Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore, Final score: 31 -24. Well it was safe to say that this game was really close, but as far as Pittsburgh – Baltimore games go, this one was won by a long shot. The Ravens went into the locker room taking an early 21-7 lead with which they had their feet on the gas pedal not letting up. One of the touchdowns was scored by defensive lineman Redding who picked up the ball as 21 other people on the field assumed the play was over. The second half or 3rd quarter more specifically was when the steelers decided to show up and steal the party. Roethlisberger than proceed to throw 2 TD’s one to Miller and Ward. Both teams traded field goals in the 4th quarter to keep the game tied up but after that on a 3rd and 19 they went deep to Antonio Brown who caught a 58 yard pass and went out of bounds at the 2 yard line. Mendenhall than pushed it in and scored the winning touchdown.
Key mistakes made by Flacco who lost one fumble and threw and interception became costly as Pittsburgh turned them into points off turnovers. Ray Rice also committed a fumble something he was thought to be immune to which again costed the Baltimore Ravens key possession of the football. Pittsburgh strong defense helped stop a possible second half blow out by the Ravens. With the victory Pittsburgh will return to the AFC championship game for the 3rd time in 6 years.
Green Bay vs. Atlanta: Final Score: 48 – 21. This one was only close till the end of the 2nd quarter. The Green Bay Packers plain and simple put a beat down on the opposition home team. Aaron Rodgers had a nearly perfect game going 31/36 – 366 yards and 3 TD’s along with one rushing TD. The Falcons had no answer for the Packers offense as they steam rolled them consistently putting up 3 offensive and 4 total touchdowns in the 2nd quarter alone. Including a clocking running out 70 yard interception returned back for a TD to end the half. The wheels came off the high flying Atlanta Falcons who just looked slow and tired. Even coming off the free bye week for finishing 1st in the conference wasnt enough to help them. This now is the second upset that the Packers have done in as many weeks with solid play from a defense and Aaron Rodgers.
Matt Ryan showed his young playoff experience as he made 2 interceptions, 1 going all the way for a touchdown opening up a 14 point lead at the time. The running game was unable to get started as they only amounted 48 yards rushing the entire game. Ryan was sacked 5 times in the ball game from a terrifying defence which has been lead by Clay Matthews and BJ Raji, not to mention a decent secondary as well.
Chicago vs. Seattle: Final Score: 35 – 24. Could lightning strike twice? Aparently not. The cinderella Seahawks of a week ago managed to pull off a great upset against the Saints but were not so lucky to do so at soldier field. The Chicago Bears easily defeated the Seahawks with a misleading score. The Bears were leading 28 -3 going into the 4th quarter when the Bears let off the gas a little bit and cruised into a victory. Matt Hasselbeck played another great game throwing for 258 yards and 3 TD’s and the key stat, no INT’s. So what happened if Hasselbeck played a great game why didnt they win? Well it was Jay Cutler getting it done on the other side of the ball. Cutler threw for 274 yards and 2 TD’s also no INT’s. Culter also rushed for 2 TD’s and the bears established a solid old school smash mouth football running game with Forte, Taylor and Cutler running a few times on scrambles. Plain and simple the Seahawks lost that amazing Lynch who was held 2 yards on 4 carries, hardly the game he had the previous week.
Cutler played extremely well and thats thanks to a great running game which ate up the weaker Seahawks D-Line. Greg Olsen also helped with 113 yards and a TD. Devin Hester remained contained but the Bears were just too much on offense and defense which made a difference in the end over a weaker Seattle team.
New York Jets vs. New England Patriots: Final Score: 28 – 21. This was easily the best game this weekend or at worst the second best game and how fitting that it was the last game of the weekend as well. There was a lot of talk going on before this game and it added a lot more fuel to the fire of the newly established rivalry between these two teams. The game started off kind of shaky for the #1 AFC seed. Brady threw an early INT which was almost returned for a TD had Crumpler not made the tackle. Well that should have been easy points right? Nope the Jets shot themselves in the foot and missed a short field goal after going backwards instead of forwards. The pats took an early 3-0 lead going into the 2nd quarter.
The Jets took over from there and didnt look back scoring 2 TD’s in the 2nd quarter both on passes from Mark Sanchez who engineered 2 great drives down the field. Holmes also had a touchdown in the corner on a spectacular grab which was almost as good as his superbowl catch with the steelers. The 4th quarter was the final pull away for the Jets as they scored 2 more TD’s as the Pats were only able to put up a TD and a field goal therefore costing them the game.
Mark Sanchez played extremely well as he went 16/25 194 yards and 3 TD’s and 0 INT’s. With a solid running attack with LT and Greene to balance nicely. Brady was sacked 5 times in the game as Ellis got to him twice in the 1st quarter alone. Brady looked shaky through out the game and was afraid to put the ball to someone else other than Crumpler and Branch who were both covered well. The Jets defence and their shutdown corners (Revis and Cromartie) made a huge difference causing a lot of coverage sacks or Brady throwing the ball away which made the difference.
To sum up the week, both the #1 seeds were ousted and both the #6 seeds are moving on to the championship game which will both be held by the #2 seeds. Check back later on in the week when I break down the championship games.
