What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Wildcard Round

By Rhys Knott

“Pressure is a privilege”, as Billie Jean King famously said over 25 years ago, and in the playoffs, pressure is definitely hot. The second part of that quote says “…and champions adjust”, and, honestly, it’s like BJK has played in the Wildcard round. 

The first week of the playoffs served up some more deflected interceptions, questionable officiating, and a new play is all the rage (sort of).

What’s Hot in Football – Wildcard Round

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Back to alarmingly accurate quotes. Ben Johnson announced he was staying in the NFC North because he “kinda enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year”! Turns out poking Da Bears is hot, Johnson’s Bears have now beaten LaFleur’s Packers twice in Chicago this season. 

In Carolina, Rams tight end Colby Parkinson came up big in big moments. 6-foot-7 Parkinson only caught two of his three targets, but he racked up 20 yards after the catch. That meant both his catches made the line to gain, with the second reception resulting in the game-winning touchdown! 

Parkinson’s transformation under Sean McVay is white hot! Before he arrived in L.A., the tight end had not played more than 47% of the offensive snaps in a season. In his first two seasons with the Seahawks Parkinson played on special teams more than offense. 

In his third season, he played 41% of the offensive AND special team snaps. But he only caught 25 of 34 his 34 targets. The following season, he signed with the Rams in free agency and played on 55% of the offense’s snaps. 

But, partly as a result of Tyler Higbee’s injuries and the deserved hype surrounding Terrance Ferguson (who averages 21 yards per reception), Parkinson has found his own little niche.

The Stanford graduate hauled in eight touchdowns in the regular season, three more than he managed in his previous five seasons! 

On the topic of players who have flourished under McVay, Puka Nacua is always hot (when he’s not appearing on livestreams). Nacua grabbed 10 of his 18 targets. Seven of them went for first downs, that means Nacua accounted for 33.3% of the Rams’ first downs! 

There was some hotness on the other sideline in Charlotte, too. Second-year receiver Jalen Coker is hot enough to melt the 3G field! Coker’s only 100-yard receiving yard game during the regular season came back in December 2024! On that occasion, he recorded 110 yards on just four catches! 

This week, the 24-year-old racked up 134 yards on nine catches! He even caught one of the prettiest touchdowns of the Wildcard round. 

While we’re thinking of pretty touchdowns, Jauan Jennings’ effort is hot. The 49ers’ receiver has a unique skill set for a guy who seems to wind everyone he plays against up!

If razzle-dazzle gets you to the Super Bowl, the 49ers will be playing another game at Levis Stadium this season! This is called a “Spinner Wing Counter + reverse + tight end pass” (and it will feature again this week)!

The Jennings to McCaffrey pipeline is something we’ve seen before, remember Super Bowl LVIII? 

So you knew Jennings could throw touchdowns, but did you know how highly the Tennessee product was rated before the 49ers drafted him in the seventh round? 

Trick plays are hot (most of them are anyway). Remember the hook and ladder craze that swept the nation in Week 17? Well, this week’s trending play is the aforementioned “Spinner Wing Counter + reverse + tight end pass”, just trips off the tongue that one. It’s like the offensive coordinators have a weekly Zoom call or something!  

It didn’t completely work when da Bears tried it, but at least Colston Loveland (more on him later) didn’t throw an interception. Ben Johnson’s guys still gained yards, though. 

On the topic of Colston Loveland. The tight end looked fantastic in college, but the Chicago offense has been amorphous all season with Ben Johnson attacking different defense in different ways. Hopefully, the Bears’ playoff offense will feature more of the record-breaking 21-year-old. 

Lead changes are hot, especially fourth quarter lead changes. Rams’ fans’ blood pressure still hasn’t returned to normal! 

While we’re tracking lead changes, graphs are hot; everyone loves a graph, right? Well, Matt Lafleur doesn’t, especially these win percentage graphs that games between the Packers and Bears generate. Week 16’s graph flipped pretty quickly.

The Wildcard version is unbelievable and indicates how hot Caleb Williams is at the end of games. On the flip side, Ben Johnson needs him to team to start games much better. 

How hot is Caleb Williams in crunch time?

And, while the NFC North rivalry is scorching hot, sportsmanship is even hotter. Jaylon Johnson (who prayed for Christian Watson when the Packers receiver tore his ACL in 2025) went straight to the same guy as the clock ticked down to zero in Soldier Field. 

Big guy touchdowns are always hot. When it’s Sheldon Rankins’ first postseason score (and Will Anderson Jr. dreamt it before the game) it’s extra hot.

Tip drills are hot, because of course they are, not a week goes by in the NFL without some defenders demonstrating their ball skills. Cobie Durant snagged this after Quentin Lake redirected. 

Then Cole Bishop joined in the fun.

But Daiyan Henley had the most impressive pick of the weekend. The tip after the ball was batted up in the air made it virtually impossible to track. 

Fumbling the ball would normally be Knott, but when it creates art, it becomes hot. See? 

Everyone hates the tush push. Since Jason Kelce retired and Lane Johnson suffered a Lisfranc injury, most Eagles fans must hate it, too. The Bills version, on the other hand, is far more entertaining. “The snow plough” as it’s been christened, doesn’t always work, now that’s fun! 

Whether or not it can still be called the snow plough in Jacksonville is up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is just how effective it is; the Eagles rarely gain 10 yards on a tush push.

Amazing what you can do when everyone stays on their feet instead of diving to the floor, isn’t it? 

Post-game press conferences usually only make the news when a coach or player disagrees with a journalist. It’s nice to have a bit of love in for a change, especially in Jacksonville! 

Jimmy Horn playing catch with the crowd at Bank of America is pretty hot. 

By far the worst thing about the Panthers’ defeat is that we won’t see R-Truth on the Panthers’ sideline again. 

Finally, nothing could be hotter than Erin Andrews’ coat. It looks like she could cross the Arctic in that little number! 

What’s Knott in Football – Wildcard Round

The Chargers are absolutely Knott. Yes, their two best offensive linemen are out. And yes, Justin Herbert’s thumb could fall off at any moment, but it takes a special kind of yucky offense to gain 207 yards of offense. You need an even yuckier offense to only score three points in a game of football! 

Keenan Allen deciding not to stretch for this admittedly loose pass demonstrated what little belief the offense had.

Matt Stafford throwing outside the numbers is so Knott! 

Now it’s a time for a section we’re calling “When Trick Plays Attack”. Trick pays are usually hot, but they can become Knott very quickly.

The Texans decided that C.J. Stroud could run a flea flicker against a Steelers defensive front that was already causing problems. Stroud, who is more Pizza Hut than Legare, held the ball too long and (apart from Christian Kirk) the Texans offense dissolved from there.

Adrian Hill’s definition of “intentional grounding” is very much Knott, and it led to Jordan Love melting down despite the freezing temperatures. Love was allowed to just fling the ball straight out of bounds or in the vague direction of a teammate without drawing a flag. 

This attempt to avoid a sack from the first half is intentional grounding 99 times out of 100. But not for Adrian and his crew.

Then, in the second half, as Love tried to avoid being sacked again, the zebras got together and decided to throw a flag for an eerily similar play. Love and the Packers’ offense fell apart in the second half, but the officials practically changed the rules. 

If a quarterback thinks he can just throw the ball away without losing yards, he will continue to do it. In a season that has been plagued by inconsistent officiating (and expedited reviews), this is a bad look for the league. And it’s incredibly Knott! 

It’s not just awarding penalties that caused the zebras’ problems this week. Using a clock was a bit too tricky for Brad Allen and the expedited review team in New York. When the clock winds down to 0.00, that means it’s halftime, guys. 

Bizarrely, Cam Little missed the resulting field goal, good job the Jaguars didn’t lose by three points or anything (cue internal screaming)! 

Tackling someone by the mouthguard is pretty Knott, it is kinda funny though! 

When your team’s security guard makes one of the best catches of the game, that’s very Knott!

An annoyed AJ Brown is also very Knott! You get the impression that the Eagles imploded as much as the 49ers won that game. 

In the same game, George Kittle’s knee injury was so Knott, but, hey, TEQUILLA!!! Let’s hope there weren’t any painkillers involved. 

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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