A Little Bit Of Luck

Championship Sunday delivered us one game for the memory books and one more example of the continued excellence of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, as the final two survivors, New England and Seattle, have punched their tickets to Super Bowl XLIX.

Both winning teams, the Seahawks and the Patriots, were benefactors of a little bit of luck. Seattle, from a miracle onsides kick that they recovered, and the Patriots, because, well, they only saw a “little” bit of Andrew Luck. More on all of that later.

The Games

NFC

The NFC Championship Game had an over/under of 46 1/2, the Packers led 19 to 7, and there were only about six minutes to play in the game, AND the Packers even had the ball on offense. And the game ended up going OVER the spread. THAT is the kind of game this turned out to be.

The Green Bay Packers had nearly everything that could happen go right for three and a half quarters of football against the defending champion Seahawks. The game had been sloppily played. Seattle had committed four turnovers and were about to make that five. The Packers led the Seahawks 19 to 7, and the excitable Seattle fans had started to think that maybe their luck had just about run out.

The rains continued to come down. With about six minutes to play, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson proceeded to throw his fourth interception of the game, and when Packer safety slid to his knees to hand the ball over to the offense to run out the clock, all seemed lost for the Seahawks. If the Packers could get just two first downs, they would be able to run out the clock and win the game 19 to 7.

But they didn’t get a first down. In fact, they allowed Seattle to get the ball back with a little more than five minutes to play (having had to use two of their three time outs). Seattle went into turbo overdrive offense mode, and the Green Bay defense, that had been stellar for the first 55 minutes of the game, suddenly couldn’t stop anybody. Seattle scored a touchdown on a Russell Wilson run with a little more than two minutes to play, which cut the lead to 19 to 14. (that’s 33 points on the over/under meter, with just about two minutes to play)

It would all hinge on an onsides kick that Seattle HAD to recover, and the odds would say that Green Bay SHOULD recover. If the Packers get the ball, they would likely salt the game. Seattle needed a little luck.

And they GOT it. A back up Green Bay tight end tried to grab the onsides kick that was supposed to be fielded by sure hands wide receiver Jordy Nelson. He fumbled it off of his face mask right into the hands of a Seattle special teamer, and the Seahawks had the ball and had life again.

Russell Wilson marched Seattle down the field quickly, and Marshawn Lynch scored a go ahead touchdown with only about a minute left. A two point conversion made it 22 to 19 Seattle. Green Bay, which had controlled the game for the first 55 minutes was now TRAILING.

Only, Aaron Rodgers, with only that minute to play (and his time outs), moved the ball down the field enough to set up a game tying 48-yard field goal with seconds to play to tie up the game 22 to 22. (If you were betting the overs on the over/under, the number now stood at 44, and the winning team would likely HAVE to score at least a field goal, meaning the two teams had just cinched the OVERS.)

Seattle won the toss to get the ball first in overtime. That was lucky, as Green Bay had the chance to call it and called it wrong. In overtime, if the first team to get the ball on offense scores a touchdown, the game ends at that moment. Green Bay’s chance at this point was with Aaron Rodgers, not their defense.

Seattle, with the ball, unleashed the same unstoppable offensive attack they had discovered during the last five minutes of play. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson (after his earlier four interceptions) then completed his rescue of the Seahawks team from life support by throwing about a 35 yard touchdown to win the game for the Seahawks 28 to 22.

Seattle had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. They also snatched OVERS from the jaws of UNDERS. All it took was a lot of great plays down the stretch of one incredibly dramatic football game, with the help of that one little bit of luck on that onsides kick. And on they go to the Super Bowl.

AFC

In the AFC Championship Game, the New England Patriots flat out beat the hell out of the Indy Colts 45 to 7. This game was also played in a hard, driving rain, but no matter where they would have played this game, New England would have trounced Indy. It was THAT much of a beatdown.

It was a classic case of New England being better at every single phase of the game. They, led by LeGarrette Blount’s 150+ yards and three touchdowns, ran the ball up and down the field on the Colts. Their defense was MUCH better at stopping Indy than Indy was at attempting to stop New England. Their special teams were better. Their coach was better.

And most of all, their quarterback Tom Brady played the position of quarterback better than his younger counterpart Andrew Luck. Brady at 37 is playing as good or better at quarterback than at almost any time in his career. Contrast Brady’s arm strength and throwing ability at 37 to what Peyton Manning has been doing at 38 and you can see one guy who seems like he is about ten years younger than his long time rival and counterpart.

There has been a lot of talk by football experts as to who they are considering to be the “Best Quarterback of All Time,” and everything lately seems to point to either Manning or Brady being considered the best ever (along with, who else, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas?). Brady’s recent excellent play, and Manning’s recent decline have changed a lot of people’s minds. A few more years of this type of play from Brady, and his position on top of the heap might be cemented.

So, in the championship game, you got to see a lot of what Brady does well, which shows up best as managing his team’s offense, and, when the scoreboard shows up as 45 to 7, you know he has done a great job. You also saw the young, former number one draft pick Andrew Luck showing very little in the way of quarterbacking on the big stage that was Championship Sunday. Even with a little more “luck,” Indy would still have been beaten.

So, after this long season of ups and downs, New England and Seattle have survived and are going to the Super Bowl. To both teams, I say, “Good luck.”