Two former Ole Miss Rebels advance to NFC, AFC championships

The NFL Divisional round of the playoffs featured two stunning upsets as the number one seed Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers both lost at home.

While it meant former Rebels AJ Brown (Titans) and Royce Newman (Packers) were sent home, Mike Hilton (Bengals) and DJ Jones (49ers) moved on with its teams to the AFC and NFC Championship games next weekend.

Ole Miss fans undoubtedly remember the undersized Hilton from his days on the Landshark defense who played with reckless abandon, and to me, he always seemed to be a player in the right place at the right time. In Saturday’s upset of the Titans, he certainly was in the right place at the right time.

DJ Jones, meanwhile, piled up four tackles in San Francisco’s 13-10 upset of the Packers at Lambeau Field. Jones has been pretty inspiring to watch after he was picked in the sixth round five years ago he has battled through injuries and a competitive depth chart to put together a pretty solid career at nose tackle. He went down late in the game, and I have yet to see a diagnosis on an injury as of yet - but I can bet if he’s able to walk, he’ll be playing next week.

Sunday’s showdown between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs will feature former Rebel Dawson Knox at tight end, so we could potentially see another Ole Miss name in the AFC Championship game.