This past weekend put us one step closer to determining this year's Super Bowl match-up. It was a weekend of excitement and surprises that now leaves us with an partly unexpected final four. It all comes down to this for those teams still alive in the Super Bowl hunt, but for those that had that dream ended, here is how it all went down.
Green Bay lived up to the hype in two ways during this game. The first was the weather, which turned from just being cold to cold and heavy snow. Then the second was the team, who just ran Seattle out of Lambeau Field after a close start.
Early on, there was some concern for the Packers as Ryan Grant fumbled the ball away to the Seahawks twice. Seattle capitalized on the turnovers and actually got out to a 14-0 lead, but that would pretty much be it for them.
Green Bay just completely took over the game after creating turnovers of their own and also getting points from them. Ryan Grant made up for his two mistakes by having an amazing game, and Brett Favre was, well Brett Favre. He continued his spectacular season with another great game to lead the Packers into the NFC Championship Game.
What can be said about Tom Brady. Get this stat. He threw only two incompletions during this entire game on 28 attempts, and one of those incompletions was a drop. His play alone was simply ridiculous, but it wasn't the only thing that helped take down the Jags. Laurence Maroney had a solid game as well, rushing for over 100 yards to help lead New England to another AFC Championship Game.
This by far was the most surprising game of the entire playoffs. At home, you would think Indy would win this game somewhat comfortably. Then add in the fact that LaDainian Tomlinson missed somewhere around half of this game with an injury, Philip Rivers left with an injury in the second half, Antonio Gates was hurting coming into this game, and the officiating wasn't exactly at its best. Despite all of that, the Chargers somehow pulled out the upset.
All in all, San Diego just wanted it more, as you can tell considering how much adversity they had against them. It was really amazing to watch them continuously come back after Indy would have a big play, especially once the backups were in at QB and RB. It was a great win for the Chargers and they now get to play New England with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
The Giants have had their magic working on the road all year since an opening week loss in Dallas, and that continued on Sunday once again at the Cowboys. In a close game that went down to the wire, the Giants just had things going their way in the end.
I'm not going to blame Tony Romo for the loss or go on even further to blame the loss on his trip to Mexico with Jessica Simpson during the bye week, but that certainly seems like an excuse a lot of people are using. No doubt it is an easy story to talk about, especially considering this has happened for a second straight year with Romo, but at least he didn't fumble a snap or something like that this time.
To the Giants, kudos on playing so great on the road, and to T.O., man up.
Checking in on my predictions, I was perfect going into Sunday, but then everything got derailed. First the Chargers upset Indy, and then the Giants took out Dallas. That means that I lose one of my Super Bowl teams (Dallas), but still have the other as New England is still alive. As far as predictions go for this weekend's games, I'm obviously taking New England in the AFC, and then in the NFC I'm going with Favre and the Packers. Although New York's play on the road has been second to none, they haven't had to go play on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field. And frozen may be an understatement as temperatures will be in single digits for this game on Sunday.