Monday, January 14, 2013

What a spectacular NFL weekend it was

It has been a long time since I've enjoyed an NFL weekend more than the one we just had.

Four games. Four barnburners.

When the losing team scores at least 28 points in every single game, you know you saw something pretty amazing.

The Denver-Baltimore game was an all-timer, primarily because it went into the sixth quarter. You just don't see that much (although the Panthers did it once, and in the same round of the playoffs, in 2003).

And Atlanta-Seattle -- a 30-28 Falcons win, which mimicked Atlanta's winning score against Carolina earlier this season exactly -- was amazing. I wonder if John Fox was watching that one (see the post two down from this one for my thoughts on how Fox's conservatism cost the Broncos dearly). The way the Falcons went down the field with hardly any time left to set up for the winning field goal -- that's what Denver had the opportunity to do on the final possession of regulation Saturday, but Fox instead had Peyton Manning take a knee and play for overtime. (Of course the difference was Atlanta had no choice -- the Falcons were down by a point and didn't have the OT option. It was now or never).

Although the other two games didn't come down to the final seconds -- with San Francisco and New England both pulling away -- they still had an enormous share of big moments. The weekend was the polar opposite of "wild-card weekend" seven days before, which was totally boring.

I'm picking San Francisco and New England to advance to the Super Bowl this coming Sunday. But what I'm really hoping for is two more games that live up to the ones we just saw.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, I watched the Falcons in January -- as they taunted when the Panthers last soundly defeated them. No way does Atlanta and QB Matt Ryan deserve to be still alive. Likewise for their field goal kicker, who Seattle gave a practice try. Lucky bunch, these Falcons.

Anonymous said...

Hope the Panthers were watching !