Playoff Football

It's one of my favorite times of year on the sports calendar. NFL Football. Playoff time. Love it!

Now, I'm not going to waste a lot of time analyzying games, and digging into stats. That's not what I do; there's plenty of folks around for that. This is just my take on my favorite games this weekend.

New England v. Denver

I didn't have a rooting interest for either team here. Although I would have preferred a Patriot win, I like both teams and am not disappointed to see the Broncos move on. However, I've been hearing many of the sports talking heads raving about how the better team won, and how the Broncos dominated the Patriots. The way I see it, the talking heads must have been watching a different game. Anyone who knows anything about football saw a Patriot team march up and down the field against the Broncos almost at will. The Bronco defense simply could not stop the Pats. To me, that's not Bronco domination.

To be sure, the Patriots made at least four critical mistakes, with each leading to Bronco points. But that also left the Bronco offense in a position of not having to do anything to "earn" its points. Two one-yard drives for touchdowns does not a dominating offense make.

And, by the way, that pass interference call at the end of the first half that set up the first Bronco one-yard "drive?" Let's be honest. First, both guys were going for the ball, which ordinarily negates pass interference. Second, the ball was uncatchable, which again, negates pass interference. To be sure, bad calls are part of the game, and I'm not blaming the refs for the Pats loss. However, the fact that the refs blew that call tends to undermine the claim that the Broncos were "dominating" the Pats, because the fact is that, before that call, the Broncos were not moving the ball at all.

A second call of questionable validity was the fumble on the interception return. After Bailey returned the ball 100+ yards, Watson knocked him out of bounds, jarring the ball loose. I saw all the different angles on this play and, from where I sat, it looked to me as if the ball was fumbled through the endzone. (There was no ref with a good look at the play, but the initial reaction of the Patriot receiver trailing the play was to give the touchback sign, rather than to hang his head in frustration. That suggests to me "touchback," not fumble out of bounds.) That being the case, it should have been Patriots the ball at the 20. Instead, the Broncos got the ball at the one, and scored on the next play. 14 points, on two one-yard drives, based on arguably questionable calls. That's not domination, folks.

I'm not saying the Broncos didn't deserve to win. They did. They scored more points, and took complete advantage of every opportunity they were given. But to claim that they "dominated" the game, or to assert that they were the "better team," is to ignore reality. The Broncos won because they played a better overall game and therefore deserved to win. I don't accept, though, that they were the better team, and I suspect that they will have their hands full with the Steelers.

Which brings us to:

Pittsburgh v. Indianapolis

My rooting interest in this game was for the Colts, but only because my youngest is a big Colts fan. Otherwise, I'm not too upset to see Pittsburgh win this game, because I like and respect Bill Cowher, their couch, immensely.

My take on this game is that you could almost feel the fates working towards a Colts win. When Manning was sacked at his own 2, I thought the game was over. When the Steelers handed off to Bettis on the next play, I was sure the game was over. When I saw that ball pop out of Bettis's hands, my immediate thought was to The Fumble, back in 1987, when Brown's running back Ernest Byner left the ball on the Denver 2, costing the Browns a trip to the Super Bowl. When I saw Harper gather up the ball on the run and take off, I thought the stars had suddenly aligned and the Colts were going to win.

But give Roethlisberger all the credit in the world. Just like the Patriot tight end, Watson, refused to give up on the play in Denver, Big Ben refused to let Harper score. Somehow, Big Ben stayed with Harper, twisted, turned, and dived at him, and tripped him up with a show-string tackle.

Even then, the Colts weren't done. A couple passes down the middle, and they were in great shape. But then, on third-and-two, someone had brain lock. I don't know if it was Colts head coach Tony Dungey or Peyton Manning, who calls a lot of his own plays, but someone dropped the ball here. With two timeouts left, and two yards to go for a first, why take a chance on a forty-three yard field goal? (As a Jets fan, I know from last year that 43 yard field goals against the Steelers in the playoffs don't work.) But seriously, at that point in the game, you call a draw to James to get the first down because everyone is expecting pass. By doing that, you get better field position, you move closer for your kicker, and you give yourself at least three more chances to win the game in regulation before calling in the kicker. After all, 25 seconds is an eternity with one time out left.

Instead, the Colts call a 15 yard post pattern that Manning completely overthrows. The rest, as they say, is history.

I could jump on the kicker, but that kind of thing happens. Believe me, I know. But even with the blown play calling at the end, what a tremendous game!

Next week: my gut tells me to take the Steelers, and the Panthers. Two road teams, two teams without first round byes. That would be a sweet Super Bowl.

But that's just me talking. Take it for what it's worth, and enjoy the games next week-end.