The AFC & NFC title games are now in the books so here are the different thoughts and opinions I have on various things I witnessed Sunday. Home cooking was bad this week as both road teams came out victorious. Lots of pissed off fans around the NFL and once again we are stuck with the evil empire in the Super Bowl. Anyway just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
Rams 26 Saints 23
Oh boy. Lets just start with one of the worst non-calls in NFL history. Unless you live under a rock, you've seen it by now. Rams CB Nickell Robey-Coleman (where the hell did that name come from?) absolutely pummeled Saints WR Tommylee Lewis (seriously, who is naming these guys!) as a pass was headed his way late in the fourth quarter. Not one but two referees watched the play unfold right in front of them. Both swallowed their whistles. Good Grief.
Lewis snuck out of the backfield on a wheel route and had an open lane to score a TD. Robey-Coleman saw this too late and did the only thing he could do to save a TD: run right through Lewis without even trying to look for the ball. He committed three penalties on the play (that's impressive): defensive pass interference, helmet-to-helmet contact and hitting a defenseless receiver in the head. All in front of two officials. After the play was over Robey-Coleman looked around to see how many flags were thrown. To the astonishment of the entire planet, no flags were tossed.
Where do I even begin? The pass interference is obvious. Robey-Coleman never even looked for the ball, he simply ran right into Lewis before the pass arrived. Textbook defensive pass interference. But I guess the refs decided to let the players determine the game for once and ignore such an obvious penalty. Alright, but how did they ignore the helmet-to-helmet hit? The league has emphasized to everyone this year that they are determined to eliminate such plays in the name of player safety. Referees have been instructed to be extra vigilant in watching for such plays by the league office. Yet those two dummies just ignored the illegal hit and waved the pass off as incomplete.
If the penalty had been called, the Saints could have forced the Rams to burn their time-out and kicked a go ahead field goal (or who knows, maybe score a TD) with less than 30 seconds remaining on the clock. Instead the Saints had to kick the field goal with nearly two minutes remaining on the clock and the Rams still had a time-out in their back pocket.
The non-call gave the Rams one last chance to save their season and they took advantage of it by kicking a game-tying field goal to force overtime. They then went on to intercept Brees in OT and kick another field goal to punch their ticket to Atlanta for the Super Bowl.
Somebody needs to get fired for this one. It is unbelievable two referees could watch that play happen right in front of them and not throw a flag. The NFL head of officials Alberto Riveron called Saints head coach Sean Payton immediately following the game to admit the refs blew it. Gee, thanks for nothing. At least Payton got a call right after the game, it took the league 6 years to tell Dallas Dez Bryant really caught that ball in Green Bay. (Admit it, you knew I'd find a way to mention the Cowboys in this post.)
While I am furious the refs could screw up such an important play, lets be honest here. The Saints blew it beforehand by putting themselves in the situation to begin with and continued to fail by letting the Rams get into position to tie the game.
The Saints drove downfield for first and goal opportunities on their first two possessions of the game and settled for field goals each time. You have to punch the ball in there. They went up 6-0 instead of either 10-0 or 14-0. The Rams can score, you have to rack up points while you can.
The Saints did score a TD before the quarter ended to make it 13-0. As the first quarter drew to a close the Rams were on the verge of another 3 and out. They only accumulated 15 yards on offense with zero first downs in the quarter. As the second quarter started, the Rams once again failed to convert on third down and faced a fourth & 5 on their own 30 yard line. Rams head coach Sean McVay saw his team's season spiraling into the toilet so he decided to make a desperation play. He called for a fake punt which the Rams converted into a first down.
That was the kind of gutsy call that can kickstart a slumping offense. If the Rams failed they were setting up the Saints for another easy score. What blows my mind is how the Saints didn't see it coming. They did the same damn thing against Philly last week! How could they not see this coming? They had the Rams on the ropes early and let them go. Big mistake. The Rams went on to score a field goal and later tacked on a TD as the Saints offense went cold. 13-10 at the half.
If the Saints would have scored TDs instead of field goals early or stopped the Rams fake punt then they never would have been in position to screwed by the refs. They let the Rams hang around instead of taking complete control of the game and it came back to bite them.
Even after the controversial non-call, the Saints had multiple opportunities to win and failed. The Rams got the ball back down by 3 points on their own 25 yard line with a 1:41 left on the clock and one timeout. A defensive stand and the Saints go to Atlanta. Didn't happen. Goff drove the Rams down to the New Orleans 30 yard line and Greg Zuerlein kicked a 48 yard field goal to force overtime.
The Saints won the toss and took possession of the ball to start OT. They were in the drivers seat, a TD and they win. But once again they failed. Brees got hit while attempting a pass and an easy interception floated in the hands Rams defender John Johnson as he laid on his back. The Rams were set up on their 46 yard line and gained enough yards for Zuerlein to hit a game-winning 57 yard field goal. Game over.
While the refs screwed the Saints, they still had chances to win and failed to deliver. Of course if they wouldn't have blown chances early in the game to race out into an even bigger lead they wouldn't have been in position to get screwed in the first place.
Lets give the Rams some credit here too. Yes, the blown call helped them. But they still had to go out and make plays to win, which they did. They pulled off a fake punt to save themselves early and fought back from the 13-0 deficit to make the game close at the end. The refs didn't hand this victory to the Rams, they still had to earn it. But the refs did make it a little easier.
Congrats to the Rams. They showed heart by fighting back in this game and overcoming a hostile environment. I don't what was wrong with Todd Gurley, but hopefully he can come back for the Super Bowl at 100%.
Patriots 37 Chiefs 31
Dear Lord this nightmare never ends.
I don't even have the heart to get into all the terrible calls in this game. What a day for the referees. And these are supposed to be the NFL's best officials. Barf.
Brady is not playing his best football, Gronk is fading fast and the defense doesn't have a lot firepower with a bunch of no name guys even hardcore Patriots fans couldn't pick out of a line-up. How do they do it? Give the credit to Belichick and his coaching staff. They game plan and coach their squad better than anyone. This team is prepared and they normally avoid the little mistakes that can add up to big letdowns.
The New England defense befuddled the Chiefs offense in the first half. The Chiefs only had 32 yards at the half. The top scoring team in the league. The Chiefs were shutout in the first half at home for the first time under Andy Reid. Oh they had a couple of chances. But Mahomes missed a wide open receiver for an easy TD and took several sacks to knock the Chiefs out of range for field goals.
Brady led two scoring drives to give the Pats a 14-0 lead at halftime, but it should have been more. He threw a terrible interception in the endzone to keep KC's hopes alive. The Pats still had to feel good. Brady entered this game 72-1 when he had a 14+ point lead at the half. He got to 73 even though he tried to blow it and KC bailed him out.
Reid finally got a handle on New England's defensive scheme in the second half and adjusted accordingly. The Chiefs broke through with a TD to start the third quarter and came alive by scoring 24 fourth quarter points. The problem for KC, as it was all season, was their defense failed.
KC scored a TD with a hair over two minutes remaining to take a 28-24 lead. Could they stop Brady from making another miraculous comeback? Almost, but not quite.
All day long Brady peppered the Chiefs with seam passes to Gronk, Edelman and Hogan for intermediate gains. The Chiefs never did figure out how to stop him. After receiving the kickoff, Brady went to work from his own 35 yard line and once again hit his guys with the same passes. With a little over a minute left in the game he took the Pats to the KC 34 yard line. But this isn't the same Tom Brady of old. He is starting to show his age a little and overthrew a pass to an open receiver that KC intercepted. Hooray! The Chiefs were going to be able to run out the clock and win!
Not so fast. Chiefs defensive lineman Dee Ford lined up in the neutral zone and the penalty negated the play. What a bonehead maneuver. How hard is it to line-up on the right side? These are the mistakes the Patriots avoid.
Brady took advantage of his second chance and hit Gronk with a pass to set up a first and goal from the four yard line. Rex Burkhead punched it in for the TD and New England took a 31-28 lead with 39 seconds left.
That was too much time left to count out Mahomes. After getting the ball back, Mahomes hit a few passes to drive KC to the Pat's 21 yard line. Harrison Butker hit a 39 yard field goal to send the game to overtime.
The second game of the day came down to a coin flip for possession in overtime. The Patriots won the flip and took the ball. Dammit. I knew they would go right down and score. The best I can say for the KC defense is at least they forced a couple of third and 10's. But the Patriots converted them. Brady hit the same passes that were there all day long and once again Burkhead punched it in for the win.
The Chiefs were outcoached on offense. New England took Tyreek Hill (1 catch 43 yards) and Travis Kelce (3 catches 23 yards 1 TD) out of the game for the most part. KC eventually adjusted but by then it was too little too late. And their defense that relies on sacks to have any impact at all didn't take down Brady once. When Brady threw the game away on a bad pass that was intercepted, the Chiefs gave him the ball right back with a dumb neutral zone penalty that is easily avoided by looking at where the damn ball is spotted.
Congrats to the Patriots. God I hate typing that. They aren't the best team in the AFC on paper, but that doesn't matter. They find ways to win. Last time I checked that is what counts in the end.
So there we have it. A Rams-Patriots Super Bowl. Not entirely unexpected, I think it was easy to envision this happening before the season started. I just wish somebody from the AFC would finally step up when it matters the most. I guess I'll have to wait for Belichick to die before that happens.
Let me know your thoughts on the title games and who you think will win the Super Bowl. At this point I don't know what to think. Donald and Suh should be able to take Brady down, but the Rams defense hasn't exactly shined this season. Goff is starting to step up, but Belichick is a master of confusing young QBs. Plus we need an update on Todd Gurley's health, the Rams will need him big time. Should be another close game, but I'm not going to get excited to see the Patriots again.
This phrase is very rarely ever uttered in my house, but I'll type it now: GO RAMS!
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