NFL Divisional Playoffs: Cards pull off OT thriller, Broncos, Pats wins set up Brady/Manning XVII

Every Monday morning, Section 215’s Akiem Bailum gives an in-depth and unfiltered look at all of the latest sports news in The Monday Morning Realist. You can follow Akiem on Twitter @AkiemBailum.

“Job”bing.com

When you’re good, you’re good. When you’re healthy, you’re healthy. And when you’re the New England Patriots in January, you’re the New England Patriots in January.

But Realists, let’s start with the Kansas City Chiefs now, shall we?

Because off the field it was actually a banner week for the Chiefs. Now that the “St. Louis Rams” are no more and the Los Angeles Rams are the NFL’s latest franchise, what it actually allowed for was for the Chiefs’ Kingdom to officially expand to include the entire state of Missouri.

So the Chiefs probably picked up a bevy of new fans this week thanks to Stan Kroenke Clay Bennett-ing the entire city of St. Louis.

On the field, the Chiefs were on a hot streak. They had won 11 out of their last 11 games and probably had some people believing they could beat the team that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy last season—the New England Patriots.

Especially coming into this game where the injury-plagued Pats were losers of four of their last six games and were not looking like the same New England Patriots team that began the season 10-0.
But…injuries. Exactly. And one of those injuries was no longer an injury.

It was a sight for sore eyes at Patriot Place when Julian Edelman was on the field taking warmups. It had to be another sight for sore eyes for the Pats faithful when they saw Edelman on the field in his #11 jersey running routes and catching passes from Tom Brady.

And it was also an unusual game for Alex Smith. It is not that Alex Smith is not the kind of quarterback that can throw for over 200 yards. But in the majority of the Chiefs’ games this year because of their defense, Smith has only had to throw for about 170-190 yards. That was not the case this year as playing New England’s offense is not like playing the Texans or the Raiders.

This game was won by New England around the end of the second quarter. Both scoring drives for the Kansas City Chiefs resulted in field goals from Cairo Santos. It was 14-6 at the half, then Brady connected with Rob Gronkowski on a 16-yard touchdown pass as the third quarter got underway. That is where this one was over because as the Chiefs were settling for field goals, the Patriots were doing what the Pats do best—score touchdowns.

First rule of beating the New England Patriots is to not settle for field goals when playing the New England Patriots. Kansas City’s first TD did not come until after Gronk’s score (and spike) made it 21-6. This one was courtesy of Albert Wilson. That made it 21-13 but two field goals by Stephen Gostkowski later, they made it only a matter of time before the Patriots had clinched a berth in the AFC Championship Game once again.

At least the Chiefs turned a 1-5 season into an 11-5 campaign for 2015-16 and snapped a 22-year losing streak in the postseason.

Baby steps, Kansas City. Baby steps.

Brady threw for 302 yards and completed 28 of his 42 passes. He also had two touchdown throws. Steven Jackson was New England’s leading rusher with only 16 yards on six carries, but, remember what I said about Edelman’s return. He returned, alright with 100 yards on 10 receptions.

Smith had 246 yards along with completing 29 out of his 50 passes. He also had a pair of touchdowns but also threw for one interception. Charcandrick West also scored one of the Kansas City six-pointers plus 61 yards on 17 carries. Jason Avant—69 yards on four receptions.

The Patriots of course then had to await the eventual winner of the Steelers/Broncos tilt in Denver while Kansas City’s season ends. Not to worry Kansas City because the Broncos will not have Peyton Manning at QB forever, meaning with him and Philip Rivers up there in age, the division could be the Chiefs’ for the seizing.

Oh, and enjoy those new fans in the eastern half of the Show Me State too. That is, if the Colts do not get to them first.

Final Score: New England Patriots 27, Kansas City Chiefs 20

Hail Ari

A prospective blowout game waiting to happen that arguably (or unarguably) became the game of the weekend.

Realists, I joked last week that the Green Bay Packers received good news and bad news when they defeated the Washington Redskins last week in their Wild Card weekend game in Landover, Maryland.

The good news was that they advancing to the next round of the playoffs. The bad news was that they had to face the Arizona Cardinals…in Arizona…as in, at Glendale’s University of Phoenix Stadium.

And the last time Aaron Rodgers and his Packers matched up against the Cards in ‘Zona, it was something probably better left untold and not spoken of at dinner tables across Wisconsin.

What do good teams do when they are coming off an embarrassing loss like that? They learn from it, they study that tape, and they ensure that not only will they be not embarrassed like that again on national television but that they will be the ones, if anything to embarrass said opponents.

No one was embarrassed in the classic sense of the word this game, but there were plenty of reasons as to why Packers vs. Cardinals on January 16 in Glendale went down as an instant classic.

The Cardinals assumed an early 7-0 lead as Carson Palmer found Michael Floyd on an eight-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter. Green Bay took the lead with two Mason Crosby field goals and an Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass in the direction of Jeff Janis—also for eight yards.

After Chandler Catanzaro converted a field goal that made trimmed the Arizona deficit to 13-10, that is when things began to get interesting.

Late in this game, via Floyd’s second touchdown reception of this game and Catanzaro’s second field goal, a game that the Cardinals were favored to win—they all of a sudden were winning.
And it appeared that they would indeed win in regulation by a final of 20-13 and await their date for the NFC Championship Game (more on that in a few).

Except….

Two long ones from Rodgers happened, including one for 41 yards to Janis. That tied the game.

Rodgers has had that whole Hail Mary thing down pat this year. Just ask the Detroit Lions.

That was supposed to be the thing that deflated the Cardinals so much to where they would not recover and the Packers would go on to win this football. Instead—an error with a coin toss led to Arizona getting the football. And the first and only drive of the overtime period concluded in Palmer SHOVEL PASSING to Larry Fitzgerald for the win and the AFC Championship Berth.

First of all, shovel passing on the final play. File that under things Brett Favre would do to get his team the victory. Secondly, that is what you call a winning culture being fostered by Bruce Arians. Teams in the past would have panicked, lost their composure and would not have been able to recover to go for the rest of the game.

Not these Arizona Cardinals. This team is full of winners.

And thirdly, Realists, what is it with coin tosses this year? First the debacle earlier in the season with the Patriots and Jets in New York, now this? It has been difficult for fans to determine what is and what is not a catch (and that may be something that gets talked about more and more this offseason). Now the coin tosses are going the way of the easy extra point.

What can you do?

Palmer, now with a shot at his first Super Bowl in his career after a checkered time in Cincinnati, threw for 349 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions and completed 25 of his 41 passes. David Johnson contributed 35 yards on 15 carries and Fitzgerald scored one touchdown plus had 176 yards and eight catches.

Rodgers was 24/44 for 261 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Eddie Lacy had 89 yards on 12 carries while Janis caught two touchdowns plus the seven receptions and the 145 yards.

All throughout the season, it always appeared as if the Packers were always missing something. Of course they were by way of the Jordy Nelson injury, but it just felt like late in the season Green Bay just did not have what they had earlier in the year when they were at one point in the season undefeated.

Wisconsin, you can take off your Cheeseheads until August and worry about less pressing matters like chants at high school football games. The Cardinals have more football to play—in the form of an NFC Championship Game.

Final Score: Arizona Cardinals 26, Green Bay Packers 20

Pound n’ Ground

Realists, do any of you have any ideas for what could have been an alternate headline for this recap?

I’m more going along the lines of either “Bad Game Gone Good” or “Remember the Meadowlands.”

When the matchup was determined that it would be Seattle Seahawks vs. Carolina Panthers in Charlotte in the second of two NFC Divisional games, Realists, I figured perhaps THIS would end up being the game of the weekend because the other three matchups at least looked like partial blowouts if not complete blowouts.

The last time these two teams met, it appeared as if the Seahawks were going to give the Panthers their first L of the season before a furious Carolina comeback preserved their (at the time) undefeated season.

Then I heard something from a media person that made me think. Russell Wilson vs. Cam Newton could be the Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning of the next 10 or so years.

Well, that made me think because it is a valid point. Wilson and Newton are likely the two best quarterbacks in the NFL not named Brady, Manning, or Rodgers. Plus they are certainly the quarterbacks of the future, so it probably is going to be the 2010-2020’s version of Manning/Brady.

And of course we cannot ignore how imposing both team’s defenses are as well. Look at what Seattle did last week by making Adrian Peterson look like he belonged back at Oklahoma and not in the NFL by stopping him the way they did.

Except for the first half of this game, the Seahawks did not show up.

That lead only grew and grew and grew to the point where it looked like it was over. I did not have the chance to watch this entire game, but, Realists, when I found out it was 31-0 heading into the halftime period, I immediately thought it was a typo on the part of the Fox production people.

This is the team that had got Marshawn Lynch back. This is the team that was the NFC representative in the Super Bowl the last couple of years and they were completely getting pasted on the road in a playoff game.

Yes, the Seahawks did make things somewhat interesting in the second half and made 31-0 to 31-24 ala what the Giants did at the Meadowlands earlier in the season to Carolina, but those were the New York Football Giants of 2015. These were the Carolina Panthers.

And those Carolina Panthers were led by Jonathan Stewart, who rushed for 106 yards plus two touchdowns with 19 carries.

Greg Olsen had a touchdown plus 77 yards on six receptions prior to an injury. Cam Newton threw for 161 yards and completed 16 of his 22 passes with one touchdown.

Russell Wilson threw for 366 yards and completed 31 of his 48 passes with three touchdowns and two interceptions. He also was their leading receiver—albeit with only 32 yards on three attempts.
They did get 11 catches and 110 yards plus two touchdowns out of Jermaine Kearse.

Next up for Carolina is the Arizona Cardinals who looked flat for three quarters against Green Bay. If the Cardinals and Panthers look the way they did this week next week with a Super Bowl berth on the line, Carolina will Keep Pounding on their way to the Bay Area.

Final Score: Carolina Panthers 31, Seattle Seahawks 24

17 = 50

Here we go again.

No one gave the Steelers much of a chance with no Antonio Brown. And even though Pittsburgh ended up in the loss column for this game. There was a good portion of this game where the Steelers were dictating the pace.

The Broncos receivers were dropping Manning passes left and right. And when they were catching passes, it seemed as if they were immediately being met by Pittsburgh defenders.

It looked like the kind of game that would be conducive to a Pittsburgh win where defense was ruling the day and Manning has looked like the Manning of 2015-16—old and average at best.

Except the Steelers forgot one thing—the Broncos have a ferocious defense as well and one that really was the primary reason why Denver at one point in the season was undefeated.

And now is the reason why the Broncos are within one win of returning back to the Super Bowl for the first time since New York/New Jersey against the Seahawks. That game, as we know is probably better not spoken of in Colorado.

Meaning that it will once again be Manning vs. Brady. Oh the media will have fun with this one all week especially with the possibility it may be the last time we see this matchup with retirement rumours hovering of The Sheriff.

Manning threw for 227 yards and was 21 out of 37. C.J. Anderson had 72 yards on 15 carries and Emmanuel Sanders caught five passes for 80 yards.

Ben Roethlisberger threw for 339 yards and was 24/37. Martavis Bryant of all people was the team’s leading rusher with two attempts and 40 yards and he also caught nine passes for a total of 154 yards.

It probably would have been a different result with Brown healthy but all that matters is Pittsburgh is going home and the Patriots await the Broncos next week.

Final Score: Denver Broncos 23, Pittsburgh Steelers 16