THE PATRIOTS AND Giants will square off for the second time in four years but their Super Bowl XLVI appearance has as much to do with the mistakes of their opponents as it does with their own quality.

AFC Championship game

Baltimore Ravens 20 @ New England Patriots 23

If Twitter is a barometer of performance – it’s not really, but stay with me – many people believe Joe Flacco did enough to win this game. Some even went as far as saying the Ravens QB’s performance was enough to deserve the game.

It wasn’t.

Flacco – and offensive co-ordinator Cam Cameron – cost his team a Super Bowl appearance. Harsh? Maybe. Accurate? Absolutely.

It started late in the first quarter when Tom Brady threw his first interception of the game to give the Ravens possession of the football at their own 30.

Thanks to busted coverage by the Patriots secondary, Flacco had a wide-open Torrey Smith sprinting down the right touchline. However, the QB couldn’t hit Smith in stride and the wide receiver had to stop his run to collect the pass.

A deeper throw and the Ravens would have had a 7-3 lead. Instead, they had to settle for a 20 yard Billy Cundiff field goal. Later in the game Flacco overthrew Smith twice when the rookie out of Maryland had nothing to but endzone to aim for.

Then, of course, there was the Ravens final drive.

Getting the ball on their own 26 with just over a minute left, the Ravens got into field goal position thanks to some smart work after the catch by Anquan Boldin.

With 28 seconds left, the Ravens had 2nd and 1 on the New England 14 yard line with a timeout in their pocket. Inexplicably they decided to throw the ball despite the New England defence playing the pass.

Lee Evans looked to have made the game winning play but he was stripped of the ball by backup cornerback Sterling Moore. With 22 seconds left, the Ravens had 3rd and 1 on the New England 14 yard line with a timeout in their pocket. Inexplicably they again decided to throw the ball despite New England again playing the pass and Flacco was lucky that Moore didn’t come up with the interception this time.

Then Billy Cundiff missed the field goal, much to the dismay of the real football players on the Ravens squad, but that’s your lot as a kicker.

You’re either the hero or villain and totally irrelevant in between.

By the way, Cundiff is only 39 of 51 from between 30-39 yards in his career so it was far from a chip shot.

While Flacco cost his team a Super Bowl shot, he still managed to outplay the shockingly bad Tom Brady. Despite the same completion percentage (22 of 36), Flacco out passed Brady by 67 yards and two touchdowns to Brady’s one rushing TD.

However, Brady now joins John Elway as the only QB to bring his team to five Super Bowls and, with 16 postseason wins, joins Joe Montana as the most successful quarterback in playoff history.

Watch the highlights here.

NFC Championship game

New York Giants 20 @ San Francisco 49ers 17

That hero/villain paradigm I was discussing above; welcome to the other side Lawrence Tynes.

The New York Giants set up a rematch with the New England Patriots thanks in part to the boot of Scottish born Tynes and the horrendous special teams mistakes of Kyle Williams.

Of course, while Williams, like Cundiff before him, will get most of the media attention, the biggest reason the Giants won this game was the return to ‘form’ of Alex Smith.

At the end of the first half, Eli Manning had completed 16 of 27 passes to seven different receivers for 181 yards. Smith was two of seven for 79 yards, 73 of which game on Vernon Davis’ first touchdown catch of the game.

(Those stats remind me of a quarterback in the AFC West but I can’t remember his name.)

By the time Tynes kicked the game-winning field goal in overtime, Manning had completed 20 more passes than Smith and six more than 49ers quarterback had even attempted.

Only one of his passes went to a wide receiver which is exactly the reason I gave on Friday for picking the Giants to win this game.

However, unlike Joe Flacco, I’m probably being a little harsh on Alex Smith.  He wasn’t helped by his either his OLine, who gave up three sacks, or Frank Gore who had just 74 yards on 16 attempts.

Then there’s Kyle Williams. Not only did Williams let a punt hit his knee with 11.06 left in the fourth quarter to set up a touchdown but he also failed to protect the football in overtime, allowing Jacquian Williams to strip the ball and Devin Thomas to recover.

YouTube credit: amm356

Five plays later, the Giants booked their Super Bowl ticket.

With this win, Manning is now the most successful road quarterback in NFL playoff history with five victories and gets the chance to surpass his brother’s Super Bowl record in Peyton’s home stadium.

Few people, outside of Ravens and 49ers fans, can be disappointed to see two of the top five quarterbacks in the league going head to head again. Unlike 2008 though, the Patriots won’t have the burden of protecting a perfect season and the Giants won’t be such heavy underdogs.

Before I go, spare a thought for New York Jets fans. Not only is their club imploding – stuck with a QB who doesn’t care and a coach who appears to have lost the locker room – but now they have to watch their two biggest rivals play in the Super Bowl.

It’s not easy being green.

Watch the highlights of the NFC Championship game here.

Steven O’Rourke is the offensive co-ordinator of Tullamore PhoenixAmerican Football Club, winners of the IAFL DV8s national title in 2010 and 2011.
Tullamore are always recruiting new players so, if you’d like to play football and not just read about it, Steven would love to hear from you.

WATCH: Tomas Berdych get booed for acting like a big girl

Irish endurance swimmers take double gold at World Winter Championships