v.
Seattle Seahawks 28, Green Bay Packers 22 (OT)
This game more than made up for the lame AFC Championship mismatch. As it turns out, the NFC Championship Game this season was one for the ages.
It was a great game, at least in the end. But ultimately, that is what everyone, most likely including the players themselves, are going to remember. That epic comeback in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, and completed with a beautiful, textbook touchdown bomb in sudden death overtime.
For their part, the Seattle Seahawks showed why they were the defending Super Bowl champions. After the game, in interview after interview, numerous members of the Seahawks kept repeating the theme that they never, ever give up.
Apparently not.
For all intents and purposes, they looked down and out. When Russell Wilson, who had probably his worst day statistically in his professional NFL career, was picked off for the fourth time late in the fourth quarter, with his team down by 12 points, the game seemed over. Gren bay was heading to the Super Bowl.
Then, of course, came some of the most stunning developments in any NFL playoff game, and a seemingly safe and comfortable lead very late in the game vanished in remarkably quick fashion.
For Seattle, the reasons for this seemed clear enough. The team came alive, finally showing their best side, after showing their worst for three and a half quarters. The defense stepped up once again. Russell Wilson started throwing solid passes once again. Marshawn Lynch was unstoppable again. The 12th man for Seattle, their record loud crowd, came alive once again.
All of that seems clear enough.
No, the only real questions and head scratching came from the other sideline, where the team that had essentially dominated the game until the final few minutes of the fourth quarter on, suddenly had to walk off the field after suffering a crushing defeat, and being denied another chance at reaching the Super Bowl.
So, why didn't the Packers win?
Here are some reasons:
- They kept settling for field goals early, when they could have piled on more points and built a more solid lead. There were points where they were so close to the end zone, and needed to pound in a statement touchdown. But they did not, and despite having a sizable lead at haltime, it obviously was not enough.
- Despite a whopping five turnovers committed by Seattle, the Packers only got six points off of those turnovers.
- The Packers were completely fooled on the fake field goal. You cannot exactly blame them for this, and that was a tremendously gutsy call by Pete Carroll. But if they had managed to prevent a touchdown on that play, we might be talking about the Packers against the Patriots, rather than the Seahawks against the Patriots. It breathed life into a Seahawks team that, to that point, had produced literally nothing of significance to that point in the game.
- They did not pick on Richard Sherman when he was clearly injured. I know they were extremely reluctant to throw to him in the season opener, and also extremely reluctant to throw to him earlier in the game. But he was seriously injured and not 100%, clearly. as harsh as it sounds, when that happens, you have to take your opportunities, and they did not.
- Yes, Brandon Bostick missed that ball that seemed like a sure thing during the onside kick, giving the Seahawks the ball. But his assignment was to block, not to grab. He has only caught nine passes in two seasons, and his assignment, as I understand it, was to allow the more sure-handed Jordy Nelson could have gotten the ball back for Green Bay. I heard one guy on the radio suggest that the Boston Red Sox had Bill Buckner, and now the Green Bay Packers have Brandon Bostick. Now, I am not sure that I would go that far with it. However, he made a mistake, and it was costly to his team. It is most unfortunate, and I feel for the guy. He is getting beaten up by sports pundits and sports fans alike. But of everything that contributed to the Packers improbable loss yesterday, the ball going right through his hands will likely be the most iconic play that symbolizes their rather epic collapse down the stretch.
Overall, the Packers simply could not seal the deal and thus, fell victim to an epic collapse, at least as much as the Seahawks pulled off a great comeback victory.
“Wow. I’ve been on that side too. That’s the other side of this. There’s the thrill of victory … and the agony of defeat over there,” Moon said. “I’ve had the agony. You don’t get over games like this. You don’t know how many chances you’re going to get to get back there. Especially if you had control of the game like we did, like the Packers did. You’re going to go over and over in your head, what you could have done right, what we didn’t do right, what I could have done a little more of. You’re going to beat yourself up.”
“I think about it a lot,” Moon said of that loss to the Bills 22 years ago. “Especially when I’m looking at games when a team comes from behind and comes back and wins. I understand the feelings. That’s the part I look at when I see a team come from behind, is how that [losing] team must feel. I feel for the team in that locker room, because they played their tails off."
Moon has been haunted by the infamous collapse by the Houston Oilers, who seemed on the cusp of dethroning the two-time defending AFC Champion Buffalo Bills in Buffalo, holding a 35-3 lead in the second half, only to ultimately fall short and lose in truly historical fashion. The Packers collapse might not be quite as epic but, given their large lead with only a few minutes left when they were on the verge of making it back to the Super Bowl, the Packers are likely to remember this one for quite a while.
Moon has had a long time to get used to his team's defining collapse, although the wounds are still fresh for Rodgers and the Packers. Moon admits that he still thinks about that loss a lot. Rodgers has also already admitted that this one is likely to sting for the rest of his NFL career.
"It's going to be a missed opportunity that I'm probably going to think about the rest of my career," Rodgers said. "We were the better team today and we played well enough to win and we can't blame anybody but ourselves."
Quotes by Warren Moon taken from:
The Green Bay Packers will never get over their Seattle collapse By Frank Schwab of Shutdown Corner, January 18, 2015:
Quotes by Aaron Rodgers taken from:
Rodgers braces for painful contemplation after late collapse by Simon Evans of Reuters, January 18, 2015:
v.
New England Patriots 45, Indianapolis Colts 7
A lot of people were expecting the Colts to win this one. But among the many were numerous haters of the New England Patriots, particularly either Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, or both.
Here's the thing, however: you cannot simply predict with your heart.
The New England Patriots were clearly the better team, and left no doubt. Yes, the Colts had beaten the Bengals in the Wild Card, but let's face it: the bar is raised a lot higher than Cincinnati when it comes to championship-level teams. And yes, the Colts beat the Broncos last weekend. But there was clearly something wrong with Peyton Manning, and we only really got to appreciate the extent of his injuries after the game.
The Colts may have been ready to take that next step towards a Super Bowl, but reports of their imminent rise to Super Bowl glory were greatly exaggerated, as they fell 38 points shy of their dream.
It was all Patriots on this day. For one day at least, you could mistake these Patriots for the dominant 2007 squad that entered the Super Bowl with a stunning 18-0 record, and with the greatest margin of victory average ever seen. It was a pursuit of perfection never before seen in NFL history, although it ended for them in disappointment. That was the first major disappointment on such a level for them, although now, with two Super Bowl losses and no wins in a decade, those limitations have, in the eyes of many, come to define this team as much as the three championships in four seasons once did, ten years ago.
That burning desire to get back to the top, to enjoy just one more championship together, next left either Brady or Belichick.
They defeated the Rams, the Panthers, and the Eagles in previous Super Bowl trips. They were defeated by the Giants, twice.
If they lose to the Seahawks in two weeks, then they will likely be defined as a duo that enjoyed extraordinary success early on, and never again reached that level.
If, on the other hand, they manage to defeat the Seahawks in two weeks, then they have to be seen as among the very greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback and coach duo in history, with their names justifiably in the company of some of the all-time greats in NFL history. For Brady, that means comparisons with Bradshaw, Montana, Elway, and Peyton Manning. For Belichick, that means comparisons with Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Bill Walsh, and Don Shula. They probably already have earned that distinction, but a victory in Super Bowl IL would seal the deal beyond any lingering doubts.
Belichick has led teams to the Super Bowl six times, which is tied with Don Shula for the most in NFL history. Brady will be the starting quarterback for a record sixth Super Bowl, standing alone among quarterbacks with that distinction. In fact, only one other player in NFL history has played in as many Super Bowls as Brady will manage to do in a couple of weeks, when he starts at quarterback once again for the Patriots, and that is defensive lineman Mike Lodish, Lodish played for the Buffalo Bills for those four straight Super Bowl losses, then he played for the Denver Broncos in 1997 and 1998, when they won back-to-back titles.
Brady now has an opportunity to match Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to have won four Super Bowls. Belichick has an opportunity to match Chuck Knoll as the only coach to have won four Super Bowls.
Their work ethic is now the stuff of legends, but they will have a lot more work on their hands in order to achieve all of that, because the biggest obstacle to that fourth Super Bowl championship is now straight ahead of them. Nobody said it would be easy.
Then again, it never has been easy to win with such consistency as the Patriots have shown for fourteen straight winning seasons now. They only make it look easy.
Here is a link to an article that, I think, shows a great deal why Brady and Belichick have enjoyed such an enormous level of success for so long in the league now. Some dismiss them as cheaters, as guys that are easily hated. But there are reasons for their success. I personally am a Giants fan, and know some fellow Giants fans who disregard the Patriots because our team beat them in two Super Bowls. But the Giants did not enjoy anywhere near the level of success for as long as New England has now enjoyed it, and you have to hand it to them. You have to give them enormous credit. This article helps to put it in perspective, and here is a link to that article:
Tom Brady, Bill Belichick head to sixth Super Bowl as greatest coach-QB duo ever By Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, January 19, 2015:
Mike Lodish ready to share prestigious Super Bowl record and some gourmet peanut brittle By Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, January 16, 2015:
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