NFL Playoffs Wrap Up

Pats 12-20 Broncos
This one surprised me. The Bronco D really showed out strong, Brady got hit more than I've ever seen and Gronk never looked right. I didn't see that Bronco pass defense coming because of the kid gloves treatment they gave Roethlisberger last week--man, I thought they'd rock that dude, happily giving up a personal foul or two. I guess they were saving it for Brady. The Broncos were able to get pressure without blitzing, choosing to blanket the Pats receivers which seriously disrupted Brady's timing and left him prey to the defensive front four. I thought Von Miller was the MVP of the game, that dude was all over the place, covering Gronk in the 1st half, pounding Brady in the 2nd. Manning gets all the love but truthfully after the masterful opening drive, he didn't do much for the rest of the game (one short TD after a Brady interception and a coupla FGs). It was the Pats' inability to get an offense going that made the difference in this game. The Pats had some controversy choosing to go on 4th down rather than kick FGs on 3 separate occasions with under 7 minutes left in the game; I was with that choice at the time because it seemed to me it didn't really change anything: they'd have to play D, get the ball back and score a TD regardless of whether they tacked on a FG or not. But the 2-point conversion (necessary because Gostkowski missed a PAT for only the 2nd time in his Hall of Fame career!) basically means the Pats had to get into the end zone twice to tie whereas 3 FGs could've won the game. It seemed implausible that the Pats would get three possessions that late in the game but...they did! If they'd stuck in two FGs and kept their 3 timeouts then another FG would've been the game winner. The Broncos 2nd half possession were utterly toothless (1 FG, 5 punts) and the Pats actually had a lot of chances to score.

(Interesting detail that I haven't heard anyone point out yet: this is Peyton's 4th Super Bowl with 4 different coaches....isn't that weird?)

Cards 15-49 Panthers
This one didn't surprise me. The Panthers have not had any problem scoring all year long and the Cards have looked kinda shaky in their last coupla games. As I wrote before, Carson Palmer, fine as he's been this year, is quite capable of turning the ball over and he did that in spades on this night. Cam was just about perfect, the Panther D was all up in Palmer's world, the Cards never got any offensive attack going, the special teams muffed one, this one was over quick. (1-1 in my Championship Sunday predictions)