This weekend, we saw a plethora of great football matchups. We started off with a great matchup between the Patriots and the Chiefs. Most people were expecting a great matchup between a really good Chiefs defense and a really talented Patriots offense. The game went exactly as I was envisioning it would. The Patriots played the typical clutch postseason football that they have played for the last 15 years. Tom Brady went off having his 9th career playoff game with 300 passing yards. The Patriots also had Gronk, Julian Edleman and Danny Amendola in the same game for the first time since early in the season. In the end, the Patriots won 27-20 and moved on to the Championship game.
In my opinion, the Cardinals and Packers game was the best game of the year. The Cardinals killed the Packers during the regular season with a 36-6 thrashing of Green Bay. So what changed? The Packers finally had all the pieces back together on the offensive line. Aaron Rodgers was finally protected and played very well throughout the game. Of course the part everyone is talking about is the final drive where Rodgers threw not 1 but 2 hail mary passes and scored a touchdown as time expired to send the game into overtime. In overtime however, it took the Cardinals only 3 plays to get into the end zone. A 69 yard catch and run from Larry Fitzgerald and then a 5 yard touchdown run by Fitzgerald won the game for the Cardinals and we will see them next week in the Championship game.
The Panthers and Seahawks game looked like it was over from the first whistle. The Panthers scored on their first drive and then had a pick 6 off of Russel Wilson. The Panthers would then get the ball back and score again on another drive and then picked Russel Wilson off again and they would kick a field goal to make the score 24-0. A final touchdown would give the Panthers a 31-0 lead going into halftime. If there is one thing we have learned however, it is that the Seahawks have a flare for the dramatic. Last year the Hawks came back from a 2 score deficit in the last 2 minutes to send the game into overtime and would eventually win the game. It almost appeared as if it would happen again on Sunday because the Seahawks would score 24 unanswered points but it was too late. The Panthers won 31-24 and have dethroned the Seahawks reign atop the NFC.
The final game this weekend was between the Steelers and the Broncos. The game was the most unentertaining game this weekend. The Broncos won, but I believe it would have gone a completely different way if the Steelers had all the necessary pieces like Antonio Brown and Leveon Bell. Peyton Manning struggled and he played one of the worst playoff games of his career, his streak of consecutive playoff games with a touchdown was snapped and he threw an interception. He was saved by the fact that the Broncos had a great running game going and a fantastic defensive performance. We will see another playoff matchup between Brady and Manning for the 3rd time. Comment your predictions below!
Written by Kenny Quinn
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