NFL Divisional Round Recap
+Baltimore Ravens vs. +Denver Broncos-
This was a very exciting game from beginning to end, and was the first double overtime playoff game I have ever seen. While there was some added drama with the officiating, let's not allow that to take away from the game. Denver and Peyton Manning were really held in check for the most part for the majority of this game, but two return touchdowns by Trendon Holliday kept them in the lead for most of the game. But the real story of this game for me was Joe Flacco, not only did he play well, he showed he belongs in the playoffs to many of the naysayers. He and his receiving core consistently tore up Champ Bailey, who is widely considered one of the best cornerbacks in the league!
I've been saying all along that this Denver defense isn't good enough to win the Super Bowl, regardless of who their quarterback is. This defense padded it's stats against the cupcake schedule that was the last 11 games of the season, and made many believe that defense was a strength of this team. Can you imagine if it had been New England rather than Baltimore in this game? With the Patriots offense, the Broncos wouldn't have lost 38-35, they would have lost 50+ to less than 35 considering the Patriots great special teams play.
Living in Utah, the majority of people here are Broncos fans. Instant feedback of the game was that the officiating cost them the game... I could not disagree more. While there was some definite questionable officiating in the game, it was questionable for both teams, not just Denver. In fact the penalties were almost even in the game with Denver having 10 and Baltimore having 9. Some have referenced the reviews as also terrible calls. I was watching the game, the Manning fumble was a fumble. The Boldin catch, was a catch. There was a questionable holding call that extended a late drive for Baltimore that resulted in a touchdown... But to say the officials cost you a game when you had a safety and a cornerback allow a receiver to run right by both of them for a 70 yard touchdown bomb at the end of the game... you didn't deserve to win. A safety's job in that situation is to be the last man back, and just stood there and watched Jacoby Jones run right by. Besides that, you had every opportunity in overtime after the game had been extended. Blame your pathetic pass defense against a not very potent passing game!
With all that being said, the officiating experiment of "All-Star" crews seems to be a bust. Breaking up the chemistry of the regular crews is a mistake in my opinion. The inexperience with each other has caused some confusion, and downright unreasonable calls. They need to address this before the next round of games begin on Sunday.
+Green Bay Packers vs. +San Francisco 49ers-
This game was a high scoring, action-packed barn burner that kind of surprised me. While I did pick San Francisco to win the game, I thought it would be a lot closer of a game. I expected the 49ers defense to contain the potent Green Bay offense, and Frank Gore and Colin Kaepernick to run the 49ers to a close win. While Frank Gore did do his part, this was pretty much a one man show. Kaepernick was able to brush away my concerns with him being a rookie in a playoff situation that may be bigger than he was ready for. He made the Packers defense as vulnerable as I thought they truly were.
When Green Bay can't get pressure on the quarterback via Clay Matthews, it is very apparent that they are not a very good defense. Colin was able to read when they were in man coverage, and he tucked the ball and ran seemingly every time they were. When they needed a big third down conversion, he picked it up with his legs if they weren't blitzing. If they were, he used his cannon of an arm to hit one of his receivers down field.
Speaking of receivers down field, Michael Crabtree finally proved to me he was worth the pick that he was drafted with. He tore up a tired defense, and had what was his best performance as a pro, under the brightest of lights.
San Francisco went from me thinking they were going to lose in the NFC Championship game, to now my Super Bowl favorite. Yes, I just said they are my Super Bowl favorites to beat the AFC representative even before I know who that will be (most likely New England.)
+Seattle Seahawks vs. +Atlanta Falcons-
This was a tale of two halves. Atlanta just took it to this Seattle team in the first half, and made what looked like the hottest team coming into this contest look like a non-playoff team. The Falcons led this game 20-0 at the half due to some costly errors from the Seattle offense and coaching staff. While I thought that Seattle would stifle the great passing and rushing game that the Falcons possess, it took them until the second half to start playing great football.
After picking off Matt Ryan in the first quarter, three plays later, Marshawn Lynch coughed up the ball and gave it right back to Atlanta. They proceeded to score and gave themselves an even more controlling lead. Seattle decided to go for a fourth down conversion once they were already down 13-0 rather than just kicking the easy field goal. Rather than giving their beast in the backfield the ball, they handed the ball off to the fullback that ran into a brick wall that was the Falcons defense and even lost a yard. Atlanta proceeded to put up 7 more points to give them a 20 point lead with only limited time left for Seattle to score right before the half.
Seattle finally put together a great drive on offense and ended up on Atlanta's 10 yard line with one timeout left. On first down they gained four yards and rather than running up to the line and spiking the ball, they used their last timeout with under 30 seconds left. The next play resulted in a false start moving the offense back to the 11 yard line from the 6. On 2nd and 11, Russell Wilson threw an incomplete pass leaving approximately 16 seconds on the clock. On 3rd and 11, he was sacked by a blitz coming from the middle of the formation. Because Pete Carroll had already used their last timeout, they were unable to call it and bring out the field goal unit, and they also didn't have time to line up for another play before time expired. At the half, Pete Carroll had cost his team 6 points, and those points were crucial.
The second half saw Seattle rip off 28 unanswered points to take the lead with 36 seconds left on the clock. A decent return on the ensuing kickoff resulted in the ball being placed at Atlanta's 28 yard line with 31 seconds left and all three timeouts. Two long passes into the middle of the field against prevent coverage and three timeouts later, the Falcons were at Seattle's 31 yard line with 13 seconds left. Atlanta lined up to kick what would be the game winning field goal- but Pete Carroll called a timeout way before the ball was snapped. The Falcons long snapper still snapped the ball to the holder some 3 seconds later and the kicker boomed off his practice kick, which he missed (this is a whole different subject, which I will discuss in a moment.) Sure enough when he lined up after his practice kick, he had made the adjustment and boomed in the game winner. Seattle had one more chance after a terrible kickoff, but the game ended in a Hail Mary heave that ended in Julio Jones' hands. Pete Carroll only has himself to blame for this loss in my opinion, poor decision-making and clock management cost his team 6 points in the first half, and the game was decided by 3. I can't say that the defense would have held Atlanta to no score if they would have gone for the TD for their last possession, but there would have at least been a chance.
Now on the subject of icing the kicker... Pete Carroll has no fault in the timeout that resulted in the practice kick for Atlanta, he clearly called the timeout way before the snap and the whistle was blown before the snapper hiked the ball (I counted a 3 second delay from the time Carroll called the timeout to the time the ball was snapped.) There has to be a rule change when it comes to this practice. The kicker essentially got a practice run to make adjustments after the timeout had been called and the play was blown dead. This is clearly an unfair advantage. I could understand if the coach called the timeout right before the ball was snapped, but there was a definite delay. I'm not sure what kind of rule should be implemented, but in this case where it wasn't even close to being snapped right after the timeout was called, I believe that should have resulted in a 10 yard penalty. This is a case of protecting the integrity of the game. I would be surprised and appalled if the NFL does not do something about this debacle before the start of next season.
+Houston Texans vs. +New England Patriots-
This was not much of a game and was quite frankly very disappointing. Houston has a complete roster with talent all over both sides of the ball. In fact, I have called them the most complete team in football more than a few times this year. It was puzzling to me to see them collapse the last 6 games of the year in which they went 2-4 and went from one of the most dynamic and balanced offenses to not being able to get in the endzone. This was no more apparent than in their playoff game against Cincinnati in which they dominated on both sides of the ball, but ended up winning by a margin of 6 points.
The lackluster performance was followed by another bomb of a performance in New England a week later. I've been saying during this 7 game streak of poor performances that "this is the week they wake up." Well this is the week they wake up in their own homes on an offseason long vacation. While this team has the talent to win it all, I don't know if they can win with the inconsistent quarterback that is Matt Schaub. As I said in my preview for this game, he can play like a top-tier quarterback at times, he can also play like a Raiders quarterback of the last 10 years. I don't know if there is an answer for them in the draft or free agency, but it is apparent that they will have to make some changes to beat the elite teams in the AFC.
With that being said, the Patriots are looking as good as ever. They seem to have recovered from their late season struggles in which they almost lost a game to a 2 win Jacksonville squad. They are primed to make another Super Bowl run, and all that stands in their way is a scrappy Baltimore team. They did lose Rob Gronkowski for the rest of the playoffs and that may affect their chances, but they still have a very stacked receiving core minus him. I will say, I'm still not sold that this defense is capable of stopping a good offense, and they will face a good offense whoever it may be in the NFC if they can get past Baltimore.
So from this, my picks will be New England over Baltimore and San Francisco over Atlanta. With all of that being said, I will be less active on the blog for the next few months. The work, school, raising a kid, and homework load is definitely picking up now that school is in the full swing of things. I am leaving the blog in very capable hands with +Kyle Gilmore, Gina, Nat, Ron, and Marsh. I will definitely be uploading some posts, just not in the quantity I have been on break. Thanks for reading my articles and I hope to see some good stuff up on the blog in the near future.
Bill Montoya
