Well, that was an awful weekend of football. I guess I was naive to think that we would have two good games, as the Falcons and Patriots were far and away the better teams, absolutely crushing the Packers and Steelers. With only one game remaining in the playoffs, there have only been two playoff games decided by one score, and only one of those was truly entertaining (Green Bay’s 34-31 victory over Dallas). The Super Bowl will be our last hope for a second entertaining game. Fortunately, the two remaining teams both look incredibly good. Hopefully they have saved their best for last because these playoffs have been pretty boring so far. As far as my predictions go, I went 1-1 straight up and 0-2 ATS over the weekend, which brings my 2017 playoff total to 8-2 straight up and 5-5 ATS. My predictions for this season’s playoffs have been unfortunately mediocre.
Atlanta Falcons defeat Green Bay Packers, 44-21
From the very beginning, the Atlanta offense looked unstoppable, as they scored a touchdown on their first possession. The Packer defense made a couple of nice plays, but the Falcons dominated on third down (they finished the day 10/13). From the very beginning of the game, it was apparent that Green Bay would be unable to cover Julio Jones (and most of the other Atlanta receivers). Since that was the case, it would be up to the Green Bay offense to keep pace with Atlanta. On the Packers’ first possession, they were able to respond to the Falcons’ hot start with a nice drive of their own, but Mason Crosby capped off the drive with his first missed field goal in 23 playoff attempts. That would turn out to be an ominous sign for the beatdown that was to come. On Atlanta’s second drive, the demolition continued, as the Packers failed to cover receivers and then failed to tackle those receivers in space. Green Bay showed some life though, holding Atlanta to a field goal. Again, the Packers responded with a strong drive, but a Ripkowski fumble in the red zone made it all for naught. The crucial mistakes were slowly building up for the Packers. Atlanta immediately made Green Bay pay for the mistake with another clinical drive, extending their lead to 17-0.
That’s when the wheels began to fall off, as Green Bay went three and out on their ensuing possession. The Packers continued to squander golden opportunities to get back into the game, as Green Bay’s next great chance to get the ball in great field position was missed, when Taylor Gabriel was able to recover his own fumble on an ill-designed trick play. The Packer defense again failed to make plays on the final drive of the half, missing two more great turnover opportunities when Ryan made a couple of bad throws that should have resulted in interceptions. Atlanta capitalized again on Green Bay’s inability to capitalize by scoring a touchdown with three seconds left in the half, when Ryan found Jones in the endzone for a spectacular sideline tiptoe catch.
Atlanta went into halftime with a 24-0 lead. Twenty Four to ZERO. However, the demolition was not over just yet. The Falcons got off to a perfect second half start, forcing the Packers into another three and out, and scoring two plays later on a ridiculous Julio Jones catch and run. That play sealed it. Green Bay was able to make some respectable plays in garbage time, so Rodgers’ stat line ultimately looked fine, but this game was all Atlanta. The Falcons got a few lucky breaks, but even without those bits of luck, it is hard to imagine that the Packers would have been able to win this one. The Falcons are flying high, and the offense is playing at its peak. Similarly, the defense should be given credit for holding the red hot Packer offense to only 21 points. Ultimately, the headlines will be about Matt Ryan. Ryan will almost certainly win the league MVP this season, and he only solidified his case by putting up MVP numbers in the NFC Conference Championship Game, going 27/38 for 392 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs. Flawless.
New England Patriots defeat Pittsburgh Steelers, 36-17
From the very beginning, New England looked unstoppable, as the defense and offense were able to combine for an early 10-0 lead in the first quarter. The Steelers made a couple of nice plays, but they were unable to gain any significant chunks of yards down the field. The defense briefly held firm against Brady, but as the game progressed, the secondary slowly unraveled, leaving Hogan and Edelman in inexplicable amounts of space. On the other side of the ball, the Steeler offense had their hands full with this strong New England defensive unit. And to make matters worse, Le’Veon Bell went down with an injury in the first quarter, which certainly did not help Pittsburgh’s cause. While Deangelo Williams is no ordinary backup running back, he is not nearly at the talent level of Bell. Bell was clearly missed in the ground game, as Pittsburgh was only able to gain 54 yards rushing throughout the entire game.
Unlike the Packers, the Steelers at least showed some life in the first half, cutting the lead to 10-6 after the Patriots’ hot start. However, New England immediately responded by scoring a touchdown on their next possession with the help of a little trickery, when they ran a perfectly executed flea flicker. Dion Lewis did a great job of running the ball all the way to the line, which is very important for executing a successful flea flicker. When Brady got the ball back from Lewis, the Steelers had already decided not to cover Hogan (a decision they decided to make all day), as he was left wide open for the easy touchdown.
The game-changing moment was when New England came up with a huge goal line stand just before the half. The goal line stand was preceded by a drop in the endzone by Hamilton and a great tackle by Hightower which kept Jesse James out of the endzone on the play that set up Pittsburgh with 1st and goal. At halftime, the score was a manageable 17-9. However, that was short-lived, as New England scored on their first three possessions of the second half, sealing the game. Over that same span, the Steelers could do no better than two punts and a fumble. Brady showed that he still has plenty in the tank, nearly matching Ryan’s incredible performance from the game before, with a stat line of 32/42 for 384 yards, 3 TDs and, 0 INTs. Roethlisberger ended up having a solid game, eclipsing 300 yards through the air, but the ground game was nearly non-existent. Bell was not able to do much before he got hurt, though I imagine he would have been more effective had he had the chance to play some more snaps. Still, the New England defense is predicated on their excellent ability to stop the run, so a healthy Bell may not have been able to influence the game anyways. Without their usual solid running game, the Pittsburgh offense was unable to sustain drives long enough to put consistent points on the board. As the Steeler offense stalled, Brady and the Patriots thrived, as they were able to pull away in the third quarter, booking a trip to Houston for Super Bowl LI.
Ultimately, both games ended up providing little entertainment for the neutral fan, as both dominant performances were predicated on the losing team’s total inability to cover receivers and tackle in space. Looking back at the highlights, the Patriots seemed to play a more complete game, never giving the Steelers a chance, and coming up with big plays when it mattered most. The Falcons ended up with the more dominant scoreline; however, the Packers were unlucky at some of the more crucial moments in the game, allowing the Falcons to run away with it early. Both winning teams showed that they have an offense capable of picking apart any defense, and a defense with the ability to at least slow down a talented offense. Two great teams are set to meet in Super Bowl LI. I’ll be back next week to make Super Bowl predictions. Stay tuned, as both the NFL and Brosh Knows Football seasons draw closer to the end.
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