Seattle Seahawks, 28 Green Bay Packers, 22
For 55 minutes, the Seattle Seahawks' offense was set to be the goat of Seattle. QB Russell Wilson was having the worst game of his career and WRs Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin were being dominated in all facets of their game. In 55 minutes, Wilson had 4 interceptions, two by rookie S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and there was a Baldwin kickoff return fumble as well.
The Packers, however, did not capitalize. They had a total of 6 points off the 5 Seahawk turnovers. Their one TD drive of the day started at their own 44 and ended with a well-protected dart from QB Aaron Rodgers to WR Randall Cobb. The Packers would add another field goal and go up 16-0 at the half. Considering the Packers' amazing field position, multiple turnovers and offensive pedigree, 16 points is astonishingly low.
In the second half, Wilson continued to struggle. His 3rd interception- an ill-advised bomb to a double-covered and struggling Kearse- was negated by Aaron Rodgers' own awful throw to CB Byron Maxwell. The Seahawks first big play came on a fake field goal that saw P Jon Ryan connect 19 yards with OT Garry Gillium to first put the Seahawks on the board.
Nothing seemed to shake either offense alive. The Packers played conservative and were completely shut down by a one-armed CB Richard Sherman and separated shoulder S Earl Thomas. The Packers added only a field goal but it seemed a moot point when Jermaine Kearse dropped another ball, this one ricocheting into the arms of S Morgan Burnett who slid into a victory celebration. The Packers' D celebrated their Super Bowl berth, Star LB Clay Matthews wasn't even in the game because the Packers had won.
Only they hadn't.
With 5:04 remaining in the game and Green Bay at midfield, the Seahawks needed to force a punt, score a touchdown, recover an onside kick, and score another touchdown. And that is exactly what happened!
In one of the most improbable comebacks of All-Time, the Seahawks offense finally clicked into high gear. Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch each scored a touchdown in between an epic onside kick recovery by WR Chris Matthews, and punctuated by a high lofted prayer of a 2pt conversion to TE Luke Willson. The Seahawks took the lead 22-19 having been down 7-19 just 4 minutes before.
Amazingly, the Seahawks had done this too quickly! In response QB Aaron Rodgers was allowed to throw the ball, quickly driving the Packers to a field goal, a 22-22 tie and Overtime.
KEY PLAY: With an overtime do-over to his disastrous day, Russell Wilson responded with an 87-yard drive that had two key plays, a 3rd-and-6 35-yard sideline route to WR Doug Baldwin and the definitive seam route up the middle, 35 more yards to the goat-turned-hero WR Jermaine Kearse.
MVP: RB Marshawn Lynch was the engine of the Seahawks again. He ran well all game and when the rest of the offense joined him in the final 5 minutes, it became a Marshawn Lynch show, he finished with 183 total yards.
New England Patriots, 45 Indianapolis Colts, 7
I suppose QB Andrew Luck was not ready after all. The AFC Championship was a sharp contrast to the NFC's thrilling finish. QB Tom Brady had 226 yards and 3 TDs, all that was needed from him. RB LaGarette Blount reprised his role as a Colt-killer with 148 yards and 3 TDs. Blount has now scored 7 TDs against the Colts in two playoff games.
With Colts WR T.Y Hilton double-covered and WR Reggie Wayne on his last legs, Luck desperately challenged CB Darrelle Revis who promptly intercepted him. The Patriots domination was so thorough that Patriots T Nate Solder scored on a touchdown pass from Brady in the 3rd quarter and it didn't even matter.
In the beginning of the 4th quarter, Blount scored his 3rd touchdown to make the score 45-7 and both teams consensually ran out the clock. It was nice of the Colts and Patriots to allow America to turn in early and make it to work Monday morning. You can't help but feel that the real AFC Championship was last weekends Patriots/Ravens matchup.
KEY PLAY: The two plays most emcompasing of the Patriots' feel-good night were Tom Brady's perfect dart to TE Rob Gronkowski in the end zone mid-3rd quarter and CB Darrelle Revis' 'you-didn't-really-think-he-was-open' open field interception. With a healthy Gronk and Revis Island in Red, White and Blue, Foxborough was feeling good.
MVP: Since his last thrashing of the Colts in the 2013 regular season, RB LaGarette Blount has come full circle. He was allowed to test free agency in the spring, left the Patriots to sign with the Steelers, spent much of the season backing up blossoming superstar Le'Veon Bell, was then cut by Pittsburgh, cleared waivers, re-signed by New England and here he is again- right back to killing the soft underbelly of the young Colts in the playoffs.
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