Sports Bytes - January 17, 2011

NFL Divisional Playoff Results

Two great games; two terrible ones. On to the Conference Championships

New York over New England (28-21): Wow. Without a doubt the most-disciplined and most-professional game I have ever seen the Jets play. Their defense was exceptional, sacking Brady five times and forcing him to throw his first INT in his last 335 attempts. Brady finished the day with 16 incompletions and a dismal 89 rating. On offense Mark Sanchez sizzled, tossing three TDs for 194 yards without turning the ball over. WR Jerome Cotchery caught five passes for 96 yards, while RBs Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for a combined 119 yards and a TD. It was an incredibly proficient upset worthy of the praise they will now receive. Here are a few other thoughts about the game:

• As a Giants fan the last thing you'll normally see me do is cheer for the Jets, but after listening to the "experts" dismiss the Jets as not worthy of the Pats, even I found myself wanting Rex Ryan and his crew to rub their naysayers' noses in it. For ex., at halftime with the Jets ahead 14-3, CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason was so busy trying to convince viewers that we would see a different Tom Brady in the second half that he completely ignored how dominating the Jets were in the first half and never even considered that they were capable of continuing their superior play. It was as if Esiason found it inconceivable that he could be wrong . . .
• Shannon Sharpe usually annoys me during his NFL Today monologues. He's generally unfunny. He 's often unintelligible because he speaks too quickly. And he inundates viewers with street slang and sports jargon. Nevertheless, that being said, I must admit that he did make me laugh at halftime of the Jets-Pats game when he likened Seahawks DB Lawyer Milloy's useless pursuit of Bears tight end Greg Olsen to What's Happening's Rerun haplessly running after a fruit truck during the sitcom's ending credits . . .
• I guess Bill Belichick never read King Lear. If he had he would have learned that "Pride Goeth Before a Fall." For what other reason than pride did Belichick forego a 51-yard field goal and instead attempt a 4th-and-13 with his team trailing by 10 points (21-11) and only 5:15 remaining in the fourth quarter? Instead of attempting the kick and possibly cutting the Pats deficit to one score, Belichick tried to "show-up" the Jets and prove that he had little fear of losing the game. How'd that work out for you, Bill? . . .

Pittsburgh over Baltimore (31-24): Do you get the feeling that if Ben Roethlisberger were competing against the Ravens at darts, figure skating, or even mountain climbing that he would always find a way to win? Despite jumping out to a 21-7 halftime lead Baltimore was still unable to defeat their arch-enemy Big Ben (226 yards and 2 TDs). Joe Flacco threw for a dismal 125 yards passing while his offense turned the ball over three times and two of his premier wide receivers--Anquan Boldin and T.J. Houshmandzadeh-dropped game-changing passes. The Steelers, on the other hand, received big contributions from numerous players besides Roethlisberger. Rashard Mendenhall rushed for two TDs, while WR Antonio Brown compiled 75 yards receiving--58 yards of which came on a David Tyree-like catch with under three minutes remaining in the game. Brown caught the pass against his helmet before running out of bounds at the Ravens four yard line. Several plays later the Steelers scored the game-winning TD to go ahead 31-24 . . . Why is the Pittsburgh Steelers organization possibly the best franchise in football? Because it doesn't seem to matter who the players or coaches are. No matter who the organization plugs into its system, the personnel succeed and keep the team among the league's elites nearly every season. It is truly impressive . . .

Green Bay over Atlanta (48-21): "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Evidently Falcons def coordinator Brian Van Gorder doesn't agree with Benjamin Franklin's assessment; otherwise, why would he continue to rush Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers with only three defenders despite his secondary's inability to shut-down the Packers' passing attack? You would think that after Rodgers' first dozen completions Van Gorder would have changed tactics and blitzed the Packers' QB with everyone on Atlanta's roster. But instead Van Gorder continued to drop eight men into zone coverage and watch Rodgers inflict more damage on Atlanta than General Sherman did on his "March to the Sea" during the Civil War. Rodgers completed 31 of 36 passed for 366 yards and three TDs. According to ESPN, "Rogers' had the second-highest completion percentage in a 300-yard passing game in NFL postseason history." It was a pathetic coaching job by Van Gorder. But let's not only blame the Falcons defense for this embarrassment because the offense was just as, well, offensive:

• The Falcons turned the ball over four times. QB Matt Ryan was responsible for two of those turnovers, one of which was an INT late in the first half that was returned by DB Tramon Williams for a 70 yard TD. Ryan was sacked five times and was limited to only 186 yards passing. RB Michael Turner, the NFC's leading rusher during the regular season, was held to just 10 rushes for 39 yards . . .
• The Packers ran 21 more plays than did the Falcons (69-48), and they outgained Atlanta in total yardage 442-194 . . .
• The sole highlight of the game for Atlanta was Eric Weems' 102-yard kickoff return TD in the second quarter . . .

Chicago over Seattle (35-24): Now those are the Seattle Seahawks we were expecting. Bears QB Jay Cutler scored four TDs (two passing and two rushing), and by the third-quarter Chicago was leading 28-0. Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck responded with three TDs of his own, but it was too little, too late. Chicago outrushed Seattle 176 yards to 34 yards, and they also outgained the Seahawks in total yardage 437-276. The final score may say it was only an 11 point Chicago victory, but the game wasn't that close. The Bears dominated from the opening drive . . .

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