The Fun is Over

As much as a Boston sports optimist I try to be, I have to honestly admit I thought the Patriots would lose.  Eventually I figured the injuries would catch up to them and they'd face a team like the Broncos who had the upper hand in talent at nearly all, if not every skill position.  Despite that I thought the Patriots would play a lot better than how they did.

First off, last week against the Colts was the LeGarrete Blount show, and although the Broncos were able to prevent him from making any big plays early, I thought the Pats abandoned the run early.  Also offensively there were two plays in particular that really irked me.  First was the third down long pass to special team specialist Matthew Slater.  Same Matthew Slater who in his 6 years in the NFL has 1 reception.  So of course in the Conference Title Game it makes perfect sense to throw to him again.  The other play that bothered me was when  TB12  overthrew Julian Edelman downfield.  If Brady had connected with Edelman the play could very well have resulted in a touchdown, if not Pats would most likely at least have gotten 3 points on that possession.  Would that have made a difference in the game? Most likely not, but it was still early and the way the game was played out very well may have changed.

As much as the offense was a disappointment, I put majority of the blame on the loss on the defense.  I know people will say "Well Talib got hurt", but my response to that is while losing Talib was a big loss, any knowledgeable football fan who watched that game could see regardless if Talib played, the Broncos were clearly the superior team on Sunday. Peyton Manning was nearly perfect as he was 32-43 for 400 yards, 2 touchdowns and most importantly ZERO interceptions. The offense can't do much with the ball if they don't have the ball.  For instance in the 3rd quarter alone, the Patriots only had the ball once.  The inability by the defense to make good two good plays in a row or ANY stop on a 3rd down was staggering.  There were two instances where the Broncos had a 2nd and 20 and a 2nd and 16 and both times on one play the Broncos were able to convert a first down with relative ease, which is completely inexcusable by the defense.  Also, the defense only had two instances where a Broncos offensive possession didn't end in points; the first possession and the last one and the last possession the Broncos could have scored points but decided to go in the victory formation and take a knee instead.

With all that negativity I just ranted about being said, I can't complain too much about the Patriots season.  They were a young team who suffered injuries to some of their best players and leaders and yet were still one game away from going to another Super Bowl.  As the off season begins, it is clear TB12 needs another target, preferably one who can spread the field vertically, and the defense needs strong corner back.  While this year's Patriots squad was so fun and at the same time so frustrating to watch,  hopefully the youthful team will be able to learn from all their mistakes and be improved come next year, and hopefully Gronk, Mayo and Wilfork (if he comes back) will all be healthy and be able to perform up to their capabilities.

As for the NFC Title Game between the Seahawks and 49ers, it played out exactly how I thought it would. Although I picked the 49ers to win in my previous rant, I can say that this game unlike the AFC Title Game lived up to the hype.  Both these teams have hard hitting defenses and young athletic quarterbacks and all these players showed up to play. While Russell Wilson wasn't amazing, he did have two BIG  plays in particular where he was able to complete a long pass to Doug Balwdin after an impressive scramble which led to a field goal and late the touchdown pass on a delayed offsides call to Jermaine Kearse, which turned out to be the game winner.  "Beast Mode" Marshawn Lynch also showed up by scampering for 109 yards and was able to reward himself with some Skittles after his long 40 yard touchdown run.

The difference in the game however was clear and that was Kaepernick's 3 turnovers in the 4th.  While I thought as a whole he played a good game, as he was able to break off a few big runs and  had a jump touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin that was a thing of beauty, Kaepernick's inability to secure the ball down the stretch and have Vernon Davis be a bigger part of the offense proved to be the difference makers in the whether the 49ers would play next week in New York or not.  Also, I found it ironic that two of Jim Harbaugh's players from Stanford in Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin played a large role in the 49ers losing and the Seahawks winning.

As for the Richard Sherman rant (I loved the WWF paradoy which you can see here ), I really had no issues with it.  Was it smart? probably not, but like I said last week the reasons why I enjoy watching the 49ers and Seahawks is because they are trash talkers but their play backs up the talk.  Richard Sherman sealed the victory with his deflection that led to an interception and he had a right to be pumped up.  Also as more news leaked out  about how him and Crabtree had an incident at an event during the off-season, it is clear they don't like each other at all.  It was 15 seconds of live television and the amount of coverage and banter that it has received all week I find staggering.  Unfortunately I got a hunch that the talk will continue all the way through Media Day next week.

While I would have loved to see the Pats go for the franchises' fourth Super Bowl victory, I think it's clear the two best teams in the NFL will be competing to raise The Lombardi Trophy and I look forward to watching the game next Sunday.