Championship Sunday Recap

Championship Sunday is usually one of the most exciting and thrilling days of football in the calendar year. It is a day to look forward to as a fan of the NFL, but this year was a bit of a dud. Both games were blowouts, and the Falcons and the Patriots each rolled on their way to Super Bowl LI. It was hard to fathom how dominating New England and Atlanta looked over Pittsburgh and Green Bay respectively. I was very surprised that both of these games were non-competitive by the third quarter. It sets up an interesting Super Bowl between the high-powered Falcons and the juggernaut Patriots. The potential is there for a great game, but we have time to look ahead to that, so let's recap the two games from Championship Sunday.

NFC Championship
Atlanta-44 Green Bay-211) The Falcons went down the field on their first drive and Matt Ryan flipped a 2 yard pass to Mohamed Sanu for a touchdown to make it 7-0. Right there you sensed that the Falcons might be getting on a roll offensively from the get go.

2) The Packers drove down the field on their first drive and they settled for a 41 yard field goal and naturally Mason Crosby missed it wide right and the score remained 7-0. Crosby hit two 50+ field goals in the last two minutes last week at Dallas, and he shanks a very makeable field goal early in the game. Again, you started to feel like this could be Atlanta's night.

3) Here is where the game really just started to get away from the Packers: After the Falcons got a field goal on their second drive of the game to take a 10-0 lead, the Packers and Aaron Rodgers drove right down the field and looked like they were going to score until Aaron Ripkowski fumbled on a long run inside the five and into the endzone where the Falcons recovered. That really gave you the feeling that this game was going to be a blowout.

4) The Falcons responded with a 80 yard drive capped off by Matt Ryan scrambling in for 14 yards to make it 17-0. The only thing that could have saved the Packers at that point was if they could score at the end of the half, and they were getting the ball in the second half, so if they could get two scores before Matt Ryan got the ball back, that would at least give them a chance to get back into this game.

5) Rodgers throw a long interception, essentially a punt, and the Falcons took advantage right before the first half ended. Ryan drove the Falcons into scoring territory with the help of two Packer dropped interceptions and Ryan hit Julio Jones on a back shoulder fade for a 5 yard touchdown and an insurmountable 24-0 lead at the half. That was just a killer sequence for the Packers at that moment of the game.

6) After the Packers punted on their first drive of the second half, Julio Jones put the game away for good when he took a crossing route and went 73 yards for a touchdown to make it 31-0, and the rout was officially on in Atlanta. That was it. The game was done and the Falcons could start partying and celebrating the NFC Championship.

7) Matt Ryan played great and Julio Jones just dominated the game. Ryan finished 27-38 for 392 yards 4 TDs and 1 rushing TD. Jones finished with 9 receptions for 180 yards and 2 TDs. The Falcons had the best offense all year long, and they continued their onslaught in this game. I know the Packers had injuries in the secondary, but I haven't seen so many guys wide open and the Packers had no answers and couldn't make any adjustments. Give Ryan credit for playing so well, and give Kyle Shanahan credit for what this offense became this year.

8) The Packers just ran into a buzzsaw. I thought Aaron Rodgers had it in him to pull this game out by himself and get his team to the Super Bowl singlehandedly. I was wrong and the Packers and Rodgers were just overwhelmed by the Falcons. They got down early, had two bad breaks early, and the game just away from them. The Packers window isn't closing and they can reload in the offseason and be right back here again next year.

9) The Falcons had a lot of success with Matt Ryan early in his career, but they couldn't breakthrough in the postseason. They missed the playoffs in 2013, 2014, and 2015, but now in Dan Quinn's second year he got them back into the playoffs, won the division, and are now headed to the Super Bowl for only the second time in franchise history.

AFC Championship
New England-36 Pittsburgh-17
1) This game got out of hand just like the early game, and I was surprised by that. I thought the Steelers would keep this game close and even win it late, but the Patriots just dominated from the start. They went right down the field and got a field goal from Stephen Gostkowski to make it 3-0. Then, after a Steelers punt, they went right down the field again and Tom Brady his Chris Hogan on a 16 yard TD pass in which Brady stood in the pocket for like 30 seconds and found a wide open Hogan standing in the end zone. That was the first of many bad moments by the Steelers defense.

2) The Steelers responded with an 84-yard drive and DeAngelo Williams capped off the drive with a 5 yard run to make it 10-6 after the missed extra point. Ben Roethlisberger had some big throws on the drive and I thought that maybe we have a game here and the Steelers might have settled into the game.

3) The Patriots responded with an 82 yard drive and Brady hit Hogan again on a 34 yard TD pass on a flea flicker and just like that it was 17-6. It was going to be very hard for the Steelers to come back from being down 11 in Foxboro on this night.

4) Here is the key sequence of events late in the second quarter: Big Ben put together another nice drive for the Steelers and it looked like he hit Jesse James for a TD to cut the lead to 17-12 right before the first half ended. After the play got reviewed, it showed that James was down right before the goaline. The Steelers still had a 1st and goal from inside the 1, but the first down run to Williams lost 1 yard. Then, the second down run to Williams lost 3 yards, and then Ben threw incomplete on 3rd down and somehow the Steelers had to settle for a field goal and the Pats still lead 17-9. That was a very rough set of plays for the Steelers and at that point I realized that there was no way the Steelers were going to win this game.

5) After NE had a 20-9 lead in the third quarter, Brady put together a classic drive, carved up the Steelers defense and LeGarrette Blount scored on a 1 yard run with 2:44 to go in the third quarter to make it 27-9. The Steelers were on life support and you wondered if they could somehow get a backdoor cover because this game's result was effectively over. The Steelers tried to play zone defense and rush only a few guys at Brady and it failed miserably. He cut them apart and shredded them to the tune of 32-42 for 384 yards and 3 TDs. They had no answer for Chris Hogan, 9 receptions for 180 yards and 2 TDs, and Julian Edelman, 8 for 118 and 1 TD. The Steelers had no answers on defense all day. They didn't have the personnel to execute that type of gameplan and they had no chance to stop Brady and this offense. The epitome of this game was when Brady hit a wide-open Pat Devlin, a FULLBACK, on a hook route for a first down when no one on the Steelers even covered him. That played summed up the game.

6) Pittsburgh WR Eli Rogers fumbled on the next offensive play for the Steelers and the Pats recovered deep in PITT territory and Brady threw a 10 yard TD pass to Julian Edelman to make it 33-9 after the missed PAT with 1:35 to go in the third quarter. That was the dagger in the heart of the Steelers and that put the game away for good.

7) Big Ben didn't play awful but he got no help from this receivers, who dropped too many passes all night long. I know people might point to LeVeon Bell going out with a groin injury early in the game, but his absence had no bearing on the loss. The Steelers weren't able to matchup defensively with Brady and Pats offense. It is interesting because I really thought the Steelers would give the Pats a close game, but they weren't in the class of NE. The Steelers got to the Wild Card round in 2014, the Divisional round in 2015 and now the AFC Championship in 2016. Perhaps they will take the next step next year and get back to the Super Bowl.

8) As much as you hate to give them credit, the Pats, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick deserve the kudos once again. In a year when Brady was suspended for the first four games, they were still able to go 14-2, and roll over Houston and Pittsburgh in the playoffs to get to the 7th Super Bowl in the Belichick-Brady era. They both go for their 5th Super Bowl victory and a chance to put the finishing touches on two epic careers. They were the better team, outclassed and outcoached the Steelers, and now have a chance for immortality in Super Bowl LI against the Falcons in two weeks.