NFL Conference Championship Recap

This past Sunday we got a real treat. Sunday afternoon we were privileged to watch two Hall of Fame quarterbacks and top 5 quarterbacks of all time duke it out for four quarters.  Then Sunday night we saw the hottest defense in the league face the hottest offense in the league.  Below I broke down each game:

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Patriots 18 Broncos 20

Peyton Manning reopened the Brady/Manning conversation once again by delivering a victory when it mattered most. Being criticized for his lack of postseason success over the years, Old Man Manning came to play on Sunday… at least for a little.  Everyone is piping up his performance but looking back he had one maybe two good drives the whole game. The first was his 11 plays 82 yard opening drive that ended in a touchdown.  his was a direct result from the gallon of Jesus-juice he injected before the game to aid his brittle body. Once the pixie dust wore off however, and he could feel his fingers again, he was basically ineffective. He made a couple big throws in big spots but after his opening drive the Broncos punted 9 times, fumbled once, hit 2 field goals, and had a 16 yard touchdown drive after the D set them up with a pick.

The defense is what really won the game. How do you stop potentially the best quarterback of all time?  You hit the shit out of him. They hit Brady 20 times, 4 of them being sacks.  And they weren’t trying to just hit him. In a post game report an unnamed pass rusher is quoted saying, “I tried to rub my nuts in his face.” I’M NOT KIDDING, someone really said that.  Still, all the hits were barely enough as Twinkle Toes Tom scored to Gronk with 12 seconds left. They failed on the ensuing two point conversion however and that was the ball game.

Another person taking some heat after the game was Stephen GOATkowski.  The GOAT missed the extra point at the beginning of the game.  Turns out later in the game they would need that one point to send it into over time with another easy kick. To put this phenomenon into perspective Gostkowski hand’t missed a PAT all year. In fact he didn’t miss one last year. In fact, he hadn’t missed a PAT since 2006.  His career PAT percentage is 99.8… before sunday he had made 502/503.

Someone who I don’t think is getting enough blame is Bill Belichick. In classic big balls Bill fashion he went for it on fourth, twice, when he could of kicked a field goal that, turns out, would of won the game. But that’s not why I think he sucked. He got out-coached. Bill is supposed to be an offensive mastermind. The Bronco’s “historically good” defensive plan: Our four D-Linemen can beat your five O-Lineman and the other seven people are gonna play centerfield. This is not to say they aren’t a great defense, because they are. But even I knew the Pats would have to throw the kitchen sink at them to win, I felt like Belichick didn’t really do anything too impressive offensively. The Broncos offense is so weak that last week I said the Pats would only need 21 points to win… welp… guess ‘only’ was harder than I thought.

Good thing Big Belly Bill tanked week 16 and 17.  Sure would of sucked to play Peyton at home in the 20 degree weather and 6 inches of snow he hates so much.

On another note though, at least Vegas lost too. This is how it went down in Nevada: about 70% of the public was pounding the Pats -3. Vegas refused to move that line however in fear of the sharks swooping in on a DEN +3.5 line. Well eventually they had to move the line to save face. What happened? The sharks pummeled the Broncos and brought vegas to their knees. Rumor is they were the ones pounding the Pats line until it moved, and then they doubled down on the line they really wanted.

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Cardinals 15 Pathers 49

Before this game there was a legitimate controversy over who should be MVP: Carson or Cam.  Well one QB’s QBR was 88 and the others was 5 — one of them had 4 touchdowns and the other had 4 interceptions, you can try and figure it out yourself.

This game was a blowout. The Panthers went up 17 in the first but the Cardinals scored late in the second to keep it a game, and then Cam scored even later in the second to keep it a blowout. The halftime speeches were probably pretty much the same. “Remember what happen to Seattle, we’re still in this”; “Remember what happened to Seattle, their still in this.” But they weren’t. After 10 points for the Panthers and 7 for the Cards, it was 34-15 and people were still a little skeptical about the Panthers. And then they stepped on their throat. Two awful interceptions both turned into touchdowns and that was all it took.

No other way to describe it Carson Palmer absolutely sucked. Everyone was so shocked by his poor play, but not me.  You know why?  I know a little secret about him… he played 7 years on the Bengals. In his time there he made the playoffs once… and lost of course since it’s the Bengals. Then he took his successful career to the highest playing field: the Raiders… he went 8-20 there.  Yes, this year he was incredible but people need to understand that big players make big plays in big spots, which means bad players make bad plays in big spots. It’s simple science.

Cam was in full Super-Cam mode. He threw for two and ‘ran’ for two (more of flying than running). He was giving footballs to kids, taking fake pictures, cheering the defense, and of course… dabbing to MVP chants. His determination to win is clear after their 13th straight home win this season. He seems to feed off of the crowd which will play very well in San Fran with the 60k Broncos fans there. Still the fake chip on his shoulder that only he can see has motivated him to yet another career game.

Coaching was certainly a factor in this one as well. Although I think Bruce Arians is a better coach than Ron Rivera, it was the Panthers D that really held the glue together.  Sean McDermott, protege of the legendary blitzing Jimmie Johnson‘s defense, was able to really bring some fire.  With a strong core of D-backs, it was the D-line and Linebackers who controlled the game.  They were in Palmer’s grill the entire game. Four interceptions was more than enough to decide this game.

The Panthers are STILL playing the “nobody likes us” game… Weird because there are little kids wearing Cam jerseys in every state and creepy girls with Luke Kuechly posters in their room across the country. It seems like even non-sports fans are attaching themselves to this Panthers team. America will most certainly be split in the Super Bowl with all Brady-lovers, kids below the age of 14, and girls pulling for Cam — and all rusty old men, ‘Bama fans, and Papa John’s eaters pulling for the Sheriff.  SPORTS.