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A16 sports
Tuesday 5 January 2021
NFL playoff field: powerhouses, pretenders and a 7-9 team

By BARRY WILNER ger task ahead in Baltimore
AP Pro Football Writer this time.
From the rested in Kansas Chicago (8-8) at New Or-
City and Pittsburgh to the leans (12-4)
relieved in Cleveland, Chi- The other NFC interloper,
cago and Los Angeles, perhaps, the Bears almost
the field for the Super Bowl belong in the Least, uh,
chase is set. There are some East. They went from 5-1 to
powerhouses and some 5-7 before finishing strongly
pretenders — and a team enough to sneak in. Their
with a losing record. defense is dangerous if
The reigning Super Bowl not quite Monsters of the
champion Chiefs (14-2) and Midway, and when they
Green Bay (13-3) earned run the ball well, they can
each conference's lone compete.
bye in the expanded play- If the Saints get some of
offs. And no, adding a third their running backs back
wild-card entrant is not why from the COVID-19 list —
a 7-9 club will be playing particularly scoring ma-
next weekend. Washington chine Alvin Kamara — they
"earned" that spot by win- will be heavily favored. This
ning the abysmal NFC East could be Drew Brees' last
that displayed in the finale Washington Football Team's Alex Smith plays during the first half of an NFL football game against shot at a second NFL title,
of the regular season why the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021, in Philadelphia. too. And New Orleans has
NFC Least has been so ap- Associated Press a defense to match Chi-
propriate a moniker. how it might look. Both have strong defens- enough to threaten any- cago's.
So while New York Giants SATURDAY es and have been spotty one. You remember Brady. Cleveland (11-5) at Pitts-
fans scream that Eagles Indianapolis (11-5) at Buf- on offense, LA far more so If not, tune in to this one burgh (12-4)
coach Doug Pederson falo (13-3) than Seattle. and see him likely disman- This had to be the topper for
didn't truly play to beat Frank Reich has been a The Rams clinched their tle Washington's impres- the weekend's action. One
Washington on Sunday hero in Western New York spot in the playoffs without sive but inexperienced de- of the grand rivalries of the
night, it should emphasized since engineering the great the inconsistent Jared Goff fense. sport, and it was just played
that the Giants went 6-10, a comeback in NFL history (thumb surgery) at quarter- SUNDAY out in Week 17 — albeit
record more in line with rel- while replacing the injured back. The Seahawks have Tennessee (11-5) at Balti- with the Steelers resting a
egation than reward. Jim Kelly in a 1992 open- no issues at that position more (11-5) bunch of regulars. Yet Pitts-
Besides, coach Ron Rive- ing-round matchup with with Russell Wilson, though A year ago, the Titans rode burgh pushed Cleveland to
ra dealing with skin can- the Houston Oilers. Reich his first half of the season Derrick Henry's rushing pow- the limit before the Browns
cer and quarterback Alex now coaches the Colts, was far better than the last er, agility and underrated snapped the league's lon-
Smith returning from an in- and he'll remain heroic in two months. speed to a stunning upset gest playoff drought, dat-
jury that nearly cost him his Buffalo if they go quietly Tampa Bay ( 11-5) at Wash- in Baltimore. They still are ing to 2003.
leg, those are redemptive against what has been the ington (7-9) riding Henry, who became Can the Browns win again
and rewarding plots. league's most impressive For sure, the Washington the eighth player to gain in the wild-card matchup?
"This one's special just be- team the last month. story is uplifting, particularly 2,000 yards on the ground Sure, as long as they get
cause of how hard it was," This might be Colts QB Philip the way Rivera is leading a in a season. Tennessee also their ample running game
Rivera said. "How tough ev- Rivers' final game, but it's change in culture for a fran- can throw the ball better going and don't have an-
erything was, how it's been the Indy defense that must chise so desperately need- than it could last season. other COVID-19 outbreak
on the guys, the organiza- stand tall here. That's a tall ing it. And the last three Alas, the Titans barely play like the one that hit in the
tion. There's a great group order the way Josh Allen, teams to capture division any defense. So, with the last two weeks. The Steel-
of young men in there and Stefon Diggs and the Bills titles without a winning re- Ravens having a more ers have lost four of their
we're trying to do things the are going. cord also pulled off upsets diverse but just as effec- last five, but they also have
right way. It's really a cool Los Angeles Rams (10-6) at in the wild-card round. tive running game and a won 17 straight at home

thing to come out and get Seattle (12-4) Don't look for much of that sturdy D — not to mention against Cleveland. Ben Ro-
the division." A third go-around for the in prime time, not with Tom the memories of that beat- ethlisberger will be back
As for the spoils, here's who NFC West rivals who split Brady leading the Bucca- down last January — Henry and he's 23-2-1 in his career
plays next weekend and during the regular season. neers, who are balanced and Co. have an even big- against the Browns.q
Al-Attiyah wins Dakar Rally stage 2 and takes overall lead

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) Stephane Peterhansel by third, nine minutes down. erything is working very, second, and that’s also
— Nasser Al-Attiyah won 2 1/2 minutes. Between the three of very well.” Sebastien Loeb, how they lined up overall.
the second stage of the Carlos Sainz, the de- them, they have won 10 of the nine-time world rally Ross Branch, fourth on the
Dakar Rally as the leaders fending champion who the last 11 Dakars, and are champion who skipped stage, was third overall, six
took on a familiar look on opened the stage, slipped favored to win the second the Dakar last year after minutes back.
Monday. Al-Attiyah, who to sixth but rallied and fin- race in Saudi. finishing third in 2019, im- Toby Price of Australia, the
started 10th on the 457-ki- ished third, more than nine “Yesterday, we lost a lot of proved from 17th to sixth stage one winner, fell to
lometer (284-mile) sandy minutes off the pace. time because we opened overall. In the motorbike 15th overall, and Matth-
special in southern Saudi Peterhansel took the race the way and it was not category, Joan Barreda ias Walkner of Austria, the
Arabia from Bisha to Wadi lead overall, his Mini team- really good for us and dominated from the first 2018 champion, lost more
ad-Dawasir, took over the mate Sainz was 6 1/2 min- we didn’t take risks,” Al- time checkpoint and won. than two hours repairing a
stage lead after about 300 utes back in second, and Attiyah said. “But today Ricky Brabec, the de- mechanical problem and
kilometers and beat home Al-Attiyah’s Toyota was we went flat out and ev- fending champion, was fell from third to 46th.q