Sunday Divisional Round Recap

The Seattle Seahawks came into this game as a team who was lucky to get into the playoffs, lucky to beat the defending Super Bowl champs, and would have to hire a fleet of moving trucks stuffed full of four leaf clovers in order to defeat the second seeded Chicago Bears.

Well, those trucks were late, because in the first half of this football game the Seahawks looked like the undeserving 7-9 football team that everyone thought that they were. The Seahawks fell down 21-0 at half due to a porous passing defense and several drops from receivers. The Bears moved the ball effortlessly down the field, and tight end Greg Olsen went for 110 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

The Seahawks played much better during the second half and brought the game within two scores, but the outcome of this game was apparent early on.

After a long weekend of waiting, finally the highly anticipated game, the New York Jets at the New England Patriots. The game opened up very slow, with both offenses stalling and both defenses playing phenomenally.
The first major breakthrough came five minutes into the second quarter when Mark Sanchez completed a short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson who took it in for a score.

The only other scoring in the first half came after Braylon Edwards caught a pass from Sanchez dragged two Patriot defenders into the end zone taking the score to 14-3. This critical score came after New England botched a questionable fake punt in their own territory.

The gap was closed to three at the end of the third quarter when Tom Brady connected with Alge Crumpler for a short touchdown. Instead of kicking the extra point, the Patriots elected to go for the two point conversion and reserve running back Sammy Morris punched it in straight up the middle. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Jerricho Cotchery caught a mid range pass from Sanchez and ran down the field for a huge 58 yard gain. A few plays later another huge connection was made to Santonio Holmes who made a circus catch in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

The following Patriot drive was stalled when Deion Branch dropped a wide but catchable ball. Just a side note, Branch had been passionately jawing at the Jets' sideline after several positive New England plays.

But the Patriots were not quite done yet. After a huge punt return by Julian Edelman, Shayne Graham knocked in a 35 yard field goal to cut the game back down to a possession. After a failed onside kick recovered by the Jets, Shonn Greene ran the ball in from 16 yards out to salt away the shocking victory. Brady tacked on a late touchdown pass to Branch to bring the score to 28-21, but this one was over.

How did the Jets win this game after such a recent beat down at the hands of the Patriots? Two things, unrelenting pressure on Brady and fantastic coverage on the shifty Patriot receivers. The Jets have now reached the AFC Championship for two consecutive years under head coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez. However, they will be hoping for a different outcome than last year's defeat at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts when they travel to Pittsburgh next Sunday.

It should be a physical, hard hitting affair to remember. Let the trash talk begin!