With the Indianapolis Colts jumping all over the Houston Texans to win the Wild Card round easily, locking themselves into a divisional round meeting at the Kansas City Chiefs next Saturday, we now know next week’s opponent for the Patriots will be either the Baltimore Ravens or the Los Angeles Chargers, who square off Sunday at 1 p.m.
There’s not much history between Chargers coach Anthony Lynn and Bill Belichick, their lone meeting as head coaches coming in a Patriots win last season.
But they do share one major common denominator as direct descendents of the legendary Bill Parcells coaching tree. Belichick was Parcells’ defensive coordinator in three different NFL stops, including his decade with the New York Giants that netted him his first two Super Bowl rings, while Lynn was Parcells’ running backs coach his final two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, on a staff that also included four other future head coaches in Mike Zimmer, Todd Bowles, Tony Sparano and Todd Haley.
Lynn’s reputation as one of the NFL’s premier run-game coordinators has carried him well in Los Angeles, where he is one of several favorites for Coach of the Year. The Bolts have one of the most imposing backfield duos in Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler, and appear to finally be getting healthy at the right time.
Where have we seen that formula before? . . .
Under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens’ playoff history against the Patriots has been thorny. The aftermath of their last postseason meeting, won by New England after Tom Brady’s epic march back from down 14 points in the fourth quarter, was littered with controversy, after Harbaugh successfully lobbied the NFL to tweak its receiver eligibility rules after the Patriots deployed four-lineman formations that confused the Ravens’ defense. That epic 2014 divisional round win helped vault the Patriots to their fourth Super Bowl title, and is often considered one of the most important wins of the Belichick era.
Before that, the Ravens delivered New England arguably two of its most devastating home playoff losses in franchise history. In the 2010 Wild Card game, Ray Rice ran in seemingly any direction he wanted as the Ravens jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and skated to an easy 33-14 rout. The 2013 AFC Championship Game in Foxborough was another gut punch, a 28-13 Ravens win in which Baltimore rallied from a halftime deficit to score 21 unanswered second-half points, including two back-breaking fourth-quarter TDs from Anquan Boldin.
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Overall, the Ravens under Harbaugh are 3-6 against Belichick’s Patriots.
The Ravens are 6-1 since they made the switch to Lamar Jackson under center, thriving on the ground with some crafty read-option concepts that utilize the rookie’s blazing speed.
Jackson will be the youngest QB to ever start a playoff game Sunday, at 21 years and 364 days. If he’s victorious, he’d be just the sixth Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback since 1986 to win an NFL playoff game, joining Vinny Testaverde, Cam Newton, Carson Palmer, Marcus Mariota and Tim Tebow (yes, that Tim Tebow).
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