NFL Divisional Playoff Round Recap
This weekend in the NFL playoffs was one that fans wait all season for! Tim Tebow, not surprisingly, finally ran out of miracles when he faced Tom Brady; and it turns out the New York Giants got one when they needed it most. Here’s a recap of all the action that went down in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs this weekend.
New England Patriots 45, Denver Broncos 10
Everyone was wondering if this would be the upset people talked about for the rest of the playoffs; it wasn’t. Tom Brady and his crew marched out onto the field on Saturday night and proved why experience, and a little more talent, matters. Brady threw an outstanding five touchdowns in the first half, and a sixth in the second to tie the NFL record for TD passes in a playoff game. Three of those were thrown to Rob Gronowski, while Wes Welker caught one of his own and Deion Branch also caught one for 61 yards. It wasn’t just about the offense though, the Patriots defense had no problem holding Tebow back, sacking him five times and keeping his passing yardage to a measly 136 yards. It’s no surprise that they’ll welcome the Baltimore Ravens next week to play in the AFC championship game.
Baltimore Ravens 20, Houston Texans 13
In the only other predictable game of the weekend, the Baltimore Ravens took away the first playoff run ever for the Houston Texans. The Ravens needed to make a lot of mistakes in order for the Texans to have a chance, and they didn’t. Unfortunately, QB T.J. Yates did, throwing three interceptions and scoring just one touchdown. Even though they took the win, Baltimore didn’t play exceptionally, with QB Joe Flacco completing only 14 of 27 passes for a total of 176 yards, and getting just two scores on the board. In order to beat New England next week, they’ll need to stop hoping that their competition makes mistakes (because Brady won’t,) and they’ll need to put the focus back on their own game.
San Francisco 49ers 36, New Orleans Saints 32
This set a great pace for the rest of the divisional weekend as the 49ers took on the Saints and won in a huge upset that all came down to the last four minutes of play. San Francisco took on a huge 17 — 0 lead early in the game, but New Orleans rallied back to bring the score to 23-17 in the fourth quarter. Drew Brees threw a huge touchdown pass to Darren Sproles in the last four minutes and that put the Saints up by one. But, after 49ers quarterback Alex Smith ran a 28-yard touchdown and put his team up 29-24, it was just a matter of one more 14-yard pass to Vernon Davis. With only nine seconds left of play for it, it gave San Francisco just enough time to win the game they had battled so hard for. Now we wait to see if it’s enough to take on the New York Giants next Sunday.
New York Giants 37, Green Bay Packers 20
They are the reigning Super Bowl champs and they went an entire season nearly undefeated. Now, after being beat out of the NFL playoffs by the New York Giants, it all seems to be for nothing. Eli Manning continued the best season of his career with 330 passing yards and three touchdowns. Manning also started the momentum of the Giants with a huge touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks that gave them a 20-10 lead that the Packers couldn’t match for the entire game. Aaron Rodgers looked completely off his game throwing an interception, repeatedly getting sacked by New York’s defense (four times,) and fumbling the ball once. While Rodgers did manage to get two touchdowns in, it wasn’t enough to go up against Manning, who threw three of his own and threw a total of 330 yards. The last time the Giants beat the Packers in the playoffs, they went on to win the Super Bowl. We’ll see if history repeats itself next week when the Giants visit the San Francisco 49ers.
Categorized in: NFL