by Eric Fulton & Julian Spivey JS: The Kansas City Chiefs are on their way to the team's seventh consecutive AFC Championship Game, the second most in NFL history, following the 23-14 win against the Houston Texans on Saturday. The Chiefs completely took that game over in the fourth quarter but it seems all anybody wanted to do after the game was talk about the officials having a pro-Chiefs bias. Do you think there's anything to this, or is it just the biggest conspiracy theory in sports at the moment? EF: The officiating for this game and the late game last night was not good. The two calls against the Texans, you can probably say one of them for sure, were incorrect, and if there was a better replay system for questionable calls, I don't think it would have changed the final score, but at least it was human error. There is a conspiracy theory because people are tired of the Chiefs winning. JS: Exactly. There is no actual bias - prove it if there is. You can't. It's just that fans get tired of great teams, and they make excuses as to why they're winning. The officials didn't get C.J. Stroud sacked eight times, and they weren't the reason Ka'imi Fairbairn couldn't put the ball through the uprights. That's why the Texans lost. I'm so over this dumb conspiracy theory. What should've been the big story of the Chiefs/Texans game? EF: How good the Chiefs defense is. They sacked C.J. Stroud eight times and held Houston to 12 points. Yes, the Texans scored a meaningless safety, but after what Houston did last week, I thought Kansas City's defense was excellent. JS: The second game on Saturday provided perhaps the biggest surprise of the NFL Playoffs thus far, with the Washington Commanders taking out the NFC's top-seeded Detroit Lions with a high-scoring 45-31 victory. How surprising was this? EF: Very surprising performance by both teams. First for the Commanders, WOW! 45 points on the road in a short week. One of the most impressive performances by a team I can remember in recent years. Jayden Daniels is amazing. He is the next great one. The Commanders defense was excellent. Forcing five turnovers. JS: How does Detroit look at this season? Is it a failure? EF: It is a failure with all the high expectations coming into the season. They won 15 games, which is great, but they had many injuries, including losing Aidan Hutchinson for most of the season. Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn will likely get head coaching jobs very soon [Ben Johnson has since been hired by the Chicago Bears]. It will be a very interesting off season in Detroit. JS: Saquon Barkley absolutely owns the Los Angeles Rams. 200-plus yards and two touchdowns against them in the regular season and 200-plus yards and two touchdowns against them in snowy conditions in the playoffs. For weeks, I’ve heard nothing but Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen for the NFL MVP. Saquon Barkley ran for over 2,000 yards this year and dominates the game. How is he not even in the conversation? EF: If I could vote for NFL MVP, I would pick Saquon Barkley. Think about it: he went to an already good division rival, from the Giants to the Eagles, and made the Eagles better than they were last year, maybe better than what they were two years ago. JS: The Rams still had a shot at this game in the end. What went wrong? EF: They could not make the big plays when they had the chance. It was a valiant effort to make it a game late, but they needed someone to make one more play. JS: The biggest divisional round matchup was the Buffalo Bills vs. the Baltimore Ravens. The game lived up to the hype coming down toward the end. And I hate to put too much on one athlete but it kinda felt like with his big fumble (only the second of his career) and dropping the 2-point conversion attempt that would’ve tied the game late that Mark Andrews blew the game for Baltimore. EF: I agree with you. Both of us had a hard time picking this game. It was such a classic that lived up to the hype as you said. It is a bummer that one of these team's seasons was going to end tonight. It was the Ravens' season that ended. Mark Andrews lost the game but the Ravens had three turnovers and the Bills did not. Josh Allen's stats do not wow you, but still he did not have a turnover in the game. JS: And so the Bills get to face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game for the fourth time in the last five years and they have fallen to the Chiefs every time. Will the Bills fall to Kansas City again or is it finally their year? EF: The Bills probably are the most confident when it comes to playing Kansas City because they have beaten them before. However, the Chiefs have won all the most important matchups of the season. It is hard for me to finally think Buffalo is going to win this game. But Kansas City really wants to win this three peat. I think we are going to see history this year. JS: I think this is the year the Bills get it done. They're the only team to truly beat the Chiefs all season, given that the loss to the Broncos at season's end was a gimme with KC resting starters. KC has played so many close games this year and put teams away late. I just don't think you can do that against the Bills. I feel like we'll see bigger numbers from Bills quarterback Josh Allen than we did in the team's win over the Ravens. I've said before I can't pick against the Chiefs until I see them get beat but I'm going against that this time. Bills take this one in an attempt to when the franchise's first Super Bowl. That game is Sunday, January 25 at 5:30 p.m. (CST) on CBS. The NFC Championship game, which is Sunday, January 25 at 2 p.m. (CST) on Fox will be the inner-division matchup of NFC East rivals Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders in Philly. It'll be the third matchup of these teams this season. They've split the regular season series 1-1. The Eagles won 26-18 in week 11 in Philly. The Commanders won 36-33 in week 16 in Washington. How do you see the third meeting playing out? EF: Should be another close game between these two division rivals. I love the season the Commanders are having. No matter what happens in this game, they deserve a round of applause for a great season. New ownership, new front office, new head coach, and new quarterback. This is not the same Washington team we have seen for decades. It is a new leaf and we all love to see it. Having said that, I think Philly has been on a mission to get back to where they belong. Last year left a bitter taste in their mouth and getting Saquon Barkley was the start. I think the Eagles will take this one in a close but fun game. JS: Yes, Washington has already clinched a great season no matter what happens the rest of the way. Few, if any, expected they'd be this good and go this far this season and here they are. I think it'll be a close game, but I agree with you that the Eagles will pull it out and make their second Super Bowl appearance in three years. This team is better than the one that narrowly lost to the Chiefs in 2023. Saquon Barkley looks like a man on a mission and I wouldn't want to be a defense tasked with trying to stop him at the moment.
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