AFC Championship Jets vs. Steelers

Well the Steelers and Jets will finally get their rematch as it will come in the AFC Championship game. The two teams matched up in week 15 as the Jets pulled off the upset 22-17 but that was without the Steelers MVP Troy Polamalu.

How did we get to this match up you ask? The Jets had the toughest path as they had to face Peyton Manning and Tom Brady’s squads. It was a tough journey full of trash talking and a foot fetish that’s only one person, Rex Ryan. Ryan and his Jets took the pervious to games so personal because they had not beaten either of the quarterbacks in the play offs under his tenure.

During wild card weekend the Jets went into Indianapolis and defeated the Colts by a close margin, 17-16.

The next week would be thought to even tougher as they face the Patriots. The two teams split the regular season but the final match up in Foxbourgh of the regular season by a laugh fest 45-3. So when they met in the division series they wanted to show they are no walk over team and could contend for a Super Bowl. The defense which is ranked third in the league held Brady to only 21 points and even caused him to throw an interception, his first since October. The talking Jets rubbed it in the face of the Patriots one player even doing a flip on the field others with their arms wide out as if they was a jet plane.

But coming to this the championship game against the Steelers the Jets are nothing but respect and love for the team with the most Super Bowl titles. They have done nothing but talk about how great Ben Roethlisberger is as a quarter back and how much they respect him. They also talk about how great Polamalu is and the difficulty he will bring on Mark Sanchez. Is it all a game they are playing? Are they prepared for the Steelers in Heinz Field? If the Jets were to pull out a win they will have won on the road in all the games leading up to the Super Bowl.

But there is one thing in the way of them and that is the Steelers who are well rested as they had a first round bye. The Steelers had a difficult path to this week’s despite only having to play one game to move on. The Steelers took on the Ravens last Sunday at home and was down early because of poor play and stupid mistakes but was able to get their act together to pull off a 31-24 victory. This game had it all a team that is prepared and ready to play with a no excuse mentality, injury or not they will play the hardest they can. The defense has proved to be a traditional bad ass defense, excuse my language. With Polamalu back on defense the rest of their players have also stepped there game up to work together to win a championship.

Both of these teams are extremely prepared as all teams set a goal to make it to the Super Bowl on day one of training camp. I believe this game will come down to the best defensive team I look for this to be a somewhat low scoring pick em’ game. The odds makers have the Steelers a 3.5 point favorite and I would have to say I agree. If all of the team shows up with their best game there is no reason the Black and Yellow won’t return to the Super Bowl for the third time in six years.

Post Season Review: New England Patriots

The second team in our series is the New England Patriots, who have proved to be the best team in the NFL with a 14-2 record. The Patriots won the AFC East as well earned the top spot in the AFC playoffs and home field advantage throughout.

Coming into the season as you may recall from my preseason predictions I had the Patriots to finish 9-7 and boy was I wrong. I just felt the Patriots was going to have a tough season adjusting to having so many rookies coming in this season that would play, also not making many changes on defense which gave them troubles in 2009 and cost them the playoffs. There also was contract drama with two stars on the team quarterback Tom Brady and Wide Receiver Randy Moss both of those players was taken care of in their owns ways Brady as awarded a $72 Million deal and Moss was traded in a mid-season acquisition to the Vikings for a third-round draft pick in 2011.

The season started kind of rocky for the Patriots at that time I thought I was going to be right with my predictions. About a week prior to the week one game with the Bengals, Brady was in a car crash that some might have an effect on his play but it didn’t and he had a decent start with 25-of-35 completion with 258 passing yards to lead them to a 38-24 victory. It was also a first great game for Wes Welker who caught eight passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns, who was playing after a speedy recovery from a knee injury that ended in surgery but he was back after eight months of recovery. Most people did not believe that he was ready and like the rest of the team he proved everyone wrong.

In week two they would suffer one of their two loses of the season to AFC East rival New York Jets. I actually predicted this lose but I’m sure the Patriots did not they was ready to play the trash talking Jets but came up short 28-14. In this game Brady was plan out played as Jets Quarterback Mark Sanchez as he went for a career-high three touchdown passes. The Patriots had a touch game as they only had a total of 20 first downs and was held to only 291 offensive yards. They also had trouble on third downs as they only went 5-of-11.

Week three the Bills come into Foxboro and the Patriots are looking to have a big bounce back game. This was a bounce back game for Brady as he threw three touchdowns and the team also had two rushing touchdowns in a 38-30 victory. In this game the Patriots started a streak for the season, as well as showed that the only way you are going to beat them was to outscore them because they are going to put points on the board anyway they have to.

Week four would be a blowout 41-14 game in Miami against the dolphins and the team would go into the bye week in week five.

Coming off a well rested bye week the Patriots take on the Ravens in week six and prior to this game is when the Moss trade goes down. It may have been the best move of the season for the team as they removed the aging veteran and brought back Deion Branch. Branch would be a big spark for the offense in the game for sure as he helped lead a comeback form 10 down to a 23-20 win. Branch had left the Patriots four years prior but it was as if he had never left. He had nine receptions seven of which came after a 20-10 Ravens lead. Coming into this game the fans had worried how the team would do in its first game without Moss but I believe they showed them that they would be fine without him.

Week seven looked to be easy win for the Patriots as they had a 17 point lead going into the fourth quarter against the Chargers but they would hold on for a 23-20 victory.

Week eight would put the gunslinger Brett Farve up against Brady as they would take on the Vikings at home. But it was Brady who would look like the true gunslinger in the NFL as he had 65-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Tate in a 28-18 win. Farve would take a tough hit and would be removed from the game.

Week nine would be the final lose for the team as they would go into Cleveland to take on the Browns. In this match up rookie quarterback Colt McCoy made his first appearance against the Patriots and it was a big one. He led his offense to a 34-14 victory over the Patriots. Brady was had a 19-36 passing completion and threw for two touchdowns but that would not be enough. He also stopped by the play of Rob Gronkowski who had a couple drops and a fumble. The Defense just could not stop the Browns running game as they would have four rushing touchdowns including one from McCoy. After the game Brady said.

“We were out of sync all day,” Brady went on to say. “It was not a good game at all. As an offense, we didn’t do much to advance the ball, and that includes the quarterback. If we play like we played today we are not going to beat anybody.”

After a tough lose to the Browns everyone expected a big comeback game against the Steelers and that is what they got as they went to win 39-26. Brady had his way with the defense of the Steelers as he threw for 350 yards and had three passing touchdowns as well as a rushing touchdown. The Patriots defense was also able to take a big piece of the Steelers offense in Hines Ward early in the game. This was a big win for them after the embarrassing lose the week before.

Week 11 would bring in what some would call the biggest rival the Indianapolis Colts and former MVP Peyton Manning. This game would belong to Danny Woodhead as he did it all in this game, he had seven carries and one for a touchdown as well as four catches for 21 yards. Woodhead joined the team after he was cut from the Jets in September. As they say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and he proved to be a treasure for the Patriots. Manning had a late game comeback and threw four touchdowns and 396 but fail short 31-28.

Coming off the close win week 12 would bring the Jets again but this time at home and the Patriots was ready as they killed them 45-3. Brady threw four touches and 325yards in this game he did not want to lose. It was made out to be a big game because of the early season defeat but it was a blow out.

Week 14 would is known as the “snow game” and everyone knows Brady shines in the snow. The Patriots went to Chicago and defeats the Bears 36-7 in the snow. Brady threw for 369 yards and two touchdowns. Need I say more about this game? Brady always shines in bad weather as he did against the Titans the previous season.

Week 15 would be the last real match up of the season for the Patriots as the Packers come in with backup quarterback Matt Flynn as Aaron Rodgers had suffered a concussion the week before. The Packers would have the ball for 40:48 of the game and would hold the Patriots to only 14 first downs but that seemed to be enough. As the Patriots would have a comeback fourth quarter to win 31-27. A standout moment in his game was when offensive lineman Dan Connolly, who is over 300 pounds, had a 71 yard kickoff return which is probably the longest for a lineman in the NFL but I’m not sure.

The Last two weeks of the season was a joke as they outscored the Bills and the Dolphins 72-10 together.

This season has clearly been there best season since they went 16-0 and love him or hate him Tom Brady has showed the he is deserving of the MVP award as he played in all 16 starts and put up amazing numbers.

Going into the playoffs the Patriots they are the team to beat as they have the top seed and home field throughout. I believe there best chance of making it to the AFC championship game would be to face the Jets as we saw what they have done to them already this season.

Post Season Reveiw: Pittsburgh Steelers

With week 17 finally coming and the NFL season over we begin to shift toward the play offs which begin next Saturday. I thought I would do a break down series over the six AFC teams that have made it to the play offs this year. As you recall I did a preseason blog and made predictions for the season as you know by know I did not do to hot, hell I didn’t even pick one division champion correct. But as they say the play offs are a new season so I am going to take a look back over the regular season. Going to do a review of each team how they did and how they look on the path to the Super Bowl. No predictions just thoughts. I am going to start the series with the AFC North Champions the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I did not have high hopes for season coming in as I posted them to have a 9-7 season because they went the first four games with out there Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as he was serving a suspension put down on him by the NFL. Boy was I wrong the Steelers started the season 3-1 and went through it with two different Quarterbacks Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch. They knocked off the Falcons, Titians and Buccaneers before suffering a week four loss the division rivals Ravens.

After those four games the Steelers would enter a bye week and come back with Roethlisberger back running the offense against the Browns. He would look decent and would complete 16 passes on 27 attempts to lead the Steelers to a 28-10 victory.

Week seven was a true test of how the Steelers would compete as they go to Miami to play the Dolphins in what would be a 22-23 victory for Pittsburgh. In a game where Roethlisberger would attempt to run it in for a touchdown late in the game that would end in a fumble but video could not show who got the ball therefore giving it back to the Steelers and they kick for the win. After that game Roethlisberger said:

“Just a bizarre kind of play. You hate to win in that way, but you’ll take a win,”

The Steelers would not be so lucky in week eight when they went on the road to New Orleans when they would suffer there second lose of the season 20-10 to the Saints. The Steelers just could not compete against the Saints offense or defense. The only touchdown that was scored by the Steelers would be 38-yard run in the fourth quarter by Rashard Mendenhall. They were completely taken out of the third quarter of the game as they only had one possession. Roethlisberger was 17 of 28 for 195 yards following the game he had this to say:

“This is definitely a gut check for us,” He went on to say. “We got knocked down a little bit tonight and now it will be interesting to see how we bounce back.”

Bounce back is exactly what they did in week nine against Cincinnati in a Monday night game but it almost turned out bad. The Steelers at one point in the game had a comfortable lead until Roethlisberger threw an interception that would lead to Terrell Owens getting a touchdown and a missed Kick my Jeff Reed that would have sealed the deal for the Steelers. The defense stood strong and they held the Bengals and went on to a 27-21 victory. With the win the Steelers became 6-2 and tied with the Ravens for the top spot in the North.

Week 10 is when Tom Brady and the Patriots came into Heinz Field and destroyed them. The defense could not do a damn thing against Brady and they also played most of the game without star wide receiver Hines Ward who went out early with a concussion. The concussion would also stop Ward’s consecutive games with a reception at 186 games. Even with the Steelers scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter it was too late and they lost 39-26.

After the tough lose the Steelers would cut kicker Jeff Reed who was in his ninth season due to poor play and Signed Shaun Suisham who became a great pick up for them
down the stretch.

The Steelers came out strong in Week 11 and would kill the Raiders at home 35-3. This game was lead by James Harrison who caused two turnovers by Raiders Quarterback Jason Campbell that Roethlisberger would turn into touchdowns.

Week 12 would be an unsuspecting tough game in Buffalo against the Bills that would end in an overtime victory 19-16 when Suisham kicked a 41 yard field goal for the win. He went 4-4 on the day kicking something most people believed Reed wouldn’t do. The Bills had a great fourth quarter to tie it up but that wouldn’t be enough. In this game Roethlisberger would injury his foot and later would have to wear a protective shoe to protect a broken foot for the remainder of the year.

As if playing with a broken foot in week 13 wasn’t enough for Roethlisberger he would have his nose broken in first series of the game but would play the entire game. The team would go on the road and defeat the Ravens 13-10 in a game won by a Troy Polamalu strip sack late in the game. This was a heavy defensive game as most would expect but with a 10 point fourth for the Steelers it would go their way and they would take control of the North and wouldn’t lose it from there on out.

The Bengals come in for week 14 and get stomped 23-7 as the Steelers went for the sweep. This was another big game for Polamalu as well as LaMarr Woodley who both returned interceptions for touchdown.

“No one is playing as good as Troy Polamalu in football right now, in my opinion,” Head Coach Mike Tomlin said.” When we need a play, he provides it.”

Even with the great play you can’t prevent injury and Polamalu would sit out week 15 against the Jets. This game would come down to the wire but the Steelers would fall short 22-17. The game began with a Touchdown scored before the first minute of the game was up and it would be a battle from there as they remained tied back and forth for the remainder of the game but with a few errors in the fourth quarter would lead the Jets to victory. Due to the strength of schedule the Steelers was award a playoff berth.

The final two games of the season would be a blow out over the Panthers and the Browns and they would outscore them 68-12. Polamalu would return for the final game of the season and got back in the rhythm as if he had never left and was named by his teammates team MVP. After these wins the Steelers would finish the season 12-4 and be second in the playoffs as well as a first round bye.

Going into the playoffs they will have to have Polamalu and Roethlisberger both clicking on all cylinders if they hope to make it to the Super Bowl. With the bye they will play at home on in two weeks. The best path to the AFC Championship game in my opinion would be if they faced the Cheifs in the second round as the Cheifs have had a rough past two weeks. I don’t want to go on to the championship round as there are many factors that would go into play.

A Rainy Winter Classic Goes to the Capitals

For the past four years after the ball has dropped and a new year has began the boys of winter takes the ice for the Winter Classic. The Winter Classic this year was played at Heinz Field, which is home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the two teams that took the ice was the visiting Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This was the first time the Winter Classic was played at night and that was because of the rainy weather that was in the Pittsburgh area throughout the day and continued off and on during the game. With the game being played outdoors the weather of course played a role in ice conditions that was kind of slushy and wet at times, but that did not stop the Capitals from pulling off a 3-1 victory over the home team.

The game started out sloppy as neither team was used to the ice which lead to a scoreless first period even though the ice was choppy the emotions was high which lead to a first period fight to excite the fans on hand.

The second period was different it was exciting play as the players began to calm down and adjust to the situation. The penguins was the first to get on the board early in second quarter as Kris Letang had a banked pass off the board to get the puck to Evgeni Malkin who would score. The home crowd went wild and the terrible towels went flying which is a Steelers tradition which made its way to the ice.
Near the seven minute mark in the second period the Capitals took advantage of a power play which would lead to a goal by Mike Knuble to tie up the game. From there on out this game belonged to the Capitals and Eric Fehr who would go to score two more goals one at around the 15 minute mark and again around the 12 minute mark in the third period.

Coming into this game everyone expected big play from what some say are the best two players in the game of hockey in Sidney Crosby of the Penguins and Alex Ovechkin but both of these players was really a non-factor in the game. The poor ice really caused Ovechkin to have a poor game as he took a fall on to his stomach while attempting a shot in the first period. Crosby also took a rough hit in the second from a blindsided hit he would have a limp as he went to the locker room at the intermission but finished the game.

The fourth annual Winter Classic proved to be another exciting event and helps the sport bring in fans it may normally not get in the regular season. This outdoor event with such press brings positive viewership to the game that is normally competing with other sports during this time of year. It always brings in fans of the home city to watch the game because of its location and the show that is brought on. This year’s puck drop was done by former Steelers star’s Jerome “Bus” Bettis and Franco Harris. These two players also did a celebrity shoot out of a Pittsburgh charity and made a show out of it. I believe the Classic is good for the game of Hockey and will bring in more fans to the game.