Pokorny Playoff Thoughts – Round 2
What a weekend of football. What started out as two decently exciting games on Saturday led to the two best games of this year’s playoffs on Sunday. We were all stunned at how the Colts couldn’t get it going early, how the Panthers dominated the Bears’ defense, how the Seahawks survived without Shaun Alexander and how the Broncos finally handed Tom Brady his first postseason loss. Let’s start with Saturday’s games.
Washington Redskins vs. Seattle Seahawks
From the start of the game, it looked like the Seahawks were ready to take over. Matt Hasselbeck threw some good pitches on the opening drive and the Seahawks were ready to hit the ball for six. Then Shaun Alexander lost his second fumble of the season, and the second in two weeks of football for Seattle. When Alexander left a few minutes later, he knew right away that he wasn’t coming back from a concussion. Things almost took a turn for the worse when Darrell Jackson had to leave the game, but luckily he was able to return pretty quickly.
The Redskins didn’t play a bad game of football. They were underdogs on the road against arguably the best team in the NFC. After an embarrassing offensive performance against the Buccaneers, the Redskins once again showed their potential. Although Mark Brunell was thrown off balance on many of his pitches, the Redskins were able to pass the ball to Santana Moss and Chris Cooley long enough to stay in the game. Clinton Portis never really got things going, but Washington stayed in the game and nearly made it 20-17 late in the game. After that, who knows if a side kick would have worked or not.
The Redskins clearly need another receiver next year to go along with Moss. Brunell isn’t the best quarterback, but he bounced back with an outstanding season by his standards after not appearing in recent memory. The Seahawks survived without Alexander, the league’s MVP. It would have hurt me to see Hasselbeck lose another game in the postseason in the final seconds of the game. It will be tough to beat Seattle, especially with how loud Seattle’s stadium can get.
New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos
With all due respect to the Broncos, I still think the Patriots should have won this game. Both teams were very evenly matched and played competitive football until Kevin Faulk lost less than two minutes. Granted, Faulk’s clumsiness is the Patriots’ fault. The pass interference call in New England is what really bothered me. I know umpires are human, but there was not the slightest interference on that play, and the umpire was standing right there. No, that doesn’t mean he had a better “look”, it just means he made a horrible call. Had that absurd penalty not been called, the Broncos likely would have kicked a field goal and gone 3-3 at the half.
After the half, the Patriots wouldn’t have panicked. They still would have played like themselves, Brady probably wouldn’t have thrown a long interception play, and New England would have barely won. Still, give the Broncos all the credit in the world for executing. Every time the Patriots gave them a chance to make a play, they put points on the board. New England’s defense pretty much shut down the Broncos in the first half, and the Patriots’ offense got away with it, too. However, when it came to critical moments, accepting the fact that the penalty had to occur before the half, the Patriots failed him. Ellis Hobbs fumbled, Troy Brown fumbled, and Brady threw an interception that basically went the distance.
By the way, what a fuss on the part of Ben Watson. I’m pretty sure the fumble he caused went out of the end zone for a touchback, just based on logical reasoning. However, since the cameras did not show a clear picture of what happened, I have to agree with the referee’s decision. In the end, I’m still not convinced the Broncos are better than New England. However, the victory is what counts, as we discovered during the first game on Sunday.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Indianapolis Colts
I’m not trying to make excuses, but I really believe this: If the Colts had played a meaningful game a week before facing the Steelers, they would have won this game. Granted, the Steelers brought the best game plan they could against the Colts and Troy Polamula is one of the most exciting defensive players in football, if not the most exciting. However, the pathetic display of offense the Colts put on for the first three quarters just seemed like a team that never played together. Part of that was the Steelers charging, but when Manning throws somewhere and the receiver doesn’t look, they’re out of sync.
In that fourth quarter, I saw the real Colts offense. I know the Steelers played a little conservative, but Manning and his receiver were on the same page. Had that been the case from the start, the Colts could have scored three touchdowns in the first half if they wanted to. One thing you can’t excuse, though, is the Colts’ defense. Ben Roethlisberger was just amazing and took the Steelers’ offense to a new level. The Steelers know that Big Ben has the best early success out of him, so they wanted to get ahead of it early and put off their running game until later. When the Colts got hot, what did the Steelers do? They ran football, what was it, 11 times in a row it seemed? That’s where the Colts were definitely outplayed by Pittsburgh.
It all seemed to be over when Manning was sacked at the two-yard line on fourth down. He couldn’t believe his eyes when Jerome Bettis carried the ball. I anticipated him heading for the end zone, when all of a sudden Nick Harper picked up the ball and ran down the field. I’m not sure why he didn’t keep running outside, but Roethlisberger sent his team to the AFC Championship with his inning. The Colts should have been able to move the ball for a touchdown so they didn’t have to rely on Vanderjagt, who missed big. Before I finish talking about this game, I want to mention Troy Polamula’s “recall” interception. As much as she wanted the call dropped, she knew that Dungy was simply challenging out of desperation. What? Was it overturned? That was the most shocking overturned call I’ve ever seen, but it only added to the most exciting playoff game yet in the 2005-2006 playoffs.
Carolina Panthers vs. chicago bears
When I made my pick for this game, I was dying to predict that it would be a shootout. However, I was a bit swayed by the general consensus that it would be a defensive game, so I went in the middle and predicted average offense from both teams. Although the game contained a lot of defense, this game was more of a shootout. The Panthers’ passing game couldn’t be stopped, and the Bears’ passing game worked surprisingly well.
Is it just me, or would Jake Delhomme rank with Tom Brady as the best postseason quarterback in the current era? He hasn’t struggled in a single postseason game and always sets the opposing defense on fire. His only playoff loss was in the Super Bowl two years ago, and he was amazing in that game, too. However, it helps that he has the best chemistry in the league with Steve Smith. It was ridiculous how open Smith was after the Bears defenders went down, but why didn’t you cover him twice in the first place? The other Panthers’ receivers didn’t fare too badly, but do you really care enough not to duplicate Smith? The Panthers moved the ball with ease all day against the best defense left in the playoffs, even after losing Foster.
Rex Grossman impressed me. After falling behind by two possessions, I felt like Chicago had no chance to recover. Grossman shot the ball downfield all day to any receiver he could find, showing his potential for next year. Although he couldn’t lead a game-ending equalizing attempt, he was just brilliant at times. The Panthers’ defense performed better than the Bears overall, but most of the credit has to go to the Panthers’ offensive line. After Chicago sacked Delhomme eight times earlier this year, the pressure wasn’t even an issue for him.
final thoughts
This week the Steelers will take on the Broncos and the Panthers will challenge the Seahawks. I seriously believe that two wild-card teams can make it to the Super Bowl for once, but these four teams seem pretty evenly matched. Both games should be competitive and exciting to watch. Stay in tune with PFcritics.com by bookmarking our site or signing up for our free newsletter. We’ll bring you exclusive sneak peeks at the AFC and NFC Championships in the coming days.