NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (10) vs. DENVER BRONCOS (7)
The AFC playoffs have certainly been sloppy to say the least. If anybody was surprised with how this conference championship played out, you might not have been paying attention hard enough. The Patriots and Broncos entered this game with two of the league’s top defenses, so it should not be too much of a shock to see it be this much of a low-scoring mess. However, as the snow began to fall down at Mile High, the uglier it got.
Because Denver quarterback Bo Nix was ruled out for the rest of the season due to an ankle injury, Jarrett Stidham made his first start in three seasons, but this was easily the biggest one of his career. He didn’t get off to the best start, failing to complete his first three first pass attempts. However, he threw the first two punches on the second drive of the game. It started with a 52 yard bomb down the right side of the field to Marvin Mims, immediately setting up first and goal at the seven yard line. A couple plays later, Stidham rolled out to his right and found Courtland Sutton wide open for the touchdown to give the Broncos an early 7-0 lead. Through the rest of the first half, the defense held New England to only 69 yards of offense. If you told me that, I’d say Denver had a convincing lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be that way. The offense didn’t have the worst time trying to move the football, but failed to capitalize on their possessions with the points they needed. There were a couple in particular that shifted the momentum in the other direction.
The first one took place midway through the second quarter. Due to a poor punt from Bryce Baringer, the Broncos were able to start from their own 43 yard line and the offense had driven all the way inside New England’s 15 yard line. However, they faced a critical fourth and one at the 14. Sean Payton could have sent the field goal team out there to build more momentum and increase their lead to 10. Instead, he kept the offense on the field to go for it and continue the drive. As the ball was snapped, Stidham sprinted to his right on the play-fake, only to find two Patriots defensive linemen unblocked on the rush. He tried to force it in the right flat into tight coverage to RJ Harvey in the flat, but the pass was broken up and New England took over on downs. On their next possession, Stidham was chased out of the pocket again and found himself wrapped up by Christian Elliss. In the process, the ball got punched out as Stidham was trying to throw it away, but the Patriots recovered the loose football at the 12 yard line. The play was later ruled a lost fumble and it gave Drake Maye tremendous field position. It only took two plays for him to score the tying touchdown on the quarterback draw. Both teams ended the first half with missed field goals from Wil Lutz and Andy Borregales, so all of a sudden, New England found themselves with a lot of momentum at the break.
Maye received the ball to start the second half and on their opening drive, the offense moved down the field a lot better than they ever did in the first two quarters. Their ability to run the football was the biggest reason why. Maye might not have had the best afternoon from a passing perspective, but he finished the game with eight carries for 67 rushing yards. Rhamondre Stevenson had a heavy workload as well, touching the ball 25 times and picking up 71 yards. On a 16 play drive that took over nine minutes off the clock, the Patriots marched all the way to the two yard line, but the drive only ended with a field goal and not a touchdown. What ensued throughout the rest of the game was borderline horrendous.
In the second half alone, Denver’s offense managed just 32 yards of offense and failed to score a point! They only had one drive in New England territory and it was thanks to a terrible punt from Bryce Baringer. Their defense did just about everything they could to try to win that game. They sacked Drake Maye five times and kept the Patriots out of the end zone. However, to give them credit, they didn’t turn the football over. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Broncos had a chance to tie the game at 10 with a 45 yard field goal attempt from Wil Lutz. Against the driving wind and snow, the ball was able to get close to the uprights, but the kick was partially deflected by Leonard Taylor and it caused the field goal to pull wide to the left. On the very next possession, Stidham took another shot to Mims down the right sideline, but it was intercepted by Christian Gonzalez. All New England needed was one more first down for them to seal the game and Maye did just that, using his legs on third and six to move the chains and send the Patriots to the Super Bowl once again!
Once again, New England’s offense might not have been perfect, but they made enough plays at the most important moments in the game. They didn’t turn the ball over and they allowed the defense to lead the way from start to finish. Now they will play in the Super Bowl for the 10th time in the last 25 years, hoping to earn their seventh title. However, we still need to find out who won the NFC.
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (31) vs. LOS ANGELES RAMS (27)
Blowing out the 49ers at home was one thing, but for the Seattle Seahawks, this conference championship game against the Rams was going to be an entirely different story. Against one of the best offenses in the NFL, Seattle’s defense knew it was going to be in for a long day, meaning Sam Darnold was going to need to have an extraordinary performance for this team to win. Little did anybody know that it would exactly turn out to be the case.
To put this in perspective, Darnold has thrown two touchdowns and six interceptions in his last three matchups against the Rams. With a chance to go to the Super Bowl, he easily had the best game of his whole career. He completed 25 of 36 passes for 346 yards with three touchdown passes and zero interceptions! When he threw a 51 yard bomb down the right sideline to Rashid Shaheed on the third play from scrimmage, we knew LA’s defense was going to be in for one long day. The Rams dared Darnold to win the game by himself and he answered the bell every single time. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was just as explosive, catching 10 passes for 153 yards along with a touchdown near the end of the first half. However, it wasn’t like this game turned out to be a blowout.
Matthew Stafford was just as phenomenal as Darnold was, going 22 of 35 for 374 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Just like Seattle, the running game was okay but not great, so the secondary was on its heels for most of the afternoon as well. Puka Nacua caught nine passes for 165 yards, Davante Adams totaled 89 yards on just four catches in his return from a hamstring injury, but there were quite a few reasons why LA did not come out with the win in the end.
The biggest reason why is because the Rams committed the only turnover of the game. Down 24-20 in the middle of the third quarter, they forced the Seahawks to punt the ball for only the third time all afternoon. However, as Xavier Smith tried to make the catch, he muffed the football and Seattle recovered it at the 17 yard line! Just one play later, Darnold threw his third touchdown pass of the game by firing a bullet over the middle to Jake Bobo, putting his team ahead by double digits. On LA’s ensuing offensive possession, they were able to force a stop on third and twelve, only for Riq Woolen to get flagged for a taunting penalty. On the very next play, Stafford threw a 34 yard dime towards the left side of the field for a touchdown to Nacua, with Woolen as the defender in coverage. Funny how karma works.
What ensued in the fourth quarter turned out to be a gutsy defensive struggle, where neither team could get on the board. From Seattle’s perspective, they let LA hang around. From the Rams viewpoint, however, they had more than a couple chances to close the deal and win the game. They even had a chance to take the lead inside the 10 yard line with five minutes left to play! Unfortunately, LA did not capitalize and the Seahawks just made a couple more plays in the end.
It’s easy to nit-pick certain moments throughout the afternoon and say “This is why the Rams lost” or “This is how the Seahawks won.” In my opinion, both teams played as fantastic as you would have wanted. The quarterbacks were fantastic, the offenses were efficient for most of the afternoon and the defenses tightened up in the final 15 minutes. Simply put, the better team won. It’s no wonder why many had the winner of this game as the heavy favorite to win the Super Bowl because both have established themselves as legitimate powerhouses. This will sting for the Rams, but I have a feeling they will be back really soon.