"First you gotta win a game!!" -more from the classic sound bite from former Colts' coach Jim Mora--I couldn't resist
Day One of the divisional weekend saw the end of the supposedly-Super-Bowl-bound Baltimore Ravens' season, as well as the most magical season in the history of the Atlanta Falcons, in a humiliating bludgeoning at home by the Packers.
Well, the Falcons weren't alone in humiliations this weekend.
The last time the AFC's #1 seed, the New England Patriots, played the #6 New York Jets, back in December, it was a highly-anticipated matchup of the NFL's top two teams, both 9-2 at the time. The Monday Night Football contest quickly turned into a debacle for the visiting Jets, who were utterly dismembered in a shocking 45-3 defeat. It took them until last week's surprising win over the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the playoffs to recover.
Well, you may have heard that the Jets' loudmouth head coach, Rex Ryan, made it his personal vendetta to beat the Patriots, especially robotic mastermind head coach Bill Belichick, after he completed his other personal vendetta-beating Peyton Manning-last week.
Early in the game, the talky Jets set out to help their coach put another check mark on his bucket list, giving the New England crowd a shock when linebacker David Harris stepped in front of a Tom Brady pass and picked it off. It was a shock mainly because Brady, the long-haired, triple-ringed Patriots' quarterback supereme, finished the regular season with a record streak of 335 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. Harris rumbled 58 yards before being tackled after the pick.
The Patriots managed to get a three-point first quarter lead on a Shayne Graham 34-yard field goal, but the first half ended with the home team in an eleven-point hole, courtesy of two touchdown passes by Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has been heavily criticized for the last two months after rocketing through the season's early weeks. The Patriots got back in the game at the end of the third quarter, with Algie Crumpler catching a two-yard scoring pass from Brady to make it 14-11, but the Jets answered less than three minutes later with a 7-yard pass from Sanchez to Santonio Holmes, making it 21-11. Each team would score again (the Patriots, who gained a touchdown and a field goal in the game's remaining moments, scored twice), and the Jets held on for a stunning 28-21 victory.
"Maybe everybody else never believed, but we believed," Ryan said afterwards. "Same old Jets, back to the AFC Championship. The only difference is, this time, we plan on winning."
Part of the key for the Jets was sacking Tom Brady five times, a nearly incredible act considering Brady's usually excellent pass protection.
"We don't care what people say, or whether they like us," star cornerback Darrelle Revis said, commenting on the Jets' unpopular reputation, "We just focus on what we need to do to win games."
The Patriots have now lost three straight postseason games, dating back to the 2007 Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants that ruined the possibility of a perfect 19-0 season. The Jets, meanwhile, are 4-1 under Sanchez, and will play in Pittsburgh next Sunday for the chance to go to the Super Bowl (they lost last year's AFC title game to the Colts, 30-17). For what it's worth, the Steelers have been made three-point favorites.
Important Game Stats:
Tom Brady: 29 of 45, 299 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Mark Sanchez: 16 of 25, 194 yards, 3 TD
Total yards: New England-372, New York-314
Rushing Yards: New York-120, New England-113
Basically, only one game this weekend went the way most people expected (well, the Steelers-Ravens game was expected to be a very close, physical, heated contest, and it was, but most people picked the Ravens to win), and that was thanks to the NFC's #2 seed, the Chicago Bears.
The Bears, playing at home in Soldier Field and amidst beautiful, fast-falling snow, gained 437 yards to the visiting Seattle Seahawks' 276, including a rushing ratio of 176-34, in a strong 35-24 win.
They jumped out to a 28-0 lead, scoring on four of their first five possessions, with two passing touchdowns from quarterback Jay Cutler, and two rushing touchdowns by Cutler. He became the first quarterback since legendary QB Otto Graham to do that two-fer in a playoff game. He ultimately threw for 274 yards, and gave his team enough of an early boost to hold off the Seahawks, who scored three of the game's last four touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter. Thirty-six year old Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, coming of one of the best games of his 12-year career against the New Orleans Saints, threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns, but a late, desperate onside kick by the Seahawks was recovered cleanly by da Bears.
'Dose Bears are led into an NFC Championship showdown with ultra-rival Green Bay (they have played 181 times in 90 years) by their usual rock-solid defensive unit, led by defensive end Julius Peppers and linebacker Brian Urlacher. They are also effective on the ground, with running back Matt Forte (who had 80 yards on 25 carries), and Cutler, who ran for a career-best 43 yards, 9 better than the entire Seahawks team.
No comments:
Post a Comment