2 for 4 revisited

Well...my record for the NFL playoffs didn't get much better. When it comes to the NFL, I like to think of myself as a knowledgeable guy. I also think that I know a lot more about the AFC than the NFC because the teams I pay attention to the most, Miami and New England, are AFC teams. Therefore, I tend to analyze their opponents and AFC competition more. Maybe my problem is that I analyze it so much, that I go a little crazy and overanalyze everything and throw my brain off. I'll have to test this theory next year, but my first indication came last week when I got both prediction son the NFC games right and both AFC predictions wrong.

I never expected Denver to beat the Patriots, and in my own opinion, they didn't. Of course you're looking at the score and saying "Whatchootalkinabout, Willis?". Well, let's look at the game a little closer. The Broncos didn't dominate the time of possession, they only held the ball 3 minutes longer than the Pats. Tom Brady threw for 341 yards to jake Plummers 197, and the Pats led in total yards, 420-286. The big problem was turnovers. New England fumbled a kickoff and a punt which Denver recovered. They also fumbled on a drive in their own territory which led to a Denver TD. On top of that Tom Brady threw 2 interceptions, one of which was run back 100 yards and led to another Denver TD. That's 5 turnovers in the game for the Patriots. When was the last time that ever happened to a Belichick-coached team? Can you remember? Yeah, neither can I. Denver scored 24 of their 27 points as a result of New England turnovers. So, yes, Denver won the game 27-13, but they certainly didn't beat the Patriots. The Patriots beat themselves...but that is NFL Playoff football.

In the other AFC matchup, the Steelers beat the Colts in their own home. Pittsburgh surprisingly started out with an incredible aerial attack in the beginning of the game. Not what you'd expect from a ground attack type of team. The Steelers jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, then held a 21-3 lead. Indy couldn't seem to get their offensive into high gear as they had much trouble protecting Peyton Manning from an amazing Steelers defense which had 5 sacks and an interception was wrongfully taken away by an inept referee. The Colts finally got things going in the 4th quarter as they battled back to within 3 points, 21-18. This led to one of the most wild endings I have seen in a football game in a while. After the Colts defense held their ground to give the offense a shot to try and tie or win the game, the Colts were forced to go for it on 4th and 16 from their own 12 yard line. Unfortunately they never had a chance, as Blitzburgh came at Manning from all over and sacked him at the 2 yard line with 1:27 left in the game. The Steelers take over but instead of running out the clock on a kneel-down, they give the ball to the sure-handed Jerome Bettis to go for a touchdown and out the game out of reach. Bettis pounds the ball up the middle only to have a Colts defender knock the ball out of his hands. The ball is quickly scooped up by the speedy Nick Harper of Indy, who takes off down the field. The only man he has to beat is Steelers QB, Ben Roethlisberger, who is not speedy. Instead of running to the outside where he would have easily outrun the lumbering QB, Harper cuts it back to the middle of the field and right at Big Ben, who dives at Harpers legs and takes him down at the Colts 42 yard line with 1:01 left in the game. The Colts drive to the Steelers 28 to give kicker, Mike Vanderjagt a chance to tie it up from 46 yards away. As you would expect from the "Most Accurate Kicker" in the game...he MISSED IT??? It was wide right...WAY WIDE RIGHT. Pittsburgh kneels the ball and the game is over. WOW...what an ending!!!

Over in the NFC, nothing surprising happened. The Seahawks beat the Redskins even though league MVP, Shaun Alexander, was out for most of the game with a concussion. They still had too much offense for the Redskins to overcome.

In the other game, Carolina went into Chicago and took out the #2 seed in a game that was unexpectedly more offense than defense. For once, the Bears offense outplayed their defense, but it wasn't enough to outgun the Panthers.

This takes us to the Conference Championships, which will be played later today to see who goes to Detroit to play in Super Bowl eXtra Large. My predictions will be posted shortly. Stay tuned!