Wednesday Morning QB (Championship Weekend)
It was a weekend that had match-ups giving football fans some excitement for the first time this playoff.
The conference championships saw four teams that all had a chance at making the Super Bowl this year with plenty of talent on either side.
In the American Football Conference, the game was more of a mystery for many as some thought that the Pittsburgh Steelers could challenge the New England Patriots.
Others thought that the Patriots were just too good of a team to lose to a team more one-dimensional team.
The theory that the Steelers could win began to gain steam as the games approached and a number of experts claimed that they liked the Steelers to take the game.
That was clearly not the result though as the Steelers were nowhere near the level of the Patriots losing 36-17 and never getting into the game.
In the National Football Conference, there was a little more predictability albeit not for the actual winner of the game.
Instead, it was what the game would look like as two great offences were set to face-off in what was sure to be a shootout that would be determined by two great quarterbacks.
The game was sure to be exciting until the game started and the Atlanta Falcons took over while the Green Bay Packers didn’t show up.
The Falcons got out to an early lead while Aaron Rodgers couldn’t get the Green Bay offence going and the game ended with a 44-21 win for the Falcons.
So the promise of championship weekend fell far short and in all, it only continued the pattern of the playoffs.
They haven’t been great this year as the match-ups through every round have been less than desirable.
The wild card saw some bad games where no team really kept it close to finding their way to the divisional round of the playoffs.
It was an easy walk for the top teams through the first round and although the second round featured a few surprises and one spectacular game the weekend still saw more blowouts than good games.
The championship weekend was supposed to change all of that but once again the games disappointed with two easy wins.
It is a tough thing for the NFL as they can’t control who makes the playoffs, despite the many theories of fans, and whoever earns the spot gets to play.
Generally, that is a good thing as the teams that deserve to be in the playoffs find their way to the playoffs but there are other factors that play into the playoffs.
Whether it is the grandeur of the game that nobody on the team has experienced or injuries that have taken away big sections of an offence or defence.
These factors play in and can change things in a big way whether it is rookies faltering like in Dallas or injuries taking away the best players like in Oakland, not every team can bring their best game.
Unfortunately for the league, there haven’t been many teams that have brought their best games to the playoffs this year.
Almost every team that is no longer in the running for the Super Bowl took a bad loss when their biggest issues were exposed by better teams.
That was true for the Conference championships too as the Steelers were shown to be too weak on defence and too dependent on the big play while in Atlanta, Rodgers couldn’t mask the issues that had existed for the last eight weeks against a better team.
Now only two teams are left and both will hope that they are not exposed like every other loser this year.
It will be hard to expose either of them as they are both great teams that truly deserve to be in the title game.
In New England, it’s the same story as Bill Belichick’s system continues to work with Tom Brady leading the way and a relatively unknown but great group of defenders.
In Atlanta, the focus is more on an offence orchestrated by Ryan with more weapons than anyone else in the league and a defence that doesn’t get the credit they deserve.
Both teams have their weaknesses but they are nothing like the weaknesses of the teams they already beat to get here.
It shouldn’t be an easy game for anyone in Houston as both have solid teams that could win but the sceptics are sure to be out for this game.
As much as it looks like a good game on paper the dominance of the Patriots will have many saying that the Super Bowl could be skipped as it might not be that great.
The Patriots could walk away with this one with plenty of motivation and another great team but the Falcons will look to be the thorn in their side that finally ends their run this season.
That will be the hope of many fans as the playoffs have been lacklustre this year and only the biggest game of the year can save the season.
Fifth Quarter:
(Thoughts on this week in the NFL)
The Comeback Trail
Johnny Manziel is back in the news after tweeting his desire to restart his NFL career now that he is sober and refocused but the big question will be if anyone wants to take the chance on the young QB
Change in Indy
The Colts will undergo change this year as they were clearly unhappy with the results they saw and believe they need to go a different route as they fired general manager Ryan Grigson as they try to start the off-season right
Seahawks’ Punishment
The Seattle Seahawks seem to be headed for some serious trouble as they reportedly failed to report Richard Sherman’s knee injury throughout the 2016 season violating league policy and likely leading to punishment in the off-season
The Sport Addiction 