Joe Burrow, Fred Warner Among NFL Divisional Round Standouts

The MMQB’s game balls go to the Bengals quarterback and 49ers linebacker, who are headed back to the AFC and NFC championship games to face the Chiefs and Eagles.

We’re on to Championship Sunday after the Chiefs, Bengals, Eagles and 49ers advanced with wins in the divisional round this weekend. We’ve been highlighting the best performances during the regular season and now the best efforts in the playoffs deserve to be recognized by our MMQB staff.

Here are the divisional round standouts:

Gary Gramling: Joe Burrow, QB, Bengals. In a world where seemingly every quarterback is getting an assist from some clever, play-action based system (thanks Mike Shanahan!), Joe Burrow is keeping the “spread it out, read the mail before the snap and shred ’em” approach alive. If you ever wondered what Tom Brady or Peyton Manning would have looked like in this era if they also had perfect functional athleticism for the position, that’s Burrow. And once again, on the road against an AFC blueblood in the postseason, Burrow’s now-unique style of play won out.

Conor Orr: Fred Warner, LB, 49ers. When you can run down one of the best receivers in the NFL man-to-man while isolated in the slot, you know you’re pretty valuable. Warner was everywhere on Sunday and made the kind of punctuating plays that ultimately handed the 49ers a trip to the NFC championship game. While the hysteria about rangy off-ball linebackers has died down a bit two years removed from the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl victory, Warner showed why you pay hand over fist for a good one.

Claire Kuwana: Zac Taylor, Head Coach, Bengals. There are a lot of players on the Bengals who should be recognized for Sunday’s game, but at the helm of it all is the main decision-maker, and that’s Taylor. With the exception of maybe Joe Mixon (20 carries, 105 yards, TD), it wasn’t like there was one obvious star in the win over the Bills. But the Bengals played with confidence, and that starts from the top. Their reliance on the run game (172 yards) was the right call for the weather, and with the offensive line’s (improved) performance in the divisional game despite being two starters down, both Joe Burrow and the rest of Cincinnati’s offense were set up for success. The Bengals nearly tripled Buffalo’s rushing yardage (63) and had possession for an additional eight minutes.

Michael Rosenberg: Travis Kelce, TE, Chiefs. Sometimes I wonder how we would view Kelce in a world where Rob Gronkowski had never played football. Would we be having GOAT discussions? Kelce’s performance Saturday was the stuff of legend: 14 catches on 17 targets on a day when Kansas City needed him to be great. When Patrick Mahomes was out and Chad Henne led the Chiefs on a 98-yard drive, Henne threw four passes to Kelce, including his first and last. Kelce is as good at getting open and making the catch as any tight end in history. He showed it again against Jacksonville.

John Pluym: Chad Henne, QB, Chiefs. Henne had thrown all of two passes all season backing up Patrick Mahomes. But when Kansas City’s all-world quarterback suffered a high ankle sprain and was summoned to the locker room by coach Andy Reid, Henne entered the game backed up on his 2-yard line. No big deal. Henne put together a 12-play, 98-yard scoring drive, the longest in the postseason history of the Chiefs. Henne was so impressive that his old coach, Tom Coughlin, texted Reid after the game, “Whatever you’re paying him, he’s worth every penny.” Mahomes returned in the second half to finish the game. But Henne’s amazing drive was a big part of the Chiefs earning a trip to their fifth consecutive AFC championship game next Sunday.

Mitch Goldich: The Eagles’ entire offensive line. When a running back has a big game, the smart thing to do at the postgame presser is to thank the O-line. When three running backs—in this case Miles Sanders, Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell—combine to run it 35 times for 234 yards, an average of 6.7 yards per carry, and limit the defense to just one sack, you give a shout out to the offensive line. The Eagles’ unit up front has been a strength of the team through multiple coaching regimes and quarterback changes. It’s a key reason the Eagles got the No. 1 seed and was a clear advantage in the dominant divisional round win over the Giants. Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson both made this year’s All-Pro team, Landon Dickerson made the Pro Bowl, and Jordan Mailata and Isaac Seumalo round out the best O-line in football. Give them all game balls, and then watch what they do next week against a great 49ers defense.