Happy MLK Day, blogosphere! I hope you are all enjoying your bonus Monday off (unless of course you do not, in which case, keep working hard). Anyway, this past weekend featured what many call the best weekend of football on the calendar: the Divisional Playoffs...
...and the weekend lived up to the billing.
All of the games (ok...maybe 3 out of the 4) were exciting, close, competitive, and went down to the very bitter end. The fourth game, Denver at New England, seemed to also be competitive on paper, especially with the way Tim Tebow dismantled Pittsburgh last week, but Brady, Gronk, & co quickly put that Cinderella story back into the pumpkin carriage with a 45-10 steamrolling. What is up with Rob Gronkowski? Where did this guy come from? He might be the best pass catching tight end in the history of the league. I know, I know, before you make acclamations like that, you have to do apples to apples comparisons with the likes of Tony Gonzales, Kellen Winslow, and the like, but how can you ignore the production of this guy throughout the season? On Saturday, he had 3 touchdowns, in the first half! And these were not easy TDs, these were all-out, horizontal to the ground, nobody else can catch it except Gronk types of TDs. Needless to say, on the MIISFFL front, JP will be keeping Gronkowski for the 2012 season. As for the Tim Tebow experience, it ended with a resounding thud. I know, there probably was no way the Broncos were going to win regardless of how Tebow did, but many thought that given the way Tebow was playing lately, and considering how bad the Patriots D has been all season, at least the Broncos would be able to go point for point with the Pats. They didn't even come close. Their lone touchdown came after a Brady interception deep in Patriots territory. After that, 3 and out, 3 and out, and another 3 and out came and went. By the time the 3rd quarter came around, everyone was wondering when Ryan Mallet would be entering for New England.
Elsewhere, the games were far more competitive. The first game on Saturday might have been an instant classic, at least the last 5 minutes anyway. Considering the way the New Orleans offense has been playing lately, not many gave the 49ers a shot, despite the home game. It seemed reasonable considering that the Saints put 45 on the Lions in the wild card game. For 3 and a half quarters, the Saints offense had essentially been stymied, but then Brees and Company got it in gear. Darren Sproles caught a 44 yard touchdown pass from Brees to put the Saints up 24-23, and at this point you started to think it was over for San Francisco. Yet, Alex Smith never wavered. Who would have thought that Alex Smith would have been unflappable in pressure situations? This is the same Alex Smith who was picked number 1 in 2005...ahead of Aaron Rodgers. The 49ers looked like they had egg on their face after Rodgers won it all last year and went 15-1 this year, but after Smith scored on a 28 yard scramble to make it 29-23 San Francisco with 2:11 left, a lot of those doubts started to disappear. 2:11 left was a blessing and a curse for New Orleans. It was a blessing because it was plenty of time to score a touchdown to win. It was a curse because it was too much time. Those Saints just score way too fast sometimes. Jimmy Graham's 66 yard catch, run, and dunk over the goalpost once again put the Saints up. After the 2-point play made it 32-29, once again you thought that the Saints had it. Enter Vernon Davis. Vernon, the Terp, made two huge catches on the last 49er possession, including a 14-yard score reminiscent of Terrell Owens big catch to beat Green Bay in the playoffs back in 1998. Vernon even cried like Owens did. Final score: San Francisco 36 New Orleans 32.
The state of Maryland was giddy about the Ravens first home playoff game in 5 years. Well, we have to withstand another week of Purple Friday as the Ravens took care of buisness against a plucky, but ultimately overmatched Houston squad 20-13. Like most Baltimore playoff games, it begins and ends with their defense. The name of the game in this one was bend but don't break as Arian Foster got his, to the tune of 132 yards and a touchdown. Foster was the first 100-yard rusher the Ravens have ever allowed in a playoff game. This raises questions about how much more can this defense do? They are getting up there in years, and are starting to show some wear and tear. Ed Reed pulled up lame on a number of occasions, including on the last play of the game. However, nobody ever doubts their ability to rise to the occasion, as it was Reed's interception inside of 2 minutes that effectively ended the game. Offensively, the Ravens were able to move the ball well, like Houston, but with the exception of the first quarter, seemed to bog down in opposition territory, settling for field goals or punting. Against New England, Baltimore has to exploit the Patriots' inferior pass defense, something the Fightin' Tebows just could not do. Baltimore is much better than Denver in the passing game, but they have to prepare themselves to go point for point with Brady's offense. Bending but not breaking may work against the Houston Texans, but the New England Patriots and Gronkowski are a totally different beast. If they can take Gronk out of the game, and force somebody else to step it up, they stand a fightin' chance in Foxboro.
In what was probably the biggest shocker of the weekend, the New York Giants upset the #1 seed in the NFC, thanks in no small part to a completed Hail Mary pass from Eli Manning to Hakeem Nicks to end the first half. Most pundits will focus on the emotional and strategic fallout from the Hail Mary, but really where this game won was in the trenches. The Giants were able to do what no other team was able to do all season...except for the Kansas City Chiefs: get significant pressure on Rodgers. Like any good quarterback, Rodgers works best when he was a solid pocket to step into and survey the field. It is kind of assumed that he will always have this kind of pocket. I don't care how good the quarterback is, if he's looking up into the lights, he can't beat anybody. Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Matthias Kiwanuka wreaked havoc in the Green Bay backfield all night. Rodgers turned the ball over twice, and a crucial turnover by Ryan Grant late in the game set up the final Giants touchdown to make the score 37-20. Green Bay's offense succeeded during the regular season in no small part because of their ball security. However, 4 turnovers in this game proved to be the difference. The Hail Mary didn't help, but if Green Bay could have protected the football more, there is no reason why they should not have won this game. In any event, the Giants now go to San Francisco for another rematch from the regular season. San Francisco won 27-20 back in the November, but both teams are on a roll, back then, the Giants were not. Expect two good ones next week.
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