NFL Playoffs Conference Championship Recap

What a great football Sunday. I'm almost too exhausted to write this. For the penultimate playoff weekend, I'm not sure anyone could ask for more, but they could definitely ask for less of Alex Smith and for WAY less of Joe Flacco's mustache. The weekend featured two tremendous games, with plenty of story lines for each, so let's break it down. Is everyone ready for a Tim Tebow-free article? Me too....Wait, does that count?

This was a good game for the Patriots by their standards. They were in control much of the contest, with the one play from Torey Smith the exception. Even then it was hard to see the Pats losing the game, and they did just enough to hold on. It helps that Billy Cundiff tried to swallow a 2x4 before the game-tying field goal, but even if he had made the kick it would have only delayed the inevitable. Don't be fooled by Trent Dilfer everyone, the better team did win that game.

The Ravens came in with the third-ranked defense, and despite only playing one team in the top-10 offensively (the Chargers spanked them by 20), backed it up. But I'm not really sure how much was them and how much was Tom Brady not playing well. Bill Belichick really missed the boat in this game; he could have ran the ball all day the way Baltimore was playing defense. They were determined to stop the pass in the two tight end sets, to the point Danny freakin' Woodheadwas rushing effectively. Baltimore's run defense has been suspect at best for much of the year, their reputation (and schedule) make them seem much stouter than they really are. Houston ran for almost 200 yards on them two weeks ago, and all the Ravens wanted to do was stop the run. When they know an opponent wants to pass, Baltimore's zone blitzing is some of the best in the business. But Brady couldn't handle the different looks that he usually rips apart. It was just a really strange game by him. And to that point, if you're a New England fan, aren't you a little nervous about Tom Teriffic's performances in the playoffs the last few years? I'm not saying you should kick him out of bed for eating crackers, but we all know Pats fans are expecting a bit more than they are really getting. Whether they ever admit it or not. Luckily for Brady and Boston, the Ravens have Joe Flacco.

All I keep hearing about this game is how good Joe Flacco was, and looking at the numbers it's hard to argue against that point. Fortunately, I watched the game, and Joe he did not disappoint me as a Joe Flacco hater. Hater might not even be the right word (I'll be breaking down Alex Smith later), so call me a Joe Flacco strongly-disliker. It's not even that he's that bad, and he played pretty well Sunday, but the eyeball test shows me he doesn't have "it" right now. And it comes down to one thing: his skittishness in the pocket. The Patriots defense came to play, but the pass rush wasn't nearly as daunting as Flacco made it seem. The second he feels any type of pressure he gets happy feet and starts to dance and maneuver around imaginary defenders, instead of growing some balls and standing in there to make a better throw. Even on the Lee Evans play at the end of the game, watch the tape. Flacco barely puts any weight on his front foot and still throws a great ball. Imagine if he said "f*** it" and stepped into it, we wouldn't be talking about Gisele during Super Bowl week.

New England wanted to do one thing; stop Ray Rice. And for the most part they did that, limiting him to under 100 total yards for the game. He was a total non-factor, which shows us Belichick is still alive (it's hard to tell at his press conferences), and able to take away a team's best weapon even with the crap-fest going on in the Patriots secondary. With that being said, they still needed more than a little luck (Evans drop, Cundiff missed kick, Brady's spinal cord not being snapped in half on the touchdown QB-sneak), to come out winners. The Pats are doing it mostly on experience and guile, but in the playoffs that counts as much as anything.

It's no secret New England has been eyeing a rematch with the New York Giants, and they have put themselves in a position to exact their revenge. And if Flacco ever wants to get to where Tom Brady is, he better position himself in a barber's chair and get that thing scraped off his face. C'mon, who has a pencil-thin handlebar mustache?

Even since the Giants beat Green Bay in Round 2 of the playoffs, every New England Patriots fan I know has been itching for a rematch of Super Bowl 42. Well, they got their wish. New York went into San Francisco, and played one of the toughest games in recent memory, to come out with the win. And I don't mean toughest as in hard, I mean toughest as in: if you aren't tough, you aren't finishing the game. Just like I predicted in my Conference Championship Preview, this turned out to a very physical, hard-hitting, defense-oriented game, and barring the fumbled punt return this game could still be going on as we speak. And also as I predicted, Alex Smith is indeed Alex Smith.

What can you say about that poor kick returner for the Niners? No really, what can you say? I can't mention his name because I have no idea who he is. So it's hard for me to put it all on him, he really played like a deer-in-the-headlights all game. Besides the fumble, he had the ball glance off his knee (where he started to run after it, then stopped a half-second later like he wasn't on national television), and at least three fair-catches where he had 10+ yards of open field in front of him. You know who blame for that guys performance? Jim Harbaugh. There's one thing you CAN NOT have as a NFL head coach: undying confidence in your players. You need to evolve. That's the difference between NCAA football and NFL football, you can't depend on your athletes beating their athletes. If you see your punt returner is lost in a fog every time he goes back, in a field-position game no less, you need to have other options and make a change. You can't continue to tell yourself "this time he will be better", because he already would have been better. Do you give up on the guy completely? No, but you have to know when to turn the page. And the Harbaugh apologists all scream "there's no one else to do it!", well guess who's fault that is. And it's not the punt returner guy's fault he wasn't ready to be back there. The Giants have had at least six different players return punts this year. They have all stunk, but that's the point; New York and Tom Coughlin aren't content to think they are smarter than everyone else. They are going to make sure they are fielding the best possible team at every moment, no matter the consequences. (Quick final shout-out to Kyle Williams - yeah I know his name - for that last fumble and all around horrid play. Not only as a Giants fan, but as a fan of sleep with a two-year-old. That game never would've ended without you screwing it up. Thanks again.)

Talking about the defensive battle as a whole would really be a disservice to the 49ers; that team is easily the best defense in the NFL. They are faster and more physical than anyone else, and they pull of the blitzes so well because of that speed. Everything moves at a more frenetic pace when Patrick Willis & Co. take the field, which is why they led the league in turnovers, and why they won so many games. Quarterbacks typically rush throws when they are about to get hit in the mouth. Which is what made Eli Manning's performance so spectacular yesterday. And I don't mean his actual performance, because he was visibly rattled through the end of the 4th quarter and overtime. It's hard to blame him when he was on his back every time he threw the ball, but it was still noticeable and closed the gap between these teams. However, Eli did something that Drew Brees couldn't do in Round 2; he didn't turn the ball over. Manning was sacked six times (ridiculous number), and was knocked down/hit 20 times (even more ridiculous number) in 58 pass attempts (uber-ridiculousnumber), yet San Fran got zero turnovers. Eli gets the game ball for that reason, only because if you don't turn the ball over, and the other team has Alex Smith, you might as well chalk up that W.

I'll make this as quick as possible, what does Jim Harbaugh see in Alex Smith? Did you see this guy play quarterback? He's like Tim Tebow (damn it) without muscles or clutch-ness. He is not even remotely accurate, and if you get to Alex just a couple times he is rattled for the remainder of the contest. Some of the throws down the stretch were just awful, especially when you consider the competition. While Eli was throwing darts the same time as getting driven into the mud by three 49ers, Smithwas releasing the ball a second too early and skipping it five yards in front of receivers. Or overthrowing them by 10 yards, take your pick. As simply put as possible, the Niners could have someone like Tony Romo starting for them and cruise to a Super Bowl with this year's team; they are so talented that even he couldn't screw it up. Not like Alex Smith anyway.

I didn't talk much about New York's offense or Victor Cruz's first big playoff game, but overall they did about as much to win that game as Kyle Williams did for them. It was unimpressive at best. They didn't run the ball consistently until the final drive (after San Fran had already quit following the fumbled return), got minimal big plays from the passing game, and basically hung around until their experience (just like the Pats in the early game), won out.



Check back over the next two weeks while I preview and analyze all the match-ups and happenings from Super Bowl week in Indianapolis.