49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick winds up the Carolina fans by imitating Cam Newton's 'Superman' celebration after a touchdown. John Bazemore/AP/Press Association Images
NFL
The Redzone: Fantastic final four the best the NFL has to offer
The Divisional round lacked the drama of Wildcard weekend but produced two cracking Championship games
ROGER GOODELL MUST have a massive smile on his face this morning. For the first time in eight years, all four favourites took care of business in the Divisional round, setting NFL fans up for the best pair of Conference Championship games in nearly a decade.
Indeed, you could make an argument that, on paper at least, both Championship games have the potential to be better than the Super Bowl itself; the Broncos/Patriots offering us a chance to see two of the greatest quarterbacks ever go head-to-head once more while the current Seahawks/49ers rivalry seems destined for a future NFL Films production.
However, while most neutrals got the results they wanted — and my prediction of a Patriots/Seahawks Super Bowl remains alive — it would be fair to say the Divisional round failed to live up to the drama and excitement of Wildcard weekend.
Considering the NFL is now widely regarded as a passing league — and sometimes that’s spoken about as if it is a bad thing for some reason — between them, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson made just three touchdown throws this weekend, with the Denver Broncos quarterback responsible for 66% of those.
What we saw instead was a controlled, calculated passing game from the Divisional round winners with just one interception between the four winning quarterbacks (Peyton Manning), compared to six from the four losing ones.
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To be so controlled though, you need a good running game and the four winning teams this weekend had nearly double (667) the rushing yards of the four vanquished teams (335).
Impressive
The most impressive performance of the weekend was that of the San Francisco 49ers. Their gameplan was virtually perfect; go to Carolina, wind up the Panthers players and fans, concentrate on your football while your opponents are still talking trash and committing stupid penalties, win football game.
That’s eight wins a row for the 49ers who appear to be hitting form at the right time. However, just because you’re on a roll doesn’t mean you can’t come to a sudden and complete stop at any minute, just ask the San Diego Chargers.
After winning five in a row to creep into the playoffs, Philip Rivers and company — especially the injury-plagued offensive line — looked mentally and physically exhausted last night which probably explains why the quarterback had one yard net passing in the first half. Conservative play-calling didn’t do the Chargers any favours and one can’t help but feel that offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt’s week long job hunt in the build up to the game equally hurt San Diego.
That said, there’s no denying the Broncos deserve their shot at the AFC Championship after the season they’ve had and, with the exception of a wild few minutes at the end, they never really needed to get out of third gear to advance.
The same can be said for the Seattle Seahawks who rode their defence to yet another win in CenturyLink Field. Holding Drew Brees to 34 passing yards in the first half and Jimmy Graham to one catch, in garbage time, all game is impressive but Pete Carroll’s charges were also greatly assisted by the Saints missing field goals, botching punts and generally looking more nervous than you’d expect a Sean Payton team at this time of the season.
The happiest coach this weekend will probably be Bill Belichick, though it’s unlikely he’ll show it. For weeks he’s been listening to everyone say that he and Tom Brady won’t win another Super Bowl because they don’t have receivers. Well six rushing touchdowns adds a new dimension to their game and if the Patriots can use the run to set up play action next week, we’re in for a brilliant game.
Officiating
It would appear I’ve missed a memo at some stage and that holding on the offensive line (looking at you Denver) and defensive pass interference (hi Seattle) is not being flagged anymore. The attitude, from those two teams in particular seems to be if we do it every play, they can’t possibly flag us all the time.
In a way, you have to admire the teams for it, afterall, it’s only a penalty if the official throws his flag and of course those two teams aren’t the only ones engaging in bending of the rules. However, if it’s obvious to me that it’s happening when I’m sitting on a couch thousands of miles away, surely it should be much easier for an official on the ground, especially when they know teams are going to try get away with it?
That said, it’s not like a Super Bowl was ever decided by an official missing a blatant foul. Wait, what?
The Redzone: Fantastic final four the best the NFL has to offer
ROGER GOODELL MUST have a massive smile on his face this morning. For the first time in eight years, all four favourites took care of business in the Divisional round, setting NFL fans up for the best pair of Conference Championship games in nearly a decade.
Indeed, you could make an argument that, on paper at least, both Championship games have the potential to be better than the Super Bowl itself; the Broncos/Patriots offering us a chance to see two of the greatest quarterbacks ever go head-to-head once more while the current Seahawks/49ers rivalry seems destined for a future NFL Films production.
However, while most neutrals got the results they wanted — and my prediction of a Patriots/Seahawks Super Bowl remains alive — it would be fair to say the Divisional round failed to live up to the drama and excitement of Wildcard weekend.
Considering the NFL is now widely regarded as a passing league — and sometimes that’s spoken about as if it is a bad thing for some reason — between them, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson made just three touchdown throws this weekend, with the Denver Broncos quarterback responsible for 66% of those.
What we saw instead was a controlled, calculated passing game from the Divisional round winners with just one interception between the four winning quarterbacks (Peyton Manning), compared to six from the four losing ones.
To be so controlled though, you need a good running game and the four winning teams this weekend had nearly double (667) the rushing yards of the four vanquished teams (335).
Impressive
The most impressive performance of the weekend was that of the San Francisco 49ers. Their gameplan was virtually perfect; go to Carolina, wind up the Panthers players and fans, concentrate on your football while your opponents are still talking trash and committing stupid penalties, win football game.
That’s eight wins a row for the 49ers who appear to be hitting form at the right time. However, just because you’re on a roll doesn’t mean you can’t come to a sudden and complete stop at any minute, just ask the San Diego Chargers.
After winning five in a row to creep into the playoffs, Philip Rivers and company — especially the injury-plagued offensive line — looked mentally and physically exhausted last night which probably explains why the quarterback had one yard net passing in the first half. Conservative play-calling didn’t do the Chargers any favours and one can’t help but feel that offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt’s week long job hunt in the build up to the game equally hurt San Diego.
That said, there’s no denying the Broncos deserve their shot at the AFC Championship after the season they’ve had and, with the exception of a wild few minutes at the end, they never really needed to get out of third gear to advance.
The same can be said for the Seattle Seahawks who rode their defence to yet another win in CenturyLink Field. Holding Drew Brees to 34 passing yards in the first half and Jimmy Graham to one catch, in garbage time, all game is impressive but Pete Carroll’s charges were also greatly assisted by the Saints missing field goals, botching punts and generally looking more nervous than you’d expect a Sean Payton team at this time of the season.
The happiest coach this weekend will probably be Bill Belichick, though it’s unlikely he’ll show it. For weeks he’s been listening to everyone say that he and Tom Brady won’t win another Super Bowl because they don’t have receivers. Well six rushing touchdowns adds a new dimension to their game and if the Patriots can use the run to set up play action next week, we’re in for a brilliant game.
Officiating
It would appear I’ve missed a memo at some stage and that holding on the offensive line (looking at you Denver) and defensive pass interference (hi Seattle) is not being flagged anymore. The attitude, from those two teams in particular seems to be if we do it every play, they can’t possibly flag us all the time.
In a way, you have to admire the teams for it, afterall, it’s only a penalty if the official throws his flag and of course those two teams aren’t the only ones engaging in bending of the rules. However, if it’s obvious to me that it’s happening when I’m sitting on a couch thousands of miles away, surely it should be much easier for an official on the ground, especially when they know teams are going to try get away with it?
That said, it’s not like a Super Bowl was ever decided by an official missing a blatant foul. Wait, what?
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