Although I have been swamped with work and trip planning (holler Jamaica), it occurred to me that I had not given a recap for the NFC and AFC title games. Since it has been some time since the games, I will try and be brief…
Atlanta loses another home playoff game (YES AGAIN!!)- In a surprise that came to no one outside of the state of Georgia, the Falcons lost yet another home playoff game. Coming into this game the Falcons could not have been more disrespected as the Falcons, the NFC top seed, were actually the underdog despite playing at home (the spread was about 4.5 points). So it was all there for the Falcons, a home game in one of the most loud Dome’s in all of football, playing a lower seed and coming off a shocking, but nonetheless big, playoff win against the Seahawks and in a game where Matty (no)Ice was a chance to really stick it to his detractors by winning the big game. Well, based on that storyline alone given the Falcons history you should be able to predict the result. However, to the Falcons credit they actually had all of the momentum and a big lead early in this one, and every player, even Matty (no) Ice looked good in this one early.
Unfortunately, the worst of things happened to the Falcons and it is what is known in football as the Second Half. After a few defensive adjustments by the 49ers, the Tony Romo Matt Ryan promptly exploded like the Hindenburg and all of Atlanta was left to bare witness to the wreckage, also known as the biggest collapse in NFL playoff history. It will be some time before the Falcons as a franchise feel this low again (probably not until next year’s divisional matchups), but it is time for some hard soul searching and for all of Atlanta to demand responsibility from the Falcons for this latest fiasco. Some possible changes that immediately help the Falcons include; convincing Tony Gonzalez to stick around for one more season, getting rid of Michael Turner who is far too one-dimensional (and a couple games past washed up), using the draft as an opportunity to revamp the defense including getting some linebackers that can tackle and giving coach Mike Smith only another year and another debacle before firing him (I am still picking my jaw up off the floor after learning that he was named coach of the year by the Sporting News. Really Sporting News was every other coach in the NFL get disqualified for supplying Lance Armstrong with PEDs or something? Did they collectively beat a bag full of bunnies with belts and dumbbells?? I WANT TO KNOW@@@!!).
On the bright side Atlanta, you’ll always have Matlock…well not really.
Another NFL Golden Boy Bites the Dust- Only a week after the NFL’s overrated and regular season only Crown Jewel bite the dust, the NFL’s other Golden Boy (who is actually aptly rated), got his heart ripped out for the second year in a row (well really every year since 2005). I was lamenting a couple of weeks ago how tiresome I was growing of Ray Lewis’ all about me antics, but Ray, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. In fact if anything, Ray Lewis has somehow gotten a team that was mediocre only a month ago, into a position where they are only one more win of the Superbowl title. For two weeks in a row, the Ravens hung in there with the NFL’s top two teams not named the 49ers (Sorry Houston and Atlanta, but I guess my perennial disbelief of your squads was all the more justified again after your runs this year). The final test has come for the Ravens, can Ray Lewis rev his team up just enough to win more game and proved to the World what your team can accomplish if provided the right inspiration? Win or lose, the Ravens’ performance over the last couple of weeks is nothing short of amazing and in way it goes much beyond of football. What this team is proving to all haters the world over, is that hope and inspiration are powerful things. Channelled the wrong way you are nothing, maybe mediocre. But channelled the right way, and the most amazing of things can be accomplished. Nothing is impossible. What a great example the Ravens have set and if they win it all, it will go down in history as one of the most inspirational…and again, it goes way beyond football.
