Phenomenal games yesterday in the NFL playoffs! (See that college football, told ya playoffs would work. Sorry B Saal, you know it will). Sucks if you are a Ravens or 49ers fan, but as a neutral fan those were awesome well played games. You couldn't ask for anything better than well-played competitive games that come down to the end. Well...maybe you could if you were Ravens or Niner fans, but I digress. Now that we've had 24 hours to digest them, let's go ahead and regurgitate them!!
(The guy in the middle hates playoffs. Also, read this article, for more Brian Saal information!)
NFC: I think we all ahd Niners/Giants for the NFC title at the beginning of the year right? I know I did. The Niners are great to watch if you are an old-school football fan, like myself. If you like new fangled fancy pants football, with things like the "forward pass" well then you're probably not a big fan. They line up, punch you in the mouth and just try and figure out a way to score one more point than you. The Giants, going against much of their history, try and get up on you early and then rush the shit out of your quarterback. Well the Niners came this close (hold your fingers together really close) to advancing. Sure Kyle Williams made two mistakes returning punts, (The first one was ridiculous and a bad mistake, but the second was a little more excusable.) that ended up costing the team the game. But you know what, you jsut gotta tip your hat to the Giants on this one.
(See, even the guy with no head tipped his hat)
The Giants took everything the 49ers had and survived. They threw the ball 58 times (58!!) and Eli Manning was crushed on damn near every throw, and he didn't turn the ball over. Not once. In lousy conditions, and getting his ass handed too him every play, he did what champions do, raise their level of play. So it's onward to the Super Bowl (again) for the G-Men. I know it made Pop Wasko more then excited! Two last things: 1) The punter wears his wedding band while playing...awesome haha. 2) My favorite scene was the punter running in slo-mo unable to get his helmet off, when he mouthed the words "I'm going to the fu$%king Super Bowl!!"
AFC: Oh boy. This is a tough one. I wanted the Ravens to win. I'm not actually a Ravens fan, but I don't like the Patriots all that much (like everyone else outside of New England) and I wanted to see Super Joe Flacco (said in obnoxious Baltimore accent) get to the Super Bowl. Plus, who wouldn't want to see murderers who got away with it (allegedly) get another shot at a title?? Ain't that right Ray Lewis??
(Come onnnnn!! Your honor, I'm wearin a Snuggy! How could I have done anything??)
All the build up and media talk before the game was that Joe Flacco had to play well. And preferably lead them back from a defecit late in the game to win. Well what do you know? He lead them down the field, and gave them a shot to win. AND gave them a shot to tie the game. Which brings me to my next point. Folks, lay off Billy Cundiff. Seriously. No one dislikes kickers and the ENORMOUS impact they can have on games more than me, trust me. And don't get me wrong, a 32 yard field goal is about as big a "bunny" kick as you can have as an NFL kicker. No excuses, you gotta hit that. BUT! Go back two plays before to Lee Evans, wide receiver (probably former wide receiver now) for the Ravens has a chance to WIN the game. Joe Flacco could not have run out there and placed the ball in his hands any better than what he threw it. The defensive back made the comment after the game that Evans did a great job of not indicating the ball was coming. So he even had the element of surprise on his side. And he crapped the bed. In my opinion, he crapped the bed more than Billy Cundiff. Lee Evans had the chance to win the thing and move his team to the Super Bowl, and it wasn't even difficult. Cundiff merely would have tied the game. So if you are looking for someone to rip, don't be lazy and just rip Cundiff cause he missed the kick. Do a little thinking and rip Lee Evans.
Whose more likely to make the conference-winning touchdown catch?
(This Lee Evans??) (This Lee Evans??)
