Yesterday's games were both more interesting than any of the games that we saw last weekend. But the early one, the game between the visiting Baltimore Ravens and the top seed of the AFC, the Denver Broncos, was a playoff classic that will be remembered for many years.
The later game, between the NFC North champion Green Bay Packers and the NFC West champions San Francisco 49ers, had some very exciting moments and was very high scoring, although it lacked the drama from beginning to end that the earlier game did.
So, two pieces of the NFL's Final Four puzzle have been set, with the final two spots to be determined later today. I made my predictions last weekend, and with Saturday's games, was proven wrong in both. I picked the Broncos over the Ravens, and the Packers over the 49ers. In both instances, I was wrong. Let's see what happens in tomorrow's games. But in the meantime, here are some thoughts about today's game that I will now share with you.
Let's review the two games:
Baltimore Ravens (10-6; 1-0 in postseason) at Denver Broncos (13-3)
The Baltimore Ravens showed that they were here to play very early on, scoring early and often, and showing that they could keep up with Denver and Peyton Manning, arguably the greatest quarterback in history.
Over the years, the Ravens have been known as a defensive team that would grind out victories by overpowering opposing teams. Their defense was very tough, and their offense tended to be low scoring, but relatively efficient. This season, however, the Ravens showed glimpses of being explosive on offense at times, and the offense was not seen as a liability to the extent that it has been in prior seasons. That said, their defense has proven to not be quite as solid as in past seasons.
But this is likely to be the swan song for the star linebacker, who was probably the most dominant defensive player in the sport since Lawrence Taylor. This will likely be his last season before retirement, and each of the last two weeks, there was a chance that he would be playing in his last football game ever. But there will be at least one more game. At least one.
This was a back and forth kind of game. A shoot out. But ultimately, the commentators said that it felt like the kind of game that would be decided by a mistake, or mistakes. I think that they were right. It was the Broncos who made the mistakes, to the surprise of many.
The most obvious was the interception in the second overtime session that, in effect, put the Ravens in a position to win with a field goal, which they did not much later. That interception was not a wise decision by any stretch, and it came at the most inopportune time and circumstance, and ultimately cost Denver the ball game.
The other obvious mistake was from Broncos safety Rahim Moore, who undercover Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones, thus allowing Flacco to complete a truly stunning, 70-yard touchdown with just 38 seconds left in regulation! Baltimore had very little time in the game, obviously, and had no timeouts. It looked like one of those situations where the game was already decided, and the Ravens offense was out there with officially one last chance, but that it was just a formality. But that mistake breathed new life into the Ravens, and simultaneously seemed to suck the wind out of Denver.
There was one other curious decision that happened right after the long bomb. There was still some time left on the clock, very late in the fourth quarter, and Denver got the ball back following Baltimore's stunning touchdown. But the Broncos opted to take the knee, and go into overtime. Now, Manning is at quarterback, Denver still had two timeouts left, and there was a little bit of time left on the clock. True, not much, but some, and with the timeouts, Denver could have taken a chance or two to get the ball into position to at least try a field goal or something. Something.
Instead, nothing. Just took a knee and wasted two timeouts. Now, that was disappointing. It was not probably the reason for their loss, but it seems, in retrospect, to be a contributing factor for it, as well as a source of speculation and questioning that the team will have to wrestle with now during a long offseason. It will not haunt them like the Manning interception, or like Moore's blown coverage that allowed the long bomb, Hail Mary touchdown. But still, why not go for it, and at least try to win the game?
Both teams really played their hearts out, and deserve a lot of credit! Again, this was a very entertaining and well played game, and deserves to be remembered.
But all in all, what a hell of a game the Ravens played - and I'm still shocked about that wide open touchdown bomb with 38 seconds left in the 4th! Ray Lewis will have another chance at the AFC title game, most likely at New England next weekend. If that happens, I'll both predict and root for them to win, and get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2000.
Green Bay Packers (11-5; 1-0 postseason) at San Francisco 49ers (11-4-1)
Let me just start off by saying this: I hate the 49ers. They beat my favorite team, the Giants, twice in the first season that I really followed the NFL, once in the regular season, and then once in the playoffs, knocking them out. They also beat the Giants the second time I saw them in the playoffs. Plus,. I had to endure them gaining all sorts of success and championships. So, they have really annoyed me.
Part of what really annoys me about them is that they just seem to get lucky far more than any other team, or so it seems. They benefited from some horrible calls in the past, even at the highest levels. They did so again this year. Think about it. This game should have been in Green Bay, at Lambeau Field. Now, I'm not saying that that would have necessarily secured a victory for the Packers. Far from it. The 49ers did actually win the meeting between the two at Green bay earlier in the year. But that also was in September, and playing there in the summer, as opposed to in January, are two entirely different things, and the Packers would have had a much better chance if it had been there, with an extra week off, and with the 49ers having had to play last weekend.
Instead, the Packers had to play the extra game last weekend, with the 49ers enjoying the bye week rest, and home field advantage for this game. And all because the Packers were cheated in probably the worst blown call in North American professional sports history when they "lost" to the Seattle Seahawks, in a game that everyone believes they deserve to win - except for the stand in refs that were actually doing that game.
Ah, well.
One thing I wonder about that call, before I go on to summarize the game yesterday, and that is this: for many teams that have had enormous success during an era, particularly for those who have wound up winning the status of "Team of the Decade". You think of the "Ice Bowl" of the late sixties, and the quarterback sneak that won them another championship, further solidifying their immortal status in the sixties. Or the "Immaculate Reception" for the Steelers in the early seventies, that helped launch their dynasty? "The Catch" that was largely responsible for the 49ers first ever Super Bowl berth, which they would win numerous times more in the eighties? Or "The Tuck" that gave the Patriots new life, en route to their first championship, the first of three in a four year span? Is it possible that this was just such a play for the Seahawks? Maybe they will now enjoy such a level of success? Or, maybe the Packers will be the first such team to be on the losing end of such a call, and still go on to win "Team of the Decade" honors? One way or the other, both of those teams look like they have very bright futures to look forward to. The Seahawks are still alive as I write this, and will play later today.
The Packers? Well, they are done, but they played hard before bowing out. They applied strong pressure on Kaepernick, and that helped them to get a huge interception that was returned 52 yards by Sam Shield for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead for the Packers.
But the 49ers, and Kaepernick in particular, played some amazing football form that point onwards, showing efficiency and explosiveness the rest of the way, en route to a convincing 45-31 victory. The 49ers amassed a total of 579 yards of total offense, burying the Packers and any hopes of a return trip to the Super Bowl this year. Kaepernick completed 17 of 31 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns, both to receiver Crabtree. But he also was unbelievable running the ball, setting an NFL record for quarterbacks in a playoff game with 181 yards rushing, including two touchdowns. The Packers simply had no answers on this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment