San Francisco 49ers: 36 New Orleans Saints: 32
I believe I said in my preview post, this was setting up to be the game of the weekend, and boy did these two teams not disappoint us! When the Saints turned the ball over 3 times in the first 15 minutes, and the Niners jumped out to a 17-0 lead, everyone seemed to think this may not ever be close. Thanks to Alex Smith's long 49 yard hookup to Vernon Davis, that got the 49ers out in front early 7-0. Following a Saints turnover, Alex Smith and the 49ers were able to overcome their red zone ineffectiveness, when he found Michael Crabtree for a 4 yard TD on a crucial 3rd and goal. Then, everyone realize why you can never doubt Drew Brees! Trailing 17-0, Brees led his high powered Saints on a 75 yard drive, connecting with superstar TE, Jimmy Graham from 14 yards out to cut the lead to 17-7. Brees didn't waste much time following a 3 and out by the 49ers, he found Marques Colston on a 25 yard pass where he dropped it in on the money, and Colston toe tapped into the end zone to cut it to 17-14. As we moved through the 3rd quarter, it appeared both teams made major adjustments at the half, and after 3 quarters, a David Akers FG made it 20-14, and that's when the excitement started.
Both teams would exchange field goals early in the 4th quarter and with 7:35 to go in the game, the score stood at 23-17, San Francisco. Drew Brees was 5 of 6 and on the 9th play of the drive, he found Darren Sproles on a dump off, and Sproles did the rest. Sproles, cutting through defenders found a seam and broke free up the middle and took it 44 yards to put the Saints up 24-23, their first lead of the game. Candlestick Park became so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop, as fans were afraid the season was over. We then saw why Alex Smith was the #1 overall pick and he took this opportunity to shine. Following a 37 yard completion to Vernon Davis, Smith and his offense faced a 3rd and 8 from the Saints 28. With 2:24 left in the game, it appeared the Niners may sit on it and set up Akers for a gamewinner. We then saw Smith run a keeper to the left side and with BIG Joe Staley out in front, leading the way, Smith scampered 28 yards into the end zone, and the 49ers were back up 29-24 with just 2:11 left!
Though the 49ers had the lead, there was worry, that they may have left Brees, an MVP candidate too much time, and that they did. It took just 4 plays, and Brees hit Jimmy Graham across the middle where he shook off a defensive back and took off 66 yards, where he put the Saints back up 30-29 and put his usual emphatic dunk on the goalpost! Following a 2 point conversion to Darren Sproles, the Saints held a 32-29 lead with 1:37 left. After a shaky kick return, the 49ers started at their own 15 and needed to pick up 50 yards to just get into Akers range. After a couple of short check downs to Frank Gore, Smith made a great throw to find Vernon Davis over the middle, picking up 47 yards, and all of a sudden the 49ers were in business at the Saints 25. After a 6 yard pass to Frank Gore and a spike to stop the clock, with 14 seconds left and a 3rd and 3, Smith threw a pass through a tight window and found Vernon Davis in the endzone for the game winner! The play looked eerily similar to the 1998 TD Pass from Steve Young to Terrell Owens with 8 seconds left to beat the Packers in the playoffs, and it both resulted in the WR coming off the field crying tears of joy.
We finally saw Alex Smith show the reasoning of his #1 pick, and we saw 2 young tight ends with bright futures in Jimmy Graham and Vernon Davis. Brees finished an astonishing 40-63 for 462 yards and 4 TD's but was out shined by Alex Smith in the 4th quarter. With 1 Saturday game in the books, we headed to Foxboro.
New England Patriots: 45 Denver Broncos: 10
"If Brady gets Gronk and Welker involved early and often, look out, because I'm not sure the Broncos can stop that train." That train got started early, and it was never slowed down, as many feared it. It didn't take 2 minutes before Brady found Gronkowski for 17 yards, and then Aaron Hernandez with a carry for 43 yards, down to the 7, and Welker hauled in Brady's 1st TD of the half. The Patriots came out with a few wrinkles, as they put Hernandez in the backfield lined up next to Brady and he carried the rock and did it well. Following a Rob Ninkovich sack/strip fumble of Tebow, Brady went right back to work. This time he found Gronkowski from 10 yards out and the game was quickly getting away from Denver.
The Broncos wouldn't go away though as rookie safety, Quinton Carter, would pick off Brady and return it down to Patriots 24 yard line. 4 plays later, Willis McGahee took the zone read and scurried 5 yards into the endzone and it cut the Patriots lead in half to 14-7. That was the only drive the Broncos would truly enjoy the rest of the game. Brady, who seemed to have 5 minutes in the pocket at times, quickly drove the Pats back down again, hooking up with Gronk again, this time from 12 yards out and pushed the lead back to 21-7. Tim Tebow was just unable to get anything going as he spent most of the first half running for his life, and following another punt, Brady dialed up a new receiver. That receiver would be Deion Branch, who may have got away with a push-off that wasn't called, Brady hooked up with Branch for a 61 yard TD and this game was quickly getting further away from Tebow. Though that looked to be the end of the scoring in the 1st half, Tebow was unable to pick up a 1st down and with 1:09 left in the half, Brady and the offense got the ball back, and wouldn't disappoint the Gillette Stadium crowd. It took only 5 plays before Brady would hit Gronkowski for his 3rd TD catch of the half, this time from 20 yards out and the Patriots took a 35-7 lead at halftime and that was all she wrote.
Brady would connect on his 6th TD, this time to Aaron Hernandez early in the 3rd quarter, and it was 42-7. That was the end of the highlights but not the fireworks. Late in the 4th quarter, Brady would drop a 48 yard punt down to the Broncos 10, and Von Miller shoved Dan Connolly in the back, and led to a little scrapping on the Patriots sideline. Though not ejected for the foul, it earned several comments from national media writers, some saying that may cost him Defensive Rookie of the Year, to Aldon Smith. At the end of the game, it was all Patriots, winning 45-10. This may put an end to "Tebow Mania" for now, but it's bound to start back up again next year when he's "making plays" and being a "winner."
Baltimore Ravens: 20 Houston Texans: 13
As expected this game was all smash-mouth and big hits. Coming off their 1st playoff win in team history, the Texans wanted more as they headed into Baltimore. Following a huge 60 yard kickoff return by Danieal Manning, the Texans would strike early picking up 3 points off the boot of Neil Rackers. Then following a 3 and out by the Texans defense, it looked like Houston came ready to play and run the Ravens right out of their yard. After Sam Koch's booming punt, Texans returner, Jacoby Jones tried to catch it off the bounce and fumbled it, and recovered by the Ravens, Jimmy Smith at the Texans 2. The Ravens would capitalize on 3rd down punching it in, to take a 7-3 lead. The game would looked to get out of hand quickly as the Texans were unable to muster anything offensively against the stout Ravens defense and following an Anquan Boldin TD catch it was 17-3, still in the 1st quarter.As time moved on in the 2nd quarter, Arian Foster, slowly started to get going, and TJ Yates was becoming comfortable in the pocket. Another Rackers field goal would cut the lead to 17-6. The Texans defense wouldn't let the Ravens extend that lead any further, as they forced a quick 3 and out, and the momentum looked to have shifted to the Texans sideline. Arian Foster made sure that "Uncle MO" stayed on their sideline as he took the first carry of the drive 28 yards out to the 42 yard line. The Ravens would then see a heavy dose of Arian Foster, as he would run through the Ravens vaunted run D like they were standing still. On a 3rd and goal from the 1, Foster would finally punch it in, capping off a 12 play, 91 yard drive, to push the score to 17-13.
That would be the halftime score, but also would remain the score through the entire 3rd quarter following a HUGE goal line stand by the Texans. Facing a 4th and goal from the 1/2 yard line, the Ravens looked to extend the lead, but Tim Dobbins had other plans as he stuffed Ray Rice short of the goal line and the score remained 17-13. Knowing this was going to be a defensive struggle, both teams didn't plan on letting the others score. The Texans D could only handle so much, and following TJ Yates 2nd interception of the game, the Ravens would capitalize adding 3 more points to push their lead to 7. Trailing 20-13 with 2:52 left in the game, the Texans took their chances and it looked promising. Yates found Andre Johnson for 16 yards and then again for 18 on the next play and at the 2:00 warning, the Texans were at the Baltimore 38. Yates would then make another crucial mistake on the 1st down play. It appeared he locked onto Andre from the snap and threw a fade to the end zone where Ed Reed was lurking, and he snagged his 8th career playoff interception. That appeared to be the end of the Texans line, but with 2 timeouts they forced the Ravens into a 3rd and less than a yard, and they would stuff Vonta Leach, forcing another Ravens punt, and the Texans would get the ball with 48 seconds left, at their own 48. Facing a 4th and 2, Yates threw what appeared to be a hail mary into the end zone, which fell incomplete, though it appeared to hit Kevin Walter in the arm.
The Texans battled hard, and through all the injuries, came up just a few plays short of the AFC Championship. The Ravens finished with 0 penalties and 0 turnovers, though they fumbled the ball 4 times, recovering all of them, and that may have been the difference in the outcome.
New York Giants: 37 Green Bay Packers: 20
"If there was ever a time for Eli Manning to add another notch to his elite status, this is his week to do it." Eli was definitely elite this week as he chopped up and spit out a terrible Green Bay secondary. In a game where it appeared the rust was there for many Packers, who sat out the last regular season game, followed by a bye week, the Giants looked crisp. In a 3-3 game, late in the 1st quarter, Eli found Hakeem Nicks behind the Green Bay defense for a 66 yard touchdown and that put the G-Men up 10-3. The Packers wouldn't go away though as Aaron Rodgers looked decent on the next drive hooking up with John Kuhn for an 8 yard TD to tie the game at 10. That would be as close as the game was the rest of the game. As time was running down in the 1st half, the Giants led 13-10, when they had one last play in the half. Manning would throw a jump ball to the end zone and Hakeem Nicks somehow came down with it for a 37 yard TD catch, and the defending champs trailed 20-10 at the half.
With the score at 23-13 midway through the 4th and the Pack having the ball, many people though the game wasn't over and Aaron Rodgers could take it into his own hands. Unfortunately, the Giants defense had other plans forcing a fumble and returning it down to the Packer 4 yard line. On the next play, Manning found Mario Manningham dragging across the back of the end zone, and that extended the lead to 30-13. The Pack Attack wasn't ready to go away though as Rodgers would lead the Packers down the field and find Donald Driver in the end zone on a 16 yard pass to cut the lead back to 30-20. With 4:47 left in the game, the Packers tried the onside kick, nearly recovering it, but luckily Victor Cruz was able to hold on for the Giants, and that closed the door. As the Giants looked to run the clock out, Brandon Jacobs broke one to the corner of the pylon for 16 yards, and put the Giants up 37-20.
The Giants were able to have a stable enough running game to keep the secondary of the Packers off guard. Eli finished 21-33 for 330 yards with 3 TD's. This sets up a nice rematch of the 49ers Week 10 win over the Giants 27-20.
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