{"id":756,"date":"2010-09-11T19:00:27","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T23:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=756"},"modified":"2010-09-10T12:47:54","modified_gmt":"2010-09-10T16:47:54","slug":"bsb-nfl-two-a-days-the-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=756","title":{"rendered":"BSB NFL Two-a-Days: The Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, here we are.\u00a0 We completed Week Seventeen<\/a> and now we’re on to the playoffs.\u00a0 The playoff picture fell together rather nicely this year, as no team can really have a beef (unless the 9-7 NFC teams like Minnesota and Carolina want to complain about the hollowness of San Fran’s 9-7 and their bad division).\u00a0 Tiebreakers were only used for seeding, as everyone who got in did so on their records.\u00a0 This is going to be good.<\/p>\n

Saturday, January 8:
\n<\/strong>4:15 – #6 Cincinnati\u00a020\u00a0– #3 New England 31
\nThe Bengals had a great year, and they have the horses to win this game, but there was just too much Tom Brady.\u00a0 Tom Brady throws for three touchdowns, including a 68-yarder to Randy Moss late in the second quarter, and the New England defense bends but doesn’t break.\u00a0 Carson Palmer, who had a bounce-back regular season, throws a key interception in the fourth quarter and the Patriots are off to San Diego in the Divisional Round.<\/p>\n

8:30 – #6 Atlanta\u00a029 – #3 New Orleans 31
\nA thriller on Saturday night, as the Saints hold on to beat Atlanta.\u00a0 The Saints jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on two quick scoring drives, but the Falcons didn’t go away.\u00a0 The Falcons scored a touchdown with just over two minutes left in the half to cut the New Orleans lead to 14-10, but it was too much time for Drew Brees and company.\u00a0 The Saints went right down the field in their two-minute offense and added, what seemed to be a momentum-killing touchdown to go into halftime up 21-10.\u00a0 The two teams matched field goals with their first possessions of the second half to make it 24-13.\u00a0 After a Pierre Thomas fumble led to another Atlanta field goal, the Falcons were within eight points until Reggie Bush took a punt return to the house right at the end of the third, and things looked\u00a0bleak for Atlanta, down 31-16 after three quarters.\u00a0 But, they weren’t done.\u00a0 Matt Ryan and Michael Turner led them right down the field for a another quick score.\u00a0 After a Saints three-and-out, the Falcons, again, went down the field for another touchdown.\u00a0 With\u00a0five minutes left, Mike Smith opted to go for two, but the Saints defense held.\u00a0 But, again, the Falcons defense held up, forced a Saints punt and Ryan had the ball, down two, with just over two minutes left.\u00a0 The Falcons got one first down, but then Matt Ryan threw a season-ending interception, and the Saints survive and move on to Dallas.<\/p>\n

Sunday, January 9:
\n<\/strong>1:00 – #5 Pittsburgh 19 – #4 Baltimore 16
\nIn an old-school brawl of a football game, the Pittsburgh Steelers end the Ravens dreams of a Super Bowl with a 19-16 win at M&T Bank Stadium.\u00a0 Neither offense really moved the ball with any consistency, but both defenses made some big plays.\u00a0 The Ravens got their only touchdown when massive pressure caused Ben to throw into coverage and it was intercepted and returned 38 yards for the first score of the game.\u00a0 The Steelers had a little bit of offense, with three drives resulting in field goals in the first half, but were only in the red zone once.\u00a0 The Ravens led 10-9 at the half.\u00a0 The one big drive of the game came midway through the third quarter, when the Steelers offense came together and pulled off an impressive 16-play, 84-yard drive for the only offensive touchdown of the game to go up 16-10.\u00a0 The Ravens answered with a field goal, but a Flacco fumble in the fourth handed the three points back to the Steelers, who were up 19-13.\u00a0 The Ravens had a drive stall at the 27-yard line with just under 5 minutes left and John Harbaugh decided to kick the field goal on 4th and 4.\u00a0 They never again crossed midfield, as the Steelers defense held firm.\u00a0 Pittsburgh will now head to Indy for a showdown with the defending AFC champs.<\/p>\n

4:15 – #5 Philadelphia\u00a020 – #4 San Francisco 6
\nAlex Smith’s first ever playoff game was not exactly how he drew it up.\u00a0 The young quarterback, who had an okay season, threw two and added a fumble, as the Eagles defense really came to play.\u00a0 Kevin Kolb wasn’t off-the-charts, but he was handed good field position for most of the day, and did what he needed to do, throwing for 186 yards, 2 TDs and, most importantly, 0 INTs.\u00a0 The Birds will head to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field for a Week One rematch with Aaron Rodgers and the Pack.<\/p>\n

Saturday, January 15 (aka…the start of the best sports weekend of the year that doesn’t include 48 NCAA tournament games):
\n<\/strong>4:15 – #3 New Orleans 13 – #2 Dallas 31
\nIn an absolute shocker, the Cowboys roll over the defending Super Bowl champions.\u00a0 The Cowboys took the opening kickoff and went right down the field, scoring on a 2-yard Tashard Choice touchdown.\u00a0 The Saints, though, came right back and matched the ‘Boys with a touchdown of their own, and it looked like we were in for an old-fashioned shootout.\u00a0 But, it wasn’t to be, as the Cowboys dominated the final 52 minutes of play, holding the Saints to two long field goals the rest of the way.\u00a0 The Cowboys will await the Philly-Green Bay winner in the NFC Championship Game.\u00a0 Dallas is now one win away from being the first team ever to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.<\/p>\n

8:30 – #5 Pittsburgh 24 – #1 Indianapolis 14
\nTwo games on Saturday and two shocking results.\u00a0 The first one was because of the non-competitiveness of the defending Super Bowl champs, and this one because of the home upset of the defending AFC champs.\u00a0 The Steelers went into Indy and just phyiscally manhandled the Colts, going up 10-0 early and never looking back.\u00a0 Peyton Manning engineered two good touchdown drives–one at the end of the half and one midway through the third quarter–but other than that, this defense made him look almost ordinary.\u00a0 Rashard Mendenhall ran for 108 yards and two TDs and the Steelers are on to the AFC Championship Game against either New England or San Diego.<\/p>\n

Sunday, January 16:
\n<\/strong>1:00 – #5 Philadelphia\u00a013 – #1 Green Bay 24
\nOn a frigid day in upper Wisconsin, the Packers showed why they were the best team in the NFC this year.\u00a0 Their defense held the Eagles to very little production all day, while the offense showed signs of brilliance.\u00a0 It was a business-like playoff win for a very dangerous team.\u00a0 Aaron Rodgers, despite the cold, still threw for 242 yards and 2 TDs.\u00a0 Kevin Kolb, on the other hand, had a pretty rough day in the elements.\u00a0 Aside from an 82-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson in the second quarter, it was not a day to remember for the young QB.\u00a0 All in all, the season has to be considered a success for the Birds, and the future is bright for the youngest team in the league.\u00a0 The Packers have their sights set on bigger things, though, and will host Dallas in next week’s NFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n

4:30 – #3 New England\u00a042 – #2 San Diego 31
\nThe 2010 Pats looked quite reminiscent of the 2007 Pats in this one, as they ran up and down the field at will against an overmatched Chargers secondary.\u00a0 It was a good thing, too, that the Pats were so offensive because their defense got exposed by Rivers and the Chargers O.\u00a0 Antonio Gates, Ryan Matthews, and Malcolm Floyd had huge days, so Phillip Rivers racked up almost 400 yards in defeat.\u00a0 But, there was no stopping the Pats O, as Brady throws for 6 TDs, including 3 to Randy Moss.\u00a0 The Pats, the #3-seed, will get to host the AFC Championship Game thanks to the Steelers upset of Indy.<\/p>\n

Sunday, January 26:
\n<\/strong>1:00 – #2 Dallas 20 – #1 Green Bay 24
\nDespite the cold day at Lambeau Field, Tony Romo actually has a decent day, but the Cowboys are done in by three big fumbles (one each by Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Miles Austin) and fall just short of a return trip to the Super Bowl.\u00a0 Aaron Rodgers has another good day with 237 yards and 2 TDs.\u00a0 The unexpected hero of the game was Ryan Grant, who\u00a0stepped up in a big way,\u00a0taking control of the game and dominating the second half.\u00a0 The Cowboys dream of playing a home Super Bowl goes up in smoke on a cold day in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

4:30 – #5 Pittsburgh\u00a027 – #3 New England 17
\nThe New England defense just wasn’t good enough, and the Pittsburgh defense was.\u00a0 The Steelers did not stop Brady, but they contained him in the red zone, and, most importantly, kept him off the field, as their offense ate up a ton of clock as they marched up and down the field repeatedly on the Pats.\u00a0 Roethlisberger throws for a workmanlike 191 yards and\u00a01 TD.\u00a0 Rashard Mendenhall had another big day with 114 yards on the ground, and Hines Ward scored on a 48-yard touchdown run on an end around.\u00a0 A tough loss for the Pats, as the Steelers head to Dallas in search of championship number 7.<\/p>\n

Sunday, February 11 (Dallas, TX) – Super Bowl XLV:
\n<\/strong>Green Bay\u00a031 – Pittsburgh 7
\nAaron Rodgers is not only a Super Bowl champ, but the Super Bowl MVP, as he throws for 284 yards and 3 TDs against the best defense in the NFL.\u00a0 Greg Jennings caught two of those TD passes and had 114 yards receiving.\u00a0 The Packers scored the first 10 points and never looked back.\u00a0 Roethlisberger, on the other hand, had a day for the ages.\u00a0 Four interceptions and two fumbles in the worst game of his career.\u00a0 He was even pulled in the fourth quarter for Dennis Dixon, who led the Steelers down for a late touchdown drive to avoid the ignominy of being shutout on the biggest stage.\u00a0 Karma’s a bitch, huh Ben?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, here we are.\u00a0 We completed Week Seventeen and now we’re on to the playoffs.\u00a0 The playoff picture fell together rather nicely this year, as no team can really have a beef (unless the 9-7 NFC teams like Minnesota and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1060],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl","tag-2010-two-a-days"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=756"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":762,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}