It's time for Pete's Pick 6—a weekly recap column where I spotlight the best and the worst performances from Sunday's games. In today's edition, we dig into two epic conference championship games …

Let's dig in …

Patrick Mahomes is the best

Over the next few weeks, thousands of sports writers and pundits are going to gush about Patrick Mahomes.

They will wax poetically about his absurd playoff resume. They will compare him to Tom Brady. They will call him the G word.

But right now the best way I can sum up his greatness is by letting you know that he spearheaded an offense to 32 points in the AFC Championship game with JuJu Smith-Poopster (don't you dare change this, editors) as his second-leading WR.

If that isn't the characteristic of an all-time great, then I don't know what is.

Travis Kelce disappeared (2-19) and Mahomes said, *extreme Kermit voice* "Don't worry, fam. Me and poo-poo got this."

With all that said, don't ever try to spike the ball again. It's tarnishing your legacy.

Barkley preps for a birthday bash in NOLA

A lot of us were miffed when the Eagles didn't let Saquon Barkley hunt down the all-time rushing record. The team told us they were "saving him for the playoffs" and that a Super Bowl campaign was "more important" than toppling a decades-old record. We rolled our eyes.

Well, it's really hard to argue with that strategy after watching Barkley destroy the Commanders for three TDs in the NFC Conference Championship game and punch a ticket to his first Super Bowl.

You knew exactly how this game was going to go after Barkley ripped off a 60-yard house call on the team's first play of the game.

His 442 yards rushing this postseason is now seventh most all-time.

As if his storybook season couldn't feel any more scripted, I've been altered to the fact that the Super Bowl takes place on his 28th birthday.

A little on the nose, if you ask me.

A Kangol hat (trick)

Normally if you score a hat-trick's worth of rushing TDs you get the honor of leading my world-renowned Pick 6 column.

But unfortunately for Jalen Hurts, his teammate did the same thing (and in a much flashier fashion).

Still, Hurts' performance yesterday deserves to be celebrated. In clinching his second Super Bowl appearance in just four years, he shut up all of the haters who spent much of last week questioning both his health and his ability to throw the ball.

He paired his three rushing TDs with 246 passing yards, 1 passing TD, and zero turnovers.

The only thing left to question about Hurts at this point is his pregame fit. But, hey? If it's not broken, don't fix it. Gotta run back the Kangol hat in NOLA.

The Commanders inglorious hat trick

When you lose by 32 points, you definitely got beat. But I'd argue in the case of the Commanders, it wasn't so much at the hands of the Eagles as it was their own fault.

Not to be outdone by the Barkley and Hurts hat tricks, the Commanders dialed up a turnover version of their own:

  • Dyami Brown fumbled the ball on the team's second possession and it promptly led to a Barkley TD to give the Eagles a 14-3 lead.
     
  • Jeremy McNichols fumbled a kickoff return at the end of the second quarter when the team was down 20-12 and … you guessed it … promptly led to another Eagles TD (A.J. Brown).
     
  • And finally, Austin Ekeler fumbled the ball at the end of the third quarter as the team was mounting a drive down 11 points. The Eagles promptly drove down the field and tush-pushed their way into the end zone to take a three-score lead.

What's particularly frustrating is that none of these turnovers involved Jayden Daniels, who played great, but just couldn't get much help from either his offense or his defense.

A loss on this stage always stings, but it's hard not to be very excited about the Commanders future after their rookie QB led them to a 12-5 regular season record, two road playoff wins, and their organization's first NFC Championship game appearance since 1991.

Daniel Snyder might be grinning today, but Daniels and Co. will get the last laugh.

The first down that wasn't a first down

Look, the Bills had plenty of chances to win this game. They made a ton of mistakes. They ran the same dumb, ineffective tush push over and over despite it being clear that the Chiefs knew how to stop it.

Hell, even Dalton Kincaid had a chance to catch a miracle ball from Josh Allen that would have kept a potential game-winning drive alive.

But it's hard not to look back at this seismic 4th-and-1 play that was ruled short of the first down–even after a second review!—despite it being painfully obvious that it was a first down:

 

You can check as many angles as you'd like. I'll wait.

That was a blown call that literally changed the trajectory of the game and led to a Mahomes TD that gave the Chiefs the lead.

But, as we've learned time and time again—one of these no-brainer calls will inexplicably (maybe it should be 'predictably'' at this point?) go the Chiefs way and you just have to be prepared to overcome it as the non-dynasty team.

James Cook, the unsung & underutilized hero

As much as I wanted the Bills to win, part of me felt glad they lost after neglecting their best player in some of the biggest moments.

James Cook was an absolute monster in this game. He had 139 yards and 2 TDs on just 16 touches. I'll save you the math—that's 8.6 yards per touch.

Aaaand … he didn't get a touch on the final six-play drive.

The Bills—for baffling, egregious reasons—repeatedly turned to other less effective options in short-yardage situations.

And when they did finally call his number in a big spot? He did this.

There really is no excuse for it. This team is starved for playmakers outside of Allen and Cook and they willingly decided to play the most important drive of the game with one of them off the field.

I promise you whichever team pays him $20M/year on his next contract will appreciate him more.