Team-crippling injuries (sorry, Jamaal Charles and Matt Cassell), break-out stars fresh from the practice squad (I’m looking at you, Victor Cruz), rewritten record-books and Tebow-mania. The 2011 NFL season had a little something for everyone this year. Only three games left, but I’m more excited for them than Charlie Sheen was when he saw how bad Ashton Kutcher was in the new season of Two and a Half Men.
New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers (NFC Championship Game)
Let’s talk about Alex Smith for a second here. Here’s his resume before the 2011 season: First overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft out of Utah (23 picks before Aaron Rodgers), 51 career touchdown passes in five seasons compared to 53 interceptions, and a 20-31 career record. Flash forward to 2011: 17-5 touchdown to interception ratio, 13-3 record and a divisional playoff win where he basically outplayed the guy who just destroyed the passing yards in a season record by about 400 yards. Did I miss something here? Are these games fixed? Look, it helps to have the best defense in football (the ‘9ers haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher all year), but at the beginning of the season, I would have said Alex Smith had a better chance to coach middle school lacrosse in three years than beating Drew Brees in a playoff game.
As for the New York Giants, what more can you say? They’re the Green Bay Packers circa 2010. They looked done after an embarrassing home loss to the Washington Redskins in week 15, but then caught fire and haven’t stalled since. They have the most dominating front four in football (led by Tuck, Umeniyora and Pierre-Paul), can create pressure on Alex Smith without so much as a single blitz and are fresh off a road playoff win in Lambeau where they dominated the league MVP and his team’s 15-1 regular season record. Needless to say, they’re feeling pretty good right now, and as long as they avoid the dreaded Eli Manning face (Google it), expect the New York football Giants to ride the wave straight into the Super Bowl.
And by the way, I still don’t trust Alex Smith.
Giants 27, 49ers 20
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots (AFC Championship Game)
Man, that Patriots-Broncos game last week was riveting wasn’t it? That’s all I’m going to say about that. Behind Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, the Patriots boast one of the most explosive and creative offenses in the history of the NFL. Brady was top five in the NFL in almost every passing category, Wes Welker led the NFL in receptions, Rob Gronkowski broke the record for yards and touchdowns in a season by a tight end and Aaron Hernandez is fresh of a game in which he ran the ball five times for 61 yards (he’s a tight end). Unfortunately for the Patriots, they’ve been playing with a practice squad secondary all year and rank 31st in the NFL in yards allowed.
This game is going to come down to one man and one man only: Joseph Vincent Flacco (I threw the middle name in there for emphasis). If he can play lights out, the Ravens stand a good chance in this game, but if he shows up with his usual “I’ll make the occasional short pass to my tight end and watch Ray Rice do all the work on this screen pass” attitude, the Ravens are in for a long day.
The Patriots’ defense can be exploited down the field, and the Ravens did dominate the Pats in the playoffs two years ago, a 33-14 embarrassment.
With all that said, this one is easy for me. The Patriots didn’t have those matchup nightmares in Gronkowski and Hernandez during that game in Foxboro a couple years back, and although the Ravens still have the likes of Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs, this game is simple math:
Brady > Flacco.
Patriots 34 Ravens 24
Shawn Ferris can be reached at sferris@spartans.ut.edu.