By a great stroke of fortune, I worked two mornings this weekend, allowing me to see all of two of the first-round NFL playoff games, and parts of the others. Thus, I got to watch last year's Super Bowl opponents fall (including said Super Bowl's winner in what many are calling one of the great, all-time upsets), saw the AFC's #5 seed rip apart the #4 seed, and watched as The Michael Vick Story hit a series bump in the road.
Who Day Say Gonna Beat Them...Hawks?
The Super Bowl 44 winners, the 11-5 New Orleans Saints, were an eleven-point favorite to beat the Seattle Seahawks in this game, which was played in Seattle in front of a raucous crowd on the merit that the 'Hawks were the winners of the lowly NFC West. Indeed, as was oft-mentioned by the game's commentators, the Seahawks are the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing record, doing so with a 7-9 mark following a 16-6 win in a winner-take-all game with the division rival St. Louis Rams. They are now the first team with a losing record to win a playoff game.
Thirty-six year old quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw four touchdown passes (including bombs of 38 and 45 yards), giving the Seahawks a lead that got as large as 11, and allowing them to hang on when the Saints made a late charge (led by Super Bowl 44 MVP Drew Brees, who was 39 of 60 passing for 404 yards and 2 touchdowns). The Saints got within five (36-41) and failed to get a two point conversion after their final score, but, even before that, they were undone by an electrifying 67-yard touchdown run by Seattle's Marshawn Lynch. With 3:22 left in the game and Seattle nursing a 34-30 edge, Lynch took the handoff, broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage, and began racing downfield, breaking four more tackles and delivering the stiff-arm of the century to Saints corner Tracy Porter (best known for a 70+ yard pick-six against Peyton Manning last February), sending him flying and landing on his back. The score sent the crowd into a frenzy and thrust the Saints' backs into the wall.
No, the 41-36 loss does not take away the magic of the 2009 Saints' accomplishments, but, yes, it does end their season. The Seahawks now travel to Chicago to play another team to which they will be massive underdogs, the NFC #2-seeded Bears.
It's Personal
Talkative New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan said just that about wanting to beat Peyton Manning in the playoffs, especially after Manning and his Indianapolis Colts beat the upstart Jets in last year's AFC Championship Game after the Jets led at halftime.
Manning was 18 of 26 for 225 yards, 1 touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 108.7, but the Jets held the Colts to three field goals after the opening quarter score, and, with QB Mark Sanchez having an off-night (18 of 31 for 189 yards, with 1 interception and a 62.4 rating), they started running. Thus, veteran RB LaDanian Tomlinson scored two touchdowns against a tired and injury-depleted Colts defense, which led up to Nick Folk's game-ending 32-yard field goal, which made it 17-16, in favor of New York, who moves on to play the AFC's #1 team, the New England Patriots.
Seeing Purple
The players of the AFC's #4 seed, the Kansas City Chiefs, may not only be seeing purple in highlights on TV, or memories, of their undoing in a systematic 30-7 beatdown by the #5 Baltimore Ravens; they may see purple in bruises on their bodies. QB Matt Cassel was sacked three times, hit a bunch more, fumbled twice and threw three interceptions, and, but for one 41-yard scoring run in the first quarter by Jamaal Charles, the Ravens and their hallowed defense kept their foot on the Chiefs' collective throat all day, squeezing the life out of a young team.
Just watching it on TV, it was obvious that the Ravens have bigger bodies (Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata, Terrell Sugs, Michael Oher), and that they were delivering a beating. Yet, surprise surprise, the offense finally showed up, with well-liked but underwhelming QB Joe Flacco delivering his best-ever playoff performance (25 of 34 for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus rushing for nearly 40 yards, a season high). Receiver Anquan Boldin and tight end Todd Heap each made impressive touchdown catches, and the defense hounded and battered Cassel into a miserable performance (9 of 18 for 70 yards, passer rating of 20.4).
The Ravens, who were criticized for under-performing all season (particularly on offense), made a big statement with the win, and now move to face their hated rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the AFC's #2 team, in Pittsburgh next week.
Rodgers Gets His Win
Last year, Green Bay Packers' star quarterback Aaron Rodgers engaged in a war of wills (and passes) with legend Kurt Warner in a Packers-Arizona Cardinals wild-card playoff game that reached video game levels of spectacle (ultimately a 51-45 overtime win by Arizona, with both QBs topping 400 yards passing). Rodgers had more passing yards but lost the game, and did so, Packers fans will be quick to tell you, partially because his game-losing fumble was caused by a facemasking penalty that was not called. But Rodgers, who by now has pretty much shed the shadow of being Brett Favre's successor in Green Bay, still hadn't won a playoff game entering this face-off with the Philadelphia Eagles, and their star quarterback, a guy named Michael Vick.
The Packers' defense kept close coverage on the Eagles most explosive offensive players (Vick, WR DeSean Jackson, RB LeSean McCoy), and Rodgers tossed three touchdown passes as the Packers built a big lead in a tough, physical game that came down to the wire. Vick was hit hard a number of times, but kept his team in it until the very end, when he heaved a 30-plus yard pass toward the end zone and receiver Riley Cooper, but saw it land in the hands of Packers defender Tramon Williams. It came just minutes after the Eagles failed to nail a two-point conversion attempt as they made a move for the Packers, who played well but failed to score in the final quarter of the 21-16 win.
Ultimately, Vick had more explosive stats than Rodgers (292 passing yards to 180), but the Green Bay secondary kept everything in front of them, taking a lot of wind out of the Eagles but cutting off Vick's big-play capability.
The Packers head to Atlanta next week to play the NFC's #1 seed, the Atlanta Falcons.
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