NFL Playoffs Divisional Round Recap

I was telling anyone that would listen all last week that the 49ers were going to win this game. I had absolutely no idea it would end like that. Wow. I mean, how does that ending even happen? San Francisco is supposed to be one of the best defenses in the league, how do they give up two potentially game-losing drives (albeit to Drew Brees) in the last five minutes of a playoff game at home? With that being said, how does New Orleans give up two game-losing drives to ALEX SMITH?!?!?! (I will tell you how: all of the talking heads have been howling that teams are changing their defense at the end of games and going to a prevent. The analysts will say 'All it does is prevent you from winning'. When what it actually does, is it prevents the other team from scoring in under 2 minutes, unless they are a very good team. There are reasons things have been done the same way in the NFL for 50 years. They work.) Other than the last four minutes, this game was all about the Saints not being able to adjust to playing outdoors. They are the prototypical dome team: throw a ton of passes, running backs & wide receivers make a ton of cuts, and they are not even remotely physical. Not a good combo if you don't have home-field advantage. The Saints could not match San Francisco's intensity, and they were outplayed the whole game. The only reason this game was so close is because Alex Smith played a prominent roll. Gotta give it to him though, he did everything right in the last five minutes, and in the end that's what you want from your QB. Even if he could have iced this game before halftime if he could get the ball in the endzone.

In a preview I didn't get finished in time, I started out the breakdown of this game by saying "Wow...what can you say about Tim Tebow? Or about this entire Denver team? They stink! But at the same time, they definitely DO NOT stink". Well guess what....they stink. They could not have been more dominated in every phase of the game. Tim Tebow played horribly, but you know what, its hard to put this all on him. It is almost comical watching Denver's offense. Who in the hell runs the ball on a third-and-six down by four touchdowns?!?! If you say the coaching staff doesn't trust Tebow, how can they justify starting him if you aren't going to let him chuck it with your season on the brink? I would agree that if Tebow throws the ball 40+ times the team is losing, but if you're down 35 you are losing anyways, so who gives a crap? Give it a shot, who cares if he throws four straight incompletions (which he probably would)? Even if Tebow Time was off the clock, this was a complete team win by the Patriots. Tom Brady was masterful, shredding Denver's defense all night long. He had a few hiccups in the first half, but I think he might have been getting bored. Denver's defense put no pressure on Brady, decided to let multiple receivers run wide open on every play, and overall just looked like they never got off the plane. Also doesn't help defensive moral when your offense runs the ball 95 straight times (slight exaggeration) when you are down double-digits. Bill Belichick also came in with his defense ready to play. They overwhelmed the Broncos offensive line, constantly getting pressure in the backfield and controlled the point of attack. Complete domination all around by the Patriots.

I'm going to be honest, I could barely watch this game. The final score really doesn't tell you how boring it was. And I'm a defense-first guy. I usually love 10-7 games. But there was something missing from this game; from the first snap, you could tell that the Texans weren't going to win that game. Even you Houston fans knew that TJ Yates was not going into Baltimore and coming out with a W. But to tell the truth, the Texans would not have won with a healthy Matt Shaub either. They are the same team they have been the last 5 years: average. The only reason they are in the playoffs is because Peyton Manning had neck surgery and missed the season, otherwise they would have been looking up at the Colts again in the standings. (side note: Shouldn't Peyton Manning be the MVP this season? I know he didn't play, but wasn't it obvious just how valuable he really is to his team? They win 10 to 14 games every year with him, and win TWO without him. Case closed. I know it won't happen, but still...) Houston looked good last week at home against Cincinatti, but we all know Cincy didn't belong there either. The AFC was down this year. That's why a team like Baltimore, a very flawed team, was able to get the #2 seed. The Ravens are still very good defensively, but they have fallen off a bit, and you can see it when you watch them defend the run. They aren't the same team anymore, people are not afraid to play smash-mouth football against them. And offensively, they have Ray Rice and that is it. Joe Flacco is overrated, I don't care how many times he's been to the playoffs, he cannot carry you to a title. The Ravens recipe for winning is running the football, throwing off play-action, and playing good enough defense. They can't win shootouts, so if the defense takes a day off, Joe Flacco is not saving you. But he wins games like this all day long; There was no concern on Baltimore's sideline that TJ Yates was going to do anything against their D, so the Ravens didn't have to take any chances and that is when Flacco is at his "best". While not a dominating performance, the Ravens did prove that Houston was not ready for a game of this magnitude, and in the end their experience paved the way to the win.

Full disclosure: I am a die-hard Giants fan. With that being said, I had a good feeling about this game all week. And if you ask any Giants fan, that's when you get nervous. Under Tom Coughlin, they play best when no one believes in them, and play the worst when they are favorites. It never fails. And even though New York was a touchdown underdog in Vegas, a LOT of people were picking them to pull off the upset. Analysts and talking heads made the point that the passing game was top-notch, the running game was coming around, and the defense was playing lights out. And those things continued on Sunday. Even if the running game took a step back, they still got the big run when they needed it. Eli Manning played his fourth straight great game, making the whispers comparing him to Peyton a little louder. On the surface it sounds a little ridiculous, but if you really think about it, which one would you take in a big game? If you wanted to win, it wouldn't be big brother. The Packers' defense got shredded, giving up multiple long third-down conversions throughout the game that really demoralized the team. New York's defense played well, but there was more than a little rust showing on Green Bay's side. They dropped a lot of balls (8 or 9 depending on who's counting) thrown perfectly to wide open receivers, the offensive line got no push, turned the ball over 4 times, and they never developed an offensive rhythm. All of those things are the exact opposite of the way the Packers have played the last season and a half. You could tell the Packers hadn't played a meaningful game in four weeks. Aaron Rodgers played much better than his stats showed, and by the end was so frustrated that the Giants may as well have been up by 50. The Giants still had to play well to win, and even though Green Bay got the help of a few generous calls by referee Bill Levy, New York thoroughly outplayed the Packers in every phase of the game, almost making the game more lopsided than the score shows.