Championship Sunday Recap and Reaction!

Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta will feature the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots. It will be a rematch from Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans when the Pats shocked the Rams 20-17 and it kick started the Patriots run as a dynasty. Now, 17 years later they will meet again. I will have plenty of time to delve into that matchup, but before we do that over the next few weeks, let's see how we got there with a recap of a very memorable Championship Sunday.

NFC Championship Game
(2) Los Angeles Rams-26 (1) New Orleans-23 (OT)

1) This game will long be remembered for the non-call late in the game, but I will get to that later. I thought the one part that stood out about the beginning was how the Saints jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Rams got back into the game. I thought this might be a blowout at that point, but give the Rams credit for the way they got back into the game. Give Sean McVay credit for calling a fake punt down 13-0 at his own 30 with 14:23 left in the second quarter. Johnny Hekker completed the pass, kept the drive alive, and the Rams got a field goal out of it to make it 13-3.

2) After the Saints scored to make it 20-10, I was also impressed how the Rams responded. They went down the field, got some big plays by Jared Goff, and his TD pass to Tyler Higbee made it 20-17 late in the third quarter. I knew at that point that we were in for a fantastic finish in the 4th quarter.

3) Here is where the game got interesting and memorable. Down 20-17, Goff hits a huge throw to the New Orleans 7 yard line. It sets up a 4th and goal from the 1 yard line. There is 6 minutes left in the game. and McVay elected to kick the field goal and go for the tie instead of going for it on 4th down from the one. If the Rams lost this game, then McVay would have been killed for going for the tie in this spot. It worked out for him in the end, and the Rams tied the game here, but I would have went for it in that spot.

4) The next Saints possession was where everything came to a head in this game. Drew Brees hits Ted Ginn Jr. on a 43 yard pass to the Rams 13 with only 1:59 left in the game. The Saints have the ball at the 13 YARD LINE with only 1:59 left, and on first down, they elect to throw a short pass which is incomplete! YOU HAVE TO RUN THE BALL THERE! That saved a valuable timeout for the Rams. The Saints run the ball the next play, and the Rams take their second timeout. The next play is what everyone will remember about this game. Brees pass intended for Tommy Lee Lewis was incomplete but there was major contact on the play by no flag was thrown. It was obvious watching live in full time that there was interference, but for whatever reason the official didn't throw a flag. Everyone was enraged: Sean Payton, the Saints, the fans, the announcers. It was about as bad of a non-call as you will ever see. I don't know how they missed that call. The Saints had to settle for a field goal and a 23-20 lead with 1:41 to go in the game.

5) Goff answered the bell once again. He hit throws of 19 and 16 yards and drove the Rams to the Saints 31. Greg Zuerlein came on and drilled the 48 yard field goal with 15 seconds left to tie it at 23 and we were headed to overtime. What a finish and what a great drive by Goff.

6) The Saints won the toss, took the ball, and then Drew Brees got hit as he was throwing it and the pass was intercepted by the Rams at their own 46 only four plays into overtime. The Rams only moved the ball 15 yards and it set up Zuerlein for a 57 yard field goal to win it in overtime. He absolutely drilled it once again, and the Rams won 26-23 and are headed to Super Bowl LIII. What an ending and what a finish!

7) It was a great game and had a memorable ending, but this game will always be remembered for the non-call. Missed calls happen all the time in sports, and the NFL officiating has been very inconsistent this year, and I don't know why that official didn't throw the flag. It cost the Saints a chance at the Super Bowl, and that will be a very tough pill to swallow for the Saints and their fans. Maybe this will lead the league to look at changing the challenge system to include pass interference, but it will be too little and too late for the Saints. This will go down in NFL history as the worst non-call of all time.

8) Give the Rams credit. They battled back many times in this game. They finally took the lead at the end when they won the game in overtime. They never led in the game until the very end. The Rams seemed like the better team on this day though. They battled the crowd and an early deficit. They kept fighting and battling back, and they are now headed to their first Super Bowl since 2001. Give Sean McVay and his staff credit because the Rams were shitshow of a team when he took over.

AFC Championship Game
(2) New England-37 (1) Kansas City-31

1) New England set the tone for this game when they got the ball first, went right down the field with an array of plays, and scored a TD to make it 7-0. Then, they forced a KC three and out, and you knew that this was going to be a ball game.

2) The Pats defense was able to shut down the Chiefs early. Tyreek Hill only had one catch for 42 yards on the day, and it was in the second quarter, but the Pats sacked Pat Mahomes and took the Chiefs out of field goal range to keep it at 7-0. The fact that KC didn't score in the first half tells you all you need to know about the effort, coaching, and execution of the Patriots defense.

3) The big play of the half was when Tom Brady hit Phillip Dorsett for a 29 yard TD with only 29 seconds left in the half to take a 14-0 lead heading into halftime. NE went 90 yards in 8 plays to get the two touchdown lead. It is hard to underestimate how critical that touchdown was.

4) Second half was all about the Pats holding on. Mahomes got going and hit Travis Kelce with a TD pass on the opening drive of the second half to make it 14-7 and the Pats held a 17-7 lead heading into the 4th quarter. It felt like the Pats were going to run out of gas and that the Chiefs were about to comeback at that point.

5) Here was a key sequence in the game. Early in the 4th quarter, the Chiefs score to make it 17-14, and Pats get stopped on 4th and 1 from KC 25, but the Patriots defense forces a three and out and gets a key stop there.

6) After the Julian Edelman review on the punt, Brady gets picked off by the Chiefs off a deflection. I thought the Chiefs were going to win the game at that point. Two plays later, Mahomes hits Damien Williams on a screen for a TD and it is 21-17 Chiefs with 7:45 to go.

7) Brady gets the ball down four and completely shreds the Chiefs defense and hits big throw after big throw and Sony Michel caps of the drive with a 10 yard TD run on 4th and 1 with 3:32 left in the game. I thought at that point that the Patriots were going to pull this game out.

8) Give Mahomes credit. He brought the Chiefs right back down the field and they go 5 plays 68 yards with and score on a Damien Williams 2 yard run to take the lead 28-24 with only 2:03 to go. Some people are killing Andy Reid for not using more time on that final drive, but I can't go crazy over that. He needed a touchdown and there was no guarantee he was going to get one. He had to score when he had to score. He ran the ball on first and goal and Williams scored before the two minute warning. Nothing he could do about that.

9) The Pats got the ball at their own 35 with 1:57 left in the game down four. This is what you want to see in a AFC title game. The play that will always be remembered in the offsides on Dee Ford. Ford lined up offside, the flag came out, the Pats ran the play and Brady got picked off on a deflection off Gronk's hands. It looked like the game was over and the Chiefs were going to win, but the Pats got another chance due to Ford's penalty.

10) Brady hits Gronk on a deep pass down the left sideline and it sets up a Rex Birkhead TD run with only 39 seconds left and the Pats lead 34-31. It was incredible to watch this all play out.

11) Mahomes completed two passes and the Chiefs were already down to the 21 yard line. Harrison Butker nailed the 39 yard field goal and the game fittingly was going to overtime.

12) The Patriots won the toss, elected to receive, and promptly went out and won the game. They went 75 yards in 13 plays and Brady completed three 3rd and 10s on the drive. Julian Edelman and Gronk came up huge once again on the drive, and Burkhead finished it off with a 2 yard run to win the game and send the Pats back to the Super Bowl.

13) It was an amazing game to watch. Brady and Mahomes going against each other. The way the Patriots executed their game plan on offense and shut down Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce on defense. The way that 4th quarter played out was memorable. The teams traded scores all the way until the end of the quarter, and it was great theater.

14) I thought it was going to be the Chiefs year in the AFC. I really did, but their defense did them in once again this season. It will be interesting to see how Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs rally back after this loss and respond next season.

15) Once again the Pats are going back to Super Bowl. It will be their 9th appearance in the Brady-Belichick regime. Although they have had so many wins together during this run, this might be one of their shining moments.