You’re Talking About Playoffs?

The Divisional Playoffs are in the books and the final four teams left standing in the National Football League’s annual tournament to see who will play in the Super Bowl have now made themselves known.

The four survivors are the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers, and the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots beat the Ravens, the Seahawks beat the Panthers, the Pack beat the Cowboys, and the Colts beat the Donks. Three favorites and one that wasn’t favored (Indy), although they have shown they are an up and coming team that can beat some pretty good teams when they are on their game.

The Games

New England’s game against Baltimore was a stirring test for the resolve of the Patriots. Baltimore came out and slugged the Pats in the mouth and indicated that they were not at all going to be impressed by the #1 seeded team. The Ravens went up 14 to nothing. Then New England came back with two TD’s and tied it at 14. Then, the Ravens went up 28 to 14, and a lesser team might have folded. But, New England, knowing that Baltimore was GOING to stop their running game, simply ignored the concept and threw on almost every down for the rest of the game. They scored two touchdowns to tie it at 28, and a REAL game was on. The Ravens got a fourth quarter field goal to go up by three, but that never seemed like it would be enough in this offensive of a game. The Patriots scored a touchdown with about five minutes to play, and the late Baltimore drive ALMOST got them back, but a late interception preserved the game for New England 35 to 31.

What the game taught was that, indeed, Baltimore is REALLY good against the run, but that New England has an even better passing attack. Tom Brady is throwing the ball extremely well for a 37-year-old quarterback. And his coach Bill Belichick can adapt to in-game situations as well as anyone, as shown by the total abandonment of the run midway through the game and the passes on every play throughout the second half. He did what it took to win, and the Patriots move on.

Seattle beat the Panthers 31 to 17 in a game where Carolina never really seemed like they had a chance to win, although they managed to keep it close for nearly the entire game (until Kam Chancellor picked off a pass and went 90 yards for a Seahawk touchdown to put the game out of reach). The Seattle defense played its usual powerful game, but, save for some big play breakdowns, Carolina matched them with equally physical play. The game just showed that Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson is simply a much better quarterback than Cam Newton.

In the things that matter, as it relates to playing winning football at the quarterback position, Russell Wilson showed again that he is as good as ANYBODY at winning. Seattle, without Russell Wilson, simply becomes an ordinary team with a good defense. In fact, if you take away elite defensive backs Chancellor, Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas, Seattle becomes an ordinary defense also. Seattle has those four players, and running back Marshawn Lynch, that puts them in the elite category. Take them away, they are an eight and eight team at best. But, they’ve got them, and they are in the NFC championship game again.

Green Bay beat Dallas in a GREAT football game that truly could have been won by either team. Tony Romo played well. Aaron Rodgers played extremely well, considering he played with a partially torn muscle in his calf. It came down to a few big plays in the fourth quarter. Rodgers got the Packers ahead 26 to 21, with half the fourth quarter remaining. Dallas got to fourth and one at the Green Bay 35 with about five minutes remaining. Instead of going for the yard and the first down, Dallas went for broke and threw a bomb down the left sideline. Dez Bryant caught the ball, but as he hit the ground, the tip of the ball hit the ground and he bobbled it, before re-securing the catch. It was overruled as a catch (the famous Calvin Johnson rule), ruled as an incomplete, and the ball went over to Green Bay.

Dallas had a chance to stop Green Bay (much the same way they DID stop Detroit in the same situation last week), but the Packers got a key first down and were able to run out the clock. Dallas WON a close game last week (with help from a close call) when they had the right stuff and were able to do the things to win it down the stretch. They LOST a close game (no thanks to the reversal of a call that went against them) this week because they did NOT make the plays down the stretch that they needed to make to win the game. It is unfortunate for Dallas that Dez Bryant did not protect the ball and avoid the ball making contact with the ground (and thus bobbling it), as it was a spectacular “catch,” but the officials made the correct call as to how the rules read, and Green Bay deserved to win.

The Colts upset the Broncos at Mile High 24 to 13 in a game that might have been Peyton Manning’s last game. Manning seemed like a pitcher who has lost his fastball. His throws had nothing on them. His usual great touch seemed to be lacking. The Colt defensive backs seemed to be able to bat down tons of his throws. The Broncos only gained a little over 200 yards this game (garbage time not withstanding). Without the current Manning playing like the “old” Manning, the Broncos are just another football team.

Also, the Colts, more of an up and coming team than the older Broncos, seemed to have the better offensive AND defensive lines, with Andrew Luck seeming to have the better protection than Manning. When he needed to make plays, Andrew Luck made them. When Manning needed to make plays, he didn’t make the same plays he has made his entire career (up till now). It’s difficult to say this, but Andrew Luck seemed like a better quarterback than Peyton Manning.

The Summary

Yes, the favorites mostly won. There always seems to be at least ONE surprise in the final four. The teams with the best records (Indy was, after all, 11 and 5, not that far fromn Denver’s 12 and 4) during the regular season are often the best teams during the playoffs too. It would NOT have been an upset if either the Colts or the Cowboys had knocked off their closely matched opponents. In this case, one did and one didn’t. The playoff survivors? They are who we thought they were. Kind of.

But these teams weren’t such sure things during ALL of the parts of this season. All four of these teams have had rough stretches and points where they were either dismissed, disrespected, disregarded and pretty much considered to be counted OUT as a serious contender this season.

New England, earlier in the year, was absolutely throttled by the Kansas City Chiefs to drop their record to 2 and 2. There were fans everywhere, especially in New England, that were calling in to say that their team should be broken up and that Brady was finished. They were GIVING UP on Brady and the Pats. Then they won about eight straight games and they seemed great again, finishing 12 and 4 with the AFC’s number one seed.

Seattle was 3 and 3 and there were all kinds of whispers that they might not even make the playoffs. Then, they got everyone healthy and won most of the way down the stretch and also ended up 12 and 4 and the NFC’s number one seed.

Indy was 2 and 2 early, and also suffered from some mid season problems, getting creamed by the Patriots and the Cowboys, before recovering enough down the stretch with a much better defense to get to the number three seed in the playoffs. They always seemed to have their weak AFC South Division in hand, but they also had enough poor games, that many fans simply ruled them out as a serious contender.

Green Bay was totally stopped by the Lions in their third game of the year, and Packer fans were crying that their team was horrible and going to miss out on the playoffs. Then, Aaron Rodgers told them all to r-e-l-a-x, and the team started winning again. They too won enough down the stretch to make their earlier in the season woes look like something from long ago and far away. They cruised into the playoffs, and their home field advantage was probably the difference in their playoff game against Dallas.

In other words, ALL of the final four teams had their moments of doubt.

This all shows that it’s a long season, and you can’t be counted out just because you have a bad stretch, and also that a team needs to be playing their best at the end of the season. Some of the faders down the stretch, Arizona, Denver and the Bengals come to mind, are watching the rest of the playoffs, while the hotter teams are still playing.

It also should be noted that the surviving four teams pretty much have the best quarterbacks in all of football. Brady and Rodgers are locks for the Hall of Fame and are still playing some of the best football in the business. Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck are on their way to that same status (they’ve only been in the league for three years). They are stud quarterbacks. They are the FUTURE of this league. More than any other year, it is becoming more and more apparent that this is truly a quarterback-driven league.

And so, we’ve got Green Bay vs. Seattle and Denver vs. New England in next week’s championship games, with the Super Bowl on the line. Seattle vs. New England in a Super Bowl has never happened. Could that be the case after next week?

As usual, I don’t know. That’s why they play the games.