NFL Divisional Round Recap: An Unexpected Final Four - Brendan Darr's Blog

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NFL Divisional Round Recap: An Unexpected Final Four Stuck

Posted on January 14, 2013 at 04:41 PM.

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So we now know the four teams that will compete next weekend for the right to go to the Super Bowl. I'm guessing most people wouldn't have guessed this group of four before last weekend. This weekend definitely made up for the four stinkers from Wild Card weekend.

1. Down Goes Denver

Let's be clear, Peyton Manning threw a terrible pass that set up the Ravens winning field goal, but he wasn't in coverage on Jacoby Jones or Torrey Smith. Yes, the NFL is a quarterback driven league, but not all of the blame can fall on Manning for the loss. He deserves a great deal of the blame, no doubt, but all of it? Stop right there.

2. At Least One More Week of Ray Lewis

I don't mean this in a good way, unfortunately. Here's the thing, Ray Lewis is an inspirational player, but he's a shell of his former self. He gives these passionate speeches every week -- regular season or in the playoffs. Win or lose. Let's not pretend these speeches are suddenly the reason the Ravens are winning.

Joe Flacco or Ray Rice are having much more of an impact these playoffs, so lets give the credit where the credit is due. To those pointing out Ray Lewis had 13 tackles in the game against Indianapolis -- a lot of those were jumping on piles near the end of plays.

3. Colin ****ing Kapernick

NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback -- playoff or regular season game? Check. Dominating performance over a team many experts picked to win? Check. Validation of Jim Harbaugh's decision to name him starter? Yeah, pretty much.

What an impressive night from Kaepernick and the 49ers. Despite giving up 31 points, the 49ers not only managed to slow down the Packers, but managed to out-pace them as well en route to a 45-31 victory.

4. Atlanta Survives Despite Immense Pressure and Huge Mistakes

The Falcons, the slight favorite, overcame a ton of adversity to pull off the miraculous comeback after blowing a huge lead against the Seahawks. The Falcons managed to come back in the final thirty seconds to kick a game-winning goal for the 30-28 win.

How they got there is both a embarrassing and resilient. I have no idea how they blew 27-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter (I do), but they did. Then Matt Bryant went on to kick the game winning field goal, only to kick an onside kick with eight seconds left. The fact Seattle only had a 50 yards to go for the final hail mary, rather than 80 is insanity.

5. New England Blows Out Houston -- Again

In the only stinker of the weekend, New England got out to a big 31-13 lead over Houston and still didn't take their foot off the gas. I can appreciate Belicheck's reluctance to taking it easy, especially after what happened with Atlanta earlier in the day. New England dominated throughout and while Houston did put up a fight at the end, it was too late.

New England lost Rob Gronkowski for the rest of the playoffs, but still look like the favorites to win the Super Bowl. I personally think the 49ers should be the favorite, and I expect the two to meet in three weeks in the Super Bowl. Who do you believe will be in the Super Bowl?

Sound off in the comments below!

Comments

# 1 idlehands @ Jan 14

Denver really blew my mind when they blew that game against the Ravens. I mean yeah Peyton threw a bad pass but if it wasn't for that blown coverage by the safety 30 seconds left in the 4th, then Peyton would have never been in that situation. Ravens survived but by the skin of their teeth.

Atlanta really needs to be thanking everyone from Allah to Buddah to Jesus Christ for that win. They did everything they could to blow that lead and Seattle just couldn't finish them off. Good luck ATL with trying to stop the 49ers next week......

# 2 R9NALD9 @ Jan 15

To think that Colin Kaepernick has beaten Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers in his first bunch of starts...amazing.

Very stoked about my 49ers! Hopefully the Ravens can squeeze out a win against the Patriots and we make it past the Falcons. Though I think it's going to be a rematch of the 49ers vs Patriots in the Superbowl.

# 3 cdh72469 @ Jan 16

It's going to be the Ravens & Falcons and Tony Gonzalez is going to out-fight Ray Lewis for the winning TD pass...at least that's the way I would write it to close out these two HOF careers!