra snaps he still wouldn't have passed Wilson's PFF WAR rating.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — These playoff defeats when he is oh so close sting a bit more for Aaron Rodgers now, at this later stage in his career.
“It's a little raw right now. It definitely hurts I'd say a little more than early in your career just because you realize just how difficult it is to get to this spot," Green Bay's veteran quarterback said after another season fell short of the Super Bowl. “... Then you realize I don't have the same number of years ahead of me as I do behind me, so it's slightly more disappointing."
A sack and fumble one series, a muffed snap he couldn’t handle the next, then an interception that grounded Green Bay for good.
By halftime.
Rodgers’ latest failure in the NFC championship game kept him out of the Super Bowl once again, the Packers’ season ending just short with an another forgettable playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, 37-20 on Sunday.
Rodgers hasn’t advanced past the conference title game since his lone Super Bowl trip — and triumph — after the 2010 season. His disappointment showed on the sideline, where Rodgers stood stone-faced, hands on his hips.
Sure, Rodgers completed his first eight passes but the Packers (14-4) never found an offensive rhythm and had no answers for Jimmy Garoppolo or dynamic running back Raheem Mostert on the other side of the ball.
Rodgers made another futile return to the Bay Area where he starred for the University of California at Berkeley, with far less chatter these days about the 49ers passing on him in favor of Alex Smith as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. The 36-year-old Rodgers, born in the Northern California town of Chico, finally led a scoring drive to begin the second half when he connected with Aaron Jones on a 9-yard touchdown pass. Jones ran for a...
After further review, we have confirmed that the Seattle Seahawks’ 2019 season was a success. Back in April, ESPN Seattle reporter Brady Henderson predicted the Seahawks would go 11-5. How they got there looked a little different, but the result was the same and spot on. An 11-5 season is nothing to stick your nose [...]
As the sting of the Seattle Seahawks’ 28-23 Divisional Round loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field begins to subside and the crowning of Conference Champions to meet in Super Bowl LIV looms, many NFL fans, including those in the Pacific Northwest are already pointing their sights toward “next year.” Never mind that [...]
The last few weeks were very interesting for Seattle Seahawks fans. If you took your glasses off, or put on a blindfold and just listened, it felt almost like the good old days of a few years ago. The Seahawks were right in the mix for one of the top seeds in the NFC, almost [...]
For the eighth time in 25 years, the Packers and 49ers — both 14-3 this season — face off in the postseason. Green Bay leads 4-3 in what has been a memorable and sometimes spicy rivalry. San Francisco has won five of its six Super Bowl trips. Green Bay is 4-1.
No matchup has occurred as frequently in the past 25 years. The only teams to play more than eight times in the postseason in the Super Bowl era are the Rams and Cowboys. They met for the ninth time last January.
Here's how the Packers and 49ers match up in Sunday's NFC championship game:
WHEN THE PACKERS HAVE THE BALL
It's all about Aaron, of course. Except that is Aaron Jones (33), the breakout running back who has balanced the Packers on offense. Jones is going to get his carries and, Green Bay hopes, his yards. The more he touches the ball, the better chance the Pack has.
Naturally, that means the other Aaron — you know, that guy Rodgers who wears No. 12 — isn't forced to carry the attack. Rodgers has slowed a bit, but he's still one of the five best quarterbacks in football, capable of making game-changing plays from the pocket or on the move.
What he doesn't have, other than the brilliant Davante Adams (17), is a strong group of receivers. That could play into the Niners' hands if they stick stud cornerback Richard Sherman (25) on Adams whenever feasible. But coordinator Robert Saleh prefers to keep Sherman on the left side. Oft-struggling Ahkello Witherspoon (23) has been benched for Emmanuel Moseley (41).
An Adams-Sherman battle, regardless of how often it occurs, could determine a winner, especially if the Niners clamp down on Jones. Green Bay's offensive line looked off-kilter against Seattle far too many times, but it gets back RT Bryan Bulaga (75), who was ill last week. LT David Bakhtiari...
The Seahawks’ entire offensive line could wind up with a face lift in March. With several key linemen headed towards free agency, head coach Pete Carroll says he wants to keep the band together. “I hope we can keep our guys connected here,” Carroll said (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson). “I think the whole group, it could be a really solid group coming back. I’d like to see the guys that have played for us stay with us.” Carroll is aiming for continuity, because the unit “made good progress” in 2019. But, to keep the O-Line intact, they’ll have to work out new deals with right tackle Germain Ifedi, left guard Mike Iupati, and backup left tackle George Fant, all of whom are set to be unrestricted free agents. Center Joey Hunt, meanwhile, will be a restricted free agent. Seahawks coaches might have liked what they saw out of the offensive line, but the advanced metrics saw things differently. The Seahawks graded out 30th in pass blocking and 14th in run blocking, according to Pro Football Focus. Th
Seahawks running back Chris Carson will not require surgery on his injured hip, head coach Pete Carroll recently revealed. Carson sustained the injury in the club’s Week 16 loss to Arizona, and his absence was felt in the regular season finale against San Francisco and Sunday’s divisional round loss to the Packers. Carson finished the 2019 season with 278 carries for 1,230 yards, both career-highs, to go along with seven TDs. He also contributed 37 catches for 266 yards and two scores though the air. The 2017 seventh-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Seattle could look to extend him this offseason, though that is just speculation at this point. Any contract talks could be complicated by Carson’s recent injury — and the presence of Rashaad Penny — though Carson believes he will be back in time for training camp. “I’ve been through this before,” Carson said (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk). “So I know how to attack it. I know the process and how everything goes, so I’
The Seattle Seahawks appear open to Marshawn Lynch returning to the fold in 2020. Whether he is open to such an arrangement remains to be seen. Head coach Pete Carroll spoke with the media Monday following his team’s playoff defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round. When it came time to chime in on Lynch and the possibility he could return to the Seahawks, Carroll said Lynch “is going to go home and think about it,” per Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune. Lynch’s return to Seattle this past month was quite a feel-good story. He hadn’t played at all in 2019 when the Seahawks came calling due to a rash of injuries to their top running backs, including starter Chris Carson. Unfortunately, the overall impression Lynch gave on the gridiron is that his game is extremely limited to short-yardage and goal-line work. In 30 carries between the three games he played, Lynch tallied just 67 yards. The flip side, of course, is that Lynch also punched in four touchdown runs, including two on
Russell Wilson was drug tested on Monday, and he felt like that was a kick while he was down. The Seattle Seahawks lost 28-23 to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night to end their season. Players went in to the team’s facility on Monday to clean out their lockers. As if that weren’t a tough enough way to go through the day, Wilson was also drug tested by the league. Maybe they thought his second-half performance against Green Bay was so good that they had to take a closer look at him. Most players find drug tests to be annoying and complain about the timing of them. We even saw Richard Sherman mention it over the weekend. At least we know the league is making a consistent effort to take care of the matter.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson did everything possible to lead his team to a win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional Playoffs on Sunday. Unfortunately for Wilson, the rest of his team could not hold up its end of the bargain in a 28-23 loss. While giving his final press conference of the season before heading off on a well-deserved vacation, the MVP candidate was actually pulled by the NFL for a random drug test. You can’t make this stuff up. Apparently, Russ was too good this season to be true. Wilson ended the regular season having put up nearly 4,500 total yards with 34 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He tallied another 700-plus total yards in two playoff games.
Jadeveon Clowney has made it crystal clear what he’s looking for in free agency, and that’s winning. Following Seattle’s loss to Green Bay in the divisional round of the playoffs on Sunday, the defensive end told reporters that he wants to play for a contender. “I just want to win,” Clowney said, via ESPN. “I’m trying to get to the Super Bowl by any means. That’s what I’m looking for: Who’s going to get me there? I ain’t looking to get on no sorry team for no money. That ain’t going to fly. I ain’t gonna put my body through all of that just to lose no 16 games, go home with my check. I’d hate that, so that ain’t what I’m doing. So if I can’t win no Super Bowl, I ain’t going to no team that can’t win.” Clowney, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Texans, spent the first five seasons of his career in Houston before getting traded to the Seahawks last August. And while he didn’t rack up quite as many sacks as he did the previous two seasons, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound athletic freak still managed to be a disruptive
The Green Bay Packers were holding a five-point lead late in Sunday’s NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. This is when Aaron Rodgers hit Jimmy Graham on a third-down pass that seemed to be short of the first-down marker. As Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was losing his mind on the sideline, Green Bay was able to take a knee and set up a meeting with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. For his part, Davante Adams appears to be having none of the criticism after a dominating performance against Seattle. pic.twitter.com/aMkdwTG7lv— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) January 13, 2020 Adams actually has a solid point here. The yellow first-down marker on our television screens is not official. As you can see, the red line there is the official first-down marker. If that is indeed the case (it is), Graham did get the first down. Either way, it’s yet another controversial ending around the NFL. That’s for sure.
Marshawn Lynch delivered a powerful message to his fellow NFL players following Sunday night’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, and none other than LeBron James took to social media to praise the Seattle Seahawks running back for having the wisdom to impart such critical advice. Lynch, speaking to reporters after Seattle’s 28-23 divisional-round loss to Green Bay, said players have to be cognizant about taking care of their minds and their money during their playing careers. Spending almost all of the 2019 season in retirement before the Seahawks lured him back has given Lynch valuable perspective, as he explained in his comments. “I done been on the other side of retirement, and it’s good when you get over there and you can do what the (expletive) you want to,” Lynch said in part. “Start taking care of y’all mentals, y’all bodies and y’all chicken. So when you’re ready to walk away, you walk away and you be able to do what you want to do.” James, like many others, took to Twitter to give Lynch a shout out for
Jared Veldheer went through quite the roller-coaster of emotions on Sunday. The Packers veteran got the start at right tackle in Green Bay’s divisional round game against the Seattle Seahawks with fellow offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga battling an illness. Bulaga was a late addition to the injury report on Sunday, and Veldheer told reporters after the game that he found out that Bulaga was sick while watching television. Veldheer appeared in just two games for the Packers all season for a total of 35 offensive snaps, so he had a lot of responsibility suddenly thrust upon him. However, he responded well as Green Bay’s offensive line allowed only two sacks of quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the Packers' eventual 28-23 victory. With how ripped Veldheer has looked throughout his career, it likely comes as no surprise that he was ready for action on Sunday at a moment’s notice.
Pete Carroll decided to punt on a fourth-down play with under three minutes left in Sunday night’s playoff game, and his team never got the ball back. The Seattle Seahawks head coach was asked after the game why he decided to punt and shared his explanation. “We were thinking about going for it in that sequence but not at 4th-and-11,” Carroll said. “We thought our odds were so low. We had all the clock, we had the time, we had all the opportunities to stop them to get the ball back. So we didn’t want to put it all on one play. If it were 4th-and-5 or 3 — we went through the whole discussion, but it winds up being a sack unfortunately.” Carroll is suggesting that if Russell Wilson hadn’t been sacked on third down for a loss of six, they might have gone for it on fourth down in what would have been a shorter yardage situation. Instead, they punted and allowed the Packers to convert consecutive first downs on clutch third-down pass plays, including one that involved a controversial spot. Most statistical analys
Marshawn Lynch has had an interesting relationship with the media over the years. After the Seattle Seahawks lost Sunday night, he took the relationship to a different place. After saying that his return to the Seahawks was “solid” the past few weeks, Lynch then used the rest of his time at the podium to put out a message to young players. The message is simple: Take care of your money (Be warned, the following video contains adult language). Lynch is looking out for young people, and that’s just part of his DNA. Whether he comes back next year or not, he’ll continue to give advice like this to anyone willing to listen.
Marshawn Lynch abruptly bolted out of the Seattle Seahawks’ locker room following the team’s 28-23 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, but he had a good reason for doing so. Lynch headed into the Packers’ locker room at Lambeau Field to do a jersey swap with Aaron Rodgers, his former Cal teammate. Lynch and Rodgers teamed up at Cal in 2004 when the Golden Bears went 10-2. Rodgers was a junior and Lynch a true freshman on that team, which was ranked in the top 10 for most of the season and finished ranked No. 9 after losing their bowl game. Rodgers left for the NFL after that season and was drafted by the Packers. Lynch stayed two more seasons and then went to the NFL, where he was drafted by the Bills. Even after a tough defeat, Lynch still found time for his former teammate.
The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Green Bay Packers Sunday night, and that means pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney is now gearing up for free agency. Just as soon as he’s all healed up from surgery to repair repair damage to his core, that is. Speaking to reporters after Sunday’s tough loss to Green Bay, Clowney said he expects to have surgery in the next couple of days, and made it clear he’s set on signing with a contender in 2020. Clowney was a preseason acquisition by Seattle, which traded a third-round pick and players to the Houston Texans for his services. Though he didn’t have a monster season from a stats perspective, Clowney did show up huge in big games. Not surprisingly, he is still highly valued throughout the league and showed why with 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks in two playoff games for the Seahawks. And he did it while playing through the core muscle injury he’s set to have surgically repaired. A former No. 1 overall pick, Clowney will certainly be highly coveted on the market. There’s a chance he cou
Pete Carroll was furious after a spot by the referees gave the Green Bay Packers the win in Sunday night’s divisional playoff game. Down 28-23 late against the Packers, Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks punted with 2:41 left rather than attempt a 4th-and-11 from their 36. They allowed Green Bay to get one first down on a third-down play. Then on the next third-down play, Aaron Rodgers completed a pass to Jimmy Graham, who was tackled near the first-down marker. There was a big question about whether or not Graham got the first. A favorable spot on the field gave Graham a first down, but the spot was reviewed. The first announcement stated that the ruling had been upheld. Then the officials said they looked at more video, which also confirmed the spot. Carroll was furious over the announcements. The spot was definitely generous, but there was no evidence to overturn it. From the angles Fox showed, it was hard to see where the ball was when Graham went down. It was very close. Now Green Bay heads to San Francisco for
The Seattle Seahawks went into Wisconsin for a divisional round matchup against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and gave fans quite a scare. Early on, it looked like it was going to be a blowout for the home team. The Packers jumped out to a 7-3 first-quarter lead, then pulled ahead 21-3 by halftime. But true to form, Russell Wilson wasn’t about to let the game end without putting up a fight. In the end, Wilson and the Seahawks fell just short as the Packers did just enough to escape with a 28-23 victory, sending them to Santa Clara for a date with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. These were the biggest winners and losers from the Packers’ narrow win at home over the Seahawks. Winner: Davante Adams had a monster game All year long, the Seahawks have featured a shaky pass defense. On Sunday, it once again struggled more often than not when Aaron Rodgers looked for his top receiver. Davante Adams feasted, especially early with this stunning touchdown catch, setting the tone for what
The Seattle Seahawks found themselves down 21-3 in the third quarter of Sunday’s NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. In need of a jump start, Russell Wilson completed a fourth-down pass to the Packers one-yard line. That’s when the recently unretired Marshawn Lynch decided to do Marshawn Lynch things. He scored from inches out to pull the game to within 11. It represented Lynch’s third touchdown in as many games since returning from retirement. The jokes can write themselves here. Almost literally. It was just a few short years ago that Pete Carroll and the Seahawks decided to pass from this spot on the field in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. Everyone knows the end result of that call. At the very least, Seattle decided on pounding the rock with its veteran running back here.
Many felt the scary helmet-to-helmet hit by Jadeveon Clowney on Carson Wentz during the wild-card game last weekend was worthy of a penalty and a fine. After reviewing the hit, however, the NFL has opted not to fine Clowney, per Mark Maske of the Washington Post. This end result lines up with what the refs said of the hit after Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles, which was that the hit was “incidental” and not egregious. The hit knocked Wentz out of the wild-card game for good, and he opened up on social media calling it a “scary” head injury. As for whether Clowney should have been fined or not, the video evidence of the hit shows he did spear Wentz with his helmet but that he also started his motion before Wentz was completely down. So, while the Eagles and their fans wish the hit had been penalized, the league perhaps made the right call here.
The Seahawks’ offensive line is in dire shape. Starting left guard Mike Iupati is listed as doubtful, and it looks like he’ll miss his second straight game. Even more concerning, head coach Pete Carroll said both tackles Duane Brown and George Fant would be game-time decisions. Brown has missed the last few games, and Fant has been filling in for him at left tackle. Fant played 100% of the snaps in Seattle’s win over Philly last week but is dealing with a groin injury. If Fant unable to go, the plan is to start Chad Wheeler at left tackle, per Joe Fann of NBC Sports. Wheeler was signed to Seattle’s practice squad back in October but hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game since October. He started a bunch of games for the Giants the previous two seasons, with disastrous results. If Wheeler is forced into the lineup, the Packers’ pass-rushing duo of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith will be licking their chops. The Titans will be without a key piece of their defense as they look to pull off a second straight
When Seattle Seahawks defensive end Jadeveon Clowney met with reporters on Thursday, everyone wanted to know about his controversial hit that knocked out Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz in the Wild Card game last weekend. As soon as Clowney heard the questions, he delivered a response that would make Bill Belichick proud. Clowney is clearly ready to move on from the controversial incident, which head coach Pete Carroll came to his defense for earlier in the week, and wants everyone to know that he is focused on Sunday’s playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. It’s hard to blame Clowney for wanting to put the hit behind him after it came under so much scrutiny in the days following the blow to Wentz’s head. Coincidentally, Clowney will be a free agent at the end of the season and the Patriots need pass-rushers. Perhaps he could wind up with the coach he channeled and the duo can deliver their lines together after a tough question.