The first day of the 2024 NFL Divisional Round ended fairly predictably, with the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers edging out their opponents. But, the end results doesn’t tell the whole story. The Ravens pulled off a strong win over the Texans, which was fairly predicted. But, the 49ers barely beat the Packers in what was almost a massive upset.
The 49ers really shouldn’t be celebrating. Many people expect this team to win the Super Bowl this year, but I have to wonder, why? They haven’t been among the most consistent teams this season. Also, they always seem to squeak out wins, rarely really dominating a game.
But, a win is a win, and both the 49ers and Ravens are going to their respective conference championship games. Let’s get into the NFL Divisional Round recap for day one.
Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans
The Baltimore Ravens beat the Houston Texans, 34-10, on Saturday (Jan. 20). While the loss was heartbreaking for the Texans, they really have no need to cry. They have a super young team, including first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans and star rookie quarterbacks CJ Stroud.
“This wasn’t our moment right now, this wasn’t our time right now, we didn’t get it done,” said Ryans (via NFL.com), after the game, “but I’m proud of each and every coach and player in the locker room for what we’ve accomplished throughout the entire year, how we grew through the entire year, and I’m proud of our guys. That’s what I told all our guys, keep your head up. Like, credit to the Ravens, but man, proud of each and every man.”
“It’s been a heckuva year, and I think DeMeco hit on it there, the future’s bright, man, but these types of losses suck, you know,” Stroud added. “That’s a great Ravens team over there and they deserved to win, and it’s tough to just get embarrassed like that, but definitely I think our future is bright.”
San Francisco 49ers vs. Green Bay Packers
Green Bay fell to San Francisco 24-21 on Saturday after dominating pretty much the whole game. They were leading the game up until the end. That has to sting.
Budding quarterback Jordan Love had a great performance, but it wasn’t perfect, and his two interceptions could have made the difference.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said of Love after the game (via NFL.com), “As a leader of this team, I know this one’s gonna hurt him. I’m sure he’ll be really hard on himself. And he’s just got to use it as fuel to continue to get better. But I think we saw so much growth throughout the course of the season. Not only from his ability to go out there and play consistent, winning football, but also I think he grew as a leader. I think that’s very important to be the franchise quarterback that I expect him to be for a long time around here.”
Following the loss, Love said that he think it will “sting for a while.” He added (via the AP), “Watching all the games going forward it will sting just knowing that we had an opportunity to win and we dropped the ball on that one. It’ll sting for a while but we’ll be able to look back on it and see some good things we did.”